Star Trek Social Club

In Trek fandom, we often think about the badmirals. However, we never consider radmirals. With that in mind, who do you think is the best admiral? This includes commodores, vice admirals, rear admirals, etcetera.

I’m not counting main characters who got promoted after their main series e.g Picard, Kirk, Janeway, La Forge, etcetera.

The title is the same as the famous two-part TNG episode that brought Leonard Nimoy as Spock back to our screens and possibly an allusion to bringing several parts of Star Trek together. It is being released on the 30th Anniversary of Star Trek: Generations.

The opening epigraph, “How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life,” is from ST II, when Kirk is flippantly answering Saavik’s queries about the unfairness of the Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario.

The figure floating in space is Gary Mitchell, the former navigator of the USS Enterprise and Kirk’s former student and best friend, who gained god-like powers after the ship went through the barrier at the edge of the Galaxy in TOS: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, developed megalomania and was eventually killed. Commander Jack Ransom, XO of the USS Cerritos went through something similar but survived in LD: “Strange Energies”. Gary Lockwood, Mitchell’s original actor, is credited, as he came back to do motion capture for the footage.

There follow a series of quick scenes, some of them taken from the previous Roddenberry Archive short films/teasers “765874: Memory Wall” and “765874: Regeneration”. “Memory Wall” refers to an unproduced scene from TMP where Kirk and Spock explore an information storage chamber inside V’Ger.

TNG-era Spock is standing on Veridian III, where Kirk and Picard fought Soran in Generations. The scaffolding and bridge is from where Soran planned to launch a missile to destroy Veridian’s sun and alter the course of the temporal Nexus. Kirk and Picard stopped him at the cost of Kirk’s life. The real-life location of this is the Silica Dome, Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Spock is played by actor Lawrence Selleck with a combination of prosthetics and CGI to make him resemble the late Leonard Nimoy.

A futuristic city that is probably 23rd Century San Francisco, seen in “765874” and with TMP-era Spock looking over it in “Regeneration”.

A blurry shot of someone performing a mind-meld on a Vulcan child, seen more clearly in “Memory Wall”.

A group of people on a mesa from “Memory Wall”. I am unable to identify the significance of the Eye of Sauron-like relief on the ground, but I am told it resembles an image of V’Ger, another allusion to the “Memory Wall” scene and a quick flash of V’Ger’s Voyager 6 name plate in that film.

The woman dressed in a uniform from TOS: “The Cage” is Yeoman J.M. Colt, who was Pike’s yeoman in that original pilot. Originally played by Laurel Goodwin in 1964, she is played by Mahé Thaissa, who previously played her in “765874”, “765874: Memory Wall” and “765874: Regeneration”.

765874 is Colt’s Starfleet service number, taken from Star Trek: Early Voyages Vol. 1 #13 (Feb 1998) (she was given the name Mia in the comic).

A shot of the USS Enterprise-D saucer after it crashed on Veridian III during the events of Generations, from “Regeneration”.

Mia Colt touching her finger to a mysterious wall of floating particles, from “Memory Wall”.

A new scene of TMP Spock melding with a Vulcan child. Given what happens later in the short, I’m confident this is Saavik, from when Spock found her as a child on the planet Hellguard in 2274 (between TMP and ST II) and took her in (TOS novel The Pandora Principle). While not on screen canon, Saavik’s backstory has been well established in novels and comics.

A new scene of Colt, now dressed in a Kelvin Timeline short-sleeved skant, in a chamber showing scans of Kirk. I can’t make out most of the words on the displays, but one relates Kirk’s service record and another ends with the words “… by the Director of Starfleet Intelligence”. This reminds me of where Kirk’s body was stored on Daystrom Station and its reference to a mysterious “Project Phoenix” (PIC: “The Bounty”).

Kirk, in his uniform from Generations and looking like his age there, walks through a peaceful garden. William Shatner is credited, seemingly returning to the role at the age of 93, but Kirk is in fact played by Sam Witwer, notable for his roles voicing Darth Maul in Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, among many other genre credits. Witwer is playing the Kirk with CGI prostheses, and Shatner just so credited for his participation and providing his likeness. We also see Robin Curtis as an aged Saavik. First played by Kirstie Alley in ST II, Curtis replaced Alley as Saavik in ST III and ST IV.

One of the crowd is a man with white hair is dressed in a 2375-era Starfleet captain’s dress uniform, but with white trousers instead of black. This character is credited as “Crusher”, played by John Daltorio, but otherwise his presence is not explained. The most likely Crusher would be Wesley, who as an interdimensional Traveler (TNG: “Journey’s End”, PIC: “Farewell”, PRO: “Into the Breach”) would be the obvious choice. His being in the dress uniform could be a reference to Wil Wheaton’s mostly deleted cameo in Nemesis at the Riker-Troi wedding.

The Vulcan that Saavik introduces Kirk to is Sorak (played by Mark Cinnery). He is Spock and Saavik’s son, according to the accompanying featurette “Robin Curtis: Becoming Saavik”. Fandom has discussed for decades about whether Spock did indeed impregnate Saavik on Genesis during his pon farr in ST III and whether or not she stayed behind on Vulcan in ST IV because she was pregnant. Given that Sorak seems relatively old, this is likely where this comes from.

