Podcasts about checkov

Welcome to another episode of Death Don't Do Fiction, the AIPT Movies podcast! The podcast about the enduring legacy of our favorite movies! It's April, so that means it's time for our “No EscApril” series, where we celebrate the wonder of thrillers! Not quite horror, not quite action, that sweet spot in the middle where danger is afoot, and lives are still on the line! In this week's episode, Alex, Tim, and guest Chrissy Kurpeski discuss Kurt Russell's overlooked 1997 open-road thriller, Breakdown!Checkov's donuts! Truck-based CrossFit! A surprisingly explosive car! Vehicular drama with chills and thrills! Jeep Grand Cherokee product placement! Themes of consumerism and classism! Great, terrifyingly-believable villains! A title with multiple meanings! Jaw-dropping stunts! An incredible score from Basil Poledouris! Unbelievable, paranoia-inducing locations! A real nightmare for those with trust issues! Post-Captain Ron Kurt Russell giving a versatile and terrified "fish out of water" performance! M.C. Gainey taking fashion tips from Lemmy Kilmister! Jack Noseworthy from MTV's Dead at 21!  An escalating story with tension, memorable set pieces, and a deeply satisfying finale from the director of Terminator 3, Jonathan Mostow!In addition, Tim shares his spoiler-free thoughts on the first two Naked Gun movies, while Alex does the same for A Working Man, The Woman in the Yard, Drop, and Freaky Tales!You can find Death Don't Do Fiction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. As always, if you enjoy the podcast, be sure to leave us a positive rating, subscribe to the show, and tell your friends!The Death Don't Do Fiction podcast brings you the latest in movie news, reviews, and more! Hosted by supposed “industry vets,” Alex Harris and Tim Gardiner, the show gives you a peek behind the scenes from three filmmakers with oddly nonexistent filmographies. You can find Alex on Twitter, Bluesky, or Letterboxd @actionharris. This episode's guest, Chrissy Kurpeski, can be found on Instagram @absolutelyicebox or Letterboxd @farthouseflix. Tim can't be found on social media because he doesn't exist. If you have any questions or suggestions for the Death Don't Do Fiction crew, they can be reached at aiptmoviespod@gmail.com, or you can find them on Twitter or Instagram @aiptmoviespod.Theme song is “We Got it Goin On” by Cobra Man.

One of the most extraordinary picks we've made, probably ever, on the show! This week, we review an emergent absurdist talk show, focussing on the life of the Glurons - a post-human race of critters set in a future world, but most creatively uses generative AI tools.  Its outstanding quality is, however, the writing.  Check out our review and pick up the links mentioned on our show notes blog post on the Completely Machinima website (link below).1:27 A first for a machinima show: Unanswered Oddities by Neural Viz, episode 7 is part of a creative AI series, a talking heads show about a future race of hoomankind called The Glurons – introducing the show8:50 The quality of the writing is outstanding, the workflow and creative pipeline discussed16:36 How were the characters appearing to be from the same race created using genAI?21:23 What the hell, Phil? Checkov!Credits -Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien ValentineProducer: Ricky GroveEditor: Phil RiceMusic: Animo Domini Beats

This week we review the season four episode Atonement.Sarah wonders if the warrior caste has been playing pickle ball for the last thousand years, Joe thinks G'Kar's eye is the new Checkov's gun, and Mike notes that what happens at the Drazi party stays at the Drazi party. Music from this episode:"Surf Punk Rock" By absentrealities is licensed under CC-BY 3.0"Please Define The Error" By Delta Centauri is licensed under CC-BY 3.0"The Haunted McMansion" By Megabit Melodies is licensed under CC-BY 3.0

Welcome to another episode of Death Don't Do Fiction, the AIPT Movies podcast! The podcast about the enduring legacy of our favorite movies! It's January, so that means it's time for our “Uncannuary” series! Where we cover movies that feature superheroes or vigilantes, either adapted from comics or created specifically for the big screen! In this week's episode, Alex, Tim, and Matt discuss Alec Baldwin's bizarre foray into the 90s superhero craze, The Shadow!Insane city sets and miniatures! Fun SFX and VFX! Amusing face prosthetics that make Alec Baldwin look like his brother William! A celebration of 1930s art deco style! Mind control! Crazy eyes! Cultural appropriation and weird, long fingernails! A heroic opium baron? A whole bunch of split diopter shots! Face-removal nightmares! Mid-conversation sponsored ads for Brooks Brothers! Checkov's color blindness!  A creepy, living knife! A giant, hidden building! Secret passages, mirror hall fights, and trap floors! A wonderful score from Jerry Goldsmith! Kinetic direction from Highlander's Russell Mulcahy! A committed cast that includes a less-old-looking Ian McKellen, a sweaty Tim Curry, the dad from Alf, and John Lone! All that and more in this campy post-Batman '89 pulp hero adventure that was seemingly influenced by its own homages, such as Sam Raimi's Darkman!In addition, Tim and Alex share their spoiler-free thoughts on Netflix's Carry-on, while Alex does the same for Nosferatu, Werewolves, and John Woo's divisive 2002 war epic, Windtalkers!You can find Death Don't Do Fiction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. As always, if you enjoy the podcast, be sure to leave us a positive rating, subscribe to the show, and tell your friends!The Death Don't Do Fiction podcast brings you the latest in movie news, reviews, and more! Hosted by supposed “industry vets,” Alex Harris, Tim Gardiner, and Matt Paul, the show gives you a peek behind the scenes from three filmmakers with oddly nonexistent filmographies. You can find Alex on Twitter, Bluesky, or Letterboxd @actionharris. Matt is a terrific artist that you can find on Instagram @no_wheres_ville. Tim can't be found on social media because he doesn't exist. If you have any questions or suggestions for the Death Don't Do Fiction crew, they can be reached at aiptmoviespod@gmail.com, or you can find them on Twitter or Instagram @aiptmoviespod.Theme song is “We Got it Goin On” by Cobra Man.

"It was... fun." Star Trek: Generations turns 30 (!) years old this week (on Nov. 18) and Scott and Phil can't believe that or the fact that we didn't mark the occasion by doing our usual joke/reference to Checkov and Kirk's "No, you were younger" exchange.But what we did do was mine the memory banks to repost our fascinating Generations commentary track, recorded with our good friend Matt Fowler. Here, we break down the making of the first Star Trek: The Next Generation movie and the first encounter between Captains Kirk and Picard.Speaking of Captain Kirk, we also passionately weigh in on Jim Kirk's resurrection-ish in the new "Unification" short film. Also, we celebrate the career and life of another Star Trek great that recently passed away, Tony Todd.

This week, Simon, Ben, and Eugene discuss the Doctor's sexuality and changes in the representation of sexuality on Doctor Who, Gatwa singing the same pitch as Gene Wilder, and Checkov's psychic earrings as we look at the #DoctorWho episode #Rogue.

The Misters an in an alternate location this week and it's caused some technical issue. Soldiering on the boys discuss the upcoming Blockbuster season (May to July) and discuss whether it's better to go all in with Ryan Reynolds or Ryan Gosling. Mr Birch also looks at movie tropes and Checkov's Gun comes under the spotlight today. And Tivo. So many references to Tito. And yes, there is a real button and no, he did not get to push it. Outro music by Hidden Citizens and there rest, well it went a bit wrong. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasyfilmleague/message

In another episode of "shortcut to the classics," P&C plus special guest Longinus review a few short stories by Anton Checkov (starting at 3:25). After a quick review of his life, they review and discuss five short stories. The Black Monk is a story about Andrei Kovrin, an intellectual who experiences a mental breakdown that leads to hallucinations of a black monk. In The House with the Mezzanine a young painter becomes enamored of two temperamentally different sisters during his stay at a country house. The Peasants explores the harsh reality of peasant life in Russia, following Nikolai Chikildeev who, as a result of sickness, has to leave his Moscow job to live with his poor family. Gooseberries is a strange story about a man who is so consumed with achieving his dream that he is indifferent to the sufferings of others. In The Lady with the Toy Dog recounts a love affair by a player -- Dmitri Gurov -- who "fooled around and fell in love" with Anna Sergeyevna, a married woman he met on vacation in Yalta. The affair seems to have come to an end, but Dmitri pursues Anna to the city.

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by Matthew J.C. Clark, author of Bjarki, Not Bjarki: On Floorboards, Love, and Irreconcilable Differences, which is published by our friends at the University of Iowa Press.  Topics of conversation include Maine, floorboards, the correlation between possession of material goods and personal happiness, Checkov, the Tree of Liberty and its need to be refreshed by the blood of patriots, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, January 6th, guns, Al Gore, and much more.  Copies of Bjarki, Not Bjarki can be purchased here with FREE SHIPPING for members of Explore More+.  More on Matthew here: https://www.matthewjcclark.com/

Here we are. We're Creechin', baby! The final tentpole of the Classic Universal Monster series is here! Join James & Gary as they put on their trunks & aqualungs, grab Checkov's speargun, and wade into the Black Lagoon to talk about Michael "Creech" Gelman! Follow us on Instagram ⁠⁠⁠@monsterrallypod⁠⁠⁠ Buy some merch at our ⁠⁠⁠TeePublic ⁠⁠⁠shop! Please give us a follow & leave a like and/or review. It'll only take you mere seconds but would mean the world to us. #creaturefromtheblacklagoon #creature #blacklagoon #creech #universalmonsters #universalhorror #classicmonsters #50sbmovies #creaturefeature #3dhorror #driveinmovie #horror #moviepodcasts #monsterrallypodcast #monsterrally Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Walter Koenig — actor, director, screenwriter, novelist, acting professor, and comic book creator — played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the orignal Star Trek begining with Season 2.Born in Manhattan in 1936 to Lithuanian Russian Jewish parents, Koenig was bitten by the acting bug early in his youth. He studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, where he worked with fellow students James Caan, Elizabeth Ashley, and Dabney Coleman. His stage career spans 30 years and includes stops in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and many other cities. He appeared in many plays and television shows of the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the Mr. Novak series, and even produced and wrote his own feature film in 1967, I Wish I May. And then in 1967 came Chekov.Koenig of course has also played Chekov in the first seven of the big screen Star Trek films and played the recurring character of Alfred Bester in the TV series Babylon 5. Aside from two genre roles, he has appeared in 40 different TV series and television movies, including "Anthony and Cleopatra" starring Timothy Dalton and Lynn Redgrave.A natural writer, Koenig has written for the television shows

It is time for a Big Tent Revival where Mulder will run after the image of his sister while Scully does her best to prove that no miracles happened in the state of Tennessee. Meanwhile, many grasshoppers will feast on potatoes and a Sheriff will lie to his Checkov's Wife. It's Season 1, Episode 18: Miracle Man.Producer LaToya Ferguson gives "Miracle Man" a scary rating of 1/5 Hallelujah, Praise GodsX-FILES THEME IN A MAJOR KEYhttps://embed.tumblr.com/embed/post/-nzMCq_4KTRZXkjzpCjj5A/128530651755STREAM "TOOMS" LIVE FROM BROOKLYNhttps://www.bufferingcast.com/streamLOCATE YOUR HOSTS UPON THE INTERNETJenny Owen Youngs | @jennyowenyoungs; jennyowenyoungs.comKristin Russo | @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.comBuffering: A Rewatch Adventure | @bufferingcast on twitter, facebook, and instagramMUSICTheme song and jingles all composed and performed by Jenny Owen Youngs.PATREONpatreon.com/bufferingcastMERCHbufferingthevampireslayer.com/shop+++Produced by: Kristin Russo, Jenny Owen Youngs, and LaToya FergusonEdited & Mixed by: John Mark Nelson and Kristin RussoLogo: Devan Power+++We acknowledge that we and our team are occupying unceded and stolen lands and territories. Kristin occupies the Lenape territories of the Esopus Lenape Peoples. Jenny occupies the Wabanahkik territory of the Abenaki and Pennacook Peoples.Learn more about Land Acknowledgments + our continued anti-racist efforts atbufferingthevampireslayer.com/justkeepfighting

It is time for a Big Tent Revival where Mulder will run after the image of his sister while Scully does her best to prove that no miracles happened in the state of Tennessee. Meanwhile, many grasshoppers will feast on potatoes and a Sheriff will lie to his Checkov's Wife. It's Season 1, Episode 18: Miracle Man. Producer LaToya Ferguson gives "Miracle Man" a scary rating of 1/5 Hallelujah, Praise Gods X-FILES THEME IN A MAJOR KEY https://embed.tumblr.com/embed/post/-nzMCq_4KTRZXkjzpCjj5A/128530651755 STREAM "TOOMS" LIVE FROM BROOKLYN https://www.bufferingcast.com/stream LOCATE YOUR HOSTS UPON THE INTERNET Jenny Owen Youngs | @jennyowenyoungs; jennyowenyoungs.com Kristin Russo | @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.com Buffering: A Rewatch Adventure | @bufferingcast on twitter, facebook, and instagram MUSIC Theme song and jingles all composed and performed by Jenny Owen Youngs. PATREON patreon.com/bufferingcast MERCH bufferingthevampireslayer.com/shop +++ Produced by: Kristin Russo, Jenny Owen Youngs, and LaToya Ferguson Edited & Mixed by: John Mark Nelson and Kristin Russo Logo: Devan Power +++ We acknowledge that we and our team are occupying unceded and stolen lands and territories. Kristin occupies the Lenape territories of the Esopus Lenape Peoples. Jenny occupies the Wabanahkik territory of the Abenaki and Pennacook Peoples. Learn more about Land Acknowledgments + our continued anti-racist efforts at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/justkeepfighting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hoppothetically is BACK!! (again) Zach Russell joins us for a fun episode!! I'm going to be honest, this one was a little edge-lordy...even for us! I think you'll still enjoy it though! If you want to hear the full episode AND support us, check out our Patreon. We really appreciate it! https://www.patreon.com/Hoppothetically 0:00 Intro 7:55 How would you make Peter Pan grow up? 12:34 What if Beauty was ONLY into Beast while hairy? 18:13 What if you had to invent a brand new P*** Category? 26:29 What if you found Checkov's dildo on the shelf? 29:07 What if people had factory reset buttons? #comedypodcast #funnypodcast #comedians In this eisode - Nick Hopping + Nathan Hopping + Zach Russell

