Reflections

DVD, Lower Decks S3 (Reflections)

Was I watching Trek or 'Smallville'? Is Mike McMahan a secret fan of the young Superman series? Look at the evidence: Rutherford, the boy scout of Starfleet turns into an evil, cooler version of himself, complete with red eye and proceeds to mess around with Rutherford's life, pushing Tendi over and upsetting Barnes. Then at the end we have Mariner with a computer visual showing her choice whether to delete the 'contact' with a new character, yes or no. Okay, so that's about it for 'Smallville,' but the central theme was very like Clark Kent's descent into Kal in certain episodes of that series. Not that it's uncommon in sci-fi/fantasy, and even red being the colour of evil is standard stuff. Actually, the episode had more in common with the seventh season 'Voyager' episode 'Drive,' which in turn was seemingly inspired by the pod-race in 'Star Wars Episode I,' so everything feeds on everything else, I suppose. It was nice to see the Delta Flyer return, even if it was only in Rutherford's mind, and when he and his friends were all wearing the white-shouldered racing uniform (as ridiculous as it was even on 'Voyager'), and working together to beat evil Rutherford, there was a part of me that warmed to it all. But only a part because I didn't find this to be a particularly appealing episode.

The Rutherford who's ten years younger than the one we know was just some nasty, unpleasant rebel, I didn't understand how someone like that could get into Starfleet, or was it meant to be when he was at the Academy - even then I don't believe someone like that would get in, or even exist in the 24th Century world where there's no lack of anything. Why would he be so rebellious, it makes no sense? He talked in typically annoying yoof speak and was all angry and bitter. Are they saying Rutherford only became Rutherford due to an implant which changed his personality? I know this plays into the series' arc, so that gives it a slight lift of importance, and continues the mystery of his flashbacks, but it's a bit messy. I didn't feel there was a particularly strong theme, nor really any connection between the two storylines, unless you count seeing Boimler acting rebelliously, enraged by the criticism of, and insults towards Starfleet, finally blowing his top when his prized pip is tossed away like nothing. I wonder if McMahan had a bet to prove he could get the most swearwords in a single episode, because it was full of it, albeit mostly bleeped out, but when the guy in charge of a series wants to write it that way you have to wonder at Trek's place now and whether it has a shred of itself left any more.

It'd been a few weeks since I last watched a modern Trek episode (other than the child-friendly 'Prodigy'), so maybe I forgot what the content was like, but it did seem excessive even for what we've seen in recent years. Other than that, content was fine, a bit of blood (young Rutherford dying in our Rutherford's arms, bloody and bruised was a reflection of Badgey in Season 1), we see Rutherford's accident (in memory, so how can he see himself?! I preferred it when they kept the flashback scenes to his POV), skin all scarred and burned, but there wasn't any grossness or gore, for which I am thankful. Of course if the story had been stronger it would have taken my thoughts away from content anyway. This time they don't have the draw of a returning character/actor to divert attention (unless you count Palor Toff of the Collector's Guild, but it wasn't the same actor so I can't count that), but they certainly filled the screen chockablock with mainly visual callbacks and Trekferences, too many to keep track of. I enjoyed the dialogue mentions more, such as Boimler ranting at the Wadi booth for trapping people in games (before they'd bring them back for that in Season 4!), during his violent tantrum - that happened to me once: at work a colleague, out of the blue, got so irritated by me he ripped by name badge off and threw it on the floor. Fortunately I didn't react like Boimler and calmly picked it up, but it was funny!

The brief argument between non-Starfleet personnel about whether the organisation is or isn't military was fun, as was the reference to them changing their uniforms so much (the outpost scientist even holds up two PADDs, one with the original 'TNG' outfit complete with 'speed' stripe, and the other featuring a dress uniform of the kind Picard would wear - again, it's fun he has a separate PADD for each image!). Boimler even begins to give us some information on the current state of the uniform, saying the style worn on the Cerritos aren't across the whole fleet, as we know, since the grey-shouldered 'DS9' variety are still in use, but he's cut off before he can go into any more depth, which is a shame! Then there are the aliens questioning what happened to Sisko, something many people want to know about ever since 'Picard' brought back that era's characters in live action (though it will either never be resolved as Trek turns more towards teen-pleasing varieties of itself, or not until Avery Brooks is dead and gone - I can certainly imagine them recasting the character then, but I'd hate that), so McMahan certainly knows his audience in that respect (even mentioning the parasite aliens from 'Conspiracy' as a conspiracy!). Not sure how well he knows the wider universe, though, as young Rutherford claims he 'funded' the building of racers by winning races, which suggests he needed money, which the Federation doesn't use.

Too often modern Trek wants to get in on the detail and flesh out specifics, not seeming to realise there was a reason certain things were left vague (such as the bit with Stamets brushing his teeth in 'DSC' - the link to this episode being he sees an alternate version of himself in the mirror, the same way Rutherford sees his real self in a reflection of the viewing port). It's too difficult to plan out how they'd work, and the economics of the future is something to avoid or else you just make it like now and you're trampling established canon. I never much cared for space races (the pod-race was terrific, but that was on land - in space it's difficult to create a sense of speed and distance travelled since the vastness of emptiness is so all-engulfing), and a race without even reality outside of someone's brain has even less meaning. If they could imagine whatever they wanted then why even have a fair race anyway? Who imagined the Romulan Warbird? For that matter evil Rutherford was just as likely to cheat, or maybe the whole thing was an elaborate trick to get his older self to rescue him. Maybe he's not even dead. I don't think the intent was to suggest anything of the sort, but when you're dealing with bad guys you can never be sure. The other thing is, even though it's all happening in Rutherford's head, his younger self's racer doesn't look anywhere near as sleek and attractive as the Flyer! Couldn't they come up with anything better?

The "Remember..." moment was good, cleverly advancing the flashback arc, but I can't say this was one of my favourite episodes and I'm really struggling to remember why I thought so highly of the season unless the second half is all top-notch stuff! But I always find some things to like, and in this case little details like Ransom's threatening attitude to Mariner's bad attitude to manning the Starfleet recruitment booth was appreciated (especially when he calls Starbase 80, 'SB80,' the same naming convention as DS9!), the plant with the mind control pollen from Omicron Ceti III (as seen on 'TOS' in 'This Side of Paradise'), even the detail that Rutherford transferred aboard the Cerritos from Douglas Station (although I thought that was a previously established location from old Trek, but apparently not), but at the same time it falls into the trap of thinking all Trek is equal and the same. For example, as much as I love Kirk and Spock, I don't believe a 24th Century recruitment booth would feature a silly camera-posing standup where you put your head in the hole over the famous officers' bodies - they're even wearing the 2260s uniforms rather than the later, film-era versions! It's purely aimed at fans rather than thinking what the reality would be. I suppose it's a bit late to be complaining about such things two-and-a-half seasons in, but the series is at its best when it brings that sense of reality back into modern Trek. For which modern Trek is in dire need.

**

Super Mario Galaxy 2

 Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010) game

I didn't expect to be playing this game for four months, especially as it was my Christmas replacement for 'Zelda,' but it seems to exist purely to counter the claims that Wii titles were too short and simple. It's really two games in one: complete the standard 120 stars of a Mario adventure and then you're 'rewarded' by having another 122 stars to add to your collection before you can call it completed! I use quotes around 'rewarded' because I was pleased to have finished the game at 120 stars and ready to move onto something new, but felt obligated to beat this whole new challenge the game plopped in my lap. It was simultaneously gratifying to find such an intense game extension, while also being a massive chore heaped on my shoulders just when I'd reached the top of the mountain. What didn't help is that I got the wrong end of the stick on the very first green star, the opening level, Sky Station Galaxy, where you're supposed to follow Luigi who will lead you around the level - I wasn't sure if it was a race to the finish, merely leading you along, or something else. The something else was assuming I had to duplicate everything Mario's brother did, and since he ends up floating above a rotating platform near the end of the level I thought I had to get up there myself and spent far too many hours trying to master the triple jump in restricted space on the platform to reach him. I even succeeded, but nothing happened so I thought I was doing something wrong and eventually moved on to other stars (although the second in that Galaxy was the same 'follow Luigi' jaunt!), leaving these initial challenges to come back to.

I did come back, but not till the end, once I'd picked up almost all the other green stars and had learned the game's language and tone. In the case of those first two stars it was as simple as looking out for them along the route Luigi leads you on, nothing more complicated than that, yet not realising that caused me so much early frustration it made me want to leave the game (more than the annoyance it wasn't finished when I thought it was). My fault, of course, but it suggests the game isn't entirely obvious in how it plays. I soon realised these new stars weren't going to be ridiculously tough puzzles to solve or would require hours of practice to hone the necessary movement skills, even if a number of them were tricky enough challenges of hunting through the levels, or in other cases, performing daring leaps and precise moves in order to succeed. This is where the game could feel unfair, sometimes like you were actively fighting the controls and camera - the usual complaints about Wii control were there for me: not having that immediacy of a digital button press in exchange for the fuzzy lack of precision in analogue movements that don't do the hands and wrists any favours, especially in long play sessions. It shows the Wii was more suited to short, minigame experiences rather than the epic adventures of yore, or the use of a conventional controller, thus negating the system's USP in the first place!

The camera was the other obstacle to precision and control, often denying you the freedom to look where you wanted or position the camera out far enough. This meant sometimes a requirement to leap into the unknown, never a recommended course of action in my eyes as it's leaving too much to chance rather than skill, especially when searching for those more difficult green stars - you had to rely on the twinkling sounds that gave a clue to their nearness, or the rays sparkling off it. But the overriding feeling was of unfairness. It was a challenge, I'll give it that, and if you dedicate yourself to tracking down and winning every star of the 242 in the game, it is a great achievement - in that sense it's particularly old-school compared to the average Wii game, and I do like a challenge. If you want that, it's there in spades: if you collected every yellow star, including the ones unlocked by Comet Medals, and every green star, including the special World, you then get one final Galaxy within it, with two runs: first just to get to the end, then to do the same sequences with the caveat you only have one piece of life, so one mistake and you're right back to the beginning again, the most old-fashioned style you can get, reminding you how hard games used to be. 2D platformers were never that big a draw to me, being so restrictive and requiring leaps of faith, pixel-perfect jumps, all those cardinal sins of the past. 3D platforming gave us huge worlds of exploration, still retaining the need for expertise in movement, but not all the time. The 'Galaxy' games have relied too much on the old 2D aesthetic for my taste, as much fun as they can often be, instant plummets to death all over the place reducing the sense of freedom.

