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Today, we're looking at "To Boldly Go Part 1", the first half of the Star Trek Continues grant finale. See how this episode ties back to the Star Trek pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before", how it sets up everything for the exciting conclusion, and hear some fascinating new insights into the episode from director James Kerwin.

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars.

And I am a nerd

This is episode 106 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the first part of the Star Trek Continues grand finale, “To Boldly Go, Part 1”.

I got an email a few weeks ago. It was from James Kerwin. Yes, that James Kerin. Writer, producer and director for Star Trek Continues, including director of today’s episode.

He reached out to me to say he’d been listening to the podcast and enjoying it. This was a huge thrill. It’s very humbling to find that one of the creators of the show has been listening to the podcast, so I want to give a big shout out and thank you to him, not only for his work on the show, but for his encouragement.

And he pointed out a few fascinating things that I’d missed.

Remember in episode three, I talked about how good the shuttlecraft exterior looked. It turns out, they didn’t build that from scratch that was the real shuttlecraft Galileo from Star Trek The Original Series. How awesome is that?

I’ve made mention of Nurse Chapel a couple of times, but that wasn’t actually Chapel. They made a conscious decision not to have Chapel appear on screen in this show because she should be off at Starfleet Medical getting her doctorate at this point in time, which makes a lot of sense. So it was always Nurse Burke, a character who had appeared in Star Trek comics and novels.

And Lieutenant Smith has not actually been on the Enterprise the whole time. But we’ll learn more about that in the next episode.

But here’s a big one I missed. The actress who plays her, Kipleigh Brown, was the writer of episode 9 “What Ships are For” I didn’t put that together, but I think that’s really cool.

The description on IMDB for today’s episode reads

To solve the utmost mystery, the Enterprise must return to where Kirk's five-year mission began.

The teleplay was by Roberty J. Sawyer based on a story by

Vic Mignongna, James Kerwin, and Robert J. Sawyer.

It was directed by James Kerwin,

And it first aired on the 18th of October 2017.

Robert J. Sawyer was the primary writer of this two-parter. He is a very famous Canadian author who wrote FlashForward, which was adapted for TV by Star Trek’s Branon Braga, and Man of Steel’s David S. Goyer.

When Star Trek The Next Generation was preparing to wrap and move to the big screen, they gave it a two-hour finale. This idea was pretty unheard of at the time. Lots of shows in the 90s had movie-length pilots, but not finales. TV shows tended to pitter out and end with a bit of a whimper. TNG changed all that.

But the original Star Trek never got a proper finale, like TNG, DS9, and Voyager. 

Even Enterprise got a finale of sorts, which I will partially defend, though not the feature length extravaganza that others got.

But things were different in the 60s. TOS had no ending. It was cancelled. Turnabout Intruder wasn’t intended to be the end of the story, it was just an episode.

One of the greatest things about Star Trek Continues is that it rectifies this. It gives TOS the ending it always deserved. And it’s done so well.

Much like “All Good Things”, it calls back to a lot of things from the past, but it specifically links us back to the very first episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

Even the titles relate, each is part of Kirk’s iconic phrase. The symmetry is beautiful.

But hold on, I hear you say. “What about the Cage? Isn’t that the pilot of TOS?”

Well, yes it is. Star Trek had an unprecedented  two pilots. But The Cage never actually aired in its original form during the run of the show. These days, I tend to think of The Cage as the pilot for Strange New Worlds. So in my mind, it makes a lot of sense for this episode to tie in with “Where No Man has Gone Before.”

Director James Kerwin gave me some interesting insight into the production of these episodes. They actually filmed this two-parter before they filmed the last episode “What Ships are For.” CBS/Paramount had implemented their fan-film guidelines, guidelines. 

Now a show like this would have needed some substantial changes to fit with these guidelines. They were required to be less than 15 minutes or no more than 2 30 minute parts in total with no additional seasons, episodes or sequels.

CBS didn’t require the show to shut down, but with these guidelines in place, and Discovery about to release, out of respect, they decided to wind down Star Trek Continues. They did a final fundraiser to complete episodes 8, 10 and 11, but there was no money to make episode 9.

But at the last minute, a generous donor gave them the money for episode 9. They shot the finale first to get it out of the way, and went back several months later to film “What Ships are For.” I’m glad that generous donor made it possible, because that last episode was pretty amazing.

The episode opens with Spock & McKenna meditating together. This is normally a very private affair, but Spock considers it an honour to teach a willing student. 

Meditation is the one time that Vulcans truly acknowledge their emotions. You can see why it’s so private.

McKenna’s inclusion in this moment shows the level of intimacy that has grown between these two.

They will both miss these sessions when the mission is over.

We learn here about a vulcan discipline, the Dulhutnar, an alternative to the Kolinahr. 

Rather than the purging of emotions, the Dulhutna is about accepting the wisdom of vestigial emotions.

Spock considers there to be No chance of him pursuing either. Of course, we know that shortly after this finale, he will return to Vulcan and pursue the Kolinahr.

Spock and McKenna’s relationship is special. They share private things they wouldn’t share with others.

Time with humans has taught Spock to value his human side.

And then they hold hands. That’s a huge deal. Vulcans are not comfortable with physical contact. And even for humans, holding hands is a sign of affection and physical intimacy.

The Enterprise is scheduled to return home soon. Their 5 year mission is coming to an end.

The loss of The Hood crew still weighs on him. You’ll remember that back in “Embracing the Winds” a mysterious life support failure cost the lives of the entire crew. A failure that Scotty was unable to explain. 

I remember commenting at the time that I hoped the show would follow up on that. I couldn’t remember if it did. We’ll see in this episode that it is definitely followed up.

The Yorktown and the Republic were both damaged while investigating The Hood’s loss. The Enterprise is being sent to the Federation colony on Aldebran III which went completely silent shortly afterward.

Admiral Thesp, a very cool looking Andorian, admits that the Federation had a secret laboratory on the planet. A supply vessel sent to investigate never returned.

They detected anti-proton residue. That means Romulans.

The colony has been destroyed. The central reactor suffered a containment failure. Scotty thinks that should be impossible. He installed the safeguards himself 5 years ago, which, I suppose, gives us a glimpse of what Scotty’s job was before the Enterprise’s 5 year mission began.

Interestingly, Vic pronounces the word Sabotage the same way Shatner does. Sabotage. I don’t know how common that is in America, or Canada for that matter, but here in Australia, we definitely say Sabotage.

Anyway, I love these little bits of attention to detail. It’s really cool.

The underground pandora research lab is intact but it has a scattering field so Scotty will have to beam them down outside.

The set for the planet looks very reminiscent of what we might have seen on The Original Series, and yet, kind of better, in my opinion. It’s a real work of art.

I like the little elevator shaft to gain entrance to the lab. The only sign of habitation nearby. Presumably, the colony was elsewhere on the planet.

A drone appears and attacks them. The effects here are a good match for the original series. Again, better quality, but recognisable.

There’s a good sense of danger to this action scene.

After they’ve dealt with it, a human woman, Lana, appears out of the turbolift. She’s surprised to see a Vulcan. The sensors detected him as Romulan.

Lana is played by actress Nichola Bryant who famously portrayed the Doctor Who companion Peri, a character I’ve been known to refer to as “the whinging yank”. But in fairness to her, Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor was a bit of a prickly guy to be around.

James Kerwin was a big Doctor Who fan growing up. Colin Baker and Nichola Bryant were the doctor/companion pairing that he most remembered as a child. It was a big honour for him to work with both of them on Star Trek Continues. Colin Baker appeared in Episode 4, The White Iris, as Amphidamas. And Nichola Bryant appeared in this two-parter. 

How cool is it that he got to work with them both on this show? 

Lana is wearing a visor. To me, it looks similar to the one that Spock and Miranda Jones had to wear when viewing the Medusans back in “Is There No Truth in Beauty.”

But as she removes the visor, we see her eyes. The same metallic colour we saw in Gary Mitchell after he was uplifted by passage through the galactic barrier, back in the pilot episode.

Ever since this phenomenon was discovered, after “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, Starfleet have been gathering people with high psi-quotients and experimenting with them. Trying to uplift them. There are 25 of them.

This sounds like a REALLY BAD IDEA

My first thought is, are section 31 involved?

This woman is part of a first trial. They have already gone through the barrier. They are weaponised humans - to serve as a last resort in case the Federation is invaded by a superior force.

When Kirk questions the legitimacy of such an action, she refers to the starfleet charter. Article 14 Section 31.

And there it is.

Lana makes the statement “Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely. It corrupts selectively.”

I don’t believe that all power will always corrupt. I don’t buy into the old adage.

Lana makes a fair point - of the two espers that were uplifted in the pilot, one became a megalomaniac. The other retained her humanity.

We don’t really know why. Did Gary already have elements of megalomania in his personality? Was he somehow more susceptible to it than Denher was? There could have been all sorts of factors.

And that uncertainty makes this whole thing a very risky endeavour.

Lana claims that psychologically unstable espers were excluded from the operation.

But they can’t know for certain what might cause another Gary Mitchell. That, in my opinion, makes what they’re doing too dangerous.

Kirk asks which she is, and she answers by saying she follows “Sas-tar-po-harn”

This is a human spiritual movement that follows the pacifict teachings of Surak and T’Mord of Vulcan. I think this is a very interesting idea. And a logical one.

In Babylon 5, when humans made first contact, there was a growing interest in alien religions among humans, the theory being that races that are more technologically advanced than we are, must be closer to God.

I can see some people thinking that way. It seems a similar thing may have happened in the Star Trek universe. After first contact with Vulcans, it’s only logical that some humans may have chosen to adopt Vulcan philosophy.

So this is a nice touch.

Lana explains that a cloaked ship came here and attacked the lab. It destroyed the Hallifax.

The other espers have been kidnapped by the Romulans. Lana played dead with her powers so they didn’t find her.

Spock surmises that Vulcans cannot be uplifted, based on his prior experience at the barrier. He was not uplifted despite his psi-abilities.

If Vulcans cannot be uplifted, then neither can Romulans.

But this raises a question. Do Romulans have the same telepathic abilities as Vulcans? I’ve never heard of a Romulan conducting a mind meld.

The Romulan ancestors left Vulcan during a time of barbarism. The TNG episode “Gambit” suggests that ancient Vulcans had telepathic abilities because they constructed a telepathic weapon called The Stone of Gol. That suggests the Romulans may indeed have similar telepathic abilities to Vulcans, even though we’ve never really seen it. Unless there’s some example I’m forgetting.

The Romulans want to use the kidnapped human espers because they can’t create their own. Seems logical.

The interesting thing is, they don’t want to use the force against the Federation, but to overthrow their own Praetor. Apparently, the Romulan Klingon alliance has ended, and this group of Romulans oppose the end of the alliance.

Spock raises concern over taking Lana with them. Better to leave her here. Stranded. As they had intended for Mitchell.

A Romulan appears. Sentek. He is played by Cas Anvar, who played Alex Kamal on The Expanse. The Expanse had already aired a season or two by this point. I continue to be impressed with the actors that Star Trek Continues is able to get.

Lana disarms Sentek. They beam out (with the prisoner) just before the explosion.

They’re pursuing the Romulan ship but it’ll enter the neutral zone before they catch up.

Admiral Thesp orders him to enter the zone and pursue all the way to Romulus if necessary. Just get the espers back.

Kirk doesn’t look too impressed with this.

Among other reasons that he probably realises, this is a suicide mission, but in addition to that, it could provoke a war.

Spock asks Uhura to transmit an encrypted message. It’s all a bit mysterious.

Kirk has some hard questions for Lana. Why was that one romulan left on the planet? Why didn’t she use her powers to overcome him? She theorises that he is a praetorian spy hidden among the dissidents. He fled to the hills. None of her answers sound particularly convincing.

The Enterprise officially crosses the border. They are now in violation of treaty.

Of course, so were the Romulans, but it seems they didn’t represent the Romulan government so that will be a very weak excuse as far as they are concerned.

A bird of prey decloaks. It’s not the marauder. When Spock identifies the ship, Kirk shakes his head. He knows what Spock is up to.

They are hailed by the Romulan commander from The Enterprise Incident.

Played wonderfully by Amy Rydell, the daughter of the original actor to play the part in the TOS episode. She does a fantastic job, and almost convinces me she’s the time-travelling original actor.

She is referred to Charvanek in this episode but was never named on screen in The Enterprise Incident. She does whisper her name to Spock but we never learn what it is. The Name Charvanek was used in a number of non-canon sources. But she’s also given other names in various novels and games.

She doesn’t attack but her words make it clear she considers a formal declaration of war is all but inevitable due to the Enterprise’s entry into the zone.

Kirk isn’t impressed that Spock contacted her of his own volition.

Spock admits the reason he didn’t ask is because he knew Kirk wouldn’t agree.

How human you are becoming, Mister Spock.

Spock believes he can convince her to assist them in pursuing the dissidents, due to their previous rapport. Kirk gives him 30 minutes.

At the end of The Enterprise Incident, Charvanek was taken into Federation space and released on a world on our side of the border. It seems that Sarak was the one who negotiated the treaty that led to her return to Romulan space. It seems she was able to get her old command back. That must have taken some convincing on her part.

Spock appeals to her loyalty to the Praetor. It doesn’t take much to convince her to help stop the dissidents.

The twist happens when she meets the prisoner. He is no Romulan commander that she knows, and she knows her fleet. She knows her fellow commanders.

As he is discovered, Sentek beams out, apparently at Kirk’s command, according to the transporter chief.

Sentek tries to sabotage engineering. In the battle, Charvanek  is rendered unconscious by something similar to a Vulcan nerve pinch.

It’s nice to see Doctor M’Benga again.

McCoy has found that Sentek is actually a Vulcan who lived on the colony, and he’s married to Lana. He had unusually high natural psionic ability, even for a Vulcan. They speculate that he wanted an equal for a mate. A human who could be uplifted to be his equal. They also speculate that Lana’s trip through the barrier may not have been approved by Starfleet.

When Kirk confronts Lana, she explains that she sees her uplifting as a way to accelerate human evolution, which she considers to have stalled.

We get some very interesting worldbuilding. Apparently the barrier around our galaxy was artificially constructed and placed there by the preservers. I love this. It makes sense of what was a bit of a silly idea in TOS, and adds to the mystique and mythology of the Star Trek universe. It’s a shame that Star Trek never explored the preservers more than it did.

When she asks why the preservers did it, McCoy speculates that “it was probably to keep us in, to prevent our violence from spreading”. This reminds me somewhat of C.S Lewis’s space trilogy, which suggests that the vast interstellar distances between stars are God’s natural quarantine to keep sinful humanity confined.

Lana has a different theory, that it was so that naturally superior lifeforms could be uplifted when they devised the technology to leave the galaxy.

McCoy pushes back “you don’t know what gods think.”

It’s very chilling when she replies “Yes. I do.”

The implication, of course, being that she is a god.

When humans start thinking of themselves as gods, you’re probably in for trouble.

It turns out, the ship the Enterprise has been following was just an illusion. Created, presumably, by Lana. But why does she want to start a war between the Romulans and the Federation?

Uplifted espers seem to have very similar powers of illusion to the Talosians.

It’s nice to see Sulu taking command on the bridge. He’s showing a good aptitude for the job he’ll eventually have.

Charvanek is still working with her old first officer, Tal. He doesn’t seem interested in apologies. He’s planning to destroy the Enterprise. This raises the question of where Charvanek is. If she’s still on the Enterprise, he’ll be killing her. More likely, she’s on her ship, but left the bridge in the hands of her first office, much like Kirk has with Sulu.

We get some interesting insight into Romulan religion when the commander says he hopes that Spock’s katra finds its way to Vol-to-vor.

We know from Star Trek 5, that vol-to-vor is the romulan’s equivalent of Eden. So it seems in their religion, it is both a place of origin as well as a destination. This is somewhat different to Christianity, where Eden and heaven are distinct.

The Romulans can’t fire. They think they’re pressing the button, but they’re not. Lana’s influence, no doubt.

When Charvanek returns to the bridge we see that Tal has been overstepping his authority. She orders that they will assist the Enterprise with their mission. I smell a potential mutiny in their future.

Kirk figures out the truth behind Lana’s deception. There never were any dissidents. The espers weren’t kidnapped by Romulans. There never were any Romulans on the planet. The espers stole the Halifax. The deception was to buy time for the espers to make it to the galactic barrier.

This is what happened to the Hood. The espers convinced the crew to shut off their own life support. Just to see if they could. That’s horrifically cold. These people truly see themselves as above humankind. Of more value. They have no regard for human life.

Given that, it seems believable that Lana would be willing to start this war just as a distraction.

