Podcasts about kelpien

It feels fitting that the first Kelpien in Starfleet is also the first character from the new era of Star Trek to get the TrekRanks character deep dive treatment as this week we jump all the way to Kaminar to take on the “Top 5 Saru Episodes.” Brought to life by the legendary Doug Jones, Saru embodied the emotions and hope on display throughout five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, never wavering in his duty to Starfleet. Our expert panel of host Jim Moorhouse and First Flight podcast duo Abby Sommer and Chris Chaplin sense the coming of a whole lot of love for Saru in this breakdown of one of Trek's most legendary alien outsiders. Episode Rundown:  Diagnostic Cycle: We get into the details of defining the show's specific topic with a rundown of our past character episodes and a reminder that “episodes” is really shorthand for “moments or episodes,” however you want to define it. Prime Directive: As always for our character deep dives, each guest on this week's panel reveals one word that they think best defines the target character. This week's choices are exemplary. The Order of Things: All the picks are revealed with the TrekRanks' original “Five words and a hashtag” summary. Secondary Systems: For a few extra picks that just missed our final list. Regeneration Cycle: The panel recaps their picks and we dissect some of the interesting statistical anomalies that arose from the discussion. Temporal Inversion: We flashback to a couple of previous episodes of TrekRanks and relay some of the feedback received from listeners. If you have your own picks you would like to relay to us, please hail us at 757-828-RANK (7265) and record your own personal TrekRanks log to let us know your Top 5 Saru Episodes. (Or you can record it yourself and just DM us @TrekRanks.com on Bluesky.) Your comments could be used as part of a Temporal Causality Loop on an upcoming episode (and might get you a chance to be a guest on a future episode, too). And don't forget to check out TrekRanks.com for our entire back catalog of episodes and a detailed rundown on every episode of Star Trek ever.      

Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery had the crew facing a mysterious and dangerous new threat tied to a series of puzzling signals scattered across the galaxy. Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise temporarily takes command of the Discovery after a distress call and leads the investigation into these "red bursts." Also, during this season, Saru and the Kelpien species go through a life-changing transformation; we're introduced to a younger Spock, a return to Talos IV, and presented by a threatening AI presence. All of this makes for an exciting sophomore season of Star Trek's first streaming series.Star Trek: Age of Discovery is a fan podcast for the Star Trek Universe, including Classic Trek and the Paramount + shows STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS, STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, STAR TREK: PICARD, STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS, and Netflix's STAR TREK: PRODIGY.Subscribe to Star Trek: Age of Discovery on Apple Podcast by CLICKING HERE. The show is also available on Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRADIO.Email the show at startrekaod@gmail.com. Follow us on X/Twitter, Threads, and Instagram @StarTrekAoD and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StarTrekAoD/. Visit our website at http://startrekaod.net, where we offer additional articles on Star Trek canon, interesting sidebar issues, and aspects of the show.www.facebook.com/StarTrekAoD/. Visit our website at http://startrekaod.net, where we offer additional articles on Star Trek canon, interesting sidebar issues, and aspects of the show.2024 © Star Trek: Age of Discovery EPISODE CREDITS:Produced and edited by Gary Anderson LINKSWebsite: startrekaod.netBe sure to follow and tag Star Trek: Age of Discovery on Facebook (https://twitter.com/StarTrekAoD) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/startrekaod)!

SHOW NOTES It's November, so our Casual Explorers have novels to write, but we also want to bring you the innovative Casual Content you crave, so we're going to go through all of Short Trek in a two part binge. We've make some new friends alongside Tilly as we discover that Ice Cream isn't a universal constant like Sweedish Meatballs (Babylon 5 fans will get that one) in Runaway while in the far-future, things feel a bit like the opener to most RPGs with FPS mechanics in Calypse. After that, things go a little bit folk horror for the Kelpians as we get Saru's secret origin in The Brightest Star while Miles becomes disturbingly obsessed with saying 'Jippers on a Beach' like he's Harry Mudd in The Escape Artists. Next episode will see us wrap up the Short Excursion with the second season of Short Treks!- 8:01- Runaway (ST)- 19:21- Calypso (ST) - 29:21- The Brightest Star (ST) - 39:17- The Escape Artists (ST) Talking points include- Harlan Ellison's agressive tendencies, The Exorcist II: The Heretic, Wes Anderson and The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar, Charlie hates Maroon 5 (But when pressed on this, he simply replied 'Who Doesn't?'), we had a LOT of music on this one, Asteroid City, folk horror, Bioshock and RPGS with First Person Shooter Tendencies, Classic Doctor Who fans having very obsessive tendencies, every time Charlie talks about Delgrassi Junior High, he paints an ever more disturbing image of a Canadian Teen Drama written and directed by Sam Peckinpah, Quinton Review's Long YouTube Videos about Carly 101 and VicTORIous, Rick and Morty and apparantly the British being unable to pronounce anyone's names correctly. Pedants Corner: Miles is editing the two Short Trek episodes and that has inspired him to take some of the editing load off Charlie giving them both one episode a month to edit, there may be a few spotty edits, but there we go. The Quinton Review discussion went in a few tangents dealing with personal stuff that both Miles and Charlie decided were best left out of the episode itself. Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network The List is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V-mTOlKgIzFKjMqNaR0yHtaHdS6mUGP7TWxvIs69XDc/edit https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek Miles' blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com Charlie's blog: http://www.fakedtales.com

It's November, so our Casual Explorers have novels to write, but we also want to bring you the innovative Casual The post 34. Kelpien Folk Horror Monolith first appeared on Nerd & Tie Podcast Network.

It's a new season. This time, we're going to the final frontier: SPACE. It's Star Trek! We're playing the game Beam Me Up, part of the Awfully Cheerful Engine. Come listen in as we find out what we'll be for this journey through the stars. Thanks to Shayne Plunkett & Jesse Wright of Meadow Vista Media, who created this season's intro theme: www.meadowvistamedia.com Twitter: @MVM_Studio IG: @meadowvistamedia Buy our book, The Ultimate Random Encounters Book: bit.ly/RandomBook Find out more about the show at our website: www.vre.show Show pins and more: shop.vre.show Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/VRE Follow us @VRECast

Avaah Blackwell Rolls With The Punches We first spoke with Avaah Blackwell nearly two years ago while she was working on "Star Trek: Discovery" as the alien Starfleet crew member named Osnullus. Fast forward to today, and her work in the Trek franchise has expanded in some big ways, including being Rebecca Romijn's stunt double on "Strange New Worlds"! Avaah discusses being Osnullus and the secrets behind her makeup, becoming a Kelpien for the first time, and what it was like for her to finally not wear any prosthetics and be a Lt. Ina on Discovery. From there, we learn about the stunt world that Avaah is embedded in and how she went from being an enlisted Starfleet officer to a stunt double for Rebecca in SNW. Avaah explains how she shifted from performing to taking falls, what a stunt audition is like, discusses some of the maneuvers she performed on the show and the way she trains for them, how they choreograph the fight scenes, why it's important for a stunt performer not to be seen on camera when doing an action scene, and being the "Gorn Arm Performer"! Plus, blooper stories from the set of Discovery! Check out the video version of this podcast on Youtube.com/nerdnewstoday every Sunday. Please subscribe to our channel and hit the notifications button to be updated when we go live or upload our next video! Trek Untold is sponsored by Triple-Fictionproductions.net, 3-D printing Star Trek and sci-fi-inspired prop replicas, dioramas, and accessories for cosplayers and action figures. Use code UNTOLD10 at checkout for 10% off all orders. Visit them at Triple-Fictionproductions.net.  Visit my Amazon shop to check out tons of Trek products and other things I enjoy - https://www.amazon.com/shop/thefightnerd View the Teespring store for Trek Untold gear & apparel - https://my-store-9204078.creator-spring.com Support Trek Untold by becoming a Patreon at Patreon.com/TrekUntold. Don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave a rating if you like us! Follow Trek Untold on Social Media Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/trekuntoldTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/trekuntoldFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/trekuntold Follow Nerd News Today on Social Media Twitter:  Twitter.com/NerdNews2Day Instagram: Instagram.com/NerdNewsToday Facebook: Facebook.com/NerdNewsToday Trek Untold is sponsored by Treksphere.com, powered by the RAGE Works Podcast Network, and affiliated with Nerd News Today.   The views expressed on air during Trek Untold do not represent the views of the RAGE Works staff, partners, or affiliates. 

We first spoke with Avaah Blackwell nearly two years ago while she was working on "Star Trek: Discovery" as the alien Starfleet crew member named Osnullus. Fast forward to today, and her work in the Trek franchise has expanded in some big ways, including being Rebecca Romijn's stunt double on "Strange New Worlds"! Avaah discusses being Osnullus and the secrets behind her makeup, becoming a Kelpien for the first time, and what it was like for her to finally not wear any prosthetics and be a Lt. Ina on Discovery. From there, we learn about the stunt world that Avaah is embedded in and how she went from being an enlisted Starfleet officer to a stunt double for Rebecca in SNW. Avaah explains how she shifted from performing to taking falls, what a stunt audition is like, discusses some of the maneuvers she performed on the show and the way she trains for them, how they choreograph the fight scenes, why it's important for a stunt performer not to be seen on camera when doing an action scene, and being the "Gorn Arm Performer"! Plus, blooper stories from the set of Discovery! Check out the video version of this podcast on Youtube.com/nerdnewstoday every Sunday. Please subscribe to our channel and hit the notifications button to be updated when we go live or upload our next video! Trek Untold is sponsored by Triple-Fictionproductions.net, 3-D printing Star Trek and sci-fi-inspired prop replicas, dioramas, and accessories for cosplayers and action figures. Use code UNTOLD10 at checkout for 10% off all orders. Visit them at Triple-Fictionproductions.net.  Visit my Amazon shop to check out tons of Trek products and other things I enjoy - https://www.amazon.com/shop/thefightnerd View the Teespring store for Trek Untold gear & apparel - https://my-store-9204078.creator-spring.com Support Trek Untold by becoming a Patreon at Patreon.com/TrekUntold. Don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave a rating if you like us! Follow Trek Untold on Social Media Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/trekuntoldTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/trekuntoldFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/trekuntold Follow Nerd News Today on Social Media Twitter:  Twitter.com/NerdNews2Day Instagram: Instagram.com/NerdNewsToday Facebook: Facebook.com/NerdNewsToday Trek Untold is sponsored by Treksphere.com, powered by the RAGE Works Podcast Network, and affiliated with Nerd News Today.

Space is full of mysteries, both biological and technological and also ancient balls. Stardate Discovery S02E04. A mysterious sphere threatens the USS Discovery even as May, in her original form, implements a plan that puts Tilly's life in danger. Saru and Burnham's bond grows when Saru is forced to acknowledge a deeply unsettling Kelpien truth. Topics A Communicator for Charon (1:18) Episode (3:44) My Number one has a first name… (5:08) Battlestar: Enterprise (7:27) Tilly's guilt (10:18) The Red Wasp (11:35) The problem with Pike (13:17) What we have here… (14:51) Space Corona (19:56) Party Like It's 2256 (20:50) Sol Invictus (24:59) Tilly in the Sky With Diamonds (25:56) Prime Directive questions…again (27:32) Space Lobotomy (29:54) Doctor, who? (32:47) Do you have impulse power without the warp core? Seriously…we want to know (34:43) Spheres being bros (35:39) Context is for Kelpiens (36:18) Some Ron Swanson wisdom (42:41) Slap me, I'm tripping! (44:01) Final Thoughts (45:04) Hit Us Up! strangenewtrek@gmail.com Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/strangenewtrek/message

A mysterious sphere threatens the USS Discovery even as May, in her original form, implements a plan that puts Tilly's life in danger. Saru and Burnham's bond grows when Saru is forced to acknowledge a deeply unsettling Kelpien truth. Pike receives new intel on Spock from a loyal friend. Support this podcast with a small monthly donation to help sustain future episodes. Follow Us Andrea: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Patreon | Amazon Moneca: Instagram | LinkedIn --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/trekkieandbeyond/support

David Benjamin Tomlinson, Linus from "Star Trek: Discovery" What makes a fan-favorite character in a TV show? No one really knows the magical secret, but in this case, all it took was a runny nose. In this episode, we chat with David Benjamin Tomlinson, the actor behind the Saurian crew member on "Star Trek: Discovery."  In addition to being Linus, David has also played a Klingon, a Kelpien, and a Betelgeusean on DISCO, although he has yet to show his humanoid face on screen. Tomlinson walks us through the audition process and how he eventually landed the role of Linus, the intense makeup process to become the Saurian and which alien took the longest, how he discovered the character of Linus, working with the cast, including stories about Doug Jones and Soneqhua Martin-Green, how much of David is in Linus and how much of Linus is in David, and more Trek tales. Plus, his secret origin story told at last, and discussion of some of his other work before Trek, including a unique theatrical improv experience, called "Blind Date." Inside NY Comic Con During COVID-19: https://youtu.be/kQSxXhjBV78 Visit Pancan.org to support the Trek against Pancreatic Cancer Please subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the notifications button to be updated when we go live or upload our next video! Support Trek Untold by checking out our merchandise at https://teespring.com/stores/trekuntold or become a Patreon at Patreon.com/TrekUntold. Trek Untold is sponsored by Triple-Fiction Productions, a US-based company that 3-D prints Trek-inspired prop replicas for fan films and cosplayers, as well as accessories and playsets for all iterations of Trek figures through the years. Visit them at Triple-Fictionproductions.net.   Don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave a rating if you like us!     The views expressed on air during Trek Untold do not represent the views of the RAGE Works staff, partners, or affiliates.   Follow Trek Untold on Social Media Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/trekuntoldTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/trekuntoldFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/trekuntold Follow Nerd News Today on Social Media Twitter:  Twitter.com/NerdNews2Day Instagram: Instagram.com/NerdNewsToday Facebook: Facebook.com/NerdNewsToday Trek Untold is sponsored by Treksphere.com, powered by the RAGE Works Podcast Network, and affiliated with Nerd News Today. Check Out Some of the Other Shows on the RAGE Works Network Call Me When It's Over: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/cmwio/Cheese! A Photography Podcast: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/capp/Black is the New Black: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/bitnb/The Variant Issue: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/tvi/Turnbuckle Tabloid: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/tbt/Toys & Tech of the Trade: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/ttott/The Eat 4 Life Podcast: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/eat4life/The Funkohub POPcast: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/funkohub-popcast/

David Benjamin Tomlinson, Linus from "Star Trek: Discovery" What makes a fan-favorite character in a TV show? No one really knows the magical secret, but in this case, all it took was a runny nose. In this episode, we chat with David Benjamin Tomlinson, the actor behind the Saurian crew member named Linus on "Star Trek: Discovery", as seen in season 2, 3, and presumably 4!  In addition to being Linus, David has also played a Klingon named Or'Eq and a few others, a Kelpien, and a Betelgeusean on DISCO, although he has yet to show his humanoid face on screen. Tomlinson walks us through the audition process and how he eventually landed the role of Linus, the intense makeup process to become the Saurian and which alien took the longest, how he discovered the character of Linus, working with the cast, including stories about Doug Jones and Soneqhua Martin-Green, how much of David is in Linus and how much of Linus is in David, and more Trek tales. Plus, his secret origin story told at last, going to his first trek convention in 2021, lessons learned in improv comedy, the unique improvised play “Blind Date” and his role in it, coming to terms with his sexuality as a person and a professional, his response to #NuTrek haters who vehemently dislike the modern Star Trek shows and his trademark "cauliflower paradigm" that is as wholesome as Linus! Check out Drive-By Do-Gooders and get a RARE Star Trek autograph! Just donate $35 or more to drivebydogooders.org and get a signed picture of your choosing from Lycia Naff AKA Ensign Sonya Gomez on Star Trek TNG and Captain Gomez from Lower Decks! Make sure to include your mailing info in the notes section on the donation page. Visit Pancan.org to support the Trek against Pancreatic Cancer Please subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the notifications button to be updated when we go live or upload our next video! Support Trek Untold by checking out our merchandise at https://teespring.com/stores/trekuntold or become a Patreon at Patreon.com/TrekUntold. Trek Untold is sponsored by Triple-Fiction Productions, a US-based company that 3-D prints Trek-inspired prop replicas for fan films and cosplayers, as well as accessories and playsets for all iterations of Trek figures through the years. Visit them at Triple-Fictionproductions.net.   Don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave a rating if you like us! Follow Trek Untold on Social Media Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/trekuntoldTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/trekuntoldFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/trekuntold Follow Nerd News Today on Social Media Twitter: Twitter.com/NerdNews2DayInstagram: Instagram.com/NerdNewsTodayFacebook: Facebook.com/NerdNewsToday Trek Untold is sponsored by Treksphere.com, powered by the RAGE Works Podcast Network, and affiliated with Nerd News Today.

This week on Episode 518 of Priority One: Comic-Con@home brings us new trailers for Star Trek: Prodigy and Lower Decks, and Saru and Stamets look ahead to season four of Discovery.  In gaming news, we go back and forth on the Courage-class coming to Star Trek Online, and some new shiny textures for your favourite Romulan Captain. TREK IT OUT Edited by Thomas Reynolds Comic-Con@home - Lower Decks By Cat Hough As we anxiously await the premiere of Season 2 of Lower Decks, we were treated to a brand new trailer last week during Comic-Con@home. Based on the trailer, Season 2  has all the things we loved in Season 1 plus so much more. How much more? The best villains! Including Cardassians, Pakleds, Ferengi, Nauciscans, some giant slime monster and the incomparable Jeffrey Combs makes an appearance as an evil computer. We also see a new Tamarian crew member who had this to say when welcomed to the bridge: “Rapungee - when he joined the Seven.” https://youtu.be/IxdKo0eXUKY Tom Paris also shows up in Season 2...in commemorative plate form, though. Also, an interesting side note in the news: Robert Duncan McNeill was invited to reprise Tom Paris for Season 1 of Picard but, due to scheduling conflicts. he was not able to make it work. So maybe we'll see more Tom Paris at some point. Season 2 of Star Trek: Lower Decks starts August 12 on Paramount+. Comic-Con@home - Prodigy By Jake Morgan But Lower Decks wasn't the only Star Trek series to get some Comic-Con attention. We were also treated to our first look at Star Trek: Prodigy! In the 52 second trailer for Prodigy's inaugural season, we're introduced to the main cast: Dal, Gwyn, Zero, Rok-Tahk, Murf, and Jankom Pog, The main cast also features the stunning new-to-crew U.S.S. Protostar (which looks like a cross of the Intrepid- and Rhode Island-class) and the timeless Captain Katherine Janeway–who reminds us that ”we've only just begun.” https://youtu.be/987jSJZQxTs During the Comic-con@home panel, the creators, director, and cast–including Star Trek royalty Kate Mulgrew–joined the ever-entertaining Jerry O'Connell to discuss the newest Star Trek series. EP Kevin Hageman pointed out that this would be the first Star Trek series ”that's actually going to be seen through the eyes of characters who are outside of Starfleet.” In discussing Prodigy's place in Star Trek mythos, the Hageman brothers recognized that this would be the “Little Brother or Little Sister” member of the franchise, but wanted to “punch up.” Kate Mulgrew reiterated the sentiment, saying “Children are very astute. You've grasped an essential component of the childlike imagination, which is extraordinary perception. They need to be grounded while taking flight at the same time. And this–you have achieved.” The trailer is a must watch, and the panel is super-entertaining and informative. Stamets And Saru In Season 4 By Rosco McQueen Everyone's favorite Kelpien [the other white meat–Ed.] has been on the interview circuit in the past couple of weeks, with Doug Jones talking about the release of Discovery Season 3 on DVD.  In an interview with SYFY Wire, Jones spoke about Saru's heartbreak at the revelation that a fellow Kelpien was responsible for the Burn. He also confirmed that filming on Season 4 continues in Toronto and, even though Saru's left the command chair, he still has plenty to do. "Damn, Starbase 80?!?" Image: Michael Gibson/CBS, via SYFY. “After we got home to LA during hiatus last year, I called Michelle Paradise myself and said, 'Should I expect to go back for Season 4? Because, they left me on-camera teaching Su'Kal the ways of the Kelpians.' She said, ‘Oh, no, you're back. You're back.' But the question will remain that Starfleet does not strip you of your rank, so I am still a captain. Where do they plug me in? That's the question.” In an interview with Screen Rant, Discovery actor Anthony Rapp spoke about the cast and their Dungeons & Dragons sessions, and rejected claims he'll become the series villain. You may suspect that's where the relationship is going–at the end of Season 3 we saw Paul Stamets not being particularly friendly with the newly-minted Captain Michael Burnham. When you find out you have to be the party healbot. Image: ViacomCBS, via ScreenRant Rapp was quick to shut down the villain rumors. “No, no. He's like a consummate professional. He hated [Captain] Lorca but he still did his job. And he doesn't hate Michael. He was just hurt. It was a different situation. Ultimately, he's a smart person and understands [why Michael became Captain] but it still stung, the way that it happened.” Quick News Roundup Here are a few headlines that we didn't discuss but might interest you. What is it like to host Jeopardy!? According to LeVar Burton, it's scary.  But he said once he focused on making the most of his hosting chances and stopped trying to “be as smooth as Alex” that he was able to relax more and be his wonderful self. We hope you all have had a chance to Trek out his episodes.  Marina Sirtis spoke about the on-again off-again idea of a Captain Worf series, throwing her support behind it. She explained she would love to be a small part of it, and the potential of having a series focused on the Klingons. And at the recent Comic-Con@home event, the Stargate Atlantis reunion panel had some small Trek nuggets for aspiring sci-fi actors. Robert Picardo spoke about the fan crossover between Star Trek and Stargate, and how his previous acting roles meant he was better prepared for science fiction roles. His advice: get your feet wet in some other acting jobs before delving into the world of sci-fi. STAR TREK GAMING NEWS Edited by Thomas Reynolds Courage Of Your Promotions By Cat Hough https://youtu.be/-hUBGqt1f5g Star Trek Online continues to look to the future–or at least continues to look to Discovery when picking new promo ships. This week, the 32nd century Courage-class Command Science Destroyer joins the list of ships available as a R&D and Duty Officer pack reward choice. This ship switches from Science Mode to Tactical Mode by reversing direction. In Tactical Mode, you get access to a Commander Tactical station, the Coherent Integrity Projector Experimental Weapon is enabled and you get a boost to hull capacity. It's a Science ship–but it's also a Destroyer so it's equipped with 4 front and 3 aft weapons [or is it 3 front and 4 aft?–Ed.]. The starship trait, Directional Bias, provides bonus Exotic Damage or Healing when using bridge officer abilities based on where you are attacked. Overall, this ship looks to provide a lot of build options for those lucky enough to win one. Now does that make it any easier to parallel park, though. Image: Cryptic Studios. Let Freedom BLAST By Cat Hough Starting today through August 2nd, the Freedom-class Exploration Frigate, otherwise known as the U.S.S. Franklin from Star Trek: Beyond will be available in the Lobi Store. Plus! Everything in the Lobi Store is 20% off. The ship's unique console is the interesting VHF Disruptive Transmission. When activated, it will blast high frequency radio waves towards nearby foes, dealing significant electrical damage and boosts your turning radius while it's active. And it can be equipped in any console slot, on any ship.  D'deridex? Don't Mind If I Do By Cat Hough Some breaking news for Romulan ship fans [we know you're out there–Ed.]:  the D'deridex and Scimitar classes are freshly remastered starting today. Just when you were getting bored with those ships' looks, they go and make them all shiny. Thanks to Donny "Viper" Versiga, a ship artist at Cryptic for posting some excellent before and after images–it's so nice to see those ships get some love.  https://twitter.com/trekonlinegame/status/1420100137716621315?s=20 It's Canon: Donny Loves Connie By Rosco McQueen Speaking of Donny, he recently spoke with the folks at MassivelyOP about ship design. They covered off his favourite captain (Kirk) and his favorite starship (Connie refit) in short order, then went on to talk about the design process for Star Trek Online. Donny explains that fresh designs are from the incredibly talented Hector Ortiz, with as many as 20 designs put together as the team refines the looks of a particular ship. 3-D models are created, then once the final ship design is selected, that model is sent to the Ship Team to build.   so i herd u liek starships. Image: Cryptic Studios, via MassivelyOP. He also spoke about the updates to older Starship models, which has become a large part of the game. Donny explains that as PC/console hardware power has increased over the years, the amount of detail STO can provide per ship has increased, sometimes three times as much detail as was previously seen on starship models.  It's a great look behind the scenes at the process.

