JC's Trek Talk

Head Canon: The Klingon ships of Discovery season 1 The very un-Klingon looking Klingon ships seen in Star Trek Discovery's Klingon-Federation war. These ships look so radically different from other Klingon designs for a good reason: these are NOT in fact Klingon ships.  These are actually old Hur'q ships, captured by the Klingons during the Hur'q invasion in Earth's 14th century A.D.  These ships were captured and used by the Klingons until eventually being surpassed technologically by Klingon designs.  The ships were then either abandoned or kept as heirlooms by the great houses, passed down through the generations.  Even in the 23rd century, some of these ships would be used as flagships by the leaders of the great houses.  The ships would no doubt be upgraded and augmented with Klingon technology over the centuries.  As the Federation-Klingon War of 2256-2257 was at least initially fought by the fleets of T'Kuvma and the great houses (on the Klingon sid...

USS Enterprise NCC-1701 Timeline 2244 USS Constitution and USS Enterprise begin construction at San Fransisco Ship Yards 2245 USS Enterprise is commissioned, enters service, begins a five year mission under Captain Robert April Dr. Sarah Poole-April, wife of Captain April is Chief Medical Officer 2246 USS Enterprise renders aid to Tarsus IV following the massacre by Kodos the Executioner 2248 Una Chin-Riley is assigned to USS Enterprise as science officer 2249 Christopher Pike is assigned to the Enterprise as first officer under Captain April 2251 USS Enterprise's first five year mission ends Robert April is promoted to Admiral, placed in charge of the Constitution Class program Christopher Pike is promoted to Captain, placed in command of USS Enterprise USS Enterprise begins a new five year mission under Captain Pike, Una Chin-Riley is assigned as first officer, Dr. Philip Boyce is assigned as Chief Medical Officer 2253 USS Enterprise docks at Starbase 40, Ensign Spock is assigned...

What is Star Trek About? A Reflective Essay What is Star Trek about?  This is an interesting and loaded question.  From it's beginning with the original series in the 1960's Star Trek is and always has been about deep, thoughtful, intellectual stories about an optimistic future for humanity.   The concept as conceived by Gene Roddenberry was a future in which humanity (a united humanity) works together with other races and species in common cause.  The cause being exploration, learning and personal betterment.  A future where humanity has overcome its internal struggles and provincial attitudes and prejudices and moved beyond national squabbles, beyond poverty, disease, war, into a more enlightened future.  In the original series this was often shown in the form of episodes that were in truth morality plays, set in a sci-fi concept and a future several hundred years hence. Episodes like "Let That be Your Last Battlefield" that took a very blunt look ...

Thoughts on Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek Starfleet Academy's 32nd century Starfleet Ships I am not a fan of the 32nd century Starfleet ship designs from Star Trek Discovery and the upcoming Starfleet Academy series.  I get that these are designs from a far future when new technologies and techniques have been developed by Starfleet, but there are a number of things about these ships that just don't work for me. Overall Esthetics I know that these are designs from the 31st and 32nd centuries when technologies have evolved and changed over the centuries and new technologies have been developed and discovered (see programmable matter).  That said, many of these designs don't look remotely Starfleet.   The Courage and Eisenberg classes look much more at home as battleships in some alien fleet.   The Mars Class with it's crab claw looking nacelles(?) is interesting, but again not very Starfleet.  The design would much better fit an alien ship. ...

Thoughts on Starfleet Academy's Uniforms and Combadges The two trailers and small number of pictures released to date for the upcoming Starfleet Academy gives us a pretty good look at the series uniforms and combadge.  Some thoughts: Starting with Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) in the standard(?) instructor(?) uniform.  The asymmetric bottom is very much in keeping with Star Trek Discovery's 32nd century uniforms.  Not entirely sure why they didn't just use the Discovery season 4-5 uniforms.  Overall not a huge fan of this one.  The silver and black stripe just looks strange. Robert Picardo as The Doctor (EMH) from Voyager.  His special uniform (flag officer?) is mostly white, the color for medical in Star Trek Discovery.  It still has the weird asymmetric bottom (see above). Here we see Lura Thok in a special uniform with Discovery style gorgets showing her rank.  A dress uniform maybe? Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake in what I guess is an officers uniform....

Scale and Size: a Discussion There is quite a lot of debate and vitriol online of late regarding size and scale of starships in Star Trek.   In an attempt to quell the fan debate SNW season 3s "What Is Starfleet?" documentary establishes a length of 442.6 meters for the constitution class USS Enterprise.  This numbers fails for several reasons.  As pointed out by VenomGeekMedia on a recent video discussion about starship scale and perspective, this size fails for several reasons.  1: with a crew compliment of 203 (during Pikes time) or even 430 (in Kirk's time) the accepted 289m length (TOS era) or 305m (Movies refit) is plenty big enough for the crew.  Despite what J.J. Abrams and Alex Kurtzman may think, 289m is actually quite large.  To  be frank J.J. Abrams blatant upscaling of the Kelvin Enterprise to around 750 meters long simply doesn't work.  For one, the bridge, with a window viewscreen through which we can see from the outside peopl...