Today, we're looking at the final episode of Star Trek Continues. "To Boldly Go. Part 2." So how does this episode hold up against other series finales such as "All Good Things" and "What You Leave Behind". And how well does this episode tie together Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. There's a lot to talk about, including some cool stories shared with me by director James Kerwin. Audio Player control at bottom of page. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I'm Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a Nerd. This is episode 107 of the podcast. Today, we're talking about the final episode of Star Trek Continues. “To Boldly Go, Part 2.” bringing our coverage of this show to a close.   The description on IMDB reads The iconic mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise comes to an end, as Kirk and his crew battle the ultimate adversary.   This teleplay was written by Robert J. Sawyer and James Kerwin. With story by Vic Mignogna, Robert J. Sawyer and James Kerwin. It was directed by James Kerwin And it first aired on the 13th of November 2017.   We pick up in a very tense situation from last episode's great cliffhanger. Kirk is unwilling to relinquish his bridge. He, Spock, and Uhura all try to fight back. To no avail. Even the security officer's phasers are useless against Lana's powers.   And then the big surprise twist happens. Smith's eyes go silver. She is uplifted as well. This was nicely foreshadowed in the last episode where they mentioned that she was holding Garry's hand when they passed through the barrier. I felt then, that she was holding something back. She uses the same lightning force powers that Lana was using. We saw Gary Mitchel and Elizabeth Denher use them in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. She forces Lana and Sentek to retreat to the Kongo.   So … it seems Smith wasn't quite so unaffected as she claimed. I think this is a very cool development. But it raises a lot of questions. Where does Smith sit in the esper scale? Has she always been affected, but has been hiding it, or have her powers only just now manifested. And if so, why?   Kirk asks security to escort her to sickbay. At first, she's taken aback. After all, she's one of the good guys right. She helped them against Lana. But after a moment of thought, she relents. It's probably a good idea. She understands the potential threat she represents. She sees things from Kirk's point of view. Maybe she'd even do the same thing in his place. She voluntarily goes with security.   The big question is, why are they just sitting there. Why have they not destroyed the Enterprise and her crew? McCoy has the answer. It takes time for uplifted  espers to grow in their powers. Perhaps they're biding their time until they all reach full strength.   Bones has a medical defence that might help with the illusions. Scotty recommends keeping their distance as the espers don't have unlimited range with their powers. The Kongo's engines are offline. The crew must have shut it off before they were overpowered. Maybe the espers don't know how to get them going again.   Kirk hasn't slept for two days. McCoy doesn't argue. Usually Kirk would be wrong, but not this time. He needs to keep going. I'm not sure McCoy is right, actually. As Riker says in Best of Both Worlds, you can't fight the enemy at the same time you're fighting your own fatigue. Lack of sleep impairs human decision making. I know my mind is absolutely useless after putting in a day of work, and Kirk has been going much longer than that. Yes, the situation is critical, but for the moment, it's quiet, This might be the perfect time for Kirk to catch 30 minutes of sleep while the enemy regroups. Of course, there's a lot to accomplish while they have this time. Coming up with defences, a plan of some sort. There are no good or easy answers, which is probably why McCoy is not arguing with him.   In five years, 73 people have died under Kirk's command. He remembers the exact number. Of course he would.   McCoy says “we'll stop them” but that's not the point. “At what cost, Doctor?” Kirk asks. That's what's really on his mind. It's fitting for Kirk to reflect back on the cost of his five year mission as it's nearing its end. Especially at a moment like this, when it looks like that cost is about to skyrocket. But there's more to it, as we'll soon discover.   McKenna goes to see Smith. Everyone is afraid of her. Understandably. Contact with Gary, at the time of his uplifting left some residual energy in her. She didn't uplift at the time, probably because she doesn't have the psi rating necessary. But her proximity to the barrier now has reactivated that residual energy enough to uplift her.   Smith has developed telepathy. She can read McKenna's mind. She can feel the power flowing through her, but she claims to not be dangerous. She would never hurt anybody.   But McKenna can't know that for sure. Gary shows early signs of megalomania quite quickly. Denher much less so. She still retained her humanity despite temptation to the contrary. Why?   Was it that Denher was intrinsically a better person? What is because Denher had a lower psi rating than Gary? If that's the case, it looks good for Smith as she seems to have a lower rating still.   So far, it's looking like Smith has a good chance of keeping her humanity long term. But there are no guarantees here. We just just don't know.   Charvanek comes to see Spock. It seems she is still trying to pursue a relationship with him. A relationship he was tempted to enter into in the past, but resisted.   She asks Spock to come with her when her ship departs. The mission of the Enterprise is almost over. His job is complete. It's a logical time to make a change in his life. She tempts him with the promise of unification between Romulans and Vulcans. A promise that will consume him a century from now. But why would a Romulan commander want reunification? She is as he would want her to be, not as she truly is. This is not Charvanek. When Spock resists the illusion, it disappears.   Other illusions are being used against the crew. An order to Checkov to lower shields and head into the barrier. Even Kirk's preoccupation with the deaths of crew under his command.   I'm glad these moments were included. The greatest weapon Lana's espers have is their mental abilities. Their ability to confuse and manipulate the crew of the Enterprise. They should be using it every change they get. Probably a lot more than we see on screen. With that many espers, and so many on board the Enterprise susceptible to them, it's actually a miracle they don't blow up their own ship.   This is one weakness I see in Deep Space Nine, actually. Now DS9 is my favourite of all the Star Trek shows, and I love everything to do with the Dominion War and the changelings. But their greatest strength was not the military might of their ships, or the fighting acumen of the Jem Hadar. Their greatest weapon was the ability to infiltrate the Federation. We saw a little hint of the potential they possessed in Homefront and Paradise Lost. And that was only 4 changelings. They should have used these infiltration tactics a lot more during the war. We know the blood screenings were not entirely effective. The Federation wouldn't have stood a chance.   The reason I bring all this up is just to praise this episode for including these scenes.   The battle begins. The Kongo fires on the Enterprise. The starboard nacelle is damaged. The Romulans join the fight but then move off.   The espers might need a minute to recharge their powers.   The nacelle needs 30 minutes to repair. Kirk orders a risky cold restart. The esper's powers cannot deflect multiple simultaneous strikes. But two vectors will not be enough. Three would do the job, but they don't have a third ship….or do they?   Kirk orders the crew to prepare for a risky procedure. One they have never before attempted. Scotty will re-start the engines. They will separate the saucer from the Stardrive. Spock will command the saucer. Kirk, the secondary hull.   Obviously, this is something that TNG did, but TOS never did.  I was already aware that Gene Roddenberry had intended that the TOS Enterprise be able to separate. They didn't really have the budget to make it a reality until Encounter at Farpoint. What I didn't realise, until it was pointed out by James Kerwin, is that Kirk referred to the process, which they called “Jettisoning”, not “Separating” in two different TOS episodes. “The Apple” and “Savage Curtain”.   Spock points out that it will be very difficult to re-integrate the ship after this. But not impossible I like this approach. It shows that while yes, the original Enterprise COULD separate the two sections, it wasn't a routine operation like on the Enterprise D. It's a last resort. Not necessarily indeed to be undone. Kirk describes it as “jettisoning the stardrive section.” So it's not the same as in TNG.  I like this a lot.   This gives the final episode of Star Trek Continues quite an epic feel. Now they can conduct a three-pronged attack on the Kingo.   And it's working. The Kongo's power is decreasing.   Kirk is commanding the stardrive section from Auxilary control, which was seen from time to time in the original series. The set was built for episode 3 “Fairest of Them All”.  Director James Kerwin shared a story with me. The Auxilary control set was re-assembled for the finale, not having been used in a couple of years. But the buttons and lights on the helm console had deteriorated due to humidity and dust. They no longer worked, and they had to film in two days.   Kermin checked the travel manifest and realised that Grant Imahara, who played Sulu, was flying in that day. Grant was an electrical engineer by trade. Kermin called him on his mobile phone and said “Grant, I'm so sorry, I know you have a day off before you need to film, but could you please come to set now and try to repair the auxiliary control helm console? He gladly did so and made it work beautifully. So when we see Sulu pressing the aux control helm buttons, and the lights on the console flashing, that was Grant's work.   The Kongo hails the Enterprise. We hear some ominous music. Music that is very reminiscent of the score from Star Trek The Motion Picture. A very nice touch.   This episode was the third time Andy Farber wrote and recorded original music for the show. Starting to integrate some themes from The Motion Picture was a deliberate charge from Mignongna to Farber. This episode is, afterall, the missing gap between TOS and TMP. A handing of the torch. What he did was incredible. He weaved these different styles of music together in an impressive and wonderful way. You hear it clearly during the saucer separation.   What made this extra special was the inclusion of Craig Huxley. This man has deep connections to Star Trek. He played Peter James Kirk - the nephew of James Kirk, and also appeared in the episode “and the children shall lead.” He invented a very unique musical instrument that featured heavily in the score of Star Trek The Motion Picture. The blaster beam. The longest stringed instrument ever. You probably know what I'm talking about. The score for TMP had these deep resonant sounds like nothing you've heard before or since. Those sounds came from this unique instrument. Jerry Goldsmith discovered this instrument and wanted to use it in his score. It was also used in Star Trek 2 and 3, and even Back to The future and Alien. I was surprised to hear that, because to me, those sounds are uniquely synonymous with The Motion Picture.   They brought Huxley back to perform some blaster box for the score of this episode, and man does it make a difference. It impacts me on such an emotional level, because of the link to The Motion Picture.   The Kongo's original crew, including their captain, are alive in the cargo bay. Lana is going to use them as leverage to negotiate.   They want McKenna to beam aboard the Kongo, in exchange for the Kongo's captain. If she doesn't they'll decompress the hanger deck. It's a classic prisoner exchange, like in Generations. But who will it benefit most? McKenna is willing to go. Sentek gives only one minute. Spock tries to contact Kirk but Uhura can't get through the interference.   McKenna is trained in mediation. She can find a way to a win-win situation.   Spock is in command. He has to make a decision. This could be a deception. The Kongo crew may not even be there. McKenna urges Spock to listen to his feelings, rather than his logic. Interestingly, I would have thought that his emotions would want him to protect McKenna, his friend. But he relents and agrees to the exchange. Mckenna for Captain Azmi.   This raises the important question of why they want McKenna so much.   As soon as McKenna beams away, it is revealed that the lifesigns were an illusion. There are no crew to be saved. Sentek lied. When Spock confronts him about this, saying Vulcans never lie, Sentek says they both know that is not true. And I can't argue with that. They now have a valuable hostage. One for whom Spock has affection. And that may be motivation enough for the espers wanting the exchange.   Lana orders Spock to stand down or McKenna will die. Spock agrees.   The Kongo warps out of the system.   Can things possibly get any worse?   Lana brings food to McKenna, which gives her the opportunity to try to reason with her. McKenna says there is room for everyone in the Federation. She'll do all she can to help them find acceptance. Lana points out that time after time, humanity has turned its back on self-improvement. After all they've done, Lana knows there is no place for her and her people in the Federation. She may be right. I can't imagine many in the Federation would be keen to welcome these people, given the danger they possess.   Lana sees her and her people as humanity's successors. She doesn't want to assimilate into the Federation. She wants to replace it.   With help from the Romulans, the Enterprise has been re-attached into one piece. They're now in pursuit, but they're a long way behind.   Starfleet has requested help from both the Klingons and the Romulans. Both have said no. McCoy's medical defence is ready to help them focus. This is important for the story, because otherwise, sooner or later, someone on the ship would succumb to an illusion. The good guys have to have a chance to succeed at some point. Uhura has a way to circumvent the esper's subspace disruption, so they'll be able to communicate and coordinate.   The Enterprise will be working with the Exeter and the Potempkin. The only other two constitution class ships in service.   Spock apologises for his recent decision. Kirk confirms he would have done the same thing in his place. Smith wants to help. Kirk isn't convinced it's a good idea. Her power is growing quickly. But is her ego growing with the power? There seems to be no evidence of that so far.   Five years ago, Smith watched Kirk make impossible choices to protect his crew. That set something in motion in her.  He showed her what it means to serve.   Originally a yeoman, Smith left and got her commission so she could return to the Enterprise and serve her crew. This is what she's meant to do - help. Either Smith is a very good actor, or she is still herself. Still a good person. It's a great speech and a very nice character moment for Smith.   If things weren't already bad enough, it seems the Exeter and Potempkin have both been destroyed. They fired on each other. The espers powers of illusion have grown significantly. Probably greater even than what Gary's were before he died.   This episode is doing a fantastic job of taking the tension and ramping it up further and then further.   Uhura and Spock have come up with another way to shield the Enterprise from the illusory power of the espers. It will be limited, but might buy them some time.   But without the other two ships, time to do what?   When they see the Kongo on screen, we hear another booming note from the blaster beam. So effective.   Smith is going to try to use her powers to force her way through the Kongo's shields in order to beam over there.   Kongo has started firing. Spock has located McKenna. Smith is on it. The scene where she storms into the Kongo engine room and throws the espers aside is awesome. She has become a powerful superhero and I love it. Who would have thought, looking at the character in Star Trek's second pilot, that she would end up here. But now it's two against one, and their powers have had a lot more time to grow than hers. As they zap her, her eyes seem to dim. So she starts to fire all her power into the ship's engines. The espers run. Her eyes fade to normal. Her lifesigns are gone. She used the last of her energy to burn out the Kongo's systems.   And this brings the story of Smith to an end. She dies a hero. She fulfils her dreams. She is able to serve in the most powerful way, doing what nobody else could have done.   When I think back on this episode, I always remember another death, that we'll talk about shortly. But after this time through, Smith's death will stick with me just as much, maybe even more. This death is just as emotionally impactful. This is the moment when the good guys win.   James Kerwin really enjoyed shooting Smith's sacrifice. He and actress Kipleigh Brown had been working together on film projects for many years, and both started working on Star Trek Continues at the same time, episode 3. He was glad to give the character an honourable send-off.   Not only did Kipleigh Brown write the previous episode, “What Ships are For”, she also wrote Smith's farwell speech to Kirk.   The Romulans are firing killing shots at the Kongo. But they still have someone over there. The Romulans, like their Vulcan cousins, it seems, are very pragmatic in this situation. They're not willing to risk the galaxy just for McKenna.   The visuals of the damages Kongo with it's decks exposed looks awesome. Reminds me of the remastered effects in The Doomsday Machine.   Even Charvanek,who is still aboard the Enterprise, doesn't approve of Tal's actions. Now the Romulan ship is firing at the Enterprise too.   The Enterprise takes some very significant damage. Casualty reports coming from all over the ship. As the saucer is mangled, and sparks flare all over the bridge, we get an epic sense of disaster you wouldn't see in any other episode of TOS. This is the finale. It all ends here. This nicely gives an added reason for the ship to undergo a major refit prior to TMP.   Charvanek disables the weapons on her ship, relieving Tal of his position.   The Kongo hails. They're in bad shape. Even Lana has lost the silver from her eyes. “Well fought, Kirk,” she says. “For a moment we knew the freedom of infinity.”   Their reactor is building up. Scotty needs a minute to beam McKenna out. He doesn't get it. He's half got her, but having  trouble re materialising her. It looks like Spock has done it, but it still doesn't work. Spock's emotions come out as he hits the console.   McKenna is still standing there, shimmering, allowing them to have a tearful goodbye.   Kirk apologises and thanks her.   Spock approaches. It's a painful moment for him. She says something to him, although it isn't overly apparent to me in this scene. We get hints of music from Star Trek 2. Fitting. This scene really tears me apart. McKenna herself seems to have a quiet acceptance of her death. She has a smile that seems to say “Thanks for trying.” She is remarkably brave in the face of her imminent death. Were I in her situation. I'd probably be horrified. McKenna fades away. Dead. It makes narrative sense that McKenna would die in this episode. Over the course of this fourth season, she has become an important part of the show. Part of this family. It makes no sense that she wouldn't be around in the movies. It's logical that she would die. I guess the same is true for Smith. And in a story of this magnitude, there needs to be loss. There has to be a price for victory.   In the end, McKennma's death was kind of senseless. She wasn't able to make a difference, although it does serve an important story purpose as we'll see in a minute. But Smith's death was critical to their victory. They never would have won without her. In a very real sense, she is the hero of this story.   The Enterprise crawls home on its hands and knees. She has come home. But it's not the triumphant moment they had anticipated. Their recent losses, how close they came to disaster, it all weighs heavily on them. Kirk's log is spoken with a very sombre voice. We see the spacedock in orbit, where she'll stay until her refit is complete and Kirk takes her out to confront V'ger.   We see a TOS shuttle fly over the golden Gate Bridge in a scene that otherwise could have come from the motion picture.   Admiral Nogura, who we hear about in the motion picture, but never see, congratulates Kirk on completing his five year mission, and on saving the galaxy. It's cool to have that character appear in this episode.   In the show, we didn't see the Enterprise crew saving the entire galaxy. They tended to deal with smaller scale issues most of the time. But it's very fitting that they have faced and overcome such a threat in their final story.   Kirk still feels the cost acutely. Based on Kirk's experiences with McKenna, Kirk calls the experimental counsellor program a success. It should continue. Starfleet ships from now on will have counsellors on board.   Kirk looks at a series of models, from Cochrane's Phoenix, to the NX-01, We see the USS Discovery, the constitution class, and finally, the constitution refit, as the TMP theme starts to play.   I get goosebumps.   Now, potentially, Discovery shouldn't be seen here, as that ship was classified when it travelled into the future. Of course, Discovery season 1 was brand new when this episode was made, so that canon hadn't been established yet. Personally, I think it's not out of the question for an admiral to still have a crossfield class model in his office. It was still a part of Starfleet history. Nogura would have been active in Starfleet during the time of Discovery. And I think it's worth it for the emotional resonance of seeing it in the lineup. It's nicely ties old and new Trek together.   The Enterprise will be refit from the keel up. The crew will be given promotions. And the Federation council has voted to reinstate the enterprise Delta as the official insignia of Starfleet.   Kirk says Scotty always thought it reminded him of the port and starboard warp signatures of Cochrane deceleration. I can't help but wonder if this is a nod to the novel Star Trek Federation. To Kirk, it's an arrow. Rising upward and outward.   I was never a fan of the alternate insignias for other ships, and I believe, neither was Rodennberry. I remember reading somewhere, and I don't remember where, so take this with a grain of salt, but I seem to remember Roddenberry wanted the crew of other ships to have the familiar delta, but the costume designer kept making new insignias, probably because he wanted to express his creativity.   For me, this is a part of canon I tend to try to ignore. It's clear that in most of Star Trek, the delta is intended to be the logo for all of Starfleet, and always has been. But, those alternate insignias are part of canon. And they were further canonised by both Enterprise and Strange New Worlds. Later Star Trek established the delta was used as the general Starfleet logo both prior to Kirk's five year mission, and again afterwards.   James Kerwin resolved this by having Nogura say that in honour of the Enterprise, they were RE-establishing the delta as the official starfleet logo.   This episode makes it all work here in a fitting way.   Kirk is questioning whether his time has ended. He is not the same person he was. He's suffered a lot of loss. His preoccupation with the loss of people under his command may have been brought on by the espers, but these feelings are real. He expects more of himself than he's able to give any longer. He could never be happy with that.   This makes him more receptive to what Nogura is about to offer him.   We see the Enterprise crew assembled in the same room where Kirk briefs them in TMP. It's fascinating seeing those colourful TOS uniforms in a background plate that looks like it's taken directly from TMP. I do love the transitional moments like this.   Kirk emerges in his motion picture admiral uniform. Like most people, I'm not a big fan of the TMP uniforms, but the one exception is Kirk's admiral uniform. I like that a lot. I kinda wish the movie had just used that uniform for everyone.   Kirks makes a speech. He has been promoted to admiral and chief of Starfleet operations. That's the bad news. The good news is that they will continue to reach deeper into the stars. Explore more new worlds. Venturing further into the final frontier.   Our greatest adversaries, he says, are ourselves. We have much to learn about what's out there, but also about what's in here. The experience with the espers has cemented that lesson.   Now the music goes full TMP.   The next thing the episode needs to do is set up where McCoy and Spock will be at the start of the movie.   McCoy says he's done. He's seen enough death. What he hasn't seen is his daughter in five years. He's leaving Starfleet and going home. I feel that McCoy's departure hasn't been as well set up as Spocks, which we'll get to in a minute. But his reasons are sound. Particularly the family thing 5 years is a very long time to not see your child. We don't know the exact details of his family in the prime universe canon, but it has been established through the years, particularly in books, that McCoy had a family. The Kelvin movies made his marriage and divorce canon. I can't begin to imagine not seeing your child for five years, but I applaud him for doing something about it now. This works really quite well for me, but I think it would work even better had there been a little more foreshadowing through the season. Seeing McCoy start to lament the lost time with his daughter. Realising how great that cost had become.   Of course, this isn't the end of their friendship. And there's a nice little nod to Drake. There's an acknowledgement of the awkward but strong friendship that exists between Spock and Bones when he invites Spock to join them.   Spock tells Jim what McKenna said to him before she was lost in the transporter beam. “Forgive yourself.”   A difficult thing. McKenna encouraged Spock to pay attention to his emotions. He did so. He made an emotional decision, ignored his logic and allowed her to beam over.   That decision cost many lives, including hers.   Spock doesn't know how to deal with the guilt and regret he's feeling. All he knows how to do with emotions is suppress them. And that leads him to make the decision to undergo the Kholinar. He will purge all his remaining emotions.   This whole Kholinar thing seemed to come from nowhere in The Motion Picture. So Spock's arc in this episode makes a whole lot of sense. It retroactively makes Spock's arc in TMP even better. I absolutely love what the episode does here. It's brilliant character work.   Kirk will see his two friends at dinner. But there's one last thing he has to do. He goes to the bridge of the Enterprise. Now shut down and empty. And he looks at it. Says goodbye. While Kirk says goodbye to his command, we say goodbye to a bridge that we will never see again - not in this form.   It's a powerful scene. It holds similar emotional resonance as the poker scene at the end of “All Good Things.”   The episode hangs there. Gives Vic the time just to look and react.   We finish with a captain's log. Kirk's last. At least for now.   Then we pull back on a shot of the Enterprise in spacedock, as the music becomes very TMP sounding.   There is no music over the ending credits, just the ambient sound of the bridge.   This episode does everything a series finale should do, and it does it in style. We had a huge story with epic stakes. Powerful impacts for our characters. A sense of full-circle as we link back to the beginning, and a setting up for what will come after.   I'd put this one right up there with the best of the Star Trek Finales, “All Good Things” and “What you Leave Behind.” This is certainly orders of magnitude better than “Endgame.”   I've loved Star Trek Continues as a whole, but this final two-parter epitomises the reasons I love this show so much.   I have to give a huge congratulations to the cast and crew. To everyone who made this labour of love a reality. This show has a special place in my heart, and I'm deeply grateful to those who created it.   I would like to acknowledge the tragic passing of actor Grant Imahara who played Sulu. He passed away on the 13th of July 2020 at just 49 years of age   I'd like to say a huge thankyou once again, to James Kerwin for reaching out to me, and generously answering my questions and sharing some cool stories. Thanks, James.   Here ends my coverage of Star Trek Continues.   So what next? Well it seems crazy not to jump right into Star Trek The Motion Picture after this. I've covered all the TNG movies on the podcast, but I haven't covered the TOS movies. So I'll make my way through them.   I also have some ideas of things I can do along the way. I've been thinking of revisiting the original Transformers cartoon from the 80s, which I have powerful childhood memories of. See if there's anything in them worthy to discuss as an adult. I'd likely cover more than one episode in a podcast, and probably not go into as much recap detail as I've been doing with Star Trek. The idea is something I can do a little more off-the-cuff. Something that will take less time as I try to focus more on the fiction writing.   I'm also thinking of giving periodic updates on my reading of DC Comics, using the DC Universe Infinite app.    Anyway, there's plenty more to come, so I hope you'll find something of interest in the future of Nerd Heaven.   Until next time, Live Long and Prosper. Make it so.  

DSO Overflow S3EP7Open Source Cloud SecuritywithMatt JohnsonIn this episode, Steve, Jess and I are joined by Matt Johnson, developer advocate at Palo Alto Networks to talk to us about open source cloud security. Matt is a Developer Advocate for all things cloud security and open source at Prisma Cloud (part of Palo Alto). Hobbyist pentester, network and container geek, he specialises in Cloud Infrastructure and developer ecosystem security. Matt introduces us to the Checkov and Yor open source projects and talks about how AI may affect cloud security in the future.Resources mentioned in this podcast:Matt's LinkedIn profileCheckovYorCICD Goat on GitHubKubernetes Goat on GitHubDSO Overflow is a DevSecOps London Gathering production. Find the audio version on all good podcast sources like Spotify, Apple Podcast and Buzzsprout.This podcast is brought to you by our sponsors:  Prisma Cloud,, Apiiro, and SysdigYour HostsSteve Giguere linkedin.com/in/stevegiguereGlenn Wilson linkedin.com/in/glennwilsonJessica Cregg linkedin.com/in/jessicacreggDevSecOps - London GatheringKeep in touch with our events associated with this podcast via our website.For more about DevSecOps - London Gathering check out https://dsolg.com

Episode Show Notes / Description  

This one's kind of like that Checkov's gun thing. But only if Checkov's gun wasn't about paying off the inclusion of a firearm by the end of a movie, and instead it was about paying off a dangerous magical artifact by.. 7 months later.   Welcome to Vibe Proficiency; a D&D podcast about death, the evil inside, and.. collectively deciding you're all about to do something real stupid. I guess.   Follow us on Twitter: @VibeProficiency   Cory Cox (@Cory_Cee) as DM Chandler Bush (@ChandlerLeeBush) as Elwin Tyler Bush (@For6idden) as Kadmist Casey Guinee (@CaseuhDilluh_) as Kira Becca Helme (@Becca_Helme) as Meira Kelly Rivera (@Picodekelly) as Harp

A deadly chewed rhubarb leaf Photo by Mark Scherzer “It’s just like Checkov’s gun!” Steve practically hooted into the telephone. As if my call was all about the plot of some comedic play, and not serious business. It was not... Read More ›