This week on Episode 518 of Priority One: Comic-Con@home brings us new trailers for Star Trek: Prodigy and Lower Decks, and Saru and Stamets look ahead to season four of Discovery.  In gaming news, we go back and forth on the Courage-class coming to Star Trek Online, and some new shiny textures for your favourite Romulan Captain. TREK IT OUT Edited by Thomas Reynolds Comic-Con@home - Lower Decks By Cat Hough As we anxiously await the premiere of Season 2 of Lower Decks, we were treated to a brand new trailer last week during Comic-Con@home. Based on the trailer, Season 2  has all the things we loved in Season 1 plus so much more. How much more? The best villains! Including Cardassians, Pakleds, Ferengi, Nauciscans, some giant slime monster and the incomparable Jeffrey Combs makes an appearance as an evil computer. We also see a new Tamarian crew member who had this to say when welcomed to the bridge: “Rapungee - when he joined the Seven.” https://youtu.be/IxdKo0eXUKY Tom Paris also shows up in Season 2...in commemorative plate form, though. Also, an interesting side note in the news: Robert Duncan McNeill was invited to reprise Tom Paris for Season 1 of Picard but, due to scheduling conflicts. he was not able to make it work. So maybe we'll see more Tom Paris at some point. Season 2 of Star Trek: Lower Decks starts August 12 on Paramount+. Comic-Con@home - Prodigy By Jake Morgan But Lower Decks wasn't the only Star Trek series to get some Comic-Con attention. We were also treated to our first look at Star Trek: Prodigy! In the 52 second trailer for Prodigy's inaugural season, we're introduced to the main cast: Dal, Gwyn, Zero, Rok-Tahk, Murf, and Jankom Pog, The main cast also features the stunning new-to-crew U.S.S. Protostar (which looks like a cross of the Intrepid- and Rhode Island-class) and the timeless Captain Katherine Janeway–who reminds us that ”we've only just begun.” https://youtu.be/987jSJZQxTs During the Comic-con@home panel, the creators, director, and cast–including Star Trek royalty Kate Mulgrew–joined the ever-entertaining Jerry O'Connell to discuss the newest Star Trek series. EP Kevin Hageman pointed out that this would be the first Star Trek series ”that's actually going to be seen through the eyes of characters who are outside of Starfleet.” In discussing Prodigy's place in Star Trek mythos, the Hageman brothers recognized that this would be the “Little Brother or Little Sister” member of the franchise, but wanted to “punch up.” Kate Mulgrew reiterated the sentiment, saying “Children are very astute. You've grasped an essential component of the childlike imagination, which is extraordinary perception. They need to be grounded while taking flight at the same time. And this–you have achieved.” The trailer is a must watch, and the panel is super-entertaining and informative. Stamets And Saru In Season 4 By Rosco McQueen Everyone's favorite Kelpien [the other white meat–Ed.] has been on the interview circuit in the past couple of weeks, with Doug Jones talking about the release of Discovery Season 3 on DVD.  In an interview with SYFY Wire, Jones spoke about Saru's heartbreak at the revelation that a fellow Kelpien was responsible for the Burn. He also confirmed that filming on Season 4 continues in Toronto and, even though Saru's left the command chair, he still has plenty to do. "Damn, Starbase 80?!?" Image: Michael Gibson/CBS, via SYFY. “After we got home to LA during hiatus last year, I called Michelle Paradise myself and said, 'Should I expect to go back for Season 4? Because, they left me on-camera teaching Su'Kal the ways of the Kelpians.' She said, ‘Oh, no, you're back. You're back.' But the question will remain that Starfleet does not strip you of your rank, so I am still a captain. Where do they plug me in? That's the question.” In an interview with Screen Rant, Discovery actor Anthony Rapp spoke about the cast and their Dungeons & Dragons sessions, and rejected claims he'll become the series villain. You may suspect that's where the relationship is going–at the end of Season 3 we saw Paul Stamets not being particularly friendly with the newly-minted Captain Michael Burnham. When you find out you have to be the party healbot. Image: ViacomCBS, via ScreenRant Rapp was quick to shut down the villain rumors. “No, no. He's like a consummate professional. He hated [Captain] Lorca but he still did his job. And he doesn't hate Michael. He was just hurt. It was a different situation. Ultimately, he's a smart person and understands [why Michael became Captain] but it still stung, the way that it happened.” Quick News Roundup Here are a few headlines that we didn't discuss but might interest you. What is it like to host Jeopardy!? According to LeVar Burton, it's scary.  But he said once he focused on making the most of his hosting chances and stopped trying to “be as smooth as Alex” that he was able to relax more and be his wonderful self. We hope you all have had a chance to Trek out his episodes.  Marina Sirtis spoke about the on-again off-again idea of a Captain Worf series, throwing her support behind it. She explained she would love to be a small part of it, and the potential of having a series focused on the Klingons. And at the recent Comic-Con@home event, the Stargate Atlantis reunion panel had some small Trek nuggets for aspiring sci-fi actors. Robert Picardo spoke about the fan crossover between Star Trek and Stargate, and how his previous acting roles meant he was better prepared for science fiction roles. His advice: get your feet wet in some other acting jobs before delving into the world of sci-fi. STAR TREK GAMING NEWS Edited by Thomas Reynolds Courage Of Your Promotions By Cat Hough https://youtu.be/-hUBGqt1f5g Star Trek Online continues to look to the future–or at least continues to look to Discovery when picking new promo ships. This week, the 32nd century Courage-class Command Science Destroyer joins the list of ships available as a R&D and Duty Officer pack reward choice. This ship switches from Science Mode to Tactical Mode by reversing direction. In Tactical Mode, you get access to a Commander Tactical station, the Coherent Integrity Projector Experimental Weapon is enabled and you get a boost to hull capacity. It's a Science ship–but it's also a Destroyer so it's equipped with 4 front and 3 aft weapons [or is it 3 front and 4 aft?–Ed.]. The starship trait, Directional Bias, provides bonus Exotic Damage or Healing when using bridge officer abilities based on where you are attacked. Overall, this ship looks to provide a lot of build options for those lucky enough to win one. Now does that make it any easier to parallel park, though. Image: Cryptic Studios. Let Freedom BLAST By Cat Hough Starting today through August 2nd, the Freedom-class Exploration Frigate, otherwise known as the U.S.S. Franklin from Star Trek: Beyond will be available in the Lobi Store. Plus! Everything in the Lobi Store is 20% off. The ship's unique console is the interesting VHF Disruptive Transmission. When activated, it will blast high frequency radio waves towards nearby foes, dealing significant electrical damage and boosts your turning radius while it's active. And it can be equipped in any console slot, on any ship.  D'deridex? Don't Mind If I Do By Cat Hough Some breaking news for Romulan ship fans [we know you're out there–Ed.]:  the D'deridex and Scimitar classes are freshly remastered starting today. Just when you were getting bored with those ships' looks, they go and make them all shiny. Thanks to Donny "Viper" Versiga, a ship artist at Cryptic for posting some excellent before and after images–it's so nice to see those ships get some love.  https://twitter.com/trekonlinegame/status/1420100137716621315?s=20 It's Canon: Donny Loves Connie By Rosco McQueen Speaking of Donny, he recently spoke with the folks at MassivelyOP about ship design. They covered off his favourite captain (Kirk) and his favorite starship (Connie refit) in short order, then went on to talk about the design process for Star Trek Online. Donny explains that fresh designs are from the incredibly talented Hector Ortiz, with as many as 20 designs put together as the team refines the looks of a particular ship. 3-D models are created, then once the final ship design is selected, that model is sent to the Ship Team to build.   so i herd u liek starships. Image: Cryptic Studios, via MassivelyOP. He also spoke about the updates to older Starship models, which has become a large part of the game. Donny explains that as PC/console hardware power has increased over the years, the amount of detail STO can provide per ship has increased, sometimes three times as much detail as was previously seen on starship models.  It's a great look behind the scenes at the process.

Without today's guest, the universe of Star Trek would sound very different. Marc Okrand is the man behind Klingon, Vulcan, Kelpien, and languages for other shows & films.    Before his time on Trek, Marc earned a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in indigenous languages of the west coast of America, and was a post-doctoral fellow in the Anthropology Department of the Smithsonian Institute.   We learn about how Marc became connected to the Star Trek universe thanks to his work on TV during the early days of closed captioning, and what he contributed to the Vulcan language in "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan" and the creation of the Klingon language in "Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock". There, Marc worked directly with star & director Leonard Nimoy and Christopher Lloyd on-set to make sure the lines were correct.   Marc continued to expand on the Klingon language through the years, contributing to other Star Trek films & TV shows, and later created the Kelpien language for "Star Trek: Discovery." His work also includes the Atlantean language for the Disney animated film "Atlantis" and discusses the rumor that he was the inspiration for the main character Milo's look. He's also written a few books on speaking Klingon and is always figuring out new words and phrases for fans and shows alike!   We have an in-depth discussion on how a language is created and how to make a fictional one sound real. No stone is left unturned on this episode of "Trek Untold," so get ready for a lesson on linguistics and Star Trek like you've never heard before! Check out some of Marc's books, our Amazon Affiliate links, which help us out at no extra cost to you!   The Klingon Dictionary - https://amzn.to/33DLwh0 Klingon for the Galactic Traveler - https://amzn.to/3oleQkn   Check out Lycia Naff's charity, Drive-By Do-Gooders, at this link here - https://www.drivebydogooders.org/ Don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave a rating if you like us! Support Trek Untold by checking out our merchandise at https://teespring.com/stores/trekuntold or become a Patreon at Patreon.com/TrekUntold. Trek Untold is sponsored by Triple-Fiction Productions, a US-based company that 3-D prints Trek-inspired prop replicas for fan films and cosplayers, as well as accessories and playsets for all iterations of Trek figures through the years. Visit them at Triple-Fictionproductions.net.   The views expressed on air during Trek Untold do not represent the views of the RAGE Works staff, partners, or affiliates.   Follow Trek Untold on Social Media Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/trekuntoldTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/trekuntoldFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/trekuntold Check Out Some of the Other Shows on the RAGE Works Network Call Me When It's Over: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/cmwio/Cheese! A Photography Podcast: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/capp/Black is the New Black: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/bitnb/The Variant Issue: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/tvi/Turnbuckle Tabloid: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/tbt/Toys & Tech of the Trade: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/ttott/The Eat 4 Life Podcast: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/eat4life/The Funkohub POPcast: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/funkohub-popcast/

Without today's guest, the universe of Star Trek would sound very different. Marc Okrand is the man behind Klingon, Vulcan, Kelpien, and languages for other shows & films.    Before his time on Trek, Marc earned a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in indigenous languages of the west coast of America, and was a post-doctoral fellow in the Anthropology Department of the Smithsonian Institute.   We learn about how Marc became connected to the Star Trek universe thanks to his work on TV during the early days of closed captioning, and what he contributed to the Vulcan language in "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan" and the creation of the Klingon language in "Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock". There, Marc worked directly with star & director Leonard Nimoy and Christopher Lloyd on-set to make sure the lines were correct.   Marc continued to expand on the Klingon language through the years, contributing to other Star Trek films & TV shows, and later created the Kelpien language for "Star Trek: Discovery." His work also includes the Atlantean language for the Disney animated film "Atlantis" and discusses the rumor that he was the inspiration for the main character Milo's look. He's also written a few books on speaking Klingon and is always figuring out new words and phrases for fans and shows alike!   We have an in-depth discussion on how a language is created and how to make a fictional one sound real. No stone is left unturned on this episode of "Trek Untold," so get ready for a lesson on linguistics and Star Trek like you've never heard before! Check out some of Marc's books, our Amazon Affiliate links, which help us out at no extra cost to you!   The Klingon Dictionary - https://amzn.to/33DLwh0 Klingon for the Galactic Traveler - https://amzn.to/3oleQkn   Check out Lycia Naff's charity, Drive-By Do-Gooders, at this link here - https://www.drivebydogooders.org/ Don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave a rating if you like us! Support Trek Untold by checking out our merchandise at https://teespring.com/stores/trekuntold or become a Patreon at Patreon.com/TrekUntold. Trek Untold is sponsored by Triple-Fiction Productions, a US-based company that 3-D prints Trek-inspired prop replicas for fan films and cosplayers, as well as accessories and playsets for all iterations of Trek figures through the years. Visit them at Triple-Fictionproductions.net.   The views expressed on air during Trek Untold do not represent the views of the RAGE Works staff, partners, or affiliates.   Follow Trek Untold on Social Media Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/trekuntoldTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/trekuntoldFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/trekuntold Check Out Some of the Other Shows on the RAGE Works Network Call Me When It's Over: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/cmwio/Cheese! A Photography Podcast: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/capp/Black is the New Black: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/bitnb/The Variant Issue: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/tvi/Turnbuckle Tabloid: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/tbt/Toys & Tech of the Trade: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/ttott/The Eat 4 Life Podcast: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/eat4life/The Funkohub POPcast: https://www.rageworksnetwork.com/show/funkohub-popcast/

The mystery of the red signals continue, Tilly gets lost in the network, and Chris rants about Section 31 in Star Trek canon. Join us this time as we continue to discuss Star Trek Discovery Season 2.

This week, Dan, Bill, Sara and Kasey discuss the amazing season finale of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, "That Hope Is You, Part II". Osyraa will stop at nothing to get the commandeered Discovery to the Dilithium Planet even if that means torturing Book to death!  The crew fight to stop her plans in a possible suicide mission while Burnham sets up for an epic battle with Osyraa before time runs out! Meanwhile in the Verubin Nebula, Saru tries to form a connection with Su'Kal to come up with a way to save themselves and along the way finds the true (and very emotional) cause of The Burn.  In addition, thanks to the Kelpien ships computer, Gray can be seen by everyone and he and Adira instantly form a very special family bond with Culber! Will Osyraa get the information she needs from Book? Will the Discovery crew die trying to save the ship? Will Discovery get to the Dilithium planet in time to save their friends!  And who will be the new Captain of the good ole NCC-1031-A??  We discuss it all, and we  hope you'll join us for a great discussion on Discovering Trek! FIVE YEAR MISSION Music for Discovering Trek is provided by Five Year Mission. They’re writing one song for each episode of The Original Series! Plus, check out their podcast right here on the Trek Geeks Podcast Network! Find out more and download all 6 of their current albums at FiveYearMission.net

This week, Dan, Bill, Sara and Kasey discuss the amazing season finale of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, "That Hope Is You, Part II". Osyraa will stop at nothing to get the commandeered Discovery to the Dilithium Planet even if that means torturing Book to death!  The crew fight to stop her plans in a possible suicide mission while Burnham sets up for an epic battle with Osyraa before time runs out! Meanwhile in the Verubin Nebula, Saru tries to form a connection with Su'Kal to come up with a way to save themselves and along the way finds the true (and very emotional) cause of The Burn.  In addition, thanks to the Kelpien ships computer, Gray can be seen by everyone and he and Adira instantly form a very special family bond with Culber! Will Osyraa get the information she needs from Book? Will the Discovery crew die trying to save the ship? Will Discovery get to the Dilithium planet in time to save their friends!  And who will be the new Captain of the good ole NCC-1031-A??  We discuss it all, and we  hope you'll join us for a great discussion on Discovering Trek! FIVE YEAR MISSION Music for Discovering Trek is provided by Five Year Mission. They’re writing one song for each episode of The Original Series! Plus, check out their podcast right here on the Trek Geeks Podcast Network! Find out more and download all 6 of their current albums at FiveYearMission.net

Response to DSC: "That Hope Is You, Part 2" Dr. Culber suspects that Su'Kal is a polyploid, which could help explain the Kelpien's role in causing the Burn. But what is a polyploid? And could Su'Kal's polyploidal nature be related to the radiation environment in the Verubin nebula? Follow Mike on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Miquai

