Star Trek Social Club

This is the song Christina teased long ago.

• As the episode opens, we see DOT-7 robots repairing the hull of the USS Enterprise; this is the first we’ve seen the DOTs on SNW, though the “Ask Not” short did show that the Enterprise was equipped with them.

• Spock records the stardate as 2251.7 in his personal log.

    • Spock states that it is three months following the events of “Hegemony, Part II” which was a continuation of the events of “Hegemony”, and that was stardate 2344.2, so the SNW stardate madness would seem to continue.

    • At the beginning of the episode, it is three days until the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Federation.

• In stationkeeping at Starbase One, we see:

    • A vessel of the same spaceframe as the USS Archer, seen in “Strange New Worlds”

    • A spaceframe inspired the Larson-class destroyer from the “Demand of Honor” module published by FASA for their “Star Trek: The Roleplaying Game” in 1984.

    • A Nimitz-class starship with updated nacelles, first seen in “Battle at the Binary Stars”

    • A Malachowski-class starship with updated nacelles, first seen in “Battle at the Binary Stars”

    • A vessel of the same spaceframe as the USS Kelcie Mae, seen in “Under the Cloak of War”

    • A vessel of the same spaceframe as the USS Hiawatha, seen in “Brother”

    • A Bellerophon-class starship, first seen in “A Quality of Mercy”

    • A Shepherd-class starship with updated nacelles, first seen in “Battle at the Binary Stars”

• La’an is teaching Spock to dance, recalling the scene from “Data’s Day” where Doctor Crusher teaches Data how to dance. Both are too stiff.

• ”Perhaps that is why Vulcans, as a rule, do not dance.” Tuvok insisted ”Vulcans do not dance” in “Homestead” before performing a small dance later in the episode.

    • In “Whom Gods Destroy” Spock stated that Vulcan children do dance in nursery school.

    • In “Fusion” Kov claimed that Vulcans dance, “Only when it’s part of some tedious ceremony.”*

• Scotty is still aboard the Enterprise and he arrives to operate the transporter. Scotty was frequently in charge of the transporter in TOS, and though it has yet to be said on screen, the phrase, ”Beam me up, Scotty,” is an intrinsic part of Trek pop culture.

• This is the first we’ve seen La’an wearing the skant style uniform.

• It’s Doctor Roger Korby! From Star Trek! Except this would be the first actual appearance of Korby, as the Roger Korby seen in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” was an android whom the original Korby transferred his consciousness into to save his own life, but removed all his human flaws.

    • Apparently Korby also removed his accent during the transfer, and somehow Chapel did not notice. Granted, she will have also lost all semblance of a personality by that point.

• We learn that Korby has published 234 papers on archeological medicine. In “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” Spock states that Korby was ”often called the Pasteur of archeological medicine.”

• Spock is surprised to learn that Korby is there as Chapel’s date, but from “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”, we know that when he goes missing, presumably later this same year, Korby and Chapel will be engaged to be married.

• Pike claims he doesn’t know what all the medals he has are for. In “Choose Your Pain” Pike was included in a list of five of Starfleet’s most decorated officers, when we see Pike’s service record in “Brother”, he has 17 different awards listed, including a Cardassian Legate’s Crest of Valor.

• Chapel attempts to return the book that Spock gave her, and he says he still desires for her to have it. In “Star Trek Beyond” Spock told Uhura, ”It is not the Vulcan custom to receive again that which was given as a gift.”

• It’s Trelane! From Star Trek! Maybe! Trelane was originally portrayed by William Campbell in “The Squire of Gothos” and the Wedding Planner is played by Rhys Darby here. Also, we briefly see the Wedding Planner’s Vulcan appearance in a reflection, and for that moment he was portrayed by Myles Dobson who also played a Vulcan waiter in “Strange New Worlds”

    • According to Akiva Goldsman, the character credited as The Wedding Planner is Trelane. Certainly they have similar appearance, including Trelane’s distinctive muttonchops and medals but there are some notable differences as well.

      • In “The Squire of Gothos” Trelane’s appearance, affect, and the home he created on Gothos are implied to be based on the 14th century because Gothos is 900 lightyears away from Earth, and Trelane’s information was based on his observations at the time.