We know that Spock did marry (TNG: “Sarek”), but the wife’s name was never mentioned on screen. The novels have him marrying Saavik (Vulcan’s Heart, which apparently inspired this scene) after a very long courtship. Given how long Vulcans live, it’s not as icky as it sounds.

The alien Kirk meets is Yor (played by Gorden Tarpley), a Betelgeusian Lieutenant Commander who was a Time Soldier from the year 2379 of the Kelvin Timeline who fought in the Temporal Wars (DIS: “Terra Firma, Part 1”). We previously saw him as a hologram and cautionary tale as he died in agony in the Prime timeline sometime around the 31st Century, a side effect of having been transported across both universes and time periods. Yor hands Kirk a Starfleet badge - the same one Kirk wore in Generations and that Picard placed on Kirk’s grave.

Sam Witwer, notable for his roles voicing Darth Maul in Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, among many other genre credits, is also credited as Kirk, and may be playing the TOS Kirk with CGI prostheses.

When Generations-Kirk switches with TOS-Kirk, we hear a bridge chirp sound effect very briefly in the mix. The three Kirks are from different eras: TOS, ST II and Generations.

“There are always possibilities…” is taken from the last Captain’s log from ST II. On the wall is hung a set of Vulcan chimes (TOS: “Amok Time”) and a Vulcan lyre (TOS: “Charlie X”). On the table is an IDIC pendant (TOS: “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”) and a piece of jewellery shaped like Vulcan script and, although covered, the photograph of Kirk & Co. (taken on the bridge of the NCC-1701-A during ST V) that Prime Spock bequeathed to Kelvin Spock in Star Trek Beyond. In a teaser to this film, Colt is shown placing the photograph on the table in this scene.

Kirk approaches old Spock and they grasp hands in the same way that Spock did to him during TMP (“This simple feeling is beyond V’Ger’s comprehension.”) and of course he does his famous eyebrow raise at Kirk’s presence. Spock died in the Kelvin Timeline on January 2, 2263 on New Vulcan at the age of 161, having also been transported back in time and across universes.

The sky and landscape outside the window is reminiscent of Vulcan, so the Kelvin Timeline Vulcans must have found a similar planet to settle on after its destruction in ST 2009. It is portrayed that way in the 2013 Star Trek video game, when it is invaded by the Gorn.

There is a special thanks to Kevin Feige, who apparently made some things possible for the production and is a huge Trek fan.

• The episode title refers to the previously unseen Starbase 80, first mentioned in season one’s “Terminal Provocations”. It has the reputation of being a place where Starfleet consigns it’s worst officers.

    • In the season premiere, “Dos Cerritos”, we learned that the Cap’n Freeman of the alternate universe featured in that episode was stationed at Starbase 80.

• This season’s ongoing plot, Boimler’s facial hair, has progressed to the point where he’s got a little chin beard situation. Good for him.

• It’s Matt and Kimolu! From Star Trek! The Cetacean Ops whales have technically not been seen since “Trusted Sources” in season three, though we were introduced to Swhale Swahlens, the gestalt being who was a combination of Matt and Steve Stevens in “Twovix”.

• The pleasure planet Casperia Prime was first mentioned in “Change of Heart”.

• ”I’m hosting their first annual scatting battle.” We learned that Cap’n Freeman performs vocal jazz in “Moist Vessel”.

• ”Nooooooooooooooooo!” Mariner was reassigned to Starbase 80 in “Trusted Sources”, and it resulted in her temporarily resigning her commision.

• The shuttlecraft that flies at the screen appears to be a Type 15 shuttlepod.

• ”Check me out, I’m a total T’Pol over here.” The USS Cerritos crew needs to slather themselves with a gel, in a scene inspired by ENT’s somewhat maligned decon chamber scenes.

• The corridors of Starbase 80 are modeled after those of the USS Enterprise as we saw them in TOS, down to the ascending Jeffries tubes, intercom units on the walls, and multi coloured caples across the ceiling supports. Everything is just somewhat more distressed. The most noticeable departure is the access hatch doors are octagonal as opposed to rectangular.

    • The turbolifts are also modeled after what we see aboard the Enterprise, requiring handles to be turned to operate.

• We are introduced to commander Kasia Nox, who appears to be wearing a pre-Federation, ENT style uniform, including the gold piping for command. Though she has gold circular rank pips, and not the rectangular ones used by the crew of the NX-01.

    • In “Trusted Sources”, the Starbase 80 crew who arrived on the Cerritos to transport Mariner were wearing yellow jumpsuits. We also see green, and blue jumpsuits in this episode.

• Chief engineer Gene Jakobowski is played by Stephen Root, who also played Klingon captain K’Vada in “Unification I” and “Unification II”.

    • Like Nox, Gene wears an ENT style uniform. Later, in the arcade, Gene is also wearing a vest similar to the one Scotty first wore in “Star Trek: The Voyage Home”.

• ”Yeah, this base is basically controlled by a knife gang.” The Acamarians were introduced in “The Vengeance Factor”, and we learned about the Gatherers, a group of Acamarians who refused to accept the peace of nearly 300 years of blood feuds between clans, and became roving marauders.

