Reconnection: The Return of the Trill

With Forget Me Not returning us to the Trill homeworld, there's been much rumbling about how Discovery has treated the joined species we last visited 26 years ago.

Which means that there are only really three avenues that we could go down to explore the "truth" behind that so why join me to discuss The Host from The Next Generation and Equilibrium and Facets, both from Deep Space Nine's third season.

Equilibrium is a biggie and being all of 14/15 when I saw this one the first time round I completely missed all the nuances, the depth of the story and all the machinations therein. It was too talky and at no point did anyone even hint at drawing a phaser. Ok, I know Star Trek ins't all about that but it was coming off the back of The House of Quark which, while it's slightly Klingon is one of those episodes that attempts humour and doesn't quite succeed with this British viewer.

Yet Equilibrium now is a real head-turner and underappreciated with its exploration of the Trill joining process and just how it is "sold" to the indigenous population.

As you will know (yes, potential spoilers here), it turns out that Joran received the Dax symbiont after Torias and not, as Jadzia believed, Curzon (although it would eventually end up there). The revelation that approximately half the population were suitable for joining is a huge bit of news since it would relegate something very special and prestigious to incredibly average in a blink of an eye and has the power to destabilise the Trill.

Joran wasn't the perfect choice for the symbiont given his rather violent tendencies but let's not get too bogged down with the narrative because there significant points here that Discovery has absolutely nailed.  

The Caves of Mak'ala for one are back here with the breeding pools for the symbionts revisited (stretching for miles beneath the surface). In Equilibrium these aren't specifically named and we would have to wait until season seven's Afterimage for that. The insular Guardians seen in Equilibrium don't make an appearance in Forget Me Not while we do see that the pools can be used to communicate with the symbionts more directly and in a sort of visionary state. The new piece is that non-joined non-Trills seem to be able to do this as well and while you might offer up a frown and a few grumbles, Burnham is our guide to the series and it makes sense in that respect to allow her to be our eyes into this cerebral realm.

What does bug me a little is the non-Trill joining with the symbiont. Is this biologically possible given the difference in species? Maybe over 900 years there has been some evolution within the symbiont as I can't see how a human would decide that trying to join would be a great choice to make in life. In fact there has to have been some jump forward because if you recall in The Host, Odan cannot survive in Riker's body and has to be transplanted into a full Trill host. Would making Adira a Trill have worked? Yes, but it would have cut out that element of surprise when we discovered that she was the one who could link Discovery to Admiral Sena Tal because she was the host of that symbiont.

But Discovery's Forget Me Not is actually a far superior demonstration of gender biase and the like since in The Host Beverly cannot comprehend that the new host for Odan is female. It's perhaps in character for the role and the time but both this and the season five The Outcast are almost cringeworthy when it comes to their attitudes towards transgender and gender neutrality. Ok, I'm no expert on either and nor would I ever dare to be but Discovery has made both of these concepts understandable and relatable and if you've got a problem with it, go somewhere else. The Host was groundbreaking for its establishment of the Trill, the way in which the symbiont could be passed and to anyone yet it rudimentally seems to avoid accepting that people come in all shapes and sizes and that, y'know what, sometimes you have to look further than skin to see the real individual. With Forget Me Not this is certainly the case in no small part to the excellent casting of both Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander as Adira and Gray respectively.

Facets, which crops up at the other end of the third season also supports some of the actions from Forget Me Not. While the appearance of the previous Tal hosts isn't the zhin'tara ritual we experience on Deep Space Nine, it does bring together and connect the past lives to the present host who is accepted even though they are not a Trill themselves. Indeed, the choice to use them/they as opposed to he/she etc may initially be from the actors themselves but it suits the part perfectly and describes that two-part relationship in a more specific manner than it was ever done through Jadzia or the later Ezri on Deep Space Nine.

The echo of a previous host - Gray - seems to have fluttered a few people but Jadzia was haunted by Joran if we recall. In that instance his memories had been repressed and still pushed through while Gray's were allowed to rise to the surface after the completion of the joining of minds. Yes, if we follow the lessons of Rejoined from the fourth season of Deep Space Nine then there's an issue since Trill are not permitted to continue relationships from previous lifetimes. Tal isn't pursuing that because it's not physical, this is a mental connection and five episodes n it doesn't appear dangerous (give it time...). Jadzia was often quoting the experiences of her previous hosts as Deep Space Nine progressed, sometimes helping overcome a problem and in fact her friendship with Sisko is borne from his friendship with Curzon.

