We'll Always Have Tom Paris

 DVD, Lower Decks S2 (We'll Always Have Tom Paris)

Fun to watch, but oh so tiring to keep track of for review purposes! I remember this being the first episode I actually warmed to: jokes were funny, all three plots for the characters were engaging and all of them were simply stuffed with lore, in-jokes and perfectly pertinent references, and to cap it all we have the return of a live action Trek character from 'Voyager' for his first appearance in twenty years! The Shaxs came back, the very next season - yes, the Cerritos' Security Chief returns out of the blue, and even though I already knew about it before I'd even seen the episodes, it was most enjoyable. They make a joke of the fact that Bridge crew 'always' come back, and it's supposed to be this great mystery that lower deckers will never know, and since we, the viewers, are at their level, neither will we, but then they make that into a story as Rutherford has to know, and... it just makes the head spin, wheels within wheels. The big joke is that this may well be how it seems to those lower down in the crew, when in the other series' we're always up there with the main heroes of Starfleet so we're going to know how Spock came back, or Tasha somehow reappeared, or Dax (in a way). It doesn't really make a lot of sense that they don't know about such things since, in the tradition of Season 1 they reel off a whole host of possible scenarios (all of which were actual events). Previously these hilarious lists came across as a bit lazy, gratuitous prodding of the nostalgia bubble, but when doused in proper stories with characters we now care about, they take on a sunnier aspect.

Was it a pattern buffer 'thing,' a restored Katra, a Mirror Universe 'switcheroo,' the Borg rebuilding him, is he actually a future son from an alternate timeline (my favourite - there's never any references to such a relatively obscure episode as 'Firstborn' where Alexander comes from the future, calling himself 'K'mtar,' how I wish they could get James Sloyan in new Trek!), he got Genesis-deviced, or even time-ribboned, which is the same as the Nexus... All good stuff, and the fact that Boimler and Mariner are going back and forth with these suggestions makes it more fun. But we're not limited to just these mere audible lists, we also get a load of lore referred to or created that is one of the major things missing from the modern era - they love referencing, in all the series', but as I've so often complained before, just as the humans all sound as if they're from our contemporary Earth culture right now, the aliens all sound the same, too, there isn't that impression of alienness that used to make them so fascinating as different species! Yet here we learn more about the Orions (and the fact there's still a stigma around being one in Starfleet as humans tend to think of them as all thieves and pirates, probably not helped by the reputation of the Orion Syndicate), and the state in which they're currently in, as well as Caitians since Tendi's personal mission is to carry out a task appointed by Dr. T'Ana, with the help of her friend Mariner.

Or are they friends? Another good little swipe at themselves, just like the idea of bringing Shaxs back without explanation, is Mariner and Tendi noting how it's a glaring omission they've never been on a mission together, just the two of them, and how it's usually Boimler and Mariner, and Rutherford and Tendi. They're at the stage where they can make an amusing, fourth wall-breaking observation like that, and then remedy the situation - in much the same way early seasons of old money Trek would pair up various combinations of characters to explore who worked best together, and now they're finally doing that here. So it's playing with tropes while at the same time recognising there's a need for them, one of the reasons this series, and particularly this episode stands out amongst the others of its era. Even though it's only twenty-five minutes long they pack three separate stories in which all have resolution and all explore an aspect of one of the four main characters, which was a delight to see. I'm not sure what was the best - perhaps overall the trip to an Orion pirate colony, for its genuinely gripping action scenes as Tendi and Mariner try to get T'Ana's family heirloom repaired, but are chased by an angry mob when Mariner's "false green" wears off, but the best joke, and one that made me snort with joy when I first saw the episode was Boimler falling into the Bridge looking dishevelled and stained, approaching Tom Paris, who shouts "Kazon!" before beating him up! Though the moment Mariner explains why she's talking weirdly to an Orion male and explains it away as being allergic to pheromones and he wholeheartedly agrees saying they're really bad this time of year, was priceless and so revealing towards what it might be like to be under that influence.

I also loved when the mob have got them at the lifts and Tendi tells them to stop and the lead male starts to agree for a moment, then realises he's being bewitched. Although... technically Tendi did say she's not 'one of those kind of Orions,' so there was the implication that not all Orion females have this pheromonal advantage over the males, and yet Tendi seems to show this power, however briefly. Unless she meant she wasn't the sort to take advantage, but I read it the first way until she demonstrated some ability in that area. Still, either way it was beautiful to have more lore developed on the under-loved 'Enterprise' come to the fore and be relevant again (just as I was pleased when Spock mentioned nasal suppressants in a Season 2 episode of 'SNW' I saw recently!). Not only that but we get a very rare glimpse of one of their (superb) uniforms when Rutherford starts going mad with suspense about how Shaxs returned and hallucinates a whole gang of Shaxs in various forms, including a Mirror Universe version, Borgified, one from a microscopic civilisation with a tiny Dyson Sphere (partial reference to the miniature universe discovered in the 'DS9' episode 'Playing God'?), what appeared to be a Victorian Shaxs, possibly a Moriarty Holodeck version, one in 'TOS uniform, even one wearing Neelix' most familiar outfit (of course - he came back from the dead thanks to Seven's nano-probes!), probably because there was a bit of a 'Voyager' bent in the episode!

The episode proper even begins with a load of 'Voyager' talk, in the same vein as Ransom calling the 2260s the 'TOS' era in a previous episode to acknowledge the way we abbreviate the title in real life, Boimler shortens the title of that ship (and therefore series), to 'Voy,' which tends to be how that's seen, too! They need to do a 'TNG' gag now. Then of course we have even more fourth wall-breakage when Boimler admits to owning a complete set of 'Voy' collectable plates featuring each member of that ship's Bridge crew (from Janeway down to Kim - how lovely it is to hear of these people, and not just in some quick-fire call-out, but a sense they lived and are known for what they achieved, immortalised in plate form!), something that was big in the old days, especially the plate collecting (though I'll admit that particular piece of merchandise never appealed to me, I preferred more useable or specific items, like action figures, books and magazines). His quest to get his plate signed by the visiting Paris, appearing apparently to boost morale with stories from his time on Voyager suggesting this is in response to the war, if we can call it that, or maybe heightened tensions, with the Pakleds, and that he enjoys the lecture circuit! And who cares how he comes to be there, really, it's just wonderful to have a main character from what is my second favourite Trek. Robert Duncan McNeill had been (and is), better known for directing since the 'Enterprise' days on, and he can't disguise that there is an aged quality to his voice, unsurprising since it had been over two decades, but I liked that he's the same old Tom.

I say he's the same old Tom, but we don't really have enough time with him to get to know him and his current situation, which may be the only disappointment in the episode - I want to know how B'Elanna's doing, and their daughter Miral, and whether they had any more children and are both still in Starfleet. Do they continue to meet up with other Voyager crew (as many of the actors often do), and is he still best mates with Harry? So many questions and obviously a less than half hour cartoon isn't the place to find all this out, it's a mere tantalising morsel, but at least there wasn't a chance to ruin the character as has been done with certain other 'legacy' characters <coughSevenofNinecough>, maybe divorcing Tom and B'Elanna, killing their daughter and booting them out of Starfleet, which I can imagine happening in 'Picard.' It is so lovely that many of that cast have been given the opportunity to reprise those old roles, no matter how brief, with Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok and Seven all returning in some form (and I know the Doctor is also in the latest season of 'Prodigy'). It's not the same as having all these people in live action, nor all together at once (one of my big complaints about the VII-IX trilogy of 'Star Wars' - what a waste!), as was so beautifully achieved with the 'TNG' cast in 'Picard' Season 3, looking less and less likely nowadays as Paramount doesn't have the money, the actors' age, and the streaming world in general closing ranks. A short couple of years ago it looked like anything could be possible, but that window of opportunities may have closed.

If this is the last we ever see of Tom, full Lieutenant Tom as he is (and wearing the great grey-shouldered uniform he never appeared in on his parent series!), it's a pleasant little reminder of a fun character. But I do wish we could've had more of him. Maybe they could have reintroduced Shaxs in the next episode and concentrated on just A and B plots, but then again I liked how this was all so well judged. Boimler's situation may be the slightest story since it's mostly his troubles with the Cerritos computer - while played for comedy it's now a very real modern workplace issue since so much is controlled with computers and logins to them, so if employees do go off to other sites within a company it can be irritating how the codes and ID have to be transferred and aren't always recognised! The pitfalls of modern technology, something I don't know if I took in the first time I saw this. In the Starfleet future it does come across as a little bit ridiculous - would a Replicator really need user ID in order to work, that seems entirely counterintuitive, especially given that any number of guests could be using those main Replicators at the bar! And, as Boimler himself exploded when he was in danger, the computer shouldn't need authorisation in an emergency situation. Then again, the computer should also have safety protocols so that it would be impossible to activate whatever was happening in the catwalk where Boimler ends up, so I like to think it wasn't merely something related to his transfer back from the Titan, but part of some computer glitches, though then it would take away from the humour of everything happening to him specifically. And was that 'wall with a seam' always there? I must look out for it in previous episodes...

Boimler being put upon is always entertaining because he is so stiff and formal, yet goodhearted, and I felt his pain that he couldn't even record a Personal Log in his moment of despair! Injecting some familiar procedure in the midst of a story or event is one of those things that makes this series feel so much more Trekky than just about any of the other modern Treks, and we see it again in such moments as Rutherford and Shaxs having one of those 'halt Turbolift' conversations that were so often carried out in the past. Just the words 'halt Turbolift' make this more Trekky than just about anything on 'DSC' (although my new scapegoat for all that's wrong with current Trek is aimed much more at 'SNW' these days!). They even used the Vulcan theme as Shaxs describes the ordeals he went through (though I wasn't sure if it was from 'TMP' or 'Star Trek III' - maybe both?). Another Trekky moment, this time one that's subverted in amusing fashion, is when Mariner goes into ramming speed with the shuttlecraft as a way to explain the destruction of T'Ana's heirloom (though why the box would remain intact and the item inside smash might be hard to explain) - much like Ro Laren smashing her shuttle into a ship in 'Picard,' and other instances throughout past Trek, it's a striking image, but in this case there's very little striking as the small vessel just bounces right off the Cerritos' shields as if it's made of rubber, and when the Captain asks for a damage report she's told: "None," which makes a change!