    • One of the vendors in the food court area aboard SB80 has a sign advertising Parthas, a dish the Acamarian assassin Yuta prepared for commander Riker.

    • Another vendor’s sign reads ”Lornak’s.” the Lornak clan was wiped out by the blood feuds.

• Among the…second hand items at the vintage clothing store are:

    • TOS style female red operations uniforms

    • TOS style male blue sciences uniform shirts

    • Command gold ”new” uniform jackets of the sort worn by the Enterprise crew in DIS season two

    • SNW style female gold command uniform skants

    • TNG season one and two, blue science uniform top

    • A mirror universe dagger

    • A TMP security officer helmet

    • A TMP style admiral’s uniform

    • The jacket worn by Ruk in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”

    • The fedoras worn by Kirk and Spock in “A Piece of the Action”

    • A TOS style Klingon uniform with baldric

    • One of the harnesses worn by the Edo, including testical bulge

    • A Nazi officer’s cap, presumably from “Patterns of Force”

    • A type-3 phaser rifle of the sort introduced in “Star Trek: First Contact”

    • A movie era command division maroon uniform jacket

    • A movie era expedition jacket, as introduced in “Star Trek: The Search for Spock”

    • A hat seen worn by Vulcan technicians in “Star Trek: The Voyage Home” and Tendi when she attempts to help O’Connor ascend in “Moist Vessle”

    • TOS era tricorders

    • One of the Starfleet cylindrical shoulder bags occasionally seen on TNG

    • A giant pile of TOS era red shirts

• Doctor Harrison Horseberry was affected by the Tarchannen parasite that affected a Starfleet Outpost on Tarchannen III, as well as the away team of the USS Victory sent to investigate, including Geordi, as recounted in “Identity Crisis”.

    • The victims of the Tarchannen parasites turn invisible to the human eye, but apparently being cured prevented the half of Doctor Horseberry that was genetically rewritten from displaying that trait.

• ”I’m El-Aurian, I think I know how to fight.” Though we did see Soren fight both Kirk and Picard in “Star Trek Generations”, it has never been established that fighting is something El-Aurians are well known for.

• ”We don’t have combadges, we use old wall comms.” The SB80 officers who came to pick up Mariner in “Trusted Sources” did have combadges.

• In the arcade we see:

    • A “Space Invaders” style game where the player controls a Valdore-class Romulan ship defending against descending Starfleet Constitution-class ships

    • A game called “Cardboard Chinos” which has a sign that appears to be a Caitian in a box, much like we saw Doctor T’Ana playing with a box in “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”

    • A game featuring the Koala. Why is he smiling? What does he know?

    • A game called “Ferengi’s Fortune” that looks to play like “Joust”

    • A game called “The Captain’s Chair”; there is a real world video game titled “Star Trek: Captain’s Chair” though this does not appear similar

• Jet is riding a Toby the Targ children’s ride. Toby the Targ. B’Elanna had a Toby the Targ plush with her aboard the USS Voyager according to Tom Paris in “Tsunkatse”.

• Doctor Horseberry discovers there is an anaphasic consciousness named Clem controlling Matt. Doctor Crusher’s deceased grandmother’s body was controlled by the anaphasic being Ronin in “Sub Rosa” and he used her to attack Data and Geordi with tendrils of green energy.

• Doctor Horseberry is able to exorcise Clem by hitting Matt with a pool net. Violence also disrupted Ronin’s influence in “Sub Rosa” when Doctor Crusher attacked him with a phaser.

• The SB80 crew is able to provide Clem with a stable vessel for them to inhabit. In “Sub Rosa”, Ronin’s being was tethered to an ancient candle holder.

    • Clem’s vessel looks a lot like a microwave, which is kind of a modern candle when you think about it.

• The episode title is a play on the title of the 1590 George Peele poem, “A Farewell to Arms”, which Ernest Hemmingway also referenced with his 1929 novel of the same name.

• It’s Ma’ah! From Star Trek. Ma’ah first appeared in season three’s “wej’Duj”, and is voiced by Jon Curry.

• Ma’ah’s brother, Malor, is voiced by Sam Witwer, as is the character of Sig Legnog. Witwer previously played an unnamed Xindi-Arboreal in “The Shipment”, and voiced the character of Tenavik in STO, after Kenneth Mitchell personally choose Witwer to replace him.

• In this episode we learn that bloodwine is made from worms that have been stomped similar to grapes. Bloodwine was first mentioned in TNG’s “A Matter of Honor”.

    • The sequence of Ma’ah going through the process of producing bloodwine may have been intended as a callback to the scene in “The Star Gazer” where we see Château Picard being prepared. As opposed to Picard’s longing glances at Laris though, we see Ma’ah annoyed with Mariner attempting to call him.

• This is the second episode to not use the standard LDS title sequence featuring the USS Cerritos’s misadventures, the first being “A Mathematically Perfect Redemption”

• Bahgol is a Klingon beverage previously seen in “Blood Oath”.

• K’Elarra is voiced by Mary Chiefo who played L’Rell in seasons one and two of DIS.