There is no doubt now. Lana is a full villain

Kirk is now questioning his judgement

He calls those who were present at the events of “Where no man has gone before” which includes Smith, who is back on the ship now.

Plus others who were not there.

Spock asks Smith if there’s anything she can share of her experience. She was holding Mitchell’s hand when they crossed.

She has nothing to add that wasn’t in her report. But her demeanour suggests maybe she’s holding something back.

Scotty is keenly aware of what they’re up against. Gary was difficult enough to defeat on his own. They’re going to face an entire ship full of uplifted espers. 

Kirk takes solace in the fact that despite his powers, Gary was still just as susceptible to human frailty.

Then he adds “he couldn’t even remember my middle name” which is an amusing little nod to the “James R Kirk” tombstone in that episode. Canon fixed.

Charvanek’s  takes the practical approach. Strike first, before they have the ability to grow in their power. Similar to Spock’s recommendation all those years ago.

Kirk won’t have that. These are still Federation citizens. This is a rescue mission.

I get it. I’m all for idealism, and I’d side with Kirk on this. You can’t just shoot to kill while they’re still human. But calling it a rescue mission? I believe that’s a little naive. These people know what they’re doing. They’re actively trying to undergo this transformation.

I guess the difference is that their egoes, their ambitions, will be increased along with their powers. (much like Khan with his genetically engineered nature)

Sulu comes up with an ingenious way to catch up with the espers. Combine a traditional warp field with the space-folding singularity used by the Romulan ship, reminding us of his background in natural sciences, back in Where No Man Has Gone before.

There’s a lot of physics to flying a starship so it makes a lot of sense to me that a good helmsman would have a background in science.

Lana decides it’s time to escape captivity. She flings the forcefield away and then forces

This is a very chilling scene, and again demonstrates how little regard she has for human life.

Can you imagine the horror of that moment, feeling your arm moving, knowing you’re about to disintegrate your body, and having no power to prevent it. It’s horrifying.

This moment is better than any other redshirt death that has ever happened in TOS, and possibly Star Trek in general. 

Firstly because we’ve gotten to know this character. He’s been developed of a number of episodes. He’s not just a nameless face. We know he’s a person with a life, people who love him.

In addition to that, it treats the moment with the gravity it deserves.

I’m left feeling something very deeply, and that would probably even be the case even if we hadn’t been introduced to him earlier in the season. Farewell, Drake. You will be missed.

The Enterprise and the Romulan ship have made it to the galactic barrier.

The Hallifax is at the border. But have they gone through yet or not?

Kirk hails them. He offers aid, to be a go-between for them with Starfleet Command. He doesn’t give the impression of a neutral party, though. They do, after all, work for Starfleet Command.

But it’s a trap. The Halifax is empty. Another ship appears behind them.

A constitution class ship, The USS Kongo emerges from the barrier. It’s too late. There are only around 12 people on board.

We get a view of their bridge, and they all have silver eyes.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Lana and Sentek enter the Enterprise bridge.

“Relinquish command or the Enterprise will suffer the same fate as the Hood.”

To be concluded.

This is a fantastic cliffhanger. Not quite up there with Best of Both Worlds, but better than most.

This episode was a great set-up for the finale. I love how it pulled together so many threads, both from TOS and from Star Trek Continues itself.

Only one left to go.

It’s been a wild ride.

Don’t forget to check out my original science fiction at AdamDavidCollings.com/books

And I’ll see you next time to discuss To Boldly Go, Part 2.

Until then, 

Live Long and Prosper

Make it so.

We're taking a brief side-quest from our regular coverage of Star Trek Continues, to look at an episode of Star Trek New Voyages, because it sets up the back-story of Kirk and Carol Marcus's relationship, and I just like to throw it in there when I'm doing a re-watch of Star Trek Continues.

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd.

This is episode 105 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about an episode of a different fan series - Star Trek New Voyages. “The Holiest Thing”

Why? I just like to throw this one in when I do a re-watch of Star Trek Continues, because it does a similar thing to Continues, that is, to help develop the story filling in the gaps between TOS and the Star Trek movies. This one introduces Kirk to a much younger Carol Marcus, for the very first time.

So I figured, let’s have a look at this one. Next time, we’ll be back with part 1 of the finale of Star Trek Continues.

The description on IMDB reads

Captain Kirk and the Enterprise investigate the devastation of Lappa III, apparently by the terraforming efforts of Dr. Carol Marcus.

This episode was written by Rick Chambers

It was directed by Daren Dochterman

And it first aired on the 15th of January 2016

We start this episode in a very unexpected place. A shuttle flies past the camera. But it’s not a TOS shuttle. It’s an Enterprise D shuttle. We cut to the inside where we see a woman in TNG era uniform and an older Scotty. So, clearly this is set some time after the TNG episode “Relics” where a retired Scotty finds himself in the 24th century.

I have to say, they cast a pretty decent look-alike for older scotty.

A guy named Carl Sheldon. He hasn’t done a lot of acting.

Watching this scene, I’m again reminded just how professional the acting and writing are in Star Trek Continues. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Star Trek New Voyages. They did some amazing stuff long before Star Trek Continues was a thing. But the acting, and the dialog here just isn’t at the same standard as Continues.

But I want to give this show credit for set design and visual effects. What we see in this episode is great.

And not all the acting feels as amateur as this first scene.

The ensign has been doing some training with Captain Scott. They’re approaching the Lappa system. She asks Scotty if he’s ever been there. He recalls a time in his past, when the world was still very much on the frontier. It was un-inhabited back then. At least, that’s what they thought.

We then cut to the TOS present day.

A scientist, who we’ll shortly learn is Dr. Carol Marcus, is working to terraform this planet. Scotty is there, and in this show, he has a moustache. Another little nod to closing the gap between TOS and TMP.

Marcus says “we have Enterprise and her chief Engineer watching over our shoulder.”

This is something that bugs me. That she says “Enterprise” rather than “The Enterprise.”

Voyager was the first Star Trek show to drop the word “The” when referring to the ship. And I was okay with that because “The Voyager” somehow sounded wrong. In contrast to “The Enterprise” and “The Defant” which both sounded completely natural and right.

Then we got Enterprise, and on that show, they did the same thing. They called the ship “Enterprise”, not “The Enterprise”

That annoyed me a little, but I got over it.

But nowadays, in Strange New Worlds, they are referring to the original starship Enterprise, the one commanded by Pike and eventually Kirk, as “Enterprise.” I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong. That ship was always “The Enterprise” so that annoys me quite a bit. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.

Here, in New Voyages, we have the same problem. Carol is referring to Kirk’s ship. It should be “The Enterprise”

Marcus told the science council she could terraform Lappa III in less than a decade. But with recent problems with the equipment, it’s going to take twice that long.

Both Marcus AND the council seem to be very inpatient about that, even though, as Scotty points out, it’s a whole century faster than anybody else has done it before.

It amuses me to see her pacing impatiently when we’re talking timeframes of decades and centuries. 

And centuries sounds about right for terraforming, something that, if it is actually possible, is not going to be quick.

Apparently, they’re using transporter technology in a whole new way. Scotty wants to see what it’s all about.

Something goes terribly wrong and the lab explodes. Scotty and Marcus barely escape in their shuttle. But they crash.

This was a pretty spectacular sequence.

The Enterprise crew have recovered Scotty and Marcus. Scotty is pretty banged up. Marcus is unconscious but should be out of here soon. But Kirk is very impatient to speak with her. He needs to know what happened on the outpost.

Jacy King plays Carol Marcus. Married to Brian Gross who plays Kirk.

She’s a good choice. She definitely looks the part, a lot more than Alice Eve did in Star Trek Into Darkness. And, of course, she doesn’t have the inexplicable British accent.

I didn’t see Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn at the cinema. I don’t know if it even showed here in Tasmania. But I was only 4 years old. I saw the first half of it on TV, and then watched the whole thing on VHS many years later.

When I watched it, it had been quite some time since I’d seen the original TV series. So I had assumed, from the way she was introduced, that we’d seen the character of Carol Marcus at some point in the past. Of course, that wasn’t the case. The back-story of Kirk and Carol Marcus always seemed like this big glaring hole that demanded to be filled. So I liked that Star Trek New Voyages chose to fill that hole.

Carol is shocked and horrified to learn all her team is dead.

There’s no evidence of alien contact. Kirk is going to begin the investigation assuming it was an accident. Carol wants to be a part of it. She will work with Spock.

But McCoy thinks she needs to work with someone more sensitive to her current emotional needs, given her great loss. So Kirk volunteers.

Carol’s terraforming technology uses transporters to re-arrange matter. Seems like a pre-cursor to the Genesis device she’ll eventually create.

Scotty thought he saw a ship on sensors, but now they can’t detect anything.

Spock wants to run background checks on Carol’s staff, considering the possibility of sabotage. She doesn’t react to this well.

There is now clear tension between her and Spock. He’s not sure she should accompany him to the surface, given her “emotional outbursts.”

This episode actually gives a character arc to both Marcus and Spock. Marcus, of course, is trying to figure out how to deal with the painful emotions of having lost her crew, and feeling responsible. Spock, on the other hand, has to learn how to relate to a human who is experiencing very understandable strong emotions. It’s a learning experience for both.

A quick zoom out shows us that there is indeed a ship hiding in the system. It’s not cloaked. It seems to be hiding in a gas cloud. It’s not a familiar design. At least, it wasn’t to me, in this shot, but we’ll come back to that.

Kirk goes to see Marcus. He apologises for Spock. Marcus has come to agree that Spock asked the right question, she just didn’t like it.

We get some insight into why Marcus is so passionate about terraforming. She talks of a famine that happened on a world. People suffered. She wanted to help. Terraforming dead worlds is an answer, but it’s far too slow to be of any practical help.

She is driven by compassion for people.

She sees herself becoming a mother of worlds

It’s a good conversation. There’s no flirting or inappropriate behaviour, as you often get from Kirk the minute he meets a pretty girl, Just 2 people getting to know each other. 

They’re both people with authority. They understand each other

Kir acts s little sheepish as he starts to realise his attraction to her. Maybe he’s sensing that he feels more than just sexual attraction. Something deeper.

She’s feeling it too

Spock and Carol beam down to investigate destruction site.

We see Xon at transporter console. He is the Vulcan character created to replace Spock in the original Star Trek Phase 2 series that was cancelled in favour of Star Trek the Motion picture, because Nimoy wasn’t going to be involved in that show. When it became a movie instead of a series, Nimoy agreed to return.

Star Trek New Voyages chose to bring Xon onto the Enterprise as a new character alongside Spock.

Spock and Marcus are learning to appreciate each other.

Marcus seems to be a little envious of Spock’s ability to suppress emotion as a Vulcan.

They’ve found something on the planet. Not something belonging to the team. It doesn’t belong there. They’re bringing it aboard for analysis.

Kirk is seeking counsel from bones on how to help Dr. Marcus through what she’s going through. He claims he has no romantic interest in her. That would be wrong. Interesting to see Kirk say that when nothing usually stops him. But Carol is going through a great deal of emotional pain at the loss of her friends.

Sometimes in older fiction, like Star Trek, you’ll see characters who are trying to comfort someone through grief, and suddenly it becomes romantic. Like they’re taking advantage of the other person. Even Star Trek 2009 did this with Uhura and Spock, but reversing the expected gender roles. It felt really odd.

I’m glad to see Kirk not doing that here.

His relationship with Carol Marcus is one that is important to us as fans, so it’s nice to see them doing it right.

When the mysterious object causes problems with their respirators, and even Scotty can’t get a lock on Carol, Kirk has a very reckless plan to rescue her. Beaming down without a respirator of his own to give Scotty something to lock onto.

It’s a plan that could work, but probably not something the captain of the ships should be doing.

We’re clearly seeing here how much Kirk cares about her.

Fortunately, it works.

The energy reading of the debris they found looks kinda like the graphic depicting the genesis wave in Star Trek 2. But this doesn’t really go anywhere.

Kirk takes carol to the arboretum

She’s changed into a revealing outfit. Makes me think it's a deliberate date.

Carol is thinking of giving up. Kirk doesn't think she will. She cares too much

Kirk has been there too. At what point do you say, this is enough.

Kirk says he’ll tell her when he gets there. He’s not there yet and neither is she

The way this is written it feels much more real than most of Kirk’s many romances, of which there have been many. He’s not being creepy. He’s not overly flirty. It’s just two people getting to know each other, going deep, and forming a genuine bond. Basically it feels like a real relationship.

It’s condensed for time so it’ll fit into a 1 hour episode maybe, but real nonetheless.

Carol and Spock are also growing in their relationship. A professional one. We get the impression from Star Trek II that Spock knew Carol.

Here’s a question. Why does Kirk think it’s appropriate to talk to the admiral with his shirt off and slung over his shoulder? I wouldn’t dream of talking to my boss half dressed. If I got a surprise zoom call from him, even if I was in an unprepared state, I’d throw on a shirt before I clicked accept.

Anyway, Starfleet are itching to assemble a warfleet to engage the alien ship that might not might not be there. The admiral needs Kirk to get him some real answers. Fast.

And then, of course, we get another scene where a woman walks in on Kirk shirtless in his quarters and gets embarrassed. Seems I only just talked about this an episode or two ago, so I don’t have any further comments, other than to notice it happening yet again, in another fan production.

Carol has been working very hard on her investigation and hasn’t eaten for 9 hours. Kirk invites her to dinner, which she readily accepts. But it very quickly becomes apparent they’re not going to dinner. They have …. Other plans.

It’s really not surprising to me that the actors playing Kirk and Marcus are married. You can see the genuine affection between them. I guess that’s the elusive thing that people call chemistry. Whatever that is, these two seem to have it, as you’d expect from a real couple.

The next morning, Kirk is finding himself in a bit of a melancholy place, thinking about how the Captain’s chair is a lonely one. It was pretty rare for ships captains in Kirk’s time to marry. It was a more wild frontier. Gone from earth for years at a time. They didn’t really have families on board like they did in the 24th century.

That hasn’t rarely bothered him with his past conquests. Perhaps because he sees a potential future with Carol.

They’re heading for the dust cloud, to try to find that evidence for Starfleet.

After going to warp, Sulu says “like a leap on the solar wind” which is, of course, a reference to Firefly. Not sure exactly why they added that.

Spock has found the cause of the explosion. Protomatter.

This is something that is mentioned in Star Trek 3. Apparently, David Marcus, Carol’s son, used protomatter in the matrix for the Genesis device. It was the only way to solve certain problems. We’re told it’s use is unethical because it’s “dangerously unstable”

Here, in this episode, we get a bit more of an explanation of what protomatter is.

It’s a remnant from the creation of the universe. It can fluctuate between matter and anti-matter states. If both appeared at the same time, an explosion would occur.

It seems the matrix from Carol’s experiment was contaminated with protomatter. Something she acknowledged as a very minute possibility, but so unlikely as to be statistically insignificant. 

Sadly, it happened.

They’ve found the alien ship in the dust cloud.

My first thought when seeing it this time was “that looks kinda like a Ferengi ship.”

The alien’s weapons are no match for the Enterprise’s shields.

They’re refusing to respond to Kirk’s hails.

When we see a camera point of view from within the alien ship, we catch a glimpse of the side of their heads. It’s pretty clearly Ferengi.

They claim that the transformation of the planet is a hostile act.

When Kirk says they weren’t aware of anyone have a claim on the planet, the response is “You didn’t ask,” and Spock says they have a point.

But ask who?

It was an empty planet. Nobody there. It was claimed by no government that the Federation is aware of. Remember, they won’t make official contact with the Ferengi until TNG season 1.

So it seems to me the Federation acted in good faith with all the information they had available. I don’t think they could have asked anyone else.

The alien voice makes it clear they’re not interested in discovery or friendship. Only profit.

And then, the episode breaks continuity by having the alien not only show his face, but identify his species as Ferengi.

This is a really odd move from my point of view.

They already had the Ferengi communicating by voice only. And if they wanted to show the Ferengi on screen, they could have done so purely on the alien bridge Point of View. No need for Kirk to actually see them. Why they started this way and then flipped is beyond me. They’d set it up the perfect way to include the Ferengi without breaking continuity, and then they did it anyway.

Enterprise did, of course, have an episode with Ferengi, not at no point during that episode did they mention their name to Archer and his crew.

But it occurs to me now that in Encounter at Farpoint, before that official contact, Picard had at least heard the name Ferengi. So I guess they could have heard that name this early. But it always felt to me like a more recent thing. That they’d heard of this race, The Ferengi, but just hadn’t met them yet.

Anyway, the Ferengi claim to have a prior commercial arrangement with the Federation. Something that is news to Kirk.

And then he say a very interesting line

“The only thing more expensive than a question, is the answer.”