The bonding of Mariner and Tendi worked best and the recognition that work colleagues may consider each other 'friends,' but that's become a catch-all term which doesn't necessarily have the depth that perhaps it once did, and I felt this was a commentary on that situation in modern life: Tendi and Mariner have done plenty together, gone through all sorts of events, yet they really didn't know each other that well. Mariner wasn't even aware Tendi had a first name (she assumed it was just one, like Odo, which has even more resonance when we know she served on DS9 for a while and knew those people, even admitting to running over Worf's Mek'leth when she was there!), let alone it was D'Vana (though we also hear her Orion title, Mistress of the Winter Constellations!), while in turn Tendi thought the Cerritos was Mariner's first ship and she says it's her fifth, presumably including DS9 since they were talking about the station (where she served before the Quito). It ends with them moving beyond the jovial facade of friendship when Mariner touchingly admits she doesn't get close to people because every time she opens up people get promoted and 'take off,' a sad state that could also be a commentary on today's workplace where employees often move on after merely a couple of years, short attention spans and multiple life options opening up a world of possibilities, but perhaps lessening real and permanent connections. It's that kind of speculation that can be drawn out of an episode that helps to make Trek continually relevant in a way the shallow effects-driven, overly contemporary style of the other series' are missing.

It's often missing even from this series, but that's why Season 2 has been such an improvement, giving us episodes like this that skilfully weave existing lore and new, with characters we know have depths to explore, in spite of its comical mandate. Very little is known about the Caitians, mainly because the only character from the race was M'Ress from non-canon 'TAS,' a series similarly light on development of cultures, though you could say the same to some extent about 'TOS' since it was really the 'TNG' era that did much of the developing of recurring races in the Trek universe. Now that we have another main character of that people it would be nice to learn more, though I always get the sense that modern Treks are much more wary about adding new details (unless it's utterly ridiculous stuff like Spock being autistic or whatever!), partly because so much is being made by so many different groups at the same time, and also because they don't want to tread on any toes or accidentally contradict something, various series' occurring in various time periods being a lot to keep track of, when in the Nineties you only had to worry about two series' and a film at the most in an average year. We discover Caitians go through something akin to the Vulcan Pon Farr, only it happens every year, and the only fault I had with the episode was the lewd joking about T'Ana's scratching post, though in the end even that was put right by the fact she didn't actually want the thing itself, but the box it was stored in! Ridiculous, but all the same believable, and funny seeing T'Ana acting so cat-like and happy with her empty box to snuggle into, a harmless and happy ending!

Other fun things thrown in include a trip to a dodgy bar run by a Tellarite (once again looking like a proper version of the race rather than the warthog version used in all the live action stuff, bar 'SNW' - one thing they did right), where Mariner and Tendi play Domjot (the Tellarite warns against violence as he just had the table 'rejotted,' which I loved!), against a gang of Nausicaans - so fun to see them again, even if the voice of the main one was a little too obviously Marcus Henderson (the voice of Jet, especially as he appeared in the episode as well), all happening at Starbase Earhart (where Picard was stabbed as a young man), though can you call it a Starbase when it's on a planet, I ask? It shows that female Orion pheromones are common knowledge by the 24th Century, as you'd expect, since the Nausicaan complains Tendi will use that to cheat them. Then when we meet her cousin, D'Onni, he mentions the Syndicate, so that's still alive and well, as you'd expect. And going back further we see more evidence for Quark franchising his name (learned in 'Picard'), with first stop, Qualor II having a sign for Quark's, as well as Vic Fontaine for the full experience, not to mention the Zebulon Sisters which I think were the ones famed for the 'choo-choo' dance last season. Going back to the beginning, Mariner asks if Paris is still a salamander, which must have been made in jest since obviously he wouldn't still be, but they had to get in a mention of 'Threshold' because it was so ridiculous and well worthy of the kind of thing that happens on 'LD'! Boimler knows him as 'Creator of Fair Haven' (which I was surprised they didn't rip into), and 'Captain Proton himself,' so Paris' deeds are well known, apparently.

Shaxs' reappearance was cunningly distracted from by him asking for spicy kiwi flavour ketchup on his replicated hotdog - I wasn't sure which was more strange, and the other characters commented on it, too (though I'd like to try some...). Bonestell was where they went at the Starbase Earhart bar, Mariner hoping to fix the heirloom (as seen in 'Tapestry' in 'TNG' and named for artist Chesley Bonestell, well known as a space artist to readers of Starlog - I wonder if these writers know who he was?). Fun to hear Shaxs and Billups talking about Raquetball since that was a sport well known to DS9 (though perhaps Springball would have been a better fit since that was what another Bajoran, Major Kira, loved to play), and Rutherford mentions the Terellian Death Syndrome which was what Barclay thought he was suffering from in 'Genesis' (though they missed a trick - they could have had fun with the various races that all sound similar: Terrellians, Terellians, Tarellians, Terkellians, etc...). At least they got in a good reference to the actual 'TNG' episode named 'Lower Decks' when they mention gik'tal ('to the death'), and the Caves of No'Mat (from various), both apparently subjects for Klingon rock music. One of the Shaxs' in Rutherford's hallucination says it's always Christmas in the Nexus - three references to the energy ribbon in one episode, amazing! And Mariner even gets in a reference to Chakotay when she asks if Boimler got his 'bowl' signed. Funny. Best reference may well be the title itself, which is a play on the 'TNG' Season 1 episode 'We'll Always Have Paris,' in itself a reference to a line by Humphrey Bogart in 'Casablanca' - phew, what a lot to take in.

***

The Keys To Maramon

 Amiga 1200, The Keys To Maramon (1990) game

The key to 'The Keys' are finding keys - copper, brass, bronze, iron, steel, silver, and finally, gold, which will then unlock doors in the catacombs beneath the beleaguered town. I rather enjoyed this odd little game, it has that necessary simplicity of gameplay, while also a level or two of complexity beyond: resource management before there was resource management. Okay, so there had been other games where you could level up characters, and titles such as 'Defender of The Crown' where you built up resources, but how many games could be described as 'Gauntlet' with a touch of 'Zelda: Majora's Mask'? The playing field is limited to the enclosed walls of Maramon, a town on an island which is being attacked every night by monsters from the abandoned catacombs below, pouring out from one of four towers, depending on the day of the week, and as the hero hired to save everyone, your job is to kill them all before daybreak - if any escape they'll do damage to one or more buildings, which in turn will require a day or more to be repaired (and prevent your use of them). Miss too many monsters and eventually too many buildings will be damaged and you'll be kicked off the island by Mayor Andello. Manage your daytime well and you'll begin to build up supplies (gold to buy a look at the library's books which boost your stats, or weapons to fight more effectively, armour to marshal your hit points better, and herbs to increase your effectiveness in battle), pay attention to where the monsters come from on a given night and you can be in position to strike them down as they exit the tower, saving you valuable time and effort running around town.

Hit points can be recovered by taking an hour's break in a rest house (the same can be done at night in the Strongrooms which act as storage units if you require, though you don't get as much return on your time investment, presumably sleeping fitfully as you hear the town burned and pillaged around you!), or using a restorative at any time, which can be bought, found or come as a reward for killing monsters. As can other herbs that temporarily increase various attributes. Time passes at a rate of one hour every few seconds, so you do find yourself rushing around from place to place for much of the game, hitting the rest houses to boost your health for the evening's work, visiting Tamar the weapons guy to buy a new one from his large selection, since they're all surprisingly flimsy and don't hold up for long (though you can resort to fists if you have no weapon at all), or gradually getting to the point where you can afford the Rare books in the library (200 gold per look - extortionate!), which unlock vital information needed to progress. On Fridays you're paid by the Mayor if you visit City Hall, and on each day there'll be different people to talk to in the taverns. I found the best way to use resources was to quickly sleep in the early part of the day to revive health after the nightly battle, then buy the cheapest weapon possible (a Hammer), run to the two towers as you had a greater probability of the monsters appearing there, and just as night draws on, giving yourself one of each herb to give you the best chance at beating the nasties quickly. Eventually you catch on to where the monsters will be and it becomes much easier.

Even so, your real mission is to learn the secret to the keys, getting them allows you to descend into the deadly catacombs where even more monsters need to be dispatched, while at the same time you can't explore too far or you won't get out in time to rest up or be there for the next night's attack above ground, so there's strategy involved. As you progress you find more Strongrooms which contain gold and other things you can take which helps boost your progress, until you get to the point where you've read all the Rare books and feel ready to take on what I supposed was a Dragon in the deepest hole. I say 'supposed' because I managed to find five keys (which I assumed were all that were in the game), killed all the monsters on that underground level, had increased my stats and earned plenty of gold. Trouble was, as soon as I walked through the archway the game scrambled. Unfortunately, whether through programming error or the fact this is a port rather than being specifically for the Amiga, this game is broken. I noticed it much earlier: whenever I tried to save progress (you have four slots on the disk), the screen would often mess up, flashing colours, all kinds of wonkiness that could sometimes be put right by pressing '0' to check your stats and then again to return to the game screen. Even worse, sometimes the act of saving the game itself would freeze it failing to save at all (when you rebooted it would say [BAD SAVE] in that slot). It was fine to save over, it wasn't that it corrupted the disk, but it was debilitating and agonising since you never knew for sure if your progress was secure!

This little bug threatened to ruin the whole experience, though as long as you saved regularly it was easy enough to get back on the wagon without too much trouble. But the game-ending fault, and this necessity of treating saves as a resource in their own right was why I couldn't give it the three stars I otherwise would have for its fun factor. It really was enjoyable to learn the game's ways, its unique day/night cycle, and its mix of simple fighting and RPG exploration and stat-boosting. It's true that the music was atrocious - I know it came out at the very end of that 80s period of gaming where things were much more simplistic, and before the 1200 arrived and games became bigger and more complex, but it does come across like a much earlier game. That may be because it was a port, and I'm surprised that a game so old worked on the 1200 at all, I certainly didn't expect it to when I slotted it into the machine! The graphics are also very basic, but there's a slight 'Settlers' tone to them, maybe because of little symbols like the mug of beer on the tavern signs, or the neat little houses and trees. The night casts a moonlit pall over everything and I found the visuals, if not exactly attractive in the best tradition of pixel graphics, at least pleasant. The same can't be said for the sound effects, one of the biggest throwbacks to ancient games, as your hero bip-bip-bips his way around like Pac-Man! You can turn off the sound, but then you'd miss the whack of battle and the occasional music when you enter a building, and actually the sound became somehow reassuring!