• K’Elarra is…physically aggressive with Ma’ah as an act of courtship. In “The Dauphin” Worf described Klingon women mating behaviour to Wesley as, “Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects. And claw at you.”

• ”Don’t count on that. Ma’ah killed Bargh’s brother,” Malor tattles by relating the events of “wej’Duj”.

• Boimler’s facial hair has grown in enough to see that his moustache is purple as well. According to his own log in “Grounded”, Boimler dyes his hair, and no one knows what his real hair colour is.

• ”Doctor Migleemo, I’ve never seen you this nervous before, not even when I made you fight that giant Orion,” Tendi relates the events of “Old Friends, New Planets”.

• ”We Klowahkans invented warp travel in the hopes of discovering strange new meals.” Migleemo reveals that his preoccupation with food is something of a species trait, as opposed to unique to himself.

    • This is the first time we’ve heard the name of Migleemo’s species. Coincidentally, the name for this species of birdlike people sounds very similar to the excretory vent birds, as well as reptiles and amphibians, have.

• The Ketha Lowlands are part of the Ketha province, where Martok’s family is from, as per “Once More Unto the Breach”.

• ”Hey, look, you really helped me back on Serbal V, all right?” Mariner and Ma’ah fought in “The Inner Fight” until she experienced a breakthrough coping with Sito Jaxa’s death.

• ”Weren’t you just afraid of skiing?” Boimler attempted to go down the Coward’s Gulch path aboard the Cosmic Duchess, before having to follow a person he was tailing down the Expert’s Demise slope.

• Madame Gonald is voiced by Gillian Vigman, who regularly portrays Doctor T’Ana.

• ”Experience bij!” A Klingon hover biker hollers a line from the 1993 interactive VCR board game, “Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Klingon Challenge”.

• It’s K’orin! From Star Trek. General K’orin was introduced in the episode “Envoys”. He’s voiced by Jess Harnell.

    • ”Yeah, we violated some treaties back in the day.” In “Envoys” Mariner told Boimler that she and K’orin were involved in ”off the books, grey ops stuff.”

• The Oversight Council chambers feature sets of Klingon honour guard uniforms from STO.

• Bargh is voiced by Colton Dunn, who previously portrayed Dorg, Bargh’s brother, in “wej’Duj”.

• We learn that Doctor Migleemo’s first name is Gabers.

• The Rite of Unending Pain appears to be superficially similar to the Rite of Ascension seen in “The Icarus Factor”. Those undergoing the rite walk through a path lined by raised platforms with warriors wielding painstiks to either side.

• ”Once Kahless made it across the field, he tore the thorns from his legs and he used them to kill Fek’lhr.” As per “Devil’s Advocate”, Fek’lhr is a demonic figure, and the Guardian of Grethor.

• Darsek’s a Klingon currency first mentioned in “Fristborn”.

• Migleemo claims the hogfish galantine is ”as plorpful as the ones served on Enara Prime.” Enara Prime was featured in the third season VOY episode “Remember”, and is in the Delta Quadrant. This raises the question of how Migleemo would know about their cuisine.

• ”Look, a while back, I was transferred to one of the coolest ships in Starfleet.” Boimler was transferred to the USS Titan at the end of “No Small Parts”, and transferred back to the Cerritos in “Kayshon, His Eyes Open”. Though he didn’t so much choose to return to the Cerritos as he wasn’t able to serve on the same ship as his transporter duplicate.

• We learn that Mariner was in on Qo’noS for more than just returning an artifact and to help Ma’ah regain his rank; another quantum fissure has appeared in Klingon space, making this the third episode of the season where the fissures have been a factor.

    • The scanning indicates that the dimensional rifts are not a natural occurrence.

• Cap’n Freeman, Rutherford, and Tendi swapped out the Klowahakan’s amuse bouche with replicated manure. In “There Is A Tide” Admiral Vance informs Osyraa the replicators use recycled waste to create food. ”It tastes pretty good for shit.”

• “A Klowahakan without a sense of taste is no Klowahakan at all.” Doctor Migleemo’s adage echoes Rule of Acquisition 18: “A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.” And, according to Kor in “The Sword of Kahless”, ”A Klingon who denies himself the Rite of Vengeance is no Klingon at all.”

• ”Martok started on a ship like this.” Martok claimed in “Once More Unto the Breach” that he started as a labourer cleaning the officer’s mess aboard General ShiVang’s flagship.

• ”I can see Kahless! The first one, the original one!” Kahless’s clone was discovered by Worf on Boreth in “Rightful Heir”.

    • ”The one that did impressions!” It was revealed in “The Savage Curtain” that Kahless was skilled at mimicking the cries of his foes to lure their allies into traps. Honourably. He also would do a tight five minutes at open mic nights.

The Voyager episode “Bliss” has always been a wonderful story in my opinion. Naomi Wildman and Seven of Nine, two individuals who joined the ship’s crew after the events of “Caretaker”, find solidarity in their respective distance to life on Earth. They also in a time of crisis bring comfort and assist each other.

Whenever I see a conversation along the lines of "what episode should I show my friend/partner/etc. to get them hooked on Star Trek," the suggestions are pretty predictable - your "best" episodes that are regarded to represent the franchise at its peak.

