Ten Years On

On December 5th 2012 I posted up the first piece to SKoST and wondered where it was going to go.

A decade on and I'm probably no nearer answering that question than I was then. The Star Trek landscape has drastically changed. In those ten years we've seen the arrival of two movies and the relaunch of the franchise on TV. Amazing to think how little material we had to work with back then in comparison to now!

It's been that cliched Long Road with all sorts of twists and turns on the way. A ton of reviews (RIP Eaglemoss), interviews, previews, opinions and more that I can't quite remember across the (to date) 988 articles I've posted. Some were "ok", some were experiments that will never be repeated again and there have been some in there which are genuinely very memorable for a host of reasons. So I thought back to the pieces that I loved putting together, ones that I loved writing or just thought were fun to attempt. Definitely not a list of "The Best" but ones where there's a bit of a story behind them.

In no particular order...here's a selection from the years!!!

5. Disaster

The one that started it all and I kept reposting for a few years. The original concept for this blog was to review each and every episode of Star Trek from the point I'd hit back in December 2012. For a few weeks I managed to pull it off with a couple more articles on season five of TNG but then I thought I could do more than just retread ground that everyone else had been doing for years. While nowhere near my favourite piece, it's still got a special place as being the first that was published on here. Bizarre fact, I haven't watched Disaster since that review!

4. Eaglemoss Preview   

For as long as I was writing there seemed to be Eaglemoss. A ship, an object, a terrible bust, another ship, a space station, a badge... something. As we know now it's all over and done ad probably on a shelf in your local Home Bargains or B&M in the UK. Back in the day I hounded Eaglemoss relentlessly for weeks about doing something in regards to the collection in its early days and small and insignificant as it seems now I was granted the chance to preview their first special - Deep Space Nine.

I have no idea why they let me do it but I was the first site to show any pictures of the model and was used as Eaglemoss' unveiling of the special. I felt incredibly honoured at the time to be allowed to do it and little did we know what that journey would be like back in 2013! The XL and the Attack Wing version are probably better results but this one is a model that I recall very well thanks to the access I was given.

3. The Toskars

For the love of Christ. Back In The Day I made the unwise choice to try and do a podcast and it utterly fell apart. It proved to be too much work even though there were some points where my jaw hit the floor during recordings.  I realised I write, I don't produce audio material and this  short-lived series (thanks to Tiff and Ian for joining in with the chaos) was a laugh if nothing else. I've learned since just to guest on podcasts and have no involvement in editing and the like! Why the Toskars? Because of ALL the things that I've attempted over the years this is the article/piece that I still get asked about - will you do another one?

Well, considering that several times during the recording of it I had a near complete breakdown I said "No" many times and very firmly. But...dammit... with the tenth anniversary approaching I reached out to Simon from The Engage Podcast and suggested (read "gave no option") to a Toskars episode. It's been recorded, got Tiff back for it along with the TEP gents, it exists and you'll be able to hear it soon. 

Si - hats off to you, you've taken a lot of time over it and I've been a pain in the ass but it was 100% worth the time. Loads of fun and it felt right to do now. Thanks to all involved with making it happen. Emotional - shall we do it again in 2027?!

2. Fansets

While Eaglemoss sapped the cash from my wallet in one direction, along came Fansets. Why would I pick these guys? Because - and I only found this out in the last year from Lew at Fansets - I was the first site to review their first batch of Star Trek pins. I was fairly shocked considering the appeal of their products and just how much the business has grown since that first review

Over the years I've continued to collect and I absolutely owe Lew Halboth some page space because it's been too long. I've loved receiving those packages from the US (whatever the travel costs!) and the quality has always been excellent as has the customer service. Reviewing them has been a lot of fun and with a few new bits I guarantee I'll be back talking about some of their pins in the next few weeks - some older, some recent but all incredible. 

1. Aron Eisenberg

I've been blessed to talk to several Star Trek alumni over the years in no small part to the generosity of venues (Wil Ross and David Limburg my thanks as always) to let me grab some time with their guests - and the guests themselves for putting up with a round of questions. I fanboyed way, way too much with JG Hertzler, had photography lessons from Robert Picardo and discussed classic literature with Natalia Nogulich (that one should have been 30 mins but ended up at 90!)

