I didn't even know there was a premiere in London on Wednesday, but there we have it.

Highlights: the person who saw the movie described it as "fun," "silly," and "Guardians of the Galaxy meets Fifth Element meets Mission: Impossible".

There's also a full, recorded-from-the-audience Q&A with Michelle Yeoh and Robert Kazinsky.

I’ve made a bizarre observation: commemorative plates tend to be associated more with Star Trek or Star Wars more than other franchise (Stargate seems to have some, too.), and I kind of wonder why.

Obviously, they’re not actually that popular anymore and have faded into kitsch, as the only plate that seems to have come out since DS9/VOY era is the Lower Decks Tom Paris plate - there are no DSC, PIC, Kelvin, or even ENT plates, while newer Star Wars plates don’t seem all that common as well unless you want paper plates.

I’m wondering if it has to do with 2 factors, still somewhat true today but especially in the 1990s:

• Both Star Wars and Star Trek are decently large fan bases with large proportions of very passionate fans that are more likely to make purchases based on their fandom.
• Both tended to attract (and still do) an upper middle class to upper class demographic (Somehow, Bezos can call himself Trekkie 🤦‍♂️) with more disposable income to spend on collecting.

These would have made the plates commercially viable, meaning to both inside and outside observers, plates became a stereotype of the fandoms.

Anyhow, what are your thoughts?

P.S. Wow, this is starting to feel like a meta version of Daystrom.

A big disclaimer at the top here that I am going to be discussing familial death.

Hello to everyone reading this. Not sure why I am greeting you, the reader. Last week my maternal grandfather passed away. He was in hospice care with bone cancer and overall poor health. The lead up to being admitted into hospice was a sudden and unexpected turn. During my grandfather’s final days, my family set up a computer at the foot of his bed so we could watch shows with him. Regardless if he was awake or not I took time by his side and watched Enterprise. As an important side note, I have always lived with my grandparents (I’m Filipino; this is a cultural thing).

In the week since my grandfather’s passing, I have been rewatching Enterprise. When the show first broadcast in 2001, I was 10-years-old. I grew up watching TNG, seeing First Contact and Insurrection in theaters and going on The Klingon Encounter attraction at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. For me, my grandfather was the Star Trek fan who I looked up to. I watched it because he did. So when Enterprise premiered, it was the first series I was old enough to watch in completion during its first run broadcast. I remember my grandfather being excited for “Broken Bow”. He let me stay up late on Wednesdays (and later Fridays if I recall correctly, when the timeslot changed) to watch with him.

Getting to watch Enterprise at the age of 10 to 13 (“These Are the Voyages…” aired four days before my 14th birthday) had a big impact on me. I didn’t realize till later as an adult when I finally took the time to watch all of Classic Trek and then all of New Trek (circa November 2023) how much Star Trek meant to me. You’d be hard pressed to not find me wearing a badge on a daily basis. As a Southern California resident, I drove out to Beverly Hills to attend the advanced screening of the Discovery finale in May. Then in August I finally attended my first convention: STLV.

I am writing this as my way of being reflective. Watching Enterprise with my grandfather is one of the happiest memories from my childhood. I miss my grandfather so much. Each time I watch an Enterprise episode, I feel like a kid all over. This brings me joy during a time of grief. I intimately associate Enterprise with my grandfather.

Someday in the future I want to get a tattoo of the mission patch in honor of my grandfather.

Okay, the title may be a bit of comedic overstatement. What I really mean is I love the Lower Decks soundtrack and think Westlake may have been meant for Star Trek. I don't know what it is, but it truly evokes TNG era background music but on steroids.

I can't wait for the second volume. RIP Lower Decks - may the next few years prove to be the "Search for Lower Decks" (minus the butchering of a good Vulcan character, the pointless death... okay, maybe that wasn't the most apt comparison).