Indeed, some levels or parts of levels were unashamedly 2D travels from left to right, up and down, and while the idea of levels being obstacle courses to get through is one approach, I've always preferred the scope and encouragement to explore a world where you're not in danger of plummeting to those instant deaths every few moments. If you take the game on its own terms, deal with its draconian camera, and ignore the fact that the language of galaxies and worlds suggests something much grander than what you actually experience, there's a lot of satisfaction to be had. But it remains something where you're generally meant to get through it as quickly as possible rather than interacting with the environment or building a connection with the inhabitants. There wasn't even the usual coin tally for each level (there are coins, but they're there to recover health and be spent on Luma shops), which would have provided much more replayability - not that the game doesn't use repeated visits to its levels, the idea of the Comet Medals and then the green stars was exactly that: creating reasons for you to redo levels in your search, or challenging you in a new way within the familiar. And there are some levels which are more traditional, such as Starshine Beach Galaxy, or the lovingly included Throwback Galaxy which brings in one of the ancient levels of 'Super Mario 64.' That also reminds you why those older levels were more enjoyable in a lot of cases: less obstacle course and more celebration of freedom of movement and experimentation, even while often being compact.

The central premise of the series, the movement around levels unhindered by gravity, is a bit of a gimmick. It doesn't make the experience all that different, but I can see why they would try and add something that looks quite dramatic. It's just that you don't really have that sense of planets, systems and galaxies, they tend to be little rocks to bounce from one to the other, then the main chunks of level, some of which can be traversed spherically, others not. What I was less keen on is the changing configuration of the controls as you move to different planes as it can get confusing, and again, you don't always feel in control as you have to adjust your thinking and convert movements into actual direction - you may be running left, but the perspective changes and now you're running upwards, and it only adds to the sense of punishment as you battle for control of Mario. The failure in the controls to always do exactly as you attempt is even worse when it comes to parts where you point directly at the screen, either as Yoshi tongue-grappling his way between flowers, or Mario grabbing the gravity 'Pull Stars' to float around in space where there is no gravity - if there's any flaw with the connection between Wii and Remote it can cost you your life!

Different transformations in the Mario tradition create other control issues. For example, Spring Mario can leap high into the air, but he's an absolute pain to control. Again, it's challenge created by being forced to deal with uncomfortable or erratic movement in order to progress. Maybe it's my problem for looking at the game through the lens of 'traditional' 3D platforming and if I accepted the game on its own terms I'd be happier with it, but taste is subjective and it simply isn't as much to my taste, I've always preferred perfect precision in control of a character, be it a racing car, a first-person shooter or a third-person adventure so having to battle the system itself to progress rather than issues within the game world always bring me back to that inherent unfairness and discomfort! I will say I did enjoy most of the transformations, my favourite being Cloud Mario with his white overalls and floppy cap, a mix of chef's hat and Mr. Whippy ice cream. Partly it was the jauntiness of the getup, but also it was the addition of a safety net since you have three clouds who follow you around and when the Remote is shaken, become temporary floating platforms, so it appealed on all levels! Rock Mario's good fun rolling around as a boulder and smashing into things (and there were certainly plenty of innovative uses for these disguises, such as a series of skittles alleys or tricky runs through narrow platforms), and Bee Mario for the ability to fly short distances, but others, such as Fire Mario were too hard on the wrist - you have to shake the Remote each time you want to launch a fireball.

Though I say the game was a huge challenge in the best tradition of such things, there were plenty of handholding assistances, whether that be videos showing how to use the necessary techniques, or, most shameful of all, when the Force Ghost version of Princess Rosalina appears after you've mucked up a sequence so many times the game decides you need to be shown how to do it! How embarrassing... Having Yoshi along for the ride in a lot of levels gave things a new spin, and he does at least have a backup with his Flutter Jump, but even there, you're confined by physics to travelling in one direction, you can't turn midair as you'd expect to in most games - another unfairness. It's also awkward having to control Yoshi with the Nunchuk in 3D space, while also aiming the Remote at the screen to grab things with his tongue, shoot out enemies or lick up fruit and once again doesn't impress thanks to the controls. As much as I like having Yoshi along! I don't want to sound too critical as much of the game is very enjoyable, the physics I complain about can also be impressive (take the levels where Mario perches atop a 'Star Ball' like some giant ball-bearing/log rolling stunt, where it becomes very 'Super Monkey Ball,' except with the 'monkey' on the outside, even if it'd been copied over from the first 'SMG'), and there are a host of varied tasks and approaches - I certainly wouldn't suggest this isn't a good game, but it didn't do enough to rise higher than that. I probably want something more akin to 'Zelda' which has that deeper connection to the world - popping in and out of so many little environments doesn't have the same pleasure.

When first sitting down to play it, it almost immediately reminded me why I was relatively cool on the original 'SMG,' being mostly A-to-B obstacle courses, too much linear progression and repetition - even the admittedly pleasing World Map, a recreation of the old 2D game maps (I think of 'Super Mario Land 2' on the Game Boy, for example). The levels don't really stand out very strongly in the memory - I couldn't tell you what my favourite was, they were all a little too samey, too bitty, and while the music wasn't bad, even the standout music from 'Gusty Garden Galaxy' in 'SMG,' which was so terrific, they felt they had to keep reusing in various places throughout, nor was there anything equivalent to the greatness of that piece. If a game was judged by value for money then this would score very highly, but taken as a whole I find it's a cruel game that frustrates as much as it rewards, once again in large part due to the level of responsiveness from the controls.

Still, after the toughie of the first star in Stone Cyclone Galaxy I went on to clear the rest of 'World S' ('S' for Special, I assume), but still had five previously abandoned stars to go back for in other galaxies: the one where you're flying Fluzzard over the rocket, Fleet Glide Galaxy, was easy enough to find with a fresh perspective, then the spooky swamp of Boo Moon Galaxy was as simple as following Luigi to the end and it was just off to the left. As I said, the big surprise was how easy the first two green stars in the game actually were, as would make sense for that point in the game. Going back to them I'd since learned the game's 'language,' its expectations, and understood what I was meant to be looking or listening out for. That left the 'final' star on the cliff face of Yoshi Star Galaxy where Yoshi can't quite get enough height even using the tongue flowers to propel upwards, but I realised Mario could leap off his back in midair and was relieved to have solved every puzzle without resorting to the coward's way (internet help), but it was a hard taskmaster of a game, no more so than that final Grandmaster Galaxy. If this had been 'Super Mario 64' and I was granted leave to go back for another 122 stars after the main game was finished I'd have been thrilled, but this game did somewhat outstay its welcome, though I would concede that it's better to be too long a game than too short. It represents the Wii well, both in its flaws and its imaginative delights, and since Mario is Nintendo's mascot, that's only fitting (and yes, if there'd been a 'Super Mario Galaxy 3' of course I'd have eventually played that, too!).

***

Room For Growth

 DVD, Lower Decks S3 (Room For Growth)

Mostly fun, internalised story of the lower deckers exploring the bowels of the ship in order to get themselves Quarters which is somewhat stymied by the off-colour jokes, excessive swearing (even if it is mostly bleeped out), and acceptance of the general cynical attitude towards the fictional future humans of Trek which permeates modern Trek - it's like this series wants a return to the values and inspiration of the past, as seen in the puppy-dog enthusiasm of Tendi, Rutherford and Boimler, but it always needs to be undercut by the 'realism' of Mariner and others. It's easy to laugh at Wesley Crusher's naivety and wholehearted belief in goodness and moral actions, but such behaviour was demonstrated over and over again by the heroes of old Trek and was generally much better presented than in Wesley's over-the-top childlike innocence. But the series' mission is humour and they don't seem able to succeed often enough with presenting the good without undercutting for what I can only assume they think are modern, savvy viewers. I don't think viewers have changed all that much, it's a lack of understanding for why people loved Trek. We weren't stupid back then and we don't all find swearing and inappropriate humour inherently funny now. And it's a real shame, because the story of the friends working together for some minor end could have been a good one.

The secondary story of Billups, Rutherford and the other engineers being forced on a spa retreat due to the stress caused by Captain Freeman being taken over by a mask from the D'Arsay Archive (great to hear that), and rewriting the ship's internal structure to resemble an ancient culture's stone temple (as in the 'TNG' episode 'Masks'), was a lot better at being true to the nature of Starfleet officers while also providing humour at their expense. Even the introduction of the mask seemed at first to be an incidental teaser merely designed to be amusing in and of itself, this extreme transformation witnessed by the lower deckers as the Captain floats by, affecting their lower deck lives, but it nicely sets up their eagerness for the Quarters going up for lottery, while the Engineering team are frazzled by the demands on them to turn the Cerritos back into their ship, leading to the Captain's trip to the spa-ship Dove. But even that storyline, as cute and fun as it was with tiny puppies with huge eyes (even one with damaged hind legs which needs wheels to get around, for maximum cute factor, as ridiculous as it was with Starfleet's level of technology - it's all for the joke, reality can be dispensed with, it seems), was blighted by the cynical reality of the Edosian woman in charge who is shown to actually be a hard-bitten, sweary smoker when she's at the end of her tether. Again, it's supposed to be funny, but instead it just makes her look tragic - it's all an act rather than believing in what she's doing.

Or at the end when the engineers have turned their stress around by solving a problem, a nice, realistic, true to Trek development, it's undercut by this Edosian, Toz (a reference to 'TOS,' perhaps?), upon witnessing the incredible power of (what is really just a magical tech solution, perhaps meant to be taken as another joke on the many such instances in the past - also made me think of Dr. Giger's eternal life machine from 'In The Cards'), the relaxation machine which cures Freeman's flaring temper in seconds, ordering it to be removed from the ship as if she's worried she won't have a job any more. So rather than the future view of a character being delighted in such a technological improvement regardless of the change it will make to her work, she's just like a modern person who only sees how it affects them. When you add the weirdness (and having characters in their underwear), that would be more suited to other so-called adult cartoons, with the extreme facial expressions like when Boimler's caught in a centrifugal force deep in the ship, or prior to that when he and Mariner are affected by toxic gas and hallucinate, it all adds up to a very un-Trekky episode, especially when we know how well they can do this stuff when they want to! It is animation, I understand that, so you can do more weird and wacky things, but then you also have the inappropriate stories told about senior officers and the tone of the whole thing is disappointingly poor, more noticeable because this is quite a Trekky premise.

The main problem, however, is the motivation is purely selfish for the main three characters: to cheat in a room lottery, inspired by Delta shift, whom Tendi overhears plotting exactly that. Starfleet officers cheating? It just seems like so often in modern Trek Starfleet is portrayed either as extreme unrelatable superheroes or modern day people, neither of which is inspiring - what happened to real people that put effort into excelling? You could say that Bold Boimler rearing his head again is along those lines: being confident, holding your head up and deciding to do something is the right sort of attitude, but even then it's really more of a joke and his friends think it's going to get him in trouble. I admit I liked the two stories, and if it hadn't been based on the wrong motivation I'd have liked it even more - prowling around in the depths of a starship is fascinating, even if they seem to suggest the swamp they discover is actually meant to be there for the sake of Hydroponics above, which doesn't make any sense, rather than left over from the ship's transformation, which does! They do at least pay lip service to the fact this is immoral when Tendi says she's always wanted to explore an ethical grey area, but it came across that the writers were merely being flippant about it, it doesn't really matter. And that's quite apart from the reality of the situation: would Starfleet really arrange room occupation by lottery, shouldn't it be based on rank and merit, and why would it be affected by some computer terminal deep down in the ship?