Still, you can't forgive a game its brokenness, and that can't be escaped: I thought I may never be able to complete it (wondering about its availability on DOSBox), because the Amiga copy seemed as if it couldn't be finished, in much the same way as a glitch at the end of 'Future Wars' prevented completion and I only saw the very end decades later thanks to DOSBox, which even so is never quite as good as the Amiga versions of games. However, in the nature of glitchy-ness, rebooting the Amiga and going back to the last save point meant I was able to get back into the game again, and it didn't scramble when I entered what I'd thought was the last part of the catacombs - turned out it was just one of many levels down, deep down, deeper and down, whacking many more monsters and desperately trying to arrange it so I could get back before the next night ended and I'd have at least some chance of clearing some of the hordes ransacking the village above. My tactic was to wait for Tuesday night, take out the arriving enemies from that tower (the far left on that night), then dashing over to the one directly to the right of it as that seemed to be the fastest route through the caves below, doing my business underground and getting back some time on Wednesday night because I knew the monsters coming out of that particular tower would simply stand there instead of roaming the village. Eventually I realised I was getting so far away that I wouldn't get back in the space of two nights and the day between and it was at that point I chose to press on (this was after the gold key had been recovered - sneakily you had to fight off above-ground monsters after getting as deep as you could go, to stop you from just rushing through the catacombs and ignoring the village's plight!).

The final test, such as it was (game endings tended to be much simpler in those days), led me to a last door into some wizard bloke's lair, for a sort of confrontation, though he escapes after some badinage, leaving the exit tunnels flooded. It wasn't a real time event, you just come out and have to find a route out of there (so not quite like the escape down the tower at the end of 'Ocarina of Time'!), and once you get back up to ground level the Mayor gives you a special pearl of great price and the game is over - you can even save your progress at this point (the save file says [GAME WON]), ostensibly to use this character in further games, though I have no idea if later chapters in the saga were released, and I didn't even realise the game was part of a series until I paid more attention to the back of the box! It wasn't a spectacular ending, there was no new piece of music or any credits, but in those days it was much more about the journey than the destination and I quite enjoyed it on the whole and was pleased the apparent game-ending bug was only temporary. I must admit that it did become a little repetitive, and the game world is oddly L-shaped since, other than tracking down stray monsters that might have wandered far afield, there was no reason to go to the top-right part of the village as it only contained trees - the furthest you needed to go in that direction was to visit the herbalist, Madame Rosel, and it was possible to find all you needed from dead monsters leaving them behind anyway.

I should just mention the great manual that comes with this game, its thick pages and glossy cover setting the scene with a bit of story relating to each of the four heroes you can choose from at the start (again, just like 'Gauntlet' you have an archer, a big hero, a heroine and a wizard, to the extent they even come in green, yellow, red and blue! I was missing the "GREEN ARCHER NEEDS FOOD, BADLY"!), and detailed information on the denizens of Maramon, and all you need to know to play. The kind of loving detail that tells you they cared about this game, leavening it with humour (games makers didn't take themselves quite as seriously in those days!), and providing a useful resource to refer back to. There is one other downside of being a port, and that's the horribly counterintuitive controls - the Joystick's fine, you can't go far wrong with top-down, eight-directional movement and one Fire button, but pressing 'esc' to pause the game? And pressing 'P' passes the rest of the day and plunges you into night? And to save the game you press 'Q' which is usually 'Quit'? Oh dear, someone's idea of a joke, or a failure in translation? It was the Wild West in gaming back then... So weird to think that only eight years after this, a game of the magnitude of 'Zelda: Ocarina of Time' could be released, but you can see the seeds of potential and ingenuity that surpasses simple sound and graphics at play here and I would certainly play other games in this series.

**

 

Kayshon, His Eyes Open

 DVD, Lower Decks S2 (Kayshon, His Eyes Open)

'TNG' on turbo! This is the most 'TNG' episode of the series so far, and I'd have to say also the best. Not only does it deal with reams of lore, squishes in stacks of Easter eggs (may as well call it an Easter egg department store), and features learning lessons and seeing what life is like on a 'proper' starship, it does it all with aplomb and without the too-common use of gore, grossness or crudity! It just goes to show they can create fun content that's very true to Trek without resorting to shock tactics. I think this was the point where I realised the series might have legs, that it could just work, though it was too early to know if it would be consistent. There are still questionable things, don't get me wrong: it was entirely weird and inappropriate for there to be communal Sonic Showers on the Cerritos, with everyone, male and female, in together at the same time! I mean, what were they thinking, that's just bizarre, unless this is an optional method of cleaning up as we've seen Quarters have their own showers (eg: Voyager), as you'd expect, and would be more normal, though that would still leave the poor lower deckers forced into an embarrassing, humiliating situation since they don't even have Quarters. At least the sonic waves somehow blurred out the nudity, which was handy (and of course Boimler would have issues with such communal nudity, as Mariner says). It didn't make sense that all the showers are activated by one control panel so everyone has to have it at the same setting - all this suggests the Cerritos isn't a new ship by any means if it has to resort to such things...

One ship that is still new is the USS Titan, and we get more with it and its crew than ever before - almost makes me wish we could see a series set there, though I don't know if Frakes' more cartoonish version of Riker might grate after a while. He wasn't bad here, not bombastic all the time, even showing some other sides to his character such as during the mission briefing or at the end when he's so quick to joyfully accept the double Boimler problem. Boims himself is finding it hard to deal with the skin of the teeth, all battlin', all the time mode of the Titan's current assignments against the Pakleds who continue to cause a menace, wishing he could go back to the gentler ideals of exploration (they only needed the Picard line, "does anyone remember when we used to be explorers?" - they got in a couple of other 'Insurrection' references, the bazooka Worf used, here called a Disintegrator, and Boimler mentioning the Enterprise crew 'insurrected,' so why not!), and when, due to being 'Transporter cloned,' he gets to return home to the Cerritos, he describes the Titan lot as 'a bunch of complex characters thrown into heavily serialised battles which ended in mind-blowing twists and made me question the basic tenets of my reality,' that had to be a major dig at 'DSC,' surely? Though I wouldn't describe their characters as 'complex' (more neurotic and needy), but the heavily serialised bit, and so-called 'mind-blowing twists' ring true, most valid of all being the questioning of reality since it doesn't seem like the era it's supposed to be set in. Still not uncomplimentary to a fellow series, but veiled suggestions of inferior quality can be gleaned - they really know their audience!

There was so much that made this stand out as even more 'TNG' than usual - the superbly evocative anticipatory music at the start of the episode proper, as the Captain's Log is narrated... It was perfect, and beautiful! Bringing back the Collector's Guild, not that it had ever been specifically so named in Trek before, but we get the idea that we're in Kivas Fajo territory here, the famous little guy that tried to unscrupulously collect Data (referenced in Freeman's line, "they all tried to collect Data"!), adds a little lore to what's been previously established, and if we're talking lore (though not Lore), this episode must win the award for most Trek connections since Kerner Hauze's ship is chock full of famous icons from Trek's vast catalogue, if not always specific items, then general ones. I was pausing every few seconds to take in all the detail (much like with the starships in the first episode of the season), and it would be boring of me to list them all, but it is worth drawing attention to some specific examples (not just from Trek, too - those trainers looked like they could be the self-lacing variety from 'Back To The Future,' and I thought I saw ET's skeleton). The giant Spock in the room is the giant skeleton of what we can assume to have been the giant Spock from 'TAS' ('The Infinite Vulcan'), a somewhat grisly connection, because though we could assume he died of old age, he's still wearing the 'TOS' uniform, suggesting he didn't live much beyond the 2260s, and if he had lived a long life he'd be wearing an entirely different set of clothes, but then of course we wouldn't recognise him!

I'm sure that box with a face on was supposed to be a Betazoid gift box (as played by Armin Shimerman in 'TNG'), and that was definitely a lookalike of Odo's bucket (no longer needed since he'd returned to his people a few years before - I can imagine Quark getting hold of it from his old friend as a 'keepsake,' only to sell it on for great profit!). I wondered if the fish skeleton was supposed to be the spiny fish sign from the DS9 Promenade, but I don't think so as that was a lot spikier. There was a nice selection of hand weaponry - the first time we'd seen anything Jem'Hadar related since 'DS9'? And Kadis-Kot from 'Voyager,' the game from 'The Game,' Uhura's dress from 'TOS,' Data's mask from 'Masks'... Okay, I said I wouldn't list it all, it's too easy to fall into that trap, as the series has too often done, that the important things are just the callbacks and throwbacks to what's gone before. But the series is a very deliberate homage to 90s Trek, and that's one of the reasons I like it, but even more than that is because it tries to be like those series', not merely to refer to them. Other ways this seemed even more 'TNG' than usual was in featuring Migleemo the Counsellor, seated on the Bridge as Deanna always used to be, then there's the disdain members of the Titan crew view the Enterprise-D's days - seven years exploring, on a ship with five daycare centres, and string quartets... It's like the cool kids' view of Trek, but then when Boimler gives a paean to Riker's time on that ship it reminds each of them why they joined Starfleet in the first place, and it wasn't to battle!

That's a key part of the episode: its optimistic view of the future, until recent years what I'd have called the Trekky view of the future until we got so much negativity and 'realism' with characters from Kelvin Timeline Kirk to 'SNW's Ortegas complaining about being bored with the 'job' rather than joyful about being out in space and making a difference. A cynical, miserable, unhappiness that shows real human nature seeping into the admittedly impossible vision of Trek's future, but one that makes it so enjoyable to visit for entertainment. It's summed up at the end by Jet Manhaver who's a sort of stand-in for the absent Boimler in this episode, someone for Mariner to argue and compete with, but who isn't cowed by her as he has his own strong personality. He's with the others at the end in their customary seats in the lounge, laughing over the day they've had, and admits it's the best job in the galaxy! Just the fact that they have a regular place to sit together at the end of an episode is a pleasant, reassuring piece of continuity that we used to get from 90s Trek where you'd join these characters for twenty-six weeks of the year, and there'd often be these moments allowed to let the episode sink in, something a lot of the other modern Treks don't have time for, despite their bloated running times, preferring to squeeze in 'feelings' at inopportune and inappropriate times, or trudge through predictable, repetitive scenes instead.

