Picard S2: As Divisive as Before

Let’s get it out there to begin with. Picard season two was not perfect. Nor was season one but in many respects this second stint in the adventures of Admiral Jean-Luc marked a definite upturn - but in what precisely?

Choosing to utilise two of Trek's favourite things - time travel and Q, Picard jumped back into the 21st Century in a much more personal adventure than before.

It all started out with a bang and the return of the Borg, facing off against an assembled fleet of assorted Starfleet classes. This immediately made up for last season's copy-and-paste fleet of Inquiry Class vessels. Could season two actually be making headway and raise the fairly average height bar?

Setting up both this and Picard's family dilemma, the early part of the ten episode run took viewers into a parallel totalitarian Earth changed by a single event in the past. Certainly a new twist on the old Mirror Universe trope, the alternative path crammed a lot into its single hour of the show but it did bring us possibly the best Borg Queen to date.

Annie Wersching was perfectly cast in the role of a more speculative monarch and one torn from the collective by the galaxy conquering General Picard. A universe where the Borg were defeated and it's not good? An interesting concept if nothing else.  Wersching proved to be the perfect foil not for Patrick Stewart as we might have expected but for Alison Pill's Jurati. The use of the Borg Queen as a devil on her shoulder through the time in the 21st Century was rather chilling as she began to consume the doctor.

Jurati and the Borg Queen's relationship does take up a big swig of the ten episode run. The verbal sparring which leads to a standoff and unfortunate assimilation. Ok, it leads to what we would suspect is a break away Borg faction (lot of speculation in this season as to what things lead to...) and Pill leaving the main cast but it gives her an explosive and memorable arc in which to do so. Many will remember her for the red dress, singing Pat Benatar or being the Big Reveal but for me Jurati was the stand out character across the season, garnering the best screen time and perfectly partnered for a good chunk of it with Queen Wersching.

Tasked with investigating the 21st Century, Seven and Raffi continue some good hearted banter and relationship quibbles as they look for clues and also for Rios.

In a plotline that's been done over numerous times and certainly fits with Trek's choice to target current issues it's on the nose around illegal immigrants. For Star Trek though it used to be about subtlety and prodding these subjects in a much less conspicuous manner. Perhaps a sign of the times but it is quite heavy-handed in retrospect. Santiago Cabrera is great and at least Rios does have an arc this season  which isn't something that fits for Seven or Raffi. Bear with on this one.

While both the main story and the second line that follows Rios and his ultimate decision to remain in the 21st Century do have a clear path, the third line that traces Adam Soong's genetics work and "final" daughter, Kore does work on its own but it has zero payoff for the main threads. 

Yes, it manages to return Isa Briones to Picard as another Soong relative but it seems almost tacked in. None of the main characters interact with her and while the surprise cameo in the finale was more than welcome it doesn't quite make sense as to why the Watchers would choose to take her out of her time. Theoretically her disappearance would be realised by Adam Soong alone but I was surprised that it didn't play a more integral part to the story. Wil Wheaton's return did manage to raise an "Oh my f**king god" reaction because it was well worth including and seeing the being formally known as Wesley Crusher one more time.

So that's my issue in that this season has some really great, strong story threads but then when you combine them it all sort of falls apart a bit in terms of the bigger picture. The Rios story for one twists and turns with car chases, prison breaks, a more than inconspicuous nod to the US immigration policy and all the while you can't help but think this is just a way to take Santiago Cabrera out of the show. Spoiler; it's exactly that.

Of all the cast short-changed this season I did feel that Jeri Ryan got a short straw. Aside from losing the Borg implants following their sideways step into a universe where Annika was President, Ryan had very little to do until virtually the last scene of the season. Watch back when the crew are discussing Talinn's plan to jump into Picard's mind and Seven stands in the background and says not a single word for the whole of that piece. In some ways you can understand why there has been a slimming down of the cast ahead of the TNG reunion for season three.

Orla Brady's Tallinn and Laris roles are highlights of the season and bringing the actress more to the fore than she was allowed in season one. Tallinn is a bit of a plot device but does tie into the larger Trek mythology as does the brief return of another canon character almost at the very close of the season.

The big focus of the season though comes down to Q's fixation with Jean-Luc leading to the universe jump and then journey back to the 21st Century. Offering a chance for the admiral to get to know himself a little better, the concept that one of his relatives had to be on the mission to Europa does seem like a crucial moment in franchise timeline history but would she really have got this far in the programme with doubts this obvious?

Penelope Mitchell does a good job as the troubled astronaut and at least by the end there's the realisation that if she didn't complete the mission then Adam Soong's line of work would have taken precedent (for note there's a statue of him in the alternative 24th Century which is a massive clue in hindsight).

But there's more to this than a distant relative because Jean-Luc is obsessing over his own childhood at the chateau. This season chose to base itself around the Picard family estate and it uncovers a lot more than a few layers of dust. Why this only rears its head now when he's been back there for years is anyone's guess but the choice to cover mental health is hit and miss at best.