If we look closely into all that I think there's more to contend with on that station than we're looking at with the echo of Gray in Adira's head on Discovery. This is a closeness to a previous host that we've not seen before. Curzon wanted to be close to Jadzia because he was in love with her and that is superficial if compared directly to this intimate bond that exists with the former and present hosts of Tal. Adira has absorbed the qualities from the symbiont's past as we see from them playing the cello. But this partnership comes across as more even and trusting than the wayward - no, reckless - Curzon was in Facets. Adira seems to be in tune more with the past running alongside her in the same body while Jadzia absorbed it into herself and made it one more her own but this could be a side effect of this less than approved pairing.

Perhaps like the connection to a human host after 900 years, Discovery has demonstrated its own changes within the structure of the Star Trek franchise with the very open manner in which it has tackled key, current matters at the heart of its stories. The inclusion of the Trill is a clever way to spin it into a science-fiction environment but crucially the show hasn't shied away from its responsibilities and this latest episode and visit to the Trill homeworld has not just revisited some old stomping grounds from the beloved Deep Space Nine but it has added facets and changed the equilibrium of Star Trek at its very core. My god, this is potentially the biggest franchise shake-up since The Animated Series had Uhura in command of the Enterprise. 

The universe has moved on and the "inconsistencies" that are being thrown around by so called fans seem almost idiotic. Nine centuries have passed, things change and like Star Trek itself, the Trill have evolved. Perhaps its time to actually watch and listen to this show rather than passing judgement on everything that's different - after all, isn't that one of the core pieces of the franchise - to celebrate the unique?

What do you think about the return of the Trill? Handled well or a misfire from Discovery?

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Scavengers: Discovery S03 E06

Halfway through and nothing is any clearer - but at least Book is back this week!

Having located a blackbox which we must assume is from a Federation ship, Book has disappeared and without much thought, Burnham conscripts Georgiou and the pair use the trader's own transforming ship to break him out of an Emerald Chain work camp along with his stolen information.

But let's first of all send all our calls to voicemail and take a break here because the opening few minutes of Scavengers is all about change. New funky Starfleet badges with built in transporter tech, head-up display, communicator and tricorder are the rage plus the ship has had its controls flipped over to that programmable matter to become more intuitive. The nacelles are now detached and someone for some absolutely batsarse crackers reason has slapped an "A" on the registry.

Ok, in a convoluted way Discovery from the 22nd Century is classed as destroyed so adding the "A" sort of recommissions it if we stretch the truth a little. Aside from that grumble it's amazing to see the "old" ship adapted to its new environment with the recurring Linus transporter joke running through the episode.

Michael's thinking behind disobeying Saru's orders and gong after Book is fairly sound but there's a severe lack of communication between the chain of command which just highlights how risky it is having Burnham as an officer and let alone, Number One. She's very high maintenance and although her plan and end goal do result in a positive outcome, it's all done the wrong way. You'd have thought by now Michael might've learnt lessons from her past but apparently not - even Georgiou reminds her and Saru comments on it so there's no hiding from the facts.

The return of Book was inevitable given the importance placed on him in episodes one and three but some might be happier to see his cat, Grudge than they are of David Ajala. 

Captured and under virtual slave labour conditions he's scavenging through ship parts from a vast wrecked fleet in orbit of the planet which is a remnant of The Burn that Burnham has encountered all over the shop. The big news this week is that her findings have discovered that the moment it happened was not precisely the same for everyone indicating that there was an epicentre and it wasn't a galactic event. Something caused The Burn but where exactly is still undetermined.

Some of this week does seem a bit cliched - the work camp, the fleeing prisoner (a Bajoran no less) who is there as the example and even Burnham and Book's bit of passion all seem very signposted. There's even a (SPOILER AHEAD) moment of action movie self-sacrifice that made me wince when it's telegraphed. Indeed, after the opening five minutes of "Q Time" where the Discovery's new tech is all displayed it descends into a very average hour.

Ok, not true because the B story surrounding Adira's acclimatization to the ship and crew are well handled and you can see that the writers have already hooked onto the relationship they are building with Stamets. Good too in this arc that Adira's conversations with Gray aren't being handled as some form of mental breakdown but instead being understood and welcomed. It's something different which Stamets acknowledges and he himself is more fascinated with the closeness with their boyfriend following the joining and unfogging of memories in Forget Me Not.