I like to take a different approach, trying to find episodes that I feel are most representative of the series - the "average" Star Trek episode. If you show someone the "best," there's nowhere to go but down, and it can set someone up for disappointment.

In the case of Star Trek, I actually find this pretty difficult, and I don't think I've come up with any that I feel are really good answers, so I'm taking it to the crowd: what are the most representative episodes of Star Trek.

To me, these are the boxes that probably need to be ticked:

• Enjoyable (obviously).
• A conventional structure that doesn't deviate from the norm too much - this is a flexible concept, but I think it excludes things like "Darmok," or "Tapestry," or "In the Pale Moonlight," which are not really conventional.
• Any series is fair game.

What do you think? What are some "normal" Star Trek episodes that would serve as good representation of what the franchise usually is?

Star Trek on Laserdisc

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*Available in TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY, and theatrical release flavors.

It's guaranteed very few Star Trek fans have ever seen these, they are as hard to find as it gets. What we have here is Star Trek on a fully analog video format that isn't plagued by digital artifacts found on streaming platforms and early DVD releases (such as the DS9/VOY releases), nor does it have any of the quality issues found with VHS tape.

The elephant in the room here is cost, so don't go searching Ebay/ZenMarket just yet. As with most analog hifi things, you have to spend a lot to get high quality results. Laserdisc is no exception, and it's even worse because of the rarity of the discs and the equipment all having antique status.

That being said, in my quest to transport myself back to the 1990's, I have amassed enough equipment and specialty gear to capture Laserdiscs in stupidly high quality, and have uploaded the results for normal people to see. Now the preferred way to watch these is in their native resolution with a high end LD player hooked directly to a retro Trinitron CRT or Plasma TV, but these direct disc captures will be the best possible viewing method on modern display devices.

Voyager LD Sample YT -- VOY LD Sample Direct Download

DS9 LD Sample YT -- DS9 LD Sample Direct Download

Hardware used for capture:

• Pioneer CLD-D704
• Domesday Duplicator
• Windows PC (i9-10900k/RTX-3080/32GB RAM)

Software used for processing:

• ld-decode
• Hybrid + Vapoursynth
• Premiere Pro
• Audition
• Topaz

Annotations for Star Trek: Lower Decks 4x06: “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place”:

The title is a pun on the 2004 British horror parody television series Garth Merenghi’s Darkplace.

The Ferengi starship appears to be a variant of that owned by the Ferengi merchant Ulis in 2151 (ENT: “Acquisition”).

Rom became the Grand Nagus in DS9: “The Dogs of War”, Zek appointing Rom as his successor to carry on his reforms to create a kinder, gentler Ferenginar.

The Genesis Device is of course the central McGuffin of ST II. The one that blew up and created the Genesis Planet was thought to be the only one, but we’ve seen another model stored in Daystrom Station (PIC: “The Bounty”).

“He thinks Rom is the next Lonz.” A deep cut, Lonz was the most famous nose flute player in Ferengi history, also known as “Old Golden Nostril” (DS9 book: Legends of the Ferengi).

Rule of Acquisition No. 62: “The riskier the road, the greater the profit”, was first mentioned in DS9: “Rules of Acquisition”, among other episodes.

The Stardate is 58901.5. The Ferengi Alliance wanting to join the Federation is a huge deal. Although Nog was the first Ferengi in Starfleet (DS9: “Heart of Stone”), by 2400, there will be more Ferengi cadets in Starfleet Academy (PIC: “The Star Gazer”, a Ferengi flag is being flown during commencement among other flags showing the composition of the graduating class), and by the 32nd Century, Ferengi officers are seen frequently, even a Captain (DIS: “Anomaly”).

The foods being served on board the Parliament-class (LD: “Cupid’s Errant Arrow”) USS Toronto (NCC-70494) include a bowl of Ferengi tube grubs (DS9: “Homefront”), cheese cut out in Starfleet delta shapes and a wooden serving board in the shape of a Galaxy-class cruiser.

The bald Admiral is Vassery, who commanded Douglas Station and was the one Mariner mocked for his pronunciation of “sen-soar” (LD: “Moist Vessel”). He also appeared in Mariner’s holoprogram (LD: “Crisis Point”).

Moab IV is the location of the Genome Colony, a self-contained domed enclosing a genetically and socially-engineered society (TNG: “The Masterpiece Society”). The environment outside the dome was uninhabitable at the time the Enterprise-D visited, so Vassery’s joke might mean that has changed. Or is just a bad joke.

The 10th Rule of Acquisition is “Greed is eternal” (DS9: “Prophet Motive”); Freeman trying to quote this expresses her skepticism about Ferenginar’s application.

Leeta’s title as “First Clerk” is the title of the Nagus’ personal financial assistant (DS9: “Ferengi Love Songs”). Rom and her are accompanied by what seems to be a female Hupyrian. The species is known to be favorites of the Grand Naguses as servants, bodyguards and food tasters due to their devotion to their masters and their vows of silence to anyone other than their master. Zek’s male servant was Maihar’du (DS9: “The Nagus”).

