Happy Canada Day, Star Trek style

 Happy Canada Day from the good people at Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

 July 1 is our National Holiday up here in the Great White North and how awesome was it for me to tune into the latest episode of SNW and find it set in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the not-to-distant future?

And that the episode featured Christina Chong as La'an Noonien-Sing, one of my favourite actors and characters in the long history of Star Trek?

What a fantastic surprise.

Now, that's not to say it was a perfect episode. The Romulan spy found them just a little to easily and they travelled to Vermont and back just a little too quickly for my taste. I don't know why a Romulan, who has been trapped in Earth's gravity for 30 years, would be so much stronger than La'an, who has always been very powerful for a human.

I am still not sure how we reconcile the argument SNW makes that the name Noonien-Singh is infamous in the 22nd Century when, in TOS, Kirk and Spock have no idea who Khan Noonien-Singh is and make it clear that "most records from that period have been lost".

But... it was great to see the homage to Toronto's street hot dog vendors, to the futuristic-looking colourful Canadian banknotes and to the overall Canadian custom of kindness and serenity.

And it was also nice to get a chance to explore La'an as a character a little bit more. She's one of the more intriguing characters introduced in recent ST series and I enjoyed the chance to get to know her a little bit better.

SNW continues to impress. I look forward to more.

And, as I watched "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" filter to a quiet end, I wonder why the last second focus on the 21st century watch La'an brought back with her and, further, if we are going to find out that a little Kirk baby is on the way...

Yes, it's true, Star Trek: Picard got even worse in Season 3

OMG, is Star Trek: Picard season three ever awful!

Plot holes, internal time issues, canon consistency problems, character defilement. What more could you (not) want?

I despised the deification of Jean Luc Picard in the first two seasons so I guess at least it's nice to see him brought down a peg.

Plot hole:

In the third episode, Worf and Raffi identify from a picture a criminal they wish to apprehend and question. They find him, chase him through the yet-another crowded Blade-Runner-esque dark and dreary night club district, then torture him for information. The big reveal? That he's a changeling from the Great Link (of DS9 fame).

But, if he's a changeling, why did he keep the same appearance long enough for Worf and Raffi to track him down? Why did he not "change" in the middle of the chase so as to be able to escape his pursuers easily?

Arghhh!

Internal Time Issues:

With Titan trapped by the enemy vessel for mere hours, how is that Raffi and Worf can move from planet to planet, track down shapeshifting terrorists and carry out extensive torture during those same few hours?

Arghhh!

Canon Consistency Problems:  

So, after that maudlin the-Picard-line-is-at-an-end story line in Star Trek: Generations, it seems absolutely ridiculous that episode three of STP suggests that Picard did not want children (a son) or that Crusher actually believes that at this stage of their life?

We spent two hours listening to Jean Luc bleat about how upset he was that his brother and nephew died in a fire and, as a result, put an end of the Picard family name in that awful crossover movie -- the least the writers of STP could do is respect what we sat through and the canon.

Oh, and let's not talk about how much of the scene between Crusher and Picard ("Why didn't you tell me?" "Were we going to be together?") is "borrowed" from Kirk and Carol Marcus in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. Though, to be fair, the writers of STP didn't borrow so much that they matched the dramatic effectiveness of the original scene. They managed to make a short, somewhat tense scene from Wrath into long, boring scene in STP.

Character Defilement:

Troi's only appearance in episode three is a ridiculous cameo that comes straight out of a 1950s era family sitcom. Formerly a strong, independent character, she's now reduced to a sitcom mom?

And, on a related note, how did we end up with a Star Trek series where the two leads are both old, cis-gender straight white men? And the only other captain we see in Star Fleet is also an old white dude?

Arghhh! Arghhhh! Argh!!!

At least Riker and Picard are now sensitive, new age cis-gender straight white men who are in touch with their feelings and sensitive to their roles as fathers. And that they choose the bridge, in the middle of a life-and-death crisis, to talk them through.

Arghhh!!!!!

A Balance of Mercy: SNW embraces Trekkies

If you are an avid Trekkie, you loved “A Quality of Mercy”, the season final for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW).

 

The episode brought tingles of anticipation, giggles of joy, and strange new worlds of wonder.

 

If you are new to Star Trek, and have just been enjoying SNW for what it is on its own, “A Quality of Mercy” was… well… “fine”.

 

That’s what I learned when my friend and fellow SNW fan finally got a chance to watch “A Quality”.

 

I had been mooning over this episode to him for weeks and begged him to watch “Balance of Terror”, from The Original Series, first, so that he could get the full effect of just how great “A Quality” is.

