JC's Trek Talk

Episode Spotlight TNG's Yesterday's Enterprise A great episode and definitely a highlight of TNG season 3 (really one of the best episodes of the entire series).  The Enterprise-C gets established in canon, and we learn its fate and its important place in history.  The idea of the ship coming forward in time and creating a whole new timeline in which the Federation and Klingons have been at war for two decades, and the knowledge that even with the certainty of defeat in battle the Enterprise-C has to go back in time into the battle to ensure peace with the Klingons (at the cost of the ship and crews lives) is a powerful bit of storytelling.  Great time travel story.   The transition effect when the timeline changed was great, and the framing of the scene with Picard completely blocking Worf from view (before the change) and then addressing "Lieutenant" and turning to reveal Tasha Yar!!  Sooo great to see Tasha back, and to give her some good meaty scenes wi...

The Prime Directive Case Studies The following is pulled from the Starfleet Academy command school curriculum for Command 101: The Prime Directive General Order 1.  The Prime Directive.  The Federations most sacred regulation.  It prohibits Federation citizens from knowingly or willfully interfering in the natural evolution, development and internal affairs of other cultures, especially those less advanced than the Federation (for planets or cultures who have not yet developed warp travel, all contact is prohibited).  The consequences short term and long term of interference to a civilizations cultural development and evolution are unimaginable, and often irreversible.   Consider these two incidents: Omega IV On stardate 4732.4 Captain Ronald Tracey of the USS Exeter NCC-1672 beamed down to the surface of Omega IV after his crew contracted and succumbed to a viral infection brought aboard by an away team.  Captain Tracey exposed himself and his advance...

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...

Star Trek Most Memorable Movie Quotes The Next Generation Movies Star Trek: Generations Soran: "Time is the fire in which we burn" Data: "Lifeforms doo da doo doo doo.  You tiny little lifeforms doo da doo doo doo.  You precious little lifeforms.  Where are you? doo da doo doo doo doo doo. Doo doo doo." Data: "Ohhhhh shit!" Star Trek: First Contact Data: "I believe I speak for everyone here sir when I say: to hell with our orders." Troi: "Timeline!?  This is no time to argue about time!  We don't have the time!  What was I saying?" Borg Queen: "I am the beginning, the end, the one who is many.  I am The Borg." Zephram Cochrane: "And you people, you're all...astronauts...on some kind of star trek? Lily Sloane: "Borg? Sounds Swedish." Zephram Cochrane: "I gotta take a leak." Geordi: "Leak? I'm not detecting any leak." Zephram Cochrane: "Don't you people from the 24th centur...

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 Gripe Star Trek can't cast child actors (especially recurring characters) age appropriately.  Especially if the character is nonhuman or half human, TPTB always cast the role waaay too old. Example 1: Alexander Rozhenko.  We know he was born during TNGs 3rd season.  When the characters is introduced (season 4, played by Jon Paul Steuer then 5 years old) he looks about 2-3 years old.  When next we see the character (mid-season 5), he's played by Brian Bonsall (then 10 years old), and looks to be at least 6-7.  By the end of the series Alexander looks maybe 8 or 9 years old.  When we see the character some years later on DS9 season 6, he's played by Marc Worden, and looks to be mid-late teens.  TNG season 3 was 2366, DS9 season 6 is 2374 (8 years).  At 8 years old he's already serving on a Klingon ship during a time of war.  Yeah, right. Example 2: Naomi Wildman.  We see Naomi's birth in the Voyager season 2 episode Deadlock (mid...

Star Trek Timeline The TNG/DS9/VOY Era (2364-2379) 2364 • Enterprise-D’s maiden voyage, Jean-Luc Picard assumes command • First contact with Q • First contact with the Ferengi • Bluegill Parasite conspiracy within Starfleet, in the aftermath Admiral Savar is forced to resign.   • Admiral Norah Satie retires • First official contact with the Romulans in over 50 years 2365 • Beverly Crusher becomes head of Starfleet Medical • Katharine Pulaski transfers to USS Enterprise-D • Data is ruled a person not Starfleet property, setting a precedent for the rights of artificial lifeforms • First official contact with the Borg at system J-25 2366 • Beverly Crusher returns to USS Enterprise-D • Alexander Rozhenko, Son of Work and K’Ehleyr is born • USS Protostar arrives on Tars Lamora from 2382 • Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan is diagnosed with Bendii Syndrome • The Borg invade Federation space, Jean-Luc Picard is assimilated and becomes Locutus of Borg • ...