For that matter, if anyone can just tumble into any part of the ship's systems, then surely there'd be safety protocols in place to prevent what happened to Boimler in the low-gravity room? It was nice to see such an idea from 'Enterprise' brought into a later era, even if it wasn't an on-the-nose Trekference. And in all their travels through the ship never once do they discover a vast open space filled with rollercoaster Turbolifts, although that would have been an effective joke if they'd somehow referenced such an aberration as seen in 'DSC,' which they do enjoy poking from time to time, knowing that those watching this series are going to have problems with the stupid modern way of doing Trek. And talking about banks and money as being strange and ridiculous fits with the Trek reality, even if it doesn't really make sense. But there are still irritating unrealities in this series, such as being able to walk right into a personal Holodeck program Shaxs and Dr. T'Ana are playing, without any kind of security bypass, without the inhabitants realising the program exit had been opened, and then getting out some other way... I also found it strange there would be a spa ship rather than a visit to a planet since you'd think they'd want to visit a natural environment. Otherwise they could simply recreate anything there in a holoprogram! I can see it would be useful for a ship like that to travel to where it's needed, but they weren't in the middle of empty space, it was orbiting a planet!

The continuation of the idea of Edosians being specialists in dealing with certain damaged kinds of people, as we'd seen before in 'Much Ado About Boimler' in Season 1, reinforced some texture from this series while also continuing to connect to 'TAS,' so that's always appreciated, and as usual, they got the engineering personality so right with them unable to walk past a door without fixing it, using a 'sand garden' to draw a schematic for improving ship's engine efficiency, or even before they went on the spa trip when Rutherford apes Scotty by making sure he packs an instruction manual to read (Scotty famously relaxed by catching up with 'technical journals'). The joke is doubled by his afterthought that maybe he should take two, and rather than it being on the same PADD he throws another PADD in his bag, something we saw so often in old Trek where it would be one PADD per document! That's the kind of humour that really is funny on a Trek level. Or when they engineer a workaround for the (slightly sinister), stress sensor band by putting cucumber between it and their wrist in order to please the Captain when their stress levels apparently drop and it seemed her idea had worked.

Always have to go back to the core problem with the episode: the un-Starfleet behaviour of accepting cheating was necessary to get what they wanted. It's not just our people, Delta shift are shown to be deceivers who trick them into lowering their guard when they all seem to find common ground while waiting for a hatch to open, then rush off as soon as it opens, and it's sad to see. Especially after the previous episode where they learned to get along with the crew of another ship who had preconceptions about them. I thought there was going to be some repetition, so I suppose it's good that there wasn't, but in the end they're supposed to be a crew all together. In some way you could see their ultimate decision not to tamper with the lottery and deceive their way to victory as a good outcome, but it's still couched in getting at their 'enemies' of Delta shift, and it's only because they were mistaken about how many rooms were going, so they aren't being the better man at all. Even this backfires and makes them look silly when they didn't think of putting four beds in the one Quarters and sharing, since even that would be better than sleeping in a busy corridor (there do seem to be a lot of people around in these lower decks - in 'DS9' Dax commented on how they packed them in on those old ships, but this series is supposed to be post-'DS9'!). In the end it's all academic - it would be strange if things changed, but that's exactly what would happen next season when promotion and Quarters break them up.

Without any guest star gimmick to swerve attention I do find that this has less to offer than some episodes, and with all the problems I've listed it reminds of the state Trek is in these days: we've gone through some highs with bringing back the 'TNG' cast, and I had in mind 'LD' Season 3 was another of the stronger seasons modern Trek has put out, but so far this it hasn't been all that good apart from the opening episode. Perhaps all the best episodes are in the second half because it's certainly taken a long time to get going. Not that I didn't feel that way on original viewing, but going through in a more analytical way does throw up the problems in sharper relief. I don't know what the future for Trek can be now, I'd still much rather watch this series than any of the others as a whole (and look forward to the imminent release of Season 5 on disc), but I hope Season 3 picks up soon as even the most quiet episodes of Nineties Trek had a bit more oomph to them than this - as much as I like the characters (Ransom's line, "let the dish take care of it," was typical, and apt), the title of this episode is a good descriptor for the series...

**

Mining The Mind's Mines

 DVD, Lower Decks S3 (Mining The Mind's Mines)

Exactly the kind of assignment California-class ships should be doing, necessary drudge (that would have been a good title!), tasks, so it felt right from that perspective, it's just that so much of it is head-scratchingly ill-conceived, or just plain badly thought out, and oddly most of my issues aren't to do with things related to illusions where you'd expect there to be out-of-kilter nonsensical weirdness. We begin with Tendi being mentored for Science Officer training by the ship's Counsellor or psychologist, or whatever Migleemo's supposed to be. I like the oversized budgie, he's a fun character that reminds us we're in the 'TNG' era and his upbeat happy persona fits into the optimistic Tendi outlook. Except she learns a lesson about that kind of overwhelming positivity not always making sense, or at least that was my reading. The main point is what she learns from Dr. T'Ana her 'true' mentor, but I did notice how she really wants to look on the bright side as much as normal except Migleemo's lack of competence isn't giving her much confidence. It's supposed to be funny, but any time Trek is joking about a Starfleet officer's incompetence automatically gives me pause (except for certain circumstances such as Barclay, and even he could go too far in some appearances). It simply made no sense for someone without any science background to be mentoring Tendi and it's not like they make an excuse for it to try and rationalise the situation, such as there being no one else free. It's purely for the humour and since Trek is a serious entity, unless the humour comes naturally it looks out of place (one reason I'm highly sceptical about Tawny Newsome's proposed live action comedy series).

I'll give it credit for being a nice B-plot, just the kind of small character story old Trek used to tell so well in counterpoint to the main thrust of an episode, and I especially like it tying into the A-plot at the end, but too much about it didn't make sense. Even T'Ana's swear-filled advice where she hamfistedly tells Tendi she needs to make mistakes before she can learn from them and studying can't prepare you for that experience, came out sounding lopsided and inelegant ('studying's good, but there are times you need to make a mess of things before you can fix them'), and I just think it's a disconnect in modern Trek that mindsets about all kinds of things are so different nowadays that all these series' make the same kind of mistakes in tone and dialogue. 'LD' is generally less egregious about it, or covers over the bad stuff with its adherence to canon and aesthetics, but even so there are still multiple examples in the average episode. I do so hate contemporary-sounding dialogue, such as Mariner using 'mansplaining' as a term, or Dr. T'Ana having a complete lack of awareness for her patient's mental wellbeing, such as dropping casual personal things in about the state of the guy who's foot is being fed on by an alien gribbly - she then takes a chainsaw to it! At least we didn't see the gore (although we do see an illusory Andorian Jennifer get ripped in two by a nightmare werewolf doppelgänger of her which was bad enough!), but it's completely for laughs with no internal consistency to the world and makes no sense.

There continues to be a marked casual disregard for Trek's tenets, such as Migleemo's warning to Tendi that she needs to cut through the 'big egos' of Captains to 'speak for science.' Nothing about that makes sense because a Captain is in that position to make the hard decisions and so they will have gone through all the training and have the will to hear what their crew is saying, that's the whole point, that symbiotic connection. I agree Tendi needs to speak up, but it was just a wrongheaded way to look at how Captains are supposed to operate. Granted we're hearing it from a somewhat different perspective since Migleemo has his own way of looking at things, but even so it doesn't help that sense of professionalism which modern Trek so often ditches, sadly. Even the exhortation to speak for science is nonsensical, as if science itself is a singular entity with one vision and opinion. Science is a process of exploring and explaining facts and that's Tendi's role. Then there's the Captain's Log at the end where Freeman is noting it was all a plot by the scientists and Scrubble to garner sensitive Starfleet intel for selling on the black market. Again, modern Trek is so concerned with life outside the Federation yet not very interested in exploring cultures, so often ending up being piratical or rogue mercenary in nature. Why would the scientists even need to 'purchase' better equipment, they'd just replicate it, money isn't there for human motivation any more! It is somewhat funny she can't even explain the Scrubble's motivation, but also suggests it was an easy out to avoid having one.

I liked the look and name of the Scrubble (I assume the emissary on the Cerritos was voiced by Tatasciore as he tends to do the big guys, though he did sound different and I couldn't find credit for the role, but he needed to since he and Shaxs are in the same scene), even if, again, it doesn't make that much sense that they look like rubble and their name sounds like it, too, but they're being cute and I assumed the design was meant to evoke the aborted 'Star Trek V' rock monster which is always nice to see called back to, existing only in unused footage for the film, as it does. It's also pleasant to have a team-up between two California-class vessels which starts out competitive with the Carlsbad team coming across as stuffed shirts, then becomes antagonistic before understanding wins out and they bond (over a 'campfire' made from Phaser-heated rocks inside a cave - just like the old days!), which was all very nice, especially as our team assume their Cerritos has a bad reputation, but find out at the end it's considered the coolest by the other ships in the class. They may not be famous fleet-wide, but they are 'California-class famous,' which is being the big fish in a small pond the series set out to do, and so refreshing given how high stakes so much of 'DSC' and 'Picard' were. The episode goes out really well on a lovely scene, too, they're all enjoying each other's company and a laugh at Boimler's expense about his reputation being that he's some kind of tiny robot, so they got the end tone just right and you leave happy.

What should have been a major coup for an episode, getting Susan Gibney back for a cameo as Dr. Leah Brahms, the famed starship engineer of Geordi La Forge's dreams (and his Holodeck program), was a damp squib. I'm all for bringing back as many of the previous characters voiced by the originals as possible, but a couple of short scenes where she's only an illusion with no end result other than learning she's Rutherford's dream encounter was a waste to me. If they brought her back later in the episode as the real Leah, or even down the road in the season, that would have made it worthwhile (and mirrored Geordi's own experience), but that didn't happen. Gibney was one of those good, strong performers, playing the character twice, coming to 'DS9' as a separate character for another two episodes, and even being second choice in the running for Captain Janeway on 'Voyager' (after Mulgrew, third if you count original Genevieve Bujold - I feel they could have worked in a joke about that somehow, but they don't seem to be quite as obscure as they have been, unless they're being so deep even I haven't noticed!). I'm still disappointed she didn't cameo as Geordi's wife in 'Picard' Season 3! What I prefer if they're going to bring back an actor is to make the episode heavily about them, much the way Jeffrey Combs was used. He was playing a new character, yes, but he had a lot to do that suited his talents. I'd rather Gibney was here than not, of course, but I just wanted a bit more.