Da ist ein #startrek #Stammtisch in #Heidelberg in Gründung: https://rheinneckar.events/events/1a222761-94be-4840-a27c-d8af6c0e2966

#trekkies #rheinneckar
@StarTrek@mastodon.social @startrek@startrek.website
@startrek@loma.ml

I have already seen everything Trek some more than once already. I always get a bit sad on the last few episodes of a series. I am going to miss the characters and seeing them continue to grow and interact with each other.

The same thing happened when I finished my rewatch of DS9. I think it hit my harder with DS9 since that those characters had such a good chemistry with each other.

Once I finish Voyagers I plan to start watching TNG right away. I havn't done a complete watch through of it for many years. I usually get the first 2 or 3 seasons before getting distracted. I have been looking forward to watching it again.

I do appreciate the more realistic lifespan, starships are massive investments that should last at least a few decades and are designed with continuous upgrades in mind (unless they're called "Enterprise" apparently).

TrekMovie has a brief piece summarizing part of an SFX cover feature on "Section 31," mostly focusing on the changes the project went through on the journey from series to movie.

That got me wondering what else was in the SFX feature, and eventually I remembered that I have a library card, which I can use to access magazines. So...I did that, and here's a summary of what I learned.

The centrepiece of the feature is an interview with Olatunde Osunsanmi, the director. He spends some time talking about the nuts and bolts of "Star Trek City," which is what they call the Toronto production offices. He talks about the benefits of being able to redress existing sets, including repurposing the Federation HQ set from Discovery to be the "Section 31 outpost safe house." On the topic of being economical, he also mentions how "Section 31" has been a unique experience, as they didn't have to build sets for future use - if their plan for a given scene didn't require a full set, they could safely choose not to build that fourth wall, or incorporate lighting that they wouldn't need for this specific movie.

As TrekMovie reported, he talked about the evolution from series to film. He estimates that there have been seven iterations of the project, including a couple of versions of the series, some subsequent pilot scripts, and then a couple of versions of the movie that they eventually made. He says:

"I would say the only two things that are the same from the original series pilot to the movie that we've got now is that there is a character named Alok and Philippa Georgiou."

He says that the movie's writer, Craig Sweeny, has been involved since the entire process.

Osunsanmi goes into a surprising amount of detail about what he calls the "phase fight," which the article describes as "an extended Dune-esque battle that's spread across sets and involves moving though walls." This sequence reportedly goes through at least seven different sets.

He also mentions the movie's final fight, which he describes as having an emotional component:

"But that fight went through probably the most iterations of different choreography and character beats that I've ever been through, because for me, and particularly for Michelle Yeoh, every fight, every action sequence, is actually an extension of the character."

He goes on to describe the degree to which Yeoh has been involved throughout the project's development, including giving character notes and developing the fight choreography.

The movie gives a "glimpse" into the origins of the Emperor, and Osunsanmi has high praise for Miku Martineau, who plays young Georgiou.

Finally, he acknowledges that if successful, "Section 31" could open the doors to future streaming movies:

"If the audience - the fans - they love it, the sky's the limit with what we can do. The wonderful thing about what Craig Sweeny and Alex Kurtzman have done here is similar to what they did on Discovery, in which we've created a foundation by which other things can grow out of."

"I think I might get into a bit of trouble if I expand upon that.

There are also brief interviews with Robert Kazinsky, who plays Zeph (the guy in the mech suit), and Sam Richardson, who plays Quasi (the Chameloid).

Robert Kazinsky

I'm terrified of how it's going to be received, because it's not the Trek people want. The Trek that people want, the Trek that we all want, is just 1,000 more episodes of TNG. Everyone's always furious that they're not getting more TNG, whilst at the same time, when TNG came out, everybody hated it...so for you to tell me that it still feels like Trek whilst being a completely different flavour of Trek, that encourages me. In 10 years time, we'll look back and we'll love every single one of these Treks.