Usually I'd be all for the championing of structure and the hierarchy of command as opposed to the liberal and unworkable democratic group atmosphere where the Captain has to listen to insubordination every week, or people expressing their thoughts and opinions at every opportunity instead of following orders, reflecting the attitude of modern society that everyone's views are equally valid and should be given airing whenever they feel like it, instead of awareness of time and place. Here, that same idea is explored, but in a much more nuanced and realistic way (as usual, this over-the-top animation tends to be more real than the live action stuff, which shows how fantastical and motivated by modern agendas the writing is in those others!), when Jet and Mariner's competing oneupmanship gets the Away Team into trouble and it comes to them that maybe they should include Tendi and Rutherford, who've been blindly and obediently following orders. That's how it used to be: command was in charge and gave the orders, but at the same time they were open to calling for suggestions if they deemed the situation needed it, utilising the skills and resources of the team, and so Tendi comes up with a solution to their problem. In that scene we also get what must be the first appearance of an Excalbian since 'TOS' (not to mention fake Lincoln's bones, sitting beside it!), and we learn something new about them, too: their bones can be made acidic enough to cut through a bulkhead. It may not be that realistic to think of Excalbians, those rock-like creatures, having bones at all, but it was fun to add some lore in there.

The most fun lore to be played with, and that which the episode is named for, is undoubtedly the first Tamarian in Starfleet, Kayshon, the new Security Chief - not sure why he's allowed to carry a knife on his person, it must be a ritual thing. And yes, it is ridiculous that Hauze's ship has automated defences (reminding me very much of 'Civil Defence,' I wish they'd played that up more), which are capable of transforming a living being into a hand puppet, and not only that, can do it without killing him! But it's all so fun that it doesn't bother me, and though Dr. T'Ana has no trouble returning Kayshon to his natural form offscreen, she did at least say this isn't the first time she's done it, so that helps to expand the grey area of what can be accepted, at least in my mind! It's also a classic trope of being trapped in a place that's trying to kill you and made me think of episodes such as 'Move Along Home,' a much-maligned 'DS9' Season 1 entry that I absolutely love for its strangeness, creepiness and sense of powerful characters being made to feel powerless, and yet still doing all they can. Maybe I'd have preferred it if Kayshon spoke entirely in metaphor, but you can imagine that once the Federation had made a start in communicating with the Tamarians thanks to the efforts of Captains Picard and Dathon, the Universal Translator would be updated with all the various myths and meanings by which they form their language. That wouldn't explain why the UT sometimes doesn't translate correctly, but you have to have some Tamarian in there if you're going to feature them at all, and it made for good humour that he couldn't always find the right words ("My Federation Standard is still shaky" - love the reference, but is he using the UT or not?)!

Just the premise of a Starfleet crew being called in by civilians to help with a job is so 'TNG' where they were always happy to assist, nothing was beneath their dignity, be it natural disasters or rogue computers it was all fine, which is one reason the idea of a two-tier Starfleet doesn't make sense, but at least this episode made it feel so close to that formula, and it's always good to see them helping out, even if the client isn't always someone they approve of, or agree with - that proves them doubly helpful. Captain Freeman gets a small plot in addition as she's been evaluated as being too hands-on with her crew and needs to place more trust in them, only she decides to do this at just the wrong time, when the Away Team are in dire straits trying to escape the automatic defences aboard the Collector's ship, but that also made for an entirely plausible reason for how they could get into such a scrape with the Cerritos standing watch over them. That's what I want to see: story logic! And separate plots that make sense - knowing that Boimler was coming back this time, I wasn't bothered about him being away from the group and indeed it gave them a chance to do things differently, and also I 'love-love-love' the interior of the Titan, evoking the Enterprise-E in colours and uniforms, but its hull is also a thing of beauty, those Phasers running through the channels and blasting the Pakleds, it's all just so Trek, like I want it to be!

They even throw in a new take on 'to boldly go,' as Boimler's fellow crew think the jig is up and prepare to go out in a blaze of glory as the Pakleds smash through a door, only for Boimler to admit he's not ready and comes up with a solution based on what happened with Thomas Riker, Will's Transporter clone, with the unintentional side effect of creating clone Boimler - it's a shame they didn't do anything with there being two of him, other than the fun scenes with them and Riker, as I think they should have kept the other one around, or at least available to show up. I can't remember what happened to him, only that he didn't survive for long. Not sure why the Titan crew called Boimler 'Enterprise,' other than that he was always defending that ship and its missions, and he had left the Cerritos, so I suppose it does make sense, even though they said it affectionately as he was going back to the Cerritos. Interesting that Rutherford says there are only a few people like him, with cybernetics, in Starfleet, as far as he knows, which is good, I think - we don't want a lot of augmented people running about, because if the Federation is against genetic manipulation why would they accept the cybernetic kind, it all gives an unfair advantage one way or another. And I wondered if the Starfleet delta on the base of Kayshon's boots was another little dig at the expense of 'DSC,' since they were so fond of plastering it on everything like it was some kind of clothing brand?

Rutherford actor Eugene Cordero gets extra credit this time as Siggi (a reference to 'Quantum Leap,' I wonder?), the squiddy guy, and Frakes gets his best animated appearance as Riker, his last for the season, but I'm always glad to see him (noticed the wedding ring this time, too), and it was so nice to hear him speak of his Transporter double again, though they could at least have cleared up what happened to him after the Dominion War, whether he survived or not - it can be good to leave threads open in case any Trek series ever wanted to pull on it in future, though at this point it doesn't seem all that likely, but that is one thing where I feel their knowledge of 'TNG' trumps their knowledge and care for 'DS9,' as any Niner knows Thomas' story continued there and we never knew his fate for certain. And this was Jet's third credited appearance on the series, so I like how they were slowly upping the recurring characters (Stevens gets a mention, too). I like that this isn't the last we saw of Kayshon, even though Shaxs would soon be back - Fred Tatasciore continues voicing characters, even so, this time Collector Hauze in his holographic guise, and this is only the second time we'd had Migleemo, after his introduction in the Season 1 finale. Oh, and there's a stuffed Salt Vampire (like the one seen in 'The Squire of Gothos'), and Khan's broken Starfleet symbol on a chain, and Siggi says he's got a top-notch 'Menagerie,' and Tendi carries a small version of that three-pronged tool from 'Trials and Tribble-ations, and was that one of Riker's old trombones, and maybe the Kurlan Naiskos, and... etc, etc, etc... Shaka when the walls fell, eh... Or Cerritos when Boimler returned.

***

Strange Energies

 DVD, Lower Decks S2 (Strange Energies)

The season I almost didn't purchase because at this point (and mostly ever after when it comes to the other series'), I wasn't sure I even wanted to see more after a first season that I found too alienating for its gore, language and utter silliness, and things I'd heard about what was coming next didn't fill me with hope, either. But the price of the DVD went down and I thought I'd give it a shot. I'd like to say I wasn't disappointed, but this first episode of the season was as weak as a number of Season 1 stories: lacking focus, lacking relevance - I'm all for 'small' stories of personal intrigue rather than of galactic import, but this seemed especially irrelevant and cartoonish. I know, I know, it's a cartoon, but in the flashes of better moments previously you can see potential, while this one just seemed to go backwards. There weren't really any good jokes (maybe the one about Barnes' sister changing when she got a symbiont was okay: it's not the lifetimes of memories that did it, just that she's always telling people she's got one!), and the series is short of two characters. Obviously Shaxs died ('died'), saving Rutherford in the finale, while Boimler upped sticks and transferred to the Titan, and his absence especially was missed for the role he plays in the little group. He may even be my favourite character on the series.

There are really only an A and a B story this time, one with Ransom accidentally becoming 'godlike' thanks to Mariner activating an alien sphere, while on the Cerritos Tendi goes way over the top in trying to 'cure' Rutherford of his change in behaviour, torturing him electrically, chasing him all over the ship trying to shoot him with 'medical venom,' whatever that is, and refusing to listen to his pleas. Seeing a normally sweet and lovely character maniacally gunning for her friend sounds like it would be hilarious, but it was merely incongruous and didn't seem like Tendi at all - obviously there's more to her than we've seen, as hinted at last season, but even so, it was just too ridiculous. Or if ridiculous is meant to be in the mix of this series, then it was too out of proportion. Something else out of proportion is Jack Ransom's ire at the closeness of Captain and daughter that's left him as the third wheel on the ship - they've gone from one end of the extreme, Freeman not wanting to acknowledge her slacker, insubordinate, disobedient daughter, and Mariner hiding in plain sight, to the other, constantly working together and having to put up with each other's wishes, which proves too much of a strain for both of them. These things needed to be dealt with, I suppose, since that's where Season 1 left them, but it did come across as perfunctory and Jack's reaction, while a fitting source of power to generate his transformation into disembodied (or dis-en-headed), entity, and likewise praising him up being the solution to bringing him back down to earth, was too simplistic.

It's a short running time, I fully understand, you can only do so much, but traditional Treks were generally only another twenty minutes longer, and this series continues to move so fast in its dialogue and action that it can't be too far off matching old episodes for amount of plot. Granted, we'd yet to see the series really excel within its world, but this story wasn't the one to kick off that revolution. I think its problem was being too generic. The series works well when its delving into its characters or the races we know, just like the 24th Century series' it was based on. They do at least have some fun with the teaser where Mariner's using the Holodeck for exercise, specifically a program about escaping Cardassian incarceration. This was the best part of the episode for me, a very accurate depiction of that race's architecture, clothing, technology and style, with a little cameo from holographic Boimler to remind us of his current status (though again, aren't there privacy rules about using real people's likenesses in holographic form?). The look of it all was fabulous, from the Reliant-type Miranda-class USS Macduff (likely meant as a clue this isn't real, since Macduff was an alien pretending to be a member of the Enterprise crew in 'Conundrum'), Mariner uses to escape (though I'm not sure how we should be able to see the external view of the ship since it would all be from her perspective - it's always been the point in holoprograms that they don't show the usual space shots since 'out there' doesn't exist!), both external views and the Bridge itself with those Trek film-era high-backed chairs and blinky lights, down to the tiny details of Cardassian door buttons or Phasers. Beautiful.

