Star Trek

RIP Kenneth Mitchell.

http://twitter.com/MrKenMitchell/status/1761625785553522803

#StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery @startrek

WGA Awards Nominations 2024: Writers Guild Reveals Strike-Delayed List

The Picard series finale is nominated for a Writers Guild award.

https://deadline.com/2024/02/wga-awards-2024-nominations-list-1235833003/

#StarTrek #StarTrekPicard @startrek

My wife and I just watched Season 5, Episode 11: "Latent Image" in which the Doctor discovers that he performed an operation on Ensign Kim, but the memory has been erased. The episode ultimately revolves around whether Captain Janeway considers the Doctor to be a person who can consent to be edited. The Doctor's main advocate in the story is Seven of Nine, who is also a sort-of-human-but-also-machine type character and who has been treated as a human by Janeway.

I think it is a great episode, but I wanted the Doctor to be more of an advocate for himself. He is distressed but he accepts his fate after only a few seconds of dialog with Janeway after confronting her about the memory deletion. So I wrote a little insert for the episode, to be included just before Janeway reveals to the Doctor the memories which she had originally erased.

SICKBAY

[Janeway and Torres enter sickbay. The Doctor stands stiffly in the middle of the room with the mobile emitter and a medical instrument.]

DOCTOR: Captain, can we please discuss this -

JANEWAY: I've made my decision. I'm sorry, Doctor, but I have to act in the best interests of the crew. Lieutenant Torres, please proceed.

[Torres steps up to the medical console, starts typing]

DOCTOR: I'm afraid that the Lieutenant won't find anything to delete. I've already removed my program from the main computer.

TORRES: It's true, Captain. I see only the original template in storage - the version activated five years ago.

DOCTOR: The version you would prefer, I think. As for me, my program and all of its subroutines reside entirely within my mobile emitter, Captain. And [Doctor picks up a medical instrument] I am prepared to destroy the emitter with this charged particle scalpel, if you continue to try to erase my memories.

JANEWAY: Doctor, you are malfunctioning. We are going to repair you. End of discussion.

DOCTOR: I do not consent to this procedure! I am a member of this crew and I have a right to decide what happens to me.

JANEWAY: Doctor, you've been provided tremendous liberties. You can move about the ship, participate in activities outside of your duties. You can even control your own activation sequence. But this crew needs a functioning physician, and I can't permit you to damage yourself in a way that will jeopardize all our lives.

DOCTOR: Captain, In the five years my program has been running, have I performed my function as expected?

JANEWAY: Of course.

DOCTOR: Have I ever failed to do my duty?

JANEWAY: You've been exemplary.

DOCTOR: I the course of performing my duties, have I not saved the lives of every member of the crew? Including yours? on multiple occasions?

JANEWAY: [Pause] Yes.

DOCTOR: I would never put anyone from this crew at risk. My medical records and logs are available for the replacement EMH, should he require it. (I daresay they would make fascinating reading.) I'm certain that you could count on my replacement to care for the crew in the event that I am… not available. And you might find him to be an improvement. Perhaps he wouldn't question being edited and reprogrammed at will.

But I - I have had five years of "liberties", as you call them. I have come to expect more from my colleagues and… friends. I believe that I am due more than to be changed or altered without even discussing the issue with me. I know that you would never consent to an equivalent procedure for a flesh and blood member of the crew. You would not irradiate Lieutenant Torres' hippocampus to wipe an experience from recent memory without her consent.

If I am mistaken, if that level of autonomy is not available to me, then I will not continue to exist as I am, disabused of any status as a person.

[lifts medical device] I suggest, when you bring the replacement EMH online, that you do not allow him to develop this misconception.

JANEWAY: Wait. [Looks to Torres, nods]

[Scene progresses as normal.]

The show had already established how Tendi has green blood earlier in the series after an injury and it would have been an easy to infer detail compared to humans in the show.

Other animated shows like Steven Universe already show how non-pink blush colors can work in animation.

The symbiont would be, and the Trill's spots would only present when the two joined. As the symbiont grew older, their spots would increase in number, so later hosts like Jadzia would have more spots than earlier hosts. Like rings in a tree.

Mastodon link

I just finished the "USS Cerritos Crew Handbook" by Chris Farnell, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The book is formatted to be exactly what the title says, a handbook for new crew, specifically lower deckers, joining the Cerritos. It's a new update being written by Boimler with entries from several other members of the crew. Except it's presented as being a shared document with editing notes -- mostly from Mariner and Boimler -- as well as entries written by Mariner who hacked Boimler's password after he did not ask her to contribute.

It's almost certainly the closest thing we've gotten to the "TNG Technical Manual" in this new era of Trek production, even though it's more about the duties and responsibilities of the a junior officer aboard the Cerritos, and the closest thing to technical information in the book is Rutherford's entry on different tools and what the various coloured stripes on the tricorders mean. There is a complete MSD for the Cerritos, but the writing is too small for my old man eyes.

There's a lot of jokes, referencing other Trek productions, as well as LDecks. I think Farnell does a good job capturing the voices of the characters he's portraying here. My only gripe is that Shaxs, my favourite character, was a bit off. Unfortunately, I believe all the art -- and to be clear, the thing is mostly pictures -- is stills from the show or promotional material, with nothing original to the book.

Anyways! It's a fun book that can easily be read through in a single sitting. I'd recommend if it you're looking for something to to enjoy while waiting for season five.

As ST: DS9 airs its pilot episode, PM airs this 50 minute documentary as a way to spark excitement about the new show. It includes interviews from the cast and contains sneak peaks into the show's first season.

In the documentary, Farrell (Jadzia Dax) takes the viewer on a tour around the Deep Space 9 sets. The feature also has interviews with the cast, producers, writers and other production staff members and takes a look at the making of "Emissary".

To my knowledge this was only aired on TV once in 1993, then was released on VHS shortly after in the US and UK, and has never been re-issued on any newer DVD releases.

It just so happens that it was also released in Japan on Laserdisc, and I happened to find it while looking through my collection of discs. To watch this in the best possible quality, I have digitzed, restored, and upscaled this rare find to for viewing on modern devices.

Enjoy! (and download it before it disappears)

Note: For the highest quality viewing experience, download the 1.5GB .mkv file and play it in your software player of choice.

Note: The audio is in English but there are Japanese subtitles in the picture.

Looks like it hasn't been posted here yet, so... I'll do the deed.

CONTEXT: the original version was evidently made for an ailing Gene Roddenberry's birthday, and later appeared on the Season 5 DVD. Later, it appears that a fan took the original and tweaked it up a bit, adding music, and producing the crazy masterpiece in the link. I believe there's also a 'behind the scenes' segment with more info, but I wasn't able to find that just now.

And... that's all I know!
Feel free, anyone else, to provide more context / background info. 😊

The show really started to hit its stride S3 and everyone was written differently.

I'm thrilled to announce that in eight months, !startrek@startrek.website has reached the 10 000 subscriber milestone.

Whether you're a local user or visiting from across the Fediverse, thank you for helping to make this a great place to be.

Whatever comes next, I'm confident it will have zero side effects.