When it came to the fantasies and nightmares it was okay - I'm not sure about Klingon Klowns with bat'leths for arms, a Borg snake, or an Andorian werewolf, but it was another fine reference to 'TAS' with the flying snake creature, Kukulkan (no "Kukulkaaaaaaan!" joke?), even if it wasn't named as such. As were the references to the game Parrises Squares, which they're advised to think about to take their mind off any tempting from illusions. Not sure why that was Stevens' suggestion, but it was funny, especially Rutherford babbling: "Parrises Squares, iron mallet, shiny blue uniforms..." when confronted by Brahms! They're generally much better about not dropping into overuse of Trekferences - I can only think of Ambassador Spock writing the foreword to the mentoring manual Migleemo's using (and nice to think the man was still alive and well at this time in the early 2380s before he ended up getting sucked into the black hole portal thing from 'Star Trek XI' a few years later in 2387). I took it that Excelsior-class ship was meant to be the same USS Hood as one of Riker's old ships from 'TNG' - that was quite a deep cut when you realise it was in the first episode, 'Encounter At Farpoint,' and all subsequent appearances of that class on the series would have been a reuse of that footage! I enjoyed the joke, or trope is probably a better word, simply of having that class crop up since it was so often used in 'TNG.' Even though it's animation and they can draw whatever class they want, they deliberately make it that one! It's always nice to see the grey-shouldered uniforms again, too, reminding us of the 'proper' Starfleet out there. I didn't spot at the time one of the Carlsbad team was a webbed-fingered Zaldan, another pretty obscure Trekference.

The argument between young Captain Maier and 'old-school' Captain Freeman (as he titles her), about collecting trinkets seemed to be a direct commentary on younger people today, and probably specifically the age gap between younger fans and older fans who grew up with Trek and love to amass memorabilia and collectables (I have my own tidy collection!), so that was quite fun on more than one level, as poor diplomacy as it was for them to be fighting in front of guests. But that seems to be the reality of this series: it's very difficult for them to find humour without doing down the inspirational side of Trek. It's not just that - I mentioned how modern Trek often doesn't show interest in delving deeper into alien cultures, and we don't find out much about the Scrubble, other than they're indigenous to the planet and are silicate-based creatures. But even established races often fail to act as they should, which is frustrating when they all too often come off as generic American humans instead: the Tellarite member of the Carlsbad Away Team has none of that argumentative quality that made them so interesting - in the past they were able to incorporate and develop the species we saw to show how they used their attributes and different points of view to approach things, such as Nog very much remaining a Ferengi in Starfleet and using that tenacity and business head to great advantage. Even the intelligence level can sometimes appear dumbed down, such as when they can't get a signal out of the cave and Mariner picks up a large crystal so I thought she was going to demonstrate the ingenuity of the Cerritos crew by showing the others how to build a comms unit to boost the signal out of these crystals, but no, she was just arming them so they can charge out and attack the illusions... So a bit of an unmemorable episode on the whole.

**

The Least Dangerous Game

 DVD, Lower Decks S3 (The Least Dangerous Game)

I've been waiting for the credit 'Special Guest Star J.G. Hertzler as Martok' ever since Trek came back in 2017! Well, perhaps since 'Picard' was announced, at least, with the possibility of 24th Century characters returning becoming not mere possibility, but a likelihood. Sadly, this wasn't the way I envisaged it: Hertzler playing a 'Ferengi knock-off' version of his best Trek character in a computer/board game. I somehow always thought he might return as Chancellor of the Klingon Empire in all the pomp and ceremony afforded to the various Klingon factions in 'DSC' Season 1, and it was mainly thanks to 'Lower Decks' itself the likelihood seemed more likely since they brought him into their very first season as the guest voice of a Drookmani Captain, one of the first 'legacy' (ugh, how I've come to dislike that term), actors to return for the new wave of the franchise. How could he not play Martok at some point, especially with 'Picard' reintroducing back Worf in Season 3... But it never happened, maybe due to cost (they could only fit in so many old characters in that season), and the vanishing potential of ongoing Trek as budgets suddenly got squeezed, effectively squeezing out all those legacy people who'd cost more than fresh new 'talent.' Add to that the fact he's not getting any younger and there doesn't seem to be anything 24th/25th Century on the horizon (even the presumed streaming film Patrick Stewart was apparently reading a script for has probably been scuppered by the universal reaction of distaste to the 'Section 31' film that killed the strand before it even had a chance), this could well be the final appearance of Martok in Trek.

If so, that's very sad, akin to Leonard Nimoy's final contribution being a slight cameo in the worst Trek film ('Into Darkness' - does it still bear that title? Do streaming films count?). It's not that he's bad, Martok is as crusty and severe as ever, but obviously there isn't the nuance Hertzler brought to the real live character, 'LD' tending towards ridiculousness and parody when it comes to Trek. I give them points for bringing him in at all, it's just a shame he was wasted as a computer game host joke. That often seems to be a failing of the series, that they place humour above sense or the fidelity of the universe they're playing in. In this case I imagine it was a fun callback to the famous interactive VHS video game, in which Robert O'Reilly played a variation on his Gowron from 'TNG,' and indeed they even make the joke about Boimler trying to get the Gowron expansion pack (although I'd have expected a deeper cut by including the actual name of the character O'Reilly played, which not having actually played the game I don't know off the top of my head, nor is it actually canon - I suppose you could say it is live action endorsed by Paramount, but the old definition of canon has already been distorted by 'LD' as this is all supposed to be part of the history despite its wackiness, so who knows!). The fact I can go on about an obscure character in a 90s computer game shows that 'LD' does inspire fun reminders of the cracks and crevices of Trek history, but it doesn't always use it to full advantage.

A case in point that stood out to me was that last scene between Ransom and Mariner when she's in his Quarters, and she moves to leave, then turns for a last word - the old joke in Trek, mainly 'TNG,' but others too, was that the doors always knew when a character had finished what they were going to say and wouldn't open until they turned back to go through, but they didn't include that amusing trope here. It makes me wonder if the rigours of bashing out an animation (or production of any kind), mean they don't always realise or remember the deep-cut humour they could be playing for. If they hadn't already made extremely obscure references throughout the series it wouldn't stand out, it's just I've noticed on occasion a glaring opportunity that would slot in perfectly, as in the scene I just described, but they haven't noticed, so you wonder if they get their knowledge more from the broader memory of the series and bits of Memory Alpha they looked up, rather than owning that personal detailed knowledge and experience of watching past Trek repeatedly that viewers who care give themselves over to. It's not a problem, just an observation that, like the occasionally sweary, gory or sexualised content, doesn't fit the tone they're trying to evoke.

The same could be said for the philosophical side - I suppose I should at least give them credit for having any of that in there since so often modern Trek is dumbed down action fare with very little of the thoughtful about it, but I was catching multiple instances of lessons that didn't quite fit, or themes I wasn't sure about. Nothing new for Trek, of course, but it was a jumble of ideas and themes, few of which ever had time to be satisfyingly explored, but then that's the nature of a fast-paced cartoon series, I suppose. An early example was the meteoric rise of Vendome the Bolian to Captain - that in itself wasn't an issue (it could even be a nudge at Pine Kirk's ridiculously sharp rise to the same position in 'Star Trek XI,' far from being the only Trekference to the Kelvin films in this episode!), but I did find it hard to believe that when he used his influence to staff the Bridge entirely with fellow Bolians that Boimler and Tendi would think it 'cool' considering 'diversity' is so often the watchword these days. It's not the first time in Trek a Starfleet ship has been crewed by one race (see the Vulcan-only Intrepid in 'TOS'), but it seemed out of kilter with the modern values Trek is so desperately trying to evoke so often, and I would've thought Starfleet of the 24th Century wouldn't go along with that, but the two most Starfleet characters in our little team are completely gung ho for it and I just thought that was very odd.

The main theme we get from Vendome is that he 'always said yes to new opportunities,' causing Boimler to reevaluate how he approaches his career in which he feels his more cautious approach hasn't paid off. I think this is probably a good theme for the episode and births the new 'Bold Boimler' concept who will take on anything and stop cowering (even if he's still mainly congratulated for his scream by an impressed Shaxs during their 'Springball' match), but then you see how that attitude of always saying yes can backfire. I suppose it's not a bad cautionary tale about having a sense of proportion (or moderation, as Tendi says at the end when Boimler doesn't seem to have taken the right learning away from his lesson!), neither being too forward, nor cowardly. I quite like the idea, but the execution wasn't quite there, just as Martok wasn't quite there, even though he was. It is fun to see the episodic journey Boimler goes on when one thing leads to another - he seizes the chance to join the Springball game, which in turn leads to Shaxs' Bajoran dirge choir, then model for a life drawing class, although there's no connection between those events and K'ranch's hunt so again it suggests the writing isn't up to scratch where things fall out organically, although that is really just nitpicking as the point was to set him up for a fall when he's had all these positive experiences of getting involved and then gets in hot water.

There are a few thing to say about those other events, however, the first being: Springball is now a team game? We see several players and it's quite a small court so as much as I loved seeing all that again after the famous creation of it for a duel between Bashir and O'Brien in 'DS9' (Season 2's 'Rivals'), I felt they didn't get their facts straight: though this looks like the court, outfits and racquet from that episode, what they were playing was Racquetball, something similar, but different! Springball came later, Kira seen playing it in Season 4. It could be that these things were done deliberately to have fun with people like me who are going to notice the subtle differences, but it does smack a little bit of unpreparedness, like they simply looked up a definition hurriedly and equated it with the 'Rivals' story because that was the most memorable. Whether it was done on purpose or by mistake it doesn't engender confidence in the writers! The other thing was more of a technical detail - in an age where they have Holodecks and could create any kind of model for life drawing why would they need a real person? In this case we can probably put it down to artistic temperament of not wanting the equivalent of Synthehol, but a living, breathing person to draw the life from, rather than an inanimate facsimile, however lifelike the computer can make it. It just stood out to me as a strange choice and they could have highlighted the reason for having a live model to stop people like me questioning whether it was shortsightedness that they had ever even thought about the implications.

It was certainly enjoyable to have the infamous 'natives' cultures who go around with their orange tans and few clothes, running everywhere and kissing hello, described by Ransom as 'wellness-based cultures' rather than immoral, unbalanced gratuitousness. It's obviously directly Trekferencing the 'TNG' episode 'Justice' where the aliens looked just like the Dulainians (a Trekference to the Delaney sisters on 'Voyager'?), and Wesley was sentenced to death for walking on the flowers (or entering an arbitrarily decided 'punishment zone,' just like Rutherford and Billups are charged with entering an area without the right outfits!). It's a good theme of alien cultures not always being something Starfleet should treat with veneration, even if they have to take them seriously, because they aren't all based in sense or healthy practices. And it's funny to equate such behaviour with the much more sane-sounding wellness culture, proving how much words can influence how we think, and ultimately, act. The height of that ridiculousness is when a distracted Ransom is no help in their predicament, merely advising them with managerial talk, such as having to respect their culture, rather than paying attention to the fact his men's lives are in danger. There's very much a sense of Ransom being incredibly self-involved, full of preening vanity (which we already knew, of course), and is really a terrible example of a Starfleet officer!