Then there are the visual Easter eggs of all these ships from various races within the Cardassian facility: Jem'Hadar (shame we still haven't got to see one of these warrior race either in live action or animation!), Cardassian (I think this is the first time we saw one in the Kurtzman era), a 23rd Century Romulan Bird-of-Prey, Federation Runabouts, Maquis Raiders, and I think, possibly even the Delta Flyer from 'Voyager.' The loving attention to detail and careful homage to the look of 90s Trek puts all the other modern series' to shame and is one reason why this has become the one series I actively look forward to seeing more from, rather than watching like it's a chore or duty as I largely do with the others. So it's a shame the story overall wasn't up to much. It really is very basic, almost like a placeholder or a story to deal with where things were left at the end of Season 1, rather than striking out into a grand second season (so in old Trek terms, more 'Voyager' Season 1 into 2, than 'DS9'). I will say I do like the added details in the opening sequence that would change incrementally with each season - now we have Klingon and Pakled vessels in the Romulans fight Borg sequence. Although there was one thing about the ship I hadn't noticed before and looks quite wrong: the little red and green lights, which were always there to clearly demonstrate which side is port, and which starboard, seemed to alternate all round the saucer, which makes no sense! Maybe they did it on purpose to irritate people like me that are going to notice the tiniest details!

In other ways they thrill with their attention to the little things - it especially gets me when it's something the live action Treks of today have deliberately changed (even 'Picard' Season 3, which did a lot of harking back), such as ship's Phasers powering up down the hull channels before firing a concentrated beam, or the shields being an oval bubble around the ship, not this skintight formation they favour now - it makes sense in the same way as a warp bubble would be a smooth, rounded shape projected out from the centre of a vessel, and I hate that change, among many of the alterations to standard Trek visuals today. This time 'LD' did play with it a little, when Ransom's huge mouth bites down on the Cerritos, buckling the shape of the shield, which I don't think is physically possible, but can easily be explained away by the strange energies affecting the First Officer! See, you can always think of a solution if you like the general style and care for canon that a series presents, it's all a little give and take here and there. I also noticed far less dubious content than is usual, none of that gory violence they sometimes indulge in (other than Mariner kicking Ransom in the privates, which was going a bit too far), less bad language or anything else that could be offensive. From that perspective this should have been one of the better episodes, but it's not enough not to have certain things, it also has to be doing something more interesting.

They were using the trope of a crew-member gaining godlike power (although in reality, it's nothing like God's power since he always has that and his personality is what makes Him who He is - these stories are really always about corrupted humanity gaining greater power than they had before, and we already know what effect power has, both in Trek and real life!), even citing Gary Mitchell (with a screen graphic that looked sort of like a 'TAS' version of him, though it was so dark as to be difficult to see well), but the difference is, while they use the trope, I didn't feel they really played with it. The odd reference was thrown in, like a boulder being used to defeat Ransom, or him mentioning that his brain is unlocking its potential (a bit like Barclay in 'The Nth Degree'), but it was as simple as a giant head and hands going into space to have it out with the Cerritos, and just wasn't inventive enough, which is surprising considering series creator Mike McMahan wrote it. There were some halfhearted threads running through, such as sycophantic Stevens that always thinks everything Ransom does is wonderful, or Rutherford going for a meal with Barnes the Trill whom he failed to connect with in Season 1, but they remained undeveloped.

Even that little tag scene at the end where we see Boimler hating every moment of the madcap adventures of the Titan under Riker (Jonathan "I love my job!" Frakes back once again to voice him, terrifically), as it's attacked by Pakled 'Battle Harpies' (as Boimler calls them, showing that race continue to be a threat), and then leaping into a dangerous anomaly to escape, was a mere wisp of plot - but it was all fun and very true to this idea of famous ships like Titan or Enterprise doing the daring deeds and making a name for themselves, while little Cerritos continues to pootle along to backwater planets to get them to choose a subspace communications number designation (there was one mildly amusing observation in that scene where Ransom wants to show the Apergosian High Leader more numbers to choose from, and rather than bring them up on the same PADD he orders Mariner to bring more PADDs, from the trope that that's how they always did it on 90s Trek: multiple PADDs!). Admiral Freeman makes another Viewscreen appearance, suggesting to his wife, the Captain, that this could be her year for promotion to a 'capital' ship, as he calls it, which I assume means that first-tier range of starships like the Titan, though I don't think we'd ever heard anyone in Trek ever call them that before. Of course it's all foreshadowing for the season-long Pakled threat, and then Carol being held responsible for a career-ending event at the end...

Other offhand references to the Trek world come in comments such as Mariner's when she admits she hates 'that Andorian,' Jennifer (again, they'll eventually be bestest buds, so more foreshadowing), even though she knows "we're not supposed to have interpersonal conflicts," directly calling out the Gene Roddenberry edict from 'TNG.' Another, more uncertain edict about where religion fits in with humans of this period is also touched on when Captain Freeman admits "humanity has a complicated relationship with organised religion," because obviously in reality it's always going to be there, while Trek tended to steer clear of such controversy as much as possible, only dealing with things through the lens of alien beliefs, wisely keeping away from actual faiths (though interesting that she only refers to 'organised religion,' as if any old belief system, like say, superstitions or individual, self-created belief, might not have any controversy, which is taking a worldview on its own!). And let's not forget that all kinds of references in Trek show that at least Christianity still exists, as does its cultural impact (see Christmas, for example, which they don't call Xmas or the Holidays!), so there's still hope for humanity yet... In fact this very episode has a Biblical reference when Mariner (whom you'd assume would be the last person to know the Holy Bible), asking how she was supposed to know this was all going to go Ransom on the mount - Jesus on the mount was when he preached a sermon, so maybe this is evidence that she doesn't have detailed knowledge of the Bible if she's comparing Ransom's madcap transformation with that, or maybe she was just speaking generally because he had an audience, but either way I was surprised such a specific reference was in modern Trek as it seems American culture generally is moving very far and very fast away from the Bible being part of the culture and many may not even realise the reference.

That was about as interesting as the episode got from a thoughtful or speculative perspective, and as I say, while it was generally far less offensive, it was also generally not that engaging, returning to the feel of early episodes of Season 1. Maybe it was Difficult Second Season Syndrome, if not for the fact I never felt they fully succeeded in any of the first ten - close, but not fully, the finale coming closest. While resetting the status quo to some degree by separating the Mother/daughter duo of the Freemans, there are hints of the ongoing dramas to come, such as Rutherford's issues with his cybernetic implant, or Mariner missing Boimler, the Pakleds, the hole left by Shaxs death (not that he's mentioned, but he had a big personality and the Bridge feels different without him). I think it's just the lack of everything working cohesively: jokes, references, story beats... Very middling. But once again I have to say how much I love the visuals, both for the style and so much detail, it's absolutely gorgeous. At this stage on original viewing I still hadn't been won over by the characters, but I do find most of them quite endearing now. It's just a shame that of all the series' to have been released in the DVD age it seems this one is the first to miss a UK release, Season 4 only coming out on Blu-ray! I'd hoped they'd at least finish out a series before dropping the format, as they did with 'Picard,' but now it looks like I'm going to have a big gap in my collection if 'LD' Seasons 4 and 5 don't come out in that format, and while I've never liked 'DSC,' I would at least like to complete the series! The same goes for 'Prodigy,' although I don't really care too much about 'SNW' as that's at least as bad, if not worse, than 'DSC'!

**

Crisis Point

 DVD, Lower Decks S1 (Crisis Point)

Another one I found myself enjoying more than on original viewing, which at the time I considered 'less painful to watch' as the best thing I could say about it. Now I find it good fun, even if it is largely a succession of Trek (and other), film references. But importantly, it also has a serious theme running through it: that of Mariner's issues with authority, or specifically, with her own Mother, Captain Freeman. That she faces off against herself is a classic Trek story, and it had that genuine drama of the villain being tricked into their own destruction, but that it was by a holographic version of herself who could be honest about her motivations, and that she learns something from herself, gave it that 'big scale' cinematic style of storytelling that they were going for. I think the only real problem (other than the occasional content issue which is, unfortunately, par for the course), is that the episode wasn't entirely sure what it wanted to be - it made many Trek film connections, some of which were very amusing, but it was also not fully committed to an actual mashup of the various films because it was trying to do something of its own at the same time. So Vindicta, the villainous role assumed by Mariner, doesn't have any connection to any other Trek villains, unless the fact she was a generic, cackling ham was a joke in itself, that too many of the films' antagonists were mere revenge-driven, almost identikit enemies without much more to them (maybe even another 'Voyager' nod as she was very Dr. Chaotica, who in turn was modelled on old sci-fi villains of the 1930s).

For me it was just too generic. The best parts were when they were directly recreating a Trek film moment with these characters, like the shuttle tour around the Cerritos from every conceivable angle - it worked as a joke, recreating the long (though beautiful and much-loved by myself), scene from 'TMP' where the refit Enterprise is toured as an excuse to show off all the glorious cinematic detail of the new filming model. And it also worked as exactly what it was: showing off the glorious detail of the animated model! They really got that right (they'd do a similar recreation of the 'DS9' opening credits when visiting the station in Season 3), we get some stunning shots of the ship, and I already love the look of it and the animation style it's presented in. Another good scene was Vindicta's Bird-of-Prey blowing up, forcing the Cerritos to crash into a planet, much like in 'Generations,' although while the saucer rolling along like an escaping hubcap worked for humour's sake, it didn't have the same dramatic impact of the incredible saucer-crashing sequence in the film. There could have been a 'Voyager' reference intended, too, since it crash-lands on a snowy ice planet, though I suspect they were concentrating much more on film references this time, which would make sense since when they're in the Holodeck it's all filmic and would be more apt to keep to that in theme and tone.

