JC's Trek Talk

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 3 Reaction: Episode 8 Four and a Half Vulcans So...another "Vulcan hijinks" episode.  And more of the La'an-Spock relationship.  Still not sure about this one.  The story line about the mission to the planet undercover as Vulcans is interesting.  Not sure about the choice of music for the corridor scene.  I got a giggle at Pike doing the "Space the final frontier" speech as a Vulcan.  Honestly I'd have liked to have seen a bit more of the mission down to the planet, but I'm guessing story and probably budget considerations said otherwise.  The human characters acting "super Vulcan" comes off as a bit campy and stilted.  Also: contrary to the writers belief Vulcans can use contractions.  The twist of "we've fixed the problem but we don't want to use it" is cliche at this point and over used.  Honestly the "humans being over-done Vulcans" gag wears thin fast.  The Vulcan with a human...

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 mayber 8 or 9 years old.  When we see the charater 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 Strange New Worlds Season 3 Reaction: Episode 7 What is Starfleet? I love the documentary announcement at the beginning of the episode.  The documentary as a framing device for the episodes primary story is an interesting and refreshing change.  It also gave a lot of opportunities introspective moments for the crew.  Storywise, it's a nice standard Star Trek Mission complete with moral quandary and debate between the crew, very much giving TOS and cold war vibes.  It was nice to see the shuttlecraft, albeit briefly.  We haven't seen it in a bit.  Also the reveal through the "telepathic connection" with Uhura that the creature  wants to die and the plan that the crew device is very TNG in many ways.  Putting the credits and title as an ending instead of the normal title sequence was a nice touch to not break up or take away from the documentary style of the episode. Observations:  The on-screen specs of the Enterprise stating the shi...

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...

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 3 Reaction: Episode 6 The Sehlat Who Ate It's Tail So we start onboard the Farragut.  We finally get to see the real James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) which is cool at this point.  It's fun to see Enterprise and another ship working together.  The away team beaming into the corridor of the damaged USS Farragut (including Scotty talking about the damage and heading to engineering) really reminds me of the Enterprise away team beaming into the corridor of the severely damaged USS Constellation in TOS "The Doomsday Machine".  Paul Wesley does a pretty good job as "TOS Kirk": his mannerisms, delivery, without being over the top.  As one who was hitherto skeptical of Paul Wesley as "new Kirk", I was pleasantly surprised, and dare I say, I would like to see more.  The phone thing is kinda funny, especially with the triple split screen.  The twist at the end was cool, with the "scavengers" being the descendants of h...