A deadly chewed rhubarb leaf Photo by Mark Scherzer "It's just like Checkov's gun!" Steve practically hooted into the telephone. As if my call was all about the plot of some comedic play, and not serious business. It was not exactly the reaction I expected after I called him to say I was afraid I might have killed Doodle, the sweet lamb who was rejected by his mother at birth while Steve was minding the farm last July, and has bonded with us human caregivers, Steve in particular, ever since. To be fair, Steve didn't hoot derisively until he had figured out, through an extended discussion of the circumstances, that Doodle's demise was highly unlikely. I had told him that I had been doing chores Tuesday evening and was transferring a cartload of compost to the vegetable garden with Doodle in my company, as is typically the case when I'm near the barn. I wanted to dump some nourishment on a planting bed I was preparing near the rhubarb patch. And before I knew it, I saw out of the corner of my eye Doodle munching on a rhubarb leaf. Knowing that rhubarb leaves are poisonous to humans, I yelled out and ran over, trying unsuccessfully to get whatever he was munching out of his mouth, and rushed him out of the garden. Extremely concerned, I immediately texted Gillian, the wonderful vet, who is particularly expert in sheep matters. She texted me back right away, confirming that rhubarb leaves are poisonous to sheep too. They can cause sudden kidney failure and death soon after ingestion, or kidney problems in the following days. She advised that I should give Doodle 60 ml of mineral oil by mouth to prevent absorption and that in the following days I should monitor his urination to be sure he was not developing kidney stones. (To be honest, I wasn't quite sure how I would do this. I am rarely around to see Doodle urinate, and I'm not sure if I followed him for a couple of hours I would see him pee, or would know if the quantity or quality of urine was different from normal.) Fortuitously, I knew I had some mineral oil, because I had come across a container the day before in the garage. I'm not sure why I had it originally or why it was in the garage, but I was able to get it right away and measure out 60 ml into one of the baby bottles that I had previously used to feed Doodle his milk replacer. I used a nipple with an exceptionally large opening, in the expectation that I might have to pour it down his throat. I didn't have to, because at 9 months old he still remembered exactly how to drink from a baby bottle once I got it in his mouth. But because of the large opening, during the process of getting it into his mouth a fair proportion of it had dripped out on my hand. Determined that I had to give him more quickly, I headed back to the house. It helped expedite matters that Doodle was all too happy to tag along with me. We walked right into the kitchen, and he took the bottle with the additional 20 ml of mineral oil without complaint. "People kill the things they love," was the refrain that went continuously through my mind. I was extremely concerned, so I googled as much as I could quickly find about sheep and rhubarb leaves. I was pleased to find several accounts of people whose sheep had ingested rhubarb leaves without apparent consequences, and to find that in order for the oxalic acid in rhubarb leaves to have significant effect on a human being, one would have to eat about 2 lbs of leaves. Even extrapolating down to Doodle's size of about 35 lbs, it began to seem highly unlikely that the small portion of one rhubarb leaf he had been able to eat in the less than a minute we were there could do him significant damage. Though my fears were somewhat quelled, I felt compelled to let Steve know about the situation. While I play the parental role on a daily basis, it was Steve who cared for him right after birth, got Gillian involved to save him from certain death back then, and who comes closest to being Doodle's birth mother. A couple of weeks ago, while Steve was again visiting, it was remarkable to see how they communed, with Doodle nuzzling him and seeming to try to nurse on Steve's shirt. If I were to cause Doodle's death, I don't think Steve would forgive me. I was relieved that once he heard the whole story and determined that Doodle was in no real danger, Steve saw the comedy in the situation. And he really let me have it. "You know how Chekhov displays that gun innocently at the beginning of Uncle Vanya, and you just know that the gun is going to go off later on? Well," he said, "this is the same thing. Every goddamned time we go to the vegetable garden, you point out to me that the leaves on the rhubarb are poisonous. Every time. As if you think I'd eat them! You were basically setting it up that something had to happen with those leaves, and that something finally happened. Thank God, just like in Uncle Vanya, nobody really got hurt." Not that Steve hasn't asked for daily reports on Doodle's condition ever since. But as I've told him, Doodle four days later continues to be perfectly fine. He is now forever banished from the vegetable garden, however. One shot of Chekhov's gun is enough. Doodle Nuzzles Steve, selfie by Steve Gutierrez WHAT'S AVAILABLE THIS WEEK Horseradish root: $2/lb. Sorrel: $3/bag Rhubarb: $5/lb EGGS ARE BACK! Nature destroys but it also regenerates. Egg production is back in full swing. $6/dozen Lambs went to market. If you ordered, stay tuned for pickup. + Coming soon: Mint FARM PICKUPS: Email us your order at farm@turkanafarms.com, and let us know when you'd like to pick up your order. It will be put out for you on the side screened porch of the farmhouse (110 Lasher Ave., Germantown) in a bag. You can leave cash or a check in the now famous pineapple on the porch table. Because I'm now here full time, we're abandoning regular pick-up times. Let us know when you want your order any day between 10 and 5, and unless there are unusual circumstances we'll be able to ready it to your convenience. If you have questions, don't hesitate to call or text at 917-544-6464

This week we have Guest Dr.Checkov and the reigning champ of the first Glory for Navori Runeterra Open; Card gamer! He and the rest of the squad give their Open experiences, thoughts on the controversies, Riot's Statement, and 'playing for the clock'.Brought to you by https://masteringruneterra.com/TimeStamp0:00 Intro0:43Patreon Team: https://www.patreon.com/MasteringRuneterraJoin Discord! https://discord.gg/TqnntWF728Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mastering-runeterra/id1556960343https://open.spotify.com/show/49xjHNbzVwG9ZEurUQH8QnTwitter: https://twitter.com/MasterRuneterraShadawx's Socials:https://twitter.com/shadawxhttps://twitch.tv/shadawxhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpgbie3tmI07MZJ5X5b5MYQCardGamer's Social:https://twitter.com/CardGamerLoRPhansora's Socials:https://twitter.com/phansoraLORLuserbeam's Socials:https://twitter.com/LuserBhttps://m.twitch.tv/luserbeamDr.Checkov's Social:https://twitter.com/ChekhovDr#LegendsofRuneterra #LoR #PlayRuneterra #LoRPodcast

Idan Tendler is the Senior Vice President of Application Security at Palo Alto Networks, as well as the chairman and co-founder of Place-IL, a nonprofit tech initiative. Idan discusses his previous cybersecurity analytics startup, Fortscale (later acquired by RSA Security), and some key lessons he learned from his experience building the company. Before Fortscale, Idan founded Bridgecrew, a company that helps developers better secure their cloud environment. With the goal of to making developers love security—a seemingly impossible task—Bridgecrew built an open-source product called Checkov, which allowed the company to get millions of developers to use their product. Today, Idan is also busy building Place-IL, a non-profit initiative that helps connect immigrants to Israel with job opportunities in the country's tech industry.

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by Pushcart Prize winning author Bill Cotter, who discusses his new book The Splendid Ticket, which is published by our friends at McSweeney's.  Topics of conversation include the difference in writing books for children vs. writing books for adults, towns that the world has moved on from, gamblers, whether women tend to marry their fathers, the question of why Texas loves guns, the principle of Checkov's gun, gun safety, moving on from tragedy, and much more.  Copies of The Splendid Ticket can be ordered here with FREE SHIPPING for members of Explore More+.

We talk about consideration for neighbors when it comes to construction and dropping trash. We are joined by in-studio guests to talk about the playwright and master of the short story, Anton Checkov. Our musical guest is Omar's Hat, featuring their new single "On Our Way"

Can you say Star Trek? We have back on Walter Koeing (Checkov) Talking Star Trek. The Marcus Allen From Nexus Magazine is back talking UFO's

There's a new dog raising hell in the Legends of Runeterra competitive scene, and it's Red Pup Gaming! This week's episode features some of the key members of this newer competitive team giving insights on what brought them a seasonal victory, the essence of what makes a great team, and how they look to improve at Legends of RuneterraBrought to you by https://masteringruneterra.com/TimeStamps0:00 Introductions - Red Pup Gaming on the Squadcast!0:42 Red Pup Gaming's go at World Ender Seasonals - Dr.Checkov 3:45 Seasonal Champ FloppyMudkip's recap5:35 Ekko Jinx Innovations from Monte8:10 Gouda's Insane Open rounds11:40 Arren's run and the Pups' gaming background22:40 Red Pups' Dawn - What difference a team makes31:35 The Rise of LoR teams & teams vs Social Clubs44:15 How to Improve at Legends of Runeterra56:10 Shoutouts to and from RPGPatreon Team: https://www.patreon.com/MasteringRuneterraJoin Discord! https://discord.gg/TqnntWF728Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mastering-runeterra/id1556960343https://open.spotify.com/show/49xjHNbzVwG9ZEurUQH8QnTwitter: https://twitter.com/MasterRuneterraGuest Floppymudkip's Socials:https://twitter.com/TheFloppyMudkiphttps://www.twitch.tv/floppymudkipGuest GouDaddy's Socials:https://twitter.com/Goudaddyxhttps://www.twitch.tv/gouda_ddyGuest Dr Chekhov's Socials:https://twitter.com/ChekhovDrGuest Arren's Socials:https://twitter.com/Arren_LoRMonteXristo's Socials:https://twitter.com/MonteXristoLoRhttps://www.twitch.tv/Monte_XristoCardGamer's Social:https://twitter.com/CardGamerLoR#LegendsofRuneterra #LoR #PlayRuneterra #LoRPodcast

Welcome to JAIG EYES & Jedi – a podcast dedicated pretty much now to ALL STAR WARS! Join HOPE MULLINAX and CHRIS HONEYWELL as they continue covering THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT with  the final episode of season 1 – IN THE NAME OF HONOR!! There will be – CHECKOV’S [...]

Welcome to JAIG EYES & Jedi – a podcast dedicated pretty much now to ALL STAR WARS! Join HOPE MULLINAX and CHRIS HONEYWELL as they continue covering THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT with  the final episode of season 1 – IN THE NAME OF HONOR!! There will be – CHECKOV’S [...]

On this 100th episode of the Nerd Heaven Podcast, I discuss the Star Trek Continues episode "Come Not Between The Dragons" a deeply thematic episode starring aussie sci-fi royalty - Gigi Edgly of Farscape Fame. Join me as we discuss the episode and it's themes, and then reminisce a little over the last 100 podcasts. (Place button to listen at bottom of page) ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I'm Adam David  Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd.   And it's a big moment. This is episode 100 of the podcast. How insane is that? When TV shows make it to 100 episodes, it's a big deal and they usually celebrate by doing something special.    I'm going to spend a bit of time reflecting on the past, and maybe having a little fun, at the end of this podcast, But first, we're going to be talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Come Not Between The Dragons”.   The description on IMDB reads A troubled creature pierces the Enterprise hull, pitting the crew against a pursuer that threatens to tear them apart.   The teleplay was written by Greg Dykstra, James Kerwin and Vic Mignogna The story was by Greg Dykstra It was directed by Julian Higgins And it first aired on the 28th of May 2016.   And just a little warning, this episode deals with themes of violent abuse by a parent.   The first thing you'll notice that's special about this episode is the presence of Aussie sci-fi royalty - Gigi Edgley. Most famous for her role in Farscape as Chiana. In this episode, she plays Ensign Eliza Taylor. And the cool thing is, they let her keep her Australian accent for the role. I don't hear many familiar aussie accents in Star Trek, so I found that pretty cool.   While I gave up on it too early back in the day, I've become quite a fan of Farscape, so it's very cool to see her here. By the way, I can't believe I didn't notice it, but a few episodes back, in The White Iris, the character of Amphidamas, the alien representative, was played by another member of sci-royalty, Colin Baker, who played the 6th Doctor on Doctor Who. I'm unbelievably embarrassed that I didn't notice and comment on it. Sorry about that.   This one starts off seeming to be a monster story. But we'll soon learn that it's not. This is a real thematic message show, but one with a real difference.   Scotty is currently in command. Eliza Taylor hands him a padd. And then Kirk enters. 8 ships have been destroyed studying an accretion disc. But the crew have been rescued   It's very telling of Scotty when Kirk says “at least there were no casualties” and Scotty says “there were - the Lexington.”   With the shift over, Smith and Eliza leave the bridge. Smith and McKennah are heading to the rec room, and they invite Eliza to join them. I get the impression she's not quite part of their little friendship circle, but they're welcoming her in. And isn't that just the way a friendship group should work? I know it's not easy. You really need an extrovert in your group to do the inviting, but cliques are not healthy, and being excluded can be quite hurtful - even for an introvert.   The Enterprise suffers a hull breach from a meteorite travelling near light speed.  As Chekov says, “that should be impossible.” But I'd have to believe that an object travelling that fast making impact with the ship would have to completely destroy it, so there must have been some substantial and rapid deceleration.   Whatever it is, is moving through the ship, from Deck to deck. Scotty can't find it. As we end the teaser, we see that whatever it is has broken into Eliza's quarters. But we don't see it, only her reaction.   This is an okay use of the ‘hide the monster' trope because we'll almost immediately see what she's seeing after the credits, but her reaction gives us a powerful hook. And Taylor isn't sure what she's looking at just yet. We experience it with her as the thing slowly unfolds. Some kind of lifeform. Hard and rocky with glowing eyes and a part that looks almost insectoid.   This creature was a practical effect. The alien was designed by the writer of this episode, Greg Dykstra, who appeared in the previous episode as the union doctor. He pitched this story to Vic because it was very personal to him. We'll get to that. Dykstra designed the alien and then they got a creature effects company to actually build it. It was huge. An actor could wear it as a suit, but it was very heavy and hot, so the guy they cast needed to have breaks.   I'm a big lover of CGI creatures, but I have to admit that this alien works very well as a practical effect. It looks awesome. It provides a link to the original series who always had to use practical effects, because CGI wasn't a thing yet. It's also fitting because we have a Farscape actor in this episode, and Farscape was really into practical creatures, being made by the Jim Henson company.   The alien stands tall. Much bigger than a human. It's bipedal. Taylor cowers in the corner and throws something at it. It retreats.   I'd say Taylor reacts in a very non starfleet way here. She's trained to experience the unexpected. But she may be a new officer. This might be her first experience with the unknown. And despite all your training, seeing something like that in person for the first time could be quite scary, especially if it suddenly appears in your quarters. So I can't judge her too harshly.   It doesn't take long to find the intruder. It rips holes through walls. It's not exactly subtle.  Kirk begins by assuming the intruder is intelligent. He asks if it understands him. The lack of reply certainly doesn't imply a lack of intelligence, though.   Kirk calls the transporter room and asks the chief on duty to beam it out of here. Now when I hear that, it implies to me that Kirk wants it beamed into space. But he asked the chief about his intra-ship beaming skills. Either way, Kirk's order is very imprecise. Where exactly does he want the chief to beam the intruder to? In any case, the alien can shield itself from scanners so they can't transport it.   Kirk's next action is strange. He throws some debris at the alien. The alien reacts pretty much as any lifeform would to being attacked. It lashes out in self defence, requiring security to stun it with a phaser.   I'm not sure what Kirk was trying to accomplish there, but it certainly didn't help build any rapport of trust between them.   Kirk and Bones have found some fascinating things about the creature's biology. It's a unique lifeform - probably natively spaceborn. It has multiple hearts and no lungs. But all McCoy's tricorder will register is a rock. Again, suggesting the creature can shield itself from their sensors.   Spock and Uhura have configured the universal translator to better work with the alien's unique vocalisations. I don't know that we've ever seen a hand-held universal translator like this in TOS before, but I could be wrong. In the TNG era, we know that Starfleet universal translators are embedded in the com badge (while Ferengi use implants in the ear)   Kirk gives the honour of speaking to the alien to Taylor, as she was the first human to encounter it. This is a big deal. First contact is what Starfleet are all about, afterall.   Taylor seems to carefully consider what her first words should be. She wisely, in my opinion, chooses to start with “I'm sorry if I hurt you.” and then asks what it's called. It replies, Usdi. When asked why he came here, Usdi replies “Me. To. Hurt.” That doesn't sound good. Is it a threat? It's hard to tell with such a limited understanding between them.   Usdi is an example of a cosmozoa, a space-fearing lifeform. His species is called the Utana.   Something out there is using a form of echo-location to search for something. The shockwaves are damaging to the ship.   When the next wave hits, Spock begins to act very strangely. His voice filled with anger, he calls Udsi disobedient and demands his respect. Fires a phaser at him. He then attacks Taylor when she tries to intervene, and blames it on Usdi.   This, I believe, is a common thing with people who struggle with extreme anger problems. Blaming the subject of their anger for their own actions.   Something is clearly going on with Spock. He's not himself. Perhaps in a literal sense. But others are feeling it too. Kirk is the first to vocalise his concern, in a way, opening it up for others in the bridge crew to discuss what they're experiencing without fear of judgement. Checkov is feeling suspicion and paranoia.   Spock's in a bad way. We learn that the part of the brain responsible for suppressing emotions in Vulcans is called the mesiofrontal cortex. So that's pretty cool. But it's working so hard right now McCoy is worried it'll burn up. Spock is filled with powerful emotions. But they're not his. Spock is also physically injured. Possibly from his dust-up with the alien. He asks Spock to lock him up. He's dangerous. Something dark and dangerous in his Vulcan mind is being awoken. Kirk would do well to follow Spock's recommendation here. Spock knows what he's talking about, and currently still has the presence of mind to communicate it.   The next wave is stronger than anything so far. It drives Spock to rampage through the ship after the alien. He says “Usdi is hiding from me.” He looks like he'll tear the alien limb from limb.   After Kirk stuns him, he orders Spock put in the bridge. McCoy argues against this, because Spock is not himself.   The funny thing is, Kirk is right. He's absolutely right. For the wrong reason. He's wanting to put Spock in the brig as punishment for insubordination. McCoy is right that Spock isn't himself, but he needs to be put in the brig for his own safety, and the safety of those on the ship.   When McCoy helps Kirk realise that he's not himself either, that he's filled with unnatural anger, he changes his turn and has Spock taken back to sickbay under double restraint. Yeah, good luck with that.   The brig was the best option for now. He still needs medical care, of course, but I wouldn't be trusting any restraints, double, triple, or quadruple, in sickbay when the next wave hits.   By the way, this is the third episode in a row to have original music composed by Andy Farber. And I have to give it to the student musicians that are performing it, they're brilliant.   While all of the crew are experiencing elevated levels of anger, and lowered patience, Kirk and Spock specifically seem to be experiencing anger directed at Usdi.  It's like when Spock was stunned, Kirk became the new puppet of this force. Kirk refers to Udsi as a delinquent brat. He also describes him as disobedient and undisciplined.   I'm embarrassed to say the first time I watched this, I didn't put it all together until later, but watching it now, it all seems so obvious what we're dealing with.   Taylor is hiding Udsi in her quarters. She calls in McKenna for help. She doesn't know who else to turn to.   Taylor has figured out that Udsi is familiar with these waves. And he gets more and more afraid each time one of them hits. McKenna is now having her rage directed at Udsi, as the latest wave hits. “You must have done something to deserve this,” she says. Could it be the proximity to Udsi is what focuses the rage, while those who've had little or no contact with him just feel general anger directed at whatever is at hand?   But the most interesting thing of all is that it's pretty clear at this point that Taylor is not being affected. She may be the only one on the ship that is truly herself.   McKenna is very aware of her condition. She's trying to push through it. But it's hard. Taylor made a wise choice here. As a trained counsellor, McKenna may have more tools at her disposal to fight this anger than the rest of the crew. She genuinely wants to be free of it.   She needs alpha wave generators. When she says “Leave McCoy to me” I wasn't imagining she'd just slug him in the face and knock him out, but it was effective. She can't fight the anger in her, but here she was able to use it for something good. Well, not that punching McCoy is good, but it's for a good cause in helping her in her mission.   She asks for the alpha generators from a nurse, but not chapel. She calls her Sarah. While I like seeing familiar characters show up in this show, it's kinda cool that they're filling out the medical staff. It often felt, in TOS, like McCoy and Chapel were the only two medical officers on the ship. We know this is not true, of course, but the budget likely didn't allow for filling sickbay with extras.   Scotty is reacting to all of this a little differently. Rather than getting angry at everyone, he's having a lovely old time drinking. Scotty hasn't had contact with Udsi, so his priorities are different. He cares, as he always does, about his engines.   They have now cured a couple of crew members of the anger influence. They have McKenna, Uhura and a redshirt. They figure that Usdi is hiding from the ship that is generating the waves. But he's not talking.   The redshirt figures out if they move Usdi to engineering, the ship might have a harder time locating him. He's able to simulate Scotty's voice using the universal translator, and a little technical magic from Uhura. He calls for an evacuation of engineering. But Kirk sees through it, because he knows Scotty is in the brig.   Once engineering is cleared, all they need to do is beam there with Udsi. Saves trying to drag him through the ship in front of crew who want to attack him.   Smith finds McKenna and the transporter chief in the transporter room. She's still under the influence of the waves. Kirk should be here soon as he told Smith to meet him here. We're not sure what he's doing on the way yet.   Smith insists that Udsi is going to get what he deserves. McKenna gets her to stop and think a little when she asks “Why”. Smith can't answer, because she's being motivated not by logic or reason, but by emotions. Emotions that are clearly not hers.   McKenna's question, and her offer of an alpha generator definitely gives her pause. If Kirk hadn't called her, she might have relented, but a conflict ensures. Possibly not a great idea of McKenna's to attack her while she was distracted. Smith is clearly the better fighter, and the fight only serves to feed the anger.   I'm noticing that in this episode, there's a real focus on the female characters. Taylor, McKenna, Smith, Uhura. They're all taking on significant and powerful roles. But the episode doesn't make a big deal about it. And I think that's the best way to do it.   I recently watched the Star Trek animated episode “The Lorlelai Signal”. That episode came up with a convoluted way to put Uhura and other female officers in charge of the ship, and then have Uhura do very little. This episode succeeds well where that one failed. And I don't know if this was even a deliberate and active choice, to make this a female-centric episode, or if it just ended up that way. And I think it's better for it. Contrast this to that scene in Avengers Endgame which just felt a bit on-the-nose to me.   Anyway, I'm loving it because these are great characters played by great actors, and I'm enjoying seeing them get to do much more than the original series would have allowed them. I'm especially enjoying how they're developing Smith.   Usdi is communicating with Taylor again. She says she understands, but we're not hearing a verbal translation this time. So … I'm not sure how that works.   Kirk beams in with Smith and several security officers. Kirk has a big phaser rifle, so that's what he was up to. That's not good.   All 4 of them fire their phasers at Udsi. Luckily, he survives. His body is essentially made up of stone, afterall. Interestingly, the Utana feed on space-born rocks and minerals.   Those under the influence are subdued, mostly because of quick thinking on the parts of Taylor and Uhura. With generators on their arms now, they'll all be able to think clearly.   Honestly, I'm not sure it would have gone down that way. Kirk and his team seem to be the better fighters, and they all started armed with phasers. But let's apply a little suspicion of disbelief so the good guys can win and move the plot forward.   The ship has arrived in visual range, but it's not a ship. As the image appears on the monitor, we see that it's another Utana, but much bigger than Usdi.   The entire crew are wearing alpha generators now, so we've resolved that particular conflict and moved on to the next. I think that was a good choice for the script. We don't want an entire episode of mutiny among the crew, because ultimately, that's not what this episode is about.   Kirk surmises the difference in size between Udsi and this attacker could be the difference between an adult and a child. And he's right.   Greg Dykstra actually chose the Cherokee word Udsi, which means little, as the name of the alien. When we first see him, he seems anything but little, but now, as we realise he's a child, and he's very small compared to the adult outside, the name makes sense.   Scotty apologises for his behaviour. Hardly necessary, since they were all in the same boat. Kirk's answer “I'll fire you later,” reminds me of a line he'll say much later in Star Trek 3. “Fine. I'll kill you later.”   The adult refuses to respond to hails. It attacks the Enterprise. I wouldn't necessarily expect a space-born lifeform to be able to receive and respond to subspace radio signals. But anyway.   Spock points out what might be their only logical option to survive this. Release Usdi into the adult's custody. But how can they? That thing wants to kill him.   Kirk finds an alternative. Fire a torpedo at the part of the alien's body that seems to be generating the destructive waves.   When Usdi sees the attack against the adult on the screen, he says “Usdi protect.” Taylor misunderstands. Usdi isn't asking for protection. He's stating that he must protect the adult.   Taylor goes to the bridge to explain the situation. The alien out in space is Udsi's father. Usdi has left the ship. Positioned himself between the Enterprise and his father. The attack has stopped.   If we haven't already figured it out, we realise at this moment what this episode is really all about. This is about parental abuse. Greg Dykstra wrote this story because there was a history of this kind of abuse in his family. His grandfather had been a violent abuser. It had affected his father and grandmother profoundly. He wanted to explore that theme, and a Star Trek episode turned out to be the perfect tool for that kind of thematic expiration.   The creatures look at each other - moving their heads. Most likely engaged in communication we can't perceive.   Now it's time for Kirk to make one of those famous Starfleet captain speeches. He points out that while all the entity's anger was directed at his child, Usdi still protected him. Udsi saved his life, because The Enterprise would have killed him.   Only time will tell if that will make a difference.   This is the heart of the message that Greg Dykstra wanted to get across. That despite the hurt and damage caused by an abusive parent, the victims of that abuse still love the parent. It's a complex paradox. A difficult one.   There's a nice scene between Kirk and Spock. I'm noticing that over time, Todd Haberkorn is winning me over more and more as Spock. It just took a little longer than with Kirk and Scotty. But he really is doing a good job of it.   Kirk is used to being able to persuade others with words. He's frustrated that he was unable to convince Udsi's father to change.   Spock points out that the alien had a deeply ingrained behaviour. Did he really expect to be able to change that with words? With one conversation? This also, is very thematic. I'm sure there are many loved ones of violent abusers who want so desperately to change that person. But it's probably not an easy task.   In the case of Greg Dykstra, his father learned to move on from the experience, but his grandfather never changed. Never overcame that darkness inside him.   Ultimately, Kirk didn't expect silence.   But maybe silence isn't so bad. Maybe silence represents thinking. Maybe a contemplation of one's own actions is better than lashing out.   Kirk wonders, what would it take to change someone like that?  Spock's answer, “one is better able to lead someone down an unfamiliar path when one has already been down that path oneself.” Wise words.   Kirk is a little surprised to learn that Spock has regular conversations with McKenna about life and people.   This, I believe, is the first hint of a growing connection between those two characters. We'll continue to explore it, to see where it might lead.   They've found where Udsi and his father have gone. Kirk goes to see Taylor. “I wasn't able to reach him, but maybe you can.”   Spock's words have sparked an idea in Kirk. And I think maybe he knows something about Taylor that we don't yet.   Gigi Edgley's acting in this scene is wonderful. (not to mention the CGI shot of the Enterprise parked next to the cloud)   Taylor knows that Usdi came to her for a reason.  “Your son loves you very very much. Just like I love my father,” she says. “I know in your heart that you're not a monster, but every time you lash out in anger at your son, you become less the father he loves, and more the monster he fears. Please, find a way to heal yourself. Because my father never did.” The alien says one word back. “Heal.”   “Change for Usdi.”   I'm sure this alien has a difficult challenge ahead of him, but maybe, just maybe, he can do it. Because Taylor reached him.   Wow, what an emotional scene. Huge credit to Gigi Edgely for this. What a legend. And huge credit to Greg Dykstra for a powerful story.   This episode is something of a masterpiece. This is true Star Trek at its core. One of the things I love so much about this episode, is that it's a thematic episode, it's a message episode, but there's nothing political or controversial about it. It's the kind of message I've never seen in a TV show before, but it's an important message. The creators of this show found something important to say that not many others have said before. And I'm not saying sci-fi shouldn't address political or controversial issues, but I think this episode left the well-trod paths and found something new and interesting to say.   When we watch a show like this, it's easy to think, “well, obviously this is not for me. This is for those deeply problematic people, those violent abusers, the ones with the real problems. But maybe rather than thinking about others we know who need to hear this, we should stop and think, what can I take away from this.   Most of us are not violent abusers. But most of us who are parents, at some point, have become exasperated with our children. Have lashed out and treated our kids more harshly than they deserve, because of frustration. Maybe it's because the child has genuinely done something really bad, or maybe it's pressure in life that has nothing to do with them.   I know from time to time, I've taken the time to stop and examine my parenting. To ask hard questions of whether I'm taking my frustrations out on my children in a way that I shouldn't. To see if there are any changes that I need to make in how I parent. And I think that's a healthy thing to do. For the sake of our kids.   Anyway, Star Trek Continues never fails to impress me. It's just a whole other level above most other fan productions in so many ways, and honestly, sometimes better than actual real Star Trek.   So as I said. This is episode 100. I still can't believe I've been talking about sci-fi for that long. It seems only yesterday that I started Nerd Heaven.   It was the 6th of December 2019 when my first podcast went live. I talked about Star Trek: The Next Generation “Best of Both Worlds.” I was doing a little series in the lead-up to the launch of Star Trek Picard season 1. Covering episodes and movies that I had selected as a good lead up to the new series based on what I'd seen in trailers. It was a fun little series and allowed me to cover some old favourites.   I remember I'd recorded just enough episodes to release one weekly until the premier of Picard episode 1. I did them in a big batch and scheduled them for release so they'd drip out while I was away on an extended Christmas holiday. We visited family in Tamworth, New South Wales, and then took a carnival cruise to New Caladonia and Vauatu. What a wonderful experience that was.   After finishing Picard season 1, I did a few random things. I talked about my own history with the Star Trek franchise, I covered the remaining TNG movies I hadn't already talked about, and I watched Stargate Origins: Catherine for the first time. I also started looking at Lord of The Rings, both the book and the movies. I never actually finished that series though. I was doing a walk to Mordor challenge, but the unexpected pandemic kind of got in the way of that.   I then started going through the movies of the DCEU. I really love some of those movies, like Man of Steel and Batman V Superman. And I had a lot to say about them.   After making my way all the way to Shazam, it was time for Star Trek Discovery season 3 to come out, so once again, I covered this show live as I did with Picard. This was really challenging. I'd watch the episode on Friday night just for fun. Then I'd watch it again on Saturday morning, taking notes. Then I'd record the episode, and spend most of Saturday afternoon editing and publishing it. It really did consume a lot of my weekend. In addition to doing a travel vlog on youtube, this is when my writing life really took a hit. I no longer had time to work on my books.   After I finished Discovery season 3, I knew I needed to make a change. I couldn't keep up this pace. And there were so many other content creators covering new Star Trek. I couldn't compete with them. Even today, after 100 episodes, I only average around 10 to 20 listeners per episode. Not big numbers. Not enough to justify the huge amount of work I was putting in. I needed to have the freedom to spend time with my family.   So I made a switch to covering retro stuff. Doing re-watches of old classics. Stuff I'd loved in the past that I really wanted to talk about.   The obvious choice there was Stargate Universe. A divisive show. A show that so many dismiss. But I knew the show had something to say. And I knew I had a lot to say about it, beyond just the question of whether it's good or bad.   While this was a less crowded niche, I didn't suddenly become a superstar, but I did pick up some new passionate listeners, which I really appreciated.   In any case, I now have a complete set of podcasts discussing every single episode of SGU. That will stand forever as something people can find and enjoy. And I'm really proud of that.   After finishing SGU, I jumped into Star Trek Continues because again, there were things I wanted to say about it. And I'm having a blast.   So what lies in the future? I'm not sure. I have plenty of ideas of shows I could talk about after I finish Star Trek Continues.   The biggest challenge I face is balancing all my creative endeavours. This podcast, my travel vlog, and my writing. I still don't have all the answers, but at least I'm not burning myself out like I was this time last year.   I'm pleased to say that I have got back into my writing and at the time of recording, I'm nearing the time where I'll finally publish book 3 of Jewel of The Stars. I can't wait to talk about that in a future episode of the podcast.   I want to thank all those who have listened to this podcast. I'm sure my audience has changed over times as I've covered different shows. I don't know if there's anyone listening who's been around since the early days, but if there is, let me know. Because that would be really encouraging.   Next time, we're talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Embracing the Winds.”   Until then, have a great two weeks. Live long and prosper. Make it so.  