Blu del Barrio's performance is once more incredibly understated and downplayed which plays well against the drier Stamets and I hope that this pairing is continued across the season.

As a sub-plot to the main line as well there is more going on with Georgiou but this feels a little bit like a re-tread of the Ash Tyler plot with some suitably bloody flashbacks to what I assume is the Terran Universe. There isn't any direct correlation to anything but it all seems to have stemmed from the interrogation conducted by David Cronenberg in his unnamed role last week. Bets have to be off that this is to do with Section 31 given what we know of the imminent Georgiou spin-off from Discovery that is planned post-season three. Clearly it's causing her some anguish even leading the former emperor to collapse at a crucial moment.

Scavengers however probably falls at the bottom of my preference order for Discovery this year and I think it makes some horrible, horrible mistakes that changed my feelings towards the show and one person in particular. Burnham's insubordination may be for what she sees as the greater good but there's no communication, she borrows a ship (that no-one notices for some time apparently) and takes a known Terran with her on a foolish(?) rescue mission and for the second time in her career (with a 930 year reoffending gap) once again gets a well-deserved slapdown. 

Is this what Star Trek is coming to? Is this really who we want to see as a lead character? I get that we should be there understanding the complexities of humanity, our fallibility but Michael has learn precisely zip and even after recommitting to Starfleet can't hold her end of the bargain. Thing is we get our weekly show of tears but in this case I don't believe that Michael is sorry. She would have done it whatever and the chain of command can go do one. In previous series we've had an exception where a main character has bent or broken the rules for a greater good but in Discovery I'm starting to expect it on a weekly basis. Maybe it's a way of analgising current events and showing that the Federation (the US?) is no longer that big, solid force with that slightly smug sense of arrogance and self-belief. Instead it's crumbling and can't even control what's going on inside its own ranks.

Vance is coming across as one of the best admirals we've seen in any iteration of the franchise and to get this from Burnham is unacceptable. Perhaps as he himself notes she had actually communicated what's going on then the reaction might have been different but crucially Burnham didn't. He makes a sound explanation of what he expected and didn't receive from Burnham but ultimately places the decision on her punishment to her captain - I've warmed to this guy after last week and on reflection he was doing the right things then too.

In comparison to this, the "A" suffix and those wifi nacelles are a drop in the ocean. Season three was about offering up some optimism and while there are cracks showing through with the Stamets/Adira arc that's building nicely, the Georgiou and Burnham threads seem to be pulling us further into darkness. 

This is in no way me berating Discovery because I like the show and the direction the story has headed and the choice to jump into the distant future. What I am questioning (not hating on) is how these threads are being played out. Is Discovery adhering to Star Trek's principles and motivations because in its formative years and for many after it offered both an optimistic view on humanity plus social commentary within the sci-fi framework. In this show right now it's feeling very much that the social commentary is overwhelming that positive future...but then isn't that the point.......???

What are your thoughts? Has Discovery struck the balance right with Scavengers or is it seriously derailing? Is this the right direction for the 32nd Century?

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Forget Me Not: Discovery S03 E04

Adira’s revelation that they are the carrier of a Trill symbiont ended episode three on nifty little cliffhanger with only one real resolution - we’d be taking a trip to their home world pretty soon.

Loe and behold, guess where we’re headed this time. However because the symbiont is in a human body there’s not quite the warm welcome Adira was anticipating as they attempt to make connections to one of her previous hosts who was a Starfleet admiral.

It is always welcome to step into Star Trek history and visiting the Trill home world and the Caves of Makalah for the first time since Deep Space Nine’s Equilibrium is a huge pleasure. Blu del Barrio has the most difficult job this week being not only a fairly recent addition to the cast but also carrying the weight of this weeks narrative. They do so incredibly well, portraying Adira’s fears at connecting with the symbionts perfectly both in reality and on the metaphysical plane. 

The news that a large number of Trill humanoids were killed in The Burn and thus led to a shortage of suitable hosts isn’t great news but the twist that a human has successfully been joined offers some sort of positive outlook for the future at least to some. While not as insular as Earth has become, Trill has nothing to do with the Federation either and is also suspicious to a point. 