That's really a bit of a problem if we're to take the series seriously, but the whole thing is meant to be a bit subversive and so it pans out: the very vanity that seems to prevent him helping his men is shown not to be in vain after all as he whips off his shirt at the end, just as they're about to be sacrificed to a sentient volcano on the orders of a psychic baby and an evil computer, and instantly gains the respect of this race who deem physical development as the pinnacle of their culture. It all makes for a good joke, but rather undermines the reality and sense of Trek, and that is a bit of a problem. I like that they show the silliness of just accepting a culture regardless, but any themes in the episode just get undercut by The Joke they're telling. It reminds me that as much as I like this series it can never quite reach the heights of old Trek because although it is the closest in aesthetics and style, its goal is to be funny. I miss serious Trek, and I don't mean in simple terms that Trek was never funny, but it's about taking things seriously and that's not what this does (or most modern Trek, unless it takes things too seriously, like early, po-faced 'DSC').

There are ideas in here: Tendi's line about when you get rid of the plan you allow room for good things is, on the face of it, good advice, except it's very much not the Starfleet way. Their backups have backups, they plan for every eventuality, they learn from mistakes, but it's not about casting themselves to the solar winds and just doing whatever comes into your head on instinct. It needs to be backed up by rigorous training and, yes, clear planning. Then you have artificial Martok's pronouncement to never back down which Boimler uses to change his course of action and become the hunter (I assume all these references are meant to evoke 'The Hunted' episode of 'TNG'), when he's been chased round the ship by the Kromsapiod. That was all rather silly, especially that he can be speared by this guy, even though the eventual joke that his species practice 'catch and release' of their prey. I found it all rather heavy-handed, too much running around screaming, which they seem to think is inherently funny. Martok's advice should have been better tied into the idea of moderation, that no one course of action suits all situations, that sometimes you need to stand, and others retreat, but maybe I'm asking too much from a twenty-five minute cartoon that it develop and explore ideas as Trek used to.

It's also that the characters don't always come across as they should - for example, Ransom is trying to impress something upon Mariner, but is it for his sake or is it for her good? And you'd think Rutherford and Billups would have been milked for all they were worth on the character trait of Engineers typically only caring about their engines or about fixing things rather than the joy they seem to greet the prospect of rest and relaxation. They certainly aren't anything like Scotty, whose only form of appreciated time off was to get up to date with reading technical journals. I can see they were trying to set up different pairings, something I liked, and to have Ransom 'teach a lesson' to Mariner, but it came at the expense of how you'd expect, in this case, Engineers to behave. Saying that, Mariner's story had the most amusement, particularly the moment she decides to go rogue and rescue her crewmates, with the orbital skydive an obvious joke at the expense of 'Star Trek XI' (though I'd have preferred they referenced the 'Generations'/'Voyager' silver squares suits), especially funny when she has to abort halfway down so as to climb back up before Ransom realises she's gone, only for her to do it again with permission (falling asleep during the second jump due to fatigue! Could that be another nudge at the film, suggesting all action all the time can send you to sleep, or am I just reading too much into it!). The fact a volcano and primitive culture is involved also suggests 'Into Darkness,' although you can also see parallels with Vaal from 'The Apple' on 'TOS,' and probably plenty of other such races we've seen over the years.

It took me out of it a bit when they used Fred Tatasciore as the voice of Morgo the volcano, but he sounded exactly like Shaxs - at least make the voice different if you're going to reuse a member of the voice cast! I suppose the moment you think Ransom's going to talk the natives round to releasing his men only for him to take off his shirt and get their attention that way was fairly funny and fit with the character, but it also highlights how great it was that despite Kirk being a tough guy (who also often lost his shirt), he tended to use intelligence to solve problems, and although done in a humorous way it shows that vacuous preening and body image is more important than understanding and applying the mind. Of course that summation could be considered taking the episode too seriously and I suppose that's the disconnect with Trek right there. Although I did like his statement that his command decisions have nothing to do with Mariner's sensitivities when she accuses him of doing the mission that way rather than using everyone in their best positions, it turned out that's exactly what he was doing. The orbital lifts looked good, reminiscent of those from 'Rise' in 'Voyager' (though that was a much more serious story - a murder investigation in close quarters), as does the ship, as ever, but I came away a little unsatisfied with the sum of the episode's parts.

A couple of other little nitpicks: at one point someone loses their character in the game and Martok decrees he'll live out the rest of his life as a dentist and it struck me would they even exist in the 24th Century when presumably you would never have plaque or tooth decay? And even more, would a Klingon know what they were? Of course, I was forgetting the game was created by Ferengi and they're very much into their teeth (Nog even had a tooth sharpener on DS9), so while Klingons would probably see dentistry as entirely irrelevant, Ferengi would be into every aspect of tooth care, I'm sure. But what about suicide? There's a joke about a character in the game having his arm ripped off and beaten to death with it, considered a dishonourable death since technically they died at their own hand (groan), but aren't Klingons quite pro-suicide? Maybe not, Worf had to have someone kill him in 'Ethics,' and the same for his brother Kurn in 'Sons of Mogh,' so I suppose they do treat suicide with the same, or even more contempt than humans would, it just stuck out to me again - once more, any inaccuracies with actual Klingon belief can be put down to this being a Ferengi production, a convenient out. At least we know from the episode that Martok is still Chancellor, I just wish J.G. (not Junior Grade by a long shot!), could come back in live action, or even as his proper character in animation, but that looks increasingly impossible. At least this series is still of a higher caliber than almost all the other modern Treks, even if it doesn't always succeed.

**

Grounded

 DVD, Lower Decks S3 (Grounded)

With the finale to Season 2 probably the best episode modern Trek had achieved, Season 3's opener had a lot to live up to, and largely succeeds. This was the first season of the current era I was actually looking forward to, what with that finale being so strong and ending on a cliffhanger, and not since I awaited the debut of 'Picard' Season 1 felt actual anticipation, a very rare achievement nowadays. What a turnaround Season 2 had been, changing the series from one I almost gave up on to the series I was most interested in seeing. That hasn't always been the case - I recently saw Season 4 and was somewhat disappointed on the whole, so it's good to get back to a season I know worked. And what a fun start! It may be easy to charge it with being jam-packed full of so-called 'fan service' (a term I'm one day going to examine), but the many Trekferences were well-placed and took advantage of the characters' situations to great effect, the highlight by far being James Cromwell's return to Trek, not having been seen in his most famous role of Warp Drive creator Zefram Cochrane (or indeed any role in Trek), since the 'Enterprise' pilot in 2001. I would never have thought it likely he'd ever have come back to the role for many reasons - his age (although not without precedent - see Patrick Stewart as Picard), his status as big film star (although not without precedent - see Patrick Stewart as Picard), and the fact his character was long dead by the time of 'Lower Decks' (also not without precedent - see his return in 'Enterprise,' and that was a prequel!), so to get him, and sounding exactly as he did back then, was a great win for the episode.

The Holodeck (or holo-projectors), is always a solution for bringing back characters, and it could be seen as a cop-out, but in this case it was so well-judged for comedy and true to the spirit of what we already knew about him and those events, it made sense for there to be an entire theme park celebrating the historic first warp flight of the Phoenix and first contact with the Vulcans (good job Geordi only went as far as mentioning the statue, but then maybe back in the 2370s they didn't have quite as much commemoration and perhaps only after the Enterprise-E saved the timeline and reported it to Starfleet, might they have wanted to celebrate it even more in appreciation). It is silly, you've got the Vulcan ship recreated as a scale model in a children's play slide, which I'm sure Vulcans would find quite demeaning, but that's this series, you have to take the silliness and hope that one day it will be retconned into a more serious and realistic angle. As it is, it was just good fun, as was Rutherford and Tendi's visit to Sisko's Creole Kitchen (though sadly no sign of Joseph, but of course Brock Peters was long dead), complete with alligator hanging from the ceiling, those familiar surroundings we saw in 'DS9,' and Rutherford even appearing in one of Jake Sisko's famous civilian outfits to great effect, as does Boimler, although I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be Geordi from the film! It would be easy to derail this review by just going off on each of the fun Trekferences, what they meant and how much I enjoyed them (Sonny Clemonds concert! London Kings baseball news!), but this is a Trek episode and it's more than the sum of its call-outs.

Perhaps one key part of the story is that it fits with the kind of low-level role our main hero characters inhabit: they're at the bottom of the totem pole, they shouldn't be saving the universe or whatever, like Michael Burnham was always doing. They're real people, not superheroes, a very important ingredient in making Trek characters relatable. At the same time they have drive and determination, resolved to do something to help their beloved Captain, but ultimately nothing they do really has any bearing on the result of the episode. That could be a major complaint except that it turns things around and instead of being about the big cliffhanger storyline, it becomes about the much more personal friendships between our four leads reiterating their bond. At the same time we also get big, exciting moments, but they have to be resolved so as not to break the reality of Starfleet and its requirement for discipline and hierarchy, another part of the series which is generally well done, especially when compared to the laxity of all the other series' when it comes to such issues which often make the world less believable as they strain to be more accessible to viewers who don't see any kind of constraint as a good thing.

The lessons don't always land, however - the main point of the story is to 'trust the system,' something that could be seen as being a little too much propaganda for state control, kowtowing to those 'who know better.' The thing is, Starfleet is supposed to know better, it is supposed to be a Utopian existence in this Trek future. Not perfect, but far, far better than the struggles of humanity of the past. The difficulty is that all the other modern Treks have shown Starfleet to be the bad guys, or the Federation, to some extent, ruining that trust we used to have. And even in old Trek, that trust could be severely strained at times, often Admirals or bureaucrats were responsible for many trials and troubles and it was seen to be the Captains who were out there on the front line who had the best perspective, so I'm not saying everything was depicted as fine and dandy, it's just these later productions have often completely failed to understand Trek's (misguided in the real world), optimistic outlook and shown us those inspirational characters overcoming problems and learning from their experiences. That makes it a bit of a grey area here when we're told to trust the system to be right in the end, but at the same time, I'd much rather have that, where in the 'LD' world it's much closer to what we used to get from Trek, than the message of trust no one. Of course if Mariner had simply sat back and allowed the trial to work itself out and her Mother to be acquitted, nothing much would have happened!