From the Federation historical database The following speech "The Path to Peace" was delivered by Admiral Nyota Uhura, director, Starfleet Intelligence at the second Khitomer Conference in 2344.   Stardate 21789.4 Earth date 22 July 2344   Madam president, Chancellor, Ambassadors, honored guests. 90 years ago the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire fought a bitter, bloody war that resulted in unimaginable death and destruction, a loss of life on both sides totaling perhaps as much as 100 million souls.   From that conflict the Federation emerged battered, bloody, embittered, but resolute.   From that conflict the Empire emerged battered, bloody, but unified.   From two dozen great houses splintered, infought and in conflict came a single strong unified force under one leader.   80 years ago the Federation and the Empire found themselves on the brink of a second war, fueled by mutual distrust as weapons fire lit the sky over O...

Another Hypothetical Scene Janeway: With Seven's help I've managed to decrypt the classified data we received from Starfleet. (Janeway reads through the data: records of the USS Discovery, the Spore Drive, the Mycelial Network) Janeway: (laughing) oh this is good!  According to this a hundred twenty years ago the USS Discovery tested a "spore drive"! Chakotay: Spore drive?  Next thing you're gonna tell me they powered it using mushrooms. Janeway: (laughing) yes, and they used it to travel on a mycelial network! Paris: (laughing) Mycelial network?  Sounds like a bad holonovel. Torres: Sounds like whoever wrote it was on mushrooms. Janeway: And it says that the officer who navigated the ship through the mycelial network modified his DNA with DNA from a giant Tardigrade! Doctor: Very unlikely.  Ethical and safety issues aside Starfleet and the Federation strictly ban any form of genetic engineering. Janeway: And there's more.  There's also references to a ...

Star Trek Timeline Bonus 2 The 32nd Century (3186-3191) Discovery 3186 Dr. Gabrielle Burnham repeatedly visits this year from 2236 and various points in 2258. Dr. Gabrielle Burnham ultimately ends up stranded on Essof IV in this year from 2258.  She is found by the inhabitants of Essof IV and transported to Ni'Var where she joins the Qowat Milat.   3187 Admiral Senna Tal dies, the Tal symbiont is joined to Grey 3188 Michael Burnham arrives in this year from 2258 Burnham meets and subsequently forms a relationship with Cleveland Booker Grey Tal dies, the Tal symbiont is joined to Adira, a human 3189 USS Discovery arrives from 2258 USS Discovery reunites with Michael Burnham USS Discovery makes contact with United Earth The artificial intelligence later known as Zora forms when the Sphere data begins to merge with USS Discovery's computers Sylvia Tilly is promoted to Lieutenant JG and made acting first officer of USS Discovery makes contact with Starfleet Command, receives ...

Star Trek Timeline Bonus: The Temporal Cold War 12th Century AD The Tuterians build the first spheres and begin creating the Delphic Expanse 1944 General Vosk and the Na’Kuhl from 2862 travel to Earth and create an alternate timeline, in which they use Nazi technology to attempt to return to the 29th century, before their defeat.  Jamran Harnath sends Silik to 1944 to defeat Vosk and steal his time travel technology. 2004 Xindi from 2153 visit earth, attempt to alter earth history 2022 Romulan Temporal agent Sera from 2904 travels to earth at this time to kill Khan Noonien Singh, this creates an alternate timeline 2106 The Tuterians (sphere builders) begin manipulating the Xindi into altering human history 2150 Kal Dano travels to this year from the 27th century and hides the Tox Uthat in a cavern on Risa, intending to recover it in the 25th century.  During his next jump the timeships temporal core overloads, sending the ship to the mid 21st century, irradiating the...

Star Trek Timeline The DSC/SNW/TOS Era (2245-2269) 2245 • USS Enterprise NCC-1701 is launched under the command of Robert April • Pavel Chekov is born • Michael Burnham becomes the first human to attend the Vulcan Science Academy • The battle of Donatu V is fought between the Federation and Klingon Empire • USS Constellation NCC-1017 is launched • Johnathan Archer dies 2246 • In response to a famine crisis Governor Kodos invokes martial law on Tarsus IV and slaughters half of the colonies population.   • Hoshi Sato dies at Tarsus IV • USS Hood NCC-1703 is launched 2247 • The Eminiar-Vendikar war begins • USS Exeter NCC-1672 is launched • Spock declines an offer to enter the Vulcan Science Academy, instead opting to join Starfleet 2248 • Starfleet loses contact with the UESPA Friendship 1 probe • USS Excalibur NCC-1664 is launched • USS Lexington NCC-1709 is launched 2249 • Michael Burnham begins serving aboard USS Shenzhou • Risa off...