The way in which the connection to the other symbionts within the pools of the caves has been turned up a level with those connecting now rolling to white eyes and descending into a tentacled, wiry, organic mainframe. With the success at reconnecting with her symbiont - Tal’s - past, we are also introduced to Ian Alexander. Alexander’s arrival in Discovery has been as publicised as del Barrio’s with them being the first transgender actor in franchise history. His role looks to be recurring for the season and integral to Adira’s development as she comes to terms with her lineage. With that now more transparent, del Barrio conveys some slight tweaks in confidence with Adira’s character in the last few minutes of Forget Me Not in which we are also told how they received the symbiont.

So what of this relationship with Tal's last host and Adira's boyfriend, Gray? Deep Space Nine's Rejoined indicated that reuniting with those from a previous life was a dangerous affair and while that isn't directly what we see here, it does appear that Adira and Gray are more connected than any of the symbiont's former hosts but is this for the best? 

Up,on the Discovery, it’s good to see Doctor Culber spotlit and not just for his relationship with Stamets. His medical assessment of the crew has uncovered that while they are physically fit, their mental health is suffering under immense strain and something needs to be done ASAP.

Detmer has been a glaring example of this since she successfully piloted the ship to its temporary grounding in episode two as well as traversing that wormhole from the 22nd Century but the challenges appear more widespread. While Culber is the one to throw the doors of this wide open, Captain Saru is the person tasked with the solution.

This is where something we’ve been waiting to see for over a season finally starts to come to fruition. The brilliant Calypso Short Trek is the gift that keeps on giving and while we didn’t exactly realise it at the time, this superb 15 minutes of Star Trek told us everything we needed to know about the direction of season two and beyond. The sudden introduction of a different voice for the Discovery computer which advises Saru will be a shock to no one familiar with Calypso and alerts us to the emergence of Zora. Saru does, at the end, join the dots and remind us precisely about the sphere data collected and protected by the ship’s time jump however I would believe everyone was there about 20 minutes before.

Discovery hasn’t gone too over the top dealing with the mental challenges facing the crew. There are some niggles, people testing their boundaries and over stretching their limits which are all exposed during the dinner hosted by Saru for the bridge crew (and Stamets, Culber, Linus and Georgiou?!) and takes a turn for the worse.In less than the starter course it uncovers the chinks and weaknesses faced by some of the officers present giving not just the main cast a chance to stretch.

Emily Coutts it’s fair to say has been pushed more to the fore in these early episodes than she has been since early season one on the Shenzhou and has been subtlety playing out Detmer’s struggles over the last two weeks finally allowing her to open up to Culber and begin the healing process. I’ve enjoyed watching Detmer’s journey in Discovery and to be provided with such a big character building opportunity must show the faith the writers have in Coutts and her character. Hopefully this is a sign that others such as Bryce and Owokesun will see their roles and personalities fleshed out more in season three.

Forget Me Not’s change of pace and more cerebral nature make it a refreshing part of the run after three weeks of hectic action, reunions, phaser fights, space chases and Century building. It’s a much more thoughtful episode and although not a direct nod to a certain former Cardassian mining station it’s cool to see one of the elements that that show explored being taken and run with through Adira. Technically the Trill were a creation of The Next Generation’s The Host (where, ironically, a human host DIDN’T work out of the symbiont) but it was the subsequent Deep Space Nine and the Dax lineage that built up the backstory. 

The enhancements made thanks to a larger budget with the communion process give it a stronger sense of realism and overall the cave sequence is a strong section of the episode. Ok, there have been a couple of tweaks to the Trill background (humans can commune?) but the direction here is spot on and there's a genuine feeling that this is a show now honouring its past and striking out very much on its own. The utilisation of the Trill and Tal's former host in particular to give us the chance to fill in some of the gaps from the last 1000 years is a masterstroke although you might be thinking that there's more to it than that - and more than likely there will be.

What are your thoughts for the season after seeing Forget Me Not?

ALSO check out our full set of season one reviews from Lower Decks HERE!

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People of Earth: Discovery S03 E03

Week three of the new season and Discovery slips into a somewhat more emotional but at the same time slower gear as the team are reunited.

Let’s cover off the quick points first. FINALLY Saru gets a fourth pip on his badge and makes captain with the backing of the whole crew it appears and monumentally for the first time in Discovery, we take a trip to Earth...but it’s not what we expect.

Utilising the spore drive and making out that they are a generational ship returning after centuries away, things have certainly changed. A message Burham had managed to acquire during her year waiting and hoping for Discovery’s arrival indicated that there was a Starfleet presence on Earth but a decidedly cold welcome reveals that the Federation no longer resides there nor is there any sign of Starfleet. In fact, Earth is now looking after itself, seemingly protected by the militaristic Earth Defence Force.