It was nice to see her with her Father, Alonzo Freeman, for a change, he's only a guest recurring character we rarely see, but the episode taking place on or around Earth gave them the opportunity to do some things they couldn't usually fit in so easily. The Cerritos isn't forgotten, even in a twenty-five minute episode set on Earth, pleasing to see her again in skeletal state, which was so different and such a great visual - once again I'm reminded how clean, bright and neat the look of this series is, a vast contrast having just finished 'Picard' Season 3 in all its murkiness. We even have a visit aboard the shut-down ship, which every series has to do at some point, all empty corridors and darkened corners, with the obligatory breaking out sequence. Another side of the episode that helped it work for me was a lack of nastiness, a side of the series I've never appreciated, be it gore or crudity, and while this wasn't perfect (there's still rather a lot of swearing), it had a better sense of wholesomeness to it. It makes a big difference because that, as much as anything else they do, helps it sit better with the style of Trek they're trying to recreate. If I was being picky I could say there's not much to the story, but that isn't the point - this is the first premiere of the series I liked as both Season 1 and 2's weren't the best, and while this isn't as strong as the cliffhanger, it's got just enough to make it a fully enjoyable adventure, complete right down to some alien space swarm finale to end the episode happily.

Just as importantly, it doesn't end without consequences with Mariner put on probation under the watchful eye of Ransom, her worst nightmare. It's good to see her parents (whom I realised were quite old judging by their wrinkles and the grey in their hair), explaining to her that she needs to buck her ideas up, reminding her the Cerritos is 'still' her last chance, showing more clearly her position on the series - if her parents are of such an age then she must be older than we think, too, and we already know she had a prior career on DS9, but because she's always hanging around with these relative youngsters and acting up it's easy to forget how experienced she is. It was important to have that lesson of the ends not necessarily justifying the means: Mariner steals the Cerritos for a good reason, hoping to help her Mother in an unfair trial, but she wasn't right to do that and I can't help suspect if this were any of the other Treks of the last few years she'd have been vindicated and lauded. So some good messages in there if you look for them. And even a rare Biblical reference (admittedly more from the 'TNG' connection, of course), when Freeman says the plot against her was a 'classic Samaritan snare.' This was the title of the episode in which the Pakled's first appeared, but the idea of a Samaritan, or specifically, a Good Samaritan, was of someone stopping to help another, a parable of Jesus, so even though they probably didn't think that far along, and perhaps many people wouldn't even know the parable, it's nice to see it referenced (Bibferenced?), in modern Trek!

They have plenty of fun reintroducing the characters - Tendi and Rutherford touring Earth locations, but even more with Boimler when he's shown in Picard's outfit and hat at the vineyard, just like 'All Good Things...' I liked how we're even supposed to think this is going to be Patrick Stewart as Picard making a guest appearance as the face is in shadow! Cruel. The downside was having those huge drone hover vehicles watering the crops, which made no sense to me in 'Picard' when we saw them, as surely they'd have better, less invasive technology by that time, irrigation that would be less intrusive on the eye and in keeping with the period setting these places seem to want to evoke. Similarly, you could easily point out the seemingly innocuous Ketracel White-Hot Hot Sauce on Sisko's tables as being in bad, well, taste! The Jem'Hadar were, after all, forced to fight through an addiction to the drug this is named after, but you could say that Joseph would have that kind of humour against a deadly enemy who'd done so much against his son and grandson, but it was just an example of the slightly insensitive tone the series sometimes carries, and I don't want to be like all those complaining people who forensically criticise every little thing because it might offend someone, I'm only saying that in this specific case it might not be the most Federation attitude to have a jokey reference to a drug that was responsible for continuing a Quadrant-wide war! But it was still funny, for all that, especially as Mariner takes it in stride while Boimler almost melts after tasting it.

Mariner once again comes across as a bit mysterious and deeper than we can understand from her flippant attitude and casual disregard for authority - Boimler even asks how she can be so good at fighting when it takes all three of them to restrain her. But Boimler also comes across as having his secrets as we learn for the first time he does actually dye his hair purple, thanks to them reviewing his logs, though we're denied learning his true hair colour... There has to be some nitpicking, however, this is Trek after all, and so I would ask how Boimler was able to change the destination of the shuttlecraft which was set to return them to Earth, when they were locked out? It was a good trick to make 'Earth' the Cerritos, but he still would've had to have access to the systems, surely? And did the Phoenix go to warp in a Solar System? Surely that's too short a journey to allow for warp - even in 'First Contact' when they did that it was meant as a trip to let the Vulcans know humans had warp capability... And what about Chief Carlton 'Denny' Dennis, the friendly old codger in charge of a Transporter on Earth (a 'buffer buff' as he describes himself delightfully, Rutherford noticing his collection of Transporter pads through the ages!), who mentions having gout - wouldn't such a medical condition have been cured? Interesting in an episode all about the goodness and rightness of Starfleet, we're introduced to Admiral Buenamigo, the villain of the season - I love that he wears the proper grey-shouldered uniform and still don't understand why Admiral Freeman wears a colourful Cerritos style, it's really confusing, although I'll always take the grey-shoulders when I can get them, as the best uniform Trek ever did!

There were a few moments to make me smile, the humour generally working since it wasn't concerned with rude or gross things (even if Boimler gets stuck in an alien orifice again...), and often had a good point behind it, like Mariner asking why they even need the Golden Gate Bridge since nobody drives, her Father retorting he likes it - I wonder if this was a subtle reference to him being an Admiral so doesn't have his own starship Bridge, and therefore the bridge outside his window is the closest thing he has? It can be exhausting keeping track of the many Trekferences fired off, even in the first few seconds with the Federation News Network coverage (what happened to the Federation News Service Jake Sisko worked for?), I was pausing to read the scrolling text with in-jokes like the infamous fun-killer Admiral Jellico banning the Zebulon Sisters (and no doubt their famous Choo-Choo Dance), while some Zakdorn won the coveted title of Stratagema Grandmaster. We get a Regula One-type Starbase above Earth, and the secret investigation Starfleet carried out to find out the truth of the Pakled Planet bombing was led by none other than Captain Morgan Bateson, with help from Tuvok doing a mind meld to recover evidence, much like Spock on Valeris in 'Star Trek VI' - sad we didn't get to have these characters in 'reality,' it being part of a flashback sequence complete with pencilled court illustrations and dramatic 'photos' of what happened, so no Kelsey Grammar or Tim Russ, though we'd get the latter returning to live-action not too long after this in 'Picard' Season 3. There was even a nice view of a Runabout saving Gavin, the botanist turned pilot, from his Phoenix adventure!

As they always do each season, the opening titles are subtly altered, this time to include the Crystalline Entity as part of the big Borg/Romulan/Klingon/Pakled battle, always great fun to see what they come up with each year! Mariner seems to suggest being conservative in values is a negative thing when she describes the military court that way, which is why she believes her Mother will be found guilty, but since Freeman was vindicated this suggests maybe 'LD' isn't anti-Conservative, which is another aspect to the series that fits with the older Treks where there was much more balance to political positions, not wanting to put anyone off and instead welcoming people in and only subtly encouraging certain opinions or the things that all sides can share, which is often missing from the much more extreme liberal angle of much of modern Trek, so I found that interesting. "They're Starfleet," says Boimler, "if we can't trust them to do the right thing, what can we trust in?" You'd think that would be obvious, but sadly in modern Trek they've managed to so skew people, organisations and groups that this isn't a given, but it was good to be reminded of it. If this wasn't an amazing, all-guns-blazing episode, it was something that worked and managed to make me care about the characters once again, and that's more than I can say about the previous openers, so they were definitely understanding what they were doing by this point, and it's good to see.

***

The Last Generation

 DVD, Picard S3 (The Last Generation)

This could be the last live action modern Trek episode I ever review judging by what's on the horizon, and it may be that position swayed my judgement on this viewing, because I certainly enjoyed it more than the first time - with the recent release and strong negative reaction from most sources as the impression I get of 'Section 31,' it may be they don't continue their foray into streaming films, which in turn seemed the most likely way many of these 'TNG' characters would ever return to Trek after 'Picard' Season 3 marked the end of that era. But especially with the brakes on hard for much new Trek content, it seemed to suggest this episode really could be the last of all these great characters, that generation, together. Whatever the reason, I felt a warmth throughout most of this story and I was able to separate the flaws and irritations, or perhaps see them through the pleasant haze of enjoyment I was experiencing, and responded to the many heartfelt character moments more strongly. Perhaps when I first saw it I was expecting some of them to die, I don't remember, but this time I could simply sit back and let it all play out without fear of a bad end for anyone. And the ending reminded me of that from 'The Lord of The Rings,' how they gave us multiple finales to wrap up the various threads and strands, and which I really appreciate, especially in modern media when everything has to be fast and often incoherent. I realised as the Borg were defeated we still had a good twenty minutes to finish out the characters' stories (which is almost the full-length of a 'Lower Decks' instalment!).

Right from the very first second when the Enterprise-D replaces the Titan in the 'Star Trek' Universe opening tag scene, along with that ominous green Borg colour scheme at the end, attention to detail was on overdrive - I'd even temporarily forgotten they had Walter Koenig (apparently at his suggestion), do a voiceover from the Federation President, aping 'Star Trek IV' where he warns any and all persons to stay away from Earth, and we even get to hear Pavel Chekov (we're meant to presume, since this President Anton Chekov, in a nice little nod to the tragically deceased Anton Yelchin, mentions his Father only by title), since Koenig as Anton does an impression of Pavel (are you following this?), which was lovely, and a way to include a 'TOS' character, however obliquely, marking what I believe must be the first time actors playing their characters from the first four live action Trek series' appear in the same episode (Koenig for 'TOS,' the entire 'TNG' cast, Worf representing 'DS9,' plus Seven and Tuvok for 'Voyager'), which is a momentous event in itself, divorced from the story or sense of grand finale! During Chekov's pronouncement they even recreate part of the 'TNG' opening credits with the hazy stars dissolving the picture as we zoom into one, which was yet another nice touch. I wish we could have seen Koenig, that would have been preferable, but even merely hearing his voice worked well.

Unfortunately, the opening (despite thankfully not having 20th Century music!), has an example of one of the problems of the episode: its melodrama. Beverly claims that if Earth falls, everything falls, which I didn't buy at all - I can understand there'd be a major threat to this part of the Galaxy if the population of Earth were assimilated, but would the Klingon Empire fall because of that? Would every Federation world really be that dependent on Earth? I can see why you want Earth the centre, since every audience member is from there (!), and rightly so, but the Borg's plan wasn't for even the usual assimilation and in many ways the insane Queen was defanged by her new mandate to 'evolve' (whatever that means), rather than assimilate. It's the same way as when I play the original X-Com game on the Amiga: once you master alien 'psionics' you can have your soldiers either panic an enemy unit or take control, and I never saw any advantage in panicking, much better to take over and use its point of view to expand your vision of the battlefield, perhaps even take out a neighbouring enemy with their colleague's own fire. In the same way, what benefit would the Borg have to obliterate humanoids that could exist best to serve their ends rather than add their distinctiveness to their own: the pursuit of perfection through a combination of biological and technological means. That's what always made the Borg so chilling - it wasn't that they wanted to destroy you, they wanted to consume you and infuse you into their being.