Played by Madeline Wise, the character of Yvette Picard initially scopes as a loving mother but there's mental fragility that the series explores but perhaps handles heavy-handedly on occasion, especially at its tragic end. Should there have been a warning of what was the season's most graphic piece of content? Maybe and I guess that depends on your perspective but it certainly shocked which you would hope it would given where it can lead if not handled carefully.

Now, knowing a little of Patrick Stewart's background, this mental health story may well have been borne from his mind although the father figure, played here by Battlestar Galactica's James Callis, is a more kindly figure than Stewart has described. His solution to Yvette's illness isn't what you would expect given the importance society places on such issues now let alone in the future.

It's also an odd season because there's no point I would say that there was a standout episode. I could rank all ten in order of preference but there's none that stand out more than the first and the last (maybe the alt-universe one too). Even in the middle there was a lot to like even if it was, on the other side, inconsistent and went from breakneck to dead stop at an odd rate.. There was a touch of humour, some great action  

Flashing back to an earlier piece I put together hurriedly at the beginning of the season, Picard has brought a real breath of fresh air to the franchise for me. I was missing the craziness of Lower Decks and the unexpected genius that is Prodigy. Discovery has tried to step up but each of the subsequent series have taken the lead and run with it. Even Discovery spin-off Strange New Worlds is a class unto itself and I can only see it becoming stronger.

Picard's second season did indeed feel like the intended homage to The Voyage Home but upped the ante. While that movie was played for a lot of laughs and lightness after the doom and gloom of The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock, this run of ten episodes hasn't shied away from both real world events and the darkness that previous generations have sprinkled into the timeline especially the 21st Century.

Season two does just have that bit of everything though. For the TOS fan we have the return of the Watchers first revealed in Assignment: Earth with Gary Seven, numerous Easter Eggs back to The City on the Edge of Forever in the set dressings. With TNG there's the well publicised return of Guinan played by both returning Whoopi Goldberg and newcomer to the franchise, Ito Aghayere who is superbly cast in the role. Importantly Guinan's return isn't stupidly overplayed with her only included at necessary points in the story rather than fully tagging along for the show.

OK, Picard worked for me at a "dark time" in my relationship with Star Trek and for a lot of people it just didn't and I can respect that just in the same way that I would hope others would respect my opinion that it was good enjoyable fun. One thing I would absolutely say that the season blew out of the park was Q's final scene with Picard. Season one's send off to Data was excellent after such an up-and-down year but with Q it went straight for the emotions and my god did it work. Best scene of the season, best scene of the show and possibly, maybe, the best scene of the Kurtzman era. What smarts is the fact it doesn't come from the best show of our present age. 

Picard always feels as though it's got a great idea but in the execution it just gets muddled in the middle. Season two starts strong with loads of prospects. There's the Borg, new ships, alternate times but then the 21st Century feels a bit bulked out. The Renee Picard story is high stakes but it never reaches the heights of tension and excitement that you would want. Guinan's role is inconsistent and we have almost a whole episode of interrogation by a "rogue" police officer that adds nothing to the plot and has no long lasting effect. Even the officer's flashback is pointless to the overall season.

But I still enjoyed it even though there were bloated moments of nonsense. At least it all came back round to the Borg arrival at the beginning. The problem there is that it makes you question the justification for Q to send Picard and co through time in the first place. What actually is the point to the adventure? What's the reasoning or sending them all over the place?

Maybe on a re-watch things will become clearer as they did when I sat down for a second viewing of the first ten episodes. With the knowledge of what is to come for season three, season two does come across as a hurried cut off for several of the show's characters to make way for the TNG cast. Is this a chance for a better send off than Nemesis or a cheap shot to grab at an audience that has, according to social media, had serous issues with where the show has gone so far?

The final batch will answer that definitively but for now Picard's second season lies in a pool of mediocrity that many hoped it wouldn't. I'll keep with my view that it was entertaining but there's a concrete fact it's not where fans would have wanted it.

Where's your head at after season two? Has it changed on a binge/rewatch?

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Restoring the Faith

The last few months have been some of my most trying when it comes to the Star Trek franchise.

Personal issues plus some challenges within the fan community brought my love for Trek into serious scrutiny. A change in jobs has meant a lot more travel time but provides the benefit of added family time at weekends.

Yes, that's meant less time to write for SKoST and so reviews have been a little difficult to keep up with. Fear not, normal service will resume but possibly at a reduced rate. 

Anyhow, I really, really struggled to get excited about Star Trek. Perhaps personal overkill, maybe just way too heavy immersion and effort on related projects but I had to stop. So I did and fairly abruptly which likely pissed a lot of people off. If it did and you were one of those, I apologise but it had to happen and while I won't lay my soul open here I hope you can understand my decisions.

So I did walk away for a while. There were a couple of reviews sprinkled in but the effort and the will just weren't behind them. For that, my apologies. Even the wonderful Prodigy didn't seem to lift my Trek spirits and the current season of Discovery felt as though it was dragging by the midpoint. Was I bothered about the 10-C? Did it feel like another Anomaly of the Season? Totally did. At least with the animated Prodigy it felt as though there was some form of closure to the first ten episodes. 