I wonder if that’s a rule of acquisition. If it isn’t, then it should be.

The only logical possibility is that a member of the team on the planet had made an arrangement with the Ferengi. The question is, did Dr. Marcus know about it?

Kirk is quick to come to her defence, based on his knowledge of her character. But can he offer any evidence?

Carol is really struggling with having lost crewmembers. It’s somewhat compromising her ability to think clearly. This is understandable. Kirk has left people under his command before. He sadly has to let her know that it never stops hurting. I like what they’re doing with Carol’s character in this story.

That protomatter came from somewhere. Maybe there was a black market going on behind her back she wasn’t aware of.

They’ve detected protomatter in the Ferengi’s cargo hold.

Sabotage is not a logical possibility. It makes no financial sense to kill your trading partners. 

The project was behind schedule. Someone could have purchased the protomatter to speed things up, and it went badly.

Kirk is going to try to bluff the Ferengi poker style to get information. Of course, it would be good for him to be aware of the Ferengi love of Tongo.

It was the project director, Dr. Robert Dewhitt, who purchased the protomatter. He was as passionate about the project as Carol was. He must have been desperate.

Carol is going to start over. She’s learned a lot from this experience. She knows how to make it work now. She’s going to start inventing the Genesis device.

Three days later, they arrive at the nearest starbase to drop off Dr. Marcus. But first, she goes to see Kirk.

Kirk is hoping they can have dinner before parting ways, but she says no.

Then Kirk proposes.

It seems pretty sudden after only a few days. But … Carol Marcus is his soul mate.

But she says no.

For the reasons she gave in Star Trek 2.

For them to be together, one of them would have to abandon their dream.

Carol claims she can’t do her research on The Enterprise. A lot of her work would require her to be on planets, but surely much of it, especially in the early days, would be lab work. Hard to see why that couldn’t be done on the Enterprise. A ship of scientific exploration.

Kirk offers to leave the Enterprise, leave Starfleet.

But she won’t let him do that. Over time, he would resent her for it.

Which is possibly true.

She admits she loves him, but, but asks him to stay away.

For all their sakes - all three.

And this is where it gets really unfair.

She tells him she’s pregnant with David, and asks him to stay away. To have absolutely no contact with his son. Ever.

This is how it has to be, because this is what Star Trek 2 set up.

But I believe Carol is wrong here.

I believe she is hurting not only Jim, but David as well. Robbing them both of the relationship they both deserve to have.

This is heart-breaking stuff.

Kirk gallantly does as Carol wishes.

Honestly, I don’t know how he has the strength.

This must haunt him every day for the rest of his life.

It would me.

This episode relies on accepting a lot of truncated time regarding Kirk and Carol’s relationship. There’s no way around that when you’re telling the story of the entire relationship in one episode. But I forgive it because it’s a great story. A very fitting prequel to Star Trek 2.

As fun as it was, I’m not sure what the point of the framing device with TNG Scotty was, other than maybe to show that the terraforming efforts eventually succeeded and people are living there now. I would argue that it wasn’t necessary, and might even distract from the episode. But It was cool either way.

But another little thing. At the beginning, Scotty says that Lappa III was uninhabited - or so we thought. I don’t think they paid off that statement. We learn of no indigenous life on the planet. The closest we get to a payoff is the Ferengi, but they’re not living on the planet, just trading with one of the crew. So I’m not sure what happened there.

Next time, we’re going to look at the first part of Star Trek Coninue’s two-part finale.

“To Boldly Go.”

I’m looking forward to talking about it.

Don’t forget the first three books in my Jewel of The Stars sci-fi series are available on Amazon, Kobok, Google Play, Apple, all the usual places.

Until next time

Live long and prosper

Make it so.

In this episode of Star Trek Continues, we are treated to the return of John De Lancie is a new role. But just because he's not playing Q, doesn't mean he isn't awesome. "What Ships Are For" explores an issue that has been topical in our world in recent years - immigration and refugees.

----more----

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd.

This is episode 104 of the podcast. (Yes, I’m counting the chat about DC comics from last time)

Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “What Ships are For”.

The description on IMDB reads

Kirk struggles with aiding a society whose inhabitants view their isolated world in a very unique way.

This teleplay was written by Kipleigh Brown

With story by Vic Mignogna, James Kerwin, and Kipleigh Brown, 

It was directed by Vic Mignogna

And it first aired on the 30th of July 2017

When I first heard that Star Trek Continues was bringing in the legendary John DeLancie, but that he’d be playing a character that wasn’t Q, my initial reaction was “What a waste of John De Lancie.”

My thinking went something like this. The idea of having Q visit Kirk’s Enterprise would be fun. Something that could certainly happen in-universe because Q can travel through time with the click of a finger. But it couldn’t have ever been done in TOS because The Next Generation didn’t exist yet. It’s the similar problem to having Kirk and Spock make references to Archer and T’Pol. While Enterprise took place before TOS, it was created more than 30 years later.

These kinds of references and interactions can only be done by fan productions (or maybe Strange New Worlds).

But as fun as it would be having Q show up in a TOS episode, it’s unlikely a fan production would be able to get John DeLancie.

But Star Trek Continues managed to get him. But they didn’t use him for Q. They cast him as another character. Added to the disappointment of him not being Q, was the fact that De Lancie is a very recognisable guy, so seeing him as a different character would be odd to say the least.

After watching the episode the first time, I had to back-pedal my thoughts on this because of De Lancie’s great performance. He did a fantastic job with this character, and now it’s hard to imagine this episode without him.

The Enterprise is responding to a distress call from an inhabited asteroid with a limited warp capable society.

I like that it’s an inhabited asteroid. We always see people living on planets, but I think we need more inhibited moons and asteroids, not only in sci-fi, but in fantasy as well. If I ever write a fantasy book, the world I set it on will be a moon, rather than a planet.

And a nice bit of ongoing continuity, we learn that two Federation starships have been dispatched to investigate what happened to the hood. Both have suffered unexplainable damage.

We also learn that Nurse Chapel is already at Starfleet medical, studying to become a doctor. We know that by the time of Star Trek The Motion Picture, Chapen is a doctor. This is the first really big sign that Star Trek Continues is on a trajectory toward that movie, starting to set up some of the big changes that occurred off-screen between season 3 and the movie.

You sometimes see nurses who decide to become doctors in both fiction and real life. It can be almost viewed as a promotion, which, I suspect it technically is, if you look at the hierarchy of authority in a hospital. But nursing certainly needn't be seen as a stepping stone to medicine. Nursing is a respected profession of highly intelligent people. And interestingly, my wife works with a nurse who used to be a doctor, but decided she’d rather be a nurse. You don’t often see it go that direction.

The other hint of the motion picture you see is the white medical uniform the doctor at Starfleet is wearing. Kirk jokes that you’ll never get him in one of those things.

The Hyalini have refused outside contact for centuries. We know little about them.

We get a little TOS style womp-womp humour, which I don’t really care for, but it’s very authentic.

When the landing party beam down to the asteroid, they are surprised to be seeing everything in black and white.

When I heard that the creative team behind this show were looking for ways to do a black and white episode, I wasn’t convinced. But the conceit they come up with works nicely for me as a science fiction concept, and also allows them to approach a topical issue in a very unique way. So good on ‘em.

While they puzzle over what might be affecting their eyes, they are met by Galisti, leader of the inner council, played by De Lanci, and Thaius, their newly appointed ambassador to the Federation.

Galisti is surprised that the human visitors look so much like Hyanoid bipeds. He was expecting a tentacle or two.

Thaius is the first to notice that Spock is different from the others. I laughed out loud when she asked with all sincerity,  if he was an Earth female. McCoy managed to get by with a stifled chuckle.

She is also fascinated and delighted by Spock’s kindness and gallantry revealed by pure calculated reason.

She notes that in all her excitement at meeting aliens, she didn’t see anything other than his ears. “How often we look but forget to see.” This is an important line, not only because of what it says, but because of who says it. As we’ll see at the end of the episode.

We also learn that Galisti and Thaius are married. Galisti says “How fortunate I am to call my friend, my wife.”

And I totally get behind that. I believe that romantic love is best born out of friendship.That’s why I don’t understand this whole “friend zone” thing that “the kids” talk about these days.

Kirk struggles to find the words to ask the aliens about the lack of colour. How do you describe colour to someone who has no concept of it?

It would be a bit like describing colour to a blind person. There is simply no common frame of reference.

Gaisti and Thaius don’t really know what Kirk is getting at, but they assure him the way their world looks is the same as it has always been.

They launch right into an explanation of their situation. Their isolation was never meant to end now. Hundreds of years ago, they united in a goal of becoming worthy to one day join the galactic community (clearly they knew, or believed, that alien life existed). They wanted to become a utopian society, somewhat like what Earth has become.

Spock explains the black-and-white as the property of an unusual form of radiation from their sun, which impairs the cone cells in humanoid eyes.

So far, this is just a strange quirk of this world. And Star Trek is all about discovering strange new worlds. But this will come into play in an important thematic way later in the episode.

I love the establishing shot we see of the town. Feels reminiscent of the planet where Pike fought the warrior on Rigel in The Cage. I wonder where they shot it. Might even just be stock footage.

When Kirk is introduced to Thaius’s most promising student, Sekara, Kirk goes all … Kirk. When he meets an attractive woman, he can’t help but flirt with her.

Things get awkward when Tomiat, one of the council, points a gun to his head and yells that Galisti shouldn’t have brought the aliens here. They are all ruined. His perspective seems to be that making contact with aliens, before they themselves are perfect, will destroy them.

I can kind of understand why a group of people would want to perfect themselves before joining the larger community, but this guy’s ideas seem odd and extreme. Evidently, the others of his people do not share the extremity of his view. He refers to himself as a “true believer”.

But a believer in what? Their plan to perfect themselves? What leads him to take the mental jump from “This would be a good strategy” to “if it doesn’t go as we planned, we’re doomed”? It seems a bit of an absurd leap. I don’t know what he’s basing it on.

Spock brings things to a peaceful end with a well-placed neck pinch.

That’s when Galisti explains that Sekara had a disease. She’ll be dead before the year is out. This is why they broke their isolation with the distress signal. They don’t know what it is, only what it isn’t. These people seem to have medical knowledge at least in line with ours.

McCoy is confident the disease is related to the same radiation that makes everything look black and white. Not sure how he concludes this.

He wants to bring Sekara on board the Enterprise to examine her in sickbay, but Kirk sees a potential issue. On the Enterprise, she’ll be shielded from the radiation. Spock isn’t certain whether she’ll see colour or not, but if she does, it could be traumatic. I can totally get that.

Kirk tries to prepare her for what she might see. He does a good job of it. He warns her that it will be unusual, it might frighten her, but it will be safe. She accepts this.

When she arrives in the transporter room, we get the reveal that her skin and hair colouring are not what you’d expect from a human. Greenish skin and purple hair. Cleverly concealed by the black-and-white nature of her asteroid home.

She still sees in black and white for a moment. But then it happens. And as you can imagine, it’s pretty overwhelming.She goes into a panic attack. She asks “is it alive?”

Again, Kirk does a good job of calming and reassuring her.

This was nicely done.

It's taken millennia for the radiotoxins to induce acute radiation syndrome. Mccoy has started sekaras treatment

Now that she’s gotten used to it, Sekara has a real sense of wonder about colour. It’s like nothing she’s ever experienced before. I like how something that is so mundane to us is so awe-inspiring to her.

The Hyalinans do have limited space travel, but they don’t have shields that can block the radiation. That’s why they still don’t see colour when they travel through space, but Sekara can when on board the Enterprise.

Anyway, treating them for the illness is only a bandaid. It will continue and re-occur as they are exposed to the radiation. But Spock has a daring idea. The spectral signature of the Hyalinus sun can be altered using a modified stellar probe.

This is something I’d approach with caution. You’re talking about fundamentally changing the nature of their sun. What un-expected side-effects could that have? What damage could they cause if they do it wrong?

But, with lives on the line, they’re right to try. They just wanna make sure they do it properly

Sulu is going to accompany Spock down to the surface to see how the radiation has permeated the food chain. For once, he gets to use his botany for the story.

Spock took some scans while he was down there. The tricorder doesn’t rely on cone cells to detect colour. His can show there are multiple skin pigmentations on the planet. Sekara has greenish skin with purple hair, while many of the others have orange skin with black hair.

I’m suprised at how shocked and dismayed the crew look. Earth has a number of different skin tones. This needn’t be a surprise. But given the history of Earth, I guess the Hyalians might be in for a shock, and it could lead to treating people differently.

Spock and McKenna conclude, in what I think is a bit of a leap, that Sekara and the other minority that share her pigmentation, are aliens. Not native to Hylinus.

McCoy points out there could be other explanations, but Spock has apparently gathered enough data to know there are other differences. These people are unquestionable a race not currently native to Hyalinus.

And that’s a very interesting development.

Uhura and Palmer are searching for any other habitable bodies nearby.

They have to decide whether to confront Sekara about her origins. McKenna suggests not doing so yet. They don’t know who she is, or even whether she knows herself.

Kirk surmises that a species as isolationist as the Hyilini would never allow aliens to live on their world, but given their inability to distinguish colour, they probably don’t know.

Sekara was born on Hyalinus and orphaned at a young age.

Her intense awkwardness in trying to answer when Kirk invites her in, suggests she may be as smitten with him as he is with her.

She asks an interesting question. “What is the purpose of colour?” Is that something you’ve ever wondered? Probably not, as it’s just such a normal part of our existence.

Kirk suggests that it provides variety, vibrance, beauty.

 Like poetry for the eyes.

This episode makes me wonder. We feel like our perception of vision is complete, but so did Sekara. What if there is something …. Other. Something additional that we can’t perceive that another species might. What could that be? I can’t even imagine it. It’s so outside our realm of experience. 

It also reminds me of the Terry Pratchet book, The Colour of Magic. In that book, there is another colour called Octartine. While the book tries to describe it using a combination of other colours, we can’t actually conceive of what a colour unknown to us would look like. Because as humans, we’ve already given names to all the colours that our eyes can perceive.

There is nothing more alien than that which you cannot perceive, or conceive of.

And then Kirk gets really creepy. At least, that’s how it comes across. I’m not suggesting his advances are unwanted by Sekara. But it seems a little premature. But that’s Kirk. At least, how he was portrayed in TOS.

Palmer has found radio waves coming from another asteroid in the belt.

2 small shuttlepods approach. Unarmed and barely spaceworthy.

The Hyalini lock weapon platforms on the shuttles. The council won’t respond to Kirk’s hails.

He makes the decision to intervene. He destroys the platform after it gets off a missing shot.

The Enterprise is now involved in this conflict. A potential prime directive issue.

Now the council wants to talk. They demand an explanation for the destruction of their platform.

Sekara describes the people on those shuttles as Abicians. They’ve been trying to sneak onto Hyalinus to escape the consequences of their own savagery for decades. They lie and conceal their identities so that they can benefit from the peace and prosperity that we’ve worked to achieve. One which they have not earned themselves.

Kirk asks if they are criminals or refugees. Is it a crime to want to live peacefully?

Sekara makes the point, that I think is fair, that Kirk doesn’t know enough about the situation to stand in judgement.

Her parents were murdered by abicians.

Kirk concedes this. It’s all too easy to criticise the policies of another until you lose someone those policies could have saved.

Now, Kirk says something that I think is very wise. “Please tell me, Sekara. I want to understand.”

Their world is in turmoil. Territories perpetually at war. Technological innovation fueled solely by the desire to build better, more lethal weapons. They have squandered their natural resources and polluted their world in the process. 

Her parents were part of a diplomatic envoy sent to help. To show the abicians a better way to live. Their ship returned to Hyalinus on auto-pilot and all 18 people on board were killed.

Sekara was 10 years old.

Kirk admits that those people who killed her parents were barbarians. But that doesn’t mean they all are, does it?

And I think that’s the crux of the matter. The biggest issue with what the Hylians are doing is judging all members of a species based on the actions of their leaders.

The reality is, the people on those shuttles probably disagree with the violent ways of their leaders. They only want to get away from the killing. As Kirk says, to be able to live in peace.

Sekara says “you assume they think like us. They do not. They do not respect our laws. They do not value knowledge or honesty and they do not question their conscience before turning to violence.

This sounds like something she’s been taught, rather than something she knows factually about these people from experience.

As Kirk says, have you ever met an abician?

She admits her answer is no, but says they’ve managed to keep them off their world.

This is the moment Kirk chooses to reveal the truth.

There are hundreds of thousands of Abicians on Hyalinus. They look just like hyalians, unless you can see colour.

You are abician. Your parents were abician.