      • Trelane claims he did not believe humans were capable of space travel in “The Squire of Gothos”, again basing his information on observations of Earth 900 years out of date.

      • Trelane’s preoccupation in “The Squire of Gothos” is strictly martial. He claims to be a retired general, and wishes to speak with Kirk about matters of death and war. He views humans as a predator species.

      • In “The Squire of Gothos” Trelane does not recognize Spock, nor does he appear to be familiar with Vulcans, asking Spock if they’re predatory when they first meet.

    • There is a chiming sound effect associated with the Wedding Planner similar to, but not identical to the one used in “The Squire of Gothos” to indicate a usage of Trelane’s powers.

• The Wedding Planner references the Vulcan kal-if-fee, a ritual combat in which the woman who declared the kal-if-fee becomes the property of the victor. This was first seen in “Amok Time”

• ”Perhaps an improbability field. We once entered one that made us…sing.” Spock is referring to the events of “Subspace Rhapsody”.

• Spock tells Sam that ”No one likes your moustache,” once again demonstrating the common wisdom that Vulcans cannot lie is nonsense.

• Pike claims that one of Spock’s favourite dishes is jumbo mollusk. Spock, like most Vulcans, is depicted as vegetarian, and in “All Our Yesterdays” is upset with himself when he regresses to an earlier point in Vulcan evolution and consumes animal flesh.

• ”Honestly, I’m not really much of a drinker.” By the time of TOS, Scotty is practically a functioning alcoholic who was tasked with drinking an alien cosmic horror under the table in “By Any Other Name”.

• The morning of the wedding the Wedding Planner is in the bed beside Spock, recalling the time Captain Picard woke up next to Q in “Tapestry”.

• He says if I don’t play along, he’s going to wish us all into a cornfield.” Korby alludes to “The Twilight Zone” episode, “It’s a Good Life”.Trip mentioned “The Twilight Zone” in “Carbon Creek”, and two Trek guest stars, Bill Mumy who played Kellin in “The Siege of AR-558” and Don Keefer who played Cromwell in “Assignment Earth” appeared in “It’s A Good Life”.

• We see Scotty wearing a kilt, with the same white and black tartan he was depicted wearing in “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”

• An energy cloud voiced by John de Lancie arrives to the wedding. In “The Squire of Gothos” , timely intervention by Trelane’s parents also interrupted his childish antics.

    • Again, according to Akiva Goldsman, this episode is supposed to make canon the connection between Trelane and the Q Continuum first posited in the novel “Q-Squared” written by Peter David, and published in 1994. And again, there are some issues/

      • If we accept the fact that the Wedding Planner is Trelane, it is uncommon for a Q to be named anything other than Q. Quinn adopted the name to differentiate himself from Q for the sake of the USS Voyager’s crew. Amanda Rogers was raised as a human. Every other member of the Continuum we’ve met has gone by Q, including Q Junior.

      • The Wedding Planner/Trelane is presented as being a child of their or his species. We’re told he’s 8,020 years old, Q Junior had the mannerisms of a teenager at four human years of age.

      • In “The Q and the Grey”, Q claims that he is not cut out for raising a child himself, stating he’s more of ”An ideas man.”

      • We see both Trelane’s parents in “The Squire of Gothos” as energy beings, but in “The Q and the Grey” Q claims that two Q have never mated before.

• The bartender hired for the Federation Day celebration is an Edosian, notable because the species has only previously appeared in animated form, first showing up in the TAS premiere, “Beyond the Farthest Star”.

    • Previous Edosians we’ve seen have had three fingers on each hand, but this individual has very human, five fingered hands.

Direct YouTube link.

Nacelle’s Star Trek Action Figures Panel

Thurs, July 24, 4:00-5:00 PM PT, Room 32AB

Brian Volk-Weiss (The Toys That Made Us, Disney's Behind the Attraction) and Nacelle Toys present an intergalactic deep dive into their officially licensed Star Trek action figure line, featuring an exclusive first look at the renders for wave two and a sneak peek at wave three. Brace for impact, because Nacelle's materializing something stellar for your Star Trek collection.