 

He watched it, sans “Balance”, and thought it was “fine”. A decent episode of SNW, probably in the top half of the first season’s episodes but not even close to the best of them.

 

That forced me to accept that much of my adoration of this episode is because of the homage it pays to TOS and “Balance of Terror”, not because “A Quality of Mercy” is, on its own merits, great television.

 

But it is quite the homage.

 

Henry Alonso Meyers and Akiva Goldsman get writing credits for this episode on IMDB but I honestly think Paul Schneider and Gene Roddenberry, writers of “Balance of Terror”, deserve at least a third of the credit. After all, about a third of the dialogue is word for word from the TOS episode.

 

That’s not a criticism. That veneration of the original episode, that willingness to recognise how practically perfect “Balance of Terror” was as an episode of dramatic television, is one of the main reasons I love “A Quality of Mercy” so much. It is the reason for the tingles, that became giggles that became absolute wonder.

 

Meyers and Goldsman do a wonderful job of revisiting “Balance of Terror”, of rethinking it in terms of this new series, while being absolutely respectful of the original and, in fact, giving devoted viewers new ways to think about it.

 

It reminded me of the famous Deep Space Nine/TOS “Trouble with Tribbles” cross-over episode and, even more surprisingly, of Shakespeare in Love, the romcom from the early 21^st century wherein playwright Tom Stoppard stepped in to ensure the script deliciously melded elements from the Bard’s life and the Bard’s plays with a new romantic story.

 

Where the DS9 episode featured technical virtuosity but a fairly banal story and Shakespeare In Love featured a virtuoso script with rather melodramatic performances, “A Quality of Mercy” took advantage of the strength of the basic plot of “Balance of Terror” while weaving in significant emotional development for the cast of the new show.

 

As you probably already know, “A Quality of Mercy” helps Pike work through his own psychological drama by asking the question: what if, at the most pivotal moment in Federation history in a hundred years, another captain, a very different captain, sat in the centre seat of the starship Enterprise?

 

Pike for Kirk.

 

Caution vs cowboy.

 

Brilliantly, episode writers Henry Alonso Meyers and Akiva Goldsman actually avoid making it a tale of “caution vs cowboy”. Their Pike is not so different from the Kirk written by Paul Schneider and Gene Roddenberry in “Balance of Terror”. This isn’t a clear slow-vs-fast, thought-vs-action scenario.

 

Though SNW goes to some lengths to paint the original Captain as a “wild card” who will take unnecessary risks at the drop of a hat, they sometimes remember that Kirk actually suffers the same doubts and fears that Pike faces. Kirk endures the same worries that plague Pike: if I attack and fail, then what? If I attack and succeed, might war still follow? If I permit the Romulan ship to escape, will the Romulans return in strength? With a stark choice, with the information available, with an unknown enemy, how does a starship captain make the right choice, if there is a “right choice” at all?

 

And, as those themes are explored, “A Quality” features numerous scenes and dozens of passage of dialogue that are drawn note for note from “Balance of Terror”. New actors inhabit original roles, giving their own voices to lines that were written (and originally performed) 56 years ago. In one remarkable instance, SNW recreates shot-for-shot, line-for-line, musical cue for musical cue, a good 30 seconds of “Balance”.

 

That’s what I loved most about this episode. That’s what elevated it from “fine” to “fantastic” in the mind of this long-time Trekkie.

 

I still prefer “Balance of Terror” but, for me at least, “A Quality of Mercy” was the kind of viewing experience I crave when I turn on my television.

SNW delivers gut wrenching, heart-pounding action

SPOILER ALERT

 

They kill off a character, send another one packing and put us through a gripping mash-up of the TOS episode “Galileo Seven” and the classic sci-fi movie Alien.

 

Are the creative team between Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) trying to kill us?

 

With “All Those Who Wander”, the SNW folks prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they can deliver drama with the best of them. They did it in “Memento Mori” and they do it again in “All Those Who Wander”, the ninth episode of season one.

 

Episode 9 is crazy tense, with enough action, suspense and drama for an entire season. The fact that writer Davy Perez manages to slip some significant character development into the mix just makes it even better.

 

But it is the loss of two major characters at the end of the episode that really hits us hard. I really want to complain about the fact that they killed off Hemmer, the enigmatic engineer played by Canadian actor Bruce Horak, but they do it so well, so strongly in keeping with the character they worked so hard to develop, and in such an important moment of the episode, I really can’t.

 

I’ve been waiting, hoping that they would let Hemmer develop into a full-fledged character, that they would let us get to know more about his past, his culture, his path that brought him into Star Fleet at a time when Andoria was just starting to become a part of the Federation.