The season finale of Star Trek Discovery Season 3 is here, aptly titled "That Hope is You Part 2." We learn the full and complete truth behind the cause of the burn, and we see a resolution to the Emerald Chain / Osyraa plot. My response is mostly positive to this episode. I was happier with the cause of the burn than I think a lot of people will be, but let's dig in and talk about the episode. ----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 50 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the season finale of Star Trek Discovery Season 3. That Hope is You Part 2.   The last 13 weeks have been a wild ride. I certainly feel this has been a strong season, the best that the modern Trek era has given us so far.   The description on Memory Alpha reads   As the Emerald Chain tightens its grip and the mystery of the Burn is finally solved, Burnham and the crew have one last chance to save themselves – and the Federation. (Season Finale)   This episode was written by Michelle Paradise It was directed by Olantunde Osunsanmi And it first aired on the 7th of January 2021.   Make it so.   While I was watching the teaser to this episode, before the opening titles had even shown, I turned to my wife and said “I know who directed this episode.” First time I’ve ever picked up on a director from their style. Olantunde Osunsanmi likes to do weird things with the camera, film stuff upside down and have the camera rotate around as the scene goes. Sometimes it’s a bit much for me. I feel that if the filmmaking draws too much attention to itself, it pulls me out of the story. But there were some moments in this episode where I found it effective.   We open with a beautiful shot of a gormagander flying through the skies of the simulated environment on Su’kal’s planet. We saw them in the background two episodes ago, but we get confirmation here that they are actually gormaganders. Space whales. I think they look awesome. We encountered them in season 1 but didn’t really get to see them in full flight like this.   The holographic narrator explains that gormaganders have spent more time on the Federation’s endangered list than any other species. However, this image is of a pup found in 3052, so that gives me hope that the species may be starting to recover by the 32nd century.   Su’kal is still unwilling to listen to Saru talk about his true nature.   Saru has to tread very carefully with him. If he causes Su’kal too much emotional distress, he may trigger another burn, and that could destroy what remains of the Federation. It’s a tricky situation. Saru’s greatest resource in this struggle is his Kelpien nature. But how does he convince the young man of his true species, when the holodeck has made him look human? (and I talked two weeks ago about how illogical it was that the holodeck made him look human, assigning seemingly random species to everybody.)   And then Adira shows up. This is the first time Culbert and Saru have seen her, so we’re backtracking a little in time, this is probably happening whiler Michael and Book are hurtling through the transwarp corridor at the start of last week’s episode.   The holodeck has made Adira look Xahean. Nice little callback to season 2. Adira gives them the medicine. It won’t cure them but it’ll buy them time until they can be rescued.   And then the real shock. Gray appears - looking like a Vulcan. And Culbert and Saru can see him. The holodeck recognises Gray as a separate independent lifeform, which is fascinating. The nature of Gray is still a big mystery, and it’s not resolved in this episode. We’ll have to look forward to season 4 for further exploration of this. But the fact that the holodeck recognises Grayt as a lifeform tells us something. It’s very interesting.   And I love the way Culbert and Gray react to each other. Gray is so thrilled to be seen. And Culbert embraces him like a long-lost son. It’s pretty cool.   It’s so weird so see him in full Vulcan makeup, but with blue hair and a big smile on his face. It seems that Gray can experience some form of sensation because when Culbert hugs him, he feels it. 32nd century holograms would be much more advanced than those we saw in the 24th century, so I can buy that.   Meanwhile, a battle rages at Starfleet headquarters. The Veridian is bombarding the shield. I imagine it won’t hold forever.   Voyager is ordered to fire on the Veridian. Nice to hear it referenced again. All other ships are ordered to fire on Discovery. IT seems Vance is very willing to sacrifice that ship and crew to safeguard the rest of Starfleet. And as horrible as it is, I do understand that. Even taking the spore drive into account, it’s a numbers game.   All hope for negotiation is gone at this point. As soon as Booker told Osyraa about the dilithium planet, she no longer needed the Federation.  Book is no longer willing to help her get to the planet, because she killed Ryn last week. It was sad to see him go, but he was the logical choice to die. Not a regular or semi-regular, but not a redshirt either. That meant his death hurt more. Osyraa has a truth serum so she doesn’t need Book to be cooperative.   So because Vance wouldn’t accept her proposed peace, and because she no longer needs them, she’s gone from wanting to ally with the Federation, to wanting to obliterate them completely. Out of spite.   Tilly and the bridge crew’s rebellion is going well, but it’s short-lived because Osyraa is turning off life-support on their section of the ship. Not much they can do about that.   Starfleet headquarters are about to lose their shield. Stammets appears, begging Vance to let him return to Discovery so they can rescue Saru, Culbert and Adira. Sadly for him, Vance agrees with Michael. They have to keep Stammets far away from Discovery, to ensure Osyraa doesn’t learn the secrets of the spore drive.   I’m not sure Vance speaks with enough compassion when he says “I know what you’re sacrificing here. I’m sorry.” But then he’s in the middle of a desperate battle and the shield is going down. He did well to be able to speak with Stammets at all given the circumstances.   And that’s when the Vulcans arrive. A fleet from Ni’var. I called it last week. Michael sent a good-bye message to her mother, so Gabriel got Ni’Var to send the cavalry.   Michael convinces Osyraa to let her hail Vance. She tries to talk Vance into letting them go. They can afford to lose the spore drive as long as Stammets is safely hidden away.   The way she locks eyes with Vance through the viewscreen and says “Trust me” suggests some hidden communication between them. Michael has a plan. She needs him to let Discovery go so she can implement it.   Vance isn’t happy, but he lets them go. But Osyraa won’t give the bridge crew their life support back. “They had their chance,” she says.   Osyraa needs Aurellio to provide the truth serum. He’s not so willing to cooperate. He’s seen what Osyra is capable of. And the use of the drug, combined with Book’s empathic abilities, will make the experience excruciating. Aurellio doesn’t want to inflict that kind of pain on Book. Autellio is a good man.   We learn a little about how Orion physiology differs from human. Like a lot of characters in sci-fi TV, they may look similar to humans, but under the skin, there are a lot of differences. But all of this is a metaphor for Osyraa’s feelings. Her moral compass. It’s much more complicated than Aurellio’s. In other words, she can find ways to mentally justify all sorts of horrible things in her mind.   I suspected, last week, that Aurellio was Osyraa’s husband. That seems not to be the case. She refers to “his family.” Not “our family.” She’s fond of him, but she keeps him around because he’s useful to her. Zareh says this is a no-win scenario for Michael, but she replies that she doesn’t believe in those, which is a direct reference to Kirk. It was a little bit on the nose for me. That’s Kirk’s thing. Give Michael her own thing.   This is when Michael starts to implement her plan. She pretends to give in, to want to convince Book to tell Osyraa what she wants to know, but as soon as she’s close to him, she attacks the regulators, taking their phasers and activating a forcefield. She and book are now separated. And they run off into the ship.   To reboot the ship’s computer, and restore the crew’s command codes, somebody has to be present at the data core. Not sure that makes sense, logically, but it works for dramatic tension.   We learn why Michael couldn’t beam with her com badge last week. The emerald chain have got transport inhibitors on the ship. Okay. That makes more sense. And I see why they’d do that from a story-telling perspective. If Michael could beam anywhere, she wouldn’t have had to crawl around the ship, and that was half the fun of last week’s episode. Michael sends a cryptic message to Tilly. She wants the crew to set off an explosion on the warp nacelle. It’ll knock Discovery out of warp. The dots can’t do it because of reasons, so it has to be done by a human.  We learn that Owo can hold her breath for a long time. Growing up on her home planet, she used to dive for abalone in the underwater caves. I believe they dive for abalone here in Tasmania. Anyway, that makes her well suited for this mission.   Meanwhile Michael and Book are gonna head for the data core. But annoyingly, we get yet another reference to people consuming synthahol a century before it will be invented.   Saru speaks to Su’kal of Kelpien cuisine. He admits he is a Kelpien, but has no proof to offer. But you can see in Su’kal’s face that he’s mulling it all over. Su’kal admits he has noticed that the Holo sometimes changes things.  We learn why Su’kal is so hesitant to talk about the outside. The holo told him the Federation would come from outside to rescue him. But they never came. It’s almost like he’s lost his faith because he feels let down. Of course, the Federation have come now. Just not as soon as Su’kal was hoping. This gives Saru an opening to explain the burn to him. Now he has Su’kal’s attention. He wants to understand because this is his life.   Saru can relate to Su’kal’s hesitance to leave the only world he’s known. He had to choose to leave Kaminar all those years ago. He’s getting through to him in a way that nobody else could. Whatever is behind the locked door that terrifies Su’kal, he has to face it. The monster from the folk tale is trying to help him. To encourage him to face his fear.   But Su’kal isn’t ready to believe that. He wants to see the elder.   Culbert and Adira need to explore outside the edge of the simulation but the radiation is too strong out there. Lucky for them, they have holo-gray. Radiation can’t hurt him because he doesn’t have a real body. Of course, he’s also holographic, so his body shouldn’t work outside the simulation. Bit of a plot hole there. But maybe it works. The ship they’re on has holographic emitters. Holograms can probably be sustained anywhere on the ship, not just within the confines of the simulation.   Culbert explains his theory about Su’kal. He believes that because he was born on this planet, his body was adjusted to be able to interact with dilithium in unique ways. Dilithium has a subspace component. Su’kal’s scream traveled at the resonant frequency of dilithium’s subspace components. That’s what hit every ship’s warp core during the burn.   Whatever happened to him 125 years ago was much worse than whatever upset him today.   Gray learns that the ship is falling apart. They need Su’kal to help them, and they need him to do it now.   Unfortunately, the elder is gone. The program is degrading. The Elder’s stories calmed Su’kal. But he doesn’t have that anymore. In a nice tender moment, Saru explains “you have us. You are not alone.”   Michael and Book are still making their way to the data core. We get an extended action sequence through the turbo shafts.   Discovery’s shuttles don’t travel through a shaft as such, they float through open space, through rings that kinda appear and disappear as needed. It looks pretty cool. But is it logical?   My issue with this is there is so much wide empty space inside the ship for the turbolifts to fly through, that just isn’t needed.   This whole sequence felt very Star Wars. Star Wars favours what looks cool over what is logical. You know, you’ll have characters fighting with lightsabers, surrounded by all this cool looking technology which looks awesome but doesn’t appear to have any meaningful reason to exist. Think of the duel between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon and Darth Maul in Episode 1.   This turbolift sequence looked great. It was cool and fun, but I had to suspend my disbelief a bit more than I feel I should when watching Star Trek.   Anyway, Michael arrives at the data core. But Osyraa has gone there to meet her. So we get our obligatory season finale fist-fight between the hero and the villain. And it’s another great action scene. We get to see Book kill Zareh while Michael takes on Osyraa. Meanwhile, Owo makes it to the nacelle and sets off the explosion. The dot rescues her just before the explosion, essentially sacrificing itself. The episode plays the loss of the dot as a significant thing. But it’s just an avatar. It’s not like the destruction of this robot is gonna mean the death of the sphere data AI.   We see last year how impossible it was to completely destroy that data. The reboot Michael is trying to perform won’t do it. If it were that simple, they’d have just reboot the computer last year, rather than travelling into the future.   Osyraa almost kills Michael by pushing her into this weird well of programmable matter. It reminded me of Superman 3 actually, that scene that seemed so creepy when I was a kid, when the woman gets eaten by the computer and turned into a cyborg. Completely ridiculous of course. And way, Michael shoots out of the wall, kills Osytraa and escapes. It was an odd ending to the fight, but again, it looked cool.   So the ship is rebooted. Starfleet are now in command again, life support is back up, and the ship is out of warp, so reinforcements can catch up.   They still have a problem, though. Discovery has been sucked inside the Veridian.  Michael has an idea about that, and Tilly tells her to implement it, effectively putting Michael in command. She is the ranking officer on the ship. Even though Tilly is first officer. She’s gonna blow up the Veridian by ejecting Discovery’s warp core. But how will Discovery not be destroyed as well? The only way is to jump away. Stammets can navigate the jump because he has tardigrade DNA. But Aurellio thinks Book can do it as well, because of his magic nature powers. Makes sense. It’s a nice little development, in my opinion.   Book gives us a little hint as to his back-story. We learned weeks ago that Cleaveland Booker isn’t his real name. Apparently, it was the name of his mentor. He took that name and tries to live up to it every day. Interesting.   Jumping the ship is proving harder for Book than they’d hoped. Michael keeps telling him to jump, but nothing happens. Then the Veridian explodes. This is fake tension. We know they’re not gonna destroy the discovery and kill all the crew. So I kinda wish they’d just shown discovery jumping away. Don’t get me wrong. The lead-up to the explosion was wonderfully tense. But the fake-out didn’t work for me.   We learn what Su’kal is really afraid of. It’s turning off the holo. Behind the door are the holo controls. He hasn’t been in here since he was a child. Gray is afraid. Once the holo is turned off, he’ll disappear. Adira will still be able to see him, but that’s not enough for him. Again, I like how Culbert comforts him. “We’ve got you gray. We’ll find a way to help you be truly seen”   This moment, as Su’kal goes to deactivate the holo is the emotional heart of the episode, of the season, really. Once the program has ended, we find that we’re not in a holodeck as such, just a normal room on the ship. I understand that in the 32nd century, holograms can be projected anywhere, so in one sense, they don’t need a holodeck as such, but it’s still practical to have a dedicated room. I mean, shouldn’t they have been tripping over chairs and things? The holodeck uses force fields to keep you in a confined area during the simulation. I suppose this could be done anywhere on the ship but it just seems a little impractical. But for story-telling reasons, it makes sense for them to be here. Where they can immediately see Su’kal’s mother. (although it would have made sense for her to have died in the holodeck, as she activated the program for her son.) Su’kal’s next order is a brave one. “Computer, show me what happened here, so I can be free.” But his new friends have prepared him for this moment. So Su’kal’s mother had already put him in the simulation. So he didn’t have to watch her die. She told him not to touch the controls until the federation arrive. But he turned off the simulation. He saw everyone dead but his mother. And she was really sick from radiation poisoning. The poor kid watches his mother die in front of him, and he screams like he’s never screamed before. He sends out the shockwave that causes the burn. I suspected this would be the case.    Saru tells him he is no longer alone. And then Su’kal turns around to see Saru in his Kelpien form. It’s a beautiful moment. Saru just gained a brother.   So. Now we know the full complete details about what caused the burn. What do I think about it? I suspect many will not like it. Two weeks ago, many were saying “is that it? A Kelpien child screaming?”   And I can understand that from a certain perspective, it could feel anticlimactic. Like a weak payoff. But you know what. As I think about it, I think there’s a real poignance to the entire galaxy being ripped apart by the heartfelt anguish of a child seeing its mother die. And the sentimental family man in me really likes it. So … I’m good with this. I like it. This is definitely the best pay-off that Star Trek Discovery (or Picard) has given us. So this is very much a positive response from me. It’s very emotional. Very character-focussed.   Anyway, Discovery arrives just in time to rescue them. And they return to Starfleet headquarters. The epilogue of the episode kinda ties together everything into a common theme. The human need to connect. Gray feels that very strongly. Su’kal felt that need growing up all alone with nothing but holograms to keep him company. The various scattered worlds have felt it on a global scale, the need to connect with the rest of the galaxy.   This is hit home at the very end with a quote from Gene Roddenberry. “In a very real sense, we are all aliens on a strange planet. We spend most of our lives reaching out and trying to communicate. If during our whole lifetime we could reach out and really communicate with just two people, we are indeed very fortunate.”   Stammets is very happy to be reunited with Culbert and Gray. He gives Michael a look. It’s not quite a complete forgiveness of what she did, but I think there is some genuine gratitude that she rescues them. I think it’ll take a while for these two to regain their former friendship. But I think it’ll happen.   It was nice to see little glimpses of Doctor Pollard and Jet Reno.   The emerald chain has fractured without Osyraa. That kinda feels a little sudden. But thinking about it, a fractured chain could be worse. A whole lot of independent mercenaries out there just looking to their own interests.   But it’s nice to see the Federation beginning to rebuild. The Trill have returned and the Vulcans and Romulans of Ni’var are considering it.   Saru is taking some time off, helping Su’kal settle in on Kaminar. He is reportedly wanting to consider his future, which I suppose means he’s not sure he wants to remain in Starfleet. I’m not sure I buy that. He loves his homeworld and he’ll be very happy to see it again. He’ll always have a bond with Su’kal, but Starfleet is his life. His passion.   And it’s wonderful to finally see Sahil, the lone guy on the Federation outpost from the first episode of this season. He’s now been commissioned as a Starfleet Officer with the rank of Lieutenant. I really wanted to see him again. It would be nice if we see more of him next season.   And that’s when Vance has a heart to heart with Michael. First, nice to know Vance is a family man. He has a wife and daughter, off somewhere else where they’re safe. I love that. Vance has come to respect Michael’s unique way of doing things.    Michael, and the other Discovery crew have had to wrestle with how to live in this new time more than the people who are native to it, because she came from a different time. That allowed Michael to see new ways of doing things. And she has taught Vance a thing or two.   Now I have very mixed feelings about what happens next. Vance offers Michael command of Discovery. Apparently it’s Saru who wants Michael to be the captain. But Vance agrees.   She’s a little hesitant, but Vance needs somebody commanding that ship now. There is an important job to be done. The dilithium from that planet needs to be distributed around the galaxy to those that need it. Only Discovery can carry out that mission.   So Michael accepts.   So we now have captain Michael Burnham of the USS Discovery.   Now on one hand, I like this. Michael has what it takes to be a captain. She wasn’t ready when Georgiou first suggested it back in The Vulcan Hello, but she’s learned a lot since then. She’s grown up a lot.    And this effectively solves what I’ve been calling the Michael Burnham problem. The idea that we have a lead of this show, who isn’t the captain of the ship, so they have to make everything be about her, because they have to constantly justify the fact that she is the lead character. With her in the captain’s chair, well, it works just like any other Star Trek show.   his is good for Michael’s character. It’s the next logical step for her arc.  So I like that.   But what about Captain Saru. I’ve loved Captain Saru this season. His arc throughout the whole season has been him learning to be a better captain. If he’s no longer going to be captain then it feels like that was all for nothing. And I hate that. I don’t want Saru to leave the show. And I know he’s returning for season 4, which they’re filming right now. And I definitely don’t want him to get demoted down to serving under captain Burnham. So where does that leave his character? Command of another ship? That could work, but it would probably mean we’d see less of him next season as the show would follow Burnham on Discovery.   This leaves me with great concerns for how Saru’s character will be treated next season, and I’m not happy about it.   So like I said. Mixed feelings.   It IS cool to see that the Discovery crew are finally wearing the new Starfleet uniforms. So looking at the crew’s colours, Culbert is in white for medical. MAkes sense. Stammets is in science blue. Obviously. Tilly is also in science blue. She was technically engineering when she first started, I believe. I wonder what this means for her position as first officer. Will she serve as Michael’s number one? If so, she should probably be in command red. Although maybe she’ll be like spock and have a joint position as science officer and first officer. If they do keep her as first officer, that should at least promote her to Lieutenant. Realistically, she should be at least Lieutenant Commander to be first officer. Detmer and Owo are both in engineering yellow, which is kinda weird. Owo might make sense, as operations tends to be yellow. But I’d expect Detmer, as helm officer, to be in red.  But maybe the colours work a little different in the 32nd century than they did in the 24th. It has been a very long time.   And another surprise. Adira is in Starfleet uniform. So have they been fast-tracked through Starfleet academy given prior experience in the earth defence force? Maybe. Maybe Adira will be a cadet serving on Discovery kinda like Tilly was in season 1.   Book is also on the bridge, but not in uniform. The episode, and the season, ends with a classic Star Trek fanfare, and then the TOS theme playing over the ending credits.   I’m not sure ths TOS theme fits as well here as it did with the last two seasons, but I think it’s meant to signify that Starfleet of the 32nd century are returning to former ideals of exploration and peaceful coexistence.   Next season should prove interesting. I’m very keen to learn what it will be about. I wonder when we’ll get our first trailer. Not for a while. But I assume we’ll get a few verbal tidbits from Alex Kurtzman or Michelle Paradise at some point.   So that was Star Trek Discovery season 3. As I said at the start, I thought it was a very strong season. The best so far. I really enjoyed it. Discovery has well and truly established itself as a Star Trek show next to all the others at this point. I nitpic things from time to time, but no Star Trek show has ever been perfect. But the last 13 weeks have been a wonderful experience. Well. That was quite a ride. It’s been a lot of work putting together weekly podcasts in a timely manner. I’m glad I moved my release date from Saturdays to Mondays, because it just took a little of the pressure off.   But I’m looking forward to taking it a little bit easier now that I won’t be covering a show airing for the first time.   I’ve mentioned it a couple of times before, but starting next episode, I’m going to begin covering Stargate Universe. It’s a show that not a lot of podcasters or youTubers have talked about. It’s actually a pretty divisive show, a little like Discovery.   I’m going to move back to a fortnightly schedule. I’ll do my first Stargate episode next week, and then I’ll be back the week after as well, because I’ll be covering the 3-part pilot over a course of two episodes, But then I’ll be taking my first week off. From that point, we’ll be on the fortnightly schedule.   I hope you’ll continue to join me into the future, but if Stargate isn’t your thing and you want to part ways here, then thank you very much for joining me through Star Trek Discovery. This certainly won’t be the last time we cover Star Trek on Nerd Heaven. I’ve always loved Star Trek. It’s my primary fandom.   Anyway, There’s a lot of very cool stuff to talk about in Stargate Universe. In a lot of ways, it was ahead of its time. It feels very much like a modern sci-fi show. It was heavily influenced by Battlestar Galactica, which, in a way, has shaped all sci-fi TV ever since, including both Discovery and Picard.   I’ll be here next week to talk about the episodes Air Parts 1 and 2.   Until then, have a great week. Live long and prosper.   Make it so.

