JC's Trek Talk

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. ...

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 4 Reaction: Episode 1 Valles Marineris Fun intro sequence, Pike on horseback is a fun callback to not only the opening scenes of the series pilot "Strange New Worlds" but the Original Series pilot "The Cage" which established Pike's fondness for and ownership of horses.  Uhura gets to mentor a trainee cadet, a Vulcan.  This is cool since three seasons ago the shoe was on the other foot, with Uhura being mentored by the late Commander Hemmer.  Pike's reticence to take a promotion echoes Riker's resistance to take the captain's chair and Picard's resistance to leave it in TNG and the TNG movies.  According to Una, six months has passed since the end of season 3.  The story proper starts when a space storm phenomenon throws the Enterprise back in time to prehistoric Earth.  Earth 6 million years in the past.  The Sol System apparently had an additional M-class planet at that time.  La'An, Una and Ortegas deal ...

Thoughts on the Maquis In the buildup to Star Trek Voyager's premiere TNG and DS9 introduced and established the Maquis, a resistance movement founded by a group of disenfranchised Federation colonists whose planets were summarily turned over to the Cardassians by an ill-advised border treaty.  This created an interesting political situation: the Cardassians secretly arming their colonists to fight the Federation colonists and drive them out while the Federation, unwilling to risk a conflict with the Cardassians and ostensibly hiding behind the Prime Directive were unwilling to actively interfere in the situation in the Demilitarized Zone.  The Federation colonists were caught in the middle of this, in fear of the Cardassians and with no protection from the Federation.  What other option do they have?  They band together as a resistance (or terrorist depending on your point of view) called the Maquis (the name borrowed from the French resistance in WWII).  The C...

TNG Episode Tier List Season 5  101 Redemption part 2 Definitely A tier.    Denise Crosby is back as Sela, the daughter of Yesterday’s Enterprise Tasha Yar, plus the Duras Sisters and Data’s first time in command.    Good stuff. 102 Darmok Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.    Good episode, good premise.    A   103 Ensign Ro   Introducing Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren.    In a very non Roddenberry turn the writers worked in some conflict for our main characters, also building the backstory for DS9.    A   104 Silicon Avatar It’s ok.    Decent Data episode.    Dr. Marr was kinda mean toward Data, also the fact that she destroyed the Crystalline entity.    It was nice to see the Crystalline Entity again.    B   105 Disaster A fun episode.    Some good character stuff.    Picard stuck in the turbolift with the kids, Worf delivering Keiko’s baby, Troi in c...

Opinions on Star Trek Starfleet Uniforms Part 2: the Rick Berman era TNG season 1-2 William Ware Theiss returned to trek to create the original TNG uniforms.  A simple three color pallet (red for command, yellow operations, teal for sciences/medical) against a mostly black jumpsuit.  One drawback was that because these were jumpsuits to achieve the smooth, creaseless look the costumes were sized too small for the actors (something that would change for season 3-a change reportedly mandated by Patrick Stewarts doctor).  A good start.  As an aside, perhaps as a nod to the TOS uniforms TNG season 1 also featured a shirt (skant) version of the uniform worn by both male and female crewmembers (in some early TNG episodes there were some guys wearing them). TNG season 3-7 William Ware Theiss retired following TNGs first season.  His replacement Durinda Rice-Wood was not fond of the uniforms but did not have the ability or budget to replace them.  That task would f...