Prodigy was better than I expected. The plot, the characters; I actually connected with the show and it's links into Voyager were a big win. A Moral Star was a brilliant closer with everything you could want - except for it being live action. For a kids show the ending wasn't 100% positive

So what has changed? What's reignited my flame? 

Picard.

While Strange New Worlds' trailer might have shot the series in the foot before its even off the ground, Picard's trailers have teased something... spectacular. A supposed homage to The Voyage Home combined with more modern Star Trek elements, season two offered hope for the future of the franchise.

Only two episodes in (The Star Gazer and Penance) and it has delivered in blazing fashion. I would even go as far as to say that this is already building up to be the best season of Kurtzman-era Star Trek to date.

But why?

The anticipation was certainly a factor as was the chance to see Q and Guinan back on the screen after almost two decades but Picard's second season has importantly learned from the fan reaction to season one. Now that's something that does actually bear up better on a binge watch and aside from space flowers I can't pick too many faults. But let's hold that debate for another time.

Season two feels more tightly written. The choice to skip 18 months has brought Starfleet back into the picture more and that initially seems to have helped the show regain more of its Star Trek qualities. Maybe that's a very superficial change yet having the USS Stargazer, that expanded fleet of multiple ship types, Raffi and Rios back in uniform - it all makes a massive difference to the ambience of the series. No more copy and paste Inquiry Class fleet and the images we've seen off the back of it are simply gorgeous and make rather superb PC wallpapers.

I digress. Admittedly there's an anomaly in episode one and I did kind of start to apply the brakes however get past that and this season is clearly about the characters, Picard's choices in life, the drama of a changed historic event and Annie Wersching's amazing portrayal of the silenced, lonely Borg Queen. 

Robo-Picard doesn't feel as angry this year. Demons seem to have been exercised and he's at peace at least until a beautifully unhinged Q turns up. Picard never hit him but the boot is on the other foot this time. This is probably De Lancie's best performance as the omnipotent creation since Death Wish and to see this darker side of Q is addictive to relish.

Not since Q Who have the Borg and Q appeared in the same episode nor has the latter been as devilish in any way since that encounter back in TNG's second season.

An alternative take on reality is always going to be a winner and whatever Q's motivation s behind changing the past might be, the journey to see this adventure though looks to be touting itself as one of Star Trek's finest...possibly ever.  There's a familiarity here, a warmth to the series and a great sense of drama that Discovery just doesn't seem to be carrying at the moment. 

A significant win for Picard in relation to its characters is that their "wokeness" is not the selling point. There's no "Look at Me I'm X, Y or Z" and instead the characters exist in their own right not because of a certain thing and might, in turn by X, Y or Z. Picard is dealing with situations and allowing its characters to evolve because of the things they encounter not in spite of them. Discovery might take a look and learn a few things - and it's not all down to one person winning the day. Looking at you, Michael.

But I don't want to dwell on that since it gets into all sorts of discussions and to be fair I have nothing against Discovery, but it's just not satisfying my Star Trek cravings at the moment. 

The Star Gazer truly felt cinematic at points - the arrival at the rift, the attack on the bridge and also managed to max out on suspense with the return of those classic canon characters. Season two feels right. There's action and adventure but at the centre is a recognisable cast  facing a new challenge. Even Penance stepped up the game with its transition into the new take on the timeline and the return of the Borg Queen. There is a conspicuous absence of Isa Briones (Soji) after her turn in episode one and dare I say it the series benefits from that slight reduction in cast size with Seven effectively taking her place in the ensemble.

I have a renewed sense of anticipation for the next episode of Picard and what it will hold. The trailers tell us it will be in the 21st Century (2024) and already there are some more humorous tones that have helped shape the season. Even the suggestion of a potential romance between Picard and Laris proved to be a highlight and we know that Orla Brady will be back.

Picard has stepped up to the plate in rather impressive style in just two episodes and I for one am very happy to see the change in tone. Just a shame we know it's only going to last three seasons in total.

For now Jean-Luc and his associates have lifted the bar of standards and expectations for the franchise in its latest incarnation. Looks like there's strong hope for it still and at least 18 more episodes of PIcard to keep us entertained.

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JLP's Day 2021

It was quite an active 48 hours in the world of Trek with not just a new trailer for Picard but the first real information around the new characters from Nickleodeon's Prodigy series.

Yes, we all know that Kate Mulgrew will be back as Captain Kathryn Janeway, the ship's training hologram but what about the six runaways who acquire the as-yet unseen starship?

Coming later in 2021 and Picard in 2022, Prodigy's cast is a big mash up of existing aliens and brand new ones. Army of the Dead's Ella Purnell arrives as 17 year old Gwyn from the Vau N'Akat. Her character was raised on a mining colony and travelling to the stars has always been her dream.