The second-last episode of Star Trek Discovery Season 3 "There is a Tide" plays a little like Die Hard in space, but it also adds some serious depth to our villain Osyraa. There is a fantastic negotiation scene between her and Admiral Vance. So let's dig in and talk about it. -- Get my space opera book Jewel of The Stars for just 99 cents at books2read.com/jewel ----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 49 of the podcast Today we’re talking about Star Trek Discovery There Is A Tide.   And Happy New Year. By now, the whole world has switched over to 2021.  So far it’s been a great year. No major tragedies. Of course, much of the world is still suffering the effects of that pandemic that turned last year upside down. I’m really lucky here in Tasmania. We don’t have any cases at the moment.   The description on memory alpha reads After capturing the USS Discovery, Osyraa seeks a meeting with Admiral Vance while Burnham and the crew must overcome unimaginable odds as they attempt to regain command of their ship.   This episode was written by Kenneth Lin It was directed by Jonathan Frakes And it first aired on the 31st of December 2020.   Make it so. After I upload each episode of Nerd Heaven, I go and check out what other youTubers and podcasters are saying about the episode. It’s interesting to compare notes and see where we agree and disagree.   I never watch before I finish my own review because I want to keep my opinions my own - as un-influenced by others as I can. But I noticed the thumbnail of one last night said (“Die Hard in Space”) And that’s not a bad way to describe this week’s episode. It’s an action movie with Michael Burnham trying to rescue the hostage crew of Discovery from terrorists who’ve taken over the ship.   Last week, we learned the cause of the burn was basically a shockwave sent from a Kelpien, genetically modified from living on a radiation-soaked planet, having a tantrum.   The general consensus from people was “Is that it?” I didn’t really comment too much about it, other than my relief that Michael Burnham wasn’t the cause (although I also saw a thumbnail with a depressing theory that she is indirectly responsible because she freed the Kelpiens from the Ba’ul, but let’s just leave that one aside)   No, I wanted to wait until this week, to learn more, before I said too much about my thoughts on it. Except we never re-visited the planet in the verubin nebula this entire episode. The whole thing was centred on Discovery and Starfleet headquarters.   I wasn’t expecting that.   So we’ll talk more about the burn next week.   This week, in addition to giving us a pretty cool action thriller, also does some very interesting things with Osyraa’s character, which I’m looking forward to talking about.   But let’s start at the beginning.   Osyraa is playing a dirty trick. She has her own ship, the Veridian, firing on Discovery, to make it look as though the two ships are locked in combat, and that the Discovery crew are still in control of their own ship.   Vance is hesitant to Discovery in through the shields immediately. I guess to lower the shields would be to potentially allow the Veridian in as well. We actually get a decent amount of Vance this episode. He’s doing more than just giving Discovery their mission. And that was great.   The bridge crew are being held in the mess hall. That seems to be standard procedure when you take over a Starfleet ship. It’s always the mess hall.    Remember Zareh, from episode 2 of this season? He was the thug that broke into the pub and terrorised the local township. The bartender threw him out into the ice, to survive if he could. Well, turns out he worked for the Emerald Chain, and he survived. He’s here now, Osyraa’s second in command for this mission.   Poor Tilly isn’t happy to see him again. This episode makes a couple of references to Tilly’s ineptitude which lead to the ship’s capture. A lot of it comes from Zareh, who was already trying to belittle her back at the beginning of the season.   To be honest, this is fair. Don’t get me wrong. Tilly performed admirably for an ensign put into the big chair during a very difficult situation. But I’m sure the chain took over quick and easier than they would have if there had been an experienced captain in charge. No shame against Tilly for that.  For the first time, We actually see some point to this morphing thing that Book’s ship does. They’re travelling through a transwarp conduit, and we finally get an understanding of why they are considered so dangerous. They’re full of debris from other ships. Book’s vessel is constantly morphing into different shapes to avoid hitting all this stuff. Okay. That actually makes sense. Nice to finally get answers to two outstanding mysteries in this scene.   Strangely, there’s a big ship in the way. Book says “There’s no morphing our way around that.” and then the ship morphs its way around that.   Vance is going to have to let Discovery in before their shields fail. So he orders a window just large enough for that ship. But orders security on alert. Something is weird with all of this. And then Book’s ship arrives. But Michael can’t get through to federation HQ for some reason and is unable to warn them. So Discovery is let in.   Michael decides the only hope now is to board Discovery. So book’s ship morphs again into a long thin sharp kind of shape. At first, I thought they were forming into a breaching pod. Something that could pierce the hull. That makes sense. But then I realise, as usual, Discovery’s shuttle bay doors are open and they just have the forcefield in place.   So….forming into a sharp thin shape allows the ship to get through the forcefield? I find that harder to buy.   And in fact, these forcefields are generally designed to hold in oxygen, but allow shuttles to pass through, so why would they need to do anything special to go through anyway?   Osyraa mentions something about them getting in while Discovery’s shields re down, which does make sense. Shields should prevent anything from getting into the shuttle bay. But why are discovery’s shields down? Maybe to allow the tractor beam to pull them in, but why the need for a tractor beam? Discovery has thrusters. It’s all a bit messy. But let’s move on.   This is where we meet Aurellio. He’s a scientist working for the Emerald Chain. One of the best in the galaxy, apparently. He’s confined to a hoverchair because of a genetic defect he has. It’s another little element to add some interest to his character. And it’s nice to see people of different abilities on the show.   The interesting thing here is that Aurellio is plated by Kenneth Mitchell who played Kol in season 1, and then Kol’s father in season 2, as well as the child of Voq and LaRell. He’s fast becoming the new Jeffery Combs. In fact, he’s now played just as many distinct Trek roles as Combs.   But this is the first non-Klingon role he’s had.   But what I didn’t realise when I was watching, is that Kenneth Mitchell is currently suffering from Motor Neurone Disease and is confined to a wheelchair. And that’s really sad. My heart goes out to him. But isn’t it nice that they were able to create this character for him to play.   I love how Book’s first priority when getting back onboard Discovery is to find and secure his cat. He went all the way to sickbay and then back to the shuttle bay. A little far-fetched perhaps, but cute.   Book has a life-sign masking device which Michael can use to get around the ship undetected. He has to turn himself in because they’ll be expecting a pilot for the ship that just breached them. With some luck, they won’t even know Michael is on board.   And there’s a nice little moment when they say “I love you” to each other. This relationship has played out so much better, and more naturally than the Tyler relationship in season 1.   Even though Michael wasn’t able to warn Vance, he figures it out himself, which is good. It shows he’s got some brains on his shoulders.    Michael makes her first kill but gets a knife in her leg for her trouble. I like this. It’s showing she’s a capable fighter but she’s not Superman.   She takes the regulator’s badge but it won’t transport. Probably coded to his bio signs. But why does she need his badge to transport? She has her own Starfleet insignia badge on her uniform. Why can’t she just transport with that? Certainly, no reason I can think of.   Osyraa hails HQ and Vance chats with her. She’s releasing all the Discovery crew, except the bridge crew, who she’s keeping as leverage, but keeping them in good health. She’s here to talk and hopes that things will go well. If so, Vance will have the bridge crew back shortly.   This is an unexpected development. We were expecting invasion, not negotiation.   Michael is hiding out in the Jefferies tube. At first, I was confused about the phaser she was using. Did she get it off the regulator she killed? It seemed holographic, projected by a wrist band. Turns out, this is the new Starfleet phaser, as seen in the opening credits. This is what the Discovery crew use now. But they don’t have holsters. The phasers are constructed from programmable matter. They just wear a little thing on their wrist. This is really cool. I’m surprised the comm badge doesn’t create the phaser actually. It does everything else.   There’s a nice moment where Michael records a touching goodbye message to her mother, as she knows this might not end well. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gabrielle shows up with the cavalry next week.   I like that Osyraa calls out the absence of the Federation president. The type of negotiations she’s about to enter into really should include the Federation president. This has been an issue in the past for Star Trek. How many decisions did Sisko make on behalf of the entire Federation that really should have been above the pay grade of a captain?   Vance explains that to have the president sit down with a known terrorist at this time would be a security breach, which makes perfect sense, so he’s been authorised to negotiate on behalf of the Federation. He’s Starfleet Chief of Staff so he’s pretty high up there. And he’s not gonna make the final decision anything. Nicely done.   I like the scene where the bridge crew overcome their guards. They work together, anticipating each other’s ideas, with the distraction of the morse code tapping. It shows these people have worked together for a long time now. They know each other well and make a good team.   Tilly immediately takes charge. Again, doing the best she can under the circumstances.   Zareh has managed to locate the intruder with the badge she took from the regulator, who’s death has now been discovered.    Aurellio wakes Stammets so they can discuss the spore drive. They bond over opera music, which Stammets has slowly come to appreciate because Culbert loves it.   Stammets identifies, that Arellio has children, and that his partner is Orion based on the traditional piercing behind his ear. And Stammets admits he has a child too. Adira. At this point, I’m speculating that Arellio is actually Osyraa’s husband. She was acting very protective of him at the beginning of the episode. They seemed to have a personal connection. The episode never says it outright, but I think it’s strongly implied. What do you think?   We learn that sadly, the tardigrades are long-extinct in the 32nd century. (unless he’s lying to Aurellio) But Aurellio thinks he can grow new tardigrade cells from Stammet’s DNA, thereby making other people able to navigate the mycelial network.   Michael takes out her second regulator, in another thrilling action movie sequence. It’s not just a fight scene. It makes good use of the fact they’re in space. It’s a triumphant moment. Although I suspect Michael should be facing more unpleasant consequences from the cold alone, when the tube is exposed to open space.   I also like how they have an EMH serve as a lie detector during negotiations as standard procedure.   So far, Osyraa is being truthful. She wants the Emerald Chain to unit with the Federation in peace. And she’s being genuine. Her reasoning, the chain can’t go on the way they are without dilithium. So realises she has to make changes to how her organisation works if it is going to survive. The spore drive is a big bargaining chip. So why does she need the Federation? The Federation was always a symbol of hope. The Emerald Chain will never earn the trust of the people like the Federation once did. What the chain needs most now, is legitimacy.   Remote parts of the former Federation, who no longer have contract with headquarters, are already engaged in trade with the chain, because they have no choice. This is really interesting stuff.   A fruit platter is brought in and Vance mentions that their replicated food is made from human feces. But he doesn’t say feces. That’s the base material they use in their replicators. They break it down to the atomic level and then reform the atoms. This, of course, is a total load of … well….. Feces.   That’s not how replicators work.   Replicators work on a similar principle to transporters. It’s all based around the conversion between energy and matter.   Replicators don’t create matter from other base matter. They convert energy into matter. And then, when you recycle leftovers, that matter is turned back into energy. They don’t stick base matter into them. This might have been the case for the more primitive “food synthesisers” back in the 22nd century. But not of the 24th century onwards.   Modern Star Trek has a real problem with replicators. In Picard, they looked like 3D printers. They even built up the food item layer by layer like a 3D printer. But it’s not how it’s supposed to work. This annoys me.   The emerald chain, apparently, don’t use replicator technology. Not sure why. I mean, you don’t need dilithium to power a replicator. Dilithium is just a catalyst in creating the matter / anti-matter reaction in a starship’s warp core.   Osyraa wants trade with the chain legalised, and she wants to establish an embassy at Starfleet Headquarters. That will send a powerful message.   This is a big issue for Vance. The Emerald Chain engage in morally reprehensible acts. Slavery. Oppression. Interference with pre-warp civilisations.   Surprisingly, Osyra is making changes to the way the chain operates. She’s outlawing slavery. She’s even pulling back from worlds like Kwijan, at considerable financial expense, over a 15 year period, to prevent causing chaos.   She’s even got an armistice written up, a treaty that the president can sign.   And Eli, the EMH confirms she is being completely genuine about all of this.   This is very interesting to me. This is taking Osyraa from being a moustache-twirling villain to something much much more interesting. She is now by far the most interesting villain we’ve had on Discovery. Now she has depth. She’s still very dangerous, but she’s a reasonable woman who is willing to make significant changes for the good of her people.   I’m kinda loving this.   Aurellio seems to have a very rosy-coloured view of Osyraa and the chain. He’s surprisingly blind to the horrific things she’s done. Stammets tries to open his eyes to the reality of it all.   Vance is impressed with the armistice. Osyraa has made a lot of concessions. She really is wanting to plot a new course for the chain. One free from the immoral acts of the past.   But Vance needs more. He can’t just ignore the past. So he asks Osyraa who will be the public face of the chain for this alliance. The implication is that it can’t be Osyraa. She’s a known terrorist and criminal. Not somebody that the Federation can legitimise. As soon as he asks that question, I think Osyraa is reasonably sure that a deal is not going to be reached. She wants to be the public face of the Emerald Chain, or at least be the controlling power in the background. But Vance wants her to give herself up to trial for the crimes of her past. Vance can’t just forgive the crimes of the past. He can’t just overlook it. Osyraa says the past cannot be undone, And Vance says “but it can be made right.”   This is a very interesting dilemma, and I’m curious where people sit on this. One the one hand, Osyraa has made a genuine commitment to change her ways from now on. And since the burn, the Federation hasn’t had completely clean hands. They’ve done their best to continue living the ideals they have always represented, but this is a messier universe than it once was.  Maybe the concessions Osyraa is making are worth wiping the slate clean and forgiving the crimes of the past.  One the other hand, Osyraa may have made some promises regarding policy, promises that I believe she is willing to honour, but at her core, her values haven’t changed. She’s offering to be good, not because she’s had a change of heart or any true repentance, but out of political necessity. This will be confirmed at the end of the episode where we see what kind of person she is deep down. Vance asks his people to die for Federation moral values on a daily basis. How can he ask that of them and then just forgive Osyraa with no consequence for her crimes.   So what do you think? Should Vance just accept the armistice and let go of the past, or is he right to push for this?   And what about Osyraa? Is she letting her pride talk her out of a deal that will be good for her people? The federation has a very just legal system and quite humane and generous treatment of the convicted. The penal colony in New Zealand where Tom Paris did his time looked like a beautiful paradise. Osyraa could do worse than to accept punishment for her crimes for the sake of her people and live out a comfortable life as a Federation convict.   It’s funny, but I see a lot of theological parallels here that connect with me on a spiritual level.   It’s these deep and interesting ideas that make this a really great episode of Star Trek.   Sadly, these two can’t find any common ground on this issue so the negotiations break down and Osyraa returns to Discovery, where Book and Rin have been captured. Michael arrives to rescue Stammets. But Michael and Stammets have a profound disagreement on how to proceed. Michael wants to get Stammets off the ship. The Emerald Chain can’t be allowed to learn the secrets of the spore drive from him. So he needs to be removed.   But he wants to jump straight back to the nebula to rescue Hugh and Saru. And then he learns that Adira is there too.   As he says, his whole life is in that nebula.   It’s wonderfully acted. So much raw emotion. Michael admits that they’ll likely die back there, but she has to make the tough call. True to her word. She told Vance she’d never hesitate again, like she did with Arium. She renders him unconscious Osyraa asks Aurellio to leave the bridge. She doesn’t want him to see what she’s about to do. But he wants to stay. Stammets words have impacted him. He wants to see who she really is when he’s usually not around.   Ryn gives a nice speech about how he’s no longer afraid of Osyraa because he’s seen real bravery. It’s great.   He won’t fix the sensors so she can locate Michael, Stammets and the bridge crew. So she’s about to shoot him. But in a potentially foolish attempt to save Ryn’s life, Book volunteers information about the dilithium planet in the nebula. So that’s where Saru is. But she kills Ryn anyway, and Aurellio is watching. She’s going to get the information from Book using truth serum.   Michael has put Stammets into an emergency escape field. She’s going to eject him out of the ship so Federation HQ can rescue him, getting him away from Osyraa’s grasp.   He begs Michael no to do this. Without him on board Discovery, Hugh, Sar and Adira will die a horrible death. It’s a heartbreaking scene, and so well acted by Anthony Rapp.   He reminds her that the Discovery crew gave up everything to follow her here into the future, so she wouldn’t have to be alone. They did that for her. And now she’s going to let those three die.   She’s doing this to save the Federation from being destroyed by Osyraa. So many hard choices being made in this episode.   Michael has been captured, but she’s accomplished what she set out to do.   The bridge crew have armed themselves and are ready to re-take the ship. Tilly is being pretty awesome.   And then the dot robots show up, possessed by the sphere data. Otherwise known as Zora. It’s hard to take these robots seriously, as they look so cute, but despite that, it’s a great ending to the episode. They have a cool new ally. Who’d have thought, when we first saw the sphere data back in early season 2, they’d be paying it off like this?   This wasn’t just a great episode of Discovery. This was a great episode of Star Trek. I loved it. And I’m very much looking forward to seeing how it all resolves next week in the season finale. Next week’s episode is called “That Hope is You Part 2” calling back to the very first episode of this season. Interesting.  I wonder if that name will stay. A lot of these episodes have been getting new names from what was originally announced.   It was cool to see Zareh come back this week, but you know who we haven’t seen since episode 1, that I really expected to be a recurring character throughout the whole season? That lone Federation representative serving faithfully on that outpost. I’m disappointed we never saw him again. Is he still there? Has Discovery even mentioned him to Vance?   But with next week’s episode title making it a direct sequel to the first episode, I’m wondering if this is when we’ll see him again. It’ll be interesting to find out.   I’m still doing my walk to Mordor Challenge that I started in April last year. I’ve passed the gates of Moria.   I’m now back at work on Jewel of The Stars season 3, and am looking forward to getting it out in the world when I can.   Hard to believe there’s only one more episode of Discovery to talk about this season. We’ll be launching into Stargate Universe very soon. I’ve already recorded a couple of episodes. I hope you’ll all stick around for that. I’m looking forward to it.   But first, I’ll see you next week for the season finale of Star Trek Discovery.   Have a wonderful week. Live long and Prosper. Make it so.  

Star Trek: Age of Discovery is a fan podcast for the Star Trek Universe shows including CBS All Access shows STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, STAR TREK: PICARD, STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS, and STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS.Subscribe to Star Trek: Age of Discovery in Apple Podcast by CLICKING HERE. Also, the show is available on Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRADIO.Email the show at startrekaod@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at @StarTrekAoD and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StarTrekAoD/. Visit our website at http://startrekaod.net where we offer additional articles on Star Trek canon, interesting sidebar issues, and aspects of the show.How to watch Star Trek: DiscoveryStar Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else in the world.How to watch Star Trek: Lower DecksStar Trek: Lower Decks is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on Space and streams on CraveTV. Currently, it isn't available anywhere else in the world.How to watch Star Trek: PicardStar Trek: Picard is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on Space and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Amazon Prime everywhere else in the world.2020 © Star Trek: Age of Discovery

Positively Trek 76: Discovery Review: “Su’Kal” (3.11)“What is it you say when you do your jumpy thing?”  An away team from Discovery tracks the source of the burn to a lone Kelpien on a crashed ship in the Verubin Nebula. Meanwhile, Osyrra closes in on Discovery and her goal of obtaining the spore drive for the Emerald Chain. With Tilly left in command, Saru, Burnham, and Culber are cut off from the ship and must make contact with the Kelpien before history repeats itself with another dreaded burn… In this Star Trek: Discovery review episode of Positively Trek, hosts Bruce and Dan discuss season three, episode eleven: “Su’Kal.” We talk about the mystery of the Khi’eth, Su’Kal’s torment, Saru’s command abilities, the strange holographic fortress, Tilly’s command style, Culber’s motivations, Adira & Gray, and wrap up with our final thoughts and ratings. Show page: http://positivelytrek.libsyn.com/ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/positively-trek/id1501468628 Twitter: http://twitter.com/positivelytrek Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PositivelyTrek The Descent by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4490-the-descent License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Take a Chance by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4457-take-a-chance License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This week, Dan, Bill and Sara discuss the eleventh episode of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, "Su'Kal". The USS Discovery heads to the Verubin Nebula to search for a survivor of the Kelpien ship, the KSF Khi'eth, who has been stranded on a remote planet for decades.  Saru leaves First Officer Tilly in command of Discovery while he, Burnham and Dr. Culber beam to the surface.  When they arrive, they are inside an intricate holoprogram and their features have been altered.  Michael is a Trill, Culber is a Bajoran and Saru appears as a human! When they locate the Kelpien survivor, they discover the true cause of the Burn!  Meanwhile, in orbit of the Dilithium planet, the Discovery is attacked by Osyraa of the Emerald Chain and takes over the ship! Will Acting Captain Tilly be able to hold off the Emerald Chain?  How will Saru deal with seeing this stranded Kelpien, Su'Kal?  We hope you'll join us for a great discussion on Discovering Trek! FIVE YEAR MISSION Music for Discovering Trek is provided by Five Year Mission. They’re writing one song for each episode of The Original Series! Plus, check out their podcast right here on the Trek Geeks Podcast Network! Find out more and download all 6 of their current albums at FiveYearMission.net

This week, Dan, Bill and Sara discuss the eleventh episode of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, "Su'Kal". The USS Discovery heads to the Verubin Nebula to search for a survivor of the Kelpien ship, the KSF Khi'eth, who has been stranded on a remote planet for decades.  Saru leaves First Officer Tilly in command of Discovery while he, Burnham and Dr. Culber beam to the surface.  When they arrive, they are inside an intricate holoprogram and their features have been altered.  Michael is a Trill, Culber is a Bajoran and Saru appears as a human! When they locate the Kelpien survivor, they discover the true cause of the Burn!  Meanwhile, in orbit of the Dilithium planet, the Discovery is attacked by Osyraa of the Emerald Chain and takes over the ship! Will Acting Captain Tilly be able to hold off the Emerald Chain?  How will Saru deal with seeing this stranded Kelpien, Su'Kal?  We hope you'll join us for a great discussion on Discovering Trek! FIVE YEAR MISSION Music for Discovering Trek is provided by Five Year Mission. They’re writing one song for each episode of The Original Series! Plus, check out their podcast right here on the Trek Geeks Podcast Network! Find out more and download all 6 of their current albums at FiveYearMission.net

