JC's Trek Talk

Episode Spotlight ENT's First Flight Enterprise has detected a nebula which they think contains dark matter.  Excited, Archer wants to examine it closer, using a shuttlepod to duplicate a Vulcan experiment to excite the dark matter with metreon particles.  Archer then receives a message from Admiral Forrest: his old friend and fellow NX test pilot A. G. Robinson has died in an accident.  In the shuttlebay Archer prepares to go on the shuttle alone, but T'Pol arrives and insists on going with him, citing ship regulations.  After launching the shuttle and moving to the first set of coordinates T'Pol asks Archer about Robinson, having heard some details from Trip.  At first reluctant Archer finally tells her that he and Robinson were in the NX project together as test pilot, and that they both wanted to be the first to break warp 2.  In a flashback to 2143 Commander Archer meets with Commodore Forrest to discuss warp reactor simulations.  Forrest tells hi...

Star Trek Trivia Quiz Delta 1. What actor appeared as the same character in Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek Prodigy and Star Trek Starfleet Academy? 2. The planet Tars Lamora, on which the USS Protostar was found is located in which quadrant? 3. Who was appointed science officer of the USS Enterprise under Captain Decker by Admiral Kirk, but later died in a transporter accident? 4. What xenophobic group led by John Fredrick Paxton attempted to stop the formation of the Coalition of Planets in 2155 before being defeated by the NX-01 crew? 5. In the Kelvin timeline, the USS Enterprise was destroyed by Krall's swarm and the crew temporarily stranded on what planet? 6. After Vulcan reunified with the Romulans, what was the name of planet Vulcan changed to? 7. What was the name of the human soldier from Alcor IV who found the abandoned USS Discovery in the 43rd century? 8. In 2370, the Ferengi attempted to open trade relations with the Dosi, a Dominion member species from the Gamma Quadran...

Star Trek Trivia Quiz Gamma 1. On what ship did Liam Shaw serve as a junior officer during the Battle of Wolf 359? 2. What actor holds the record for playing the most different roles in Star Trek? 3. Before coming aboard the USS Enterprise, Montgomery Scott served aboard what ship, destroyed at Parnassus Beta, as a junior engineer? 4. Subcommander T'Pol and Michael Burnham were both practitioners of what Vulcan martial art? 5. On the USS Enterprise sets, some pipes and conduits are labelled "GNDN".  What does this stand for? 6. In Star Trek III, what command did Scotty tell the computer to activate the self destruct sequence? 7. In "The Outrageous Okona" Data created a holographic nightclub with a standup comedian to better explore humor.  Who played the holographic comedian? 8. Odo's name is a shortened form of a Cardassian word odo'ital.  What does odo'ital mean in Federation Standard? 9. Before he died on Veridian III, what were James Kirk's l...

Star Trek Trivia Quiz Beta 1. What was Emperor Philippa Georgiou's full name? 2. A participant in the Temporal Cold War, the Suliban Cabals mysterious benefactor was said by Agent Daniels to be from what century? 3. What was the title of the groundbreaking research paper penned by Dr. Katharine Pulaski early in her medical career? 4. What ship did James Kirk and Benjamin Finney serve on together as midshipmen? 5. After nearly 7 years in the Delta Quadrant USS Voyager was given it's first official assignment since becoming stranded: to track down an ancient UESPA probe.  What was the name of that probe?  6. On what planet were Michael Burnham's parents apparently killed during a Klingon attack? 7. Who said "before we can care for others, we must care for ourselves"? 8. La'an Noonien-Singh was the sole survivor of a Gorn attack on a colony ship.  What was the name of that ship? 9. What was D'Vana Tendi's title in the Orion Syndicate? 10. The derelict Bor...

Star Trek Trivia Quiz Alpha 1. The events surrounding the deployment of the Gamma Quadrant communication relay were foreseen three thousand years ago and written down in what piece of Bajoran scripture? 2. The ship's chef on the USS Enterprise during Kirk's tenure as captain, who contacted Kirk on the bridge to inform him that the synthesized meatloaf had turned into real turkeys was voiced by whom? 3. When she departed Earth on Voyager's fateful trip to the Badlands, Kathryn Janeway left behind her fiancé Mark and her pregnant Irish setter.  What was the dog's name? 4. Following a distress signal, Starfleet security officer turned Maquis leader Michael Eddington went down in a blaze of glory saving Maquis refugees on a secret base on what planetoid? 5. During the trip to 1986 San Francisco, James Kirk went on a dinner date with marine biologist Dr. Gillian Taylor.  What beverage did they order with their meals at the pizza restaurant? 6. DS9's "The Search, par...

Throwback Thursday Star Trek Enterprise Retrospective Intro The fifth Star Trek (live action) series.  The last series of the Berman era of Star Trek.  The oddball of the Berman era trek shows.  Airing for 4 seasons on UPN from 2001-2005 Star Trek Enterprise (originally just Enterprise Enterprise) was created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga as a prequel series, taking place in the 2150s, Enterprise tells the story of the first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise NX-01 and its crew, humanity dipping its toes into deep space for the first time.  The "right stuff" pioneering days of Starfleet's interstellar exploration, before the founding of the Federation.  Before energy shields, tractor beams, holodecks and replicators.  When things like the transporter were still experimental.  A sound premise, and a good chance to explore a heretofore mostly unknown era of the trek timeline.  Until the network brass decided they had to meddle.  Thankfully Berm...