Brett Grey voices the maverick Dal whose race has yet to be identified. Jason Mantzoukas is the 16 year old Tellarite Zankum Pog. Fans will easily recognise the argumentative race from TOS and latterly Enterprise. A second familiar race is included with Zero. Again TOS fans will know of the Medusans from Is There in Truth No Beauty and this one is buried inside a containment suit to protect anyone around them. Exposure to a Medusan can cause insanity!

Dee Bradley Baker voices Murf who appears to be a blobby alien of nondescript origin who likes the taste of ship parts and is virtually indestructible. Finally, the youngest voice actor is 10 year old Rylee Alazraqui. She plays the shy, rocklike alien Rok Tahk. While not an obvious returning species, the Brikar have been around before in Worf's First Adventure and the New Frontier novels - both of which were penned by the brilliant Peter David.

Little else to go on there from Prodigy and even the few stills released alongside the character photos provide nothing to expand on the story. It does offer a look at the animation style and the characters a little bit closer up. As with all of the other Star Trek productions around it will definitely have its own identity with the freedom of CG providing an unlimited base of opportunity.

In a wild Messenger conversation yesterday I managed to predict that a Picard trailer would land on Captain Picard Day and lo and behold I was proved right. I mean, come on, it was going to be a certainty wasn't it???

"Welcome my friend to the very end of the road not taken..."

While Prodigy's update offers mere suggestions, the live trailer for season 2 of Picard isn't holding back. Opening with Picard seemingly suffering some ill effect, Q is back. The road not taken suggests we're heading into a season of alternatives but not precisely the often walked path of the Mirror Universe. Indeed there seems to be more of an indication that season 2 will be playing out a slight sideways "What If...?" twist that might be spawned or at least inspired by Tapestry, maybe All Good Things... and The Visitor. 

Aside from a good look at Elnor (who appears purely as a background character here), we get to see Soji in white, Doctor Jurati, Captain Rios and of course Seven.

There's not a lot riding on the sightings of Soji or Jurati but Rios has a distinct look and is sporting a black uniform with an unfamiliar Starfleet badge. Picard and Raffi are back in uniform themselves at what one might assume is Starfleet Headquarters. Their styling is of the uniform used in the flashbacks of season 1 rather than the "present" versions seen at HQ and worn by Riker.

The verdict in humanity's trial may not have been reached but there are more than a couple of surprises and questions packed into the last few seconds. For one, there's an oddly shaped pin badge or object in Seven's room...but when she wakes there's no sign of a single Borg implant...Seven of Nine is totally human which would make her 100% Annika Hansen!

Here's one other thought - perhaps that scene of Jean-Luc faltering at the beginning is Q returning him to human form and ridding us of the contentious robo-Picard that was in play at the end of the first season. Just a thought there but it's something that I wouldn't put past Q nor the writers to deal with the level of backlash that the move to "kill" the captain seemed to create.

Either way - anyway - we'll have to wait at least six months before we get to find out...

Voyager: Death Wish @ 25

Q had been a raging success on The Next Generation, appearing in eight stories and six of its seven seasons.

Not bad for something intended to pad out the pilot of TNG.

The same couldn't be said of his lone appearance on DS9 accompanied by Vash where the one endearing memory is THAT punch and the response.

DS9 didn't lend itself to Q's mischief and nor did the tone of the show as it headed out into much darker, dysfunctional territory. Voyager on the other hand lent itself perfectly to Q. The counter of the female captain to the arrogant omnipotent being plus the chance to include a potential recurring character on the journey must have been tempting.

Yet of all the Q episodes across the franchise, Death Wish (which is 25 years old this month) is the one with the most serious message and tone through all of his appearances to date. Opening with the release of Q2 and the chase through the universe, Death Wish opens with the suggestion of some of the usual Q shenanigans. However nothing could be further from the truth.

One of Star Trek's most serious challenges to real world conundrums, Death Wish examines the very nature of life, immortality and death within 46 minutes. Q2's quality of life within his eternal confinement is, as we see, cramped and inhumane even for a Q. Can he accept that? A mortal life or ultimately suicide?

Utilising a courtroom story which flips the Humanity on Trial of Encounter at Farpoint to Q on Trial, the episode might be remembered more clearly for the appearance of Isaac Newton, Maury Ginsberg (playing Maury Ginsberg) and Jonathan Frakes returning to the role of a pre-Generations Will Riker. Riker's appearance certainly has implications to the future of the franchise and not so Frakes could notch another series up on his list but for the mention of "Ol' Ironboots", Thaddeus Riker - a name that he would later use for his son.

The relationship Q has with Janeway is also a significant move from the way in which he dealt with Picard. There was a matching of intellects at times and a level of respect that isn't present in Death Wish. Q sees Janeway as more of a new amusement and is to a degree infatuated with her, only gaining that respect once a verdict is reached in the hearing and Q has come to terms with his own change of style.

The sparring between Q and Janeway does get a little more spicy over the course of the three Voyager episodes in which he appears but the choice to continue the civil war and then child stories in The Q and the Grey and Q2 cause more harm than good when it comes to the franchise. Fortunately the lighter-hearted Lower Decks would provide Q with some of his dignity and character traits once again.