We're in the final 3 episodes of Star Trek Discovery Season 3 now.  The crew enter the Verebin Nebula to rescue a Kelpien survivor and learn the source of The Burn. This episode gets a little wacky with the away team, but also gives us some real growth for Tilly as she takes the captain's chair for the first time. ----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 48 of the podcast   And today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Discovery episode “Su’kal”   This episode actually came out on the 25th of December in Australia, so I spend my Christmas night watching Star Trek. Not a bad way to round off a happy Christmas actually.   The description of Memory alpha reads   Discovery ventures to the Verubin Nebula, where Burnham, Saru, and Culber make a shocking realization about the origin of The Burn as the rest of the crew faces an unexpected threat.   This episode was written by Anne Cofell Saunders It was directed by Norma Bailey And it first aired on the 24th of December 2020   Make it so. This is a bit of an unusual episode, which took a few unexpected twists and turns, but it was still pretty good. It’s got some thrills near the end, some growth for some of our characters, and some kinda weird but fun stuff with the away team.   We pick up right where we left off last week. Our characters are still at Georgiou’s memorial. Adira is feeling a bit left out. Everyone here seemed to know Georgiou. They’ve all been through so much together. They all came from the 23rd century together. Adira is the odd one out. A native of the 32nd century. Not a Starfleet officer. Stammets tries to reassure them that they’re still a part of this crew. The crew are all here for you. Culbert and I are here for you. And then Gray shows up. He hasn’t appeared to Adira in a long time. With no explanation.   I like how Stammets says into the empty air “You’re lucky we’re at a memorial service because otherwise, I’d be giving you a piece of my mind.”   I really like how Stammets just takes this thing at face value, and doesn’t treat Adira like they’re crazy. He can’t see Gray, but he believes he’s there and even addresses him from time to time.   But in hindsight, it’s occurred to me that it may have been a good idea to recommend a medical examination, just in case, to make sure Adira isn’t hallucinating. I mean, the disembodied soul of a former Trill host appearing in a form only the new host can see is not exactly out of the range of possibility in the Star Trek universe, but it might not be the only explanation.   For all Stammets knows, Adira could have schizophrenia, which is probably not something you want to leave untreated. I don’t think that’s what is happening here, but it’s probably a good thing to rule out.   Anyway. Gray explains why he’s been absent. He’s struggling with the whole disoconnected aspect of his existence. He has consciousness. He has emotions. But nobody but Adira can see him. He can’t interact with anybody else. That’s not what life is supposed to be. It’s like he’s stuck in limbo, a ghost that can’t move on.   This is a very believable reaction to his situation. And I’m glad the show is addressing it, allowing Gray to feel this way and struggle with it. That’s some emotional realism right there. The kind that I like characters to have.   He also admits that his struggles are no excuse for simple vanishing without an explanation. He could have explained this to Adira before he vanished.   Admira promise they’ll work this out together. Somehow.   With this nice little character moment done, we launch right into the main plot of the episode. they’ve recovered some new data from the Kelpien ship. There’s a life sign.   Saru reverals the Kelpien doctor was pregnant. That’s what the marks on her head were about. Not sure why he kept this to himself but anyway. Her child, now an adult, is still alive on that ship. So they jump into the Verubin nebula, which looks awesome.   I’ve learned, through a little research while writing Jewel of the Stars book 1, that if you were inside a nebula, it would not look like this. In fact, you’d see nothing. The gass particles are so sparse they’d be essentially invisible. It’s only many lightyears away, where you can see from a vast distance, that the particles appear close enough to actually look like anything.   But I can’t help but forgive Star Trek for getting this wrong, and it’s been getting it wrong since The Wrath of Khan, because it looks so good. And this nebula, with modern CGI, looks like something straight from a Hubble image.   Anyway, the radiation is wreaking havoc on the ship. They’re gonna have to leave the nebula, but Saru is unwilling. Or, at least hesitant. Michael seems to interpret this as emotional interest in the Kelpien. And in fairness, there may be some of that, but recovering this Kelpien is important if they want to understand the cause of the burn. And goodness knows Michael has been compromised by that obsession herself.   This episode has a thread running through it of “Saru can’t be trusted to make rational decisions because there is a Kelpien on board.” And I still don’t get that. Kaminar is still out there. He can go visit it next time he has shore leave. It’s not like this crashed ship is his last chance to ever see his people again. I think this whole business is artificial and overdone. But we’ll keep talking about this as the episode progresses.   Anyway, Book takes his ship ahead. He has better shielding and his ship can morph, as he calls it. That morphing thing has never been explained. What exactly does this weird reconfiguration of his ship accomplish? What’s it all about? While Book is mapping the nebula, Discovery jumps back top safety.   The radiation gets to him a bit but he manages to locate the ship and it’s lifesign before auto-pilot brings him back to Discovery. He’ll be okay after some DNA recombination.   The Kelpien ship crashed into a planet that’s practically made out of Diluthium. That’s good news for the Federation.   Saru plans to lead the away team personally. While not standard Starfleet procedure, it’s not unheard of for a captain to be part of an away team, if there is deemed sufficient reason. Vance and Michael both give him a look for this, but Vance accepts it. It’s Saru’s call.   Personally, I think Saru has sufficient justification for this. A single KEpien survivor, all alone. Never seen anyone else. Having someone of the same species could be reassuring. And I think you’ll agree that the episode demonstrates that he was right about this.   My only concern is leaving Tilly in charge. You know I love Tilly. She’s one of my favourite characters. And You know I want to see her achieve her dream of being a captain. But I’m still not convinced she’s ready for this yet. Although, nobody knows the challenges she’s about to face. If The Emerald Chain didn’t show up, she’d have been quite capable of holding the fort until the away team returned. But we’ll get to all that.   We learn that the Emerald Chain are running military exercises near Caminar. Osyrra is trying to lure Discovery out so she can steal its spore drive. Starfleet is going to handle that. Discovery has a job to do here.   Do you notice that Vance is really sold on this mission to learn the source of the burn, now that they have solid leads to follow. Early in the season, he was very hesitant to expend any resources on this, because there were more important things to deal with. Ironically, they could never have gotten these solid leads if Michael hadn’t been like a dog with a bone in the first place.  So Michael tells Book she doesn’t think Saru can be objective.  She’s not sure how he’ll handle it if he has to make a hard call. A painful one. First of all, Michael herself doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to difficult calls. Vance even called her out on the whole Arium thing earlier this season. I’m not saying Michael is right or wrong, but I’m curious what has lead her to this conclusion about Saru.   I don’t think any of this stuff is fair to his character.   Stammets is freaking out about Culbert going on the away mission. At first, I thought this was really weird. This is Culbert’s job. He’s a Starfleet officer. Starfleet officers go into dangerous situations all the time. That’s part of the deal if you’re a member of Starfleet, or you’re in a relationship with a member of Starfleet. Stammets is both. Plus, Saru just said that as long as they take the right medications with them, they should be fine.   But I realised, actually, my wife pointed it out. Stammets has already lost Culbert once. So he’s understandably over-protective here.   Now despite what I said earlier about Tilly and her unreadiness to be first office, I do really like how they develop this whole thing in the episode. First of all, we get a wonderful scene where Michael reassures Tilly and tells her the story about the little bur of metal under the arm of the captain’s chair. How Georgiou used to press her finger against it to keep herself in the moment during difficult encounters. It’s a wonderful exchange that they’ll call back to a number of times.   I love how she allows herself the moment of fear and anxiety, with her trusted friend, and then sucks it up and says “okay, let’s go.”   With medications, the away team will survive four hours on the planet. Discovery’s shields will take three hours to repair. After that, they can jump back in to rescue the team.   And despite everything, Tilly looks good in that chair. Michael is right, she does belong there. It’s her destiny.   The away team arrive on the crashed ship. And this is where everything gets a little weird. The first thing we notice is Michael is dressed differently. She and Culberty are in thick jackets with hoods. Then we realise that Culbert is a Bajoran and Michael is a Trill.   Now … forgive me for thinking we’re suddenly watching Hitchhiker’s Guide to the galaxy. I mean, what’s next Is Saru going to be a penguin?   No, Saru is Human. I called it before we saw his face. Just before the camera shot that slowly panned up from his feet. So we get to see Doug Jones out of makeup. That’s kinda cool, because we can finally see all his amazing face acting. Don’t get me wrong, nobody can act tinder all that prosthetic like Doug Jones can. He’s a master, but he’ll always be able to do more with his face without all that slapped on him.   The other weird thing is, they don’t appear to be in a ship. They’re outside surrounded by snow.   Of course, we quickly learn they’re on a holodeck inside the ship. The holodeck has changed their appearances. We know it could do that, even in the 24th century.   This is all very strange, and it is explained, at least somewhat a little later, but I think the writers just wanted an excuse to get Saru out of makeup and see the others as different species. They wanted to have some fun with it.   The bad news is, they’ve lost all of their equipment. No badges and no medications.   If Discovery returns as scheduled, they’ll be sick but alive.   The first holodeck character we meet is wearing a new Starfleet uniform. We haven’t seen this one before. It seems to be a bizarre blend of the discovery uniform with the TNG uniform. It’s got a very shiny version of the TNG com badge. No idea if this is supposed to be a real uniform that was worn at some point in history. Until we see it outside the holodeck I think we can basically dismiss it.   Clearly, the holo programs are malfunctioning due to over 100 years of exposure to the radiation. When they enter a different part of the program, the holodeck changes their clothes again. They find a crumbling structure with some very cool looking alien creatures flying in the distance. Here’s a strange thing. Saru asks if human bodies react negatively to heights because his heart is racing. So are we to assume the holodeck has somehow reconfigured Saru’s internal organs? That doesn’t make any sense. A surface-level image to change their appearance, sure. But to make Saru’s body react differently, that seems a little absurd and completely unnecessary as we’ll soon learn when we discover the purpose of their transformation.   They find the Kelpien child, now an adult male. And Saru’s eyes nearly bug out of his head. OH, it’s another Kelpien. How amazing. It doesn’t make sense. The child assumes the away team are programs but Saru tries to explain they are from outside the simulation.   There’s a door here containing something that scares the Kelpien. The door breaks open but nothing comes out.   The episode portrays the Kelpien as mentally a child, because he’s never seen anythingh outside of this holodeck. Again, that doesn’t make sense to me. Sure, his perspective will be limited, but his faculties still should have developed just like anyone else. He has the brain of an adult. I’m not sure it makes sense that he’d mentally be a child.   A voice goes through the Discovery com system. “We’ve found them.” A female voice. Why this voice is heard on board Discovery is never explained. It doesn’t make any sense. We know how this is, but why would the voice be heard here?   Anyway, Discovery has picked up another ship nearby. A Federation ship. Now we all knew where we thought this was going right. How many of you thought this was going to end up being another USS Discovery, tying into The short Trek calypso. I was relieved to find out that wasn’t where they were going.   No, it’s Osyrra. Trying to sneak up on them by emitting a Federation signature. Apparently, she used a transwarp tunnel to get here. Book keeps saying nobody would be silly enough to use one of these tunnels but has never explained why. And it seems OSyraa’s ship came through fine with no problems. Anyway, she’s been tracking their ship since Kwijan and she wants Discovery’s spore drive, and she wouldn’t mind the planet of dilithium here either.   Nice to learn Discovery now has a cloaking device. This makes sense. Ever since the fall of Romulus, the treaty of Algeron would no longer be in effect. But they can’t jump while cloaked. Again that makes sense. Starships don’t seem to be able to do anything while cloaked. Culbert and Saru find more holo characters. One of them, a vulcan, explains that this holoprogram has been set up to help raise the Kelpient child, educate him, and prepare him for the day rescuers would finally arrive. Since he has never seen anybody outside of the program, the holodeck has changed their appearance to make them look like part of the program. Okay. That part makes sense. But why does Culbert fit into this program more as a Bajoran than as a human? Why does Saru fit in more as a human than as a Kelpien? They still look like themselves. This doesn’t make any sense to me.   Michael meets the creature behind the door. It looks very spectacular. Wonderful CGI. It chases her for a bit before she somehow falls upward and finds herself in another room with the KElpioen. In order to not freak him out, she pretends to be a program, one designed to teach him how to interact with outsiders. Meanwhile, Saru and Culberty find a holographic representation of a Kelpien elder. They learn the Kelpien child’s name is Sukal. That name symbolises the end of suffering and is given to a baby born after a hardship.   Saru is enjoying what the elder is able to share with him. The song. How it reminds him of home. But it doesn’t stop him doing his job. He’s learning what he can from the book. And he realises what it is that Sukal is afraid of. It’s a monster from Kelpien mythology. Apparently, nobody will be able to leave this program until Sukal is willing to face the monster. Again, not sure why.   The visuals of the fortress and the flying creatures continue to be absolutely top-notch.   At this point, Tilly is feeling a whole lot of anxiety. Facing down Osyraa in her heavily armed ship is not something she expected to have to deal with on her very first time in the big chair. Tilly’s lack of experience adds a whole new dimension of tension to these scenes. It’s v very effective. I find myself doubting Tilly’s ability to handle the situation, but desperately wanting her to rise up to the challenge and prove me wrong. So even though I wouldn’t have put the character in this number one position, I’m finding that this is effective story-telling here in this episode.   Tilly is not feeling as confidant as she’s trying to portray to Osyraa, and yet, if you compare this scene to the scene in season one, where she pretended to be Killy while Lorca stood at her side, she is so much more confidant now. She has come a long way.   Osyraa is trying hard to convince Tilly she hasn’t got what it takes.  And Tilly is putting up a brave fight in this battle of wits.   The away team are all back together again, and Sukal is face to face with the monster. And then something weird happens again. He pulses with a shockwave of energy. This energy disrupts Discovery’s cloaking device. But worse than that, it’s starting to destabilise the Dilithium in the ship’s core. That sounds familiar. Sukal’s shockwave almost caused another burn. So it seems that Sukal was the cause of the burn. How? Why? We don’t yet understand. Why can be do this weird shockwave thing? We don’t know. But it’s all about him. Interesting. With both ships unblocked, it’s time for a battle.   Tilly is making a hard call. She has to jump away to prevent Osyraa from getting the spire drive. She promises they’ll come back for the away team, but it’s not looking good for them. Book takes his ship to rescue them, but Adira also has a plan. She just needs Jett’s badge.   Saru manages to calm Sukal by singing a Kelpien song. As he calms, the monster scurries away. Nobody but Saru could have done this.   Tilly says she’ll self destruct the hip rather than let Osyraa get it. It’s a wonderful moment. But instead, when threatened, she tries to jump away. And that makes sense. Self destruct should be a last resort. IT makes sense that she’d try jumping first.   Culbert theorises that being in-utero amongst all this dilithium and subspace radiation  explains why the radiation doesn’t kill him.  Something must have happened to trigger him when the burn happened.  Perhaps the death of his mother?   Saru has to return to the ship to deal with Saru. He asks Michael to stay, to help prevent Sukal from causing another burn.   Michael argues it should be Saru, because of his connection to Sukal as a fellow Kelpien.   And now Michael gets back on her “Saru is compromised” horse. He says he would never let his emotions to factoir into his decisions. She says he already has. I’m not buying that. Sorry. Yes, he’s a little distracted, although I don’t think the episode has given him good reason to be. But he hasn’t yet made any mistakes because of it.   Look, if this is all part of the season’s on-going Saru learns to be a better captain arc, then I’m okayt with it. But it’s starting to feel like they’re setting up to push him out of the captain’s chair so Michael can take it. If that’s where they’re going, I’ll be very disappointed.   Culbert also wants to stay. He knows what it’s like to be alone in a world that doesn’t make sense.   They’ll only have an hour before the planet kills them. But Adira beams down with more radiation medication. That’ll buy them more time.   Osyraa takes over the ship by sheer force of numbers. Her people beam on board and secure both the bridge and more importantly, the spore lab.   Tilly doesn’t have a chance to destroy the ship.   Michael and book arrive just in time to see Discovery and Osyraa’s ship jump to Federation headquarters.   End of episode.   This is a thrilling cliffhanger. And I’m dying for next week’s episode.   I loved the stuff with Tilly in the captain’s chair. I’m still loving Janet Kidder as Osyraa. And the stuff with Sukal was very interesting. I’m so glad that Michael Burnham wasn’t the cause of the burn.   It looks like we’re gearing up for an epic ending to the series. Just two episodes left.   I say bring it on.   Overall, this season is doing a much better job than the last two seasons of paying off it’s mystery. And yet, there are still some threads that seem to have been dropped. Remember how the Vulcans were absolutely convinced that the SP-19 data proved the burn started at Ni’var? That’s been conveniently forgotten. It doesn’t add up for me. And what about that music? Will that come back and be any further explained? Because honestly, the little bit of explanation we had for that last time it was mentioned made very little sense. We’ve still got two episodes left, so the music, at least, might still get a bit more exploration, but I’m not counting on it. And even without these elements being handled satisfactorily, it’s still overall a strong season, in my opinion,but I’m pointing these things out because they do bug me somewhat.   Anyway, far be it for me to end on a negative. I think next week is going to be a thrilling episode as Osyraa strikes at the heart of Federation headquarters, and we will hopefully learn some more fascinating things about Sukal and The burn.   I think we’ll have a lot more to talk about regarding the season mystery this time next week.   Next week’s episode is called There is a Tide (formerly announced as “The Good of The People”) It’s another Jonathan Frakes episode, so that’s always cool.   I’m now officially on Christmas holidays and won’t have to return to work until mid January. I plan to use some of this time to work hard on Jewel of The Stars book 3, and get it published as soon as possible.   I hope you had a good Christmas and have enjoyed some time off, if possible. It’s been a long weird year, but it’s almost over.  Anyway, catch you next week. Live long and prosper. Make it so.  