But of all of them, the one I remember most fondly is the time I got the nod to chat to Aron at First Contact Day in 2016. He said hi and we wandered down a corridor into a meeting room where there was another one of the crew having lunch. I dropped my phone on the table and hit record. The next hour was amazing. We just talked, went into some Trek territory and more. It was a true emotional rollercoaster and while all the interviews are a blessing, I came out of this one just blown away by the kindness, openness and just all round friendliness of Aron Eisenberg. As we closed it up, the guy eating his lunch was still in the room. He looked up and said; "Wow. That was an incredible interview."

I still have the original audio for it and haven't listened to it for a long time but I may just have to now. While I was probably over exuberant with my thanks I still don't think I did him justice and his passing was a very saddening moment for me. I'm ridiculously thankful that I got the chance to talk to him.

0. YOU

To every single person who has written something, read something, chatted in the comments, message boards, Facebook, Twitter... wherever - thank you. Even to the guy who once asked me to have an argument and include facts with references  - you've all been a big part of this last decade and I've made a whole host of new friends across the years. I would name you all but I know I'll miss someone out so I'll just say THANK YOU. Without the input, the badgering, the laughs, the occasional moment of being pissed off and jacking it all in, you've made it all worthwhile and a great trip this far. Is this the end? Is this where I close the book and move on? Absolutely not. I did start the year in a very strange place mentally but things have certainly changed and I'm, inexplicably, still here. 

More to come. I guarantee it.

Thank you all

Clive

Lower Decks: Season Three Overview

With a cliffhanger to resolve, the third season of Lower Decks had a lot to answer when it returned just ten weeks ago.

Filled with the usual array of Easter eggs, knowing nods to fandom and general insanity at times, the first Star Trek animated series since 1973 has taken one big change of direction in comparison to its live action predecessors and so far it still seem to be paying off.

Season three has geographically continued to go where many starships have been before but with a much more expansive take on the crew of the Cerritos.

This season has been marked with mixed reviews. Some fans have suggested it's not hit the comedic mark of the previous two seasons and the wrapping up of the cliffhanger story was, admittedly, pretty sharp and perhaps not as fully realised as it could have been.

But the year has unquestionably delivered even if it did take a few weeks to really get going. Over the first few episodes the plotlines were somehow pedestrian, leaving fans more interested in the background details and those winks to the camera that have packed Lower Decks to the brim each week. 

Opening with Grounded, the show packs in a nod to Picard's vineyards, Sisko's restaurant and a trip to Bozeman all in aid of restoring Captain Freeman to the bridge of the Cerritos. While all those shenanigans are ultimately pointless, it does allow for the return of James Cromwell to voice Zephram Cochrane, a few bars of Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride and the Phoenix. 

Reflections, the halfway point of the season was where everything really kicked into gear. We'd experienced crew fantasies, the quartet facing off against a team of support ensigns from another ship and Mariner facing up to Cmdr Ransom but none of these really offered development of the show beyond it's more comedic remit.

Placing Boimler and Mariner on the recruitment stand for Starfleet was the first real spark of genius with the pair heading off numerous franchise references and quite on-the-mark comments about the organisation, ultimately with Brad Boimler going ape s**t after trying to keep Mariner calm for the whole episode. In fact it's a very strong double-A story as it also manages to ramp up the backstory of Ensign Rutherford and his bionic implant. 

You can't help but scream "FINALLY!" at the TV when it all comes out just what he was doing before receiving the upgrade as well as opening up some more questions for the show to answer as it moves steadily forward. More than a couple of great fan service moments in here that aren't DS9 related but it does feel as though, once again, the station is upstaged by another of its televisual relatives.

The subsequent trip to Deep Space Nine in  Hear All, Trust Nothing was the next step up, bringing back actors Nana Visitor and Armin Shimerman to voice Kira and Quark. This was the first time since the return of the franchise thanks to Discovery that the station had been revisited and it felt like too long. Fans have been clammering for this to happen for a while and they weren't to be disappointed. Returning to several key locations around the station, 

Then A Mathematically Perfect Redemption took the show and spun it right around. Bringing back the wayward Peanut Hamper from season one was not expected yet it worked a treat. Exploring the Exo-Comp's journey following her desertion from Starfleet, it starts to look like she might be on a more straight and narrow path but - well - it's never that clean cut with Lower Decks which means we'll probably see her again in the future along with a new accomplice if the final moments of the episode are to indicate anything.