That must be an even greater shock for her to accept than the introduction of colour into her world. And Kirk didn’t do much to prepare her for that shock. But what could he do? In the end, he had to just come out and say it.

Can you imagine discovering you’re a different species to what you thought you were. That you are actually the thing that you have always distrusted?

Sekara now has to face the reality that not all abicians are the way she has pre-judged them to be.

Spock and Sulu have found that the food chain has been affected by the radiation at almost every level, but there is no permanent mutation, which means after they’ve put their plan into action, future Hylanini should be healthy and free of the disease.

Kirk is trying to reason with the council. 

Galisti asks if his people must meet some arbitrary moral standard set by Starfleet in order to receive help.

Kirk assures him that is not the case. And that’s good. Our compassion for people shouldn’t be limited by our agreeing or disagreeing with them on moral issues.

Kirk is trying to understand why the Hyalini see a few people who are desperate for a better life as such a threat.

Galisti gets to the crux of it. “Granting entrance to some is an invitation for all. They would overrun our world.”

They have limited resources. They’re struggling to feed their own people.

This is a legitimate concern.

Kirk isn’t suggesting that they open their borders to everyone, but he says they’re defensive system is excessive.

This was a very topical issue at the time this episode was made, especially in America, but also here in Australia.

But it reminds me of the jewish people fleeing Nazi germany. They went from country to country in boats that were falling apart. But nobody would take them in. So they’d have to head back out into open sea, where they faced the very real risk that their boats might just sink.

And I wonder, how can people be so heartless?

I’m more conservative than the average Star Trek fan, but I don’t have a problem with immigration - especially if the people are refugees. 

I believe in compassion.

Kirk is trying to be reasonable here and see both sides of the issue. He is taking the Hyaliani’s position seriously.

But it’s difficult to reach any sort of logical compromise when Galisti refers to Abicians as “vulgar, selfish and violent. A scourge .”

This is a very interesting conversation between the characters. They both say some interesting things. Galisti has quantifiable proof that violent crime went up when they suspected Abicians of being on their world, and down again after they started using their weapon, but again, they’re pre-judging all based on the actions of some.

Galisti has valid concerns for the safety of his people, as their leader.

But I really like Kirk’s response to that.

“Safety and compassion are not mutually exclusive. Conscience requires balance.”

And that’s what missing on Hylainus. Balance.

Then Galisti points out the hypocrisy of the Prime Directive, in the way it is sometimes applied in Star Trek. “And you stand here before me, lecturing me about ‘compassion’ about ‘balance” You condemn the many for the crimes of none. Who do you think you are?

And I’m sorry to have to say it, Kirk, but he’s got a point here. Not necessarily against Kirk specifically, but certainly against the Federation itself. I’m not saying the Hyalnini are right in the way they’re viewing and treating their neighbours, but the Federation is definitely not morally perfect, as much as they’d like to think they are.

Kirk is concerned about what will happen once they cure the Hyalini of their disease and their colour blindness. They’ll be able to see the abicians all around them. He doesn’t necessarily think they’ll resort to violence and killing, but he’s worried they’ll round them all up and send them home, washing their hands of what happens to them.

McKenna recongises that this is deeply personal for Kirk. He’s not just angry, he’s afraid. Afraid of what might happen to Sekara. He cares for her. 

Given the few minutes he’s spent with her, I think it’s probably more accurate to say he has the hots for her, but this is based on 60s episodic television. So I guess we have to suspect a little disbelief for the sake of truncated story-telling.

Kirk sees that for all their piety, the hyaliani have no problem turning their backs on desperate people.

They have no compassion.

And piety without compassion leads to some dark places.

They take help, but they won’t give it. Kirk wonders if they deserve his help at all?

But as a man of compassion himself, as a man of duty to his principles, does that make a difference? Do you only help those who deserve it? Or is this a case where Kirk has to exercise some costly grace?

Because if he doesn’t as McKenna points out, he’ll be no better. He’ll be turning his back on desperate people with nowhere else to go? Some of whom may not agree with the prejudice of their leaders.

And that phrase “nowhere else to go” sparks an idea in Kirk.

Sekara is feeling desperate. She’s considering destroying the probe that will save Hyilinus. Because of what will happen next. People will turn on each other. They won’t see neighbours and friends, they’ll see the brutes and thieves they’ve heard about.

She asks Kirk to help find another way to help her sun. One that won’t change the way they see.

But there is no other way. The two are inextricably linked.

Kirk talks her down.

She feels so powerless. Terrified of the people she’ll return to.

Their eyes will change but their hearts may not.

Then again - her heart has changed. She is the one person who can change the hearts of their leaders.

Galisti and his wife love her very much. She is the proof that Abicians are not all just savages.

It’s time to carry out the mission. Kirk warns Galisti that there are abicians living among them. If he repairs their sun, they will be able to see them. 

Despite their attitude toward the abicians, the hyalini have accomplished much to be proud of. They have achieved a peace and unity in a short time, that it took earth Milennia to achieve. 

All fueled by the hope that they will one day achieve readiness to join the galactic community.

But how will they know when they are ready?

The problem is, there is no one answer. An undefined finish line means they never have to finish. Your people will never have to leave the comfort and safety of what they have now. 

And if you’ll permit me, just briefly, to get spiritual, this reminds me of how some people approach God. They feel they need to be perfect first. But of course, that’s impossible. I believe that God says, come as you are.

Then we get an explanation for the episodes’ title. An old saying. “A ship in the harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are for.

Do you serve the hope, or have you twisted it to serve you?

After making an impassioned speech, Kirk reveals they launched the probe twenty minutes ago.

Thaius tells Galisti their world is about to change forever, and reassure him her love for him will never ever change.

Why would it? He must wonder, until he starts to see colour.

I like how, even though the two races have different skin colour, this was never about colour. They didn’t even know the difference. It was about fear and prejudice regarding the abician’s character. 

But their blindness has given them the proof that they were wong. That they need to re-think their attitude toward abicians.

There is the possibility that going into the future, some kind of skin-colour-related prejudice may arise, but maybe, just maybe, this experience has taught them the lessons to avoid that.

Galisti marvels at this wonder called colour.

But then he looks at his wife.

She is abician.

She’s wanted to tell her for a long time, but she was afraid he’d reject her.

“I’m still me, I’m still the same person,” she insists.

But Galaisti pulls away from her.

“This changes nothing,” he says. 

It seems Galisti is still clinging to his attitude. He can’t accept the woman he loves.

Kirk has fixed the sun but the asteroid is still bathed in radiation. It needs to be cleared.

Galisti asks Kirk to proceed, but he can’t. He says the Enterprise has been called away on an urgent mission and won’t have the time.

But then the surprise. It turns out the Abicians have the technology to fix your sun.

“But why would they help us?” Galaisti asks. Why indeed.

Because they now have something the abicians need. Medicine. Enough for both worlds.

Turns out the abicians are suffering the same disease, but they’ve had it much longer. It’s no wonder their world has fallen into chaos.

These worlds can save each other, but they’re going to have to put the past behind them and move on.

Giving half of the solution each to two warring parties, so they are forced to work together, is a very Star Trek way to resolve a plot.

It’s very easy to judge Galisti at this moment. He’s been given the proof. Why doesn’t he see Kirk’s point. He’s still being a jerk - which he is.

But changing your attitude and beliefs is not an easy thing to do. If we’re fair, we can’t expect Galisti to change his entire outlook in thirty seconds, but you can see that it is starting, as Thaius and Sekara say “there is no them anymore, only us.”

This is an emotional journey for Galisti. One that will take time, but I have confidence that he will change.

He has to.

If he doesn’t, his world will die.

This was a powerfully written and performed episode.

Another example of why Star Trek Continues deserves to be viewed in the same light as official Star Trek.

Only two episodes remain - the two part finale that bridges the gap between TOS and The Motion Picture.

But before we go there, next time we’re going to take a brief detour.

We’re going to talk about an episode of another Star Trek fan show.

Star Trek New Voyages “The Holiest Thing”

I like to include this one when I do a re-watch of Star Trek Continues, because, like continues, it delves into the history of Star Trek and fleshes out a gap that exists between TOS and the movies.

This episode will introduce us to a much younger Dr. Carol Marcus.

Until then,

Live long and prosper

Make it so.

In this episode, I talk about some of the DC Comics that I've read in recent time. I cover

* Batman: The Killing Joke

* Green Lantern Emerald Twilight

* Zero Hour: Crisis in Time

* Superman: Dead Again

This is a bonus as my next Star Trek Continues podcast is not yet ready. Next fortnight, we'll return to our regularly scheduled program.

This episode of Star Trek Continues takes an alternative look at what might have happened to the USS Defiant after The Tholian Web, making use of a divergence field so as not to contradict In a Mirror Darkly. It also features a guest appearance of Rekha Sharma, before her role in Star Trek Discovery.

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd.

This is episode 102 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Still Treads The Shadows”.

The description on IMDB reads

The Enterprise becomes trapped on the edge of a rift in space where alternate universes meet and Kirk finds himself having to contend with a ghost from his past and danger in the present.

This episode was written by Judy Burns

It was directed by Julian Higgins

And it first aired on the 1st of April 2017

And this one guest stars Rekha Sharma of Battlestar Galactica fame, and she actually appeared here long before she appeared in Star Trek Discovery. 

The Enterprise is investigating a nascent singularity. A gravitational wave engineer has been sent along to help them.

This makes sense to me, while one of Starfleet’s primary missions is scientific, and they have their own scientists, if there is no expert on a given field on board, a guest may be sent with them. And if the leading expert on a field is a civilian, it makes sense that a civilian would go along to work with the crew.

There’s a stronger than anticipated gravitational wave. It has consumed planets 3 through 8 in ten days and is about to destroy a moon.

It seems our guest, Avi Samara, is on a first name basis with Kirk. She calls him Jim, then corrects herself.

They’re detecting an interdimensional rift, like the one Kirk was nearly lost in back in The Tholian Web.

They’ve detected a lifeform, it’s not on the moon as they first think, but on a ship. The USS Defiant.

Well that’s interesting. Especially since we know what happened to the Defiant after The Tholian Web. It ended up in the 22 century of the mirror universe. (and that episode aired long before this series was thought of)

Also when The Defiant vanished, there was nobody alive on board.

Samara wants to go aboard to investigate, but Kirk denies her request without explanation.

All the dead crewmen Kirk saw last time are gone. The bridge is empty.

Bones has found the lifesign. It’s a much older looking Kirk. Cryonically preserved.

A DNA scan suggests he’s not a clone because there’s no genetic drift. He’s literally Kirk.

Samara’s research suggests that rogue singularities can move from universe to universe.

The Defiant is stuck, halfway between two universes. Her engines have been modified over a long period of time to reach warp 15.

Old Kirk arrives in the briefing lounge. All this time he thought they’d left him behind. Now he finds his old crew, still young, and …. Himself.

Even old Kirk knows Samara, so they’ve known each other prior to this mission. Given their embrace it seems they were close.

Old Kirk remembers the attempt to beam him back to the Enterprise, but he found himself back on the Defient. Samara suggests a divergence field.

Two Kirks. Two Defiants.

They don’t know where our Defiant went, (but we do) but this is the duplicate.

The other defiant has been in another universe for 217 years.

The big question is, who put Kirk in cryo?

The old-age makeup isn’t bad. Along similar lines to what was done in the original series. But not at the level of what could be done today with a professional budget. And Vic does a good job of altering his performance, his voice, to help sell it.

It would have been interesting if they’d been able to get William Shatner for this episode to play older Kirk. It would be a good way to bring him back, something he’s sometimes said he’d like to do if the role was more than a cameo. Fan productions have had original series actors appear in the past, and Continues is one of the most professional.

Part of me wonders if they actually approached him.

Before we can get an answer, a Klingon ship appears.

They claim salvage rights over the Defiant but they’re struck with phaser fire from an unknown source and pulled into the anomaly

The only other ship here is the defiant but there’s nobody on board.

That’s when old Kirk appears and orders Uhura to open a channel to the defiant.

Kirk speaks to someone called Tiberius. It appears to be an artificial intelligence.

It speaks with Jim’s voice. It claims to be the protector of James Kirk.

Samara speculates that given the time, the Defiant computer could have developed multi-tronic circuits. Which is a bizarre statement to me. Is she suggesting that the computer evolved? By itself? That’s a bit out there.

Tiberius wants its friend back. It wants old Kirk to be returned.

Old Kirk warns against firing at the defiant, saying “you can’t give him the power, it feeds the dark.”

He then clutches his head and Bones rushes him back to sickbay.

That seems to be a foolish move.

Clearly old kirk has information. Information about Tiberius that is vital, that could determine their safety.

And Bones just gets him out of there before he can give that information.

I understand the need to get the older man medical help, he is clutching his head in obvious pain, but this doesn’t give the impression of a medical emergency so life-threatening that they can’t take a moment to let old Kirk explain.

What makes it even worse is that not long after, Bones will confirm there is nothing physically wrong with the man, he’s just old, and will send him to McKenna.

Kirk tries to negotiate with Tiberius but it isn’t interested in the crew’s safety. He blames them for abandoning Kirk, which they technically didn’t do. They didn’t know the duplicate Kirk existed. And old Kirk tried to explain this to tiberius.

Scotty has found a recording of Tiberius saying “it is forbidden for you to remember.”

That’s creepy. “Know you are safe. The dark will send you home.”

A brainwashing device.

Is Tiberius protecting him from something? Something it thinks old Kirk shouldn’t remember?

They’ve found the duplicate’s logs.

Duplicate kirk reprogrammed the computer with a new prime directive, to get Kirk home.

It’s started developing a personality. 

Kirk says “he’s imprinting on me.” I’m not sure what he means by that.

Now I’m a software developer. Now you can code an artificial intelligence. We’ve done a little of that at our work, with image recognition, but most of my work relates to an asset management system. It has some cleverness and expert knowledge built into it, but it’s essetially a database that stores the details and condition of assets, like bridges.

No matter how much data we store in this system, no matter how many features I code into it, it’s not going to spontaneously become self-aware. It’s going to suddenly transform into an AI application like ChatGPT. 

You can make an AI, but you’ve actually got to code it. Microsoft Word is not suddenly going to turn into Alexa.

I’m just not buying the idea of Tiberius, which makes it difficult for me to connect with this story, because its existence is kind of crucial to that story.

Anway, after 31 years, Kirk is still failing to find a way home.

Old Kirk is back in his old quarters. This was his cabin once. He has a lot fo talk to McKenna about.

It took him 4 months to bury all the crew of the Defiant.

McKenna tries to comfort Kirk with the words of The Ancient Mariner.

He was given a second chance to help ensure that others don’t lose hope.

Kirk is struggling with a sense of betrayal on two fronts, first from his crew he thought abandoned him, and second, from the only “friend” he’s had in many years.

McKenna says what he needs is to know that although he’s lost all those years, he hasn’t lost who he is.

Interestingly, the best person to help him might be our Kirk. Who knows him better? What would Kirk need to hear if he was in old Kirk’s place?

I like that McKenna gets to be a counsellor in this episode.

They reminisce about knowing Samara. Apparently they were close when Kirk was a teenager. Samara rebuilt a biplance.

Another nice touch is seeing the defiant uniform with its custom logo patch. But we’ll talk more about that when we get to the finale.

A question old kirk had to grapple with was

Are you even a captain when you have no crew? Are you a leader when no one is following?

He knew his crew wouldn't leave him, but the decades passed and they never came. You can’t replace them because there are no other societies to integrate into. It was a universe of void. Nothingness.

When does a machine become conscious?

When there is nobody around to say it can’t.

I never said he couldn’t, so he did.

And now he’s as self aware as he is invincible.

And this is all nicely poetic, but I’m still not buying it.

If he’s self aware, maybe he can be reasoned with.

Kirk says Tiberious is hiding something. Something so horrific that you could never face it.

Old kirk says “the dark.” but he can’t remember what that means.

The rift is emitting dark matter.

The Computer suggested a new engine design with the power to open a rift home. In year 51, the computer is sentient.

And bloomin McCoy, just as old kirk is explaining things, he wants to give him another sedative. Why? I dunno, because it’s hard for him to get the words out. I'm sure there’s more to it but the episode doesn’t really explain the stakes to us.

IT almost feels like McCoy is the one trying to keep this horrible secret.

Shared realities. Two black holes that must not merge.

McCoy has to finally give him that sedative because old kirk’s blood pressure is going through the roof.

Spock speculates on what I think is a really interesting sci-fi idea. Binary black holes. Black holes are basically collapsed stars, right? Two black holes,somehow separated into the two realities? Not sure I’m fully putting together what they’re trying to explain.

Tiberius was determined to blast through the rift.