He also talks at length about the backstory he and Craig Sweeny came up with for Zeph (which, from the sounds of things, doesn't actually factor in to the movie). The idea is that he used to work with Section 31, and as an engineer and biomechanist, he experimented on himself until he destroyed his own spinal column, and he now spends all of his time in the mech suit to remain mobile.

It sounds like the suit itself was a fairly miserable, smelly experience to film in, and the various components of it would occasionally break. He jokes that if there's a sequel, maybe he can play Zeph's twin brother Jeff, who doesn't have to wear it.

He also says this, which I found interesting:

Seeing Klingons and Andorians, it's everything that you want it to be, with people who exceed every aspect that you want them to exceed.

We'll have to see what these Klingons look like...

He also says that this is his dream job, and he'd do it for free (but he doesn't want Kurtzman to hold him to that).

Lastly, he says that he considers Zeph to be the heart of the team:

mostly because he's just innocent and full of love. He just loves his team, and doing what he's doing. He's really happy to just be bouncing around, smashing stuff. He just really enjoys it. He's never in a bad mood. He's painfully optimistic.

Sam Richardson

Most importantly, Richardson has decided that Quasi has modeled his appearance on the most handsom man in Federation history, from 2024...Sam Richardson.

Quasi is in the second-in-command role on the team, and out of the main characters is the least trusting of Georgiou.

Richardson talks a little bit about working out the characters' motivations, as they are "pointing in the direction of ultimate good, but our ways are a little bit more circumvent-y," which gave them some space to figure out what, exactly, that meant for everyone.

He also mentions that not everyone makes it out of the movie alive, which is perhaps unsurprising. He would love to come back to do more, "if Quasi is around at the end of this one."

Those are the things that jumped out at me, but there's more to the feature than just that - I encourage you to check out the magazine if you're able, and at the very least, support your local library!

From @nocontexttrek@mastodon.social

unfortunately bluebrixx lost the license

Skin produce #Spock #StarTrek @startrek #meme #humor

• The episode title is a reference to the series title, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

    • The PIC series finale was also a reference to TNG, titled “The Last Generation”.

• This is the 50th and, ostensibly, final episode of LDS, making it the ninth completed Star Trek series.

• The fleet of Klingon Birds-of-Prey all appear to be the same arrangement as the HMS Bounty, introduced in “Star Trek: The Search for Spock”, though it’s unclear what specific class they are.

    • The one exception is Relga’s flagship, which is larger than the others, and has a number of noticeable differences.

• We’re introduced to Relga, who is the sister of Dorg and Bargh, introduced -- an killed by Ma’ah -- in “wej’Duj” and “A Farewell to Farms” respectively.

    • Like her brothers, Relga has a pet targ.

• The rift directed to the prime universe by William Boimler in the previous episode, “Fissure Quest”, opens up in front of Relga’s fleet.

• The IKS Krtas is struck by the energies emitting from the rift, causing it to transformed into a 23rd century Bird-of-Prey, first seen in “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not For the Lamb’s Cry”. Similarly, the ship captain’s armour is altered to be that of one of T’Kuvma’s followers, which we first saw in “The Vulcan Hello”. The captain himself loses his hair, but appears otherwise unchanged.

• Rutherford expresses disdain for the USS Cerritos’ older systems being unable to properly interface with his implant. This issue was mentioned earlier this season in “Shades of Green” and “Fissure Quest”.

    • This is also a reference to the modern day issue of trying to get both bluetooth headphones to pair with your phone while on your commute.

• We get a repetition of the moment at the end of the previous episode where Boimler receives the message from William regarding the imminent destruction of the prime universe, though this time we get the other lower decker’s reactions.

• Malor and Ma’ah were able to properly attach the animal tusks they had to their blood wine delivery truck, the task they set to at the end of “A Farewell to Farms”.

• ”Wake me if Kahless makes another appearance.” The clone of Kahless appeared in “Rightful Heir” and was installed by Gowron as a figurehead emperor. He was still emperor as of DS9 season four’s “Sons of Mogh”, but Malor’s comment implies that might no longer be the case.