Today we discuss the conclusion to "Terra Firma Part 2" in Star Trek Discovery Season 3. We see the culmination of Georgiou's character arc, which I felt was nicely done. This two-parter has definitely change the way I see Mirror Georgiou and I'm loving it. So let's dig in and see what we can find to talk about in this episode. ----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 47 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about Star Trek Discovery “Terra Firma Part 2”   And big news. It’s just been announced that Star Trek Lower Decks has an international distribution deal. It’ll be arriving on Amazon Prime in the U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand,  Japan, India, and more on the 22nd of January.   This has been a long time coming, but we’re finally going to be able to see it. Of course, at this point, I’ve pretty much had the entire first season spoiled for me, because, you know….I have access to the internet. Still, it’s good news.   So let’s talk about Terra Firma Part 2.   The description on memory alpha reads Georgiou uncovers the true depths of the plot against her, leading her to a revelation about how deeply her time on the USS Discovery truly changed her.   The teleplay for this episode was written by Kalinda Vazquez Based on a story by Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt & Alan McElroy It was directed by Chloe Domont​ And it first aired on the 17th of December 2020.   Make it so. We pick up where we left off, in the mirror universe, onboard the ISS Discovery. We won’t see our prime characters until this whole thing with Georgiou is over.   .Michael is dragged kicking and screaming into the brig. Begging to be killed. That’s the honourable way out for a failed traitor. The Terran empire have a lot in common with the Klingons when you think about it. And that’s nothing new.   Michael says “every moment you keep me alive proves further how weak you’ve become. We learn the reason Lorca moved against her, the reason he got to Michael is because Mirror Georgiou was already being considered weak. She was losing her harsh edge, even before she met prime Michael. It turns out half of her biography opera was a lie. One thing I forgot to mention last week was how the story portrayed Georgiou as a peasant who rose up the ranks to emperor. I wonder if this part was true or false. This is a fascinating insight into her backstory, and while it may be a little bit of a retcon, it helps to make sense of the arc the character has been on.   Now that she's back in the mirror universe, Georgiou is learning just how much she’s changed. And Micahel is noticing. Rescuing Kelpiens, fretting over artists.   Interestingly, Gorgeous is starting to see what mirror Spock ultimately saw, with a little help from prime Kirk. The Terran Empire is not sustainable. They can’t go on like they are forever. Its downfall is inevitable. She tries to explain this to Michael.   Georgiou is only holding on to her power, at present, because of the loyalty of those who still serve her, like Owo and Killy. But how long will she be able to hold on to their loyalty if she really pursues peace?   Michael mentions an alliance is forming against them. This is the coalition we saw in season 1. Vulcans, Klingons, Andorians, Tellarite. Michael mentions a bunch of other races including the Denobulans, which was cool.   I have to assume the coalition of this time will eventually morph into the alliance that we saw in the mirror universe during Deep Space Nine. At that time, the empire had fallen and the alliance ruled the galaxy with almost as strong a fist as their predecessors. The main powers behind the alliance were the Klingons and the Cardassians.   The first thing Killy asks when she has a minute alone with Georgiou is “Why is Michael Burnham still taking up oxygen on my ship?” Killy already has her doubts about the emperor. Could Michael be right? Is Georgiou weak? I’m sure Killy has seen it. She knows Georgiou has changed. The only question she needs to wrestle with now is “what do I do about it?” Which option will best serve Captain Killy? She remains loyal, and I don’t think it’s because of anything Georgiou says here about trying to reforge a broken michael into a loyal subject. It’s because Killy doesn’t currently have the resources she needs to lead a revolution of her own. Terrans don’t really care about loyalty. They look out for number one. And she still thinks it’s in her best interest to support Georgiou.   I also think she is genuinely enamoured with the idea of being given the job of breaking Micahel. That sounds like a fun challenge to her. One she will embrace. Apparently, there is no greater interrogator than Killy. And that scares the hell out of me.   And then we get mirror universe opening credits. Just like Enterprise did with In a Mirror Darkly. Though they’re not as changed as what Enterprise did. The inverted colours work for me. The upside-down imagery not so much. I don’t really get that.  Had it been me, I’d have changed the starfleet logos to Terran empire logos. That kind of thing. But that would have taken a lot more work than just turning everything upside down.   Michael is pretty confident they won’t break her. At least, that’s what she says. I imagine that Terrans have a higher tolerance for pain than we do. I understand it was a little bit like that in the middle ages. When pain is a normal part of life, it’s not pleasant, but it’s accepted more readily. At least, so I’m told.   Killy’s interrogation doesn’t last long. She asks Michael to pledge her loyalty. Then zaps her with the agoniser booth. And then says “we’ll try again tomorrow. You don’t mind sleeping in there do you?” And this is pretty horrifying. She’s left in the booth all night. And every now and then, when she’s least expecting it, it will fire up and put her into incredible pain.   The agnoiser technology itself is horrific. The human body eventually shuts down to protect itself from pain, but this technology is designed to circumvent that, so the victim continues to feel the agony. So Detmer comes to see Michael. They all know these two were working together. Detmer tries to convince her to give in, because she won’t be able to cope with uch more. Plus, nobody has heard from Lorca. Which means he has abandoned Michael. There is no sense remaining loyal to him. And all of this makes a lot of sense. Lorca knows his rebellion is beaten. He can’t do it without Michael. That’s why he went through so many hoops to bring prime michael into the mirror universe. This also means they don’t have to bring Jason Isaacs back again. Which is a shame.   It also makes sense that Michael gives into Georgiou at this point. IF she is being offered a chance to redeem herself she’d be stupid and stubborn not to take it.   Then there’s a rather sweet scene as Georgiou shares a memory of walking with Michael through her night terrors to see the fireflies. She leaves a jar of fireflies on Michael's bed. And we get the impression that Georgiou is finally getting through to Michael.   And I think she actually is.   It’s obvious that Georgiou loves Michael as a daughter, and always did. And so she presents herself. I’m ready to pledge my loyalty to you.   But there’s a question here we’re all asking. Is she genuine, or is this all just part of Michael’s plan?   Michael goes and kills all her co-conspirators. (at least, those who are nearby. Lorca and his offsider are gonna be harder to find. There’s a cool shootout with Landry.   When Michael and Detmer come in with the badges of all the dead conspirators, it becomes clear that the forgiveness Georgiou is showing Michael doesn’t extend to Detmer. The kitchen is no longer serving Kelpien. Another of Georgiou’s changes. She can no longer stomach the idea of eating sentient beings. She no longer sees them as animals. She’s gotten to know Saru.   I think Michael is being honest when she says she no longer loves Lorca, and is willing to kill him. He abandoned her.   The culmination of Georgiou’s transformation comes when she tells Saru the truth about vahari. Essentially she frees the Kelpien people by revealing this information to him and telling him to share it with others.   Goergiou’s transformation has been accelerated by coming back to the mirror universe. Had she not come here, it would have remained the slow and steady change we’ve seen over the last few years. Sometimes you have to be reminded to who you were, in order to appreciate and embrace who you are becoming. This is all very well done, and is the heart of this two-parter.   And Georgiou says this world is her home. She vows to remain here and re-shape it into what it needs to become. Much as Spock will later on.   So now they’re on the hunt for Lorca, and they’re going to find him through his off-sider, Duggen. They find him in orbit of Risa.   And this is really cool. LAst week, we saw the return of Hannah Cheesman, who played Arium in season 2. She was just in the background, wearing a Terran uniform, but it wasn’t made clear exactly what role she was playing. Was this just an easter egg, like how they got all the alien actors to play humans in Vic’s bar in the final episode of DS9?   Now, we get confirmation she is indeed playing Arium. Remember, Arium was human, but she was injured in an accident and made into a cyborg in order to survive.   It seems that the mirror arium had no such accident and remained human. This also confirms that her name was Arium even when she was still human.   I love this. Very nice touch.   So they beam Duggen aboard to question him about Lorca.   And this is when the surprising but inevitable betrayal happens. Nice little nod to Firefly for you. All through this episode, I’ve hoped that Georgiou was successful in rehabilitating mirror Michael - turning her into something new. But deep down, always knowing that at any time, she may turn on Georgiou. So we’re really not surprised when it happens. Gorgeous isn’t surprised either. She’s become a lot more soft-hearted but she’s not stupid. She knew this was a likely scenario when Michael pledged her loyalty. She hoped for the best but she prepared for the worst.   Michael knew, the minute Goergiou spared her life, that she could never respect her mother again.   I love it when Georgiou says “I have changed. I have seen another way to live. Another way to rule.”   The prime universe has really had an impact on her.   So the battle begins. And again, it’s a cool fight. Discovery has always done action well.   Michael had a lot of people loyal to her. Were Culbert, Nilsson and the others co-conspirators all along, that Michael chose not to kill, or has she recruited them since her false return to grace? I suspect the latter.   Sadly, Georgiou is left with no other choice but to kill her daughter. Again.   Georgiou wakes up back on Dannus 5 with Michael and Carl.   She’s been in the mirror universe for months. From Michael’s perspective she passed out for less than a minute, but her wrist monitor has recorded 3 months of bio-readings.   She wasn’t transported bodily. She shared the body of an alternate Georgiou.  Carl has essentially spun off a new timeline off the mirror universe we know. A timeline that Georgiou has affected greatly. One where the Kelpiens may gain their freedom from the terran empire. Where some good has been done, at least.   Michael and Georgiou keep asking Carl, who are you really. The same question we’ve been asking. And finally, he answers. I am the Guardian of Forever. And they use the original voice recording from the original series. I thought the guardian was voiced by James doohna. I know he did a lot of alien voices, but no, the guardian was played by Bart LaRue. Apparently Doohan voiced the Guardian in the animated series, though. But I haven’t seen that episode. I really need to finish watching the animated series. It’s not great, but it’s still Star Trek.   Sadly, I didn’t feel anything much from this reveal, because it was spoiled for me. I woke up Friday morning, and within minutes, I saw this big reveal spoiled on Instagram. I was quite unhappy.   Spoilers are an interesting thing. I think there’s some responsibility on both sides. I’ve seen people on social media who’ve said things like “I plan to see this movie months after it releases, and heaven help anyone who spoils it for me.” That seems unreasonable. If you’re gonna wait that long, you have to take a little responsibility for protecting yourself, and understand that spoilers likely will happen during that time. But for a spoiler like this to be posted before the episode has even gone live on most of the planet, well, I think that’s a bit unfair. But, those who posted it have apologised and are going to hold to a 24 hour grace period, which I think is a really good idea.   Lower Decks is an interesting case. I’ve had much of that spoiled for me, because I move in the Star Trek circles online. I mean, that’s how I market this podcast. I don’t blame those who have posted spoilers. You can’t expect them to wait 6 months to talk about anything. I can’t even fully blame CBS. COVID kinda messed up their plans for releasing Star Trek.   Anyway, the door breaks apart and re-forms into the familiar stone portal from City on the Edge of Forever. I’m kinda surprised they went there. There was always a lot of controversy and disagreement around the use of the Guardian of Forever in Star Trek while Harlan Ellison was alive. I guess some agreement was met between CBS and his estate.   But this reveal is kinda like the reveal of Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness. It’s played as this big dramatic reveal, but it means nothing to Michael and Gaorgiou. It’s all just for the audience. Personally, I would have dispensed with the artificial suspense and just revealed the guardian properly in part 1. There’s no real reason for it to disguise as a door. A slight reason, perhaps, given it’s in hiding, but then why reveal itself now?   So we get some backstory of what’s happened with the guardian since TOS. When the temporal wars began, everyone kept trying to use the guardian as a weapon to kill each other. It wasn’t pretty. I can well understand the guardian not wanting to be used like that. So, it hid. It removed itself from its original location and hid here on Dannus 5. That makes sense. I kinda like how they tied the guardian into the temporal wars.   But what do I really think of this reveal? Well, it’s cool to see the guardian of forever again. No questions. It was one of my favourite things introduced in TOS. In fact, City on the Edge of Forever is my favourite TOS episode. But is this a good use of it?   I like the character of Carl. He’s cool. He has a fun personality. But, that’s not a personality I associate with the guardian of forever. The appeal of the guardian was it’s mysterious nature. Part mechanism, part being. Both and Neither. That big booming voice. And part of it’s appeal was also it’s setting. That mysterious ancient alien city left in ruins. Where did it come from? How and why was it created?   As much as I like Carl, I feel that he humanises the Guardian of Forever too much. I don’t want it to be humanised. I want it to remain mysterious and alien. That doesn’t mean I don’t want answers to some of the questions about it, but …. I don’t want it to be turned into a pleasant gentleman from the  1930s.   So ultimately, I think this was a mistake. I think they should have either: Made it obviously the guardian from the beginning and do away with Carl altogether. Or Forget the guardian, and just have Carl be a Q (which I still think really fits his personality) or have him be something new. Some new alien with Godlike powers.    I’ve always wanted to see the Guardian of Forever again, but just not like this.   But all of that aside, let’s look at what is explained next, because I do really like it. Georgiou is still dying. She wasn’t sent back to be cured. She was sent back to be weighed. To be tested. To see if she was worthy of the Guardian’s help. Would she make different choices? Has her time in the prime universe changed her? She doesn’t belong here, but sending her somewhere else could cause a lot of problems. The guardian doesn’t want to inflict another time or place with the dangerous Emperor Georgiou. But is she still dangerous?   What’s interesting is that Georgiou assumes she’s failed the test. She killed her daughter. Again. Carl is more interested in her heart than the outcome. And I like that.   Georgiou doesn’t want to go back to the mirror universe. Why would she? But that’s not carl’s plan. He’s going to send her to a time when the prime and mirror universes were still aligned, where her cells won’t fall apart. He doesn’t say exactly where or when. And we’ll talk about that shortly because I have some thoughts.   Carl believes Michael is just where she needs to be, so she can’t go with Georgiou. It’s nice that Geirgiou wants her, though.   So we have a very touching farewell between these two characters. It was wonderful.   We get a brief mention of Husan, the name mentioned in Georgiou’s episodes. She still doesn’t explain who he is, or what he meant to her. Michael tells her to tell the people she’s about to meet. So I guess this backstory will be revealed in the section 31 show. okay.   Georgiou has one final word of wisdom for Michael. This century is more Terran than the 23rd. Saru has navigated the change admirably but he’s not the only one suited for the captain’s chair. I’m not sure exactly what they’re trying to imply, but I thought we were done with the whole, will Michael take the captain’s chair thing. The way I see it, the only way for Michael to become captain of Discovery in any way that I'll accept is to get Saru out of the picture. Either kill or promote him. And frankly, I don’t want that, because Saru is one of my favourite characters.   And then she steps thorough, and is gone.   It’s funny. I really liked the prime Georgiou character, but never quite warmed to mirror Georgiou in the same way. But now, well, I’m really going to miss her.   So …. Where has she ended up?   For a long time, fans have been saying that Georgiou has to return to the 23rd century so she can star in the section 31 show. Now while I’ve never dismissed that possibility, my response has always been “Why are you assuming the section 31 show will be set in the 23rd century. We’ve never been told anything that would suggest that.” But people have been treated that as gospel.   I always thought there was at least an equal chance that the section 31 show would be set here in the 32nd century. Georgiou would leave Discovery to work with section 31 as she had in the past.   Well, we know that’s not the cast anymore.   The most obvious answer to the question is that she has returned to the 23rd century, as so many fans always assumed. And that’s a very likely scenario. But is it the only possibility?   Carl said he was sending her to a time when the prime and mirror universes were aligned. We know they were closely aligned in the 22nd, 23rd and 24th centuries, and on into the 27th, that was the time of the last incursion.   So Goergiou could be going anywhere within that window.   Here’s a wild theory for you. What if she’s going to the 24th, or early 25th century? That’s the time where we first learned about section 31, in Deep Space Nine. That’s where section 31 was used most effectively in story-telling.   This newly changed mirror Georgiou would fit in well with 24th-century section 31, and might even make them a little more moral than they are.   What if the setting of the Section 31 show is just after DS9, or more likely, around the time of Star Trek Picard? I can see that making a lot of sense, and I’d definitely be up for that.   Here’s an even wilder theory. She has been sent back to the time of Enterprise, and she ends up being the founder of Section 31.   I really like what they’ve done with Georgiou’s character. I used to complain that she was not evil enough, given who she was. But now, I have a different perspective. I see now that her time in the prime timeline has gradually changed her. Made her better., And I love that. And I really like the person she has ended up being. I think the arc could have been done a little smoother. I think they were kinda making it up as they went, rather than planning it from day 1, which is a shame. These things always work better for me when they’re been planned in advance.   So .. I’m not totally ready for a Michelle Yeoh lead spin-off. My only concern about the show is how they’re going to treat section 31. I felt that Discovery season 2 kinda ruined section 31. They didn’t handle it well. Have they learned from this? Will the section 31 we see in the new show be more like the section 31 we saw in Deep Space Nine? I can only hope. But I’m very eager to learn more about the show now. I’m especially keen to learn what the setting will be.   I’ll probably be disappointed if I learn it’s back in the 23red century. Strange New Worlds has that era covered. And honestly, I’m not pinning to have Tyler back. I didn’t like this character in season 2, so I don’t think he needs to be part of the new show.   Time will tell.   We finally return to Discovery, to see what our other characters are up to. Adira and Stamets are still trying to hack into the Kelpien ship’s sensors. But they’re having trouble. Book turns up with a device that will help. It’s emerald chain technology. So they finally check in with Vance, who is very concerned about using Chain technology on a Starfleet ship. It could be dangerous and Starfleet can’t afford to risk having their only ship with a spore drive compromised. Book is absolutely convinced it is safe. But I’m still concerned. They’re obviously setting something up here. I think it’ll become problematic in the next couple of episodes.   So this whole thing of Saru delaying his report on the Kelpien ship. I’m not fully following that.   Saru hasn’t seen another Kelpien in a long time, and this is a Kelpien ship. But ….. So what? It’s not like the Kelpiens are extinct. They’re a Federation member. Kaminar is still out there. I don’t quite understand Saru’s reason for not reporting the information to Vance as soon as he knew it. Did he think Vance would not want them to rescue it? I just don’t get it. I don’t know what the writers are getting at here.   Then we get another touching scene. It’s not quite a funeral, it’s just a little get -together to remember their friend who they’ll never see again. It was a lovely scene.   And this ends the story of Phillipa Gaorgiou, closing a story that began with the first episode of season 1.   In a way, this two-parter has seemed a bit like a distraction from the greater season plot, but I’m totally cool with it. The character arcs are just as important to this season as the burn story is.   And I, for one, have really enjoyed Terra Firma Parts 1 and 2. We’re getting close to the end now. Just 3 episodes to go. Next week we’ll be talking about episode 11 “The Citadel.” I’m excited to see what happens as the season’s plot arc goes into top gear. It should be cool.   And I’ll be watching that episode on Christmas day. But I’ll be on holiday by then.I plan to get my podcast out Monday morning, Australian time, as always.   I’ve revamped the books page on my website, so if you’re interested in trying out some of my fiction, you can see it all nicely laid out at AdamDavidCollings.com/books I’d encourage you to check it out.   Until I see you next, have a great week, Merry Christmas, live long and prosper.

 It's a Wonderful Mirror Universe as Georgiou looks to rehabilitate her wayward Burnham. Back in reality, an unanticipated assist gets Adira and Stamets into the crashed Kelpien ship's systems. Matt and Pete spin off an emperor with episode 310, “Terra Firma, Part II.”Thanks as always to everyone who supports the podcast by visiting Patreon.com/PhantasticGeek.Share your feedback for Star Trek by emailing PhantasticGeek@gmail.com, commenting at PhantasticGeek.com, or tweeting @PhantasticGeek.MP3Apple Podcasts

It’s a Wonderful Mirror Universe as Georgiou looks to rehabilitate her wayward Burnham. Back in reality, an unanticipated assist gets Adira and Stamets into the crashed Kelpien ship’s systems. Matt and Pete spin off an emperor with episode 310, “Terra Firma, Part II.”Thanks as always to everyone who supports the podcast by visiting Patreon.com/PhantasticGeek.Share your feedback for Star Trek by emailing PhantasticGeek@gmail.com, commenting at PhantasticGeek.com, or tweeting @PhantasticGeek.MP3Apple Podcasts