That would manifest the additional singularity. IF they merge they’ll destroy the entire sector.

Old kirk pleaded with him, tried to shut him down.

Kirk wanted to get home, but not at the expense of this price. The defiant computer must have drained the oxygen to put Kirk to sleep. But how did he get into the cryo pod?

Scotty may have a way to disable Tiberius, but they’d need somebody on board the Defiant to do it.

Kirk says he can’t send old kirk back, so they’ll just have to forget that plan and attack the ship.

Okay.

Why is it a given that the only person they can send over is old kirk?

They have an entire crew of officers. It’s a potentially dangerous away mission, yes. But isn’t that what Starfleet officers are trained for? 

Now maybe Kirk weighs up the risk and decides not to put anyone in that kind of danger, but why does he act like Old Kirk is the only one they could send?

Old Kirk wants to know how things are with young Kirk and Samara.

They chose their separate paths. I think old Kirk was hoping they’d gotten together.

Bones and Spock discuss (rather heatedly, from Mcoy’s side) the nature evil.

Spock argues that Tiberius is not evil. It doesn’t have the capacity for that. It only knows logic.

Bones argues that Kirk was able to forgive because he’s human. Tiberius doesn’t get that. An intelligent machine with no mercy. IF that’s not evil, he doesn’t know what is.

Spock doesn’t necessarily agree, but he definitely concede’s McCoy’s point by agreeing to refer to Tiberius as an “evil twin.”

I think this. It’s an interesting little philosophical discussion. THe kind of thing you expect from Spock and McCoy’s banter.

With the Enterprise hidden, Kirk proposes a game of chess. If Tiberius wins, he gets Old Kirk back. If the Enterprise wins, tiberius helps them close the rift.

Tiberius agrees.

Risky.

But I’m sure Kirk has something up his sleeve.

Perhaps he’s going to have the game reprogrammed to let Kirk win. Something old Kirk did to Tiberius once.

This is essentially the same way Kirk passed the Kobayashi Maru.

Tiberius accuses Kirk of cheating, but Tiberius cheated as well when he brainwashed his friend.

Then Tiberius vanishes in a cloud of illogic. Now THAT is a classic TOS move.

Old Kirk hopes that the AI is not dead. Kirk says it just has a bad headache.

Kirk’s trick was a trojan horse program.

The defiant auto-diagnostic will restart TIberius in about an hour.

There’s a nice moment when Kirk makes it clear he includes Old kirk as a senior officer on this ship.

The black hole is still a problem.

Old kirk is the logical one to go aboard and solve the problem. But he’s not in great shape. Young Kirk puts his older counterpart in command of the Enterprise. He’s going to the defiant himself.

But there’s a problem. He’ll have to take the defiant back through the rift. He’ll end up trapped there, just like the other Kirk was.

Kirk has some guilt over leaving his duplicate behind, even though he didn’t know the duplicate existed.

Scotty offers to go with Kirk, but Samara says she’s the better choice.

At least Kirk won’t be alone in that void universe. He’ll have a friend, possibly something more.

They do some good body doubling work in this episode, having two kirks on screen at once.

Old Kirk has sabotaged his younger version’s plan. He uses a hypo on young Kirk and takes him place. Everyone seems cool with this.

But bad news. Tiberius is back. Old Kirk pleads with him to try to feel. To find mercy. Kindness.

Kirk’s only option is to destroy tiberius. Once his only friend.

It’s a hard thing for him to do. But he has no choice.

I like seeing the TNG style tractor beam effect in a TOS setting. In TOS they didn’t have the budget to do an effect for the tractor beam. At least, I assume that’s the reason.

I’ve always liked the look of the TNG era tractor beam.

It seems Samara wasn’t sure this would be a one way trip.

Old kirk has to stay but Samara doesn’t. He kisses her and helps her escape.

He saves her, but dooms himself to loneliness and isolation for the whatever remains of his life.

I understand. He cares for her. He can’t put her through what he’s been through. IF she came, after he died, she’d be stuck there for decades alone.

IT’s a selfless act.

And Samar is showing a lot of selflessness as well, wishing she could be with him.

When Samara says he’s all alone, Kirk says “Not anymore.”

What does he mean by that?

Perhaps that while yes, old kirk is alone, at least he knows he isn’t abandoned.

It’s a bit of a dark ending. But a noble one.

This was a mixed episode. There’s some stuff I really liked in it, and some stuff I didn’t.

Recka Sharma is pretty good in the episode. For a while there I thought I was going to have to say they didn’t give her anything to do, but they rectified that toward the end of the episode.

There were a few logic things I stumbled over, but that could be as much my fault as the episode’s. But the big issue was Tiberius. I just couldn’t buy that.

What lifts up the episode, and possibly saves it for me, is the character stuff. Old Kirk’s pain, his PTSD from what he’s gone through. And the relation between both Kirks and Samara.

This isn’t a great episode, but it may still be a good one, ultimately.

NEst time, we’ll be talking about the episode “What Ships are Made For” which features a guest appearance by John De LAncie himself, but not as Q.

I look forward to discussing that one with you.

Until then, don’t forget to check out Jewel of the Stars at AdamDavidCollings.com/books.

Live long and prosper.

Make it so.

In today's Star Trek Continues podcast, we talk about the episode "Embracing The Winds" which tries to address Janice Lester's claims that "your world of Starship captains doesn't welcome women" in the episode Turnabout Intruder. This episode does a good job of looking at a contemporary issue in a new way through a Star Trek lens.

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars.

And I am a Nerd.

This is episode 101 of the podcast. 

Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Embracing the Winds.”

And I’m excited to announce that the third book in my Jewel of The Stars series is now available in eBook and print from all the usual retailers. You can find links to many of them by going to books2read.com/jewel3 (and that’s the number 2 in books 2 read)

Let me quickly read the back cover blurb and then we’ll jump into this episode.

Tourists on a cruise. Stranded in an alien battleground

When their warp drive mysteriously stops working, the luxury cruise ship Jewel of The Stars becomes easy pickings for humanity’s enemy – the Dracnor. And there may be an enemy agent on board.

Before the fall of Earth, a madman made doomsday predictions on Captain Les Miller’s doorstop. How did he know the invasion was coming? Now that same man has been spotted walking the promenade. Les must stop him, but the evidence contradicts what he knows to be true.

Will the legacy of an ancient war mean the end of the galaxy’s last free humans?

So if that sounds interesting to you, please consider checking it out. You can find the first links to all the books in the series at AdamDavidCollings.com/books

The description on Star Trek Continues.com reads

While the Enterprise is sent on a seemingly routine mission, Kirk is recalled to starbase where he faces an ethical dilemma that challenges the very core of Starfleet Command.

This episode was written by James Kerwin and Vic Mignogna

It was directed by James Kerwin

And it first aired on the 3rd of September 2016

Star Trek has a problem which was introduced in the original series episode “Turnabout Intruder.”

That episode postulates that women are not allowed to be Starship captains in Starfleet.

Of course, we’ll see a number of female captains after this, in Star Trek 4, Yesterday’s Enterprise, and Voyager just to name a couple, and we even saw a female Captain before this, back in Enterprise.

It seems a very out-dated concept to think that there are not female captains in the 23rd century. So how do you deal with this?

This episode of Star Trek Continues is one approach to try to explain this issue, which I find very creative.

Another approach, postulated by the youTuber Lorerunner, is simply that Janice Lester was mad (just look at her) and the whole rule against women being Starship captains was all in her mind. I don’t mind that explanation either.

Interestingly, Star Trek Continues re-shot the final scenes of Turnabout Intruder as a transitional short film to connect to the new show before their first episode.

So Kirk and Spock have been called down to Corinth IV. Sulu is along for sightseeing and Mckennah for work research.

We get a nice little bit of continuity back to the episode “Lolani” dealing with the fallout in the Orion Syndicate, and how things may be changing due to Lolani’s influence.

And that’s beautiful. This is the kind of ongoing continuity you just didn’t get in the original series. Not to this extent.

Sulu makes reference to one of his ancestors being in an internment camp during World War 2, which is a nod to George Takai who actually lived that experience.

I love the planet. Very TOS but with effects that couldn’t have been done in the 60s.

I have to ask, are there any high ranking Starfleet officers who don’t indulge in Romulan ale? Perhaps Admiral Ross really was the only one. Even Spock relents and drinks after the news he’s about to be given.

They meet Commodore Gray. She and Kirk have had some differences. She also appeared in Lolani, where she ordered Kirk to return the Orion slave to her master.

The Crew of Hood have been lost. Some sort of life support failure. No evidence of foul play

Kirk and Spock have been called here because the Hood needs a new captain and crew.

Starfleet have chosen Spock

Kirk has mixed feelings. I get this. He’s proud of Spock and happy for him, but he doesn’t want to lose his first officer, and his friend.

But there could be a complication with spock’s promotion

A Commander Garret had also applied for the job. They decided she wasn’t the best suited for command.

She has an excellent service record.

She has filed an appeal that she’s been selectively overlooked because she’s a woman.

The Federation was founded around the time of the Romulan war. Earth needed military allies.

The Tellarites were founding member.

Tellarite men are very adversarial and argumentative. And they frown on female starship captains.  (They probably wouldn’t be accepted into the federation at this point in time, certainly not in 24th century, but at the time of the Romulan war, Earth REALLY needed military allies, and the Tellarites were that. Plus they were one of the major races that Earth helped to broker peace with before the Federation was founded.)

The Federation isn’t technically bound by this but after the admission of Corridan (a continuity nod to Journey To Babel), the Tellarites are threatening to pull their seat from the council.

Kirk says Starfleet has always had female captains (see Enterprise). Laura is an example, but she commands a starbase, not a constitution class ship

There is no rule officially.

Kirk and Spock are both of the opinion that Garrett deserves the ship and should be given command.

But upon further reflection, Spock starts to consider that Starfleet may have been correct in their assessment of Commander Garrett. Maybe Spock IS the best person for the job. He says his opinion is not based on her gender.

Kirk says something interesting. He says “maybe it should be.”

Starfleet has never given a woman command of a constitution class starship. He’s always thought that was just how the cards fell, but perhaps there is a greater good to be considered.

Spock says that if they were to actively and deliberately choose a female officer, Commodore Gray would be the better option, but she doesn’t want the job.

And this is an issue which has certainly had relevance of the last century, even today.

When you have an imbalance like this, the way I see it, there are two ways you can address it.

The first is to simply remove the bias, and then proceed, hiring based solely on qualifications and suitability. If you have an equal number of candidates from each group, then theoretically, over time, the imbalance will go away, and you should have a roughly even split, though there could be many other factors that would make it not so simple.

And in a sense, this seems like the fairest way. Just treat everyone on their merits.

The problem with this approach is that it’s slow. It could take a long time for that imbalance to be corrected.

The other option, which is what Kirk seems to be proposing, is that you actively seek to correct it, by deliberately hiring from the minority group. In this case, females. You steer the ship the other way to correct it.

This will set things right much quicker, but it has its own problem. It means that well-deserving people in the majority group will start to miss out. If you’re a male candidate, and would make a great captain, your career is basically on hold. You’ll miss out on a job you’re qualified for because of your gender. Which, ironically, is the exact problem you’re trying to solve. It’s just that it’s happening to people on the other side now.

There are no perfect solutions. I’m sure people much smarter than me have been trying to solve this.

Now Spock is willing to forgoe his own opportunity in favour of Garett, maybe partly because as a Vulcan he has less ambition for personal advancement, but mostly because I think he beleives that is what is right. Spock is a good person.

So now that the desire and intention is there to hire Garret because she is part of that minority group, (and I mean minority in the sense of Starship captains, not in the sense of the population) there is one last thing to consider.

Is she actually right for the job based on her merits?

Kirk is firmly on team Garrett right now. But he’s been ordered to interview her and form his own conclusions. Spock points out that perhaps Kirk’s opinion is coloured by his desire to keep his first officer and friend on the Enterprise. He admits he can’t deny that is part of what he’s feeling.

Garrett served on the Constitution, the original prototype that the class was named after. When Kirk mentions the loss of that ship, the death of her captain, at Nimbus III, nice little Star Trek 5 reference, Garrett clamps up and doesn’t want to talk about it. Her testimony, and her personal logs are all on record. She feels she has nothing more to say, and doesn’t want to discuss it face to face with Kirk, a matter he finds unusual, and perhaps a little troubling.

Kirk has filled McKenna in on what’s happening. She decides to check in on Spock to see how he’s doing, and he seeks her advice.

It may not be prudent to provoke the Tellarites at this time. McKenna says the Tellarites rarely make good on their threats, which makes Starfleet’s hesitance to give a woman command of a Starship that much more problematic. (which in a sense, I think, takes away some of the drama) She thinks Spock’s issue is something else.

She had to work hard to convince people that having a counsellor on board a Starship was a necessary thing.  (which I find extraordinary) but she never felt that the reluctance was because she was female. However, if there is bias in Starfleet it needs to be addressed.

And I think that’s a good word. I don’t think Starfleet is being deliberately sexist, but there might be a bias, and it might not even be intentional.

Spock, as someone whose appearance has often been perceived to be the most important aspect of his identity, has sometimes felt that bias as well.

McKenna says if she ever has a daughter, she would want her to know that anything is within her reach if she works hard enough.

And as someone who DOES have a daughter, I feel the same way.

Spock points out that there are things in Garrett’s past which require scrutiny.

McKenna asks him if she’d be under the same scrutiny if she was a man.

He feels she would.

But one can never be certain about others’ motives.

McKenna adds “but we can certainly be clear about our own.”

Gray growls at Kirk for antagonising Garrett, something he certainly didn’t intend to do. In my opinion, Kirk certainly did nothing wrong. But Garrett has petitioned for an immediate decision. A hearing will be held, and Kirk will be one of those making the judgement. Probably the last thing he wanted.

While all of this is happening, Scotty has taken the Enterprise to find what is left of the USS Hood.

Star Trek regularly uses the AB Plot format. Where you have two distinct plots going through an episode. It’s generally agreed that this works best if the two are linked in some way, either by plot, or theme. Although it honestly doesn’t bother me when they are completely disconnected.

But in this episode, the two plots are definitely connected.

When they find the Hood, there are no lifesigns. But also no evidence of an anomaly. 

Something is ringing alarm bells in Scotty’s head. He doesn’t want to tow it back to the planet until he understands more. Chekov is going to remotely re-establish life support. Not sure exactly how that works, but it sounds handy.

He asks to go on the landing party, but Scotty says “not this time,” and then gives the conn to another officer. Chekov is feeling overlooked. Uhura points out that he’s gifted but unfocussed. He has wide interests, doing a little of everything, but has no speciality. Uhura recommends choosing something he’s really passionate about and focusing on that.

Interestingly, I’d imagine being a jack of all trades would be a very useful trait in a command officer. Maybe that’s ultimately why he ends up as first officer of the Reliant.

In any case, it’s really nice to see Star Trek giving Chekov some character development. Who’d have thought it.

Kirk was feeling certain in his decision to support Garrett before he met her, but now, after her evasiness about his questions, and now this push for a decision, he’s not so sure.

The courtroom is very reminiscent of the original series episode Court Martial, where witness take the stand, touch a glowing metal disk, and have their service record ready by the computer. (They actually used a similar idea in TNG The Measure of a man.)

As usual, somebody always asks to forgo the reading, but Gray objects. Spock’s qualifications are material to this case, which, of course, is true.

Stonn asks Spock how he’d feel if her were to be given command of the Hood, remembering that he is half human. Before he can answer, he asks if his human side played a part in his decision to turn down a role in the Vulcan science academy. Spock says they did not, which the computer picks up as a lie. Interesting.

Kirk objects to this questioning. Spock’s race shouldn’t have any more bearing on the decision than Garrett’s gender.

Stonn posits that a person’s character, abilities, judgements and strengths are shaped, in part, by their heritage, beliefs, race, even gender. He says some people are uncomfortable with the idea of a female captain.

I’m not totally clear on the point he’s trying to make, but it seems he is in favour of Garrett.

Kirk speaks plainly. He is convinced that it is absolutely time for a woman to command a constitution class starship. But he is not convinced that Garrett is that woman.

Aspects like race or gender shouldn’t be the reason a candidate is denied, but perhaps it shouldn’t be the reason (or at least the sole reason) they are accepted either.

Remember that officer a few episodes back who had the artificial arm? Well he’s on the landing party and uses it to remove something from the Hood’s engine. Another nice callback. I appreciate how Star Trek Continues is making use of semi-regular characters. DS9 was the absolute best at doing that. TOS was probably the worst, although the realities of 60s TV certainly play a part in that.