Death Wish is the most serious and hard-hitting of all Q's appearances in the Star Trek franchise and De Lancie is perhaps at his best when not being quite the precocious brat he was in earlier TNG episodes. There's a more mature head at points here, darkened only by the realisation that Q has himself become euthanised by the Continuum to the point where he is now tasked with controlling someone who has stepped out of the state's prescribed behaviours. Q2's uniqueness and outspoken individualistic views are a "danger to the Continuum" - a place in which everything has been done and said, even being the scarecrow.

In comparison to the Continuum of The Q and the Grey, the gas station metaphor seems fairly sane and perfectly sets the tone for the nature of the Q. Even in the way the visitors are ignored seethes with distain and arrogance that has marked the omnipotent beings since their first appearance in Star Trek. The Q have become lazy, bored and so isolated in millennia that to have one of their own think is, well, unthinkable since there's nothing more to do... except die.

For Q ultimately to be the one to assist Q2 (Quinn's) suicide is not even a remote possibility given the adversarial nature of their interactions through most of the episode but by the conclusion it definitely isn't. That one moment at the gas station where Q2 reveals how Q was his inspiration for breaking the rules and living immortality on the edge finally chinks at the armour of De Lancie's character. The real Q is in there but he needed to be reminded. 

Death Wish was something of an anomaly for Voyager. An episode with a strong moral message on a series that would become more and more high concept as it stepped into its third and fourth seasons before embracing the Borg and the darker aspects of the Delta Quadrant. Q's return was on a higher level to the misstep that was Q Less although as with Vash, Riker provided a little reminder and link back to Q's time on the Enterprise. The tonal shift suits the characters and De Lancie in particular is at the top of his Q game. By the end the shift in his opinions is distinct and believable with real hope that the omnipotent being has turned a corner. However both The Q and the Grey and Q2 would redress the balance and not in a beneficial manner...

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Veritas: Lower Decks S01 E08

Second week in a row, this series has nailed it.

Given that last week was the best thing so far, Veritas once again raises the bar that bit further for the increasingly impressive Lower Decks.

Landing us right into the action, our four ensigns are under questioning from Imperium Magistrate Klaar of K'Tuevon Prime in regards to a series of incidents aboard the Cerritos while their senior officers are held in some form of suspension beam.

Revisiting the courtroom/flashback formula that was most prominent in Deep Space Nine's Rules of Engagement, Veritas unusually places all the main cast in one location and focuses all of its half hour run time to one single story and flip me does it pay off in every sense. By design the very feel of the room screams Klingon courtroom from the shrouded figure sitting in judgement to the circular dais on which the crew give their testimonies through the Horn of Candar. 

Veritas 100% plays on fans' knowledge of The Undiscovered Country and  Enterprise's Judgement before whisking that rug briskly away and you might only catch some of the clues on a rewatch just as I did making further notes for this piece..

Each ensign is called to relate their own evidence taking us back to recent events once more filled with a myriad of Star Trek easter eggs and Actual Funny Moments that make this easily the most watchable series to date. Favourite one here - Earth's just all about vineyards, wine and seafood restaurants and positively the most boring place in the Galaxy. 

The episode highlights how much or little the lower decks team get to know about what is going on. Mariner and Boimler blag being late to the bridge during a red alert situation, Tendi unwittingly ends up kicking ass as part of an undercover mission into Romulan space while Rutherford suffers memory blackouts placing him in increasingly more bizarre and dangerous situations.

The brilliance of Veritas is in absolutely maxing out on the strengths of the different characters and it feels like McMahon's team have finally clicked with what this series is and where the main cast are most successful. Dropping the cues in is working more seamlessly and who says that Roga Danar isn't more of a badass than Khan?

Tendi's naivety leads her from cleaning cat fur off the conference room chairs into battle with Romulans with her testimony cleverly tweaked to censor delicate information (but not that precisely) and sees her being extremely proficient in the field. Rutherford has his implants "borrowed" by Shax and Chief Engineer Billups leading him into Vulcan space, a starship museum (spot all the references in there!), aboard a stolen Romulan Warbird and the  ability to skip in and out of events here means we also get a Gorn wedding (including camcorder wielding guests. Added bonus with the immortal fan dance distraction distinctly poking fun at a certain sequence in The Final Frontier. This truly left me breathless and I know there are references in there I've not even touched on that will have your Trek mind spinning for ages and definitely demanding a second or even third play through.

OK....so the biggest and most hotly anticipated drop in has to be from John De Lancie's Q appearing a couple of times during the episode, demanding to continue the trial of humanity, playing games with the senior staff, placing them as human chess pieces.  It's not hugely important to the plot but it does mark the first true crossover appearance with the rest of the franchise, meaning this is the fourth series that Q has now stepped into - and even for the few moments he's there it makes an incredible impact on the show, elevating an already decent episode into the best of the year.