Today in the podcast, we talk about the Star Trek Continues episode "Divided We Stand" which sees Kirk and McCoy living out something of a nightmare in the American civil war. And we discuss what the mysterious nanites might represent in the greater world of Star Trek. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I'm Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd.   This is episode 99 of the podcast. Today, we're talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Divided We Stand.” And if you'd like to check out some of my original science fiction, head over to AdamDavidCollings.com/books   I recently appeared as a guest on the Yum Yum Podcast with fellow Australian nerds, Ryan and Rachel, discussing the Babylon 5 episode “Ceremonies of Light and Dark.” If you love Babylon 5, as well you should, be sure to check out the episode, and all the other stuff that Ryan and Rachel do at Yum Yum Podcast.   The description on IMDB reads After an explosion on the bridge resulting from a failed attempt to isolate the ship's computer from a nano-virus, Kirk and McCoy wake up to find themselves in the middle of one of America's bloodiest conflicts.   The teleplay was written by Marc Cushman & Susan Osborn With story by Vic Mignogna and additional material by Todd Haberkorn It was directed by Vic Mignogna And it first aired on the 25th of September 2015.   This episode was dedicated to the memory of Grace Lee Whitney. Another of Star Trek's veterans who sadly passed away during the making of this show.   This one gets right into the action, making good use of the captain's log to skip past all the setup and throw us right in the thick of the crew's trouble. The Enterprise computer has been infected with a virus, or as Kirk calls it, a pathogen, a term I haven't heard in computer science before. This happened when they tried to make contact with an old Earther probe called Friendship 3. This is significant, because, as you may remember, Voyager once encountered the predecessor - Friendship 1 - in the Delta Quadrant.   What makes this pathogen interesting is that it is of a much more advanced technology than the primitive earth probe. It is quickly migrating through the entire ship, Spock's library computer, scotty's engineering specs.    Spock doesn't think this is a virus, and it's not singular. He says he detects hundreds of thousands of microscopic objects. So…are we talking actual physical objects? He's also seeing evidence of high-level intelligence.   McCoy shows a startling lack of awareness as he casually arrives on the bridge and berates Kirk for not keeping his medical checkup appointment. Now if the circumstances were different, McCoy would be well within his rights, but it's very obvious that the bridge crew are in the middle of a crisis. Kirk clearly has a good reason for missing his appointment and this is not the time or place to hassle him about it. That time will come later, of course.   The intelligence of whatever is invading the ship is growing.   As the bridge controls overload, Kirk finds himself in a very unexpected place and time. He's on a primitive battlefield, surrounded by men firing rifles, and wearing unfamiliar uniforms.   This scene marks “Divided We Stand” as the first episode of Star Trek Continues to take us off the ship. If you think about it, the last four have all taken place on board the Enterprise.   If I'm not mistaken, this is the American civil war. Is this a holographic simulation? A fantasy created by a being like Trelane? In Star Trek, there are many possibilities, but in their shoes, time travel wouldn't be my first thought. I mean, what could have caused it right? So Kirk and McCoy would be feeling understandably disoriented and confused. But, they're in uniform, which means they're expected to fight. At the very least, they can't just sit here and wait for the bullets. They may have to play along until they figure out what the go is. But they wisely manage to remove themselves from the situation to avoid taking any rash actions they may not be able to undo.   They wisely also choose to treat this as real, and not take any unnecessary risks.   Now, you'll have to excuse my lack of knowledge about his particular event in history. Oh, I know the basics. North vs South. I believe it was primarily fought over the issue of slavery, although they may be more to it? I imagine American audiences would be able to tell immediately by looking at their uniforms, which side Kirk and McCoy are meant to be on. At this point in the story, I haven't figured that out yet.   The interesting thing is, it seems that they are both on different sides. Now THAT could make things interesting.   And it was cool to see Dr. M'Benga in this episode. It's only logical for him to step up and take on the role of chief medical officer while McCoy is missing. I believe M'Benga only appeared in two episodes of the original series, although he is, of course, a series regular on Strange New Worlds. At the time of recording, I still have no idea why, although he was chief medical officer under pike, he seems to have been demoted by TOS. I mean, he's still serving on the Enterprise but McCoy is chief. So what happened? Strange New Worlds is gonna have to address that at some point.   At first it seems strange that Spock is asking M'Benga about the computer virus. Why would  you have a medical doctor assess a computer problem? Then we pan over and see Kirk and Bones unconscious in bio-beds, their faces pale. Whatever has infected the ship has also infected their bodies.   I think this episode is lacking some precision of terminology when it comes to what we are dealing with. From what I gather, this isn't a computer virus, which is simply a self-perpetuating piece of software with malicious intent. It's some kind of swarm of small physical objects that are interfering with the computer somehow, but also invading Kirk and McCoy's bodies.   M'Benga can't prevent the spread of these things in the human bodies, he can only slow it, but in a day or two, they'll be dead.   So, what we can gather so far is that despite the episode descrition, we're not dealing with time travel here. We're dealing with some kind of mental projection from an alien entity.   Kirk refers to McCoy as a southern gentleman, so I gather his uniform is from the south. But then again, McCoy himself IS southern, so Kirk could be referring to that. A group of Kirk's team find them. They assume McCoy is Kirk's prisoner, at least until they notice Bones still has his weapon.   The leader of this group is pretty aggressive toward McCoy, but then, this is war. He takes Kirk's word for it a little too easily when he pretends to be a famous Kirk from the time, especially given his uniform has the wrong rank.   The leader is shot by a sniper on the other side. And we get verbal confirmation that McCoy's uniform is confederate, which I believe is the south. Kirk wants to bury the confederate sniper. The northerners are hesitant. Afterall, he's the enemy.   Kirk tries to preach the virtue of having compassion for all people, even one's enemies, but they're not very interested.   It's hard to judge them too harshly. Kirk is correct, of course, but it's not easy to have compassion on somebody who just killed one of your own - probably a friend.   McCoy could easily save this wounded soldier's life with 23rd century technology, but it'll be a challenge with period instruments. But I don't think it's just technology. A doctor of the time could probably do a lot more because they're familiar with the equipment.   McCoy raises the typical time travel problems. What if man is supposed to die and they heal him, or what if he was supposed to live, but by being here, they caused him to get shot? Being in the past is very risky. Of course, they don't know that they're not actually in the past. They have to treat this as if it's real.   Like the previous episode, this one had new music composed by Andy Farber and performed by the STC Orchestra.  Back in the original series, they didn't write all new music for every episode. Each season, they'd record some new music cues to add to the toolbox, and a music editor was apply them to the scenes of episodes, But when something big, special, or out-of-the-box happened, they'd write specific new music for it.   That's kind of how they did this episode. With all the civil war stuff going on, this episode really cried out for new original music. They re-used stuff where appropriate, but created new stuff where it was needed.   Some really interesting trivia. They used the melody of Uhura's song about Charlie, in the episode Charlie X, but that melody actually dates back to the American Civil war. It was a folk song about union volunteer soldiers. In this episode, it becomes Billy's theme.   Spock and Scotty have found a way to draw the alien presence out of the Enterprise computer. It's attracted to new sources of information. They can lure it into a backup module and then jettison it.   I'm a little shocked that Spock chose to destroy the jettisoned objects with the phasers. Yes, they were an infestation that caused problems to the ship, but there was also evidence that collectively, they represented an intelligent lifeform. It doesn't seem very Starfleet to just blow them up. Once removed from the ship, they were no longer an immediate danger.   In any case, the ship is safe. Now they've just got to save Kirk and McCoy.   The northerner doctor doesn't care about uniforms, he is just happy to have another set of hands to help the wounded. And as a doctor, McCoy is willing to help whoever is in medical trouble, regardless of who they are.   Spock clearly values McKenna's services. He knows that this will be a stressful time for the crew, with the captain and doctor incapacitated. But he naturally assumes he is immune. McKenna not-so-subley makes it clear she is available to him as well.   It raises the question of Vulcan mental health. Vulcans have emotions, strong ones, so it would seem that counselling and psychology would be needed, and a logical people would understand their importance. But because of their mental disciplines, Vulcans are so good at suppressing their emotions. They don't let themselves be controlled by their emotions.   Does this negate the need for counselling? For a human, to suppress everything you're feeling is not healthy, but Vulcans aren't humans.   Doctor M'Benga has discovered something interesting. While their bodies are still, he is detecting high levels of neural activity in Kirk and McCoy, very unusual for patients in a coma. And they spike at the same time, showing that they're linked. He's well on the way to uncovering what's actually going on here.   Checkov has found that at the time the computer was shut off, the entity was reviewing a particular battle in the American Civil war, as part of its analysis of Earth history. So while they don't have solid evidence, the Enterprise crew have pretty much figured out what is happening to Kirk and McCoy.   One of the soldiers is no longer sure what he's fighting for.  Just to free some slaves? He doesn't know the victims of slavery so it doesn't feel personal to him. Kirk suggests that they're all slaves to something, and this war is about freedom for all.    They're all having doubts. One of them wants to be there for the birth of his grandchild, but instead, he's here taking lives. And he's right to see that as a tragedy. But Kirk explains that what they do here will be remembered. He knows this as a matter of historical fact. They can't understand that, of course. So his words fall flat for them.   I'm really struck, in this scene, just how much Vic looks like William Shatner. It's almost uncanny.   Bones is horrified by the brutality of it all. The wounds, the lack of proper anaesthetic. It all feels barbaric to him. But it's not about technology, it's about the human suffering he's seeing.   Kirk blames himself. If he'd gone to his physical, McCoy wouldn't have been on the bridge. But as I said, in this case, he had a good reason. But I like what Bones says back to him. “The only thing worse than being stuck here with you, is you being here all by yourself.” Now that's friendship.   McCoy raises an uncomfortable reality. It's one thing for him to be saving lives, even lives that history says should be dead, but tomorrow, Kirk has to go onto the battle field and kill people. He can't do that.   Despite that, he's on the front line with the other men. Kirk has formed quite a bond with Billy, the young kid fighting for the first time.    I've got to give it to this episode, the scale is something else. The many actors, the horses, the canons. For a period piece like this to be done on a fan production's budget is very impressive.   Kirk was fighting, but he's badly wounded. I wonder if that's because he held back from doing his best in an attempt not to kill. With the equipment of the day, all Bones can do is amputate Kirk's leg below the knee. That's a pretty big deal. We know that even in the 24th century, Star Trek medicine can't just magically grow back a limb. Nog was given an artificial leg in Deep Space Nine. This is a loss Kirk is going to have to live with for the rest of his life, if this were real, of course, which we know it's not, but Kirk and McCoy don't.   Can you imagine what it would feel like to have your leg cut off with a saw, when all you have for pain relief is a piece of wood to bite down on?   I can't. The thought absolutely horrifies me.   Even if it's not real, the pain Kirk experiences is real. But it's even worse. M'Benga finds that back on the Enterprise, Kirk's real leg is dying. I'm not even going to try to make sense of that. There's no reason that should be a thing, so let's just accept that and move on.   M'Benga has managed to extract one of the pathogen objects. Turns out they're nanites. Not a big surprise. The episode was clearly leaning in that direction.   Spock has an idea. They can help Kirk and McCoy the same way they cleared the Enterprise computer. Shut down their brain functions temporarily to starve the nanites, then lure them away with a trail of new information sources.   M'Benga can do it for a very limited time, but the while feasting on a biological brain, the nanites might not be tempted by an inorganic source. They need something cybernetic. Nurse Chaspel suggest a prosthetic limb. There's a crewmember with a bio-mechanical arm but confidentiality prohibits her from disclosing who it is. But with the captain and doctor's lives at stake, Spock asks her to forgo her principles. The ideal way to handle this would be to approach the crewmember privately and ask if they were willing to help, but what if they said no?   Another thing you wouldn't normally see in a fan production is a practical effect for a soldier missing half his arm. It's just a background detail, but it's another example of this show's professionalism.   Billy is in bad shape. Not physically, the bullet just grazed his head, but emotionally, he's suffering from what was once called shell shock, a form of PTSD. McCoy doesn't blame him.   Turns out, when the shooting started, he turned and ran, crashing into a tree. Now he feels like a coward. Kirk's words touched him last night, but he's questioning it all. He noticed that Kirk didn't shoot anyone.   Kirk can't properly explain his reasons for not firing, but he can say  that his freedom was taken away. Taken by the alien entity. Once again, Kirk tries to inspire Billy. When Spock explains the situation to Lieutenant Drake, he's quick to volunteer his cybernetic arm.    I was confused when M'Benga said that if this fails, he'll lose all three of them. Kirk, McCoy, and Drake. So …. Why would they lose Drake? Are they not just going to remove his arm and use it as a tool? Worst case scenario, he doesn't get his arm back. And he has to wait until a new one can be made for him, maybe on a Starbase.   But apparently, Drake's arm cannot be removed. He's sitting there in a chair between the biobeds holding a device. So….I guess that means there's a risk the nanites could enter Drake's body.    Kirk must have been asleep for some time. When he wakes, Billy isn't in the next bed anymore. Turns out that Kirk's words had a big impact on him. When all hope seemed lost, Billy led the charge, inspiring the other men to fight for freedom. He lost his life in that battle.   I think Kirk is feeling both proud and guilty. It was his words that led that boy to his death. That's got to be a heavy thing to live with.   When someone announces that the president is here, Kirk jumps out of bed onto his crutches, despite his injuries. He doesn't want to miss the chance to see a famous historical figure like Abraham Lincoln. Although, he's already met him once. That was a pretend Lincoln, of course, manufactured by aliens, but then, so is this one. Kirk just doesn't know it yet.   There's a historical photo I've seen of Lincoln talking to some soldiers outside a tent. The staging of this shot looks very similar to that photo, and at the end of the scene, we see someone taking a photo. So I'm assuming this was meant to be the moment in history when that real photo was taken. It's pretty special for Kirk to be there. McCoy points out that while Kirk only has one leg, he still has purpose, and that can allow him to stand just as tall. M'Benga successfully draws the nanites out of Kirk and McCoy, then gives them stimulants. Their skin returns to normal colour. Drake is escortedto the transporter room for some reason. It's still not clear exactly how this whole plan is working. But I think the nanites are not so much in Drake's artificial arm, as they are in the device he was holding.   Except when Drake enters the bridge to see Kirk, he's missing the arm. So …… I'm really confused. None of this was clear to me.   McCoy points out there could be more of the nanites out there. Kirk says God help anyone who encounters them.   This sounds like the episode is suggesting the nanites might be something we've seen before.   The obvious place my mind goes is the Borg. We know they use nanoprobes. The Enterprise wasn't assimilated, and neither were Kirk and McCoy, but their skin did go gray. So maybe these are early Borg nanoprbes. I'm sure they had less sophisticated ways of assimilating before they developed nanotechnology properly. Perhaps in Kirk's time, they've only recently assimilated that technology and have yet to perfect it.   It's all speculation, of course, But that's half the fun of science fiction.   I felt the script was a little lacking in this one, when compared to the previous 4 episodes. Some things weren't explained as well as they could have been. But it was still a good story. And the production with all those extras, costumes, location shooting, was very well done.   This is hardly a bad episode, just not as the good as the ones that have preceded it. But still well worth watching.   Next time, on what will be our 100th episode, we'll be talking about a special episode that gives us some practical creature effects, and a special guest appearance by an Australian actress of Farscape fame.   I'll see you for Come Not Between the Dragons.   Until then, have a great two week Live long and Prosper Make it so.  