Equally long awaited is the sequel to Crisis Point, the Cerritos' answer to the movies of the Star Trek franchise. Including some of the season - and the series' most cutting jokes about the whole framework of the fictional universe(s), Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus manages to tap into The Motion Picture and The Final Frontier to take some unrealised concepts and groan-worthy tropes as part of what is an ultimately very satisfying story. Paradoxus is a treat not just for the swooping Sovereign Class shots but for more character development around Boimler and Mariner. With the former's transporter twin apparently killed, Bradward takes up a "spiritual" journey within the movie sphere while Tendi rises to command of the main "film" plotline. Do we even need to mention the Sulu (George Takei) cameo at the end which is "even better" than Captain Kirk? Wow, that line really kicked where it hurt!

While we're here actually, this is Tendi's biggest episode of the season. Her part in most of the season has to be the answer to any of the problems and while Hear All, Trust Nothing delved (again, at last) into her Orion heritage, Crisis Point 2 does more for her than any other instalment this time round. If I recall we were promised that this season would see the character differently paired to open them up. While that's true of Boimler here, Mariner perhaps more in episodes nine and ten and Rutherford in Hear All, Trust Nothing, Tendi is shown progressing onto the Science Officer training programme but seems oddly relegated to a more background role except for this story. 

Episodes nine and ten do work out as a double-header. Starship fans will be going crazy for the AI Texas Class which is introduced here. With a reporter observing the routine of the Cerritos, Captain Freeman finds her crew under intense scrutiny to prove their worth with the results spilling over from Trusted Sources into the season finale The Stars at Night. 

The latter's "Second Contact Race" is a bit far-fetched but it leads into some decent drama and action that will tick a few boxes for any fan and add some excitement and tension that's been absent for some of the year. In fact it's only when it all kicks off towards the back end of Trusted Sources that you realise how much quieter season three has been compared to one and two.

The Stars at Night does leave the season nicely wrapped and cliff-hanger free with some of the major threads of the show's third outing satisfyingly concluded. Yet there are strands from before the finale which still remain untied. On a rewatch these will become more obvious especially in light of what was closed down in the finale. Lower Decks has a lot more mileage to give and although season three was mixed with a slow start it did hit the mark by the halfway point, truly delivering on its satirical element and action quota by the closing credits of episode ten.

Kirstie Alley 1951 - 2022

2022 seems to be gaining a reputation as a most unforgiving year with news of another notable individual passing almost daily.

Already this year Star Trek alumni Nichelle Nichols and Louise Fletcher have headed to the Great Beyond now to be accompanied by Cheers star Kirstie Alley.

While the Boston bar-set TV series remains as the focal point of her career, her first movie appearance strikes more than a chord with Trek fans. Travel back 40 years to 1982 and you would find Alley donning the ears of Vulcan Saavik for The Wrath of Khan.

If ever there was a Star Trek movie to be associated with, it has to be this one. Still a classic today and just as incredible to watch on the billionth view, Star Trek II gave Alley a significant role in the production. Filling in at Navigation (since Chekov was off on the Reliant getting things put in his ear), Saavik was the young fresh face of the crew appearing in all the key scenes of the production including the eventful mission to Regula One and the Genesis cave. Saavik and Alley are in the command chair in scene one, her presence in the film is monumental as audiences would have been wondering who this new face was and why they were captaining the Enterprise. It is an unforgettably strong arrival for a character who is the first to be seen taking on the infamous Kobayashi Maru (although you didn't know that the first time through!)

Saavik wasn't a one-hit posting as she would return in Star Trek III but notoriously this would see Robin Curtis take on the role. Curtis would then make a fleeting appearance in The Voyage Home with Saavik choosing to remain on Vulcan. Stories abound that money was at the centre of the non-return for Alley however of the two I would say that her performance is the stronger.

Supposedly half-Romulan, Saavik is just about as by-the-book as you can get and adds in a touch of emotion that is both wryly and sadly displayed at times during the story. In contrast, Curtis' take on the character is far more stoic and logical in a parallel to Spock which does ultimately work based around the content of the third movie.

Is it just down to the fact that The Wrath of Khan is such a notable Star Trek film that Alley's Saavik is so widely well regarded? Are the reasons for her absence from Star Trek III also so well publicised that it has made an indelible mark on the franchise's history? Perhaps. How Alley would have taken the character had she reprised the role may well have been different in interpretation to Curtis although to understand the character beyond the screen it's well worth diving into the novelisations of II, III and IV.