Garrett has been awarded a Tucker memorial medal of honour as well as an aenar award for meritorious service to disadvantaged cultures. Two very nice callbacks to Enterprise.

We get a little insight into what happened at Nimbus III. The official investigation found evidence of human error on Garrett’s part. An investigation carried out by a Tellarite.

She, and others, “plead the seventh guarantee” during the proceedings. I’m not sure exactly what this means, but Garrett says it cannot be taken as an admission of culpability. There are countless other examples in her file.

BLooking at Garrett, Gray sees a pattern of somebody who has reacted with hostility and side-stepping whenever her actions have been called into question.

She defends this saying that Hostility is an appropriate response to undue scrutiny and discrimination.

The big question is, has that been the case?

Has she been treated unfairly? Or does she have legitimate flaws that needs to be considered?

Gray can’t say for certain whether Garrett has been held to a difference standard because she is female, but regardless of that, She says it is the duty of a Starship captain to admit, and learn from mistakes.

But Garrett is still defiant in her belief that she was not in the wrong.

And as viewers we still don’t really know if she’s right. If not then her behaviour here is not appropriate, but if she truly did nothing wrong, then she’s right to defiantly stand by her innocence.

But could she have been right in every one of the incidences in her file? Can anyone be that perfect?

Because that’s what seems to be holding Gray back. Not the fact that Garrett has made some mistakes, but that she can’t admit to them and learn from them. Nobody is saying a captain must be perfect. But they must be honest about themselves.

There’s a massive power surge in the hood’s engines. The Enterprise can’t beam them back because the Hood’s shields have gone up. The reactor is going critical. Scotty can’t eject the core. It’s looking hopeless.

We get some wonderful performances from Chris Doohan and Kim Stringer as Scotty and Uhura realise that they’re going to die. Scotty places his hand on Uhura’s. This could be seen as foreshadowing of the eventual relationship those two will have in the movie era, but I think it’s more just a comfort thing, two colleagues, two friends, who know they’re not going to make it. The look on Uhura’s face is haunting.

Scotty orders the Enterprise to get as far away ass possibler, to safety.

But Chekov has an idea. Hadley chooses to trust him.

It’s a very risky manouvre, and it injures chekov, but it works. The landing party are beamed back to safety, The Enterprise escaping just as the Hood explosed.

Back on the planet, the hearing is back in session. Each candidate can make a motion and then the board will give their verdict.

Neither Spock nor Garrett has a motion to make.

Stomm endorses Garrett.

Gray endorses Spock.

The deciding vote is up to Kirk.

But before he can make it, they receive a transmission from the Enterprise. The Hood has been destroyed. There is no ship to command. So no promotions necessary.

Kirk has been saved from a difficult decision by the bell.

Garrett wants to make one final statement.

There is an underlying issue that still remains.

For decades, she believes Starfleet has overlooked officers for certain positions because they are women. They may admit it, it may not even be intentional, 

Kirk asks her if she believes a person should be given special treatment because of their gender, religion or race.

She feels that yes, they should, if their gender, religion or race has historically been used to deny them consideration.

Garrett now, has turned her focus from herself, specifically, to other female officers. “It may not be my time, but it most certainly is theirs.” And I think this is an important step in character growth for her.

Gray says “We are all in agreement with that. Kirk and Stomm nod.

As Spock leaves, Stomm says “Peace and long life” to him.

I think that’s his Vulcan way of saying, “nothing personal, Mate.”

And Spock’s reply of “Live long and prosper” seems to say, “Yeah, not worries. All good.”

Chekov is awake and recovering in sickbay. Scotty scolds him a little. His stunt is worthy of a court-martial. Chekov is willing to take whatever consequence Scotty feels is appropriate.

Then he realises that Scotty called him Lieutenant. “And thanks him for saving their lives.”

And it turns out, this is the origin of the shield prefix code that Starfleet ships will have from now on. Refer to Star Trek II.

Scotty suggests a career in tactical. But they still don’t know what caused the overload in the Hood’s engine. That worries Scotty.

I don’t remember if they follow up on this or not. But it would certainly be cool if they did. It’s an interesting setup.

Kirk talks to the Tellarite ambassador and learns that there is a growing movement on Tellar Prime that wants to change their policy regarding women in command.

When Kirk says goodbye to Garrett, she speculates, “who knows, maybe some day a Garrett will command an Enterprise. And if you haven’t figured it out already, this is when you realise that she is likely an ancestor of Captain Rachel Garrett, of the Enterprise C. The way she says it is a little on the nose, but I like it.

This was another well-made episode of Star Trek Continues. I like how it delves into an issue that certainly has similarities and connections to the real world, but is just a little different. A little sideways. I think Star Trek, and sci-fi in general, tackles issues best when there isn’t an exact one-to-one parallel to current events, but that it poses difficult questions that make you think.

Next time, we’ll be looking at the episode “Still Treads the Shadow”. I don’t remember what this one is about, so I’ll find out when I re-watch it.

Don’t forget to check out Jewel of the Stars Book 3

Until next time, 

Live long and prosper.

Make it so.

I'm very busy preparing to publish my third book and I have run out of time to produce today's episode. I'll be taking a little break over January to rest and publish my book. I intend to be back with regular fortnightly episodes in February.

Thank you so much for listening to Nerd Heaven and have a wonderful holiday.

On this 100th episode of the Nerd Heaven Podcast, I discuss the Star Trek Continues episode "Come Not Between The Dragons" a deeply thematic episode starring aussie sci-fi royalty - Gigi Edgly of Farscape Fame. Join me as we discuss the episode and it's themes, and then reminisce a little over the last 100 podcasts.

(Place button to listen at bottom of page)

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David  Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd.

And it’s a big moment. This is episode 100 of the podcast. How insane is that?

When TV shows make it to 100 episodes, it’s a big deal and they usually celebrate by doing something special. 

I’m going to spend a bit of time reflecting on the past, and maybe having a little fun, at the end of this podcast, But first, we’re going to be talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Come Not Between The Dragons”.

The description on IMDB reads

A troubled creature pierces the Enterprise hull, pitting the crew against a pursuer that threatens to tear them apart.

The teleplay was written by Greg Dykstra, James Kerwin and Vic Mignogna

The story was by Greg Dykstra

It was directed by Julian Higgins

And it first aired on the 28th of May 2016.

And just a little warning, this episode deals with themes of violent abuse by a parent.

The first thing you’ll notice that’s special about this episode is the presence of Aussie sci-fi royalty - Gigi Edgley. Most famous for her role in Farscape as Chiana.

In this episode, she plays Ensign Eliza Taylor.

And the cool thing is, they let her keep her Australian accent for the role. I don’t hear many familiar aussie accents in Star Trek, so I found that pretty cool.

While I gave up on it too early back in the day, I’ve become quite a fan of Farscape, so it’s very cool to see her here.

By the way, I can’t believe I didn’t notice it, but a few episodes back, in The White Iris, the character of Amphidamas, the alien representative, was played by another member of sci-royalty, Colin Baker, who played the 6th Doctor on Doctor Who. I’m unbelievably embarrassed that I didn’t notice and comment on it. Sorry about that.

This one starts off seeming to be a monster story. But we’ll soon learn that it’s not. This is a real thematic message show, but one with a real difference.

Scotty is currently in command. Eliza Taylor hands him a padd.

And then Kirk enters.

8 ships have been destroyed studying an accretion disc. But the crew have been rescued

It’s very telling of Scotty when Kirk says “at least there were no casualties” and Scotty says “there were - the Lexington.”

With the shift over, Smith and Eliza leave the bridge. Smith and McKennah are heading to the rec room, and they invite Eliza to join them. I get the impression she’s not quite part of their little friendship circle, but they’re welcoming her in. And isn’t that just the way a friendship group should work? I know it’s not easy. You really need an extrovert in your group to do the inviting, but cliques are not healthy, and being excluded can be quite hurtful - even for an introvert.

The Enterprise suffers a hull breach from a meteorite travelling near light speed. 

As Chekov says, “that should be impossible.” But I’d have to believe that an object travelling that fast making impact with the ship would have to completely destroy it, so there must have been some substantial and rapid deceleration.

Whatever it is, is moving through the ship, from Deck to deck. Scotty can’t find it.

As we end the teaser, we see that whatever it is has broken into Eliza’s quarters.

But we don’t see it, only her reaction.

This is an okay use of the ‘hide the monster’ trope because we’ll almost immediately see what she’s seeing after the credits, but her reaction gives us a powerful hook.

And Taylor isn’t sure what she’s looking at just yet. We experience it with her as the thing slowly unfolds. Some kind of lifeform. Hard and rocky with glowing eyes and a part that looks almost insectoid.

This creature was a practical effect. The alien was designed by the writer of this episode, Greg Dykstra, who appeared in the previous episode as the union doctor. He pitched this story to Vic because it was very personal to him. We’ll get to that.

Dykstra designed the alien and then they got a creature effects company to actually build it. It was huge. An actor could wear it as a suit, but it was very heavy and hot, so the guy they cast needed to have breaks.

I’m a big lover of CGI creatures, but I have to admit that this alien works very well as a practical effect. It looks awesome. It provides a link to the original series who always had to use practical effects, because CGI wasn’t a thing yet. It’s also fitting because we have a Farscape actor in this episode, and Farscape was really into practical creatures, being made by the Jim Henson company.

The alien stands tall. Much bigger than a human. It’s bipedal.

Taylor cowers in the corner and throws something at it. It retreats.

I’d say Taylor reacts in a very non starfleet way here. She’s trained to experience the unexpected. But she may be a new officer. This might be her first experience with the unknown. And despite all your training, seeing something like that in person for the first time could be quite scary, especially if it suddenly appears in your quarters.

So I can’t judge her too harshly.

It doesn’t take long to find the intruder. It rips holes through walls. It’s not exactly subtle. 

Kirk begins by assuming the intruder is intelligent. He asks if it understands him. The lack of reply certainly doesn’t imply a lack of intelligence, though.

Kirk calls the transporter room and asks the chief on duty to beam it out of here.

Now when I hear that, it implies to me that Kirk wants it beamed into space. But he asked the chief about his intra-ship beaming skills. Either way, Kirk’s order is very imprecise. Where exactly does he want the chief to beam the intruder to?

In any case, the alien can shield itself from scanners so they can’t transport it.

Kirk’s next action is strange. He throws some debris at the alien.

The alien reacts pretty much as any lifeform would to being attacked. It lashes out in self defence, requiring security to stun it with a phaser.

I’m not sure what Kirk was trying to accomplish there, but it certainly didn’t help build any rapport of trust between them.

Kirk and Bones have found some fascinating things about the creature’s biology. It’s a unique lifeform - probably natively spaceborn. It has multiple hearts and no lungs. But all McCoy’s tricorder will register is a rock. Again, suggesting the creature can shield itself from their sensors.

Spock and Uhura have configured the universal translator to better work with the alien’s unique vocalisations. I don’t know that we’ve ever seen a hand-held universal translator like this in TOS before, but I could be wrong. In the TNG era, we know that Starfleet universal translators are embedded in the com badge (while Ferengi use implants in the ear)

Kirk gives the honour of speaking to the alien to Taylor, as she was the first human to encounter it. This is a big deal. First contact is what Starfleet are all about, afterall.

Taylor seems to carefully consider what her first words should be. She wisely, in my opinion, chooses to start with “I’m sorry if I hurt you.” and then asks what it’s called. It replies, Usdi. When asked why he came here, Usdi replies “Me. To. Hurt.”

That doesn’t sound good. Is it a threat? It’s hard to tell with such a limited understanding between them.

Usdi is an example of a cosmozoa, a space-fearing lifeform. His species is called the Utana.

Something out there is using a form of echo-location to search for something. The shockwaves are damaging to the ship.

When the next wave hits, Spock begins to act very strangely. His voice filled with anger, he calls Udsi disobedient and demands his respect. Fires a phaser at him.

He then attacks Taylor when she tries to intervene, and blames it on Usdi.

This, I believe, is a common thing with people who struggle with extreme anger problems. Blaming the subject of their anger for their own actions.

Something is clearly going on with Spock. He’s not himself. Perhaps in a literal sense.

But others are feeling it too. Kirk is the first to vocalise his concern, in a way, opening it up for others in the bridge crew to discuss what they’re experiencing without fear of judgement.

Checkov is feeling suspicion and paranoia.

Spock’s in a bad way. We learn that the part of the brain responsible for suppressing emotions in Vulcans is called the mesiofrontal cortex. So that’s pretty cool.

But it’s working so hard right now McCoy is worried it’ll burn up. Spock is filled with powerful emotions. But they’re not his.

Spock is also physically injured. Possibly from his dust-up with the alien.

He asks Spock to lock him up. He’s dangerous. Something dark and dangerous in his Vulcan mind is being awoken.

Kirk would do well to follow Spock’s recommendation here. Spock knows what he’s talking about, and currently still has the presence of mind to communicate it.

The next wave is stronger than anything so far. It drives Spock to rampage through the ship after the alien. He says “Usdi is hiding from me.” He looks like he’ll tear the alien limb from limb.

After Kirk stuns him, he orders Spock put in the bridge. McCoy argues against this, because Spock is not himself.

The funny thing is, Kirk is right. He’s absolutely right. For the wrong reason.

He’s wanting to put Spock in the brig as punishment for insubordination.

McCoy is right that Spock isn’t himself, but he needs to be put in the brig for his own safety, and the safety of those on the ship.

When McCoy helps Kirk realise that he’s not himself either, that he’s filled with unnatural anger, he changes his turn and has Spock taken back to sickbay under double restraint. Yeah, good luck with that.

The brig was the best option for now. He still needs medical care, of course, but I wouldn’t be trusting any restraints, double, triple, or quadruple, in sickbay when the next wave hits.

By the way, this is the third episode in a row to have original music composed by Andy Farber. And I have to give it to the student musicians that are performing it, they’re brilliant.

While all of the crew are experiencing elevated levels of anger, and lowered patience, Kirk and Spock specifically seem to be experiencing anger directed at Usdi. 

It’s like when Spock was stunned, Kirk became the new puppet of this force.

Kirk refers to Udsi as a delinquent brat. He also describes him as disobedient and undisciplined.

I’m embarrassed to say the first time I watched this, I didn’t put it all together until later, but watching it now, it all seems so obvious what we’re dealing with.

Taylor is hiding Udsi in her quarters. She calls in McKenna for help. She doesn’t know who else to turn to.

Taylor has figured out that Udsi is familiar with these waves. And he gets more and more afraid each time one of them hits. McKenna is now having her rage directed at Udsi, as the latest wave hits.

“You must have done something to deserve this,” she says.

Could it be the proximity to Udsi is what focuses the rage, while those who’ve had little or no contact with him just feel general anger directed at whatever is at hand?

But the most interesting thing of all is that it’s pretty clear at this point that Taylor is not being affected. She may be the only one on the ship that is truly herself.

McKenna is very aware of her condition. She’s trying to push through it. But it’s hard. Taylor made a wise choice here. As a trained counsellor, McKenna may have more tools at her disposal to fight this anger than the rest of the crew. She genuinely wants to be free of it.

She needs alpha wave generators. When she says “Leave McCoy to me” I wasn’t imagining she’d just slug him in the face and knock him out, but it was effective. She can’t fight the anger in her, but here she was able to use it for something good. Well, not that punching McCoy is good, but it’s for a good cause in helping her in her mission.

She asks for the alpha generators from a nurse, but not chapel. She calls her Sarah.

While I like seeing familiar characters show up in this show, it’s kinda cool that they’re filling out the medical staff. It often felt, in TOS, like McCoy and Chapel were the only two medical officers on the ship. We know this is not true, of course, but the budget likely didn’t allow for filling sickbay with extras.

Scotty is reacting to all of this a little differently. Rather than getting angry at everyone, he’s having a lovely old time drinking. Scotty hasn’t had contact with Udsi, so his priorities are different. He cares, as he always does, about his engines.

They have now cured a couple of crew members of the anger influence. They have McKenna, Uhura and a redshirt. They figure that Usdi is hiding from the ship that is generating the waves. But he’s not talking.

The redshirt figures out if they move Usdi to engineering, the ship might have a harder time locating him. He’s able to simulate Scotty’s voice using the universal translator, and a little technical magic from Uhura. He calls for an evacuation of engineering. But Kirk sees through it, because he knows Scotty is in the brig.

Once engineering is cleared, all they need to do is beam there with Udsi. Saves trying to drag him through the ship in front of crew who want to attack him.

Smith finds McKenna and the transporter chief in the transporter room. She’s still under the influence of the waves. Kirk should be here soon as he told Smith to meet him here. We’re not sure what he’s doing on the way yet.