• ”Sorry brother, but today is not a good day to die.” The iconic phrase, ”Today is a good day to die,” was first said in Trek by Worf in “Sins of the Father”.

• The Airolo scientist is voiced by Gabrielle Ruiz, who is T’Lyn’s voice actor.

• The rift’s Schrodinger field transforms the Cerritos into:

    • A Freedom-class starship - A wreck of the Freedom-class was previously seen in “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”, though it did not have a deflector dish, and only one pylon connected the saucer to the nacelle

    • A second Freedom-class starship, with more yellow on the hull

    • A Terran Empire California-class - According to “Crossover”, the Terran Empire fell to the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance after Emperor Spock’s reforms weakened it, meaning there shouldn’t be a Terran Empire in the 24th century to have built the California-class, but presumably if there are infinite quantum realities, there exists one where the Empire didn’t fall

    • A Sovereign-class starship

    • An Oberth-class starship

    • A Galaxy-class starship

    • A Miranda-class starship

• Doctor T’Ana explains that the reason Relga’s ship does not appear to be changing is, ”It probably is; Klingons hardly ever update their fleet designs. They always want their ships to look like big stupid birds.” The Klingon Bird-of-Prey introduced in “Star Trek: The Search for Spock” was intended to be a Romulan ship, calling back to the TOS Romulan Birds-of-Prey. Even once the decision was made to have Klingons be the antagonists of the film as opposed to Romulans, early drafts of the script made it clear the HMS Bounty was a stolen Romulan ship.

    • One of the Klingon ships is transformed into a barge similar to the mythical Barge of the Dead seen in the VOY episode, “Barge of the Dead”, but this one has a mast.

• Olly is able to take down the Klingon shields, exposing them to the effects of the rift’s energy. Relga and her crew transform into mindless proto-Klingons, much like word did when de-evolved in “Genesis”, and her targ turns into a clam.

• ”Klingons do not hug.” All through TNG and DS9, Worf made several such proclamations regarding things that Klingons don’t do, most of which they actually do, but he’d prefer not to acknowledge the fact.

• Outside the stabilized rift we see:

    • A second California-class starship

    • A Parliament-class starship

    • A Luna-class starship

    • The USS Enterprise E

    • Starbase 80

• Captain Freeman is reassigned to Starbase 80 to oversee missions going into the rift. She learned her alternate self from the Minor Universe had been assigned to Starbase 80 in Dos Cerritos and preventing that fate became something of an obsession for her, as we saw in “Starbase 80?!”.

• Rutherford had his implant removed, and his face reconstructed. Shaxs ripped Rutherford’s original implant out of his head in “No Small Parts”.

• T’Lyn notes romantic attraction between Rutherford and Tendi, but Tendi states they’re just friends. “In Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” we saw that their attempting to pretend to be a couple led the pair to be extremely awkward.

• We see Karavitus wearing a Chu Chu shirt. The Zebulon sisters performed the Chu Chu dance aboard the Cerritos in “Terminal Provocations”.

• O’Connor drops out of a portal in sickbay without his boots on. When he ascended in “Moist Vessel” his steaming boots were left behind.

• The practice of Twaining began in “Something Borrowed, Something Green”. Boimler and Rutherford were banned from twaining, but we see other characters, including Lundy, Big Merp, and Federov have taken it up.

• In Castro’s quarters, we see one of her salons, where apparently they’re attempting to summon an anaphasic lifeform from an ancient candleholder, similar to Ronin in “Sub Rosa”.

• Ransom has been promoted to captain.

• Ransom makes both Mariner and Boimler provisional first officers. When Captain Ramsey was briefly in charge of the ship, she selected Mariner to be her first officer.

• We see Fletcher serving aboard Starbase 80. He was last seen in “Terminal Provocations” where he was fired almost immediately after being transferred to the USS Titan, and sent back to Earth.

• Ransom chooses ”Engage the core” as his signature command for warp speed.