 

But… if they had to kill him off, they did it right. He died in accordance with his values. Seeing no hope of a cure for what ailed him (a forced Gorn pregnancy, basically), Hemmer chose to sacrifice himself quickly, cleanly (and hopefully painlessly) for the sake of his crew, his colleagues, his friends.

 

And then there’s Noonien-Singh, another of my favourite characters, who apparently chooses to leave Enterprise to return a little refugee – Gorn prison planet survivor – to her family. Again, I’m not happy with this development: the security officer was an awesome counter-balance to Pike and Spock’s slower pace and tendency to over-think situations. She was fun and she was tough and you could count on her to get you out of a tight space almost before you realised you were in it.

 

But, if for some reason Noonien-Singh (or actor Christina Chong) really needed to leave Pike and crew, then this decision, this reason to leave Enterprise, makes sense. She needs to do this to wrestle to the ground some of her own personal demons.

 

My hope is that the departure of these two major characters will create room for Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and Ortegas (Melissa Navia) to get more screen time. Ortegas continues to be under-utilised, perhaps not surprising considering their role on the ship and the size of the principal cast, but could do so much more. We’ve seen hints of their character but… maybe now we’ll get to learn more.

 

And I have never understood why Chin-Riley (Number One) so often plays only a small role in each episode. As second in command, she should be front and centre. But the part she plays in “All Those Who Wander” seems typical – early in the episode, she and Ortegas take Enterprise back to Starbase K7 to deliver much needed equipment and don’t reappear until the very end of the show.

 

Maybe there are contract or availability issues with Navia and Romijn – I don’t know – but I would love to see them take on more central roles in future episodes.

 

And last… let’s talk about the Gorn. Clearly, the creative team for SNW have decided the Gorn are the perfect enemy for their series – like the Klingons and Romulans in TOS, the Borg in TNG, the Cardassians and later the Jem Ha’dar in DS9, the Gorn have assumed the central antagonist role.

 

And, as presented in SNW, they present as frightening and seemingly insurmountable a problem as the Borg. It’s great dramatically (“All Those Who Wander” is as effective as it is because the Gorn seem so completely overwhelming) but it doesn’t jive with the Gorn of TOS.

 

When we met the Gorn in “Arena”, they were big, lumbering, intelligent reptiles on approximately the same stage of social, cultural, technological and intellectual development as humans, Vulcans and the rest of our allies. They were an unknown and, until the end of that classic TOS episode, we had no idea what their motivation was for attacking the Federation outposts and then the Enterprise.

 

When Kirk finally learns their motivations, he recognises a kindred species and decides not to kill his counterpart, even if it put his own ship at risk.

 

In SNW, the Gorn appear to be technologically advanced but socially stunted – they are a hunter species and see no issue with luring other beings into traps to serve as incubators for their own young. They do not communicate with their prey and are fast-moving, fast-thinking and absolutely merciless.

 

And they are very much a part of the Federation universe, even if they continue to occupy space on the edges of Federations space.

 

How did the Gorn go from the SNW version to the TOS version in just 10 years?

 

That being said, if the creative team at SNW had simply called them “the N-Rog”, I would have no problems with them as the antagonist on SNW. As re-imagined in this latest iteration of Star Trek, the Gorn are awesome enemies.

The inevitable fairy tale episode on SNW

 

Star Trek does love a good dress-up show.

 TOS featured numerous episodes in which the crew dressed up (by choice or otherwise) in various costumes and the introduction of the holodeck in TNG created the opportunity for the casts of future series to play dress-up even without venturing to a strange new world.

 

So it should come as no surprise that, in the ninth episode of its inaugural season, Strange New Worlds (SNW) offers up its first real costume party – “The Elysian Kingdom”. Although not particularly well reviewed by fans online, I found this episode to be just goofy enough to be charming.

 

And I liked the underlying mystery: what is holding Enterprise near an apparently unremarkable nebula? Why does everyone but M’Benga and Hemmer seem immersed in a child’s fairy tale? And how are M’Benga and Hemmer going to save the ship and her crew? 

 

In fact, I was surprised at how much tension (and emotion) that mystery plot delivered, despite the fairy tale silliness.

 

For me, “The Elysian Kingdom” seemed reminiscent of the TNG episode, “The Royale”: odd, somewhat silly, but with an interesting intellectual challenge and actual stakes at the end that made it quite effective.