I got to admit, the Ceremonial Invoice and the “Friends and Family Discount” made me spit out my soda. God, I’ve missed the Ferengi - the DS9 development of them, specifically. Yes, Quark made an appearance in DS9: “Hear All, Trust Nothing”, but still.

Self-sealing stem bolts are a component that nobody is quite sure what they do or what they’re for, except that they’re self-sealing. And are stem bolts (DS9: “Progress”).

For the record, “Lieutenants junior grade” is the grammatically correct usage. Much like it’s “Attorneys-General” and not “Attorney-Generals”.

There have been two travel guides published in the real world for Star Trek under the Hidden Universe Travel Guides banner: one for the Klingon Empire and the other for Vulcan. I also love the fact that the Cerritos is statistically the horniest and least committed crew in Starfleet because that tracks so much.

Finishing each other’s diophantine equations (polynomial equations where only integer solutions are allowed) could be a reference to a classic gag from Arrested Development where Michael says about Nellie, that they finish each other’s… and Lindsay chimes in with “Sandwiches?” to Michael’s bewilderment. The same joke coincidentally shows up in That 70s Show and as part of the song “Love is an Open Door” in Frozen.

Honus is the ship’s bartender (LD: “Mugato, Gumato”) and Nurse Westlake (LD: “Second Contact”) is named for Chris Westlake, the composer for LD.

We see a Ferengi shuttle (DS9: “Little Green Men”) flying by as we approach Ferenginar, on which it is always raining (DS9: “Family Business”). The Ferengi language has 178 words for rain (and none for “crisp”), rather like the hundreds of words Inuits use to describe various types of snow (DS9: “Let He Who is Without Sin”). The tall building dominating the skyline is the Ferengi Tower of Commerce, the capital building of the government (“Prophet Motive”).

Signs advertise All You Can @#S%!, Slug-O-Cola (DS9: “Profit and Lace”), Uncle Quark’s Youth Casino, Maxium Oo-Mox Rub Dungeon, Acquire Pour Homme, Lobe’s Lodge, Slug-Nasium. A marquee says “Now Playing: Latinum Lost!!!” which may be a reference to the Litverse novella Lust’s Latinum Lost (and Found), which centers around the erotic holonovel of the same title.

The things on Boimler’s to-do list are:

• Drop off Bags
• Hotel Room Inspection: Mini Bar, Toilet, Pay Wall
• View Screen Inspected
• Museum of Bribery
• Ferengi Center for Forged Arts
• Ferengi Hall of Fame Gift Shop (Hall of Fame Coming Soon)

The size of Ferengi lobes is a symbol of virility and business acumen, which is what the Slug-O-Cola commercial plays on.

Quimp appeared in LD: “Envoys”, meeting Mariner on Tulgana IV, staging a fake attack to boost Boimler’s confidence.

Oberth-classes (like the USS Grissom from ST III) take a lot of flak. T’Ana once screamed that she didn’t spend 7 years on one just to get reassigned to a station (LD: “The Stars at Night”).

The “dagger of the mind” drink probably refers to TOS: “Dagger of the Mind” where a neural neutralizer empties a mind and makes it susceptible to suggestion.

Rom was on Sisko’s baseball team, the Niners, in DS9: “Take Me Out to the Holosuite” and scored the only run for the team in that game.

The unicorn dog in the Ferengi landlord cop show is of the species from Alfa 177 (TOS: “The Enemy Within”). We last saw one of them in the menagerie in LD: “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”.

As Boimler laughs about product placement he is sitting in front of the Paramount logo. The screen also resembles the CBS eye logo.

Parth is using a holographic imager, but oddly enough closer to the Starfleet design (last seen in SNW: “Those Old Scientists”) rather than a Ferengi one (DS9: “Meridian”).

Mariner and Quimp play dabo (DS9: “Babel”) at the Ferenginar Historical Library.

Quark’s Federation Experience Bar & Grill (referring to the late lamented Las Vegas Star Trek: The Experience), has models of the Voyager and Enterprise-D hanging from the ceiling as the TNG theme tune plays. Among the decor are signs that say Engineering, Ten Forward, Where No Gift Has Gone Before, Jeffries Tube Entrance, Red Shirts and Holodeck Arcade.

Patrons enter the place between two TOS-style nacelles and are greeted by a Ferengi with a Vulcan hairstyle and eyebrows in a blue science division uniform. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss it moment, there is a naked female Ferengi (head and shoulders visible) at one of the tables as we initially pan towards Tendi and Rutherford. Ferengi females were traditionally not allowed to wear clothes, but this began to change with Zek’s reforms, helped along by Quark and Rom’s mother Ishka.

On display are a Mugato (TOS: “A Private Little War”), the Guardian of Forever (TOS: “The City on the Edge of Forever”), a Vulcan gong in the arena from TOS: “Amok Time” and a Taurean ape-man with a spear from TOS: “The Galileo Seven”.

Tendi and Rutherford are seated at a table whose wall panels have a TOS-style red trim and chairs from that era. The Red Alert sound has of course been standard since TOS. The Ferengi bouncers are dressed in TNG-era security uniforms.