While not as memorable as the big tentpole episodes, "The White Iris" is a true classic. This is a very emotional character-driven episode that advances Kirk's arc and adds depth to a number of previous Star Trek episodes. This episode is a great example of what makes Star Trek Continues so special. ----more---- Transcript Welcomed to Nerd Heaven. I'm Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd   This is episode 98 of the podcast.  Today, we're talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “The White Iris”   The description on IMDB reads Captain Kirk finds himself haunted by guilt from his past as the fate of an alien world hangs in the balance.   The teleplay was written by James Kerwin, Chris White, and Vic Mignogna Based on a story by Vic Mignogna and Chris White.   The episode first aired on the 29th of May 2015. This episode was dedicated to the memory of Leonard Niymoy, placing it in time just after he passed away ,which was certainly a significant and sad moment for all Star Trek fans.   Going into this one, I didn't remember the episode. Looking at the thumbnail and description on the Star Trek Continues website didn't ring any bells, but I knew I must have seen it before, because I've watched all of Star Trek Continues.   It gets right into the action from the get go. Some aliens, the Calsins, are expressing their pleasure at the invitation to join the Federation when Kirk is unexpectedly attacked from behind by one of them. He's beamed to sickbay but is suffering fatal damage to the part of the brain responsible for emotional memories.   Spock suggests an experimental drug. It hasn't even been tested yet. They don't know the dosage. Now I have a feeling that in the real world, by administering this drug to a patient, McCoy would be doing something highly unethical and probably illegal. Although Kirk does give his verbal consent.  Still, giving an untested drug that doesn't have approval to a patient has got to be a huge risk.   Kirk sees a vision of Rayna, an android woman Kirk had feelings for in the episode Requiem for Methuselah, one that I don't remember in huge detail either. Spock erased all memory of Rayna from Kirk's mind, to spare him the pain of her death. But now he remembers it all again.   After just a few seconds of receiving the medication, Kirk is himself again. And then he's straight off the bed and back to duty.   I get there's a time-critical situation on the planet, but minutes ago he was near death. Now he looks okay but he's been given a guessed dosage of an experimental drug. Who knows what kinds of side effects he might experience. I think it's kind of insane not to keep him in sickbay for observation for a while. Spock is an accomplished commander and a capable diplomat. And he can always liaise with Kirk from Sickbay. This was a big believability problem to me.   Anyway, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura marvel at how nothing can keep Kirk down.   Kirk has a lot of guilt over Rayna. In his opinion, while she started out as an android, she was human when he pushed her too far and she malfunctioned, unable to deal with the conflicting emotions inside of her.   I'm not sure that human is the right word here, but Kirk clearly saw her as a sapient being.   So Calsis, the planet they're currently orbiting, wants to join the Federation, but their sister world opposes it and will do anything, including assassinating Kirk, to prevent it. Although I do wonder how they think Kirk's murder will accomplish what they want.   The Federation is giving them a defence grid to protect their world, but Kirk is suddenly hesitant. Possibly because he's seeing another vision. Time time, a woman named Nakia. She appears to be a new character created for Star Trek Continues. Interestingly, she is named after the actress that plays her - Nakia Burrise.   Nakia is ghostly translucent. Kirk can't remember the passcode for the defence grid. He created the code himself, with the understanding he would make the final decision whether or not to give the grid to the Calsins. Nobody else knows it. See, this is why you use a password management product like KeePass.   Kirk leaves Spock in charge while he reports to sickbay for further tests.   Spock hopes that Checkov might be able to decrypt Kirk's forgotten password. It wouldn't be a very secure system if that were possible. But Checkov mentions that at the academy, he once decrypted something of Xindi origin. This is very cool as it's a reference to the Xindi who nearly destroyed Earth in Enterprise season 3, a story that took place chronologically long before TOS, but was, of course, produced long after TOS. I do appreciate these touches.   On the way to sickbay, Kirk sees a little girl in the hallways. Who is she?   So the sister planet fires a missile at Calsis. They're not mucking about. The representative is desperate for that defence network now.   Why hasn't Kirk told anyone about his hallucinations? This is an annoying trope in Star Trek. A character is undergoing something super weird but they keep it to themselves. It's pretty annoying. McCoy senses there's something Kirk isn't telling him, but Kirk is a little non-committal as to what that is. There's something wrong with Kirk's heart. It's weakening and McCoy has no medical explanation.     Spock asks Checkov if he's tried a brute force attack to guess the password. Checkov points out the computer on this device is designed to shut down on repeated failed login attempts. Well that's something. Honestly, if a brute force attack could work then Starfleet needs to fire their entire IT department, and Spock is pretty silly for suggesting it.   Kirk finally opens up about Nakia. They served together on the Farragut 13 years ago. They were very close but she died in the line of duty and Kirk blamed himself. He's never spoken of her. He thought he could forget her.   I quite like that they created a new character from Kirk's past to go alongside the older ones we've seen in the show previously. It means we're not just dwelling in nostalgia, as cool as that is, but we're also pushing things forward with new backstory. That's what sets this kind of writing apart from a lot of fan fiction. Technically, of course, this show is fan fiction, but it's of a very high quality.   I'm really curious what a psycho-tricorder detects.  There is a strong link between the biological and the mental, of course, when it comes to health. There are physiological things that affect the mind, the emotions. But a standard medical tricorder should show you all you need to know about the physiological, and how can a device like a tricorder tell you about the non-physiological aspects of mental health? It would have to be a telepathic device. Perhaps it's not so different from a standard medical tricorder, it's just configured to focus on aspects of the brain and body that are specifically related to mental health.   In any case, Kirk's emotions are being affected. He's cranky. He's giving in to emotional outbursts that he'd normally control. He's ignoring very reasonable recommendations from McCoy and Spock, and honestly, being a little paranoid.   The actres playing Edith Keeler is very well cast. She does a fantastic job of replicating Joan Collins' way of speaking.   A replacement console is days away. Sulu emphasises to Uhura to inform Spock as well as Kirk, which already shows how he's starting to lose the confidence of his crew.   Also, interesting to note that Smith is back, this time the prime universe version. So, she's probably been on the Enterprise this whole time since “Where No Man has Gone Before” which I think is cool.   The Enterprise is unable to destroy the incoming missile because it seems to have disappeared. We're never really given an explanation for this. I assume the sister planet has some form of cloaking technology on their weapons.   We get a little more insight into the cultures of these sister planets. The people of Calsis developed a spiritual culture while the others became more materialistic, and disdainful of the Calsis way.   Now this is an example of the planet of hats problem which Star Trek does so often, where an entire planet's population will share a specific personality trait. And this concept has been rightly criticised by many. But on the other hand, I think there's room for a little of it. If we look at the countries of Earth we see there are some commonly shared traits.  For example, the British people are often thought of as stiff while we Australians have a reputation for being laid back.   You could say that Americans are generally quite materialistic as a people, but some European cultures might be focussed more on family.   It's all generalisations and stereotypes which will, of course, break down, but that doesn't mean there can't be some truth to these kinds of perceptions. So I'm willing to let the episode get away with this.   Spock is meeting with McCoy and McKenna to discuss Kirk's state of mind. The physical injury is healed. His problems might be related to the experimental drug but there's no evidence of this. McKenna can't assess his mental state without Kirk's cooperation. This might be one of the big differences between physical and mental health. While patient consent is certainly a big issue in medicine, you don't need much input from the patient to set a broken leg, but you can't help a patient with mental health difficulties unless they're willing to be a big part of it.   And Kirk is certainly not willing. He dismisses McKenna to discuss the issue at hand with his officers.   The next hallucination Kirk sees is Miramanee, Kirk's late wife from the planet Amerind, where Kirk spent some extended time, having lost his memory. That episode had a number of issues, but it also dared to do some darker character stuff you wouldn't typically see in the 60s. For that, and the introduction of the mysterious preservers, I quite like The Paradise Sydrome. It's biggest flaw, of course, is that it has zero consequences. We never hear of Miramanee and her child again. It's as if Kirk is just over it. But that's more of flaw of the series, and 60s television mentality in general, than it is a flaw of this particular episode. Anyway, that's where Star Trek Continues comes in.   The little girl shows up again. I wonder if Kirk is starting to put it together yet?   McCoy is surprised to note that Spock is considering that what Kirk is seeing may be more than just hallucinations. Vulcans believe in the katra. McCoy uses an argument I've often heard. “I thought Vulcans were a people of science,” implying that being a person of science precludes a belief in anything spiritual. Spock counters this by saying “To be a people of science is to acknowledge that sometimes science points to something more. Vulcans are also a people of spirit. The two are not as contradictory as people assume.”   I think it can be argued whether this statement is consistent with Spock's character as established in TOS, but I really liked its inclusion. Star Trek usually comes from such a strictly naturalistic point of view, that it's nice when it does acknowledge the possibility of something more.   Smith reports a drag on the enterprise's flight path. I like the moment when both she and Sulu put it together at the same time and share a knowing look. This drag could be caused by the missile, and this might be their clue to locating it.   Kirk is so distracted by the ghosts of his former lovers that he can't give the order to fire. Spock very wisely gives the order himself. Technically this is a breach of the chain of command, but Kirk is clearly not himself. This was the right call.   When Kirk gives an outburst in front of everyone, addressing his hallucinations, he finally realises how compromised he has become. He should have known it a lot sooner, but that was probably another symptom of his condition. He relieves himself and hands the ship over to Spock. I mean he relieves himself of command, of course, not the other kind of relieving oneself.   The camera pans to Spock and holds there for a few seconds. He has a satisfied look on his face, but it's not because he has ambition. It's not because he wants Kirk's job. It's because his friend has finally seen the light and done what's best for him, and others.   McCoy reminds me, on purpose I'm sure, of Doctor Boyd when he brings Kirk a dose of brandy. But he needs a distraction to scan him.   His heart is working at 15% efficiency. Another arrest is inevitable. When Kirk doesn't respond to McCoy as a doctor, he tries to engage him as McCoy the friend. But Kirk doesn't believe he's not alone. He's reminded of the women he has lost. Duty first.   Kirk asks McCoy if he thinks Kirk loved those women. McCoy answers, “I think you've loved a lot of women, Jim.” Kirk does have a reputation as a ladies man. But that's not what Kirk is asking. Yes, he's had a lot of lovers in the past, but did he actually love them?   Kirk answers yes. He did love them. And he can't let them go. Bones assume Kirk was just a playboy who wanted a string of one night stands. But deep down, Kirk wants more than that. He always has. But command leaves no room for those kinds of indulgences. At least at this point in Star Trek history. By the 24th century we'll see captains marry and have families, raising them on Starships. But this is not that kind of Starfleet. Not yet.   This is where things get really interesting. Spock enters as Kirk is seeing all three women. He mind melds, and he sees them. He asks them what they want. So what does this mean? Does it suggest they are more than just hallucinations?   Can a Vulcan see another's delusions through a mind meld? I'm honestly not sure.   Delusions and hallucinations happen in the brain, in the mind, and it is the minds that are connected. Spock says they need resolution. Closure. Of a type only Kirk can offer. So he's viewing them as something more substantial.   Kirk is heading down to the planet with the console, against McCoy's recommendation. But is this different than before? He's relieved himself of duty, so Spock is currently in command, but maybe Kirk still needs to play a part in all this. If he can get better, maybe he can remember the password.   Except, that's not where he goes. So maybe I misunderstood. When he enters McKenna's quarters, there's a little moment that kind of mirrors one in the first episode, where McKenna walking in on Kirk shirtless. McKenna is hardly naked, but she does seem taken aback and kind of covers her shoulder. I think the show might be suggesting there's some mutual attraction between these two, possibly because the actors were together in real life, but from memory, that doesn't go anywhere.   Kirk doesn't know why he's here. But he's looking for answers.   McKenna thinks this isn't about resolution. It's about guilt. Kirk is the one who needs the resolution. He needs to explain to them why he failed them, which he never had the chance to do before they died.   These hallucinations give Kirk a unique opportunity that few of us ever get.   Enter the pseudo holodeck. I'd forgotten that the show revisited this. He meets the women from his past in the place where he last met them.   And he better hurry because there's 23 new tri-cobalt warheads headed for the planet.   Edith wants to know why Kirk held McCoy back from saving her. Why did he deliberately let her die. She forgives him. She understands. I think it's possible the real Edith Keeler may have understood as well. She dreamed of the world he was saving.   Next he visits the Farragut. Nakia knew the risks when she signed up for Starfleet. She doesn't blame him. She doesn't forgive him because she says there's nothing to forgive. “No more guilt, Jim”.   Back on Amerind, Kirk says his farewell to his wife, Mirramanee. He says that she, and their baby, were gifts he could never repay. And she says something interesting. One does not repay a gift. And that's true. That's what makes it a gift. “The great spirit calls us to forgiveness, of others, and ourselves.” It's a hard moment. Of all the woman Kirk has loved, Miaramanee was the longest and most committed relationship. They were married. They conceived a child together. We always remember Edith Keeler and Carol Marcus. But we forget Miramanee. We shouldn't do that.   Rayna is last, and she doesn't look impressed. This might be the hardest one of all. But then her face softens into a smile. There are no words exchanged. It seems none are necessary. It's a good performance from the actors.   It's done. Kirk has experienced closure with all of them. But he still doesn't remember the password, and Calsis only has 6 minutes.   Spock recommends withdrawal. When you have failed, there is nothing left but to try to survive.   But Kirk has another idea. Put the Enterprise in the path of the missiles with full shields. Spock surprisingly say they might be able to survive that, but they can't block all the missiles. But it's all they've got.   This is the starfleet way. You put your life on the line to protect others.   Kirk is still seeing the little girl. Perhaps that's why his memory hasn't returned He chases her through the ship. She offers him a gift. The same patterned stitching on the native american headbands from Amerind. Realisation dawns on him. This is his unborn daughter. She has no name because he never gave her one. And at this point in the episode, my heart is just shattering.   Kirk apologises to her that she never had a chance. He promises to love and remember her all the days of his life. As a father this is a very emotional moment for me to watch.   I can well believe that Kirk will think of her every day for the rest of his life. Of course, we'll never see that, because this story was written long after the TOS movies that follow it chronologically. But it would be nice to see some sign that he continues to think about her in future episodes of Star Trek Continues.   As she fades away she whispers something in Kirk's ear   Evidently, this final closure allowed Kirk to remember the code. Kirk's log entry makes that sufficiently clear. The episode doesn't need to spend any more time on it.   After seeing the technological might of the Federation, the Eritrans have requested formal peace negotiations. That's a good outcome.   We come to understand later, that Irises, the word that Kirk's daughter whispered in his ear, was the password.   Kirk is now sold on the need for a ship's counsellor. He has approved a dedicated office for McKenna. I guess she had to use her quarters beforehand. You need privacy for her kind of work. It turns out, the password was likely inspired by the painting by Vincent Van Gough. It is said he only painted one of the irises white because he was lonely. Just like Kirk. If that's what he chose for his password it shows just how lonely he really does feel.   The episode closes with McCoy suggesting that the part of Kirk's heart that wouldn't give up belongs to another lady. The obvious meaning to this would be the Enterprise. She has always been Kirk's lady. But I couldn't help but think about Carol Marcus. The other great love of Kirk's life who wasn't mentioned in this episode. Probably because he hasn't met her yet. In fact, another fan series, Star Trek New Voyages, did an episode that told the story of Kirk and Marcus's first meeting. I'm kinda tempted to add that episode into the mix as we're going through Star Trek Continues.   I can't believe I didn't remember this episode, though it started to come back as I watched it. This is a beautiful character piece. It helps to solve one of the big problems of TOS, lack of continuity. This episode provides consequence and continuation to some important emotional beats for Kirk in previous episodes. And much like how Avengers Endgame made some of the weaker Marvel movies more meaningful in retrospect, this episode adds power to those previous Star Trek episodes. So I think this is a triumph. Star Trek Continues actually reminds me a lot of Enterprise season 4. It seems to be trying to do a similar thing.   Next time, we'll be travelling through time with another episode that I don't remember much about. Divided We Stand.   In the meantime, have a great two weeks. Live long and proper Make it so.  