There's even the old trope of a torpedo tube on the planet, only this time rather than Spock, it contains Vindicta (presumably a holographic version - though that doesn't really have to make sense as no 'real' characters are present, so the Holodeck should be off!), but then she's shot by Leonardo Da Vinci whom we saw interacting with our people in a previous program before Boimler changed it to his simulation of the Cerritos (which is then altered by Mariner into the 'Crisis Point' script - when Boimler points out she wrote a whole script in two seconds it could be a little Nick Meyer call-out since he was well known for creating the 'Star Trek II' final script in a very short time). So there you go, another 'Voyager' reference, even if it technically came from the previous program so still fits - a shame they didn't have John Rhys-Davies reprise the role, though I imagine he'd be more expensive and might not be interested in such a minor part - it also would have wasted his talent (in much the same way John De Lancie was rather wasted in his cameos last episode), and it's always better to give a returning character at least a fairly significant part if you're going to go to the trouble of bringing them back, but they were still learning at this stage, as is only to be expected in a first season, and they got better with the cameos as the series progressed. And what about that perfect 'signing off' start to the end credits (almost wish they'd done it for the whole closing credits except it would take a lot longer), recreating the signatures of the cast, as seen in 'Star Trek VI.' Of course this doesn't have the same emotional resonance, but is at least playing off of that.

The generic feel stems from more of a general use of Trek film style rather than following a specific story - you see the fantastic opening titles with their swooping credits over a starfield and that rousing 'Star Trek II'-aping theme music, though with an 'LD' twist. They introduce film grain and imperfections, alter the colours to make them a bit darker to simulate the lower lighting of a projected image, and best of all, narrow the aspect ratio to cinematic proportions (they couldn't have done that gag if it was already in that ratio as all the others are presented - another joke at other Treks?). Then there are the lens flares when we first go aboard, although they wisely didn't keep that up all through the 'film' as it could have been distracting - it was enough to poke a little fun at the Kelvinverse films, and wouldn't be the last time. If anyone was upset that 'LD' joked about Trek, I suspect those same people probably enjoyed any jokes at 'modern' Trek's expense, I know I tend to find that funnier because it's stuff that's still in production (or supposed to be), and is of inferior quality. Then there are the second tier references that are either just the usual mentions of things we know (the best being Mariner calling Boimler a 'Xon' who probably wouldn't have made the final cut, him asks who Xon is, and she replying, "Exactly"!), like Mariner dressed up as Toby the Targ for Halloween when she was younger, the stuffed toy of which was owned by B'Elanna. Or how Rutherford is able to beam the crew to safety, explaining it away by saying you can do all sorts of beaming stuff in films (very 'Star Trek XI,' and even more 'Into Darkness' when Khan can beam to Qo'noS!).

We also have Shakespeare quotation-spouting from villainess Mariner, and her holographic self emergency transports Freeman away so she can face the villain alone, much like Data saving Picard in 'Nemesis,' and maybe even the moment Boimler first appears in the program, high in the sky, falling a long way, could be a 'Star Trek V' connection, even though he isn't on a cliffside and there's a lake beneath him - see, that's why the tributes don't always work as well as they might. You sense they want to have these great jokey recreations, but at the same time don't want to go too far, but then if you're doing it anyway you may as well go the whole hog. I think that's why I didn't warm to the concept of 'Crisis Point' as a whole - they brought it back at least once, in Season 3 (they do love to pick up past stories again, which is something that makes it feel more Trekky than, say 'DSC,' which often fails to even connect with its own backstory, always moving on to something new), and no doubt they'd be doing more (such a shame there'll only be five seasons of the series!), and it's not like it's taking 'valuable' time away from other arcs, or the chance for more serious stories, because there are only ten episodes a season and they're all pretty silly most of the time. This remains in that vein. I don't even have a problem with Holodeck episodes, it's just not focused enough, and that's the way I've felt about the season as a whole. That they didn't drill down into the tropes they were playing with, but they were still finding their feet.

As I've said before, the series is certainly improving this end of the season, and with episodes like this it shows the seeds of promise - the big thing is that Mariner works through her problem, as she'd already started to in some way when 'Masks'– sorry, 'Moist Vessel,' forced her to work with her Mother. That's been the theme of the season, and being confronted by an honest mirror image of herself compiled from her own logs forces her into realisation that it's problems with herself that are the issue, not the blame she heaps on her Mother, and that's what makes this more of a Trek story than all the references put together: learning something about yourself and resolving to do better. There is a more glaring issue that gets no exploration at all, barely even any outrage at Boimler recreating realistic versions of the entire ship's crew merely so he can 'cheat' by doing a 'pre-interview' in order to learn how best to impress the Captain. From his perspective I'm sure he merely saw it as good preparation since he's the sort of person who wouldn't countenance doing something unethical, it wouldn't enter his mind because he's such a straight arrow. But you'd think there'd be serious questions about privacy and inappropriate use of a person's image. It had already been covered to some extent in 'Meridian' when Jeffrey Combs first appeared in Trek as an alien wanting Quark to make him a holographic recreation of Kira, and before that, Barclay's use of Enterprise-D crew to play roles in his holoprogram, to name but two examples.

I suppose it would be difficult to find a way to do the story itself in the same way if they hadn't used the characters (it relies on Freeman and Mariner particularly), and also you can point to the slim running time of these episodes for why they may not have time for ethical quandaries. At the same time it is a little worrying that no time is given over, other than Mariner expressing unhappiness about her logs being used, and you'd think from a practical point of view there'd be safeguards to prevent such things in this generation of Holodecks after all that's transpired over the years on previous Treks. It works fine in a 'TNG' universe where the characters are naturally good-natured, socially accepting and without cynicism, but even in 'Hollow Pursuits' they expressed dismay with being recreated as they had been. Again, I can point to Boimler's naivety, solely focused on his desperate wish to impress the Captain by saying and doing the right things, but it doesn't entirely work in the 'LD' universe because we already know how cynical and unpleasant it can be. It's also a bit shocking that Mariner was so angry at her Mother that she'd be so gleeful at the idea of killing her, and perhaps torturing her beforehand - I don't remember exactly what she said, but I had the impression she wanted to cause her pain, even if it was the holographic version, not the real one. I remember years ago I was playing 'Goldeneye' with cousins, and my Aunt joined in, but her daughter didn't want to kill her in the game! I feel like actually being 'in' a game and physically killing a recreation like that would be many times worse, which makes Mariner seem like an awful person!

I was expecting her to throw away the spear-like shard at the last moment and be unable to skewer her Mother, but instead Freeman's saved by a holographic Mariner leaping in, real Mariner never given a moment of redemption or choice. Unlike the end of 'The Most Toys' when you're left to wonder if Data would really have killed Kivas Fajo or not, there isn't anything like that and it's not really the same situation anyway. But I just thought of the parallel and there are probably others. Too often action can be more important than redemption or morality in modern Trek, and though 'LD' enjoys poking fun at all Treks, it sometimes forgets that it, too, is Trek, not just a form of commenting on Trek. As usual, there are some of the things I don't like to see in this series, such as holographic Shaxs and others being blown up to shower Mariner and Tendi in blood, which was way too much for Trek - can you imagine if they did that in the films? They'd be '15' or '18' rated! The films always seemed a little more edgy in terms of content, but now it's the 'TV' series' that are more inappropriate and more film-like than the films, it seems. Maybe that would have been a good source of commentary for examining Trek? I will say, I did like that the blood disappeared off Tendi as soon as she stalked off the Holodeck, unhappy with the direction Mariner was taking things - this may be the first time they'd mentioned her Orion pirate heritage, and how she's not like that, but whether or not they had, it would be something that would be explored further.

Boimler's arc is the most fun, going from his methodical, safe plan to get insight into the Captain as ideal prep, to being hacked by Mariner's own wishes (did she ever apologise to him for messing up his program?), then the shock revelation upon later returning to the program that Freeman is actually Mariner's Mother, which had been kept secret... That was very nicely done, well judged and then hilarious when he's so upturned by the whole concept he can barely speak in his interview. That's funny! I also enjoyed the first appearance of Migleemo the counsellor, who's budgie birdlike appearance and constant food analogies entertain, even if it feels off that he should be wearing glasses. But you immediately get the sense of someone that appreciates old ways, whether it be bonsai to be tended or cabinets full of books. A great line from Mariner when she doesn't want to go to counselling, 'It's the Eighties, we don't have psychiatric problems,' which is a joke about how 'TNG' (made in the '80s, but the 1980s rather than the 2380s in which 'LD' takes place), controversially introduced counsellors. I wasn't so sure about the teaser, which threw up a few issues: 'Lizard Men,' is that really the official term for them? They looked weirdly like Gorn (an offshoot?), but more confusingly, an Antican appeared to be their enemy - so where were the Selay? And why not just have them be Selay and Anticans, except this is many years after 'TNG' encountered them, and... it was just confusing. As was the idea that Starfleet introduces itself, then doesn't mind that there's cannibalism of species, with only the vague solution being to give them Replicators. But if it's a Prime Directive issue then surely they can't give them tech?

It's not important really, it was just a silly little aside to set up Mariner's increasing frustration with her Mother, but it's one of those things that grates a little because the series is so good at the most obscure details of lore, canon and continuity, one of its greater positives. Keeping track of the credits has been a good way to get to know it a little better as I begin to notice more and more names. For example, I did not realise it was Gary Cole doing the voice of Da Vinci! He's not Rhys-Davies, but I know him best as the main star of the 'Babylon 5' spinoff, 'Crusade,' and he'd never been in Trek before, so that's a fun connection. Rutherford's Cordero gets to bring in Winger Bingston, Jr., this time as a hologram (with an onscreen credit in Mariner's film!) - I like that we're slowly getting to recognise members of the crew, like Jet Manhaver, the tough guy Boimler wishes he was like. Nolan North is back again, a regular contributor (I couldn't remember who Lars Lundy was, but the Borg head was memorable). Ben Rodgers usually plays 'Steve Stevens,' but he's also the weak holo-parody of Boimler, 'Shempo' (also credited as writer of the actual episode!), and other members of the cast continue to provide the occasional other role (Fred Tatasciore, invariably - this time reprising Admiral Vassery from 'Moist Vessel'), the most interesting credit is Gabrielle Ruiz - she played 'Lemonts,' whom I don't recall, but would go on to be T'Lyn in Season 2's 'wej Duj,' joining the cast as that Vulcan character in Season 4 (which I have yet to see).