Bringing back memories of the spot searches Voyager underwent during Counterpoint, this indicates a suspicious and closed planet withdrawn from the rest of the galaxy although they are combatting one repeat offender called Wenh who keeps returning to secure dilithium and now he's spotted that the Discovery is a rather rich source...

The reunion of Burnham and the Discovery crew initially looks to be a joyous and emotional one particularly for Michael who has been out looking for clue as to what caused The Burn and why it seemed to affect the Federation more than anyone else. Stick around for the rest of the episode and it’s more apparent that her return to the ship is more tumultuous. She had become accustomed to the trader lifestyle perhaps away from the rules and regulations and while there are likely to be some challenges we will have ironed out along the way she does eventually see that working as Saru’s first officer will produce mor effective results.

This is a Michael Burnham who is beginning to sway more towards decidedly human, emotional characteristics rather than the stoic Vulcan attitudes that were evident in the first season especially. The distance in time and space from her past has closed a chapter and the further into this season we are heading, the clearer it becomes that Michael is a changed person seeing the universe in not such a black and white manner.

The Discovery does feel once more as though they are becoming The A-Team, riding into town and sorting out some form of dispute before heading out as the heroes for another adventure. I understand that they are there to head in and have some form of adventure because it’s the premise of the show but each week we’ve had a very similar scenario and there needs to be some variation please. The reveal at the end of this thread isn’t heart stopping and you might even work it out fairly early on but it’s another key piece that redefines our expectations of Earth from our knowledge of it in the 23rd and 24th Centuries.

I suspect that will be forthcoming next week thanks to the introduction of Blu Del Barrio’s Adira. What a breath of fresh air and one of the most faceted characters Discovery has introduced, potentially being as exciting as Pike was for season two. The backstory reveal here is brilliant and sets them up as a key element to the rest of the season and maybe even the answer to the questions of The Burn. Del Barrio is understated, quiet, refined and very much at the start of their journey in People of Earth and at least one of the locations we saw in the trailer makes a lot more sense. Her relationship with Stamets looks to be the strongest one here with him and Tilly quickly ascertaining that there is more to the 16 year old with an impressive knowledge of 900 year old starship technology than meets the eye.

Of course the background bridge crew do get a chance to set foot on Earth in close proximity to what used to be Starfleet Academy just across from the Golden Gate Bridge still lined, as it was in Picard, with solar panels and there seems to be a serenity to the city that we have never seen in all the times we’ve visited. The removal of the Federation and Starfleet - maybe this was the producers intent - has made it more tranquil; less frenetic if you will and you have to consider if this year is going to make us all reconsider whether or not the Federation is as good a thing as we have been led to believe in other series (Picard definitely didn’t back that horse...).

For the third week in a row, everything we’ve ever known about Star Trek has been turned upside down. Everything we’ve come to expect has been inverted and, it has to be asked, is this Star Trek anymore? People of Earth takes us back to the origins of the Federation yet makes Earth the most alien environment that we have experienced in three years of Discovery. The chasm between this series and even Picard is immense - in fact it’s just as Michael describes her return to the ship - familiar but y’know it just feels strangely different, distant. For a series where the crew of Discovery were, initially, a mystery to us, they now become our security blanket and our anchor to the heart of the franchise. 

People of Earth ends a chapter of Discovery. A crew reunited, Book off on his travels (yeah, we’ll see him again I’m sure) and the reality that they are now firmly 900 years in the future settling in. The mystery now is what a supposedly dead admiral, a Trill and The Burn have in common and precisely what the point of this season is going to be...?

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Lots of Birthdays!

It's a Bumper Birthday two weeks ahead with a whole host of names who have appeared or been involved with Star Trek celebrating another year ahead.

In fact there are a few very notable names - two Klingons, a Q, an engineer, an empath, a Vulcan, the only man to beat the No Win Scenario, a legendary writer and the man responsible for creating the look of many an alien over the past few decades. (DC Fontana 25th March 1939 and Michael Westmore 22nd March 1938 not pictured above!)

So where am I heading with this? Well, while a lot of sites will, of course, go loopy over the birthdays of The Shat and Mr Nimoy on the 22nd and 26th respectively yet I want to just take a break from the norm and celebrate the work of two of these figures from the franchise in the form of J G Hertzler and Michael Westmore.