Tendi’s comment about the velour uniforms catching fire is similar to Boimler talking about exploding tricorders in LD: “Those Old Scientists”.

Sitting weird in chairs is a stereotype for bisexuals, of which Mariner is one. Naturally, the Ferengi Dominion War Memorial remembers the profits lost during that conflict.

The blind box is modeled on a TOS-era shuttle. We see a rocky backdrop for one of the tables that might be Sarpeidon from TOS: “All Our Yesterdays”.

The 8th Rule of Acquisition, “Small print leads to large risk” is from the beta canon book The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.

The Ferengi dragging Boimler out of his room is using a Ferengi energy whip (TNG: “The Last Outpost).

Love the original movies 🍿

This is good news for assuring that SNW’s 3rd season production will move ahead after the strike.

Greenlighting a couple of extra episodes and a 4th season would make strategic sense, but I’m just not willing to give Paramount the benefit of the doubt on that.

They're supposed to sound like TNG Klingons. Everybody sang in the squeaky range. A variety of voices would have been nice. Ethan Peck's a baritone. More than one note of Spock's big number could have been there.

I worked hard at imitating the Leonard Nimoy Spock's raised eyebrow for quite a while. I don't regret the time spent practicing that in front of a mirror. I never mastered a fully raised eyebrow, but I can do a slight eyebrow raise.

Whenever someone is being greedy or acting a fool, I say, "hoo-man," in a bad Ferengi accent.

Jean-Luc Picard's "make it so" is a go to phrase for me.

My first sip of coffee for the day is always my Janeway moment.

When someone says something far fetched, I say "really." I think I'm channeling Benjamin Sisko. No one else sees it that way.

I say "p'takh" a bit too often. Not to anyone who understands Klingon. Not yet, anyway.

Any Star Trek mannerism or phrase you've incorporated into your life?

• “Under the Cloak of War”. The flashbacks in this episode are set during the Federation-Klingon War seen during DIS season one, and a large part of that conflict was the new Klingon cloaking devices that T’Kuvma, and then Kol installed on their various ships. Get it? Yeah, you get it.

• This episode was written by Davy Perez, who also wrote “All Those Who Wander” and co-wrote “Memento Mori” and “Among the Lotus Eaters”.

• Jeff Byrd directed the episode; he also directed the DIS episode, “Rosetta”.

• Pike gives us the stardate 1875.4 in his captain’s log. M’Benga’s CMO’s log records the stardate as 1875.8.

• We are introduced to the USS Kelcie Mae NCC which, based on its appearance, answers the question, ”If there is a Utopia Planitia Shipyard, does it not follow that there is likely also a Dystopia Planitia?”

     • It used to be that when you saw a ship like USS Buran (“Best of Both Worlds, Part II), or the USS Curry (“A Time to Stand”), or the USS Yeager (“Doctor Bashir, I Presume”) you knew that the design team was basically fishing for parts at the bottom of the box of leftover Federation starship bits, and hastily gluing them together so there could be something that resembled a Federation ship in the background of a shot for a fleeting half moment. But with the USS Kelcie Mae someone used the most powerful 3d design software available to create an entirely new ship to be front and centre on screen.

     • I will never again complain about the Sombra-class from “All Those Who Wander” being a Constitution-class ship with a bit of blue paint instead of read, and a slightly larger bridge window.

• Prospero is the protagonist of Shakespeare's “The Tempest”. Data once portrayed the character on the holodeck while studying humanity in “Emergence”.

     • Prospero’s lines from the play are also quoted by:

         • Miranda Jones - “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”

         • Chancellor Gorkon - “Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country”

         • General Chang - “Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country”

         • Jean-Luc Picard - “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part II”

         • Beckett Mariner - “Crisis Point”

         • The Emergency Janeway Hologram - “Kobayashi”

• Starbase 12 is has been mentioned mentioned in a number of episodes across multiple series, including SNW’s “The Serene Squall” but was first named in “Space Seed”.

• The H16 Starfleet boatswain’s whistle is slightly different from the C18 that appeared in “Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country” and the C19 from “The Next Generation”.

• Among Dak’Rah’s crimes Ortegas mentions the siege of Athos. Athos is apparently a colony on the J’Gal. However, there is also a planet named Athos IV in the Badlands where the Maquis had a hidden base, seen in “Blaze of Glory”.

     • Captain Archer’s dog, Porthos, had a littermate named Athos.

• Klingons call Dak’Rah ”The Butcher of J’Gal”. We learned in “The Broken Circle” that Doctor M’Benga was stationed at J’Gal during the Federation-Klingon War.

• Spock and lieutenant Mitchell attempt to synthesize raktajino, a Klingon coffee. The mug that’s produced appears similar to the ones frequently seen in DS9, though more ornate.

     • Mitchell states of their first attempt to create a raktajino that we see, this one’s cold.” According to “The Passenger”, Jadzia occasionally enjoyed her raktajino iced, with extra cream.

     • With the second attempt, we see a cartridge of some sort lower into the bar, as the raktajino is produced. In some TOS episodes, such as “Tomorrow is Yesterday” and “And the Children Shall Lead” we characters with flat, coloured disks into a slot on a food synthesizer to produce the desired meal.

