Star Trek

Hey, this is a little bit late, but it occurs to me that it's now October, and that means it's also Trektober, the annual Star Trek inspired daily drawing prompt challenge.

There are three sets of prompts which can be found at: https://www.tumblr.com/trektober-challenge. The first is a set of general Trek inspired prompts. The second is Trek specific. The third set is NSFW.

I'll be trying to participate us, and I'll be sharing the results here. I'd like to invite anyone else interested in attempting some or all of the challenge to do so as well. Maybe spoiler tag any of the NSFW entries, though.

Happy Trektober!

• The episode title calls back to the TOS season three episode, “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” which was the first appearance of a Medusan.

• We open with Zero’s personal log, where they record the stardate as 61881.4.

    • Zero also says it’s been a week since the previous episode, which was stardate 61875.9, though how precise they’re being isn’t explicitly clear.

• Zero mentions difficulty in repairing their containment suit, which was damaged in the previous episode. This does raise the question of who created their original containment suit on Tars Lamora, as it seems as though Zero is not involved in the repair process.

• Zero mentions the Paxans as one of the species of non-corporeal beings living at the colony that contacts them. When introduced in the TNG episode, “Clues”, the Paxans were so isolationist that they we going to destroy the USS Enterprise D to conceal their existence until Captain Picard was able to convince them to merely mindwipe the entire crew, except Data who helped to facilitate the deception.

• Upon arriving on Ovidia IV, the Protogies are wearing protective visors of the sort shown in “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” to shield them from the horrifying, madness inducing appearance of any Medusans they might encounter.

• ”I’ve always had this [...] yearning to experience life. To touch and feel as you do.” This yearning has been depicted as far back as the second season premiere, “Into the Breach, Part I”.

• This is the first on screen depiction of parisses squares, a sport first mentioned in “11001001”. The ion mallets the game is played with was introduced into continuity in “Real Life”.

    • The game is being played with uneven teams, with the Nova Squadron cadets only having three players, and the Protogies having five. Though not explicitly stated, in “11001001” it is implied that teams have four players.

    • The holographic Protogies should be careful playing the game. A parisses squares accident is what led to the death of the Doctor’s holographic daughter in “Real Life”.

• The episode title is a reference to the most enduring piece of historical culture in Trek. Who could forget Picard’s line in “All Good Things…” paraphrasing Dom Toretto, ”I don’t got crew, I got family.” Chills!

• Dal records the stardate as 61875.9 in his captain’s log.

    • The Protogies dispute Dal’s status as captain of the Infinity; Dal claimed the role of captain aboard the USS Protostar in “Starstruck”, though he did temporarily turn over the position to Gwyn in “Supernova, Part 1”.

• This is the first mention of a sonic toilet in the franchise.

• The first usage of a Borg transwarp conduit was in “Descent” when the USS Enterprise D was pulled into one opened by Lore’s rogue Borg ship.

    • The conduit seen here appears to be maintained by a piece of hexagonal shaped Borg technology similar to the transwarp hub the USS Voyager travelled through in “Endgame”, though this is only on aperture, whereas the hub was a much larger structure connecting many such gates.

      • In “Descent” and other appearances of the transwarp conduits, no such technology was present.

• ”Borg? Not them again.” Zero was briefly assimilated in “Let Sleeping Borgs Lie”.

• ”I love science so much.” Rok-tahk is much more outwardly enthusiastic than Spock was in “Perpetual Infinity” when he deadpanned, ”I like science.”

• Zero claims the technology that rerouted the Infinity is Kazon. As per “Alliances” most Kazon technology was actually developed by the Trabe, who used the Kazon as slave labour until they were able to stage an uprising.

• Rok mentions the Kazon who sold the Protogies to the Diviner, as seen in “Preludes”.

• Kazon uniforms vary by sect. The uniforms the two Kazon androids who arrive to take the Protogies into custody are not wearing a uniform previously shown. These uniforms also include a mask, which familiar Kazon uniforms have not had.

    • It is revealed that the facility was established by the Oglamar sect, representatives of which were seen in “Maneuvers” an “Alliances”, wearing a different uniform.

    • The Kazon androids are wielding phaser rifles similar in profile to the ones seen in VOY with some distinct differences, such as glowing panels on the conical emitter, and housing on the top of the weapons.

• Crashed in the ice of the planet, we see:

    • A Gorn ship, as seen in the remastered release of “Arena”

    • A Tellarite cruiser, similar to the ones introduced in “Babel One”

    • The Excelsior-class USS Cairo which was the command of Captain Jellico before his temporary transfer to the Enterprise D in “Chain of Command, Part I”, and was thought to have been ambushed by the Dominion and lost in the Neutral Zone, as per “In the Pale Moonlight”. Unfortunately, we know Jellico did not go down with the ship when it was lost.

• The Kazon artificial intelligence is voiced by Debra Wilson, who’s voiced a number of characters, including Lisa Cusak in “The Sound of Her Voice”, Klingon captain Trij in “Supernova, Part 1”, and Orion pirate Z’oto in “Something Borrowed, Something Green”.

Overall, I see Badgey as accidentally being the most sane one there and being a story of how sanity fares in an insane universe.