Yep, an unusual combination but then we're not known for keeping to the norm are we?! That's not to say that any of the others are lesser mortals or ever less worthy of birthday shout-outs but I have to admit to being something of a Martok fan. J G Hertzler also has the claim to be in the first scene of Deep Space Nine, acting in the role of the Vulcan captain of Sisko's ship, USS Saratoga  as well as Roy Ritterhouse in Far Beyond the Stars, the shapeshifter Laas in Chimera and the Hirogen champion in Voyager's Tsunkatse. Also he'll soon be seen in the fan production Star Trek: Axanar as Captain Samuel Travis. While all worthy of a mention none come close to his brilliance as Martok (changeling or not!).

While we first saw the general in The Way of the Warrior it wasn't until season five's BIn Purgatory's Shadow that we met him properly. For me he was one of the key secondary cast of Deep Space Nine from that moment. Martok was the archetypal Klingon, believing in the glory, the honour and certainly the thrill of battle as well as proving to be a valuable asset and ally to Sisko during the later years of the series. More of a thinker and a planner than other Klingons we had met, there was always a glint in that eye that betrayed something more - a man of many layers and definitely a great counter to both Worf and Gowron. This of course gives me a blatant excuse to round out three of his greatest moments.

Becomes Chancellor

With just a touch of help from Worf, Martok takes the reins of the Empire from the apparently glory-hunting Gowron. Well-deserved there and it's, for me, one of the best episodes of the final ten (Tacking into the Wind) if only for the epic hand to hand fight that has been brewing since the mid-point of The Next Generation let alone The Way of the Warrior. Martok's relunctance to accept the mantle of leadership is absolutely in keeping with the character who has always wanted to be a warrior in the ranks rather than giving the orders - something even alluded to in his choice of a Bird-of-Prey as his flagship.

Vs Worf

While Sons of the Empire isn't going to make your top ten, it's a good solid Klingon episode that sees Worf assist Martok in gaining the respect of his crew on the Rotarran and return to the warrior form that had eluded him since escaping from the Jem'Hadar prison camp. It's a significant turning point in the character and sets him up well for the events of the next two years. It also leads Martok to welcome Worf into his family's house since the House of Mogh no longer exists.

Drinking Blood Wine on Cardassia Prime

Now a controversial one. While Sisko and Admiral Ross might not have approved it's a good nod from the writers back to a reference in season six that the three of them will be drinking together on Cardassia when it falls to them. Just to see Martok savouring victory is worth the admission price alone. One of the things Deep Space Nine always managed successfully was their ability to drop hints in early and then bring them to reality a year or so later when you least expected it. Or had just damn well forgotten.

We could also have included his first appearance fighting the Jem'Hadar or perhaps his reluctance to command the Ninth Fleet but for me, these are three of the strongest memories I have of Hertzler's character. Honestly this doesn't do it justice and I'll be putting a larger piece together soon.

Then there's Michael Westmore. The face of the 24th Century you could say. Responsible for the look of many a creature from The Next Generation through to Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise and the later four classic movies we'd like to pay homage to his top three creations.

Cardassians

Those classy spoonheads appeared back in The Next Generation before becoming the staple baddie of Deep Space Nine for a few years as well as providing that show with a ton of backstory. Reptilian in look it's instantly recognisable and incredibly intricate when you start to really examine the structure of the neck and how it's actually very, very skeletal on the outside. It's not just one piece though as each section around the eyes, ears and chin are all separate bits that combine to create the finished look. Think about doing one and then consider that there were a lot of these guys walking around for seven years.

Odo

One that went through a heck of a lot of changes over the course of Deep Space Nine - in fact even over the course of a season as Auberjonois' features were blended more and more into the smooth face with those three distinct worry lines on the forehead. Perhaps the even more challenging part of Odo's creation was his disintegrating states we saw in The Die is Cast, Broken Link and later as part of the virus spread to the Great Link in the final ten part arc. It's one thing to create a great character makeup but another to destroy it and still make it look good....

The Trill Spots

It's the classic, the one that gets quoted over and over again but you know what? It's brilliant. Every episode and for every day the Trill spots were hand painted onto Terry Farrell to portray Jadzia Dax. We all know that each set was numbered but it's just one of those things that shows how dedicated to his art Michael Westmore was during his time with Star Trek. To think that every set was different and to have the patience to do that for six years!

So Happy Birthday this week and next to this host of Star Trek stars! Perhaps you have a favourite moment we haven't highlighted or one from the others who are celebrating. If you do, why not drop it in the comments below!

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