**


DVD, Lower Decks S1 (No Small Parts)

Bucking the trend of modern Trek season finales, where usually they're the worst episode, this is the best and showed real promise for what the series could be, encouraging a slightly disillusioned me that it might be worth buying Season 2 after all when I'd been burned by each successive season boxed set to be released. Perhaps it was down to what had come before ('DSC' and 'Picard'), being serialised so all the eggs in the season basket had to be hatched in that final episode, while in this (and 'SNW' Season 1, which also reserved its best, by far, for last), they could play with big stakes that they'd created just for this moment, giving them more freedom and no expectation for all the slow plotting and tedious buildup (who said shorter seasons meant no more filler!). That's what makes this feel absolutely like classic Trek (i.e: 'TOS' to 'Enterprise,' both ends of the spectrum getting called out at beginning and end, almost like they were deliberately pointing to the parallel that this series is just like those, from beginning to end!), a big story that suddenly ramps up the stakes, something that couldn't be done with the serialised seasons because they were already hovering around 9 in terms of galactic threat or whatever, so had nowhere to go but disappointment. This gives us all that could have been promised from the premise, from Riker (and Troi!), on the Titan, to a striking new enemy... with a familiar face. But this being Kurtzman era Trek it can't all be good, and the strength of the story suffers from the usual problems.

As ever, the swearing is mostly bleeped out (because it's 'funny'...), but it's still there and makes everyone seem coarse and foul-mouthed, not the shining examples of Starfleet goodness you'd expect. Then there are the heavily cynical and negative impressions of Starfleet and the Federation in general that threaten to drag the story down into the mire and don't gel with the optimistic nature of the characters and their self-sacrifices or ingrained desire to do right that evokes the old Treks so well. It's definitely not miserable like 'DSC' or 'Picard,' it doesn't have that dystopian feel, but it's still got the tarnish of negativity. For a start we see that the people of Beta III whom Kirk set free from their computer god in 'TOS,' have gone back to worshipping Landru, and in consequence it causes Mariner to say Starfleet is good at observing, but bad at maintaining. Is that really the message we want to send about this organisation for the sake of a cheap joke? Then there's the return of the evil, Lore-like Badgey who's desperate to kill his 'Father,' Rutherford and though his twisted plotting fails to do that, it's only thanks to the sacrifice of Shaxs, saving Rutherford's life at the expense of his own. And most horrible of all, we have another terrible character introduced in the Exocomp, self-named as 'Peanut Hamper,' supposedly for being a mathematically perfect name (even the final shot of the episode with PH floating helplessly across the screen like the bottle from 'Generations,' crying piteously for help, was a nasty choice - you'd think they'd make sure to pick her up even if she didn't help them, because that's the Starfleet way: to be better).

I love Exocomps and it was a joy to see one again, hovering around in the air with those cute little traction boots hanging off, the enthusiasm and optimistic helpfulness to rival Tendi, and the discovery of a great skill when she performs surgery in Sickbay, impressing even the grumpy Dr. T'Ana (not to mention the ever-cool interchangeable tools on the front!). But the joke they make out of it all is that while it seems like this is the perfect time for this little robot (a legitimate robot, not those stupid 'dot-7' droids that fell out of a portal to the 'Star Wars' universe!), to come into its own and show what it's made of... and then it selfishly refuses. All that build-up just so we can laugh at the lack of selflessness. It jars with the general tone and ambition of the series and really capped the season for me as why I couldn't quite like it, for all its many fun little jokes, deep-cut references aimed at someone like me who really knows Trek well, and clean visual beauty. It's less that they're laughing at Trek and poking fun at it, rather it's poking fun at the goodness there is in Trek, and that's disturbing, in the same way that the gory Badgey episode was disturbing, going down into nastiness. At least this time Badgey was constrained to impersonal wickedness, he didn't have the chance to physically attack anyone, but it's another horrible, wicked character, if better used in this instance (and I am generally in favour of having recurring characters).

Going back to Landru, it suggests people are very stupid and don't learn, undoing the good work of Kirk and his crew - I grant that it's realistic, if you go back through the Old Testament of The Bible and look at Israel's history and how often they turned away from the one true God to go after other false ones, it shows how easy it is for human nature to be corrupted, or more precisely, how human nature is corrupt and will quickly return to evil ways if there are times of plenty or they become complacent (a situation we're in right now in our own society). I know the Beta III inhabitants aren't supposed to be human (even if they look it), but the principle remains. My point is that Trek isn't there to be realistic in that sense and so I prefer it when goodness prevails. I suppose it is a timely warning about not just assuming each generation will follow the right path, especially as there's a tendency to go your own way when you're young, and acting in opposition to whatever the previous generation considered right. But to me it just smacked of cynicism and wasn't the tone of Trek I like to see, especially as it's really just there as a joke. It doesn't make a lot of sense in-universe either, since their excuse is that Landru was very persuasive, yet Landru was destroyed, so it would have taken someone to come along and fix his remains. I will say it was quite nice to revisit an exact location from 'TOS' and see it again all these decades after the original sets were first shown, especially in an era where 'SNW' is riding roughshod over the sets and visual style of the era it's supposed to be recreating!

The unlikelihood of Landru being rebuilt was only one flaw of the episode, where they usually seem to be pretty good about keeping to established Trek rules. Another mistake was when Ransom contacts Boimler via Combadge and proceeds to hear all his and Mariner's conversation when the former had never hit his badge so surely there shouldn't have been any receiving audio - usually you have to activate it to respond, but for story reasons they do it this way so everyone can know the secret that Mariner is Captain Freeman's daughter. It's a good scene, but all they needed to do was show that something fell on the badge to activate it, or it was the way Boimler threw down his jacket, or even one of the little children they were giving out crayons to could have been curious and pressed it without them knowing. Then you could have had an innocent standing their wide-eyed as this conversation was occurring. It's not major (especially compared to the many grievous mistakes and choices of other modern Trek!), but I hold 'LD' to a higher standard because of what they've shown is their depth of knowledge and love of the source material. And what about T'Ana letting out a meow in her distress at seeing the Captain injured - wouldn't that be translated by the Universal Translator and come out as words anyway? But then you wouldn't have the joke of her losing control and going into cat-speak.

Another major mistake seemed to be when Freeman takes the Cerritos into an area from where the USS Solvang had sent a distress call. To digress a moment, the Solvang scenes were a great moment in the episode and season - one moment we're enjoying Captain Dayton (returning from a couple of episodes back when she was captaining the USS Rubidoux in 'Much Ado About Boimler'), and her ridiculous attempt to keep this new ship looking shiny and fresh, to the extent that she makes her crew wear socks so as not to scuff the carpets (and doesn't want to remove the protective film on screens - I can understand that myself!), and then suddenly they're up against a dark and powerful unknown vessel that bears a similarity to the Scimitar of 'Nemesis,' and are ripped apart in a shockingly swift destruction. It's a powerful way to introduce the new villain which would have ramifications across Season 2. But back to my main point: why wouldn't the Cerritos go in with shields up, it's not like a Starfleet Captain to be so overconfident or fail to follow safety protocols. Again, it's for story reasons (it's reminiscent of 'Star Trek XI' when the Enterprise warps into the remains of the fleet Nero had annihilated), and they do set it up with it being most likely Dayton has made some mistake and there's nothing supposed to be in that area, but even so, space is dangerous and you never know what you might encounter so it makes Freeman look bad.

Then there's also the usual (for this series), wacky crew-member, this time a Lieutenant who believes Wolf 359 was an inside job, Changelings aren't real and the Dominion War never happened (as amusing as it was, not to mention very cool to hear of such things back in 2020 when 'Picard' Season 3 had never even been thought of yet and there were few connections to 'DS9' in what had been made so far in any of the series'). You could say that Starfleet are putting their ideology of including all points of view into practice, but I don't believe someone in Starfleet who would have seen all the evidence would believe things like that, it doesn't make sense. While I'm picking holes, I'd also say it would seem a bit much for a holo-character such as Badgey to be able to monitor all ship communications, because surely when he's turned off, or the Holodeck's off, he has no consciousness. I will say that it's believable from the character's point of view since he is a wicked, conniving monster, always looking for a way in which he might cause trouble, hopefully of a deadly kind. And it was fun when he reveals he'd already created three viruses which can break up the Pakled ship before Rutherford even arrived. And I loved the over-the-top villainy when he activates that ship's self-destruct and the screen is absolutely covered in the red self-destruct logo! But I could do without Badgey or Peanut Hamper, two of the worst characters the series created, almost on a par with evil Georgiou, Burnham, Tilly, Jurati and Chapel as the most awful creations of modern Trek.

All that being said, I did enjoy this episode and it has the most beautiful and dramatic space scenes (assisted in the swooping in of the Titan, by the wonderful 'TNG' film version of the theme music), the series had accomplished in the first season, one reason why I felt it had a lot of potential if they could just tone down some of the content and tone up some of the intelligent writing. Shaxs gets to be the hero, first getting Rutherford over to the Pakled ship, then pushing him off to safety before the place blows (even though he could probably just as easily have jumped on the shuttle - though I suppose the point was the engines didn't work so he had to physically push the craft away), and though it's somewhat undermined when he just shows up good as new in Season 2, I don't think most would mind since he is a fun character (even if we really don't learn anything about Bajorans through him). There's even the first hint of Dr. T'Ana's love for him when everyone's asking Mariner's advice now they know she has the Captain's ear and T'Ana wants to know how the Captain would feel about them being paired off. They set up the Titan as the hero ship early on, saying it's also in range of the Solvang, but Freeman just wants to annoy Dayton by showing up to her rescue instead.

What works best about the episode is it has the air of the 'DS9' Season 1 finale, 'In The Hands of The Prophets' (who actually get a mention when Shaxs is said to be with the Prophets). That also dealt with a difficult situation, one which was resolved, and the characters took stock of their positions with a sense of consolidation and learning for the season. It also doesn't end with a cliffhanger, as if both 'DS9' Season 1 and 'LD' Season 1 didn't know for sure they'd be renewed because they were both doing something different which might not be received well, and if this was to be the only season, it could work: Tendi has grown in confidence (despite her potential for disillusionment after the Exocomp debacle), Rutherford loses his memory, but eagerly awaits whatever comes next (his implant would come to the fore more as the series went on), Mariner has learned to work with her Mother, not against her, and Boimler gets his coveted promotion and transfer to his dream ship, the Titan. It ends happily with the characters in a good place and if this had been it, it would have served as a great point of speculation for what might have been had the series continued, much like 'DS9.' But like 'DS9' I'm very glad the series went on, even if it's been sad news this year that 'LD' will end at five seasons, fifty episodes a fraction of the 176 'DS9' got (although with talk of spinoffs of some kind from Mike McMahan, who knows... And whilst you're at it, make more 'DS9'... Actually probably best not to touch it considering the live action Treks we've been getting...).