 

And I like the fact that M’Benga and Hemmer finally get a chance to shine. Babs Olusanmokun (M’Benga) and Bruce Horak (Hemmer) create good chemistry while playing the straight men against the silliness of the rest of the cast. I like Hemmer as a character and hope to see more of him.

 

And, although I feel the writers kind of threw away the Rukiya storyline they had been working so hard to develop, I think M’Benga already has depth as a character that Dr. McCoy only really developed by the third se
ason of TOS.

 

That being said, “The Elysian Kingdom” confirms once again that Anson Mount is not a comedic actor. His performance in this episode is annoying (his character is supposed to be annoying but his performance is unnecessarily so) and it borders, at times, on offensive.

 

Meanwhile, Christina Chong really surprised me playing the frivolous princess that she is almost unrecognisable as the strong, capable La’an Noonien-Singh. 

 

It’s nice to see Celia Rose Gooding (Uhura) get such a meaty part to play and she carries it off well. Meanwhile, Rong Fu’s role (Mitchell) in the show continues to grow, both before and during the fairy tale storyline.

 

This is not a great episode by any means. I’m not even sure it’s a particularly good one. It seems to have been written specifically to resolve the Rukiya plot and I’m not sure why. The story line, one of the few real through-lines in this episodic series, was working well, with Sage Arrindell delightful in the role of Rukiya, Dr. M’Benga’s terminally ill daughter.

 

I don’t really understand the need to resolve it so quickly… nor do I understand why the creative team would decide to do an episode that, in its heart and soul, cannot stand on its own.

 

All of that aside, “The Elysian Kingdom” is not awful Star Trek either. Through some interesting performances and a strong mystery plot, it manages to hold its own.

The Passionate Vulcan and The Serene Squall

 

Sybok is in the building!

 Laurence Luckinbill first brought Sybok, Spock’s half-brother who became known as the “passionate Vulcan”, to life in the much-maligned Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, a movie and a character that many Star Trek fans have tried very hard to forget.

 

In an interesting episode that works hard to balance comedy (almost absurdity) with intense action, episode 7 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW), “The Serene Squall”, gives fans a further exploration of Spock, his struggles to find his identity and his relationships with T’Pring, Chapel and, eventually, his half-brother.

 

I give credit to writers Beau DeMayo and Sarah Tarkoff as well as to director Sydney Freeland for achieving– at least for the most part – that difficult balance of comedy and tension throughout this action-packed episode. Star Trek is known for its witty one-liners, even in the most dramatic of episodes, but the parallel plot of Pike and crew sparking a mutiny onboard the pirate ship, the Serene Squall, borders on ludicrous. DeMayo, Tarkoff and Freeland seem to understand that because, except for showing us the beginning and the end of that story-line, they focus mostly on the intense plot taking place aboard Enterprise.

 The comedy and character development of the mutiny plot are important to the series overall but, if we got too much of it, the entire episode would have lost all effectiveness.

 

Instead, DeMayo, Tarkoff and Freeland focus on the intense Spock, Chapel, Angel and eventually T’Pring plot that is as effective as any story-line SNW has introduced to date.

 

Jesse James Keitel is a revelation as the nefarious Angel. First introduced as Dr. Aspen, space social worker, she later reveals her true colours as the leader of the legendary pirate ship, the Serene Squall. The role provides Keitel plenty of opportunity to show their range – from sweet, caring do-gooder to evil space queen and just about every stage in between – and Keitel proves themself up to the challenge. 

 What impressed me most was how Keitel managed to capture that same balance I spoke of earlier – between farcical comedy and dramatic intensity – in their portrayal of Aspen/Angel. One moment, they are a soft, calming presence on screen, the next they are an evil, scenery-chewing force on par with our beloved Khan (as portrayed by Ricardo Montalban).

 

At the centre of the story, though, is the developing romantic triangle involving Spock, Chapel and T’Pring. Ethan Peck (Spock) shows good range as the half-Vulcan who is struggling to understand who he is. Jess Bush (Chapel) does a wonderful job of portraying a woman who is clearly (to everyone but a Vulcan) falling passionately in love, knows that there is no hope for that love, and is still willing to suffer the experience of it for the good of her ship and of the man with whom she is falling in love.

 Meanwhile, T’Pring (Gia Sandhu) continues to grow as an interesting equal in her relationship with Spock, proving willing to let Spock experience what he needs to experience to begin to know himself and to be able to love her truly.

 

And, of course, even as this “love triangle” grows in its complexity, we meet Stonn. For a brief moment. Knowing that, eventually, T’Pring will choose Stonn over Spock when their marriage ceremony takes place years in the future.