• *”On a recent mission, Spock was able to parlay with a Klingon captain.” Number One is referring to Spock’s encounter with Captain D’Chok in “The Broken Circle”.

• Shuttlecraft 12648, is very different from the Class C shuttlecraft that were aboard the USS Discovery in this era, but it does have the same paint colours as those ships.

     • Shuttlecraft 12648 has a registry number, NCC-7901, presumably for the starship it is usually berthed on, which seems pretty high for this era.

• The Starfleet officers we see in the flashbacks to J’Gal are all wearing tactical vests that were introduced in SNW’s “Memento Mori”, not the ones worn through seasons one and two of DIS, introduced in “The Battle of the Binary Stars”.

     • The badges everyone is wearing are also the ones the introduced with the Enterprise crew in season two of DIS, not the split delta design of DIS which everyone other than the Enterprise crew wore..

     • The badge Trask is wearing when he shows up does not have a division logo on it. Chapel says that he is special forces.

     • Similarly, the black uniforms are new, but appear to be the same cut as Chapel’s white jumpsuit, rather than resembling the ones worn in DIS which would have been common during the Federation-Klingon War.

• Doctor Buck is played by Clint Howard who previously appeared as:

     • Balok - “The Corbomite Maneuver”

     • Grady - “Past Tense, Part II”

     • Muk - “Acquisition”

     • A character credited as Creepy Orion - “Will You Take My Hand”

• It cost Doctor Buck a case of Romulan ale to get Chapel assigned to J’Gal as head nurse. Romulan Ale is illegal in the Federation, and was first named in “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan” but might have been the blue beverage the Romulan commander served Spock in “The Enterprise Incident”.

• ”Doctor, I need a doctor.” Chapel is a doctor, as established in “Strange New Worlds”, but presumably Alvarado would not benefit from epigenetic treatments.

     • By “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” Chapel will also be an MD.

• Doctor M’Benga suggests keeping Alvarado in suspended animation in the transporter buffer, a technique he will later use on his own daughter aboard the Enterprise as seen in “Ghosts of Illyria”. The first time we saw it used in Trek was in “Relics” where Scotty’s pattern was able to remain stable for 75 years aboard the USS Jenolan, but not ensign Franklin’s. ”He was a good lad.”

• ”The Gorn attack as Finibus III,” Doctor M’Benga mentions in his log was seen in “Memento Mori”.

• Pike shows up in sick bay looking for Deltan parsley. In “The Enemy Within” the aggressive Kirk went to sick bay demanding Saurian brandy from Bones.

• Due to protests at Dak’Rah’s previous transport, Starfleet command has decided that veterans of the Federation-Klingon War are required to interact with him and make him feel welcome. For other ridiculous command decisions by the Starfleet admiralty, see: all of Star Trek.

• In flashback we see Doctor M’Benga tell Chapel to use her hand to manually pump their patient’s heart as part of their efforts to save him. In “Second Contact” Tendi had to manually pump Stevens’ heart to keep him alive.

• ”Convincing Propero Alpha to agree to an armistice was like getting a Tellarite to give a compliment.” The contentious nature of Tellarites was established in “Journey to Babel” when Sarek generalized the entire people.

• “We all just call it the Moon.” In “Valiant” Collins tells Jake Sisko that ”nobody who’s ever lived on the Moon calls it Luna, either. That’s just something they say on Earth.”

• We learn that Doctor M’Benga has ”The most hand-to-hand kills confirmed.”

• Doctor M’Benga’s wheatgrass shot seen in “The Broken Circle” is called protocol 12, and he’s the one who designed it.

     • Doctor M’Benga says that protocol 12 is, ”adrenaline and pain killers,” and not just the ”green juice, extra green” that Tilly ordered from the food synthesizer in “Lethe”. It’s not canon, but the current storyline in the ongoing comics, “Star Trek” and “Star Trek: Defiant” involve the followers of Clone Emperor Kahless injecting the Red Path sacrament, a mixture of Klingon adrenaline and some chemical found in ketracel white.

Continued in Comment Below

(trying with a direct gif link instead of gifv - my other posts always seem to have a broken preview)

Hopefully those servers aren't literally aflame...

Uninstalled my RiF and have been using Jerboa. Any suggestions for your favorite app? It has some issues with crashing but seems to be getting better with each update.

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Update: jerboa double posted all my comments, so giving liftoff a go. So far so good!

Gizmodo’s James Whitbrook has yet more to vent on Paramount+‘s cancelation and erasure of Prodigy.

I hadn’t considered the cancelation from the perspective of systemic misogyny, which Whitbrook effectively is carating.

However, given that Janeway was surely chosen as the legacy captain for Prodigy because Voyager had proven itself to be an effective gateway for younger and new viewers on Netflix, Whitbrook’s inference Paramount views her less important to the franchise than Picard is biting.

Paramount wouldn’t dare treat what it’s done for Patrick Stewart and Jean-Luc Picard as a tax break. Casting aside everything that Prodigy stood for, and in the process doing the same to Mulgrew and Janeway’s legacy, is a cruel twist on what is already a cruel fate for the show.

I, for one, am happy to be here.