The Titan is a beauty of a ship and it was wonderful to finally see her (I don't think they mentioned it's Luna-class, but the series isn't above mentioning such important details since Freeman's offered the Cerritos' repair to be made better and she says she hates it when ships come out looking all Sovereign-class - that's the kind of detail I like to hear in my Trek!). It had been created years ago for the covers of the Titan book series back in the wilderness years of no new Trek (or at least no 24th Century Trek - the novels began when 'Enterprise' was still being produced, though the actual design came from a competition that came to fruition a couple of years after, much like the Enterprise-F was the result of a design competition for the game 'Star Trek Online' and would later become part of canon in 'Picard' Season 3), and while I never particularly liked it, preferring my own ideas of a deep space exploratory ship of vast configuration to match its name (a bit like the Enterprise-J, but maybe not quite so massive as that - oh, how I still want to see the 'J' in action!), it was better than the nothing we got in 'Nemesis' where we were told Riker and Troi (I suppose I should refer to her as Deanna since they're both Riker-Trois now, as revealed in 'Picard' Season 1 - I like that Boimler and others still refer to him as Riker, though, otherwise it would be a bit cumbersome), were moving to that ship, but they never bothered to show it, so what an introduction here, speeding in as a white knight!

Riker and Deanna deserve some notice: they hold the distinction of being the main characters who have appeared in the most Trek series'. They were both in 'TNG' (obviously), Jonathan Frakes was in both 'DS9' and 'Voyager,' Marina Sirtis was in 'Voyager,' they were both in 'Enterprise' (once again: I absolutely love the finale, one of my favourite episodes of the series, and I was even more enamoured with the reference to it in this episode, so there!), and both in 'Picard,' making this the sixth series for Frakes and fifth for Sirtis. That's good going! My only annoyance is that Frakes wasn't in 'DSC' (unless they found a way in the final season, but despite him being a Director there, I doubt it), and is unlikely to be in 'SNW,' but I really wanted him to keep his record of being in every Trek other than 'TOS,' which would be amazing (there's still hope for 'Prodigy'). I appreciated not just Riker and Deanna appearing, and aboard the legendary Titan no less (a period I would have loved to have seen if only the makers could have got their act together in the mid-2000s for a new live action series starring the pair - but not the sitcom idea, I wouldn't have liked that), but that Marina was credited as a Special Guest Star, along with Frakes, undoing the slight of 'Picard' Season 1 where she didn't get that distinction and it felt really off since she's one of the main cast of 'TNG,' the best known and loved iteration of the franchise! 'LD' usually makes right what other modern Treks have done wrong (a bit like 'Quantum Leap'), whether it be the carpeting on starships or the references only the most faithful would get: the Spock helmet toy in this episode, at least I think it's supposed to be that barmy 1970s toy that had no connection to Trek whatsoever, just a bizarre marketing decision of stick the name on anything and they'll buy it! Did Billups put it on in the fight, I didn't notice?

As usual, it's attention to detail, not just references, so if you pay attention to the schematic of the Pakled vessel you see different parts are from different races, so if you recognise the logos for Romulans, Bajorans, Klingons and Ferengi, you know the origin, but there's no text, just the logos. One of the best references is a fourth-wall-breaking moment, or seems like it at first: Ransom calls the time when Kirk, Spock and Scotty were dealing with things like Landru, as the TOS era. Whaaaaaaat??? That's almost as mind-boggling as when Zefram Cochrane said the words 'Star Trek' in 'First Contact'! Fortunately, he's not referring to 'The Original Series' which is what the original Trek came to be known as (though as late as the mid-90s it was still being called 'Classic Star Trek' - see early issues of 'Star Trek Monthly' for proof!), but 'Those Old Scientists,' a monicker that would later be used for the 'LD' crossover with 'SNW' in Season 2 (which I'm getting to soon, anticipating excitedly!). He ties the phrase down to the 2260s specifically, which doesn't make a lot of sense since they'd all be 'TOS' to him, but it's obviously a direct reference to the period of the original, so I can forgive it. Almost as fun is seeing a picture of Kirk and Spock on a PADD in their 'TAS' style, which was lovely - connecting these two animations ever more firmly as they've done so much, and would continue to do (don't forget, it's all non-canon except for what's referenced in other Trek, although does that count for other animation? Now it's getting confusing, even more because animated Trek now represents closer adherence to canon than the terrible deviations and mess-ups that have been done in 'DSC,' 'Picard' and especially 'SNW,' so who knows any more...).

Freeman threatens to paradox Landru into destroying himself, but surely they should just destroy it or put it in that Starfleet vault for errant computers as we'd see in future episodes? She also mentions a theoretical 'Gamester of Triskelion' to add to the 'TOS' references, while Mariner cites Wesley Crusher working with his Mother as proof that situation can work. And we learn that, like Captain Picard Day on the Enterprise, the Cerritos celebrates a Captain Freeman Day, as Rutherford points out how awkward it's going to be this year (now that everyone knows Mariner and the Captain's familial connection). Mariner even throws in one more for 'TNG' at the very end when she threatens to feed Boimler to 'an' Armus for not responding to her messages - does that mean there are more than one of those horrible creatures? It may be a throwaway line, but it means something to us Trekkers (and they know it!). Less specifically, Ransom uses the traditional Trek mode of fighting, rather than the apparent modern preference for martial arts: rolling, jumping, and most importantly, the double-handed punch, providing a running commentary as he bowls through the humungous Pakled invaders, and, typically for him, says he's setting his fists to stun and his kicks to kill! But the best and most potent joke of all has to go to Riker: he shows up on the Titan's Bridge at the end, apologising for being late because he was watching the first Enterprise on the Holodeck, Archer and those guys (and yes, he even goes there with the line about them having a long road getting from there to here, from the famous and divisive theme song of 'Enterprise' - love it!).

It's not just the guest cast, nor is it the sprinkles of well chosen references that suit the episode, nor even the spectacular ship externals in all their light and beauty - the characters themselves are treated well: Mariner completely changes when she decides the only way to ride out the storm of being Captain's daughter and everyone knowing it, is to become the model officer so she can get a transfer. So instead of the traditional rolling up of sleeves and letting the hair down, Mariner, whose sleeves are already unrolled and whose hair is already down, rolls down her sleeves, tidies her hair and starts calling everyone 'Sir.' She put her hands behind her back (just like Dax!), she even copies Boimler's ultra-efficient fast-walking from the early episodes (that minute attention to detail is superb - it happens again when she says no one aboard would be called Jen, and in her last moment 'Jen' tells her to quiet down as they're trying to sleep - brilliant!). But of course it turns out that in a crunch Freeman turns to her daughter for a 'dangerous, half-baked solution that breaks Starfleet codes' and she has to go back to being the typical Mariner we know (and have come to somewhat appreciate - love might be too strong a word!). You know it's a serious situation when Mariner calls her Mother 'Sir,' without any irony, and for once the drama is serious with death and destruction all around. It makes so much more impact when the series is usually about the day-to-day problems of interspecies faux pas or issues with ship operations, to go to the Cerritos being pummelled - again, with the 'epic' serialised Treks there's not enough break in tone to make anything big meaningful. They get it right here.

One of the best ideas was to use an existing race that had never been developed because they were a joke. The Pakleds appeared (or I should say, starred), in only one episode: 'Samaritan Snare' on 'TNG,' though they were seen many times on 'DS9.' They look like dopey computer programmers, overweight and with a cunning simplicity. It would be difficult to treat them seriously in live action, but they were an ideal fit for a series that is a joke in itself. The title of the episode comes from the famous quote of an actor (was it Olivier or Richard Burton, someone like that?), that there are no small parts, only small actors, meaning every role is important if you make it so. This resonates strongly with this series since the whole premise (flawed, it's true), is based on the idea Starfleet has a two-tiered system of starships, where the important ones do all the exploring and make first contacts, while the California-class and its like come in to tidy up and do the 'boring' stuff. I can't say I ever liked that idea because it should all be essential to maintaining peace and goodwill between races and planets, but that's the jokey base the series was built on, and so it was good to see that they can be integral, too. It could also be applied to the Pakleds themselves since they are clearly of little brain (they assume every Federation ship they meet is the Enterprise!), turning them on their head to be dangerous and powerful out of the blue (and I love that they recreate the tiny original Pakled ship from 'TNG,' as we see when Boimler's recapping their MO of trapping vessels, only now it's just part of the configuration that makes up this super ship).

Looking back over the season I have come to appreciate it more, if not significantly more than when I first saw it in 2022. Having come around to it in Season 2, I was eager to go back over the first season just to see how it came out compared to later episodes, and it was more uneven, though in fairness the series is uneven even in its best seasons. I still feel they made wrong choices in a lot of ways, I often feel how good this would be if the humour was dialled back and the seriousness brought to the fore. Imagine it like that and in live action as the first of the modern era of Trek and I would have got on board with it much quicker and it would certainly have been a superior way to kick off Trek back in series form, much better than 'DSC.' But maybe we needed 'DSC' and 'Picard' in order for 'LD' to have something to kick against, and taking us back to a much more Berman era aesthetic and style might not have had as much impact as it did following those. It shows that Trek can be true to its past and canon, can even embrace those things while doing new ones, can explore underused established races, and remind us of the incredible beauty and power of starships in the vastness of space. Flawed it is, but it has the merit of being significantly less flawed than the rest of what has been produced. If only they could have done forty-four minute episodes to be even more in keeping with the era they're recreating, that would have been lovely. As it is, I think this episode was the longest for the season at twenty-eight minutes and they managed to pack in a lot. It can't help but be as much Upper Decks as Lower Decks, but they couldn't very well call it 'Somewhere In The Mid-Decks,' could they.

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