You can't help but love this one for the twists of the story plus the plethora of links to other Trek shows, even back to a certain salty looking woman from the Early Days and a rather identifiable shuttle craft. Veritas - and I use this word in its fullest context - LITERALLY has everything from a great, new story to recognising almost every corner of its past. If this is what we're going to be getting then lets hope Lower Decks is here for many years to come.

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Terminal Provocations: Lower Decks S01 E06

Dammit Lower Decks I bloody laughed this week. 

A story, not so brilliant; B story - absolutely classic. I could leave the review there but that would be horribly unfair on something that will be attached to Treklore for a long time to come. Attempting to recover some long-forgotten Starfleet scrap (nice touch that it's NCC-502 and an Antares Class freighter utilised in the remastered Original Series), the Cerritos is stuck in a dispute with the Drookmani (badass Gorn-wannabes) who also want to lay claim to the junk. 

Meanwhile our beloved ensigns are watching one of their peers chug from the replicator and getting nacho cheese stuck in the Chief Medical Officer’s fur. Among their number is the highly popular all round great guy, Fletcher who, while trying to be the highly popular all round great guy that he is,  manages to create a malevolent lifeform just because he wanted a quick win while Mariner and Boimler sneaked off to watch the Chu Chu in the ship’s bar. A fabled event that we will probably never see and therefore create huge fan lore around, 

Anyway, this creation goes on a rampage sucking in and utilising anything it can get its multiple claws on before its utilised to inadvertently save the ship. Enjoyable it is but the hunt to eliminate this creation isn’t super memorable. Boimler and Mariner’s friendship is made out to be all that more solid here with them double-teaming to save the day so there are signs of character development even if the stories are standalone. 

Hats off too for the mention of the Q, potentially aligned with the news that John De Lancie will be guesting as the omnipotent one in a future season one episode albeit briefly. Heading up to the bridge the inanity of Lt Shax's repeated begging to fire on the Drookmani echoes the multiple occasions that Worf was belayed by Picard and then when the chance finally does come it’s impossible for him to take action due to the substantial damage the Cerritos has taken while Captain Freeman has attempted the more diplomatic Starfleet approach.  The secondary story however eclipses that with the introduction of Badgie. 

Now what we have here is a thread which revisits Tendi’s recent graduation and that she never passed her zero-G training. Of course, equally tech nerd Rutherford has a solution with his handy holodeck training programme (cue a select list of characters featured in The Next Generation) all led by his created avatar, Badgie. 

With his introduction and  coupling this with a malfunction, you have all the right ingredients for a Star Trek size catastrophe as Badgie transforms into a psychotic killing machine chasing the pair across a Bajoran marketplace and up the side of a freezing mountain. The story of these two underlings within the main cast of Lower Decks cemented a few things for me and their utilisation of both Tendi and Rutherford was much better with one assisting the other at least with all the best intentions. 

It's clear to me now that Tendi represents the young, new fan of the franchise; the entry point we all used to get aboard the Cerritos in Second Contact but for the last few episodes I’ve felt - and noted - that shes felt at a loose end and without purpose. Terminal Provocations revitalises the Orion ensign offering her to the audience as the one seeing this all as a new experience and a gateway to other things. 

Rutherford is set in as the nerd, the tech geek in the group and on reflection to Cupid’s Errant Arrow, this was starting to be evident although both he and Tendi seemed to be sharing traits as they scanned and battled to get their own T-88 tricorders. 

Terminal Provocations is a season highlight and a surprising twist in that Tendi and Rutherford had the better storyline this week. Badgie is inspired even down to his loading time and sweet-saccharine personality that grates from its loveliness. Surely he’s going to be in demand to turn back up at some point in the future?   

McMahan’s series is growing each week with the brilliance of taking an average scifi plot and spinning an outlandish twist on it. This week’s has been partially successful with the killer assortment of parts being totally eclipsed by a shiny combadge with a personality. Its this kind of line that Lower Decks is excelling at - that bizarre element that only an animated series could get away with making relevant. In the live action shows this would be laughed off the screen yet the very nature of Lower Decks especially its ability to take a cheeky wink at its own past hits the mark. 

Terminal Provocations really is two extremes - a rather steady A plot which works to further the relationship of our two, clear, main characters while the B plot explores those crazier possibilities with aplomb. Truth be told it felt like the series was trying to build on its comedy elements over the scifi concept that was instilled in the franchise over 50 years ago. What I also love is the balance between new and recognising that lengthy TV and movie heritage. 

Unlike some of the novels, Lower Decks sprinkles in just a touch of references that are relevant to the story and the conversations such as this week’s holodeck listing or the inspired cold opening discussing warp engine sounds. It’s kept to a respectful level that importantly doesn’t overshadow the idenity of the show yet brings it into the established fold and canon. 

Terminal Provocations, for all its averageness in the Boimler/Mariner plot does stand above the rest so far but only due to our shiny friend Badgie. Is it a sign that gimmicks and one offs could be the key winner for the show? I’d rather it isn’t and we keep with interesting stories and that twisted lower deck perspective on those big missions.  

But what did you think to episode six? Did it break out of the confines of Star Trek seriousness or was this a big mistake? Let us know below!