Star Trek Universe Panel

Saturday, July 26, 12:30-2:00 PM PT, Hall H

The Star Trek Universe panel returns to San Diego, featuring exclusive back-to-back conversations with the cast and executive producers from the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the upcoming new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Plus, exclusive first looks, reveals and surprises! Moderated by Star Trek legend Robert Picardo.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Cast members scheduled to appear include Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, and Paul Wesley alongside executive producers and co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, and executive producer Alex Kurtzman.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy: Cast members scheduled to appear include Holly Hunter, Sandro Rosta, Karim Diané, Kerrice Brooks, George Hawkins, and Bella Shepard along with executive producers and co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau.

Star Trek: The Next Frontier

Sun, July 27, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Room 7AB

Whether it's the return of Captain Kirk in The Last Starship or the shocking Red Shirts, this panel is set to spill all of the plans that IDW has for Starfleet this year. Moderated by Heather Antos (group editor) and featuring bold creators Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Christopher Cantwell, Robbie Thompson, Travis Mercer, and Tilly and Susan Bridges, the next frontier of Star Trek comics starts here.

Given the plot, the title probably alludes to the Korean zombie movie “Train to Busan”. Also, actor Ken Foree played Peter Washington, the lead character in 1978’s Dawn of the Dead.

The stardate is 2449.1, and Enterprise is on a routine scanning mission. Pike, for once, refers to the ship as Enterprise and not “the Enterprise”. This is actually the correct naval nomenclature, since you wouldn’t use “the” before a proper name; for example, “Hello, this is the John Doe.”

There’s big hunk of text on screen which these old eyes can barely make out. We get the scientific name of chimera blossom, or chimera weed, chimeralca oleracea (the second word just means “herb” or “vegetable” in vulcanate There’s a big hunk of text on screen which these old eyes can barely make out. We get the scientific name of chimera blossom, or chimera weed, chimeralca oleracea (the second word just means “herb” or “vegetable” in Latin - brassica oleracea is cabbage). The science report is dated 2257 and talks about chimera as sparsely distributed throughout the galaxy, a source of omega-15 fatty acids and antioxidants and its use as a medicinal herb in many areas near the “Klingon region”. It is also used to treat hypotension and “diaphorous ceti syndrome”. It has the highest level of “vitamin alpha 15” among green leafy vegetation, chock-full of other vitamins and minerals (including iron vulcanate) and plays a role in "vision healthy mucus membranes" and protection from lung and oral cavity cancer. brassica oleracea* is cabbage). The science report is dated 2257 and talks about chimera as sparsely distributed throughout the galaxy, a source of omega-15 fatty acids and antioxidants and its use as a medicinal herb in many areas near the “Klingon region”. It is also used to treat hypotension and “diaphorous ceti syndrome”. It has the highest level of “vitamin alpha 15” among green leafy vegetation, chock-full of other vitamins and minerals (including iron vulcanate) and plays role a in vision healthy mucus membranes and protection from lung and oral cavity cancer.

Ortegas says it’s been a long time since she flew into disputed Klingon territory, alluding to her service during the Klingon War (SNW: “Those Old Scientists”, “Under the Cloak of War”).

Pike mentions a mission he and M’Benga were on in Zeta Borealis. Zeta Coronae Borealis is a double star system about 520 ly away from Sol. M’Benga blamed his nausea on Vedalan cigars. The Vedalans (TAS: “The Jihad”) are a felinoid species and the oldest spacefaring race known.

M’Benga translates the Klingon warning as “Go Back Or Die”. The text is not in the usual pIqaD script used in transcribing Marc Okrand’s tlhIngan Hol but one that was created by Geoffrey Mandel for his fan-made USS Enterprise Officer’s Manual in 1980 and is meant to be a one-for-one substitution for English. Since this particular alphabet has no “c” equivalent, the warning actually reads “GO BAOOK OR DIE” and the words under that are (taking “oo” as “c”) “By Order of the Klingon High Council”. My very basic Hol would translate "Go Back or Die" as yiHeD ghap bIHegh.