Smith insists that Udsi is going to get what he deserves. McKenna gets her to stop and think a little when she asks “Why”. Smith can’t answer, because she’s being motivated not by logic or reason, but by emotions. Emotions that are clearly not hers.

McKenna’s question, and her offer of an alpha generator definitely gives her pause. If Kirk hadn’t called her, she might have relented, but a conflict ensures. Possibly not a great idea of McKenna’s to attack her while she was distracted. Smith is clearly the better fighter, and the fight only serves to feed the anger.

I’m noticing that in this episode, there’s a real focus on the female characters. Taylor, McKenna, Smith, Uhura. They’re all taking on significant and powerful roles. But the episode doesn’t make a big deal about it. And I think that’s the best way to do it.

I recently watched the Star Trek animated episode “The Lorlelai Signal”. That episode came up with a convoluted way to put Uhura and other female officers in charge of the ship, and then have Uhura do very little. This episode succeeds well where that one failed.

And I don’t know if this was even a deliberate and active choice, to make this a female-centric episode, or if it just ended up that way. And I think it’s better for it. Contrast this to that scene in Avengers Endgame which just felt a bit on-the-nose to me.

Anyway, I’m loving it because these are great characters played by great actors, and I’m enjoying seeing them get to do much more than the original series would have allowed them. I’m especially enjoying how they’re developing Smith.

Usdi is communicating with Taylor again. She says she understands, but we’re not hearing a verbal translation this time. So … I’m not sure how that works.

Kirk beams in with Smith and several security officers. Kirk has a big phaser rifle, so that’s what he was up to.

That’s not good.

All 4 of them fire their phasers at Udsi. Luckily, he survives. His body is essentially made up of stone, afterall. Interestingly, the Utana feed on space-born rocks and minerals.

Those under the influence are subdued, mostly because of quick thinking on the parts of Taylor and Uhura. With generators on their arms now, they’ll all be able to think clearly.

Honestly, I’m not sure it would have gone down that way. Kirk and his team seem to be the better fighters, and they all started armed with phasers. But let’s apply a little suspicion of disbelief so the good guys can win and move the plot forward.

The ship has arrived in visual range, but it’s not a ship. As the image appears on the monitor, we see that it’s another Utana, but much bigger than Usdi.

The entire crew are wearing alpha generators now, so we’ve resolved that particular conflict and moved on to the next. I think that was a good choice for the script. We don’t want an entire episode of mutiny among the crew, because ultimately, that’s not what this episode is about.

Kirk surmises the difference in size between Udsi and this attacker could be the difference between an adult and a child.

And he’s right.

Greg Dykstra actually chose the Cherokee word Udsi, which means little, as the name of the alien. When we first see him, he seems anything but little, but now, as we realise he’s a child, and he’s very small compared to the adult outside, the name makes sense.

Scotty apologises for his behaviour. Hardly necessary, since they were all in the same boat. Kirk’s answer “I’ll fire you later,” reminds me of a line he’ll say much later in Star Trek 3. “Fine. I’ll kill you later.”

The adult refuses to respond to hails. It attacks the Enterprise.

I wouldn’t necessarily expect a space-born lifeform to be able to receive and respond to subspace radio signals. But anyway.

Spock points out what might be their only logical option to survive this. Release Usdi into the adult’s custody.

But how can they? That thing wants to kill him.

Kirk finds an alternative. Fire a torpedo at the part of the alien’s body that seems to be generating the destructive waves.

When Usdi sees the attack against the adult on the screen, he says “Usdi protect.”

Taylor misunderstands. Usdi isn’t asking for protection. He’s stating that he must protect the adult.

Taylor goes to the bridge to explain the situation. The alien out in space is Udsi’s father.

Usdi has left the ship. Positioned himself between the Enterprise and his father.

The attack has stopped.

If we haven’t already figured it out, we realise at this moment what this episode is really all about. This is about parental abuse. Greg Dykstra wrote this story because there was a history of this kind of abuse in his family. His grandfather had been a violent abuser. It had affected his father and grandmother profoundly. He wanted to explore that theme, and a Star Trek episode turned out to be the perfect tool for that kind of thematic expiration.

The creatures look at each other - moving their heads. Most likely engaged in communication we can’t perceive.

Now it’s time for Kirk to make one of those famous Starfleet captain speeches.

He points out that while all the entity’s anger was directed at his child, Usdi still protected him. Udsi saved his life, because The Enterprise would have killed him.

Only time will tell if that will make a difference.

This is the heart of the message that Greg Dykstra wanted to get across. That despite the hurt and damage caused by an abusive parent, the victims of that abuse still love the parent.

It’s a complex paradox.

A difficult one.

There’s a nice scene between Kirk and Spock. I’m noticing that over time, Todd Haberkorn is winning me over more and more as Spock. It just took a little longer than with Kirk and Scotty. But he really is doing a good job of it.

Kirk is used to being able to persuade others with words. He’s frustrated that he was unable to convince Udsi’s father to change.

Spock points out that the alien had a deeply ingrained behaviour. Did he really expect to be able to change that with words? With one conversation? This also, is very thematic. I’m sure there are many loved ones of violent abusers who want so desperately to change that person. But it’s probably not an easy task.

In the case of Greg Dykstra, his father learned to move on from the experience, but his grandfather never changed. Never overcame that darkness inside him.

Ultimately, Kirk didn’t expect silence.

But maybe silence isn’t so bad. Maybe silence represents thinking. Maybe a contemplation of one’s own actions is better than lashing out.

Kirk wonders, what would it take to change someone like that? 

Spock’s answer, “one is better able to lead someone down an unfamiliar path when one has already been down that path oneself.”

Wise words.

Kirk is a little surprised to learn that Spock has regular conversations with McKenna about life and people.

This, I believe, is the first hint of a growing connection between those two characters. We’ll continue to explore it, to see where it might lead.

They’ve found where Udsi and his father have gone. Kirk goes to see Taylor. “I wasn’t able to reach him, but maybe you can.”

Spock’s words have sparked an idea in Kirk. And I think maybe he knows something about Taylor that we don’t yet.

Gigi Edgley’s acting in this scene is wonderful. (not to mention the CGI shot of the Enterprise parked next to the cloud)

Taylor knows that Usdi came to her for a reason. 

“Your son loves you very very much. Just like I love my father,” she says.

“I know in your heart that you’re not a monster, but every time you lash out in anger at your son, you become less the father he loves, and more the monster he fears. Please, find a way to heal yourself. Because my father never did.”

The alien says one word back. “Heal.”

“Change for Usdi.”

I’m sure this alien has a difficult challenge ahead of him, but maybe, just maybe, he can do it. Because Taylor reached him.

Wow, what an emotional scene. Huge credit to Gigi Edgely for this. What a legend. And huge credit to Greg Dykstra for a powerful story.

This episode is something of a masterpiece. This is true Star Trek at its core.

One of the things I love so much about this episode, is that it’s a thematic episode, it’s a message episode, but there’s nothing political or controversial about it. It’s the kind of message I’ve never seen in a TV show before, but it’s an important message. The creators of this show found something important to say that not many others have said before. And I’m not saying sci-fi shouldn’t address political or controversial issues, but I think this episode left the well-trod paths and found something new and interesting to say.

When we watch a show like this, it’s easy to think, “well, obviously this is not for me. This is for those deeply problematic people, those violent abusers, the ones with the real problems.

But maybe rather than thinking about others we know who need to hear this, we should stop and think, what can I take away from this.

Most of us are not violent abusers. But most of us who are parents, at some point, have become exasperated with our children. Have lashed out and treated our kids more harshly than they deserve, because of frustration. Maybe it’s because the child has genuinely done something really bad, or maybe it’s pressure in life that has nothing to do with them.

I know from time to time, I’ve taken the time to stop and examine my parenting. To ask hard questions of whether I’m taking my frustrations out on my children in a way that I shouldn’t. To see if there are any changes that I need to make in how I parent.

And I think that’s a healthy thing to do.

For the sake of our kids.

Anyway, Star Trek Continues never fails to impress me. It’s just a whole other level above most other fan productions in so many ways, and honestly, sometimes better than actual real Star Trek.

So as I said. This is episode 100. I still can’t believe I’ve been talking about sci-fi for that long. It seems only yesterday that I started Nerd Heaven.

It was the 6th of December 2019 when my first podcast went live. I talked about Star Trek: The Next Generation “Best of Both Worlds.” I was doing a little series in the lead-up to the launch of Star Trek Picard season 1. Covering episodes and movies that I had selected as a good lead up to the new series based on what I’d seen in trailers. It was a fun little series and allowed me to cover some old favourites.

I remember I’d recorded just enough episodes to release one weekly until the premier of Picard episode 1. I did them in a big batch and scheduled them for release so they’d drip out while I was away on an extended Christmas holiday. We visited family in Tamworth, New South Wales, and then took a carnival cruise to New Caladonia and Vauatu. What a wonderful experience that was.

After finishing Picard season 1, I did a few random things. I talked about my own history with the Star Trek franchise, I covered the remaining TNG movies I hadn’t already talked about, and I watched Stargate Origins: Catherine for the first time. I also started looking at Lord of The Rings, both the book and the movies. I never actually finished that series though. I was doing a walk to Mordor challenge, but the unexpected pandemic kind of got in the way of that.

I then started going through the movies of the DCEU. I really love some of those movies, like Man of Steel and Batman V Superman. And I had a lot to say about them.

After making my way all the way to Shazam, it was time for Star Trek Discovery season 3 to come out, so once again, I covered this show live as I did with Picard.

This was really challenging. I’d watch the episode on Friday night just for fun. Then I’d watch it again on Saturday morning, taking notes. Then I’d record the episode, and spend most of Saturday afternoon editing and publishing it. It really did consume a lot of my weekend. In addition to doing a travel vlog on youtube, this is when my writing life really took a hit. I no longer had time to work on my books.

After I finished Discovery season 3, I knew I needed to make a change. I couldn’t keep up this pace. And there were so many other content creators covering new Star Trek. I couldn’t compete with them. Even today, after 100 episodes, I only average around 10 to 20 listeners per episode. Not big numbers. Not enough to justify the huge amount of work I was putting in. I needed to have the freedom to spend time with my family.

So I made a switch to covering retro stuff. Doing re-watches of old classics. Stuff I’d loved in the past that I really wanted to talk about.

The obvious choice there was Stargate Universe. A divisive show. A show that so many dismiss. But I knew the show had something to say. And I knew I had a lot to say about it, beyond just the question of whether it’s good or bad.

While this was a less crowded niche, I didn’t suddenly become a superstar, but I did pick up some new passionate listeners, which I really appreciated.

In any case, I now have a complete set of podcasts discussing every single episode of SGU. That will stand forever as something people can find and enjoy. And I’m really proud of that.

After finishing SGU, I jumped into Star Trek Continues because again, there were things I wanted to say about it. And I’m having a blast.

So what lies in the future? I’m not sure. I have plenty of ideas of shows I could talk about after I finish Star Trek Continues.

The biggest challenge I face is balancing all my creative endeavours. This podcast, my travel vlog, and my writing.

I still don’t have all the answers, but at least I’m not burning myself out like I was this time last year.

I’m pleased to say that I have got back into my writing and at the time of recording, I’m nearing the time where I’ll finally publish book 3 of Jewel of The Stars. I can’t wait to talk about that in a future episode of the podcast.

I want to thank all those who have listened to this podcast. I’m sure my audience has changed over times as I’ve covered different shows.

I don’t know if there’s anyone listening who’s been around since the early days, but if there is, let me know. Because that would be really encouraging.

Next time, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Embracing the Winds.”

Until then, have a great two weeks.

Live long and prosper.

Make it so.

Today in the podcast, we talk about the Star Trek Continues episode "Divided We Stand" which sees Kirk and McCoy living out something of a nightmare in the American civil war. And we discuss what the mysterious nanites might represent in the greater world of Star Trek.

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd.

This is episode 99 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Divided We Stand.”

And if you’d like to check out some of my original science fiction, head over to AdamDavidCollings.com/books

I recently appeared as a guest on the Yum Yum Podcast with fellow Australian nerds, Ryan and Rachel, discussing the Babylon 5 episode “Ceremonies of Light and Dark.” If you love Babylon 5, as well you should, be sure to check out the episode, and all the other stuff that Ryan and Rachel do at Yum Yum Podcast.

The description on IMDB reads

After an explosion on the bridge resulting from a failed attempt to isolate the ship's computer from a nano-virus, Kirk and McCoy wake up to find themselves in the middle of one of America's bloodiest conflicts.

The teleplay was written by Marc Cushman & Susan Osborn

With story by Vic Mignogna and additional material by Todd Haberkorn

It was directed by Vic Mignogna

And it first aired on the 25th of September 2015.

This episode was dedicated to the memory of Grace Lee Whitney. Another of Star Trek’s veterans who sadly passed away during the making of this show.

This one gets right into the action, making good use of the captain’s log to skip past all the setup and throw us right in the thick of the crew’s trouble. The Enterprise computer has been infected with a virus, or as Kirk calls it, a pathogen, a term I haven’t heard in computer science before. This happened when they tried to make contact with an old Earther probe called Friendship 3. This is significant, because, as you may remember, Voyager once encountered the predecessor - Friendship 1 - in the Delta Quadrant.

What makes this pathogen interesting is that it is of a much more advanced technology than the primitive earth probe. It is quickly migrating through the entire ship, Spock’s library computer, scotty’s engineering specs. 

Spock doesn’t think this is a virus, and it’s not singular. He says he detects hundreds of thousands of microscopic objects. So…are we talking actual physical objects? He’s also seeing evidence of high-level intelligence.

McCoy shows a startling lack of awareness as he casually arrives on the bridge and berates Kirk for not keeping his medical checkup appointment. Now if the circumstances were different, McCoy would be well within his rights, but it’s very obvious that the bridge crew are in the middle of a crisis. Kirk clearly has a good reason for missing his appointment and this is not the time or place to hassle him about it. That time will come later, of course.

The intelligence of whatever is invading the ship is growing.

As the bridge controls overload, Kirk finds himself in a very unexpected place and time. He’s on a primitive battlefield, surrounded by men firing rifles, and wearing unfamiliar uniforms.

This scene marks “Divided We Stand” as the first episode of Star Trek Continues to take us off the ship. If you think about it, the last four have all taken place on board the Enterprise.

If I’m not mistaken, this is the American civil war. Is this a holographic simulation? A fantasy created by a being like Trelane? In Star Trek, there are many possibilities, but in their shoes, time travel wouldn’t be my first thought. I mean, what could have caused it right? So Kirk and McCoy would be feeling understandably disoriented and confused.

But, they’re in uniform, which means they’re expected to fight. At the very least, they can’t just sit here and wait for the bullets. They may have to play along until they figure out what the go is. But they wisely manage to remove themselves from the situation to avoid taking any rash actions they may not be able to undo.

They wisely also choose to treat this as real, and not take any unnecessary risks.

Now, you’ll have to excuse my lack of knowledge about his particular event in history. Oh, I know the basics. North vs South. I believe it was primarily fought over the issue of slavery, although they may be more to it?

I imagine American audiences would be able to tell immediately by looking at their uniforms, which side Kirk and McCoy are meant to be on. At this point in the story, I haven’t figured that out yet.

The interesting thing is, it seems that they are both on different sides. Now THAT could make things interesting.

And it was cool to see Dr. M’Benga in this episode. It’s only logical for him to step up and take on the role of chief medical officer while McCoy is missing.

I believe M’Benga only appeared in two episodes of the original series, although he is, of course, a series regular on Strange New Worlds. At the time of recording, I still have no idea why, although he was chief medical officer under pike, he seems to have been demoted by TOS. I mean, he’s still serving on the Enterprise but McCoy is chief. So what happened? Strange New Worlds is gonna have to address that at some point.

At first it seems strange that Spock is asking M’Benga about the computer virus. Why would  you have a medical doctor assess a computer problem? Then we pan over and see Kirk and Bones unconscious in bio-beds, their faces pale. Whatever has infected the ship has also infected their bodies.

I think this episode is lacking some precision of terminology when it comes to what we are dealing with. From what I gather, this isn’t a computer virus, which is simply a self-perpetuating piece of software with malicious intent. It’s some kind of swarm of small physical objects that are interfering with the computer somehow, but also invading Kirk and McCoy’s bodies.

M’Benga can’t prevent the spread of these things in the human bodies, he can only slow it, but in a day or two, they’ll be dead.

So, what we can gather so far is that despite the episode descrition, we’re not dealing with time travel here. We’re dealing with some kind of mental projection from an alien entity.

Kirk refers to McCoy as a southern gentleman, so I gather his uniform is from the south. But then again, McCoy himself IS southern, so Kirk could be referring to that.