In the newest episode of Star Trek Discovery, the crew finally locate Starfleet headquarters, in what is a fanboy extravaganza. We see Voyager J and the USS Nog. I love the back and forth between Admiral Vance and Saru and Burnham. Can they convince him to trust them, and is coming back to Starfleet, after so many centuries all they hoped it would be? Another great episode 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 42 of the podcast. Yes. 42. A very significant nerd number. Let’s just take a moment to appreciate life, the universe, and everything.   Ok. on with it. Today, we’re talking about Star Trek Discovery season 3 episode 5. Die Trying.   The description on Memory Alpha reads After reuniting with what remains of Starfleet and the Federation, the USS Discovery and its crew must prove that a 930 year old crew and starship are exactly what this new future needs.   The teleplay was written by Sean Cochran based on a story by James Duff & Sean Cochrane. It was directed by Maja Vrvilo And it first aired on the 12th of November 2020.   Make it so.   The episode opens with Saru giving a captain’s log. And that’s awesome. I believe it’s the first time we’ve heard him utter those iconic words. The interesting thing is, it’s a supplemental log. Last week started the same way, with Doctor Culbert giving a supplemental log. A supplemental log is just that … it’s a supplement. The original series used supplemental logs as a little catch-up for those viewers coming in part-way through the broadcast who might have missed the beginning of the episode. In-universe, it’s like an addition to the day’s log. Now it’s conceivable that we would open a story with them supplementing their log, but the things they say just don’t feel very supplemental. They feel like the main content of a log. The first two seasons of this show often used supplemental logs to good effect, because it meant they didn’t have to quote a stardate, and they had no good system for stardates in the pre-TOS era. But we’re now in the 32nd century, and we have a good Stardate system. In fact, a stardate is mentioned later in the episode. So why are doing all these supplemental logs at the start of episodes? Feel a little weird.   But anyway, Saru is giving a captain’s log. And I love that.   Discovery is about to arrive at the coordinates where they’ll find the headquarters for both Starfleet and The Federation. And it’s nice to see that the writers are finally understanding the distinction and relationship between those two entities.   There’s a hint of misgiving in Saru’s voice. They don’t know what the Federation or Starfleet look like in this century. Will they be eager to see a 930 year old ship? Will the Discovery crew have a hope of fitting in with this version of Starfleet? Will the common ideals remain enough to bind them together? As they were in the fantastic crossover novel Star Trek Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens. Great book. Check it out if you haven’t read it.   Michael doesn’t just want to know what’s become of Starfleet in this universe. She wants to find out what happened to her mother. Maybe there will be some answers here.   So, headquarters is contained in a distortion field meant to hide it. I’m not sure it’s very effective. It’s this big glow blob thing that must raise a few eyebrows, both visually, and on sensors. But anyway,   Discovery flies in.  Have you noticed that the shuttle bay doors always seem to be open these days. I know they have a forcefield to hold in the atmosphere, but that’s just meant to be up while the doors are open for ships to come in and out. It’s kind of weird that they just fly around with it open all the time. Very odd. I mean, it looks cool on screen, but it’s not very practical.   This opening sequence is just a massive Star Trek geek-out. We get to see a bunch of 32nd century Starfleet ships, but we don’t get a really good look at them. The lighting in this shot seems designed to obscure them, more than show them off, which I think is a terrible shame. I want to get a sense of these ships. One of them seems to have really long nacelles, like Discovery. Another seems to be shaped like a donut.   The looks on everyone’s faces is priceless, and kind of matches how we’d all feel if we were suddenly in the heart of Starfleet territory, surrounded by ships.   The crew notice ships with neutronium alloy fibres, organic hulls, ships that are entirely holographic, a new USS Constitution that can sleep a crew of two thousand, detached nacelles, and a flying rainforest.   And then we see the USS Voyager. NCC 74658-J Which is really cool. Not all Starfleet ships that re-use the name of a previous vessel get the letters in the registry. Often, they just get a brand new number. It’s only special ships that retain that registry number and add a letter on the end. Enter Enterprise was one example. It seems Voyager is another. And that makes sense. Voyager’s journey home from the Delta Quadrant would be the stuff of legend in this day and age. We don’t get a great look at the new Voyager, but its primary hull seems to follow a similar shape to the original. It’s the eleventh ship to bear the name. Memory Alpha has said that Voyager J is a 32nd century intrepid class vessel. But that doesn’t make sense. The intrepids were a class of ships used in the 24th century. Starfleet doesn’t re-use the class name like that. If it were intrepid class, it should look exactly like the original voyager. Anyway, this isn’t on-screen canon.   And then the big moment, we fly past the USS Nog. NCC-325070 This is a blink and you’ll miss it moment, and honestly, you’ll probably miss it even if you don’t blink. You can barely read the name with all the lense flare going on. This particular moment was spoiled for me by the internet, because I don’t get Discovery until Friday night, here in Australia. So I spent the whole episode waiting for the USS Nog to show up. I expected it to be a significant part of the story. It wasn’t. It was just a quick visual easter egg. But, it’s an awesome one. I love that they did this. Alex Kurtzman has confirmed this ship is named after the character Nog on Deep Space Nine, who was the first Ferengi to join Starfleet. And he’s said this is an Eisenberg class ship. This, of course, honours the late Aron Eisenberg who played Nog, and who tragically died just over a year ago. In my opinion, Nog was one of the greatest characters in all of Star Trek. He had the greatest character arc the show has ever done, and by all accounts, Mr. Eisenberg was a wonderful human being. So I’m thrilled that Discovery honoured him in this way.   After Discovery hails headquarters, letting them know the USS Discovery is reporting for duty, they ask for the Captain, First office and Tal to beam aboard. Their sensors can detect the presence of the symbiont.   As they are snatched away by a transporter beam, the musical score goes full-on fanboy, which honestly was appropriate for this moment.   We get a decent look at the new Starfleet uniforms. They’re similar, but not quite identical to what we saw in Tal’s memories last episode.   They look like a decent continuation of the style we’ve seen on the USS Relativity, and from the temporal agents in the temporal cold war.   There’s a bunch of different uniforms. The admiral uniform is different, obviously, as it always is. Then there are light grayish blue uniforms with a stripe going up them in traditional TNG-era department colours. But there is another uniform, light dray on the bottom with dark blue shoulders, in a shape I’m not sure how to describe in words. This is worn by the chief of security and at least one other officer. This particular uniform looks the least Starfleet and seems to be out of place among the others.   Oh, and the com badges are not identical to the one worn by Admiral Sena Tal. I actually prefer Tal’s com badge, because the Starfleet delta is a bit more visible. But anyway.   And we meet Admiral Vence, commander-in-chief of Starfleet.   Saru is delighted to learn that Kaminar joined the federation.   We learn about The Omega Chain, a coalition of Andorian and Orions. And we learn of someone called Osyraa, who is becoming more brazen every day. I imagine we’ll learn more of him and his organisation in future episodes. The omega chain gets name-dropped again later.   The admiral knew Sela Tal, but makes it clear that he and Adira are strangers to one another. And then Adira is taken off for a medical diagnostic. And that’s the last we see of her in this episode. I wonder what all of that is about. Maybe they just want to make sure that the symbiant and the human host are healthy with one another. But the Trill themselves would have been better equipped to determine that.  I’m really curious what that’s all about.   I noticed, on my first watch, there was a little visual easter egg, a mention of the Kazon on a computer monitor. I imagine that before the burn, the Federation’s influence extended into the Delta Quadrant. Maybe even the Gamma Quadrant as well. Distances that were insurmountable for Voyager were probably considered “just next door” before the burn.   This season, and this episode in particular, are making me feel the same way that I first felt when I started watching TNG. This is Star Trek, but it’s a whole new Star Trek. It’s a great feeling. I enjoyed the first two seasons of this show, but I’m loving this season way more than I was expecting to.   But then we learn about the Kili. Some refugees of a cool-looking new alien race are sick with some kind of disease which is plaguing their world. Burnham is immediately keen to help with that problem, but Vance wants to hear their story first.   And I’m pleased to see they are finally telling someone the truth about their situation. The whole truth. Control, the sphere data, the spore drive. The red angel. All of it. And I’m glad about that. The whole hiding who they were thing was starting to get a bit old, and well...strange.   The rather annoying EMH notes that Saru may be the last Kelpien who still retains biochemical traces of Vahar’ai. Which is odd, because Vahar’ai is basically a stage of development, like puberty. So we are to say that the offspring of Kelpiens who have gone through Vahar’ai and shed their ganglia, are born without ganglia of their own, they are are born as “evolved Kelpiens” as the second season episode rather incorrectly called them. That’s weird. Remember, long ago, there were “evolved Kelpiens,” but the Ba’ul forced them back into their pre-vahar’ai state. None of this has been explained very well.   There are currently 38 member worlds of the Federation that Vance is aware of. There may be other worlds out there that still consider themselves members, but have lost all contact. There were 350 member worlds at the Federation’s peak. I wonder when exactly that peak happened.   And I do still love the floating tables and chairs. They’re cool.   The EMH, Eli has confirmed that Saru and Michael are not lying. But Starfleet records hold no references to Control, a red angel or a spire drive. Thanks, Spock.   So he’s understandably skeptical. He can’t corroborate their story. And the Federation spent most of the 30th century fighting a war to uphold the temporal accords. We, of course, know this as the temporal cold war. Time travel is outlawed. Which means, the Discovery crew’s presence here is by definition, a crime.   This all makes perfect sense. Given their past, the present-day Starfleet would be very uncomfortable with time-travellers, even if they claim to have come from a time far predating the temporal war.   Are the discovery crew here as an attempt by somebody to change the future? He can’t rule that out. And he shouldn’t.   He can’t afford to trust them without evidence.   You’ll notice that Starfleet, and Vance in particular, is the antagonist of this episode, because he opposes Saru and Michael’s goal. He stands in the way as an obstacle to what they want.   Note, that doesn’t make him a villain. This isn’t evil Starfleet. I think a lot of fans have had enough of evil Starfleet lately. No. This is Starfleet being cautious, as they should.   Vane plans to requisition Discovery for analysis and retrofit, and split up the crew. This immediately gets our heckles up. That sounds terrible. The crew of Discovery are a family. (and yes in this season, they have earned that descriptor). The reason they all left their lives behind to come into the future was so that Michael wouldn’t have to be alone here. If they are split up now, it defeats that whole purpose. They might as well have remained in the 23rd century and let Michael fly Discovery on auto-pilot as she originally planned.   This is really upsetting to all of them, and not something any of them are going to want to take sitting down. And I’m totally on their side in this.   However. What Vance is saying makes sense from his point of view. If the Discovery crew are here for some nefarious reason, it decreases the probability of them being able to carry out whatever it is they intend by breaking them up, separating them randomly. It seems harsh, but I understand why he’s doing it.   Vance asks Saru to put the needs to Starfleet ahead of the needs of his crew. That’s hard.   There’s a fantastic scene between Saru and Michael, back in Discovery’s ready room. Michael is all worked up about this, and understandably. She makes some good practical points why Vance is wrong. Why the crew should be kept together. They know this ship. They know the spore drive, and if this family is broken up now, some may never recover. All true.   But Saru rightly points out that it’s Vance’s call. He’s the admiral. He’s the commander in chief. They chose to rejoin Starfleet. They could have just stayed out there as a rogue element, like so many others in the galaxy. They chose to come back and submit themselves to Starfleet’s chain of command.   The balanced, two-sided conflict here is delicious.   Michael is all set to steal information about the Kili, so they can help cure the disease and prove their worth. Saru has to remind her that Starfleet officers don’t operate that way. A lesson he thought she’s learned by now, after her ill-fated mutiny on the Shenzhou. And I think she had, but she’s been living as a free spirit in this century for a year. She admitted she’d let go of a lot of things. She needs to be reigned in by Saru, and she knows it. Her humble realisation of that is nicely portrayed.   While the crew are interrogated, with various levels of cooperation, Saru and Burnham attempt to request the roster of planets the Kili visited through official channels.   They’re starting to get through to Lieutenant Willa.   Burnham’s unique knowledge of the past helps her to solve the mystery of the Kili Illness. The only way to cure it is to get a hold of some pre-mutated plants from Urna. The only place to find this is a Federation seed vault ship, which still exists today.  The USS Tikhov. It holds samples of every plant in the galaxy. It’s like a vast seed library.   The problem is, the Tikhov is four months away. The spore drive is the obvious solution. But the only crew-member Vance needs is Stammets.   He’s gonna put a new crew of trusted officers on Discovery. Burnham makes some valid points in argument, but as usual, her tone is insubordinate. It takes Saru to find the diplomatic middle-road. He’ll remain on the station, kind of like collateral. Burnham will command the Discovery, but Willa and two security officers will accompany them. You see, Vance is not completely unreasonable. But he does need to be convinced.   So they jump to the Tikhov’s coordinates, but the ship is stuck in an ion storm. They have to reach in and tractor them out. And this is where we get another great Detmer scene. As things get tense, she starts to blank out. She’s going all distant again. Because once again, the pressure is all riding on her shoulders. But Owo notices she's freezing and gives her some reassuring words. “You have time. You can do this.” And it’s enough to pull Detmer back, now that she’s being honest. I really liked this. I can see a real friendship growing between those two characters. Kind of like a Geordi / Data thing, or a Tom and Harry thing.   The most interesting part of the interrogations is definitely the Georgiou stuff. The bit where she shuts down holograms by blinking at them is kinda weird. The guy who questions her is kind of interesting. He wears glasses because he thinks they make him look smarter. (Remember even in the 23rd century glasses were mostly a thing of the past, unless you’re allergic to Retinax V like Kirk) He reminds me a little of Bill Nighy.   He’s fascinated by Georgiou and the Terrans in particular. They build an empire based on the maxim, because we feel like it. So why did she join a Starfleet crew? He figures out she has a personal stake. She cares, personally, for Michael. He also figures out that the only way he’ll glean information from her is by the questions she asks him. Nice. She wants to know who is really calling the shots in the galaxy today. Who caused the burn? Are they the same? You can see that she’s already planning her next move. Is she wanting to take over the whole thing for herself? Maybe set herself up as an emperor again? It’s in her nature. But she learns that the terran empire fell centuries ago, which we know from Deep Space Nine. It’s all thanks for mirror Spock’s preaching of peace, as motivated by Kirk. but as Kirk pointed out, the empire could not stand forever. It would fall eventually. This really seems to have rattled her. WE also learn that the distance between our universe and the mirror universe started expanding after she crossed over. I wonder what caused that. Kirk’s encounter there? Something else? There hasn’t been a crossing in over 500 years. That puts the last crossing at no later than the 27th century. He said over 500, so I wonder exactly how much earlier it was. And I wonder what the mirror universe looks like now, in 3189. Different Federation worlds take turns looking after the seed vault. At present, it’s a Barzan family. Nahn is excited to learn that her people joined the federation in the 25th century.   The Tikhov is overgrown with plants, which is a little weird. It’ll be explained later, of course. They find a holo recording of the Barzan family. Someone is humming a tune. The same lullaby that Adira was playing on the cello. This appears to be quite the mystery, and we’ll come back to it at the end of the episode. Don’t let me forget.   While looking through the logs, Nhan learns that something terrible happened here. A light hurt the wife and kids. The husband hoped a cure could be found in the vault. He’s been growing the plants from the seed vault, searching for answers.   Culbert finds the wife and kids dead in stasis. The husband, Attis is in a weird state. He appears and disappears. He’s out of phase.   Nahn says that Barzans don’t have the same concept of death as humans. But she doesn’t really explain what that means. Attis clearly believes he can find a way to bring his dead family back to life. I wish they’d explored this concept a little more. Because at face value it doesn’t make sense. What exactly do Barzan’s believe about death?   They can’t get into the seed vault without Attis’s password. So they have to find a way to reason with him.   Stamets, Reno and Tilly figure out that the ship was hit by a coronal mass ejection. Attis was beaming at the time, which is why he survived, but also why he’s out of phase, kinda mid-transport.   But they cure him of this with the transporter.   And Michael manages to get through to him. He gets her the seeds she needs to save the Kili.   But Attis won’t leave the Tikhov. He won’t leave his family. I don’t understand. Can’t they beam his family on board with him, while he gets medical treatment. Is this just a suicidal thing because he can’t bear to live without his family?   Michael wants to force him to come, because if he stays, the seeds will be lost? A valuable part of Federation history. I guess, she assumes if he stays, he’ll keep taking the seeds and growing them, depleting the supplies from the vault. So Nahn decides to stay behind and watch the seeds, fulfilling the Barzan watch. She’s suddenly feeling very connected to her people.   Somehow, Nahn again connects this, emotionally, to Arium’s death. I still don’t quite understand the connection. I was shocked that Nahn was leaving the ship here, because they’ve only just promoted her character to the opening credits of the show. So, I’m convinced we haven’t seen the last of her. Anyway, it was nice to see her so happy. So it seems that Michael has proven herself and the Discovery crew to Vance. He is willing to put them back on the active duty roster. But Starfleet doesn’t have 5-year missions anymore. Exploration is a luxury they can no longer afford.   Saru argues, via a historical anecdote, that their unique position, from a revered time, might help the Federation to look up, to regain some parts of itself that it has lost. Vance agrees that Starfleet has been in triage for a long time. He’s willing to let the crew stay together, but they’ll go where he says, when he says. There’s still a way to go to making the Federation what it once was. As for exploration, well, everything in this century is a new frontier for the discovery crew, so in that sense, they are exploring.   It’s nice to see them all come to an agreement.   Burnham really wants to know more about the burn. There are a lot of theories about what caused it. They’ve never found sufficient evidence to support one over the other. He feels there are no further conclusions to draw unless someone can find additional evidence, but there are more important concerns right now.   I like how Burnham takes this as a personal challenge to find new evidence, but at the same time, acknowledges that right now, it’s not the highest priority. She’ll keep her eyes open, but she’ll follow orders.   This feels like a big turning point in the season. They’re now accepted into Starfleet. No longer are they doing their own thing. They’ll be receiving missions. It’s a nice little status -quo shift.   Now, back to that music. Lieutenant Willa says half the people here know some version of that music, including he. Barzans, a Trill living on Earth. They all know this mysterious piece of music, but don’t know why, and yet, they’re separated by vast distances due to the shortage of dilithium. Willa can’t explain it, but isn’t going to lose any sleep over it. But it’s got Michael intrigued. And it’s got me intrigued too. I really hope they can pull off a satisfying conclusion to the mysteries they’re raising this season. The resolution of the red angel thing last season was not all I had hoped for. But I’m feeling optimistic.   Gorgeous is acting really weird. She doesn’t even notice Michael for a moment. I think she’s in grief that the Terran empire fell, and that she’s so far from her home, probably never to see it again. But I also think she’s plotting. And that worries me quite a bit. But at the same time, I’m pleased that they’re being honest with her character. As she said, she’s wicked, even for a Terran. In season 2, I think the writers forgot that.   Saru needs to remind Michael to choose her words more carefully with the Admiral in future. If he’d been a less reasonable man, things might not have ended up so well. I’m excited to see where this new status quo is going to take us. What mission will Vance send the Discovery on next week? It’ll be exciting to find out. Most Star Trek shows find themselves in their third season. It was true of TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise. It seems to be true of Discovery as well. They’ve found a good balance that I think will appeal to a wide variety of Star Trek fans. The tone feels way more Star Trek than previous seasons, but there’s still enough character focus to satisfy me. And while I enjoyed the darker tone in season 1, I don’t think they’ve over-compensates. They found a tone that I’m still good with. After all, I already liked Star Trek before it got dark with DS9, Discovery, and Picard.   Personally, I think there’s room for lots of different types of Star Trek, but what they’ve hit this season is the type that will have the broadest appeal, I think. I’m hoping it wins back some fans who had previously been anti-discovery.   Next week’s episode is called Scavengers. That’s all we know about it so far.   Last year, I wrote a Christmas sci-fi short story, set in my Jewel of the Stars universe. I put it up on Wattpad, where you can still read it for free, but I’ve just published it on all the major eBook retailers, where you can find it for 99 cents. So whichever way you prefer to read it, I’d encourage you to check it out. It’s a nice little story to get you in the festive mood. Because Christmas does seem to be coming a bit early this year. After a very strange year, I don’t blame people for wanting to hold onto something happy and fun.   Anyway, my story is called The Christmas Star Disaster. You can find it at Books2read.com/christmasstar and that’s the number 2.   See you next week. Live long and prosper. Make it so.  

Star Trek Discovery Season 3 is off to a pretty strong start. I enjoyed "Far From Home" and think it may even be better than last week's installment. This time around, we catch up with the crew of the USS Discovery, and see how they are all coping in this new time period. Saru and Tilly make first contact with some friendly Coridonites and an oppressive courier. Jet tries to teach Stammets what an idiot he's being, and Georgiou finds her self right at him in this more dystopian future. But running through it all is the classic Star Trek idealism and optimism.   Find my books at Jewel of The Stars Book 1 http://books2read.com/jewel2 ----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 39 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the second episode of Star Trek Discovery season 3. Far From Home.   I really liked this episode, and may have enjoyed it more than last week’s.   The description on memory alpha reads   After the USS Discovery crash-lands on a strange planet, the crew finds themselves racing against time to repair their ship. Meanwhile, Saru and Tilly embark on a perilous first-contact mission in hopes of finding Burnham.   It was Written by Michelle Paradise, Jenny Lumet, and Alex Kurtzman It was directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi And it first aired on the 22nd of October 2020.   Make it so.   So last week, we saw what happened to Michael Burnham when she emerged from the wormhole in the 32nd century. Throughout the episode, she was searching for Discovery, but never found it.   In this episode, we follow the crew of discovery as they emerge from the wormhole. The journey has been pretty hard on them. They’re all unconscious. Saru is the first to wake, as the ship emerges from the wormhole and plunges toward a planet. So is this Teralysium?   There are a whole lot of asteroids in orbit of this world. Discovery crashes through one, which is probably very unrealistic but looks cool.   We get a very cool shot of the ship crashing onto the planet. We’ve had a couple of great crash sequences in Star Trek history. The Enterprise D on Veridian, Voyager on an icy world in the episode Timeless, and this. I think the enterprise D is still my favourite, but still is still an epic and visually stunning sequence.   So the ship is now crashed on the surface of a planet, covered in ice. It doesn’t look like she’s going anywhere in a hurry.   Most starships in the Star Trek universe were not designed to land and take off from a planetary surface. Voyager was rather unique in that it was equipped with landing struts. Even if Discovery is capable of landing, this was hardly a deliberate touchdown.   Anyway, they’re all very lucky to be alive, and it doesn’t take long for them all to realise and appreciate it. It’s all thanks to Lieutenant Detmer’s skills, but she’s not celebrating. She’s definitely not herself. She’s got a nasty head wound.    Jet points that out Teralysium wasn’t very icy, but, of course, planets tend to be very diverse. Look at all the different climates on earth.   Saru gives a nice little speech. They’re all very interested to know what’s out there. Where and when are they? There’s a whole universe out there to explore, and they’re Starfleet officers. Their curiosity must be running at very high levels. But right now, the priority is to repair the ship. They are needed in here. They can figure out what’s out there later.   Saru has come such a long way. He demonstrates multiple times throughout this episode what a great captain he has grown into. And yes, as the ship’s first officer, he is next in line, so as far as I’m concerned, he’s the captain, until that time, if and when, the show tells me otherwise.   We get a great sense of organised chaos as the crew scramble to work on the ship. The sparks and the extras running about the set give a great sense of activity.   Tilly has determined that there are certain areas on this planet that have higher amounts of oxygen than the rest of the world. These appear to be manufactured settlements. We’ll see one of them later. Saru takes from this that they are not on Teralysium, and that there is life out there. There is life in the universe. This moment is underplayed compared with Burnham’s scream of relief in the last episode, but it was important for the crew of Discovery to have a similar moment. They’ve been successful in their mission to save all sentient life. And while they don’t have much time for celebrating. It needs to be acknowledged and appreciated. It’s a nice moment.   And then Georgiou turns up. I found Tilly’s line “You have some Leeland on your boot” to be darkly amusing, but I really didn’t need to see it. But wait, because there’s more to come.   Stamets is still in sickbay. I like the original series bio bed sound. There’s a very interesting effect they do. The room is empty, and silent, apart from the alarm. When Culbert brings him out of the coma, suddenly, the room is full of people and noise. It was very clever. I don’t always like film-making tricks like that, but this one really worked for me.   It’s quite believable that there would be injured even worse than Stamets, and they’ll need his bed. Culberty wants to put him in a celular regeneration chamber (though probably not the one invented by Professor Guiger in Deep Space Nine) but Stamets wants to get back to work and help with repairs.   My wife is a nurse and she was watching this with me. She said “Why do people on TV, who are badly injured, always want to get back to work, when they can barely stand? It just doesn’t happen that way.” And I can well imagine. Certainly if I was in Stamet’s condition, the last thing I’d be thinking about is work. I mean, Stamets is a work-a-holic, but still. It’s a common trope, and one that doesn’t make a lot of sense.   Anyway Stamets and Culbert are very happy. They’ve finally gotten themselves figured out. I wasn’t sure about bringing Culbert back in season 2. IT felt like it cheapened his death, which I thought was well played in season 1. But, they did it well. Not the actual resurrection. That bit was really weird. But after he was back, there were consequences. And it took the rest of the season for Culbert to come to terms with it all. And that was done well.   So Detmer’s head is kinda ponding, and the whole world seems a bit distant to her. But Doctor Pollard heals her wound with a dermal regenerator and tells her she’s good to go. That’s it? But she doesn’t let on that she’s still feeling really weird. I don’t know what’s going on with her, but I’m sure it’ll come back to haunt everyone. Part of me wonders if it’s something to do with her implant.   I think Culbert notices something is off about her.   So there’s a translator, which is part of the communication system. It’s damaged beyond repair. They need to rebuild it, but they don’t have the raw material. This isn’t actually needed to get the ship off the ground, but without it, they’ll have no communications within the ship or without. And they won’t be able to search for burnham. So it’s pretty important. Tilly has found a settlement and scans indicate they have the material needed.  She’s also noticed the settlements have ships but no dilithium.   Saru feels they should treat this like a prime directive situation and not reveal too much about themselves. I’m not sure I fully understand his point. He says they carry information that could be damaging to a society, whether more or less advanced that they are. Perhaps he’s referring to the sphere data, which Discovery still has. I dunno.   There’s some conflict between Saru and Georgiou. Saru is very much holding to Starfleet principles. Georgeiou, as a former terran empress, is taking a more pragmatic approach. It’s interesting. I mean, I tend to side with Saru. I like Saru’s by-the-book approach. But, Georgiou is right about one thing. They’re in a completely unknown world, a potentially hostile world. Her approach may need to be considered at some point. In the very least, she’s going to fit in quite well in this time period, from what we’ve learned so far from last week. I think there will be some interesting character dynamics between these two as the series progresses. And probably Burnham as well. It’s going for Georgiou to be subservient to Saru. I mean, to her, he’s a delicacy.   Saru and Tilly are going to the settlement. They’ll need medical treatment to be able to breathe the natural atmosphere outside of the settlements.   And then we go down to Stammet’s lab, where we see somebody scooping body parts, that used to be Leeland, into a bucket. Honestly, I really really didn’t need to see this. It’s pretty disgusting. I’m not sure why they felt the need. And honestly, it feels disrespectful for the human being that Leeland was before his body was taken by control. I mean, this was a person once. I found this to be in bad taste.   Stamets is back at work, even though it’s clear he’s in no condition to be working. So Jet takes him under her wing. There’s some really fun interaction between these two in the episode. IT reminds me how much I like Jet. She’s so not your typical Starfleet officer. She’s her own person. I mean, she’d probably rub me the wrong way in the real world, but I love watching her on screen.   As Saruy and Tilly exit the ship, it looks pretty chilly out there. Lots of ice. And there appear to be big rocks or icebergs floating in the sky. I’m not sure of the science behind that but it looks really cool.   At this point in the episode, I began to speculate as to whether this was the same planet Michael landed on last week, because the countryside looks very similar. It’s clear all of this was shot in Iceland just like last week. This will basically be confirmed at the end of the episode. But I’m confused. Michael and Book had no problem breathing on this planet. So what’s the go with that?   Saru is being very sweet to Tilly. He knows that she talks to calm herself, and he says, “please, keep talking.” She’s not even sure why he brought her along. But he is. They’re introducing themselves to the future, and Tilly is a wonderful first impression. To be honest, that really melted my heart.   We learn that there is something special about this ice. It’s not just frozen water. Nhan calls it parasitic. It’s rate of growth increases in the shade, so when the sun goes down, they’re going to have a real problem. The ship could quickly become encased in the stuff. IF that happens, they may never get the ship off the ground again, repairs or no repairs. This is a cool sci-fi element that adds to the strangeness of this new world.   We get a conversation between Nahn and Georgiou about why they each chose to come into the future with Burnham. Nahn could have stayed on the Enterprise where she was arguably meant to be. She says she stayed for Arium. This was her way of honouring Arium’s death. I’m not sure I understand the connection, but I appreciate and respect the heart behind it. Georgiou doesn’t.   Georgiou’s reasons make a lot of sense. She doesn’t want to end up in a desk job running the bureaucracy of section 31. She likes jumping from universe to universe. Our 23rd century was no home to her. It was clear from the beginning she didn’t fit in there, and never would. And while she didn’t know it at the time, we’ve already discussed how she’s going to fit in very nicely here.   And we get to see Linus again. Linus is cool. Georgiou has an interest I don’t quite understand in his range of vision.   The settlement is entered by way of transporter. Saru and Tilly find themselves in a wild west saloon of sorts. There, they meet Kal, a Coridonite. Another classic Star Trek race. We didn’t actually see one of them until Enterprise, where they had some dealings with the Andorians and Tellarites, but the TOS episode Journey to Babel was centered around negotiations to admit Coridon into the Federation.   By the way, remember Cosmo from last week. I called him an ugly alien and said I didn’t recognise his species. Turns out, he was a Betalgeusian, a race that was briefly seen in Star Trek The Motion Picture.   Anyway, they introduce themselves as officers of Starfleet. Kal believes them because he’s already scanned his ship. And we get another classic Tilly line. “My name lacks authority.” I love it.   Kal believes Saru and Tilly will help them. It’s who they are. The bartender isn’t convinced. Kal says this planet has never had a name, but they call it the colony. But apparently, these people are being terrorised by a bully named Zareh.   Tilly, being intelligent as she is, realises that Dilithium will be valuable to these people, so she offers it as payment for their help repairing the transtater.   Jet makes a compelling cast to Stamets, that he’s not bringing his A game and they need to get someone else to crawl around the jefferies tube, but he doesn’t listen. He’s being pretty stupid.   Kal is repairing the transtator with a nanite style technology. Looks similar to what we encountered last week. He refers to it as programmable matter. Tilly pretends to be familiar with it, but it’s pretty obvious she’s not.   I’m getting a better idea of how things work in this time period. There are ships that can travel through space, but not many. Most people are stuck where they are. They rely on couriers, like Cosmo, Book, and Zareh to bring things to them. Couriers are basically the only ones that can travel through space. They get a small amount of dilithium to complete the job. This was all written and shot before COVID 19 hit, but it kind of reminds me of lockdown, which is basically over here in Tasmania. Being stuck in one place, ordering stuff online and having it delivered by intrepid couriers. Yeah. Very familiar. Funny that.   Anyway, Zareh killed the last courier and is exploiting these people. And there’s no Federation to speak of to intervene.   They might be taking the wild west metaphor a little too far, as Zareh walks in with spurs clanking on his boots, to a very western sounding music cue. But, I dunno. I kinda like it.   The actor playing Zareh is well-suited to this kind of role. He manages to be intimidating and scary by speaking in a calm, almost friendly voice. He’s also scanned the Discovery, but notes there is no record of it in his records. So Starfleet successfully classified the ship out of existence.   I like the look of daggers Tilly gives him when he calls her sweetheart.   And he quickly pieces together that Saru and Tilly are time travellers, given their lack of up to date technology.   And then that horrible moment. Kara kills Kal. I liked Kal. And it looks like a horrible way to go. That phaser of Zareh takes it time and kills him very slowly and his torso burns and blue blood comes out of every crease in his face. Horrific. Kara can see that KAl has been emboldened by the arrival of Starfleet officers. The guy is going to be harder to intimidate. I guess he figured an example needs to be made.   And have you noticed we’re getting more beam phasers this season, instead of bold phasers. I like that.   Saru is trying to negotiate with this thug. It’s clear at this point that Dilithium is the most prized resource around here, and Discovery has plenty of it. Of course, Zareh would rather take what he wants than bargain.   And he has a big bargaining chip. The parasitic ice. It’s slowly enveloping Discovery. If they don’t do something soon, the ship will be overwhelmed by it and it’ll never fly again. And the visual they show, of the ice growing before your eyes looks fantastic.   I like it when Star Trek uses a force of nature like this as an antagonistic force.   Zareh is going to send Tilly out into the cold all alone, to get the Dilithium and bring it back, braving the ice. He tells a story about how he’s seen it go down into someone’s throat. It’s pretty scary stuff. Sounds like he’s sending her to her death.   And then Georgiou shows up. They found her sniffing around the perimeter. But you have to assume she allowed herself to be captured. I mean, it’s Georgiou.   She says she’s going to enjoy this new world. And I have no doubt about that. It’s looking pretty bad for her, as Zareh repeatedly shoots her with the tortue gun. And then, when she’s ready to make her move, she goes kung fu on them. It’s a good action sequence. Even Saru gets in on the fun, and gets to use his new super Kelpien spikes.   Time for another moral debate between Georgiou and Saru. She points out that killing Zareh would be a service to the galaxy, and she may be right. But Saru reminds her, “This is not who we are.”. But Georgiou really isn’t part of that “we” is she? But the conversation is cut short by Tilly’s realisation that daylight is gone. The ice is taking over discovery. You can see it just springing up. It looks awesome. And the creaking of the metal. It’s evocative of the terrible situation they’re in.   Culbert is rightfully annoyed when he finds that Stammets is in a jefferies tube. But he manages to get the circuit replaced.   He says “thanks for nothing to Jet.” And she replies “Back at you bobcat.” Hugh questions this nickname, to which she replies, “I don’t know. I’m on drugs.” I tell you, they give Jet the best lines.   I’m glad to see that Georgiou is being allowed to show the ruthless nature she has. This is who she is. She’s not pretending to play by Starfleet rules anymore. I think in season 2, she got a little too easily assimilated with the good guys. This season is gonna let her show her teeth.   But Saru isn’t backing down. He’s being stern with her. He’s acting captain of the ship and she will stand down. It’s a wonderful interaction, and I want to see more of these two butting heads in the future.   Zareh threatens the bartender. Your children will suffocate slowly. And it looks like he’s gonna set Zareh free. But then he puts his gun down, allowing Tilly to smash a bottle over his head, giving him back his sweetheart line. It’s a great moment because we thought he was going to betray our heroes.   “Kal always believed that you were out there somewhere. He believed we were part of the Federation no matter what. I get now why he wouldn’t stop talking about you.” I think Saru has convinced him. Saru will give them enough Dilithium to help them get free of Zareh’s oppression, along with his ship.   Saru gives Zareh into the bartender’s custody. And it looks like he’s gonna kill him for a minute. He doesn’t directly. He lets him go free. Into the icy cold. He may never last the night. It’s the same deal Zareh offered Tilly.   Despite the Star-Wars-ey dispotian setting, this episode was very much Star Trek, in the truest sense. It’s dripping with Starfleet idealism and optimism.   Saru and Tilly are given a personal transporter to get them safely back to Discovery. They’re ready to try taking off. But the ship is so encased in ice. Still, there’s a sense of determination, as the music swells and the camera pans across the bridge. And then, the camera hits Detmer, and the music goes all haunting. We are reminded that something is not right with her. Something is not right at all.   Despite her problems, whatever they are, she performs her job admirably, but it’s still not enough. The ice fights back pretty hard. Again, it looks awesome. They can’t break free. Starships are not designed to lift off like this. Another ship arrives. Zareh’s more powerful friends?   A tractor beam pulls them out of the ice. But is rescue at the hands of thugs going to be any better than staying in the ice?   And that’s when they are hailed. By Michael Burnham. She’s found them, and rescued them.   The looks on everyone’s faces is priceless. Even Georgiou. It’s a beautiful moment. Michael’s hair is different. She reveals that she landed a year ago. She’s been waiting here all this time.   She seems to confirm this is the same planet where she landed, but that still doesn’t explain the whole oxygen thing. Maybe they’ll address that next week.   Anyway, our characters have all been united now. Next week, we’ll get to see them together. It’ll be quite the emotional reunion I suspect. I have to say, Star Trek Discovery is off to a pretty strong start in season 3 so far. I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am.   Next week’s episode is called People of Earth. It sounds like our heroes are going to be investigating, to see what has become of the Federation they remember from their time.   Don’t forget, my Jewel of the Stars books are available wherever eBooks are sold. You can also read the first book free on wattpad, or get it in paperback.   I plan to release books 2 in paperback soon too. Just got to find the time. I’ve been very busy lately. I plan to publish book 3 before the end of this year, so look out for that.   Well, have a great week, and I’ll see you somewhere in Nerd Heaven.