 

“The Serene Squall” had me worried early on when moments of comedy, bordering on absurdity, crept into a truly tense dramatic plot. Would it topple into farce? With excellent performances, a well-structured script and skillful direction and editing, it managed to avoid that trap and turned into an extremely effective episode.

And, of course, brings Sybok back from obscurity. Who knows what part he will play in Spock's life on the Pike-led Enterprise?

Where Suffering Reaches: SNW disappoints with Episode 6

Pike in love

“Brain and brain, what is brain?” Apparently, on the utopian planet of Majalis, the “Brain” required to operate the society is not the full cerebral mass of a certain Vulcan but the neural pathways of a child.

I guess the first five episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) so impressed me that I was not prepared for an episode of such inferior quality as “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”. I walk away from Episode 6 of SNW feeling quite deflated and let down.

 

Written by Robin Wasserman and Bill Wolkoff, “Lift Us” is apparently based on an Original Series story idea by Gene Roddenberry himself, with generous doses of TOS episodes “Spock’s Brain”, “The Cloud Minders” and “For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky” mixed in.

 

Pike appalled

Before I launch into my concerns, I will say that “Lift Us” provides one clear example of how SNW honors its Star Trek predecessors: Anson Mount, like Patrick Stewart, is awful when asked to show an emotional range beyond commanding, competent and witty. Pike’s foray into boyish romance here is painful to watch.

 

Beyond that, my criticisms of this episode are numerous and varied. On first viewing, I was concerned about how the episode seems either to leave numerous questions unanswered or to demand a sequel:

·      The Prospect VII situation;

·      The medical knowledge that Majalis refuses to share;

·      The possibility of future attempts by rebels to destroy the “First Servant” tradition;

·      Pike’s own abhorrence of the “First Servant” tradition and his apparent commitment to do something about it.

 

The First Servant's present....

I am also concerned about numerous plot developments that are implausible or internally contradictory:

·     Alora, who is apparently the leader of the Majalins, breaks numerous protocols and traditions to permit Pike to visit the planet, witness the preparatory ceremonies for the ascension of the new First Servant and then actually attend the barbaric process wherein the child First Servant is absorbed painfully into the planet’s machinery – for reasons beyond my understanding, Alora basically invites Pike’s condemnation and probable future interference;

·     An entire colony, along with several members of Majalin society, appear ready to sacrifice themselves to save the First Servant and, by doing so, destroy the entire Majalin way of life, without providing any alternative – why? What is driving their sacrifice? Is the wish to protect a single child sufficient for so many people to risk, and sacrifice, their own lives?

·     In an investigation of the first attack cruiser’s crashed remains, Spock and Alora manage to spot (with their eyes, not with any kind of equipment) two small but key pieces of evidence within feet of each other among the rubble;

·     Spock states clearly that the First Servant’s life signs confirm he is aboard the attack cruiser just before it blows up; he later tells Pike the First Servant was never on the attack cruiser but instead was beamed directly to a box in the bowels of Enterprise.

 

The First Servant's future

And then there’s Pike himself. For a woman he had a brief flirtation with several years ago, he will change his entire approach to leadership, challenging his officers, responding with irritation when they propose to bring important information to him and attempting on several occasions to dismiss their legitimate concerns. He proposes posting a guard, then accepts the role of guard himself, only to abandon his guard post to sleep with the person under his protection.

 

Argh…

 

And what’s with the two separate instances where a male character refers to an adult, accomplished, intelligent female character as a “girl” without anyone challenging it? Pike calls the leader of an entire, advanced planet a “girl” who can’t fly a shuttle and then the father of the First Servant calls Uhura a “girl” in attempting to dismiss her research… and no one objects.

 

“Lift Us” is a poorly constructed, plodding episode that undermines much of what SNW has been trying to create in its first five episodes. It’s political messaging is heavy handed – smooth transitions of power are cornerstones of Majalin society, we learn, for example. Hmmm… do you think they’re referring to any recent events here on 21^st century earth?

 

And, after taking an 11-year-old child, coercing him into sacrificing himself for the good of his people and sentencing him to a lifetime of suffering and a grotesque death, Alora actually gets to preach at Pike:

 

“Can you honestly say that no child suffers for the benefit of your Federation. That no child lives in poverty or squalor while those who enjoy abundance look away. The only difference is we don’t look away.”

 

The premise of The Original Series that we thought SNW was designed to support was that, thanks to the Federation, poverty, disease and need have all but been eradicated among member worlds.

 

So Pike should have been able to respond to Alora by saying, “Yes, I can.”

 

Instead, we get violins and self-flagellation. 

 

Again I say arghh.