Even with that "forced" recasting, Alley's arrival in Star Trek history is one oft discussed and is just one element of what makes The Wrath of Khan so seminal to fans. Indeed, her appearance marks one of the great guest/one-shot roles in the whole of the franchise, so much so we remember it to this day and is being widely noted as part of articles being written about her passing today.

Saavik remains a fan favourite whether it's in Curtis' hands or Alley's but it can be for certain that had the future Cheers star not taken that role then it would not continue to resonate to this day. For many, Saavik IS Kirstie Alley, a legacy on Star Trek that stretches to 40 years and beyond.

Console-ation Prize: Prodigy plays Supernova

With an initial £40 price tag on launch, Star Trek: Prodigy: Supernova was never going to be high on my list of purchases.

But the Black Friday sales just tipped the scales with a 50% drop that was too good to miss out on.

The last console ventures for Star Trek have been...ok. The VR-reliant Star Trek: Bridge Command and a prequel of types to Into Darkness back in 2013. Tying into the latest animated series, Supernova takes a tried and tested step into a third person adventure/puzzler.

With the option of playing as Dal or Gwyn you head out into a series of planetary landscapes to locate crew, parts, baddies or a range of collectibles. The show itself has a fairly broad target for its audience. Pitched at kids, it's easy for long-term fans to dive into thanks to its numerous franchise references and actually decent storylines and arc. The game on the other hand is most certainly designed with kids in mind.

Offering horribly basic controls, the trips through the levels, at least early in the game, are heavily dependent on moving boxes to complete or block power lines and blast away at Watcher drones. It's unfortunately repetitive as you hunt out parts for the Protostar which only comes into the game as a menu area and staging point to begin the next part of the story.  As you do progress through worlds there are slight changes. Objects can be transported, you can cloak Dal to pass by sensors but the core stays the same in its playability because you're told where to use these features even after a few levels.

Yes, you can upgrade weapons and abilities. Dal dual-wields phasers while Gwyn is more handy with her shape-shifting fretwork. Along the way they can become more powerful and experienced in these abilities, increasing their power and offensive options. There are also climbing and lifting abilities to discover (for example) as you progress which mean the two have to work together. This also allows for a two player experience otherwise you do chop and change between the pair. I've not really settled on a preference since Dal is better with phasers and Gwyn surpasses him on hand-to-hand combat. She can also block energy beams which, maybe, does give her an edge.

Problem is that there's no jump, no way to step outside of the allotted path, no chance to explore further. It's very much plotted out with a straight-forward path and little to deviate. Even the points where you need to push/pull, climb, lift or crouch are literally signposted on screen so you can't miss a thing - troublingly easy for the more mature gamer. 

The other members of the Protostar crew do step in as well to add bonus abilities when activated and can be selected for mission specific duties to beam down when required but that's the heights of their involvement. Jankom for example gets automatically called in to increase your damage level for example when you reach a certain "kill" achievement. Rok-Tahk assists by reducing enemy damage and also by unblocking paths.

It is a lovely game to look at although stylistically I was confused as to why the opening cut-scene story was rendered as a comic rather than using the graphics which perpetuate through both the series and the rest of the game itself. The voices are also those of the series cast including Kate Mulgrew as Hologram Janeway. She tends to appear to offer advice in painfully slow explanatory moments throughout. Annoyingly both Dal and Gwyn have set phrases when you change between them which become teeth-grindingly painful after about the second stage of the first world - as does the grunting when you dash. There's only so much "Let me take point" or "I'll show you how it's done" one person can take. 

That said, there are some neat touches in the story with wall art illustrating plot points but the ability to skip through sometimes annoyingly tedious talky parts in chunks (especially if you accidentally click to restart said talky bit) is a flaw that comes up quite a bit. You have to be in exactly the right spot to activate a feature (and I mean PRECISELY) and on the flip side its equally easy to replay something you don't need to.

Supernova does honour the show visually and ties in elements such as the Diviner and Drednok but the gameplay is far too A,B,C for a more mature gamer looking for an immersive Star Trek gaming experience. It's a good casual play and something to drop in and out of but I'm not feeling compelled to complete it or spend hours in front of the screen to get there. Fans do have the upcoming Resurgence to look forward to but I'll be honest, I'm more excited about new Attack Wing faction packs or Ascendancy.

If you want in depth then this isn't the way to go and I'd wait for Resurgence or grab a copy of Bridge Commander or something from times past. This one probably won't fulfil your requirements.