Today's episode of Star Trek Continues, "Fairest of Them All" takes us back to the mirror universe, for a direct sequel to the original Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror". We get to see what happened next after prime Kirk planted the seeds of change in mirror Spock's mind. It's a fun and meaningful story. Let's dig in and talk about it. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven.  I'm Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a nerd.   This is episode 97 of the podcast. Today, we're talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Fairest of Them All”   The description on StartrekContinues.com reads In the Mirror Universe, Spock faces a choice that determines the future of the Terran Empire.   The teleplay was written by James Kerwin and Vic Mignogna Based on a story by Vic Mignogna It was directed by James Kerwin And it first aired on 15th of June 2014.   You'll notice as we go along, that many episodes of Star Trek Continues are sequels, either direct, or subtle, to TOS episodes. This is the second one that is a direct sequel, in this case, to Mirror Mirror.   The mirror universe is an interesting thing. When you start to think about it, the idea breaks down quickly. The more the universes diverge, the less likely it would be to see the same people. For example, how astonishingly unlikely, in this universe, that Sarak still married Amanda, a Terran, and brought Spock into the world.   At its core, the mirror universe is silly. I've heard some argue that because of this, mirror universe episode should be campy. I strongly disagree with that. Mirror Mirror, while built on the somewhat silly premise, was serious drama. The only hint of campiness, to me, was mirror Kirk's over-acting, but even that was done for dramatic effect. When DS9 started doing mirror universe episodes, it also took the premise seriously and made gritty drama about it. Sadly, as these episodes went on, they got progressively sillier, the last of them, in season 7, being a Ferengi comedy.   People point to Spock's beard, claiming this is a campy idea, but I think that's mainly just because it's become such a meme. At the time, putting a goatee on Spock served a very practical purpose. Not only did it make him look more menacing, but it very quickly and effectively showed us, visually, that something was different. This wasn't our Spock.   Even the trend of having other mirror universe Vulcans wear the same beard doesn't feel like a campy move to me. We know that vulcans are creatures of tradition. They practically all have the same hairstyle, so it's only reasonable to assume that having a goatee would be a cultural imperative for mirror Vulcans. Look at the real-world culture of the Amish, who all grow a beard after they marry.   So, yeah, my point is, I'm up for treating the mirror universe as fodder for serious drama. And this episode follows its predecessor in just that.   The episode begins with Kirk's closing speech to Spock at the end of Mirror Mirror. It's a great speech. He has some very compelling words for Spock. It was always a favourite part of that episode. And I love how at the end of it, Spock says “I shall consider it.”   And with that note of hopefulness, We follow Kirk and his crew back to the prime universe.   But in this episode, we instead stay in the mirror universe with Spock, to see what he does next.   And I have to say this is a brilliant move. From the moment I first heard Intendant Kira tell the story of how Mirror Spock had dismantled the Terran Empire, turning it into a more reasonable and peace-loving organisation, and then its subsequent conquest by the alliance, I've been enthralled by the idea of seeing that play out.   During early DS9, Leonard Nimoy was still young enough to play this. I imagined a TV movie, set during the TOS movie era, where an older Spock had risen to emperor and was taking the dangerous steps of trying to change the culture. This episode of Star Trek Continues is the closest we'll likely ever get to that. But this tells the very beginning of the story. Spock's first steps into the light.   The return of mirror Kirk is bad news for the Halkans. Our Kirk did everything he could to try to spare them, but now that this universe's Kirk has returned, his first order of business is to destroy their city.   Rather than just destroying one city with the phasers, Kirk decides to use a full spread of photon torpedoes. The radiation of which is likely to make the entire species extinct. Spock argues for leniency and diplomacy. Prime Kirk's words are already having an effect on him. But mirror Kirk isn't interested. He does, however, have his first hint that his prime counterpart has sowed seeds of revolution in Spock's mind.   This episode takes a page out of Enterprise's book and creates specific mirror-universe opening titles, much as “In a Mirror Darkly” did. It was awesome in Enterprise, and it's awesome here.   Note also that this is the first episode that doesn't have Larry Nemechek as McCoy. We have a new actor - Chuck Huber.   I wondered what the reason for the cast change might have been. I found a Facebook post by Star Trek Continues, stating that Nemecek filled in for Chuck Huber in the first two episodes. This suggests that Larry was never intended to be the long-term actor in this role, but maybe Chuck Huber wasn't available for the first two? I don't know.   It's also the first appearance, in Star Trek Continues, of Smith, a character we last saw as a yeoman in “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” In that episode, Kirk kept calling her Jones. It seems mirror Kirk is still making that mistake all these years later.   The original series had a pretty male-dominated cast. Continues adds in a few more female characters to be regulars and semi-regulars. We already know it's added McKenna, as a brand new character, but I like how they went back to the well and used this old character. This episode won't be the last we'll see of her.   You'll notice Spock is the clear protagonist of this episode. We get a personal log from Spock, rather than a captain's log from Kirk.   There's a really interesting dynamic going on between these two, even now. Kirk confronts Spock for questioning his orders. Spock again tries to point out the logic of his alternate approach. When Kirk asks Uhura to make his report back to the empire, he makes it very clear that he personally destroyed the Halkens, and he asks Uhura to include Spock's objections. On the surface, this may seem like he's respecting Spock's opinion, but of course this is the opposite. Kirk is letting his superiors know that Spock made a very controversial suggestion. A suggestion that could get him in a lot of trouble. A suggestion that might make them question giving him a command of his own. This is a subtle power play against Spock, and I'm sure Spock is aware of it.   New twist, something planted in the planet by the Halkens means that the torpedo barrage is setting off a chain reaction that could destroy all of that precious dilithium the empire wants to strip mine out of the planet.   All of a sudden, Spock is looking like the more reasonable person, and Kirk's overkill is going to cost them a lot. And that message has already been sent to the Empire. Very interesting.   Kirk does his best to turn things around again, by insisting that Spock should have detected that the dilithium was rigged to explode. But it sounds a little hollow.   Uhura sounds a very valid warning. Kirk's enemies don't stick around very long. Spock already knows about the device in Kirk's quarters, and that's just where Kirk is headed.   If Spock isn't careful, he may disintegrate.   So two Andorian ships arrive, and we know from Discovery that the mirror Andorians were part of a rebellion with the Tellarites and Vulcans, but this was written before discovery. The Andorians say they witnessed the destruction of the Halkens and no longer recognise the authority of the Terran Empire. I think you can make this work. While many Andorians were rebels, years earlier at the time of Discovery, I'm not sure all of them were. Some were probably willing subjects of the empire. I mean, Spock himself is first officer of a Terran ship, and he's Vulcan, who were also part of the rebellion, (which features Spock's own father).   But the more important thing here is that Kirk's prediction is already coming true. Other races are rebelling against the empire. It doesn't line up exactly because it implies there hasn't been any rebellion up until now.   And we hear the computer voice, which in the mirror universe, is Male. Excitingly, the voice is Michael Dorn, who, of course, played Worf. That's a nice touch.   When Kirk orders Spock to attack the Andorian ships, he openly refuses to obey.  Naturally, Kirk assumes Spock is making some kind of play, because that's how things work in the Mirror Universe, but he also recognises that his Prime universe counterpart has had some influence on Spock, and maybe on Moreau as well.   He turns on the tantalus field, and spies Spock speaking of mutiny with Uhura. But when he pushes the button to kill Spock, it fritzes out and dies. It's not working.   I think Kirk suspects Moreau of doing something to the device at first, but stops short of having her taken away by security.   Spock's next target is Scotty. He tries to recruit him, appealing to the peace he witnessed in the prime universe. Scotty saw that peace as weakness, but is he just parroting the party line? His biggest concern is not a fundamental disagreement with Spock, but fear of committing mutiny, which is a very dangerous game in the mirror universe.   I don't think Spock was successful in recruiting Uhura, but she's wishing she wasn't on the ship. If I have one criticism of this episode, it's that, other than Kirk, none of the crew are really mirror-universe enough. I'm not seeing the angry bloodthirsty callousness that I'm expecting, I'm mainly seeing fear. But then, fear would be a natural state for most people living in a world like that.   We actually get our first real glimpse of this with McCoy. He's injecting a security officer with something. He casually remarks “I've never used this much before.” Then grins and says “I wonder what will happen.” I think doctors provide the best opportunity for highlighting the difference between mirror and prime characters. Because Doctors have such strong ethics in our world, and a doctor without ethics is terrifying. This idea is so powerful that the showrunners of Star Trek Discovery's first season said they would never show a mirror universe version of Culber, because it would be so dark it would tarnish the memory of that character. Of course, that didn't stop them showing a version of Georgaeu who would eat the meat of sentient lifeforms.   Now that Kirk knows where Spock is, the only thing keeping him alive is the malfunction in the tantalus field. Checkov is wise to join Spock's side when given the chance. Spock's use of the stun setting on his phaser is a powerful statement that really gets Checkov thinking. “Murder is the way of the empire. The captain's way.” Kirk put Checkov in the front lines as cannon fodder to die. He has much better hope for a future with Spock than with Kirk, even if he doesn't share Spock's values. Of course, I am surprised that a mirror universe phaser would even have a stun setting, but perhaps it could be useful occasionally. After all, you can't torture someone who is dead.,   Spock gives a rousing speech over the comm system. He's getting through to Uhura. You can see it on her face.   Moreau joins Spock in Auxiliary Control. She tells him their best hope is to get to Kirk's quarters. The tantalus field is the key, just as Prime Kirk said it would be.   Kirk is starting to realise the seriousness of his situation. Crew are not reporting for duty. They're starting to switch sides. Smith is willing to serve Kirk, but his anger at her is eroding any goodwill she has for him. He does something really stupid. He relieves her of her commission and tells her to report to the brig. She was one of the few allies he had, and he's just given her to Spock because she's unable to do what would be reasonably accepted to be impossible in her situation.   Kirk realises his mistake when Sulu arrives and reports that Checkov has turned. He tells Smith to resume her post, but the damage is already done. She's not going to respect Kirk anymore. The only thing that's been holding her here is fear, and that fear will continue to erode as Spock gains more and more power.   We get confirmation that Moreau sabotaged the tantalus field. Now she offers it to Spock. When Moreau says “Yes, she is the captain's woman, but not this captain,” I believe she's thinking about prime Kirk. He changed her way of thinking. He gave her a new hope. She's doing this based on his example, and possibly even out of love for him.   But Spock isn't willing to use it. “No revolution can succeed using the same methods that failed in the previous one.” Wise words. There may come a day when Spock has to use this device to protect himself, but he's not going to stoop to Kirk's level. He's not going to become the monster he's trying to defeat. The key is not using the device himself, but ensuring that Kirk can't use it.   Moreau wants to be sent to the prime universe, something Spock can't do. But together maybe they can recreate something of the prime universe here.   Kirk is learning. He's realising that screaming and ranting is not going to get him anywhere. So he's trying a more reasonable approach. At least, an approach that seems reasonable. He tells Spock that he sees the merit in his logic. He's lying, obviously, but he's calmed down enough to be able to try this tactic.   Moreau cautions against this. It's obviously a trap. Scotty knows this. Spock knows this. But if there is any hope for the empire to change, he must give Kirk the opportunity to change as well. So he walks into what is almost certainly a trap. Because he has to give Kirk a chance. It's interesting. I can see his logic. Scotty and Moraeu are right. This is a foolish step that can likely achieve nothing. But this is exactly what Spock has been preaching. Sit down and talk rather than fight. To refuse would be to go against the essence of the message he's preaching. And I think Kirk knows this.   I couldn't help but notice the camera shot panning up from the chessboard to Spock and then seeing Kirk  enter. Very symbolic of the chess game Kirk and Spock are currently engaged in. A game in which they are currently locked in a stalemate.   Kirk brings up the valid point that there are many other ships out there loyal to the empire. Even if Spock wins control of the Enterprise, he'll still have a very difficult fight ahead of him. A fight against the odds.   When Kirk tries to shoot Spock, we learn that Scotty has put an energy dampening forcefield on the entire deck. Spock has given Kirk his chance, but also given him a chance to prove he cannot be trusted.   The dilithium on the planet is overloading. They have to warp away to avoid being destroyed.   Spock is offering the crew an alternative. Kirk shows what he really thinks of them. “They're pawns. They don't need alternatives. Pawns need a king. He sees no intrinsic human value in any of them. And this is why Kirk will lose.   This happens sooner than expected when we realise that Spock had activated the intercom. The entire crew heard Kirk ranting about them. Uhura and Smith already have knives at Sulu's throat. Security arrive in the rec lounge to take Kirk into custody.   Spock demonstrates compassion by giving Kirk and his followers a shuttle, sparing their lives. Part way through this scene I got a little excited when I realised they'd built a shuttle for this show. You see, I get so caught up in this that sometimes I just think I'm watching TOS. And then I realise, oh yeah, this is a fan show. Fans had to build that life-size shuttle. I'm sure the hanger deck itself is CG, but it looks as it should.   Apparently there were some Halken survivors. I'm surprised by that. I thought Kirk slaughtered them all.   I think the Halkens would be glad to know, survivors or not, that their sacrifice had helped to secure the end of the empire, and the beginning of peace. At least, until the Klingons and Cardassians form the Alliance, but that's a whole other story.   So Spock orders a speed of warp 2 with no heading, prompting Checkov to ask for the heading. Spock replies “forward.” This reminded me of Kirk's “first star to the right” quote from Peter Pan at the end of Star Trek 6. And I get it. It's poetic. That's nice and all. But…..what exactly is Checkov supposed to do with that? Spock is there waiting for the ship to move. Checkov pushes some buttons. Is he just making up his own course? Maybe plotting for the nearest Maccas fly-through? These moments kind of bother me.   So, the Enterprise flies off into the sunset, having taken the very first step into a better future.   I really enjoyed this one. It was a great script, exploring how Spock took Kirk's advice and made changes in the mirror universe.   It's the kind of episode I'm not sure they could have done in “real” Star Trek. It doesn't actually move the story forward in our world at all. But it's a perfect story for a fan series to explore. Not so much a ‘what-if' story, but certainly a side quest, but a very meaningful one.   Next time, we'll be talking about an episode that I don't really remember - The White Iris. Looking forward to it.   Don't forget to check out my original science fiction at AdamDavidCollings.com/books   In the meantime, have a great two weeks, live long and prosper Make it so.  