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Voyager Season Three: The Big Reveal

The conclusion of Basics proved that Voyager could capably complete a two-parter and make it work over two seasons.

The loss of Lan Suder was perhaps inevitable but even a few years later I still wonder how he would have affected the ship if he'd survived. I mean the guy is a one man killing machine taking down a whole engineering team of Kazon to save the ship. I do enjoy Voyager's two-parters and the third season packs in this one plus Future's End which is another top notch 90 minute effort.

Let's start properly with Basics though. The shipboard scenes are great with the cat and mouse game being played out by the Doctor and Suder against the Ogla led by Cullah and Seska. It successfully closes off two years of Kazon antics and these guys are never seen again in an original episode. Many hurrahs for sure across fandom but there were definitely worse enemies in this show than the "short Klingons". The crew's encounter with the natives on their new home feels like filler and you are clock-watching for when Voyager will show back up.

Future's End drops the crew onto 90's (at the time present-day) Earth and provides the Doctor with the mobile emitter but it does more than that, introducing Captain Braxton and confirming that Star Trek is in an alternate universe since Chronowerx is blatantly a social comment on Microsoft/Apple. Filled with action, gadgets and a baddie who still makes me uneasy, it's a worthy double-length story slap-bang in the middle of the year. Anyone else wonder about the Eugenics War???

The early stages of the year are somewhat less spectacular than Tom and Tuvok chasing a truck in a VW camper, Sacred Ground and False Profits are left overs from the previous season and aren't that bad to be honest. Sacred Ground brings out the Prime Directive and the whole non-interference topic once again and is pretty effective with Janeway taking a prime spot to save Kes' life. False Profits brings the two Ferengi from The Next Generation's The Price back as we discover them taking full - and not unexpected - advantage of a naive race. Back on first-run these two cheesed me off no end. Filler, average and nothing interesting but 20 years later they are both signs that Voyager was getting better. It's about characters, it's about exploring the rich background of the franchise and answering the "what if's". In fact False Profits is a decent Ferengi episode where Neelix is useful and contributes to some great scenes. There are far, far worse than these two eps - in this season as we will see - but first there's Flashback.

Cards on the table, it's not Trials and Tribble-ations. Nowhere near. George Takei (who wasn't in The Trouble with Tribbles) and the late Grace Lee Whitney are back to replicate their scenes from The Undiscovered Country plus some extra bits in a story that seems like it's taped together around the 1991 movie. Seeing Sulu and Rand in Star Trek again is a feast for fans but I just don't think either is totally comfortable here and the model work isn't up to scratch either. I know the Excelsior isn't the same model as in The Undiscovered Country and adds another nail into this substandard anniversary show. Going up against Deep Space Nine's seminal episode was a Kobayashi Maru if ever there was one but at least they tried.

Worst Case Scenario might not draw on history that far back but it does take a leaf out of the Voyager Origins casebook with one of the show's clever "What If" episodes along the same lines as Living Witness and the two-part Equinox, (there's another but I'm coming to that...) offering a view of the ship had the Maquis managed to take control. Only a holodeck program that goes wrong (again) but one possible option we never got to experience. Bringing back Seska (she's back again in season seven's Shattered) works very well and even more chilling is her after-death "revenge" on Tuvok by re-writing the scenario. A great story, it gets lost in an otherwise average year.

The only other episode this year to really draw on the past of the franchise is The Q and the Grey, returning everyone's favourite omnipotent being accompanied by the ever-watchable Suzie Plakson. Now I've loved Plakson as Selar, as K'Ehleyr and as Andorian Tarah in Enterprise. I even love her here as she's one of my favourite guest actresses but as a Q episode this is barrel-scraping, so much so that when we get to Q2 in season seven (yep, four Q-free years after this garbage) I think the producers were on the verge of ordering a new shiny reinforced barrel. A civil war and Q procreation are awful concepts not too far off the Warp Five speed limit controversy of The Next Generation's final year. Gladly it's not repeated, just heaped on top.

Macrocosm attempts to do for Janeway what Starship Mine did for Picard and while it doesn't quite manage to turn her into the female Starfleet John MacClaine it's a valiant effort with a rare (at this time) CGI alien being that's a little bit terrifying and makes this episode a little bit of a guilty pleasure. It's pure action, moderate nonsense but very enjoyable as the captain suits up to kick some bacterial arse.

Season three seems to have a few episodes I either erased from my mind or never paid that much attention to in the '90's. There are two of those culprits later in the season, the first one being Fair Trade. Even the three line synopsis on the DVD gave me no clue as to which episode this was. Ten minutes in and I was none the wiser and even by the closing credits I was still wondering if I'd ever watched it in the first place. Now it's not a shocker, it;s probably one of the stronger Neelix episodes and it has something that actually shows that time - and space - have passed in that the Talaxian is starting to become "redundant". Great touch that I felt worked well for the development of the series and this maligned character. 