On Section 31... I have never been wild about the whole concept of Section 31, since it was first established in DS9's season 6 episode "Inquisition" in which the clandestine organization abducts Dr. Bashir and then tries to recruit him.  The organization was portrayed as rogue, operation outside the purview and even official knowledge of Starfleet and the Federation.  This is in contrast to the Cardassian Obsidian Order or Romulan Tal Shiar both of which are well known and operate with the tacit approval of their respective governments.  Although the concept of Section 31 is an intriguing one in the context of DS9s many shades of grey, I personally find it unnecessary and completely antithetical to Gene Roddenberry's original vision of Star Trek.  In season 7's "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" Section 31 pops up again to meddle in Romulan Tal Shiar affairs, and then at season (and series) end it's revealed that Section 31 created a virus to commit gen...

Worst Starfleet Starship Designs: A Rant In 2009 we were introduced to the Kelvin timeline and JJ Abrams version of the classic NCC-1701: Yeah... Dude! It's not a hot rod! It's the Starship Enterprise.  It doesn't need all the aerodynamic fins and sh*#, it's in space.  The supposed scale is ridiculous (and doesn't work), the nacelles look totally stupid, the overall color scheme is more TMP than TOS, and I don't even know what the f*$# is going on with the neck sitting way back on the drive section. In Star Trek Beyond, it had apparently gone through a refit (IRL the ship's neck and pylons were slimmed down to make the destruction by Krall's swarm more plausible).  And it actually looks worse.  A lot worse. Into Darkness gave us this hot mess: The USS Vengeance.  When I first saw it I was like "what is this? Really? Is this a joke???" For a Star Trek ship: NO.  Just no. When Star Trek Discovery was first announced and anticipation was hig...

Legacy Discovery leaves behind a varied legacy, for its divisiveness and perceived lack of quality among Star Trek series, as well as for its boldness in trying new things and blazing trails in both storytelling techniques and inclusivity. Discovery also blazed a trail being the first Star Trek series on a streaming platform, being the flagship series for CBS All Access and ushering in a new era for the Star Trek franchise. For better or worse it established a new aesthetic for the franchise and served as a launching pad for the much praised Star Trek Strange New Worlds as well as the upcoming Star Trek Starfleet Academy series (expected in 2026) and the Star Trek Section 31 streaming movie (expected in 2025). It is also important to point out that at the time of the show’s creation Franchise executive producer Alex Kurtzman and co wanted to do something completely different. They definitely accomplished that. Said Kurtzman, Discovery was never intended to be the one Star Trek ser...

Fan Criticism Fan reaction to the series has been mixed to say the least. Despite all the initial hype, the delayed release and radically different look and feel of the series compared to all previous Star Treks was met with curiosity, derision, and even ridicule by some fans. The phrase “not your father’s Star Trek” was bandied about by the studio execs defending the show, while many of the most ardently outspoken fans against the series railed against its “wokeness”, it’s hyper serialization, it’s not being “real Star Trek”, it’s main character Michael Burnham being a “Mary Sue”, the Klingons not looking like established Klingons from previous series and movies, and even the design of the titular ship. The fanbase became divided into the borderline toxic hate filled “never Discovery, it’s not real Star Trek, it’s woke garbage” camp, and the "it’s Star Trek love it or hate it, any trek is better than no trek” crowd. This reviewer falls somewhere in the middle. While it is de...

A Fan Theory... Just a theory I had...the technology used by the Caretaker to transport USS Voyager, Chakotay's Maquis ship, USS Equinox, Dreadnought, etc. to the Delta Quadrant actually utilized the mycelial network. The Nacene (the Caretaker and Suspiria) are described as a sporocystian life form.  A sporocyst is a structure in Ascosphaera fungi. The important words here are ‘spore’ and ‘fungi’. The USS Discovery’s spore drive used spores of a species of fungus, Prototaxites Stellaviatori to travel vast distances near instantaneously using the mycelial network.  Also, in “Cold Fire” it is established that Suspiria naturally lives in a subspace layer called Exosia. Theory: Exosia is actually the Nacene’s name for the mycelial plane, the subspace layer in which the mycelial network exists. I know that Discovery travelled across the Mycelial Network with little to no ill effects, while the USS Voyager et.al. suffered heavy damage/casualties in the process, however, it should be...