Star Trek Continues is a fan-made Star Trek series of professional quality. We begin a new series talking about this incredible show with the pilot episode "Pilgrim of Eternity" Star Trek Continues does exactly what the name suggests, it continues TOS giving us a mythical 4th season, filling in the gap between Star Trek and Star Trek The Motion Picture. In "Pilgrim of Eternity" Michael Forest returns in the role of Apollo, the god-like alien that first appeared in the TOS episode "Who Mourns for Adonais".   Watch the episode I'm discussing at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G-ziTBAkbQ&t=423s ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven.  I'm Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a nerd.   This is episode 95 of the podcast. Today, we begin a new series, looking at the first episode of Star Trek Continues. “Pilgrim of Eternity.”   And if you'd like to check out my original science fiction, head over to AdamDavidCollings.com/books   The description on StartrekContinues.com reads Apollo returns to wreak havoc on Kirk and the Enterprise in the first episode of the new series.   The teleplay was written by Steve Frett and Jack Travino With story by Vic Mignogna and Jack Marshall   It was directed by Vic Mignogna And it first aired on the 26th of May 2013.   So with so much new Star Trek, with so much other classic sci-fi on TV, why cover a fan-made series?   The first answer to that is that right now, every bloke and his dog is talking about Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds. I've found it very difficult to stand out amongst so many podcasters and youTubers who are so much better than I am? I can't break into that.  But there aren't so many who have done an in-depth series of podcasts on Star Trek continues, in the way that I do. It's a beloved show, but I feel like there's more room to place myself in that niche.   The second, and more important answer, is that I love the show and want to watch it again and share my thoughts.   If you haven't seen Star Trek Continues before, you can watch all 11 episodes for free. They're all on youTube, and you can also download them to play locally from StarTrekContinues.com   There are a number of fan-made Star Trek shows. They all seemed to emerge after the cancellation of Enterprise. After 18 years of non-stop new Star Trek on TV, we were suddenly in this void where there wasn't any Star Trek. It was weird.   So the fans stepped up and made their own Star Trek. It was a time of great creativity and expression. So many people worked hard to share their love of the franchise. And keep it alive.   There was a lot of good stuff, but I think Star Trek Continues stands out as one of the best, if not the best. It's won a ton of awards, and has been praised by Rod Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. He considers the show canon and says his father would probably agree.   It all got started when Vic Mignogna directed an episode of Star Trek Farragut. He went into partnership and took part ownership of their sets, and set up some studio space where it could all live. Then he went about making his own show, assembling some very talented people around him.   So let's talk about this first episode, which of course, is a sequel to the original series episode Who Mourns for Adonais. Quite a few of Star Trek Continues stories were follow-ups to TOS episodes.   We begin in an unexpected place. A cowboy is holding Kirk at gunpoint. An old-fashioned revolver. He threatens to shoot Kirk. And for a brief moment, I'm wondering, am I watching the right episode? Star Trek has certainly done wild west planets before. But this is the one with Apollo, right?   It's a common story-telling technique to start right in the middle of a tense moment like this. They call it in media res. And it's effective. Things are cleared up quickly when we hear Scotty's voice say “Freeze program.” Turns out, this is a holodeck. A very early experimental prototype of a holodeck.   But wasn't the holodeck first invented just before Encounter at Farpoint, you may ask? Certainly the crew of the Enterprise seemed amazed by its newness.   Well, I think this works.  Voyager made it clear that as a child, Janeway played the holoprogram, Flotter. That was clearly before Farpoint. And Star Trek The Animated Series featured something very much like a holodeck. Most people dismissed the animated series as not canon back in the old days. I've even heard somewhere that Gene Roddenberry did not consider it canon. But people seem to be much more accepting of it these days. And it has been referenced multiple times in TNG, Picard, Lower Decks, maybe Discovery too. On top of all that, this is not a proven technology. It's certainly not something that is in everyone's homes. So I think we can accept that holographic entertainment has been around for some time, but in more primitive forms. The holodeck on the Enterprise D took things to a whole new level, and was soon enhanced even more by the Bynars.   In any case, I think it's pretty cool to think that Scotty may have been one of the early minds responsible for what would eventually become the holodeck. It's also nice to see Kirk enjoying some play time off duty.   The over-working hero is a bit of a tired trope at this point. And it's certainly not a healthy thing to emulate in real life.   The Enterprise is investigating a series of space-based power stations that have been drained of power and gone offline. Kirk heads to the bridge.   The casting of this show was phenomenal. The first two characters we see are Kirk played by series creator Vic Mignogna and Scotty played by Chris Doohan, the son of James Doohan, who played Scotty in the original series.   Having Chris Doohan resume his father's role is a big asset to this show. And it's not just about name recognition. He does a great job of it, and that voice is eerily familiar.   Vic also does a fantastic job of Kirk. Of all the actors, other than Shatner, who have played Kirk, I think Vic is the one that convinces me the most, that he's the same guy. I'm very curious to see how Paul Wesley goes playing the role in season 2 of Strange New Worlds.   While many fan productions used a lot of ameteur actors, Star Trek Continues fills its sets with professional, or at least, experienced, actors. And it shows. That's no slight against any of the other fan-produced shows. But this one has some very good performers.   So we pick up with Kirk as he enters the bridge. And you have to admire this set. You'd swear you were back on the set of the original series. It looks phenomenal.   Spock is in the captain's chair, played by Todd Haberkorn. Now I have to admit, I have a bit of a harder time accepting this guy as Spock. And it's nothing to do with the actor's performance. He does a great job. He does everything right. But Spock is a particularly hard character to pull off, just because Leonard Nimoy had such a unique presence to him. The look.The voice. Nobody else can truly be Spock in the way that Nimoy did. Todd Haberkorn, Zachery Quinto and Ethan Peck have all done remarkable jobs at it, but none of them have managed to make me fully believe they are truly the same person as was portrayed by Nimoy. But at some point, you just have to suspect your disbelief and accept this is the same person.   While the characters speculate on what has happened to the power station, a strange object appears. Like a big spikey rock surrounded by green glowing energy. Is it a ship? A probe?   While on the bridge, we see Sulu, portrayed by Grant Imahara, of Mythbusters fame, who has sadly passed away since the conclusion of this show, Checkov, portrayed by Wyatt Lenhard, and Uhura, portrayed by Kim Stinger. They all do a good job of portraying these characters in a realistic way, based on roles' previous occupants.   And then McCoy walks in, portrayed by Larry Nemecek. He'll be replaced later by another actor. But Larry Nemecek is a big name in Star Trek fandom. He's written a lot of Star Trek reference books. He's appeared in a number of fan productions, and a small role in the final episode of Enterprise. And he was a creative consultant on Star Trek Continues through it's run. McCoy is another character that's really hard to recast. I think the only actor who's ever come close to truly convincing me is Karl Urban. Again, nothing against Larry's performance here, but DeForest Kelly had such a presence, with his face and his voice. It's hard to replicate.   The object starts draining the Enterprise's power. Kirk has no choice but to destroy it with a photon torpedo. There are two lifeforms in the centre of thing. Kirk doesn't want o kill them, but in the end, it's a case of self-preservation.  The torpedo has done the job, but sadly,there are no lifeforms. McCoy expresses what we're all feeling in this moment. He knows it had to be done, but it's hard to see the taking of any life, even if it's to save our own.   That's when a appears in a flash of bright light. Apollo, with a woman in his arms. And he's a lot older than when we saw him last, but played by Michael Forest, the same actor that played the role all the way back in the 60s.   And that's when we cut to credits. The opening credits for Star Trek Continues are very reminiscent of the TOS credits. But featuring some much more impressive visuals of space phenomenon, thanks to around 50 years of advancement in visual effects technology.   And this is probably a good time to talk about music. One of the big things that strikes you immediately with this show, other than the sets and costuming, is the music. How faithful to the original series it sounds. That really over the top bombastic kind of music that had in the 60s. It sounds very Star Trek. And a lot of it is. They used a lot of original music recorded for TOS in this show. But they did some very clever editing. To make the music effectively fit the scenes, Vic would chop it up, move bits around, extend or contract it. And even compose and play his own original music to edit in seamlessly. All in all giving a very authentic TOS sound to the show, but still unique and custom made for Star Trek Continues. The music feels like it belongs. It's really clever what they did.   In some later episodes, they move up to a whole other level in terms of music, but we'll get to that.   So it turns out, the old woman with Apollo is Athena. Another of the Greek gods. We didn't see her on Pollux, back in the original story, but I guess he'd re-connected with her since then.   She's dying. It's a very heartfelt scene as they bid a final farewell to each other.   She vanishes, leaving nothing behind but a brooch, which Uhurua picks up. Even Apollo doesn't know where she's gone. She's just … gone.   McCoy and Scotty's reactions to Apollo are quite telling. The ever compassionate doctor, McCoy wants to get him to sickbay, not that he knows what he can do for an ageing Greek god.   Scotty is hesitant about Kirk allowing this creature on the ship. Scotty's met him before. Scotty has seen what Apollo was capable of. McCoy was there too, but Scotty was very close to the young woman that Apollo had under his thumb.   A quick external shot shows that something has gotten itself onto the hull of the Enterprise. Something from that artefact they destroyed, which presumably, is where Apollo and Athena came from.   That stuff is gonna cause a lot of problems. They're not going anywhere until it's removed. Sulu thinks they can go out and dissolve it with hand phasers.   Kirk feels somewhat responsible for whatever has happened to Apollo. It was Kirk who rendered him powerless two years ago. He and Spock can't speculate on how he has aged so much in this short amount of time.   And this is when we hear the computer voice for the first time, played by none other than Marina Sirtis of Deanna Troi fame. She doesn't try to mimic MAjel Barett's voice, which I think would have been a mistake. Her voice is a welcome familiar one to any Star Trek fan and I think it works nicely for the computer voice. It's also fitting given that Sirtis played Barett's on-screen daughter on The Next Generation.   They'll continue to make improvements and tweaks to the digital model of the Enterprise, but it already looks really good. Very recognisable as the ship from the original series.   The sickbay set looks good. Just as you'd expect it. All the sets on this show are absolutely spot on.   In addition to recasting all the old favourites, Star Trek continues introduced a number of new characters. We meet one in this scene. Doctor Ellse McKennah, the newly assigned ship's counsellor, played by Michele Specht, who was in a relationship with Vic at the time, but they are no longer together.   I really like McKennah. The character is a fantastic addition to the TOS cast, and she's played wonderfully by Specht.   The thing about bringing in a new character like this is that the show can give her a complete character arc, from beginning to end. And she definitely has that.   Back in the days of the original series, an episode like this might very well introduce a character like McKennah. She's be a part of the plot of that episode, but you'd likely never see her again after that. It was the nature of episodic TV back in the 60s. But Star Trek continues does the exact opposite, making her a regular and giving her arguably more character development than any of the characters had in TOS.   McCoy has found something interesting. The extra organ he had, which humans don't, it's barely detectable. That could explain a lot.   Apollo gives us a little exposition. His people created a place called The Realm which would give them the energy to live out their retirement for eternity. An alternative to the energy they previous received from being worshipped. But it didn't work. Instead of giving them energy, it sapped them of it. Their sanctuary became a prison.   It seems that's where he disappeared off to when he left Pollux IV. Perhaps the artefact was the physical manifestation of the realm in our universe. When they sensed the Enterprise approaching, Athena sacrificed the last of her energy to help them both escape the realm. That's why she died on arrival.   So this explains the power station and the rapid ageing.   Kirk is concerted that Apollo will once again desire their worship, to keep himself alive. But that is something they cannot give. But he no longer seeks it.  He just wants them to take him to a planet where he can live among the locals, as one of them, and die with the sun on his face.   But Kirk sees a big risk in this. He may trick the local population into worshipping him, like he did in ancient Greece. This is something Kirk isn't willing to risk. Even though Apollo swears he will won't do it, Kirk says no to his request.   Of course, if he were to seek worship, it would only be to keep himself from dying. But then, that's no different to what he did in the past. It's an interesting situation.   Kirk wants McCoy to make sure Apollo is as powerless as he claims. He has little time for welcoming McKennah aboard, and wants her to help McCoy.   Next we see Sulu and Simone phasering the stuff off the hull, live action performance integrated with an exterior view of the ship. While more modern shows like Enterprise had previous done similar shots, this is a first for TOS. We never would have seen anything like this back in the day.  Shooting in front of a blue screen was quite doable, but the shooting model of the Enterprise just wasn't detailed enough to provide a backdrop.   The interesting thing here is that Simone is played by Jamie Bamber, who was Lee Adama on Ronald D Moore's rebooted Battlestar Galactica, which I love. The amusing thing is that Lee's callsign was, of course, Apollo. So that's quite fitting.   The original series EVA suits look totally authentic. Just as ridiculous as they looked in TOS, but very faithful, which is a good thing. But it's a shame that for all of his brief appearance, Bamber is behind the grate of that helmet, so you can barely tell it's him. Something goes screwy with the phasers and YY is plunged out into space. Sulu's report to the Enterprise is not very effective. He says “emergency” and then lets it hang for several seconds. No explanation of what the emergency is. No indication of what he needs from then. Finally after what feels like an eternity, he requests an emergency beam out.” This kind of thing has been common in Star Trek for a long time. It used to drive me crazy in TNG. The crew were so slow to react to things it was painful. They should all have died well before the show ended.   Anyway, this is our first look at Star Trek Continues' transporter effect. It looks pretty authentic to what we saw in TOS.   McKennah goes to talk with Apollo. If anyone could use some counselling, it's somebody with a terminal condition. She mentions that Lieutenant Carolyn Palomys. The only mortal woman to ever spurn his love. Sadly, she's no longer alive. After her experience with Apollo she left the Enterprise. She died helping colonists affected by a plague. So that's a nice nod to her character. A noble sacrificial wasa a fitting way for her to go out. Apollo explains that they never sought out another planet where they might find worshippers, because they were so heartbroken when humanity, who they loved deeply, rejected them. And this adds a lot more texture and depth to the relationship. Far from just being evil overlords, they had deep feelings. A real connection to the humans that worshipped them. And they felt a great sense of loss and grief when that relationship ended.   The problem that Sulu and Simone experienced seems to be related to the power drain. Scotty is quick to blame Apollo. I can understand why, given his past experience, but he's being a little blinded by his emotions. His prejudice against Apollo. A likely cause is probably the very stuff they were cleaning off the hull. It was part of the realm artefact.   The next set we see is the briefing lounge. I'd tell you good it looks, how accurate to the original, but you're probably getting bored of me saying that.   A lot of the conflict in this episode comes from Scotty blaming Apollo for everything that's going on, and the others disagreeing. Even McCoy agrees with Spock, which evokes a few comical raised eyebrows.   I have to say, I think Scotty is being led a little too much by emotion and assumption right now. If he'd stop and think things through a bit more, he'd see that there are other possibilities. Others, that are more likely given the current evidence. But then, we've all been Scotty. Haven't we?   I think a lot of Scotty's perspective comes from the feelings he had for Carolyn. And while Apollo had nothing directly to do with her eventual death, he probably played a part in her leaving Starfleet. So in some way, Scotty may blame him.   Kirk wants the opinion of his senior officers, Spock, McCoy and Scotty. Spock suiggests letting Apollo go, giving him “just enough rope” to hang himself.   Now, Scotty is providing a valuable and necessary alternative opinion to Spock and McCoy. Kirk doesn't blame him for distrusting Apollo. But his outburst before he leaves the briefing room does cross a line, and certainly isn't in character with who he usually is. Just further evidence that this is personal and emotional to him.   Kirk as ever, sits in the middle, trying to take the advice of both sides. Ultimately agreeing with Spock, but tempering his actions with some of Scotty's caution.   It seems that everyone agrees that it is the realm itself that took the energy from  Simone and Sulu's suits. The real question is whether Apollo is controlling it or not.   The prime directive will not allow Kirk to put a creature like Apollo on an unsuspecting world, whether he truly intends to set up church or not. Apollo accuses the Federation of lacking the compassion they pride themselves on. And this can sometimes be a valid criticism. Certainly in The Next Generation, the way the Enterprise D crew implemented the prime directive definitely lacked compassion, and was sometimes downright immoral, in my opinion.   Apollo is glad to know that he was remembered, showing footage of the Apollo mission. But as a mythological figure, not a deity.   The episode picks up on an important element of Uhura's character. Her love of singing in the mess hall for her crewmates, and in a rather flirty seductive kind of way if I may say so. Kim Stinger can sing. And again, the set looks perfectly authentic to me. She has kept the brooch safe, knowing it was important to Apollo. When she tries to give it back, he tells her to keep it.   And then he praises her voice. At that moment, Uhura realises that Apollo was the greek god of music. How must that feel, to be complimented on someone who has a high level of ability or authority themselves in that field? And while Apollo may not be a god in a true sense, he is an extremely long-lived being of immense knowledge and experience. There are likely many things you could learn from sitting down with him. Imagine what you could learn about ancient earth history from somebody who was there!   And then he unexpectedly bursts into song. Moments like this rarely work for me. Question - are the characters in the show able to hear the stringed instrument that is accompanying him, or is that just for the audience's benefit? When watching a music, my father-in-law will often joke, “where's that music coming from?” Watching a musical definitely requires an extra level of suspension of disbelief, but it works because of the genre. But having a moment like that in a show like this, that's a whole other thing.   The crewmembers in the mess hall are quite taken by Apollo, for the reasons I just mentioned.   Unfortunately, Scotty has found that the corrosive debris from the realm has gotten into more of the Enterprise's systems than just the hull. Not good news.   So McKenna comes to Kirk's quarters to see if they can finally have that chat, but is shocked and taken aback to find he's not wearing a shirt. This kind of moment is taken directly from the original series. I found it juvenile then, and I find it juvenile now. McKenna actually seems a little flustered throughout the entire scene after this awkward beginning.   McKenna and Kirk have something in common. A need to prove themselves. Kirk, as he was the youngest Starfleet officer to make captain at the age of 32, and McKenna, as Starfleet's first on-board counsellor. It may seen kind of ludicrous that up until this point Starfleet haven't had anyone on board to look after the mental health of the crew, but this show is based on the original series, and in the 1960s, menstrual health was thought of very differently than it is today. Of course, there was Doctor Denher, in Where No one has Gone before, but perhaps she was just on board conducting scientific research, rather than taking patients from amongst the crew.   McKernna has a specific recommendation regarding Apollo. She believes in his sincerity. She believes he has changed, from what he once was. The recommendations that Kirk grant Apollo's request is implicit but unspoken.   And Kirk takes that onboard. He always takes the opinions of his crew on board, but he needs more if he's to risk Apollo become what he was in the past.   McKenna makes a decent point that within all of us, there is the potential to do good or bad. Apollo is no different in that regard.   And Apollo doesn't really have the powers he once had. So is he any more dangerous than a human begin? Well, we've seen in the original series the damage a single human being can do on a primitive world. Apollo has been worshipped as a god, and that desire to be so again was still very strong in him recently.   But being weakened, and seeing his friends die, that's the kind of thing that does change a person. He's facing death himself.   McKenna seems to be quite emotionally involved in this situation. Perhaps more so than is professional.   When  Spock calls Kirk to come to the rec room, he follows a trope you often see on TV, especially in Star Trek. He won't explain what's going on, he simply says “you should see for yourself.” Now I understand why a line like that works for a script. You don't want to bog things down in exposition. You want the audience to see if for themselves. But from an in-character point of view, I can see no reason why Spock should refuse to explain himself here. Is it that hard to say “Apollo is telling stories and the crew are entranced?” It seems a little insubordinate. Could they not have Spock's line “You need to come to the rec room, and then cut to the next scene? Maybe that would be an awkward transition.   Now I get that Kirk is concerned that the crew are enthralled by Apollo. He's worried that Apollo is up to his old tricks, wanting to be admired by lowly humans, but in the end, all he's doing is telling a story. He's doing it dramatically, but how is that any different than Uhura singing and rubbing foreheads with the males in the audience? It's a performance.   He's not actually doing anything wrong.   But the way Kirk yells “Apollo!” and then “we need to have a word.” It seems overkill for the situation. Not that Kirk shouldn't have a word with him, but it's a little overdramatic. But it's very Shatner.   It's interesting. I'm finding that I'm not entirely sure how to judge this show. By 60s standards, or by today's standards? This is a modern show, but it's being made with deliberate 60s aesthetic and sensibilities. The scene with MacKenna walking in on shirtless Kirk is another example of that.   I feel that as the show goes on, it will find a balance between modern writing and acting, but still maintain its place in the 60s inspired 23rd Century. I think it's possible, that the makers of the show, on this first episode, are still finding their way themselves. And that's perfectly understandable.   The trouble is they do such a good job of it. Everything about this, the sets, the hairstyles, the music. Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd easily be convinced that this was made around 50 years ago.   The professionalism behind this fan-made production is seen on every level. That's why I'm podcasting about it, basically treating it no different than any other professional TV show.   Anyway, despite what I said earlier, Kirk is proven correct. They're barely into their conversation before Apollo declares Kirk unworthy and sweeps him away with telekinetic powers. So … not so powerless after all.   It seems Apollo is unchanged. He still craves humanity's worship. I'll be honest. He had me fooled along with McKenna.   He says he wants what he's always wanted. Humanity's love. Kirk counters that humanity never loved him. They feared him. No god should survive on fear.   The word worship means to give worth to something. To ascribe to another, that which it is worth. What it is rightly due.   On that level, in my opinion, Apollo fails to meet the standard of a god. He had demonstrated time and again that he is not worthy of what he craves.   It's McKenna who shorts him with a phaser, to rescue Kirk. But she's clearly torn up about it. Personally, I don't think she's spent enough time with Apollo to become near as emotionally caught up with him as she has. I think that's a flaw in this episode. McKenna is being portrayed as extremely over-emotional. Again, this is how a 60s TV show might portray a female character. So... I'm not sure if the episode should be criticised or praised for this. It's so confusing. This is actually the last we'll see of McKenna in this episode, as she's led away, in her grief, by Uhura.   Spock has an interesting perspective on all this. He feels on some level, Apollo cannot control his actions. That lifeforms generally find it very difficult to change their ways, to change deeply embedded behaviours. And he's right about that. Changing your ways is not easy. Even if you're determined. You try, you fail. Hopefully, you try again. It is often tragedies that make the difference. But the, Apollo has been through a lot of tragedy in recent time.   Kirk is determined that Apollo's therapy will not be at the expense of the crew of the Enterprise.   Apollo is voluntarily restrained. He believed he could control the deepest ancient drives within himself by sheer force of his will. But he lost control. As Spock said. And this all makes a lot of sense. Often we can't change the things about ourselves that we want to change just by force of will. We need to look outside of ourselves, to the support of friends, professional help, and yes, maybe even God.   Despite all of this, Kirk and Apollo now agree that Kirk can't, and shouldn't trust Apollo.   Kirk sees no alternative than to just leave Apollo restrained until he dies. But Apollo has another idea. That extra organ in his body, that humans don't have. It allows him to channel the power, but it apparently serves another purpose. It's what converts mortal worship into energy.    This whole idea of converting something as intangible as worship into energy is a pretty high-concept idea, but it's been done before. This is how the Ori in Stargate SG-1 get their power. Apollo now knows he can't control this organ. But he doesn't want to let it control him.    And then McCoy quotes Matthew 5:29. The idea is that if there is something in your body, or your life, that causes you to sin, get rid of it. This is exactly the wisdom Apollo is coming to. Better to not have that organ than to fight a losing battle against it.  Sometimes, the battle is best avoided. He wants McCoy to surgically remove the organ.   McCoy is hesitant. He can remove an organ easy enough, but this is an alien. He doesn't understand Apollo's physiology. The risks are impossible to predict. But Apollo is willing to accept those risks.   So, they go for it. And Scotty is having success getting rid of the gunk in the ship.   It's looking like all their problems might just be solved.   Now that Apollo likely no longer has the will to seek worship, he wants to revisit the idea of re-settling him on a planet somewhere. And being Kirk, he wants input from his most trusted advisors.   McCoy and Spock are both convinced. But Scotty still warns caution. They only have Apollo's word that removing the organ will make a difference. And that's true. There's still some emotion bubbling below the surface, but Scotty has got it more under control now. He's a little more reasonable. And he admits, he's not sure what the alternative is.   They still have no consensus. Kirk doesn't need consensus, of course, but with a decision as important as this, he'd like it. Scotty's words have really made Kirk think.   If they don't make a decision soon, Apollo will die on board the ship anyway. It seems his end is pretty close. Even if they take him to a planet now, he probably won't have enough time to cause much trouble.   I'm pretty sure Star Trek Continues is the first fan-made show to reconstruct the Jefferies tube set. It's pretty awesome, with the shot looking down the tube at him working. I love it.   Uhura gets zapped by her console. Apparently, she didn't move away from the console quick enough after Scotty's warning. I can't help but feel Scotty should have given the warning earlier.   And if the bio-bed readings are to be believed, Uhura is dead.   We know the show won't leave her dead, but despite that, Larry and Vic sell the drama of the moment with their performances.   Apollo sees Uhura drop the brooch.  He uses what energy he has left to bring Uhura back to life. Does that mean he lied about the organ? More likely, without the organ, he couldn't convert any more worship to power, but he still had a little energy left in him. Energy he needed to recover from his surgery.   Turns out it's not that simple. He has more energy now than before the surgery. McCoy can't explain it.   They have an interesting theory. Apollo's species can draw energy from sacrifice. They may have assumed that because worship empowered them, it was the only thing that did so. But without the organ that converts worship, his body now must pull energy from other sources.   Apollo has found another way. A better way. The energy he draws from sacrifice is less than what he once enjoyed, so no more thunderbolts, as McCoy puts it, but if he restrains himself from all that, he should be able to prolong his life indefinitely. A God sacrificing himself for humanity. That sounds familiar.   And even Scotty is convinced. It's a nice emotional moment he he finally nods.   The episode wraps in a very TOS way, with Kirk summing up the moral and theme of the story, and then he and McCoy sharing a silly joke at Spock's expense. I wasn't a bit fan of those kinds of endings, but it's very authentically TOS. But then, when you'd expect the credits to roll, the camera lingers on the planet.   One Year Later. We get a nice little epilogue scene as Apollo helps a local family, and we see his face is now younger. This scene wasn't necessary, but it was welcome. I really enjoyed it.   Another little tidbithere, Doug Drexler appeared in this episode as Paladin. I'm honestly not sure who that character was, but … he was in there. Drexler is a visual effects artist who was instrumental in the Berman era of Trek. He also did that beautiful opening credits footage for this show.   Also, I have to saw that Bones and Spock grew on me through this episode.   Tod Haberkorn has a very different face and voice to Nimoy, but it's the performances of both of these guys that ultimately sold me that they were these characters.   As a modern production, mimicking something of an older style, this is nothing short of fine art. The  detail, the artistry, it's all so well done. But what would I think if I were to judge this episode as if it were the beginning of TOS season 4?   It's not one of the great episodes of Star Trek. It probably wouldn't be one of the classics, but it's a better than average TOS story. It had some nice drama, some difficult decisions for the characters to wrestle with, and it gave a fitting ending to a guest character from a previous story.   All in all, I think Pilgrim of Eternity was something of a triumph, worthy of much praise, but it's not the best of what Star Trek Continues has to offer. This show is only going to get better, according to my memory.   So let's see what the show has in store for us in episode 2 - Lolani. I'll see you then.   In the meantime, have a great 2 weeks, live long and prosper. Make it so.  

Matthew Simpson of Awesome Friday returns to discuss with Rob why John seems to think that Argyle might hear the gunshot... 30+ stories below them.