Neelix also has a prominent role in Tuvok and the Great Metal Elevator or Rise as it's titled here. A whodunnit in the classic confined space combined with one of sci-fi's biggest tropes. While Voyager was always seeking the concept angle it's heavily recycled here providing average season filler with little character exposition for the sake of some nice CGI.

Another one from the vault that my memory forgot is Coda. I remember there being a massive build up for this one which saw the return of the Vidiians and acted as a springboard for Jeri Taylor's Mosaic novel (which I managed to get hold of last year). Examining Janeway's character it's the strongest episode to focus on the character from the start of the show, opening up both her strengths and weaknesses in a so-so episode. 

Things don't tend to really kick into gear until the closing seconds of the Lets All Pon Farr episode, Blood Fever where the Borg finally turn up. We have to wait another ten episodes for them to actually prove a viable threat but even the hint of their presence in the show - something we had been waiting for since Caretaker - meant the remote possibility that this series was going to take it up a notch or three. On this note I was actually right but let's come to that in a moment.

To get to that season finale there's a ton of good and bad. The Borg-teasing Unity brings familiar Alpha Quadrant races back into the fold who want to be in a collective rather than have their total individuality. A good Chakotay story (yes, seriously) that places him in a very precarious role and at least the experience is something that the writers chose to reuse in the conclusion of Scorpion at the beginning of the following season.

Talking of underused characters, Ensign Kim is almost conspicuous in the third season after The Chute. That episode is one of my favourite stories of the year however and even knowing the twist on a rewatch didn't ruin it. There's a lot to like here and entrusting the bulk of the screen time to Wang and McNeill works really well. It is a lost situation for them as they try and survive as best they can and there are some very distinct religious and social overtones that are less than subtle throughout. Watch for the "Christ" moment if you know what I mean! 

Harry's other big story before he's attacked by Species 8472 in Scorpion is Favorite Son. Is Harry an alien? No; not a chance in hell and guess what - he isn't. Now if they had kept that in it would have been a moment of genius totally inspired and against all expectations but the fact that we just know there will be a reset and Ensign Kim is 100% human from the start takes all the emotional power from the tale. Voyager had a tendancy to do grandiose, dangle the carrot and then whip the rug out from under your feet on a few occasions - just check out the ending of Year of Hell if you want to see probably it's biggest offender or perhaps the final 30 seconds of Endgame.

The Doctor also gets a fair share of screen time to indulge in flippant wastes of ship resources especially in the torrid Real Life although his turn as something not far off Jack the Ripper in the earlier Darkling is almost inspired if a little predictable even before the "big" reveal not that far into the episode. Potentially that early epoch saves the episode from ruin and heavily relies on Robert Picardo - a trait that would continue with zest in the later years when coupled with Seven of Nine.

For me within that end of season batch there are a couple of stand out episodes. One is Before and After and the second is Distant Origins. I'll address the Kes time travel one first in that it might be standard temporal breakfast for Star Trek but it's a late blast of greatness from Lien given that her exit from the show would come so abruptly in the fourth season. It drops a few hints at what is to come from the Krenim in Year of Hell plus provides a glimpse of how Voyager might have evolved had the journey taken the lifetime it was suggested back in the first season. I think this is one of those stories we needed to see to tempt us with the future and the "could be" options just in the way that Parallels did very late for The Next Generation. One note though that the Krenim were originally supposed to have been the third season cliffhanger but Scorpion took that slot relegating Annorax and co to the following year.

To be fair it had been a pretty poor year for old Kes since her only other major starring role had been in the (equally good) Warlord chewing out cast and scenery in what should be a standard body-swap episode. This is fairly by numbers from start to finish but Jennifer Lien's swaggering performance does raise its profile but not enough that it's going to scar any top 20's.

As I said though, the end of the year also presented what I consider to be one of the show's classics; Distant Origin. Proving that Voyager could nail high concept once again, the episode is much more orientated to the perspective of the dinosaur-descended Professor Gegen and the Voth than it is the main cast. It's a good move allowing an unusual look at the human condition and contemplating just how we might be considered from another viewpoint. In fact our existence debunks their very idea of evolution. A good Chakotay episode again! Wow, they really screwed with this guy in the later years didn't they?

Season three does close with one of the show's biggest ever episodes that I would easily include in the same breath as Living Witness, Blink of an Eye, Timeless and Equinox - Scorpion. 

Returning the Borg to the small screen after their makeover for First Contact can't have been that easy and it's a finale that gets a lot right but isn't perfect. I still question the decision to give the Borg their own nemesis if you will but you can't fault the power of the pre-titles teaser nor the scope of Voyager's first Borg encounter proper.

Species 8472, Star Trek's first major CG baddie are a huge threat to just about everything and fortunately weren't overused by the show (although they still did a humanise-the-enemy ep which was unnecessary) and left Voyager to take on the Borg as its main threat. Scorpion showed the true opportunities that the series could explore - the real dangers of the Delta Quadrant and a storyline that could truly be ongoing. Of course we had no idea what the concluding part would bring - or who.

What was the highlight of season three? Do you think Voyager was right to bring back the Borg?

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