Late in the episode Deanna similarly says something overblown about having a choice between losing their friends by destroying the Borg Cube, or losing everyone in the Galaxy!! It's a terrific dilemma, but she just sounds over the top in her hyperbole, and saying 'Earth' in this context would have made things much more relatable. It does seem to be the two women that make the most dramatic statements so maybe emotion was getting the better of them, although there are a number of emotional scenes for various people, usually good ones, and at least Deanna got to somewhat redeem her reputation as the one who crashed two Enterprises in the films! This time her Betazoid mental abilities are what enable the Enterprise-D to find Picard, Riker, Worf and Jack, while Data's gut (which is considerably enlarged thanks to his ageing!), is depended on as he believes he can fly them inside the Cube to destroy the beacon sending Jack's signal to the Borgified youth on Starfleet's armada. This was another area I was unsure on as how did the signal activate them in the first place, that was before Jack had connected himself, wasn't it? Maybe I'm wrong, but his sole purpose seemed to be to control them all, or send orders, so were they saying the Queen was too weak to be able to do that in her present state? I found the whole point of the season from the villains' perspective to be one of the weakest aspects, I already mentioned it made no sense for Jack to rush off to the Queen, just a case of desperately responding to mental or emotional stimuli, and made even less sense that he'd happily plug in and not want to leave!

Had he forgotten his Mother? They'd spent all these years together having all sorts of adventures and because of her upbringing (or was it due to his choice not to meet his Father?), he felt 'different' and an outsider, so he was quite comfortable being a pawn of the Queen. That side just wasn't written well, I'm not sure if he even knew what he was doing, because surely he was principled enough from what we saw of him that he wouldn't countenance the destruction of humanity (or at least all those living on Earth), and if we could have seen the Borg Queen actually deceiving him in some way so when we go into his mind, as Picard does, it was some perfect place of beauty and peace, with the idea the Queen was somehow saving people, that would have made it more plausible, but all we see is this black hole full of wispy green tendrils as if inside the Matrix. I see he's not thinking straight, but it was too much to believe he was actively participating in genocide all because he felt comforted by not being alone! Jack as a whole was one of the weaker characters, so the fact everything revolved around him was a fatal flaw in the season. Just too often he came across as irritating, and it's not that he's purely self-obsessed, he's done a lot of good, he shows care for others, like in Sickbay, but we weren't allowed enough time with that part of his personality and so I never fully sympathised with him. He was too much the angry young man without a really strong cause, after all he had the dedicated care of a devoted Mother, and yet he's always slightly aggrieved.

His line when trying to justify himself when Picard enters his mind, or shared Borg mental state, about there being no suffering, no loneliness and no fear in that place instantly made me think of the Nexus from 'Generations.' Jack is nowhere near the true hero Captain Kirk was, and even he found it difficult to leave this make-believe world, but given the vast differences in tone where you could understand why someone would want to exist in such a beautiful place compared with the ugly emptiness of Jack's vision, it only made Jack seem more out of touch that he was so keen on staying in the dark! And yet I found Picard's decision to stay in this miserable place with his son quite moving, even though it would surely have been simpler to explain it's about to be destroyed so it's only going to be dying together, but perhaps he didn't want to reveal what was going on outside since that would alert the Queen. Not that she seemed able to do anything about it, strung up on the wall like some half-opened cadaver - I can see why Alice Krige might not have wanted to be there physically, if she had a choice to actively return, as it wouldn't have been very dignified to string her up on a wall with all those prosthetics. I think I'd rather have seen the actress come back, but as her smooth, shiny self, perhaps like Data she could appear completely human with only the slightest slimy sense of her old identity, as part of pulling Jack into her lair, and only when it failed would she show her true form, twisted and old, but maybe that's too familiar a trope, it just would have given Krige a better part.

This version of the Queen appears to be decaying and has drawn on the lives of her 'crew' to stay alive. It's not entirely clear what went on, but she seems to blame Picard, although that could mean him as a representative of the Federation since it was a Starfleet ship, Voyager, that dealt the damage. Can we assume this is a result of the virus introduced in that series' finale? I wished we could have had a more clear connection, if so, it would have been helpful to get a better idea of how this happened. And I still say it makes little sense unless the virus somehow prevented Borg from assimilating others, which would make things crystal clear and could have been a terrific new side to them if it had been explained the Queen has to be more careful now since she has limited resources to achieve her goals. As it was I didn't mind the young people as drones as much in this episode, there was the odd firefight, but generally they were stuck in various parts of the ship. And of course it was all too easy for everyone to simply become de-assimilated (or unassimilated as they keep saying), which shows how non-invasive this Transporter based genetic manipulation actually was. A bit cheap, as good a concept as it could have been to use the Transporter to implant DNA into everyone that went through them. But it was a far cry from the incredibly traumatic experience Picard went through mentally, physically and emotionally to become Locutus, and even people like Seven who were assimilated physically, so I couldn't help see it as a bit gimmicky.

If Jack has been one of my least favourite characters, others have been vying for that title throughout the season, with Seven, Raffi and Shaw all in the running for the 'prestigious' award. We can discount Raffi since she definitely had less exposure compared to the first two seasons, Worf helped make her a more acceptable character, and she has a lovely happy ending where her son Gabe (don't know if it was the same actor seen in Season 1 as you never see him), allows her to see her granddaughter via PADD, which was a lovely vindication for her tough choice earlier in the season. Shaw also doesn't get to annoy me this time as he only appears via a log presented by Tuvok (hooray!), where he admits to Seven's good points, and I liked the touch of having him appear in spite of being killed off in the previous episode (a bit like Trip in the 'Enterprise' finale, where he gets a little scene after his death that underlines the event). That leaves Seven, and I did find her to be a bit frustrating, whether it was her 'grand' speech about them giving their lives, or the way she talks with Tuvok, I just can't get past this emotional way she speaks, or this tough-girl attitude that bears so little resemblance to the great character she was in 'Voyager.' I would have thought she'd have reverted to a more Seven-ish demeanour in front of her old mentor, Tuvok, but no, and though I knew it was coming, I just couldn't take her as being Captain, Jeri Ryan just comes across like she's having Seven put on an act all the time, it just doesn't seem genuine, a real shame. More than anyone else across the whole failed experiment of 'Picard' as a series, I feel it was she that was the worst destruction of a once-great character.

Picard himself I could often accuse of that title, too, but at least in this episode he comes as close to his old self as I think I've seen in any of the other twenty-nine episodes that led to this point - sitting in the Captain's Chair on the Bridge of the 'D,' Riker to the right of him, Deanna to the left, a rejuvenated Data, Geordi back in his 'TNG' Season 1 position next to the android (although shouldn't he have been at the back where the Engineering consoles were?), and Worf behind... it was quite magical, even if the thought did flit through my mind that this could very easily be a parody of old TV actors doing a skit where they reprise their long ago roles. But the thought didn't have a chance to land, had to fly away, because they play those roles so genuinely. The years have taken their toll, but if you took any random group of friends from their thirties or forties, then brought them back together twenty or thirty years later I doubt they'd look as good! But then these are actors, no doubt they got into shape, had time and makeup to try and get into the best examples of themselves, and it worked, because it really does feel like the final 'TNG' film, as incongruous as it was to have it set aboard the 'D' rather than the 'E.' I'm still torn on that, I love that the 'D' came back and it was such an incredible recreation (though I can imagine in future they'll just be able to CGI something identical around actors, which makes them actually rebuilding such an iconic set even more special), but the 'E' was where they'd ended up. I do prefer the 'D,' I just wish the 'E' hadn't been given such short shrift.

It wasn't the only thing to be treated disrespectfully, and just as that was a joke against Worf, this time we have an even more out of place 'humorous' moment when on returning from the rescue of Jack Crusher, he slumps down on a Bridge chair, promptly falls asleep and starts snoring! For one thing, he's supposed to be relatively young compared to his human comrades, and for another he's a Klingon, and so would be tougher. I know he exerted himself fighting the rather energetic (for gaunt, decomposing drones), Borg, but I felt it was a bit too far as jokes go. This time round I didn't actually feel as strongly about it as when I first saw it, but it was a symptom of the uneven tone of humour throughout the episode that missed as much as it hit and sometimes took me out of it. Like the alien cook Seven orders to take the Helm and he's stuttering about only being a cook, etc - he's a Starfleet officer, he's wearing the uniform, it doesn't matter that he's an alien, nor a cook (for that matter, why would he even exist since they use Replicators in this century, it's not 'Enterprise,' so it made absolutely no sense at all!), it just seemed inserted for a laugh at an inappropriate time, and to have a 'weak' man in front of two 'strong' women in Seven and Raffi commanding, so all round came off badly and ill-judged. Or there's the moment we learn Worf has a secret Phaser as the hilt of his sword (ah, that's why they had to create a new weapon rather than reuse the Mek'leth - for 'surprise' sake), and when Riker questions why he didn't use it before he justifies it by saying swords are fun. For such an efficient, serious man as Worf is, it didn't ring true (though I did enjoy Riker finding it so heavy, that actually was funny!).

Even the end where Deanna's having a strained counselling session with Data as he adapts to his new existence, could have come across as too silly, but I actually saw it as a great concept that I was surprised hadn't been addressed before when Data had his emotion chip! I suppose they never did that because it was towards the end of the series and in the films there was never time for that kind of scene, so I was impressed they thought of it. It also pleased me that the characters' particular abilities or skills were well used, whether that be Deanna's empathic powers and counselling knowledge, or Beverly's medical expertise in devising a cure for the Borgified crew (or when she's shown to be highly proficient with the weapons - that moment worked for humour as she protests at the others' surprised looks that a lot had happened in twenty years), to Worf's combat, Riker's command, and most importantly Picard being Picard - confident, assured, certain in his course, sensitive in the way he carries out his objectives. He could never go back to full Picard status, but Stewart did a creditable job of getting close in this episode, something I couldn't say for most of the episodes). Even Data got to show off his android reflexes by flying the 'D' into the Cube, even if it did seriously smack of 'Star Wars,' specifically the Millennium Falcon heading into the core of the Death Star in order to blow it up from the inside out. But although the 'D' does give the impression of some small fighter craft in some scenes, you still generally get the scale, it fires proper Phaser beams, and amazingly for a modern Trek production ('LD' excepted), has an actual shield bubble instead of a skintight energy field!

Some of the starship shots were pretty impressive, if all too brief, either the 'D' skimming the Cube, or the Titan barrelling down Phaser beam alley (again, real beams - sadly they undid some of the goodness by always having hand Phasers blat out bolts whenever there was shipboard fighting), seeing that hailstorm of lancing beams as the entire fleet piles in on Spacedock, apparently the lone defender of Earth (does it spread a shield round the planet? And aren't their Transporters just as compromised? Shouldn't older officers be under siege as much on the Spacedock as any starship?), was the greatest argument for why beams should be used over bolts - just show that scene to any executives who disagree! There were inevitably some disappointments when I saw the episode first time, mainly that this or that character didn't show up from 'DS9' or 'Voyager' (Admiral Janeway being the obvious one since they'd teased her several times through the season, with Tuvok coming across as her stand-in, although I don't think she was actually mentioned this time). When they went to Jupiter I was expecting to see Jupiter Station and possibly Doc Zimmerman (and maybe even the holographic Doctor, his creation), but no, and neither was there any connection to 'Enterprise.' Not that these things are integral to a successful story, or even a finale, the most important is how well things come together and I'm glad to say all the happy reunions at the end made the episode work and allowed me to leave aside my various annoyances.