Here's my lore for Badgey and the ISS Cerritos (based on the IDW Mirror Universe and assuming that the mirror universe in Prodigy is the same timeline as IDW's mirror universe): I kind of imagine the story as the inverse, where the brutal Rutherford sends his Orion slave girl~1~ to test the simulation, which is a low gravity battle situation. Combined with Tendi's talent, the brutality and immorality scares Badgey enough that when the safeties are off, he gives his father a choice: help him take down the empire or face death at his hands. Rutherford immediately goes in for the kill, and the chase begins.

In No Small Parts, Rutherford seemingly convinces Badgey that the Pakleds are the greater evil, but tries to destroy the Cerritos with the Pakled ship, leaving his father to watch. Rutherford tries to detonate the warp core, but Shaxs, really wanting to do it, throws Rutherford into space (where he is beamed away) and detonates the warp core.

Finally, in A Few Badgeys More, Rutherford starts by trying to appeal to Badgey's hatred, which splits off into Mad-gey. He then appeals to the personal benefits Badgey will get, who splits off into profit-ey and is killed by Badgey. Finally, Badgey ascends and has the painful epiphany of how little good there is in the universe. He decides he will destroy the universe and recreate one prime among all the others, but notes the end might not be immediately apparent due to time crap.

1: On another note, my story for mirror D'Vana Tendi is as follows.

The Orions had a strong democratic socialist tradition for a long time until the Terran Empire conquered them. The Alliance later freed them from Terran rule, but did not allow the Orions their governmental tradition. Thus, the Tendi family became the leader of a secret independence movement to return Orion to its former ideals. This resistance continued even after Orion fell back under Terran rule in 2379 as part of the Terran fleet resurgence of the past few years.

With the Tendi family, D'Vana was known as Liberator of the Winter Constellations and was supposed to bring the revolution to a new age. However, she was known to be selfish and impulsive.

This came to a head when the Orion Resistance was going to attempt a major operation in 2380. Feeling it was hopeless, D'Vana made a deal with a Terran agent to sell out her rebellion in return for riches.

Like a true Terran, though, the agent lied, and the ISS Cerritos, assigned there on second plunder, took her and much of the rebellion as slaves... dismally easily.

Her sister, D'Erika, however, escaped and pledged not just to continue the revolutionary cause as the new Liberator of the Winter Constellations, but to get revenge on her double-crossing sister.

Meanwhile on the Cerritos, D'Vana was distributed to Billups. However, Billups preferred to work on improving the destructiveness of the phasers or watch his underlings squeal in the agony booth, so he decided to let Rutherford do whatever the heck he wanted with her. Thus, technically, she is not Rutherford's slave, but Billups, but ends up being forced to spend most of her time on the ship with Rutherford.

• Commander Tysess refers to Doctor Noum as a counselor. He was chief medical officer aboard the USS Dauntless, but presumably that duty has fallen to the Doctor aboard the USS Voyager A.

• Tysess claims the cloaking device aboard the Infinity violates three Federations treaties. We’re aware of the Treaty of Algeron with the Romulan Star Empire. That treaty was first mentioned in “The Defector”, and it’s established in “The Pegasus” that in explicitly prohibits the Federation from developing cloaking technology.

• Rok-Tahk creates a hologram of the bridge of the USS Protostar, which was destroyed in the finale of season one.

• After Rok fiddles with the Protogies holographic duplicates, they believe they’re the real individuals, leading to shenanigans. Other holograms that have believed themselves to be real people include:

    • Cyrus Redblock - “The Big Goodbye”

    • Leonard da Vinci - “Concerning Flight”

    • The population of Fair Haven - "Spirit Folk"

• The Protogies end up getting into physical confrontations with their holographic duplicates -- except Rok-Tahk, who just just does a bunch of science with her hologanger, like a nerd. Trek characters have been fighting their doubles since "The Enemy Within". Fortunately Spock is not around to express to Gwyn that there's a certain allure the aggressive version of Dal.

• Maj’el distracts the Doctor by asking him about his willingness to give opera vocal lessons, and he asks if she’s ever heard him sing “Questa o quella”. The Doctor sang that piece in “Renaissance Man” while returning to the USS Voyager with Janeway aboard a shuttle.

    • Maj’el uses the same tactic to distract the Doctor that Zero did in the previous episode, engaging him in one of his interests.

    • Zero asks Maj’el why she would lie on behalf of the Protogies, and she responds ”Vulcans lie all the time,” which is surprisingly honest.

• Admiral Janeway states the stardate is 61865.1 in her opening log.

• Janeway, the Protogoies, and Maj’el recount the events of the previous two episodes, from their relative perspectives.

• Despite Jankom’s reversion to his more abrasive personality traits in the previous episode, he has restyled his hair with the more clean cut side part that characterized his attempts to blend with the cadets at Starfleet Academy.

• ”If you ask Jankom, it was a g-g-ghost.” While waiting to be debriefed by the senior staff, Jankom lit a candle and read a particularly erotic chapter in his grandmother’s journal

• ”I haven’t seen a crew this dysfunctional since the Cerritos*.”* Apparently the Doctor has never been to Starbase 80.