Cloud Posse holds public "Office Hours" every Wednesday at 11:30am PST to answer questions on all things related to DevOps, Terraform, Kubernetes, CICD. Basically, it's like an interactive "Lunch & Learn" session where we get together for about an hour and talk shop. These are totally free and just an opportunity to ask us (or our community of experts) any questions you may have. You can register here: https://cloudposse.com/office-hoursJoin the conversation: https://slack.cloudposse.com/Find out how we can help your company:https://cloudposse.com/quizhttps://cloudposse.com/accelerate/Learn more about Cloud Posse:https://cloudposse.comhttps://github.com/cloudpossehttps://sweetops.com/https://newsletter.cloudposse.comhttps://podcast.cloudposse.com/[00:00:00] Intro[00:01:12] GitHub Projects is now generally availablehttps://github.blog/2022-07-27-planning-next-to-your-code-github-projects-is-now-generally-available/[00:03:45] Developers can now run GitHub Action Runners on their own Mac (M1)https://github.blog/changelog/2022-08-09-github-actions-self-hosted-runners-now-support-apple-m1-hardware[00:06:05] Checkov adds policies for GitHub Actions, GitLab Runners, CircleCI, and Argohttps://bridgecrew.io/blog/checkov-enables-ci-cd-security-with-new-supply-chain-security-policies/[00:10:44] Slack Static Site Generatorhttps://saveslack.com/[00:13:14] Stop Using CPU Limits on Kuberneteshttps://home.robusta.dev/blog/stop-using-cpu-limits/[00:14:38] CDK for Terraform Is Now Generally Available (Reddit)https://www.hashicorp.com/blog/cdk-for-terraform-now-generally-available[00:23:53] Single API to take crash-consistent snapshots of a subset of EBS volumes attached to an Amazon EC2 instancehttps://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2022/08/amazon-ebs-crash-consistent-snapshots-subset-ebs-volumes-attached-amazon-ec2-instance/[00:25:42]  Designing the VPC's for my org and i'm looking for insights. What would you do differently if you had this luxury? @Isaac[00:43:49] How big of Devops team and how many apps to support? @Andrew[00:56:25] Outro#officehours,#cloudposse,#sweetops,#devops,#sre,#terraform,#kubernetes,#awsSupport the show

Romantic suspense novelist JT Bock pushes all of Pru's buttons by talking about her favorite movies in a discussion of Chekov's Gun—a tool every writer should know about to lay the groundwork (and provide the glorious resolution) that turns indifferent readers into rabid fans. Where JT goes (Pru says), I will certainly follow!

Jay Cluitt of Deep Blue Sea Podcast and Life Vs Film is back again with Rob as they discuss airline etiquette, McClane's brief conversation with a stewardesses and whether one can really make fists with their toes.

This week Cavin and Bree take a look at 2021's “Copshop”. Listen as they discuss Indiana roulette, scene-stealing psychopaths, & Checkov's gunplay. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/byitscover/support

This week sees a return to the Casting Couch as Paul, Shawn and Dan re-cast the original series of Star Trek with contemporary actors.Listen to the guys discuss who they feel would be best to take on the roles of Captain Kirk, Mr Spock, Bones, Scottie, Checkov, Sulu and Uhura etc, and why? Who would … Cosmic Pizza Podcast: Episode 44 – Star Trek TOS Re-Cast Read More » The post Cosmic Pizza Podcast: Episode 44 – Star Trek TOS Re-Cast appeared first on The ESO Network.

Season finale time! Join us for a look at Season 3, Episode 13, Slaughterhouse! This week on Groundless, your hosts: try to find the laughter hidden in slaughterhouse, learn why Quarles should remember to always leave a note, finally pay off Checkov's cleaver and Checkov's arm gun, discuss local San Diego cuisine and notable places, and pour one out for a real one, Robert Quarles. Join us in a few weeks for a look at Out of Sight - our Elmore Leonard movie for Season 3. Hit us up on the socials @groundlesspod and @groundlesspodcast. E-mail us groundlesspodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review and tell your friends. Stay tuned for a short special off-topic episode of Groundless coming in late December.

Guy Eisenkot is a Senior Director of Product Management at BridgeCrew by Prisma Cloud and was the co-founder of BridgeCrew, an infrastructure security platform.We deep dive into infrastructure security, Checkov, and BridgeCrew in this episode. I’ve personally been writing Terraform for the last few weeks, and it often feels like I’m flying blind from a reliability/security perspective. For example, it’s all too easy to create an unencrypted S3 bucket in Terraform which you’ll only find out about when it hits production (via security tools). So I see the need for tools that lint my infrastructure as code more meaningfully, and we spend some time talking about that need.We also investigate “how did we get here”, unravel some infrastructure as code history and the story behind Checkov’s quick popularity. We talk about how ShiftLeft is often a painfully overused term, the security process in modern companies, and the future of security, in a world with ever-more infrastructure complexity.Highlights00:00 - Why is infrastructure security important to me as a developer?05:00 - The story of Checkov09:00 - What need did Checkov fulfil when it was released?10:30 - Why don’t tools like Terraform enforce good security by default?15:30 - Why ShiftLeft is a tired, not wired concept.20:00 - When should I make my first security hire?24:00 - Productizing what a security hire would do.27:00 - Amazon CodeGuru but for security fixes - Smart Fixes.33:00 - Is it possible to write infrastructure as code checks in frameworks like Pulumi?37:00 - Not being an early adopter when it comes to infrastructure tools.40:00 - The Log4J vulnerability, and the security world moving forward. Subscribe at www.softwareatscale.dev

5.38 leafs through the MLB news (0:39), turns the Wheel of Time discussing 0.1 and 0.2 (3:22), kicks around some EPL (6:44), walks through some Hot Stove case studies for player team changes (8:51), and reviews Willy Adames (21:07).

TJ 135 - Disavowed – G.I. Joe Frontline #5-8 “ICEBOUND” (Devils Due 2003) Mark & Tim are talking G.I. Joe Frontline #5-8 “Icebound” in our ongoing look at the “Disavowed” Devils Due era. This week our special guest is non other than writer of this arc, Dan Jolley! https://youtu.be/a5nOnPhH9AE Dan started writing professionally at age 19 and has worked in comics for most of the major American publishers, such as DC (Firestorm), Marvel (Dr. Strange), Dark Horse (Aliens, branching out into licensed-property and film novelizations (Star Trek & Iron Man), and original novels, including the Middle Grade Urban Fantasy series Five Elements and the Urban Sci-Fi Gray Widow Trilogy. Dan started writing for video games in 2007, on titles such as Transformers: War for Cybertron, Prototype 2, and Dying Light. He lives in northwest Georgia. Questions asked include - What's it like being the first writer of GI Joe comic that is not Larry Hama or Josh Blaylock - Are guns the same as flashlights? - What is “Checkov's Pen” - What sort of influence was “The Thing” on this Plus we have the glorious return of the segment “Devils Due or Devils Poo?”

Fala aí gente! Aqui é a Nandu ;) Dando continuidade ao nosso segmento regional, nesse episódio se fecha o arco de Amarendra e Mahendra no filme Baahubali – A Conclusão. Um filme que além de toda a característica sulista também apresenta elementos ocidentais em sua narrativa, como Checkov's Gun e referências fortes a Anime e Senhor dos Anéis. E claro um uso especial pro slow motion. Playlist das músicas do Filme – Idioma TeleguRoteiro e Pesquisa @Nandu_u22Edição @AudioHeroes Redes Sociais: Instagram e twittere-mail: falaainandu@gmail.com A cada quinze dias tem um novo episódio.Beijos e Phir Milenge!

Today's guest is Guy Eisenkot and he joins us to talk about how culture is a critical aspect of shift-left security and DevOps. Guy is the Co-Founder of Bridgecrew, a tool that solves the talent shortage gap for building secure infrastructure in the public cloud. Our conversation begins with Guy giving some insight about his path into development and security, and he details his training in the Israeli military and subsequent experience building security tools for the civil market. In today's discussion, Guy gets into how the security responsibilities of platform and infrastructure teams have changed as well as what security teams are missing when it comes to DevOps security. He shares his insights about how security and DevOps teams have been able to synchronize and also gets into some of the biggest pitfalls in DevOps as far as cybersecurity best practices. We explore how infrastructure as code could be the driver of two paths, one leading to a dangerous amount of freedom, and the other, to the standardization necessary for automation. Toward the end of our conversation, Guy weighs in on the parts of the industry that show maturity as far as DevSecOps versus those that don't, and he also talks about how the OpenSource tool Checkov helps solve poor security configurations during resource deployment. Tune in today and get ready to take some notes!Tweetables:“We were learning what are the limitations of these orchestration capabilities, and how we can take legacy infrastructure and promote it into a modern stack. And that's where we saw DevOps is practically everywhere.” — @guysenkot [0:06:28]“Bridgecrew essentially builds developer tools that help people from engineering organizations build secure infrastructure in the public cloud.” — @guysenkot [0:12:19]“Where both security and DevOps come together for me is when you realize that in the cloud both of these buckets of initiatives are sitting on the same infrastructure.” — @guysenkot [0:20:38]Links Mentioned in Today's Episode:Guy EisenkotGuy Eisenkot on TwitterBridgecrewCheckovComprehensive, full-stack cloud security Prisma Cloud is the industry's only comprehensive Cloud Native Security Platform for IaaS/PaaS.

Desta vez vou divagar sobre um conto de Checkov "The Lady with the dog" com tradução livre para "A Senhora com o cão" Este episódio veio em colaboração com o @2bejay no projecto #medicoseescritores e no #abrilcontosmil da @aoutramafalda Comentem no Apple Podcasts ou mandem DM para o insta @sofareader

In this Quackcast we chat about set-ups. pay-offs, and rip-offs. To make your climaxes and endings more satisfying you have pay-offs for audience expectations: set them up in the story and pay them off at the end. If you fail to pay-off then you get a rip-off, it's pretty simple. Your audience will be really disappointed. That's not to say disappointing and unsatisfying ends to stories are wrong, not at all! Often those are fully intended. We're just talking about satisfying audiences, not “good” endings. There are a lot of ways to do this, oh so many… building up the emotional development of a character in the story and giving them an emotional pay-off is a small scale why of doing this. On a larger scale you can have a satisfying end battle where the forces of darkness are defeated in a resounding way. A “Checkov's gun” that was hinted at earlier finally comes into play… or maybe you just have all sorts of great call backs to hints of things mentioned earlier in the story, rewarding the careful watcher. This topic was inspired by both Emma Clare and Tantz Aerine's opinions of the Avengers Endgame and the 8th season of Game Of Thrones. This week Gunwallace has given us a Requiem for Tupapayon, our recently departed and loved member of the site: A haunting, sepulchral piece… a deep, brooding, melancholy requiem that expresses the reverence and sadness we feel for our departed ducker, Isaac Ramirez, aka Tupapayon. It takes us into the dark shadows of a lofty gothic cathedral, where the magic of coloured light through stained glass paints the cold stone floor, shining through the gloom, the same way Tupapayon would always light up the site with his presence. Topics and shownotes VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Featured comic: Angels of the Fallen - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/apr/29/featured-comic-angels-of-the-fallen/ Featured music: Requiem for Tupapayon - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/may/01/rip-tupapayon/ Links: RIP Tupapayon - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/may/01/rip-tupapayon/ Emma Clare on Set-ups and pay-offs in fiction - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/may/02/a-confused-rant-about-setup-and-payoff/ Tantz Aerine's counterpunch - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/may/03/a-proposed-counterargument/ Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ PitFace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

"She won't be able to tell us apart."  This week on THE SCRIPT we continue our Halloween Horror Series with the twisted and creepy Austrian horror film "Goodnight Mommy." Could this be the first horror film that thematically addresses the plight of the working mother? How do you handle ambiguity without confusion, how do you keep a script complex without it getting complicated? We deconstruct the duality mind game of this intricately woven and horrible tale and remind you what Checkov said: if you bring a jar of Madagascar hissing cockroaches on to the stage, then someone has to eat one. #reconstructivesurgery #Madagascar hissing cockroaches  #Halloween #horror #bloodydisgusting  SCRIPT ANALYSTS: Kristina Leath-Malin, Alka Khushalani, and David Negrin LISTEN to THE SCRIPT Podcast: “Goodnight Mommy" here on iTUNES Now you can support THE SCRIPT Podcast by crowdfunding us on PATREON $1, $5, $10… check out our rewards! Please POST A REVIEW or a STAR RATING on iTunes. Follow us on Twitter here @ScriptFeed Fan mail, complaints, questions, wedding proposals can be sent to ScriptFeed@gmail.com PRODUCERS, The Script Jordan Rosengarten, David Negrin NYC Screenwriters Collective www.ScreenwritersCollective.org

Starling Tribune - Season 4 Edition – Eleven-Fifty-Nine (A CW Network Arrow Television Show Fan Podcast)   The Official Arrow Podcast of the Gonna Geek Network   Transcript:         http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=172&t=26445 Episode:            “Eleven-Fifty-Nine” [Season 4 Episode 18] Air Date:           Wednesday, April 6th, 2016 Director:           Rob Hardy 3 Arrow | 2 Flash | 1 Blindspot | 1 Empire | 2 Originals | 7 Criminal Minds | 3 Bones | 1 Castle | 5 Vampire Diaries ... Writers: Marc Guggenheim Keto Shimizu IMDB:   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4862552/?ref_=tt_ep_nx Promo:  https://youtu.be/lq-rbz75UKs   - Reporters give their thoughts of the death reveal. - Was the life-saving of Laurel too quick? - Is it the Arrow Cave? The Arrow Bunker? The Arrow Lair? - Will The Black Canary return to Arrow and what version would she be? - Great Arrow fight choreography throughout the episode to the end - How the reporters feels about the reveal of Andy Diggle's true allegiance - Where did Malcolm get his new hand from? - The prison escape was impressive. #StabbyMcStabsAlot - The reporter comment on their thoughts on the creative team's decision to kill off Black Canary….4 different opinions here! - Did Oliver euthanize Laurel? - Reporters talk about how the show will proceed from here? - Why did Team Arrow re-assemble the idol? - What did Laurel say to Oliver? - The lack of Arrow Cave security needs to be used to their advantage - Paul Blackthorn's reaction to Laurel's death was very powerful - The reporters run down the Pop Culture Easter Eggs in the episode - Arrow News, Feedback and comments from the chat - Thank you for downloading and listening!   EPISODE DC EASTER EGGS:   Season 4 Episode 18 “Eleven-Fifty-Nine” Easter Eggs (Date: xx Apr 2016) Article: http://comicbook.com/2016/04/07/arrow-things-you-might-have-missed-in-eleven-fifty-nine/   Taken - “Make This City Great Again” - Trump style campaign slogan Iron Heights Murmur (Mouth sewn shut guy) “The City Needs Heroes without masks” trope again News 52 Mic Flag (again)   ARROW NEWS:   Echo Kellum Promoted to Series Regular  (Date: 04 Apr 2016) More Mr. Terrific next season! Link: http://tvline.com/2016/04/04/arrow-season-5-echo-kellum-series-regular-curtis/   Katie Cassidy to guest star on Flash  (Date: 06 Apr 2016) Appears in the 2nd-to-last S.02 Flash Ep. as an Earth-2 character named Black Siren (a character from the Justice League animated series) based on a golden age Black Canary Link: http://comicbook.com/2016/04/05/arrows-katie-cassidy-to-appear-on-the-flash-as-earth-2s-black-si/ Video: http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/watch-arrows-katie-cassidy-stalks-flashs-streets-as-black-siren   Marc Guggenheim and Wendy Mericle explain the death (Date: 07 Apr 2016) “we live in a universe where there's resurrection, parallel earths, time travel, flashbacks — we have all these different ways of keeping Katie in the Arrow-verse family,” Guggenheim says. “Death does not mean goodbye on any of these shows” Link: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/06/arrow-laurel-death-spoilers   Katie Cassidy's quote on Goodbye (Date: 07 Apr 2017) "Since Season 2 up until now, Laurel has had a truly amazing journey. The writers have written so well for me and I've had such an incredible arc. It made sense to me creatively. Laurel's story has come to an end in the Arrowverse. I love everyone on set and our crew. Being there for four and a half years, they've become family, so it's hard to not go into work every day and get to work with such amazing people. That part is certainly sad, but I was okay with it. We all came to an understanding that this was what was going to happen and it made sense to me. I think the shock value is good. It's such a jolt and a turn in the story that it gives the writers so much more to do and places to go with it. Otherwise, I feel like shows can get stale. Link: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/dc_tv/arrow/arrow-cast-and-producers-explain-the-shocking-death-of-spoiler-in-a133159   REACTION ARTICLES   Forbes: Olicity Killed Arrow  (Date: 07 Apr 2016) Arrow Jumped the Shark. Killed the wrong character Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2016/04/07/arrow-is-dead-and-olicity-killed-it/#23b8d0927509   Hollywood Reporter: Who is the Next Black Canary  (Date: 07 Apr 2016) Spoiler - the author thinks Felicity Link: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/arrow-laurel-dies-black-canary-881454   AV Club - what just happened??  (Date: 07 Apr 2016) Good analysis of the impact of Checkov's gun, and different camps in the Arrow Fan community Link: http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/wait-what-hell-did-arrow-just-do-234924 ARROW CAST & CREW INTERVIEWS   Marc Guggenheim talks Paparazzi and leaks on ew.com  (Date: 05 Apr 2016) “Look, it's not cool,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim tells EW. “Straight up … I'll just say it: Shame on those people. I just look at these paparazzi as they're ruining the party for everybody,”. Link: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/05/arrow-death-leaks   Marc Guggenheim talks character deaths on ew.com  (Date: 04 Apr 2016) “I mean, we killed off Hawkman (Falk Hentschel) in episode 2 of Legends. It's not like we have to go to DC and get permission. DC is our partner in all this and we keep them updated” “I don't believe that superheroes shouldn't die. They are living myths, but I like the fact that they're mortal myths. I think it gives stakes to the stories”. Link: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/04/arrow-superhero-death-marc-guggenheim   Marc Guggenheim talks about death on tvline.com  (Date: 05 Apr 2016) “We started off this year with the promise of a death,” says Guggenheim, “and when we worked our way through our various creative choices, we realized [this is] the thing that will give us the most pop going into the end of the season and into next season,” Link: http://tvline.com/2016/04/05/arrow-season-4-death-grave-spoilers/   GREEN ARROW COMICS & TOY NEWS   Green Arrow Issue #51  (Date: 06 Apr 2016) In war-torn Africa, Green Arrow and Deathstroke are both hunting for the same man-Doctor Miracle-whose blood cures any disease. They're battling not only each other, but also a militant group known as The Whites. There is no deadlier foe than the world's greatest assassin, and against his blade Green Arrow may have met his end. Link: https://www.comixology.com/Green-Arrow-2011-51/digital-comic/354265?ref=c2l0ZS9pbmRleC9jb20uY29taXhvbG9neS5kY2NvbWljczMvZGVza3RvcC9zbGlkZXJMaXN0LzEwNzQz   Good article summing up “REBIRTH”  (Date: 06 Apr 2016) Think of Rebirth as DC You take two. It's change, but change rooted in keeping the status quo of what currently works for the company, while cutting the more experimental, diverse series that hadn't been selling—while tossing in die-hard, fan-friendly bonuses like the return of the classic Superman. Link: http://io9.gizmodo.com/what-the-hell-is-dc-comics-rebirth-anyway-1769164590   FEEDBACK:   Voicemail – Black Adam   NEXT EPISODE   Promo for Next Week: Episode 19 - “Canary Cry” (Date: 27 Apr 2015) Article: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/dc_tv/arrow/new-extended-promo-for-arrow-season-4-episode-19-canary-cry-a133167 Episode:            “Canary Cry” [Season 4 Episode 19] Air Date:           Wednesday, April 27, 2016 Summary:         No credits released on IMDB yet Director:           xxx Writers:             xxx IMDB:               xxx     Tune in to see what the Starling Tribune crew thinks will happen this season on Arrow based off what we've seen so far. After the show wraps keep listening as we bring fans on the show discuss their theories for season 4.   If you missed us live catch us next time and chime in yourself! Plus you won't miss out on our live post-show conversations.   Join The Starling Tribune each week as we stream live on Thursday nights at 9:00 PM eastern or 8:00 PM Central at gonnageek.com/live. Join the fun chatroom and interact with the hosts live. Contact us: @StarlingTribune - starlingtribune@gmail.com - www.starlingtribune.com - www.facebook.com/starlingtribune - 612-888-CAVE or 612-888-2283.   Starling Tribune is proud to be a member of the GonnaGeek network found at GonnaGeek.com. For more geeky podcast visit GonnaGeek.com.   You can find us on iTunes under ''Starling Tribune." We are very thankful for all of our positive iTunes reviews. You can find all our contact information here on the Network page of GonnaGeek.com Our complete archive is always available at www.starlingtribune.com   This podcast was recorded Thursday April 7th, 2016.   Thank you for listening and we hope you enjoyed the show!