I missed this last time, but this season’s title sequence includes shots of a Klingon D7-type cruiser, a shuttlecraft and Starbase One.

There is no animal life on Kenfori. The last planet I recall from Star Trek that had no animal life was Omicron Ceti III (TOS: “This Side of Paradise"), but that was because the planet was being bathed in Berthold rays, which disintegrate animal tissue with prolonged exposure.

M’Benga has three ex-wives, four if you count an annulment. His enjoyment of fishing was revealed in SNW: “Spock Amok”.

M’Benga points out that certain poisons have medicinal value. To be fair, the opposite position is truer. As the Swiss doctor Paracelcus (said to be the father of pharmacology) opined in 1538, “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.”

The Klingon ship approaching the planet is a D7-type, probably a K’t’inga class since it appears to have an aft torpedo launcher. One was last seen in SNW: “Subspace Rhapsody”. I say D7-type because K’t’inga-classes - first named in Roddenberry’s TMP novelisation, are technically anachronistic in SNW, since they are supposed to be more advanced than the D7s we see during TOS (which only have a forward torpedo launcher). But Temporal War shenanigans, etc. etc.

Pike says the Klingons are hunting them like Skral rabbits. The River Skral is a river on Qo’noS (first mentioned in DS9: “The Way of the Warrior”), and features in Klingon mythology as well. Closed captioning identifies the female Klingon commander as Bytha.

Spock says Vulcans can regulate pain via meditation. In TOS: “Operation: Annihilate!” Spock fights through the pain of being infected by a Denevan parasite by chanting the mantra: “I am a Vulcan. I am a Vulcan. There is no pain.”

Christine slaps Spock to snap him out of the meld. In TOS: “A Private Little War” Spock instructs her to hit him to awaken him fully from a healing trance - Scotty stops her, not knowing, but M’Benga finishes the job. The new nurse (first appearing in SNW: “Wedding Bell Blues”) is credited as Ensign Gamble, but I don’t think his name has been mentioned yet on screen.

When Una is briefing the senior staff, we see pictures of the NX-01 (ENT) and Phoenix (First Contact) displayed at the end of the room. Una says that La’an should get what Ortegas is going through, as indeed she should, given her own history with the Gorn (SNW: “Memento Mori”).

Basically, the Chimera Blossom (and now we know why it was named that) allows for hybridisation of different species. In the research facility’s case it hybridised the humans and Klingons with the all-consuming moss, and now M’Beng intends to use it to hybridise Marie’s human genome with the Gorn DNA inside her.

Viridium is a material that can be tracked across star systems. Spock used a viridium patch to track Kirk to Rura Penthe in ST VI. M’Benga was offered a drink by a R’ongovian (SNW: “Spock Amok”) during Spock and Christine’s wedding (“Wedding Bell Blues”), so that’s when he ingested the viridium-spiked olive.

Bytha identifies herself as the daughter of Dak’Rah, and the Champion of House Ra’Ul. Ambassador Rah appeared in “Under the Cloak of War”, where M’Beng killed him - whether it was in self-defence or not is ambiguous.

Ortegas has a ritual of kissing her fist and then knocking on the console for luck. I don’t believe I’ve noticed her do it before.

Bytha says her father was a traitor. As related in “Cloak”, Dak’Rah defected to the Federation following the Klingon War and became an ambassador. Because of this, his House underwent discommendation, which is the equivalent of being excommunicated from Klingon society (TNG: “Sins of the Father”).

Una trying to inform the Klingons that they are on a rescue mission echoes Saavik’s Kobayashi Maru test in ST II, where she gave orders to do the same. Una’s reluctance to raise shields echoes Kirk’s similar reluctance when faced with the USS Reliant in the same movie.

M’Benga finally confesses that he murdered Dak’Rah.

Sto-vo-kor is the Klingon Valhalla, where honourable Klingons who die in battle go after death.

Another quote from ST II, this time from Ortegas: “Klingons don’t take prisoners.” Una’s reference to a warrant officer confirms there are indeed enlisted personnel within Starfleet at this time, as WOs stand in a gap between enlisted and commissioned ranks.