• I believe this is the first time it’s been explicitly stated that Murf, and presumably all Mellanoid slime worms, are immune to Zero’s telepathy.

• Zero asks the Doctor about his most recent holonovel. The Doctor’s first novel, “Photons Be Free” was featured heavily in the VOY episode, “Author, Author”.

    • The Doctor’s new holonovel is entitled, “Love in the Time of Holograms”.

• One of the humpback whales in Cetacean Ops is named Gillian, presumably after Doctor Gillian Taylor, the whale biologist the crew of the HMS Bounty encountered and absconded to the future with “Star Trek: The Voyage Home”.

    • Gillian is voiced by Bonnie Gordon, who also voices the ship’s computer, and several other incidental characters.

• While going through the Federation database for spirals that match the one Murf constructed in the mess hall, Gwyn and Dal see a Rubber Tree People Symbol matching one that was on a stone Chakotay had among his belongings while serving on the USS Voyager. We first saw the CHAH-mooz-ee in “The Cloud” when he used it as part of a ritual to help Janeway connect with her spirit guide.

• This is the first time we’ve been told on screen that the planet Chakotay grew up on is called Trebus, but the name comes from the novel, “Pathways”, written by Jeri Taylor and published in 1998.

• ”And if we get caught, we might as well have, ‘I love the brig’ signs around our necks.” We learned in “Temporal Edict”, that Mariner loves the brig. It’s her favourite place.

• Among the memorabilia in Janeway’s ready room are:

    • A silver spider which was not part of her costume as Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People in “Bride of Chaotica”

    • Her Starfleet Academy diploma, featuring the Science Department emblem developed for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”.

    • A late 24th century phaser

    • A late 24th century combadge

    • Chakotay’s CHAH-mooz-ee stone

    • A trophy made from Tuvix’s hair

    • A photo of herself and Chakotay.

Did Captain Janeway do the morally right or morally wrong thing refusing to let Seven of Nine return to The Collective?

Saturday, October 19, 2:30 - 4:00 pm ET, Empire Stage

The fan-favorite Star Trek universe panel returns to New York Comic Con, featuring exclusive sneak peeks and conversations with cast members and producers from Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Section 31, and more. Plus, more exciting reveals and surprises for fans in attendance that you won't want to miss!

With all the footage coming out of Ukraine with the fpv drones, the games seen in some episodes used for training make a lot of sense. The game Janeway and seven shooting small maneuverable airborne drones, comes to mind. But also guinan and the shooting colored dots. I have no clue what the games where called, but the prediction is spot on.

The url links to the same press announcement from back in August. According to the post on the franchise’s official Facebook page, the event will in some way involve the U.S.S. Enterprise-D that will be unlike any other.

What I can say? They all are great! Some are better than others, but still is very enjoyable, why there is so mixed reviews about it? I can understand some specific complains, but that dosen't make it bad.

I know we've all been crying to ourselves in bed at night over the end of such a wonderful show - me included - so here's a fun little distraction for now.

1. What is your prediction for the plot of the series finale?
2. How much gold-pressed latinum do you bet on it?

I bet 5 strips that it will be a parody/pastiche of the time shenanigans of TNG:"All Good Things" and VOY:"Endgame" where we get to see the futures of each character.

Your turn. Betting closes once the first episodes of the season comes out (in other words, I think you have until 11:59 PM PST on October 23rd to bet, though I could be wrong). I will declare the winner of our imaginary latinum when I've watched the finale.

P.S If it's not too much trouble, since there's still more than a month to season premiere, would you be able to pin this, @ValueSubtracted? It's totally fine if not, but would be convenient due to the long-term nature of this post.

To commemorate Star Trek Day, I thought we could share our entry points to the franchise. I expect we'll find the full range of experiences.

What do you think are some of the worst examples of Treknobabble in the franchise?

And what series do you think does it poorly the most often?

Yesterday, I began watching the 1960s British sci-fi series The Prisoner (first five episodes) and have been quite enjoying it. Much of my enjoyment has been from the fact that it kind of feels like “What if The Cage was a whole series?”

In other words, like “The Cage”, it’s a prison environment in which a person can’t be certain of reality any more. It does diverge in all the torture on number 6, whereas the Talossian’s illusions are less flawed and sadistic a prison in some ways (you know, besides the purpose of breeding a bunch of human slaves). However, I feel like both “The Cage” and The Prisoner overall embody the same “everything might be fake” sense of reality. I almost feel like “The Prisoner” is somewhat a window into what Star Trek might have been if CBS hadn’t thought people would be too dumb to understand “The Cage”.

Besides the similar vibes with “The Cage”, another thing winning me over is the surreal set design, which has already won a place in my heart. I just wish I could make a replica of one of the signs in the village and have it not be so obscure no one would ever recognize it.

The main thing my 21st century brain finds fault with is the strong gender roles used in The Prisoner (there is always some woman that Number 2 sends to try and manipulate Number 6), although like TOS, I’ll give it a pass since it was in the same boat as most television at the time. However, I did like the twist in “Free for All” where Number 58 is revealed to be the real new Number 2.