A group of Kirk’s team find them. They assume McCoy is Kirk’s prisoner, at least until they notice Bones still has his weapon.

The leader of this group is pretty aggressive toward McCoy, but then, this is war. He takes Kirk’s word for it a little too easily when he pretends to be a famous Kirk from the time, especially given his uniform has the wrong rank.

The leader is shot by a sniper on the other side. And we get verbal confirmation that McCoy’s uniform is confederate, which I believe is the south. Kirk wants to bury the confederate sniper. The northerners are hesitant. Afterall, he’s the enemy.

Kirk tries to preach the virtue of having compassion for all people, even one’s enemies, but they’re not very interested.

It’s hard to judge them too harshly. Kirk is correct, of course, but it’s not easy to have compassion on somebody who just killed one of your own - probably a friend.

McCoy could easily save this wounded soldier’s life with 23rd century technology, but it’ll be a challenge with period instruments. But I don’t think it’s just technology. A doctor of the time could probably do a lot more because they’re familiar with the equipment.

McCoy raises the typical time travel problems. What if man is supposed to die and they heal him, or what if he was supposed to live, but by being here, they caused him to get shot? Being in the past is very risky. Of course, they don’t know that they’re not actually in the past. They have to treat this as if it’s real.

Like the previous episode, this one had new music composed by Andy Farber and performed by the STC Orchestra. 

Back in the original series, they didn’t write all new music for every episode. Each season, they’d record some new music cues to add to the toolbox, and a music editor was apply them to the scenes of episodes, But when something big, special, or out-of-the-box happened, they’d write specific new music for it.

That’s kind of how they did this episode. With all the civil war stuff going on, this episode really cried out for new original music. They re-used stuff where appropriate, but created new stuff where it was needed.

Some really interesting trivia. They used the melody of Uhura’s song about Charlie, in the episode Charlie X, but that melody actually dates back to the American Civil war. It was a folk song about union volunteer soldiers. In this episode, it becomes Billy’s theme.

Spock and Scotty have found a way to draw the alien presence out of the Enterprise computer. It’s attracted to new sources of information. They can lure it into a backup module and then jettison it.

I’m a little shocked that Spock chose to destroy the jettisoned objects with the phasers. Yes, they were an infestation that caused problems to the ship, but there was also evidence that collectively, they represented an intelligent lifeform. It doesn’t seem very Starfleet to just blow them up. Once removed from the ship, they were no longer an immediate danger.

In any case, the ship is safe. Now they’ve just got to save Kirk and McCoy.

The northerner doctor doesn’t care about uniforms, he is just happy to have another set of hands to help the wounded. And as a doctor, McCoy is willing to help whoever is in medical trouble, regardless of who they are.

Spock clearly values McKenna’s services. He knows that this will be a stressful time for the crew, with the captain and doctor incapacitated. But he naturally assumes he is immune. McKenna not-so-subley makes it clear she is available to him as well.

It raises the question of Vulcan mental health. Vulcans have emotions, strong ones, so it would seem that counselling and psychology would be needed, and a logical people would understand their importance. But because of their mental disciplines, Vulcans are so good at suppressing their emotions. They don’t let themselves be controlled by their emotions.

Does this negate the need for counselling? For a human, to suppress everything you’re feeling is not healthy, but Vulcans aren’t humans.

Doctor M’Benga has discovered something interesting. While their bodies are still, he is detecting high levels of neural activity in Kirk and McCoy, very unusual for patients in a coma. And they spike at the same time, showing that they’re linked.

He’s well on the way to uncovering what’s actually going on here.

Checkov has found that at the time the computer was shut off, the entity was reviewing a particular battle in the American Civil war, as part of its analysis of Earth history.

So while they don’t have solid evidence, the Enterprise crew have pretty much figured out what is happening to Kirk and McCoy.

One of the soldiers is no longer sure what he’s fighting for.  Just to free some slaves? He doesn’t know the victims of slavery so it doesn’t feel personal to him. Kirk suggests that they’re all slaves to something, and this war is about freedom for all. 

They’re all having doubts. One of them wants to be there for the birth of his grandchild, but instead, he’s here taking lives. And he’s right to see that as a tragedy. But Kirk explains that what they do here will be remembered. He knows this as a matter of historical fact. They can’t understand that, of course. So his words fall flat for them.

I’m really struck, in this scene, just how much Vic looks like William Shatner. It’s almost uncanny.

Bones is horrified by the brutality of it all. The wounds, the lack of proper anaesthetic. It all feels barbaric to him. But it’s not about technology, it’s about the human suffering he’s seeing.

Kirk blames himself. If he’d gone to his physical, McCoy wouldn’t have been on the bridge. But as I said, in this case, he had a good reason.

But I like what Bones says back to him. “The only thing worse than being stuck here with you, is you being here all by yourself.” Now that’s friendship.

McCoy raises an uncomfortable reality. It’s one thing for him to be saving lives, even lives that history says should be dead, but tomorrow, Kirk has to go onto the battle field and kill people. He can’t do that.

Despite that, he’s on the front line with the other men. Kirk has formed quite a bond with Billy, the young kid fighting for the first time. 

I’ve got to give it to this episode, the scale is something else. The many actors, the horses, the canons. For a period piece like this to be done on a fan production’s budget is very impressive.

Kirk was fighting, but he’s badly wounded. I wonder if that’s because he held back from doing his best in an attempt not to kill.

With the equipment of the day, all Bones can do is amputate Kirk’s leg below the knee. That’s a pretty big deal. We know that even in the 24th century, Star Trek medicine can’t just magically grow back a limb. Nog was given an artificial leg in Deep Space Nine. This is a loss Kirk is going to have to live with for the rest of his life, if this were real, of course, which we know it’s not, but Kirk and McCoy don’t.

Can you imagine what it would feel like to have your leg cut off with a saw, when all you have for pain relief is a piece of wood to bite down on?

I can’t.

The thought absolutely horrifies me.

Even if it’s not real, the pain Kirk experiences is real.

But it’s even worse.

M’Benga finds that back on the Enterprise, Kirk’s real leg is dying. I’m not even going to try to make sense of that. There’s no reason that should be a thing, so let’s just accept that and move on.

M’Benga has managed to extract one of the pathogen objects. Turns out they’re nanites. Not a big surprise. The episode was clearly leaning in that direction.

Spock has an idea. They can help Kirk and McCoy the same way they cleared the Enterprise computer. Shut down their brain functions temporarily to starve the nanites, then lure them away with a trail of new information sources.

M’Benga can do it for a very limited time, but the while feasting on a biological brain, the nanites might not be tempted by an inorganic source.

They need something cybernetic. Nurse Chaspel suggest a prosthetic limb. There’s a crewmember with a bio-mechanical arm but confidentiality prohibits her from disclosing who it is. But with the captain and doctor’s lives at stake, Spock asks her to forgo her principles.

The ideal way to handle this would be to approach the crewmember privately and ask if they were willing to help, but what if they said no?

Another thing you wouldn’t normally see in a fan production is a practical effect for a soldier missing half his arm. It’s just a background detail, but it’s another example of this show’s professionalism.

Billy is in bad shape. Not physically, the bullet just grazed his head, but emotionally, he’s suffering from what was once called shell shock, a form of PTSD. McCoy doesn’t blame him.

Turns out, when the shooting started, he turned and ran, crashing into a tree. Now he feels like a coward. Kirk’s words touched him last night, but he’s questioning it all. He noticed that Kirk didn’t shoot anyone.

Kirk can’t properly explain his reasons for not firing, but he can say  that his freedom was taken away. Taken by the alien entity. Once again, Kirk tries to inspire Billy.

When Spock explains the situation to Lieutenant Drake, he’s quick to volunteer his cybernetic arm. 

I was confused when M’Benga said that if this fails, he’ll lose all three of them. Kirk, McCoy, and Drake. So …. Why would they lose Drake? Are they not just going to remove his arm and use it as a tool? Worst case scenario, he doesn’t get his arm back. And he has to wait until a new one can be made for him, maybe on a Starbase.

But apparently, Drake’s arm cannot be removed. He’s sitting there in a chair between the biobeds holding a device. So….I guess that means there’s a risk the nanites could enter Drake’s body. 

Kirk must have been asleep for some time. When he wakes, Billy isn’t in the next bed anymore. Turns out that Kirk’s words had a big impact on him. When all hope seemed lost, Billy led the charge, inspiring the other men to fight for freedom. He lost his life in that battle.

I think Kirk is feeling both proud and guilty. It was his words that led that boy to his death. That’s got to be a heavy thing to live with.

When someone announces that the president is here, Kirk jumps out of bed onto his crutches, despite his injuries. He doesn’t want to miss the chance to see a famous historical figure like Abraham Lincoln. Although, he’s already met him once. That was a pretend Lincoln, of course, manufactured by aliens, but then, so is this one. Kirk just doesn’t know it yet.

There’s a historical photo I’ve seen of Lincoln talking to some soldiers outside a tent. The staging of this shot looks very similar to that photo, and at the end of the scene, we see someone taking a photo. So I’m assuming this was meant to be the moment in history when that real photo was taken.

It’s pretty special for Kirk to be there.

McCoy points out that while Kirk only has one leg, he still has purpose, and that can allow him to stand just as tall.

M’Benga successfully draws the nanites out of Kirk and McCoy, then gives them stimulants. Their skin returns to normal colour.

Drake is escortedto the transporter room for some reason. It’s still not clear exactly how this whole plan is working. But I think the nanites are not so much in Drake’s artificial arm, as they are in the device he was holding.

Except when Drake enters the bridge to see Kirk, he’s missing the arm.

So …… I’m really confused. None of this was clear to me.

McCoy points out there could be more of the nanites out there. Kirk says God help anyone who encounters them.

This sounds like the episode is suggesting the nanites might be something we’ve seen before.

The obvious place my mind goes is the Borg. We know they use nanoprobes.

The Enterprise wasn’t assimilated, and neither were Kirk and McCoy, but their skin did go gray.

So maybe these are early Borg nanoprbes. I’m sure they had less sophisticated ways of assimilating before they developed nanotechnology properly. Perhaps in Kirk’s time, they’ve only recently assimilated that technology and have yet to perfect it.

It’s all speculation, of course,

But that’s half the fun of science fiction.

I felt the script was a little lacking in this one, when compared to the previous 4 episodes. Some things weren’t explained as well as they could have been. But it was still a good story. And the production with all those extras, costumes, location shooting, was very well done.

This is hardly a bad episode, just not as the good as the ones that have preceded it.

But still well worth watching.

Next time, on what will be our 100th episode, we’ll be talking about a special episode that gives us some practical creature effects, and a special guest appearance by an Australian actress of Farscape fame.

I’ll see you for Come Not Between the Dragons.

Until then, have a great two week

Live long and Prosper

Make it so.

While not as memorable as the big tentpole episodes, "The White Iris" is a true classic. This is a very emotional character-driven episode that advances Kirk's arc and adds depth to a number of previous Star Trek episodes. This episode is a great example of what makes Star Trek Continues so special.

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Welcomed to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd

Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “The White Iris”

Captain Kirk finds himself haunted by guilt from his past as the fate of an alien world hangs in the balance.

Based on a story by Vic Mignogna and Chris White.

This episode was dedicated to the memory of Leonard Niymoy, placing it in time just after he passed away ,which was certainly a significant and sad moment for all Star Trek fans.

Now I have a feeling that in the real world, by administering this drug to a patient, McCoy would be doing something highly unethical and probably illegal. Although Kirk does give his verbal consent.  Still, giving an untested drug that doesn’t have approval to a patient has got to be a huge risk.

And then he’s straight off the bed and back to duty.

Spock is an accomplished commander and a capable diplomat. And he can always liaise with Kirk from Sickbay. This was a big believability problem to me.

Although I do wonder how they think Kirk’s murder will accomplish what they want.

Possibly because he’s seeing another vision. Time time, a woman named Nakia. She appears to be a new character created for Star Trek Continues. Interestingly, she is named after the actress that plays her - Nakia Burrise.

Kirk can’t remember the passcode for the defence grid. He created the code himself, with the understanding he would make the final decision whether or not to give the grid to the Calsins. Nobody else knows it.

See, this is why you use a password management product like KeePass.

McCoy senses there’s something Kirk isn’t telling him, but Kirk is a little non-committal as to what that is.

There’s something wrong with Kirk’s heart. It’s weakening and McCoy has no medical explanation.

Spock asks Checkov if he’s tried a brute force attack to guess the password. Checkov points out the computer on this device is designed to shut down on repeated failed login attempts. Well that’s something. Honestly, if a brute force attack could work then Starfleet needs to fire their entire IT department, and Spock is pretty silly for suggesting it.

He’s ignoring very reasonable recommendations from McCoy and Spock, and honestly, being a little paranoid.

A replacement console is days away. Sulu emphasises to Uhura to inform Spock as well as Kirk, which already shows how he’s starting to lose the confidence of his crew.

But on the other hand, I think there’s room for a little of it. If we look at the countries of Earth we see there are some commonly shared traits. 

For example, the British people are often thought of as stiff while we Australians have a reputation for being laid back.

So I’m willing to let the episode get away with this.

Anyway, that’s where Star Trek Continues comes in.

Vulcans believe in the katra.

McCoy uses an argument I’ve often heard. “I thought Vulcans were a people of science,” implying that being a person of science precludes a belief in anything spiritual.

Spock counters this by saying “To be a people of science is to acknowledge that sometimes science points to something more. Vulcans are also a people of spirit. The two are not as contradictory as people assume.”

I mean he relieves himself of command, of course, not the other kind of relieving oneself.

McCoy answers, “I think you’ve loved a lot of women, Jim.” Kirk does have a reputation as a ladies man. But that’s not what Kirk is asking. Yes, he’s had a lot of lovers in the past, but did he actually love them?

Bones assume Kirk was just a playboy who wanted a string of one night stands. But deep down, Kirk wants more than that. He always has. But command leaves no room for those kinds of indulgences. At least at this point in Star Trek history. By the 24th century we’ll see captains marry and have families, raising them on Starships. But this is not that kind of Starfleet. Not yet.

So what does this mean? Does it suggest they are more than just hallucinations?

Spock says they need resolution. Closure. Of a type only Kirk can offer.

So he’s viewing them as something more substantial.

But is this different than before? He’s relieved himself of duty, so Spock is currently in command, but maybe Kirk still needs to play a part in all this. If he can get better, maybe he can remember the password.

When he enters McKenna’s quarters, there’s a little moment that kind of mirrors one in the first episode, where McKenna walking in on Kirk shirtless.

McKenna is hardly naked, but she does seem taken aback and kind of covers her shoulder. I think the show might be suggesting there’s some mutual attraction between these two, possibly because the actors were together in real life, but from memory, that doesn’t go anywhere.

He meets the women from his past in the place where he last met them.

She forgives him. She understands. I think it’s possible the real Edith Keeler may have understood as well. She dreamed of the world he was saving.

Nakia knew the risks when she signed up for Starfleet. She doesn’t blame him. She doesn’t forgive him because she says there’s nothing to forgive. “No more guilt, Jim”.

He says that she, and their baby, were gifts he could never repay.

And she says something interesting. One does not repay a gift. And that’s true. That’s what makes it a gift.

“The great spirit calls us to forgiveness, of others, and ourselves.”

It’s a hard moment. Of all the woman Kirk has loved, Miaramanee was the longest and most committed relationship. They were married. They conceived a child together. We always remember Edith Keeler and Carol Marcus. But we forget Miramanee. We shouldn’t do that.

But then her face softens into a smile.

There are no words exchanged. It seems none are necessary. It’s a good performance from the actors.

But he still doesn’t remember the password, and Calsis only has 6 minutes.

But it’s all they’ve got.

He chases her through the ship. She offers him a gift. The same patterned stitching on the native american headbands from Amerind.

Realisation dawns on him. This is his unborn daughter.

She has no name because he never gave her one.

And at this point in the episode, my heart is just shattering.

It turns out, the password was likely inspired by the painting by Vincent Van Gough.

It is said he only painted one of the irises white because he was lonely.

Just like Kirk.

If that's what he chose for his password it shows just how lonely he really does feel.

The obvious meaning to this would be the Enterprise. She has always been Kirk’s lady.

But I couldn’t help but think about Carol Marcus. The other great love of Kirk’s life who wasn’t mentioned in this episode. Probably because he hasn’t met her yet.

In fact, another fan series, Star Trek New Voyages, did an episode that told the story of Kirk and Marcus’s first meeting. I’m kinda tempted to add that episode into the mix as we’re going through Star Trek Continues.

Star Trek Continues actually reminds me a lot of Enterprise season 4. It seems to be trying to do a similar thing.

Make it so.