We know Q was obsessed with Picard, but Janeway was propositioned for having Q’s kid. Who had it worse?

My brother said that he will watch an episode of Trek with me when I visit my family in October.

I am wonder what the best single episode to show him is. He has not seen anything Trek before.

I am thinking something that is newer, but not necessarily.

Anyway, what do you think would be good?

• The episode begins where “Hegemony” ended, with Captain Pike [Anson Mount] in a state of shock as the Gorn starships attack the USS Enterprise.

• Number One [Rebecca Romijn] suggests jamming the Gorn communications so they can’t co-ordinate attacks, similar to how in the Kelvin universe, the the crew aboard the USS Franklin was able to override the drone swarm’s signal in “Star Trek Beyond”. Presumably due to budgetary constraints, Uhura uses a Beastie Boys soundalike as opposed to actually broadcasting “Sabotage” this time.

    • It was established that the Gorn use light for ship to ship messaging in “Memento Mori”

• Spock [Ethan Peck] suggests tagging the Gorn destroyer with an element called wolkite that will allow it to be tracked through subspace. In “Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country” Spock put a viridium patch on Kirk’s uniform so that he and Doctor McCoy could be tracked after being taken prisoner by the Klingons. And, in “Star Trek Beyond” Spock suggests a necklace he gave Uhura could be used to locate her thanks to its unique radiation, though he claims he did not originally intend to gift his girlfriend a tracking device.

• Season three opening credits changes:

    • There is a slightly different angle on the close up of the bussard collector

    • At approximately 42 seconds in, the season two opening featured a port side profile the saucer bathed in an orange light, whereas the season three iteration shows the ship traveling through a green gas cloud

    • At approximately 51 seconds, the season two opening showed a close-up of the secondary hull as the sEnterprise travelled away from a glowing orb at about a ¾ angle, and in season three, we have a low angle on the starboard side of the secondary hull which pulls out to reveal the ship traveling away from a fiery burst

    • Season two’s opening showed the Enterprise traveling through the atmosphere of a planet with what appears to be extremely large plant stalks at 55 seconds, and season three’s intro does the same, but this time it appears to be at night, whereas season two’s was in the morning

    • About 67 seconds into the season two opening, the Enterprise is flying towards a tower in a planetary atmosphere, and in season three, we see it traveling through planetary ring with a Klingon D7 battlecruiser in the foreground

    • At 70 seconds in, on the season two opening, the Enterprise is flying through the planetary ring, but there’s no Klingon ship and the asteroids are on fire, and in the season three sequence, the Enterprise is flying towards the aforementioned tower, but the landscape is snow and ice, as opposed to clouds or mist

    • Approximately 72 seconds in, and the Enterprise is flying through an asteroid field in the season two opening, and in season three it’s is flying in orbit of a tiny green planet

    • Season two’s opening has the same tiny green planet sequence at approximately 75 seconds, and season three’s intro features a shuttlecraft leaving the shuttlebay before the Enterprise warps away

    • At 77 seconds, in season two, the Enterprise is flying above some glowing green volcanoes or craters, and in season three we see one of Starbase One’s biome pods with some mountains surrounded by water, with the shot eventually zooming out to show more of the starbase and the attending fleet; In addition to Enterprise and other Constitution-class, or Sombra-class starships, spaceframes featured include:

      • What appears to be design inspired by the NX-01

      • A freighter with a number of cargo pods

      • A starship with underslung nacelles and a dorsal mission pod

    • Approximaety 80 seconds in to season two’s opening, we see a Starbase One biome pod with a snowcapped mountain

• When the Enterprise drops out of warp into the fleet, we see the USS Pablo Picasso, which is the same spaceframe as the USS Kelcie Mae from “Under the Cloak of War”.

    • There appears to be Nimitz-class starships with new, cylindrical nacelles, as part of the fleet.

• In Pike’s ready room we see a close up of the star map, featuring part of the Gorn Hegemony’s claimed territory, and just outside that territory is the Cestus system; a colony on Cestus III being attacked by the Gorn in “Arena” was that episode’s inciting incident; the Gorn captain claimed that the Federation colony were invaders into their space.