Star Trek: Nemesis Star Trek Nemesis.  Not my favorite Star Trek movie.  In fact, my least favorite TNG movie and my least favorite of the first 10 trek movies.  Some of my biggest grievances with the movie:  Shinzon.  Not the strongest trek movie villian.  The basic concept is not a bad one, a corrupt/ "evil" clone of Picard, a mirror for Picard (paralleling B4 being a "mirror" of sorts for Data), but I feel like the message would have been stronger if Shinzon had just been a straight mirror, not a clone that looks different because he was never "aged up" to Picard's age (to explain away the visual differences between the actors.  Nothing against Tom Hardy, but I firmly believe that it would have been better and simpler to have had Patrick Stewart play Shinzon.  And Patrick Stewart is a high enough caliber actor to play both Picard and Shinzon. The "truck chase" scene.  Not my favorite scene.  Not a bad scene necessarily, but - and othe...

Star Trek Timeline The Lost Era (2294-2363) 2294 • USS Jenolan carrying retired captain Montgomery Scott disappears en route to Norpin V • The Federation-Klingon Neutral Zone ceases to exist • Rachel Garrett is born 2295 • Qagh the Albino uses a retrovirus to infect the firstborn children of Klingon warriors Kang, Kor and Koloth. The three warriors swear a blood oath to avenge their sons deaths • Outbreak of plasma plague on Obi VI 2296 • Ra-Ghoratreii of Efros is re-elected to a third term as UFP president • The Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario at Starfleet Academy is re-written to feature the Romulan Neutral Zone as the setting and Romulans as the enemies • The Ansata separatist group on Rutia IV are denied a bid for independence and begin a long terrorist campaign against the Rutian government 2297 • Turkana IV colony is established • The 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards become operational 2298 • Klingon Ambassador Kamarag, facing discommendati...

Trek Throwback Thursday: SNES (and Genesis) Treks Boldly going into 16-bits The 16-bit era.  Better graphics, deeper gameplay, more colors.  The fourth generation of consoles gave us a bit of a mixed bag of titles for the SNES/Genesis/32X.   Star Trek Starfleet Academy Bridge Combat Simulator Developed by: Interplay Published by: Interplay Released: 1995 Adapted from Interplay's Star Trek Starfleet Academy, Bridge Combat Simulator puts players it the shoes of a Starfleet Academy cadet, working with your simulator crew of fellow cadets completing simulated assignments to level up in class rank (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior) and gain the ability to command different simulated starship classes.  Each "year" consists of 5 simulator missions, for a total of 20, plus one final mission to graduate (the infamous Kobayashi Maru scenario).  The game also includes a simulator room mode which allows for one on one (or two or three) combat simulations, as well as...

Trek Throwback Thursday: Star Trek on Gameboy (and Game Gear) The Gameboy, Nintendo's super popular handheld.  The juggernaut that built the handheld gaming market.  Nintendo's Gameboy and it's competitor from Sega gave us three Star Trek games, one set in the TOS era and two in the TNG era.  Star Trek 25th Anniversary Developed by: Visual Concepts Published by: Ultra Released: 1992 Despite sharing the name, this is not in fact a port of Star Trek 25th Anniversary for the NES.  This action/shoot 'em up game consists of a combination of space shoot 'em up and planetside adventure maze levels, culminating in fighting the Doomsday Machine (from the eponymous TOS episode).  An ok game, the gameplay is a bit basic (necessity of being on the Gameboy), and as such the replay value suffers.   Rating: 2/5  Star Trek: The Next Generation Developed by: Imagineering Inc. Published by: Absolute Entertainment Released: 1993 This is an almost direct port of the ...

Trek Throwback Thursday: Trek Games on the NES "Set a course for sector 8 (bit)"   This is the first of three posts reviewing Star Trek games on Nintendo video game consoles (NES, SNES, Gameboy).  *I know that most of these games were also released on Sega systems.  As I do not have those games or any Sega systems, therefore I have no experience with those games and cannot offer opinions on them.  I will mention the Sega versions of games in these reviews only in terms of which games had ports and where applicable general opinions of the ports compared to the Nintendo games.* The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).  The system   that built Nintendo as a video game giant and at the same time resurrected the American video game market.  This system also gave us trekkies two different Star Trek games: one TOS game and one TNG game.   Star Trek 25th Anniversary Developed by: Interplay Published by: Ultra Released: 1992 An action/adventure f...

The Star Trek Movies: A Ranking As the tile suggests, this is a ranking MY ranking, of the Star Trek movies, all of them, from 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture to 2025's Star Trek Section 31 streaming movie, from subjective best to worst.  Again, this is MY ranking, your mileage may and probably will vary. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Can anyone argue with this being at the top of the list?  Really?  The Star Trek movie of Star Trek Movies.  A riveting story, one of the best villains in the history of the franchise, a strong theme of life (Genesis, Kirk's son David, youth, the academy, young officers) juxtaposed by the theme of death (Spock's death, Kirk feeling old, the Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario and examining how one faces certain death, the idea that Genesis could be used to destroy life).  Also the themes of friendship and loyalty and sacrifice (Kirk and Spock), with some of the franchises most iconic Kirk and Spock lines "The needs of the many......