For one thing they address some hanging issues, like whether there could still be Changelings hidden within the fleet, and how to catch them (even if it does once again make the Changelings look rather simple - they didn't ever use them to the standard of 'DS9'), and almost as importantly, whether they killed all those they were doubling - for the sake of Tuvok they couldn't do that, so as unlikely as it would be (much simpler, quicker and easier to vaporise a body you'd be impersonating!), we discover they didn't kill all their targets, but kept some alive for more information. Not that we ever got a sense of Tuvok's experiences, he shows up to promote Seven to Captain without any explanation, but it was enough that he showed up at all rather than leave his fate hanging (like Shelby, for example...). There was a lot of good stuff in the closing scenes, such as Riker, Picard and Geordi on the Bridge of the 'D' one last time to shut her down (Riker even mentioning he missed the voice of the Computer - more of Majel Barrett's vast catalogue of speech, and wonderful they got something of her in there again, however brief, it really felt like home). One thing I loved about that scene was the reuse of the nostalgic pre-end credits music from 'Generations' and how much that scene felt reminiscent of what had been the final moment for the 'D' at that time, a poignant sense of hope and yet the ending of another chapter which it should never have had, at the same time. It's also the only time a hero ship (or station!), has had a closedown onscreen, since the original Enterprise (or its successor, at least), just went off for one last spin, the Defiant was still on active duty (or its successor, at least), Voyager got home and there was no time for anything, and the NX-01 was still in operation at the end of their respective series'.

In some ways I'd have liked them to recreate even more of that final 'Generations' scene with just Riker and Picard discussing the possible future, but it made more sense this time to have Geordi be there as well since he lovingly rebuilt the ship, and as an Engineer, had a special affinity with it. I feel he was a little left out of the finale, though I'm glad they allowed time to see them say goodbye to the old ship, but I don't remember seeing his reunion with his daughters, and we never did find out if he was married to Leah Brahms as he should've been. He has little moments of friendship with Data and is left in command of the Bridge when Picard and the others go down to the Cube, though the android undermines his authority by refusing to do something and then convincing him he can get the ship inside! I thought Data as former Second Officer should've held command, but times had changed and maybe Commodore is a higher rank, and who knows if Data even has a rank now! But that wasn't the last ship to bear the name Enterprise, not even in this episode since we see the Titan-A has been rechristened the Enterprise-G under Seven's command, with Jack fast-tracked to the rank of Ensign... Hmm, this was the one fly in the ointment. They do allow a year to pass so Jack must have had some training and it's not like Nog was at Starfleet Academy four years before coming back to DS9, so it's not unprecedented, but... I wasn't sure about that. Nor introducing Titan as the 'G.' To me that seemed a slap in the face to the brave crew and the Captain they lost (perhaps a reason why - a sort of acknowledgement that Shaw's Captaincy was over, his time in command of the Titan, it's last Captain, that could be a way to justify it, but it wasn't stated), or it could be seen as a great honour to be awarded the legendary mantle. It shows the 'F' was destroyed or completely incapacitated, a way to include some 'modern' continuity from the wilderness years, but then move right on from it to something the current makers had created.

It's understandable, but although there was a big push for a 'Star Trek: Legacy' series featuring Seven as Captain, Raffi as First Officer (they keep insisting on putting those two together against all reason), in the subsequent years it's all gone quiet as there's not much money for new Trek now, it seems. While I'd be keen on a 'Legacy' series that featured the 'TNG'/'DS9'/'Voyager' (and maybe, somehow, 'Enterprise,' too!), casts carrying it along with some new faces, I wouldn't want to see Seven as Captain or Raffi (in any capacity!), nor Jack Crusher. About the only character I wouldn't mind seeing again was Sidney La Forge. So if that final set-up was indicative of what the series would be I'm relieved they haven't made it (though if 'Section 31' had been well received I'm sure a 'Legacy' streaming film would have been next in line), as I don't think I could stand most of those people without the balm of the 'TNG' characters. On the other hand, if Patrick Stewart got his way and they had another 'TNG' reunion I'd love to see that, but they're all getting old, if not elderly in Stewart's case, and the years are running out, so I very much doubt it'll happen now. Which once again reminds me to cherish this moment because it'll never come again - even the bar scene and the poker that followed it worked for me much more than on original viewing. Again with the inappropriate humour where Data's lowering the tone about to tell a rude limerick, but then they get the tone so perfectly right, with Picard reciting a quote from Shakespeare spoken over the 'First Contact' theme and suggesting a few rounds of poker in a recall of how the TV series ended.

Originally, the scene came across like it was just the actors rather than the characters (although I may be thinking of the extended version included as a DVD extra which would've been even more natural, although I do like that they were allowed to riff and enjoy the moment, letting the camera run), but this time I did see it as the characters and I loved the overhead shot of them playing as the credits come up and the 'TNG' theme sounds, such an effective and beautiful way to conclude, far better than the ending to 'Nemesis.' But of course it's not really the end, they may be nearing the end of their lives, but they are all still living and that's the greatest gift the season could have given us, protecting the core family, not some horrible sacrifice or shock death, but in keeping with the spirit of hope and optimism that (despite being able to argue was misplaced), was a hallmark of old Trek. That feeling of warmth permeated the episode and if this really is the last time we'll see any or all of them, almost certainly all of them together again, it was a worthy way to finish out something that has meant so much to so many. But it's not all over as we have one more scene, typical of superhero fare these days, setup for what could come next: a surprise visit from Q (whom I at first thought was wearing the robes of a Bajoran Vedek!), making it clear the mantle has passed from Jean-Luc to his son. Nice that they pulled back on Q's death at the end of Season 2 - he's immortal so it made no sense for him to die. Maybe that was all for Picard's benefit and he always intended to return to the family line and 'haunt' Jack. An interesting choice, very much appearing to be there solely to suggest a future premise, which I don't really mind because I doubt it'll happen, and if it did I imagine Q would send a young, hip female Q to 'study' Jack rather than it being old John de Lancie showing up week to week.

One thing I really didn't like about the 'G' setup was how well it was summed up by Jack, I think, who says they gave the ship to a bunch of ne'er-do-wells and rule-breakers, an obsession with modern Trek that began with Burnham (or even the Kelvin films where Kirk's this brash rebel so different to our Kirk), who becomes a criminal right away and in the space of a few years is Captain rather than serving out her sentence! They seem to want outsiders, always going to 'outside Federation space' for stories, and rebellious types, while Starfleet and/or the Federation are often the villain. There's been a serious deemphasis on achievement, excellence and professionalism, especially when it comes to the young which I can only see as trying to encourage younger viewers by lowering the bar rather than giving idealised heroes. Picard himself was one of the biggest culprits of this misguided, damaging attitude that has turned Trek from a great, inspiring historical saga into a weak entity struggling for recognition and only occasionally reaching even the moderate heights of the power the average episode of old reached. Just look at Jack, waltzing onto the Bridge and we're supposed to believe he's now Captain until Seven shuts down his antics (trouble is, you could almost believe it to be true judging by recent standards!), but he doesn't even know what role he's there to take on! Seven tells him he'll be 'Special Counsellor' to the Captain, which sounded so much like Naomi Wildman's childhood role of 'Captain's Assistant' I felt they were being really condescending to him! They had to have him aboard so they make up a role? And then you've got the whole emphasis on what a Captain says to get going, a terrible trope which they somewhat subvert by cutting away just before Seven speaks, as if we're going to be on tenterhooks to find out what her unique phrase will be, but we'll have to wait for the series. No.

Really, though, these things were minor and as a whole, the episode worked quite well. You just can't have an entire cast come together and it fail utterly, but while it's all so recognisable and reassuring there aren't a great deal of Trekferences - the House of Martok is spoken of again by Raffi when she and Worf say their goodbyes. Sadly no sign of J.G. Hertzler, even in a minor cameo, which for once I'd have taken, but then Worf's 'DS9' legacy was severely stunted with no mention of his former wife, Jadzia (though I was pleased Trill Dr. Ohk got to be part of the Bridge action and wasn't forgotten), or friends on DS9, but I can also see it's so many years after that it wasn't necessary from Worf's perspective and they got a lot in over the course of the season. He mentions going off to do some 'Mugato meditation' (meditating about Mugato? Meditating with Mugato? Actually I can see that being a Klingon test, throwing someone in a room with a bunch of the ape creatures, although weren't they supposed to be almost extinct?). Jack mentions something about a Tyrellian (they had to get one of the 'T' species in here somehow, it's tradition), and the scanner Riker uses on the Cube has that same mournful 'Star Trek II' scanner blip as they track down life signs, which they'd used before. But the majority of the Trekferences were right there in front of your face: the entire 'TNG' cast, the Borg Queen, Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett, the Enterprise-D (she's been featured in some way in more Trek finales than anyone else since she was in those of 'TOS,' the films, 'TNG,' 'DS9,' 'Voyager' and 'Enterprise' - quite a record).

One notable face I spotted was James MacKinnon, the makeup guy, who has an actual role as a Bajoran, part of Seven's team that take back the Titan's Bridge (somehow routing Transporters through Phasers... sounds clever, but not sure about the plausibility!), although it was a bit distracting since I know him from behind the scenes features on the DVDs! But they did very well with the returning cast from past Trek across the season. I could always want more and we still haven't had a 'DS9'-specific character return (in live action), and it's looking increasingly unlikely as the years roll by, which I suppose is a good thing since they can't ruin them, or the greatest Trek series, it's almost like it has a heavy shield around it. At the end of 'Picard' Season 1 I didn't think I'd ever go back to reviewing episodes made in the Kurtzman era, so it's been nice to get into some seasons that I actually gained some enjoyment from. I still can't imagine I'd want to go back through 'Picard' Season 2, 'DSC' 3-4 (and 5, which I've yet to see), 'SNW' or even 'Prodigy' (which I find a bit Fisher Price Trek), but at least I've covered the relatively good stuff and will be happy to get back to 'LD' with Seasons 3 and 4. I don't know if the 'TNG' cast should be brought back again after this, but I'd much rather see them than 'Section 31,' more 'SNW' or 'Starfleet Academy' which appear to be the only options in the near future. Matalas didn't quite wholeheartedly salvage the entirety of modern Trek with Season 3, but he did at least prevent 'Picard' from limping off to be shot round the back of the barn, and I would certainly rewatch it again in future.

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