JC's Guide to the Final Frontier III The Search for Answers Another fistful of the Final Frontier's follies and failings General Order 1 And the award for the quickest violation of the prime directive (relative to the beginning of the ship's mission) goes to...Captain Christopher Pike.  On the first day of his second five year mission, Captain Pike revealed himself, his half-Vulcan science officer and the Enterprise itself to the natives of Kylie 279.  Granted he was sent there to rescue a captured Starfleet survey team, and granted the prime directive was already violated before that when the battle between Starfleet and the Control-controlled Section 31 forces near Xahea was observed by the Kylians (a classified event in and of itself) and granted it went peacefully and the Kylians would eventually become Federation members, and the classified nature of how the Kylians learned about warp technology let Pike off the hook anyway so... I guess all's well that ends well. ...

Thoughts on the infamous Star Trek Enterprise Theme Song One thing for which Star Trek Enterprise has long been criticized by fans is the theme song.  The remixed (twice) reperformance of Diane Warren's "Faith of the Heart" (the version used for the ENT theme is officially titled "Where My Heart Will Take Me").  While I do understand the vibe the producers were going for using that as the theme song, with the show being about humanity's journey to the stars and all the hurdles and adversity they had to overcome to arrive on the interstellar scene and the shows optimistic future view (core Trek), I also share many of the complaints/issues that other Trekkies have with this choice of song.   1: It's not original.  Unlike all other previous Star Trek theme songs, this one is not original, having been written by Diane Warren and performed by Rod Stewart for the 1998 Robin Williams movie Patch Adams.  So not only is it not original, it wasn't even origina...

JC's Guide to the Final Frontier Volume II  More glib, blunt and possibly politically incorrect musings on the final frontier: Unluckiest in Love Possibly the unluckiest man in the Galaxy when it comes to women is a certain eternally mono-piped ops officer on the intrepid starship Voyager.  Out of politeness I won't say his name, but it rhymes with "Harry Kim".  Among his failed exploits: a holodeck character puppeted by an alien, an ex-Borg, the wrong Delaney twin, a women from a xenophobic species (including sex without medical clearance-he got reprimanded for that one) a resurrected dead crewmember, and a group of life-sucking Taresian bridezillas.  This guy has even less luck with the opposite sex than Geordi LaForge.  Stranger Things Sir Arthur Eddington (no relation to Maquis leader Michael-we hope) once said: "Not only is the Universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine".  True.  Look at the time women from Sigma Draconi...

The Worst of Star Trek Enterprise These are the Voyages... The. Worst. Episode. Of. Star. Trek. Ever.   Enterprise cocreator and executive producer Rick Berman actually called this episode "a valentine to the fans".  NO.  This is a fuck you the fans.  Episodes like "Turnabout Intruder" and "Code of Honor" are sexist and racist, but this episode is actually insulting to the fanbase.  The six year flash-forward to the final mission of the NX-01, seen as a holodeck episode on the Enterprise-D during the events of "The Pegasus" (an episode that has bugger all to do with the Enterprise finale).  Putting TNG characters in another series episode is one thing, but putting TNG characters in Enterprise's finale is insulting to Enterprise.  A series finale is supposed to celebrate the legacy of the series.  Characters from other series distract from the finale and have no place in it.  Add to that a weak, uninteresting story, unconvincing villains,...

Hot Take: Star Trek Enterprises "Affliction" and "Divergence" I actually kinda like Star Trek Enterprises "Affliction" and "Divergence" two parter.  People complain about this episode and I've never understood why.  For years-nay-decades some fans complained about the Klingons in the movies/TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT looking different than those in TOS.  Many of these same fans bitched and complained when Enterprise explained the difference in the two parter as a failed attempt by the Klingons to genetically improve themselves with Human augment DNA (a-la Khan).  I actually thought this was a really good explanation for the change.  It's creative for sure, it doesn't break canon, and it fits into the Klingon mindset (honor and strength, feeling that using human DNA in their own DNA and the fact that it caused them to lose their cranial ridges and look more human would make them look and feel weaker and would be seen as dishonorable).  This also ...

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 ...

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 Mid 22nd Century (2150-2169) Enterprise 2150 • Australia, the last holdout nation joins the United Earth government • Construction begins on NX-01 Enterprise • Jonathan Archer is selected as captain of the NX-01 Enterprise  2151 • NX-01 Enterprise launched • First contact with the Klingons • First contact with the Andorians • First contact with the Axanari • Earth Starfleet becomes aware of the Temporal Cold War 2152 • First contact with Risa • First contact with the Romulans • First contact with the Tholians 2153 • NX-02 Columbia begins construction • The Xindi weapon attacks Earth killing 8 million • NX-01 is refit, begins its mission into the Delphic Expanse to confront the Xindi threat • First contact with the Xindi 2154 • NX-01 destroys the second Xindi weapon • After travelling to 1944 Earth NX-01 helps to end the Temporal Cold War • NX-01 is drydocked for a refit • NX-01 captures Dr. Arik Soong and his au...

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...