• Pelia [Carol Kane] and Scotty [Martin Quinn] attempt to integrate the device he created to hide his shuttle from the Gorn, as mentioned in “Hegemony”, into the Enterprise systems.

    • Martin Quinn has been added to the cast as one of the stars of the show.

• La’an has flashbacks to her time as prey on a Gorn breeding world as an adolescent, which we learned about in the series premiere, “Strange New Worlds”.

• George Samuel Kirk [Dan Jeannotte] speculates that the digestive chamber that he and the rest of the away team were placed in breaks down living bodies to create fuel for the Gorn destroyer, which would indicate that a bunch of rendered humanoids can somehow power an absolutely massive ship capable of warp, and with seemingly impenetrable shields. Guess the Federation should feel silly for relying on matter/anti-matter reactions.

    • Doctor M’Benga [Babs Olusanmokun posits that the digestive chamber might simply be making food for the Gorn. What both he and Sam fail to realize is that the Gorn are using the biomass to create a giant, Kaiju sized Gorn that they’ll need to assemble a team to go on a suicide mission to defeat, but if they’ve got enough Paragon or Renegade points they’ll be able to complete the mission without losing anyone.

• Chapel [Jess Bush] and Spock speculate they could use a Number One’s genetically modified Illyrian DNA to fortify Captain Batel’s [Melanie Scrofano] human system to give her a chance of surviving the Gorn parasites hatching. We learned that Number One is Illyrian and her genetic modification is able to prevent all sorts of problems, up to and including a warp core overload, in “Ghosts of Illyria”.

• The screen in Pike’s ready room shows a map of the Finibus system, the Galdonterre system, and the Kessik system.

    • Enterprise visited Finibus III in “Memento Mori” and found that the colony there had been attacked by Gorn.

    • The Albino hid on Galdonterre III and escaped before Kor, Koloth, and Kang could locate him, as per “Blood Oath”

    • We learned in “Prophecy” that B’Elanna Torres was born on Kessik IV.

• ”Uhura and I have been pouring over all available data on the Gorn.” When Kirk asked Spock about information regarding intelligent life in the region of space near Cestus III, Spock replied, ”Nothing specific, Captain. Unscientific rumours only. More like space legends.”

• Number One tells Pike that Gorn sightings correlate to coronal mass ejections, something Sam speculated in “Hegemony”.

• Chapel and Spock wear red biohazard suits, seemingly inspired by the ones worn by the away team that visited the Psi 2000 Federation outpost in “The Naked Time”

• ”If this goes sideways, it’s Valeo Beta all over again.” The *Enterprise was dispatched to Valeo Beta V in “All Those Who Wander” and found Gorn.

• ”Enterprise, against an entire armada? We wouldn’t stand a chance.” Enterprise and the USS Discovery held off an armada of automated Section 31 starships, including Enterprise covering Discovery’s escape through a time portal, in “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”.

• La’an’s brother, Manu, was previously mentioned in “Memento Mori” and “All Those Who Wander”.

• This is the first instance of Gorn text being seen on screen. The TNG comic, “The Gorn Crisis” also featured a Gorn alphabet, but it was not the same symbols as shown here.

• Enterprise was able to beam out ”several hundred” surviving Parnassus colonists from the Gorn destroyer in a matter of less than a minute, through critical levels of radiation, and their own shields. In “Crisis Point”, Rutherford exclaimed, “It’s a movie. You can beam whatever you want. You can do all sorts of beaming stuff in a movie.”* No, wait, that doesn’t actually apply here.

• ”I can’t help wondering if we didn’t create a problem for someone else to solve later.” “Arena” takes place about seven years after this episode, and by that point the Federation will have apparently have forgotten all knowledge of the Gorn.

• ”I’m Erica Ortegas. I fly the ship,” Ortegas’ [Melissa Nevia] catchphrase originated in “Among the Lotus Eaters”.

• Pike begins to pray after saying his father won. We learned in “New Eden” that his father taught comparative religion.

• Batel objects to Number One’s genetically modified Illyrian DNA being used in her treatment. Batel was responsible for persecuting the case against Number One for lying on her Starfleet application.