JC's Trek Talk

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 4 Reaction: Episode 4 A Case of Chiaroscuro The episode is entirely in black and white.  Interesting.  The black and white is immediately explained as part of the plot and not just a gimmick. Una leads a mission to retrieve a malfunctioning probe from inside Klingon space.  The shuttle is nearly detected by the Klingons and is forced to land on a nearby planet to hide.  They find the planet under Klingon occupation.  Much of the episode is very TOS-esque: the crew incognito on a "parallel earth" planet, the planet modelled after a specific Earth region or period (in this case 1940s-esque movie noir), the crew in native/period attire among the natives, and the planet affected by outside influence.  The message at the end-that in life things are not black and white, but many shades of grey is an interesting, vey TOS introspective look at humanity, nicely set against the episode being completely in black and white.  Dem...

Opinions on Star Trek's Starfleet Uniforms Part 4: Nu Trek: the 23rd (and 32nd) centuries Discovery season 1-3 For Star Trek Discovery costume designer Gersha Phillips created uniforms that were a major departure from previous designs.  The blue main color was definitely a call back to Enterprise, while the department colors were now metallic accents (gold for command, silver for sciences, bronze for operations) which really are not as easily identifiable as the bright primary colors.  The boots also had matching metallic department colors which honestly just looks gaudy and tacky.  Also the uniforms feature a strange asymmetric collar for some reason. Discovery USS Enterprise uniforms For Discovery's second season (and several Short Treks) Captain Pike and the crew of the Enterprise appeared wearing a different uniform style than what was seen on USS Discovery.  The Enterprise crew uniforms were basically the same pattern and cut as the Discovery costumes but with s...

TOS Episode Tier Lists In the style and spirit of the TNG episode tier lists I will also be doing tier lists for the 3 seasons of TOS. Engage! 

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 4 Reaction: Episode 3 Human Best Friend The episode starts with cutting between Ortegas and Scotty's personal logs, followed by Una and Pike discussing the upcoming mission and the stress the crew has been under (previously mentioned in "Valles Marineris").  The crew decides to stop at a shore leave planet where the atmosphere causes you to become drunk.  The crew's shore leave antics include Ortegas (not feeling the effects of the atmosphere) stuck with Scotty and trying to find Pike, Spock hallucinating Jim Kirk, Una singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in Klingon (likely selected because of Bonnie Tyler's recent passing), Dr. M'Benga playing bartender ("It's green" apparently a TOS reference" and Pike getting a tattoo.  Add the ticking clock of the alien delegation the crew was to meet in two weeks coming to meet the Enterprise in two hours and the missing shuttle and you've got a typical ...

Star Trek The Animated Series The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, to use its full title, was a revival/continuation of sorts of the original series in Saturday morning cartoon form.  Produced by Filmation the series ran for 22 episodes, airing on NBC's Saturday morning lineup from 1973 to 1974.  Being a Filmation show it was an exceedingly low budget production, although what it lacked in budget and perceived visual quality (see pink tribbles and purple Klingon uniforms) it more than made up for in writing quality.  A big part of this writing quality is due to the writing staff, which included TOS alum D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold.  Most of the original cast returned to voice their characters, although budget restrictions resulted in the notable absence of Walter Koenig as Chekov.  The animated nature of the series allowed for a number of imaginative, non-humanoid characters and creatures that would have been impossible in live action....

TNG Episode Tier List Season 7 153 Descent part 2 The conclusion to the season 6 ending cliffhanger.   The crew outwit Lore and his group of Borg and an emotionally manipulated Data with the help of Hugh from “I’ Borg”.   A   154 Liaisons Ambassadors from a species that doesn’t understand human emotions come aboard the Enterprise.   One ambassador acts like a dick to Worf to experience animosity and anger, the other takes Picard on a trip and uses him to experience love.   D   155 Interface Geordi tests an experimental suit that allows him to remotely manipulate a probe, meanwhile an energy being manipulate Geordi who is trying to come to terms with the loss of his mother.   C   156 Gambit part 1 Investigating the apparent death of Captain Picard the Enterprise ends up on the trail of a mercenary ship that may be involved and that kidnaps Commander Riker.   A   157 Gambit part 2 Concluding part 1 the Enterprise with Data in command pursu...

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 4 Reaction: Episode 2 The Griffin Incident Jim Kirk (Paul Wesley) makes an appearance, as he, Spock and La'an are in a shuttlecraft on the way back to the Enterprise from a conference when the detect a distress call.  Following it they find the dead, derelict USS Griffin which disappeared 9 years ago.  After sending a message to the Enterprise they beam over to find the ship powerless but gravity still working.  The three examine the ship and find the crew all long dead, the bodies missing.  After reviewing messages left by the ships' security officer reporting the crew acting strangely the three themselves begin acting strangely and hallucinating.  Spock's T'Pring, Kirk sees his brother Sam and hears the crying of his infant son David, and La'an sees what they first believe to be a survivor, later seen as a "ghost" or "zombie" version of USS Griffin security chief Harper.  The dark derelict ship with out crew ...

Opinions on Star Trek's Starfleet Uniforms Part 3: The Kelvin Timeline Star Trek 2009 and Into Darkness For J.J. Abrams reboot of the franchise, costume designer Michael Kaplan designed new uniforms for the main cast that paid homage to the TOS uniforms.  While the overall design was very much the TOS uniform design, the execution was quite different.  The department colored overshirts were patterned in a busy two tone Starfleet delta print which is honestly unnecessary and distracting.  Also the pants were needlessly over detailed and busy. USS Kelvin For the opening of Star Trek 2009 we see a new uniform style for the USS Kelvin in the 2230s. The color pallet is slightly reminiscent of the TOS pilot uniforms and the TMP uniforms.  The piping across the chest is very reminiscent of the "All Good Things" uniforms.  The pants not being black but a sort of olive green was a strange choice. Star Trek Beyond For Star Trek Beyond Sandra Hays redesigned the uniforms, ...

TNG Episode Tier List  Season 6 127 Time’s Arrow part 2 The conclusion of season 5’s time travel cliffhanger.   Fun to see the TNG crew in late 19 th century Earth.   Also Mark Twain.   A   128 Realm of Fear Barclay’s transporter phobia leads to the rescue of a starship crew stranded in the transporter beam realm.   B   129 Man of the People The skeevy ambassador who uses others to hold his violent emotions while he completes his negotiations.   Until the unwilling victims hyperage and die.   No surprise, Troi is his next (and last) victim.   D   130 Relics Scotty!   Investigating a wrecked ship on the surface of a giant Dyson Sphere the crew discover Montgomery Scott suspended in the transporter beam for 75 years.   Great, touching episode, especially all the Scotty/Geordi scenes and the recreation of the TOS bridge on the holodeck.   S tier, no contest.   131 Schisms Another episode with strong horror vibes. ...