What does it mean to be Kelpien? To be human? to be Starfleet?! Explorations go deeper as Akie and Steph discuss episodes 5 & 6 of Discovery’s second season. We go into the Mycelial network to lose new friends and find old ones; we go to Kaminar to, well, kick butt; AND we go to Section 31 where we must confront our own intentions. What does it mean, after all, to be unified? Join us on Facebook, instagram and Patreon to join in the conversation and for exclusive BTS content!https://www.facebook.com/setphasershttps://www.instagram.com/setphaserspodcast

Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) and J.G. Hertzler (Martok) Join Marc Okrand, Creator of the Klingon Language As Escape Velocity Extra Explores Klingon Culture Wednesday night, September 23, 7:00 p.m. ET   Washington, DC (September 14, 2020) – Actors Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and J.G. Hertzler (Martok) from Star Trek: Deep Space 9, will commandeer the spotlight Wednesday evening, September 23, when Escape Velocity Extra (EVX) takes a comprehensive look at Klingon culture.  The online program – entitled Communicating with Klingons – Interpreting Alien Language and Culture – will air at 7:00 p.m. ET.  The cost is a $5 donation to the not-for-profit Museum of Science Fiction.   As the most recognizable and extensively developed alien race in all of science fiction, Klingons bring the greatest level of depth and development to not only the Star Trek universe but really the entire world of popular culture.  After all, who among us hasn't called a child strapped to one's leg a “Cling-On?”  Or equated the concept of honor to the legacy of Kahless the Unforgettable?    Directing the program will be Okrand, who initially created Vulcan language dialogue for Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and Kristie Alley (Saavik) for the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  He was hired by Paramount Pictures to invent the Klingon language and then coach the actors in three subsequent films and later created the Kelpien language for the Star Trek: Discovery Short Trek episode, The Brightest Star.   The September 23 program will consist of a single 90-minute session.   For additional information, or to register, please visit https://escapevelocity.events/evx/.  

Jobob, Warden, and Willy break down their impressions of the twelfth episode of season one of Star Trek: Discovery: "Vaulting Ambition".Jobob and Willy are taking sides. Jobob has found glimmers of brilliance and Willy continues to bring the axe. Warden giggles in humor and shock (so par).  They muse on Greek mythological allegory; cultural appropriation, creepy relationship turns; the fate of Kelpien; over the top stakes; the strange case of the Phoenix; and... of course... predictions.STAR TREK: PICARD SPOILERS!

NEW PATREON LEVEL!! I've just set up a brand new supporter tier at the $2/month level - join us here. (http://www.patreon.com/fluentshow) The patron benefits for the $2 level are access to the patron-exclusive feed with added posts, early access, and bonus clips. You can ALWAYS upgrade or downgrade your tier and you'll never lose access to the patron-only messages. The show is free for all, and your support is valued no matter what. "There's a kinda type of person out there who I hadn't had a lot of interaction with … called a Star Trek fan" This week I am excited to bring you an interview with a brilliant linguist: Marc Okrand! Marc Okrand created the dialogue and coached the actors speaking the Klingon language heard in many episodes and movies in the Star Trek franchise. In addition, he devised dialogue in Vulcan, Romulan, Kelpien, and other languages for several Star Trek films and TV series. In this interview, we discussed the language itself and how it was created what it felt like for Marc to attend the first ever meet-up of Klingon speakers which good learning mindsets actors bring to learning a new language ‘These people have become family. These people have become friends' I met Marc Okrand at Langfest in Montreal https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/9/9103f3da-a263-4bfe-b5a3-58649ff9b5f7/TIo6_9NH.jpg Thank you to Marc for this episode introduction. Thank you for listening to the Fluent Show! If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show by leaving a review in your podcast app or becoming a member of our Patreon community from just $1 a month. Special Guest: Marc Okrand.

PARENTAL ADVISORY: The following episode contains adult themes, adult language, and a frank discussion on child abuse and its aftermath. PARENTAL DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED. Earlier in 2019, Bill wrote a column for the Official Star Trek Website titled, "What I've Learned From Saru." In it, he discussed what the Kelpien from Star Trek: Discovery has taught him in his journey living with anxiety. As he continued to examine the character, he found that he identified with Saru in more ways than he thought. This episode contains very personal and disturbing revelations about Bill's childhood and, as a result, we are cautioning parents that this installment may not be suitable for younger listeners. FIVE YEAR MISSION Episode 2 of Five Year Mission: The Podcast is available now and you'll hear Mike and Fark have a discussion on "Is It REEEEEAL Or Is It FAAAAAAAAKE?" Make your Mondays suck a whole lot less and subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you download podcasts! 5YM, of course, is every note of music you hear on the Trek Geeks podcast, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Go get yourself a copy of all their CDs: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Spock’s Brain, and The Trouble With Tribbles. It’s easy–head on over to FiveYearMission.net RIGHT NOW and get that physical media in your hands! We just KNOW you’ll become huge fans of the band and their music! =/=

PARENTAL ADVISORY: The following episode contains adult themes, adult language, and a frank discussion on child abuse and its aftermath. PARENTAL DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED. Earlier in 2019, Bill wrote a column for the Official Star Trek Website titled, "What I've Learned From Saru." In it, he discussed what the Kelpien from Star Trek: Discovery has taught him in his journey living with anxiety. As he continued to examine the character, he found that he identified with Saru in more ways than he thought. This episode contains very personal and disturbing revelations about Bill's childhood and, as a result, we are cautioning parents that this installment may not be suitable for younger listeners.

PARENTAL ADVISORY: The following episode contains adult themes, adult language, and a frank discussion on child abuse and its aftermath. PARENTAL DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED. Earlier in 2019, Bill wrote a column for the Official Star Trek Website titled, "What I've Learned From Saru." In it, he discussed what the Kelpien from Star Trek: Discovery has taught him in his journey living with anxiety. As he continued to examine the character, he found that he identified with Saru in more ways than he thought. This episode contains very personal and disturbing revelations about Bill's childhood and, as a result, we are cautioning parents that this installment may not be suitable for younger listeners. FIVE YEAR MISSION Episode 2 of Five Year Mission: The Podcast is available now and you'll hear Mike and Fark have a discussion on "Is It REEEEEAL Or Is It FAAAAAAAAKE?" Make your Mondays suck a whole lot less and subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you download podcasts! 5YM, of course, is every note of music you hear on the Trek Geeks podcast, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Go get yourself a copy of all their CDs: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Spock’s Brain, and The Trouble With Tribbles. It’s easy–head on over to FiveYearMission.net RIGHT NOW and get that physical media in your hands! We just KNOW you’ll become huge fans of the band and their music! =/=

PARENTAL ADVISORY: The following episode contains adult themes, adult language, and a frank discussion on child abuse and its aftermath. PARENTAL DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED. Earlier in 2019, Bill wrote a column for the Official Star Trek Website titled, "What I've Learned From Saru." In it, he discussed what the Kelpien from Star Trek: Discovery has taught him in his journey living with anxiety. As he continued to examine the character, he found that he identified with Saru in more ways than he thought. This episode contains very personal and disturbing revelations about Bill's childhood and, as a result, we are cautioning parents that this installment may not be suitable for younger listeners.

本集为 "The Sound of Thunder" DIS 2x06剧评。时长过长，一次听不完可使用下面时间-话题对应列表进行索引。虽然有点长，但是真的值得听（自我感觉良好），我们的猜测可是很准的。本期节目录制于20190224，主播：CrazyEMH|瓦肯蔬菜汤|胡子|大腐————00:01:05 剧情回顾00:39:23 下集展望00:41:19 关于Spock- 31区 - 红色天使的猜想00:53:55 时间修正的标准——联邦利益01:09:56 联邦插手Ba'ul与 Kelpien 的事务01:33:36 发现号主角的问题01:38:20 31区的科技01:42:28 Culber 医生01:46:26 Airiam01:48:14 继续红色天使的猜想01:59:07 本周的生活大爆炸与奥维尔02:07:26 例行拿发现号与奥维尔作比较，例行恨铁不成钢03:14:04 发现号台词的问题

本集为 "The Sound of Thunder" DIS 2x06剧评。时长过长，一次听不完可使用下面时间-话题对应列表进行索引。虽然有点长，但是真的值得听（自我感觉良好），我们的猜测可是很准的。本期节目录制于20190224，主播：CrazyEMH|瓦肯蔬菜汤|胡子|大腐————00:01:05 剧情回顾00:39:23 下集展望00:41:19 关于Spock- 31区 - 红色天使的猜想00:53:55 时间修正的标准——联邦利益01:09:56 联邦插手Ba'ul与 Kelpien 的事务01:33:36 发现号主角的问题01:38:20 31区的科技01:42:28 Culber 医生01:46:26 Airiam01:48:14 继续红色天使的猜想01:59:07 本周的生活大爆炸与奥维尔02:07:26 例行拿发现号与奥维尔作比较，例行恨铁不成钢03:14:04 发现号台词的问题

本集为 "The Sound of Thunder" DIS 2x06 剧评。时长过长，一次听不完可使用下面 时间-话题 对应列表进行索引。虽然有点长，但是真的值得听（自我感觉良好），我们的猜测可是很准的。 本期节目录制于20190224，主播：CrazyEMH|瓦肯蔬菜汤|胡子|大腐 ———— 00:01:05 剧情回顾 00:39:23 下集展望 00:41:19 关于 Spock - 31区 - 红色天使 的猜想 00:53:55 时间修正的标准——联邦利益 01:09:56 联邦插手 Ba'ul 与 Kelpien 的事务 01:33:36 发现号主角的问题 01:38:20 31区的科技 01:42:28 Culber 医生 01:46:26 Airiam 01:48:14 继续红色天使的猜想 01:59:07 本周的生活大爆炸与奥维尔 02:07:26 例行拿发现号与奥维尔作比较，例行恨铁不成钢 03:14:04 发现号台词的问题 ●本台反馈● Email: subspacesignal@qq.com, all frequencies open. 官网：http://trekin.space，官网包含完整且富文本格式的 shownotes 听众交流群：QQ群号 591546843 新浪微博：@迷于星际播客

Saru discovers his past is a LIE, and sets out to find the truth about his family, and his ability to transform into the powerful post-Va’harai Kelpien.  Ferengi expert Kregg Castillo makes his Season 2 debut on Jack’s Silly Little Friendly Neighborhood Star Trek Discovery Podcast, and discovers that along with Barm and Jack, they are about to become Kelpien/Ba’ul experts as well.   It’s an exciting time as we talk Ray Bradbury, Armus (of course), Saru’s wacky backstory shenanigans, the fun Ash Tyler/Captain Pike dynamic, the ridiculous and delightful over-the-top Ba’ul, Va’harai, making huge society changing decisions on a whim with no information and the tattered remains of the prime directive, and boldly going forward from here!  Of course, it wouldn’t be a Disco season 2 ‘cast without those nutty Red Angel theories.  THE PODCASTERS SPEAK.

With a light news week (yeah we know stuff came out after we recorded), your two Redshirts hosts focus on the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery “The Sound of Thunder”, the first episode to have a direct and significant connection to an episode of Short Treks, specifically “The Brightest Star”. We’ll be back next...

Star Trek: Discovery - Season 2, Episode 6: The Sound of Thunder For episode 31 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I discuss Season 2 Episode 6 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, The Sound of Thunder. It was written by co-producers...

Saru goes home again. We start out agreeing we don't have much to say about this episode, then ... talk even more than usual, covering such ground as: Can we come up with a different Jeff Goldblum gif for every episode this season?  This whole episode is exactly why we need the Prime Directive. Kelpien worldbuilding. Who is the Red Angel? What does it want? Who is it working for?  Our weekly semi-related digression into other media takes us into video game territory. Anika has very strong opinions about predestination paradoxes. We both have a lot of feelings about sickbay design and best practices when it comes to mental health care in space.  For the benefit of our many listeners who are entomologists, Liz would like to emphasise that she does actually know that spiders are not insects.  The jury is still out re: Lorca and whales, though.  See antimatterpod.tumblr.com for more detailed show notes. 

"The Sounds of Thunder" Analysis The trio dives into the sixth episode of "Star Trek: Discovery" season two. Sue joins them to learn everything the sphere has learned about the Kelpien race. Amazing technology, pillars of red light and a good look at the elusive Red Angle. This week's episode bends the redress of the transporter room but does it break it? ​What was your favorite part of this episode?

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 2, Episode 6: The Sound of Thunder For episode 31 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I discuss Season 2 Episode 6 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, The Sound of Thunder. It was written by co-producers Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt, who are said to be the creators of the new Section 31 series, and directed by Douglas Aarniokoski. You may have seen this referred to as The Sounds of Thunder, as all of the outlets had it as Sounds, but when it premiered, it was only a singular Sound. I’ve already seen several podcasts and YouTubers have it wrong. The Sound of Thunder is correct. Discussion on The Sound of Thunder begins at 17:50… We begin the podcast with feedback from previous episodes. Then, we finally get into this episode at 17 minutes 50 seconds in. Fred’s Pics and Spoiler Alert! We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post. To that end, SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t watched The Sound of Thunder, you may want to stop reading here! Another Big One for Saru… A new signal appears over Kaminar, Saru’s homeworld. Saru hasn’t been back since he left, but since going through the vahar’ai, he has undergone certain changes. Saru doesn’t immediately leave the captain’s chair when Pike is summoned to the bridge, and later borders on being insubordinate when Pike doesn’t choose him for the away team. Burnham diffuses the moment by asking for him to accompany her on the surface. STDP 031 – Star Trek Discovery S2E6 (13:46) – Burnham de-escalating Saru’s outburst STDP 031 – Star Trek Discovery S2E6 (18:14) – Michael taking Saru’s hand STDP 031 – Star Trek Discovery S2E6 (18:09) – Michael (close-up) on Kaminar beach Saru and Burnham meet up with the village priest, only to find out that it’s Saru’s sister, Siranna, who we met during the third Short Trek, The Brightest Star, which was shot at the same time as this episode.

Star Trek: Discovery - Season 2, Episode 6: The Sound of Thunder For episode 31 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I discuss Season 2 Episode 6 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, The Sound of Thunder. It was written by co-producers...

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 2, Episode 6: The Sound of Thunder For episode 31 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I discuss Season 2 Episode 6 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, The Sound of Thunder. It was written by co-producers Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt, who are said to be the creators of the new Section 31 series, and directed by Douglas Aarniokoski. You may have seen this referred to as The Sounds of Thunder, as all of the outlets had it as Sounds, but when it premiered, it was only a singular Sound. I’ve already seen several podcasts and YouTubers have it wrong. The Sound of Thunder is correct. Discussion on The Sound of Thunder begins at 17:50… We begin the podcast with feedback from previous episodes. Then, we finally get into this episode at 17 minutes 50 seconds in. Fred’s Pics and Spoiler Alert! We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post. To that end, SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t watched The Sound of Thunder, you may want to stop reading here! Another Big One for Saru… A new signal appears over Kaminar, Saru’s homeworld. Saru hasn’t been back since he left, but since going through the vahar’ai, he has undergone certain changes. Saru doesn’t immediately leave the captain’s chair when Pike is summoned to the bridge, and later borders on being insubordinate when Pike doesn’t choose him for the away team. Burnham diffuses the moment by asking for him to accompany her on the surface. STDP 031 – Star Trek Discovery S2E6 (13:46) – Burnham de-escalating Saru’s outburst STDP 031 – Star Trek Discovery S2E6 (18:14) – Michael taking Saru’s hand STDP 031 – Star Trek Discovery S2E6 (18:09) – Michael (close-up) on Kaminar beach Saru and Burnham meet up with the village priest, only to find out that it’s Saru’s sister, Siranna, who we met during the third Short Trek, The Brightest Star, which was shot at the same time as this episode.

"The Sounds of Thunder" AnalysisThe trio dives into the sixth episode of "Star Trek: Discovery" season two. Sue joins them to learn everything the sphere has learned about the Kelpien race. Amazing technology, pillars of red light and a good look at the elusive Red Angle. This week's episode bends the redress of the transporter room but does it break it?​What was your favorite part of this episode?

Today's episode features an analysis of Episode 206, “The Sound of Thunder.” The appearance of a red signal near Kaminar gets the attention of The Discovery. Saru is conflicted about the Discovery’s mission simply to investigate the red signal sighting and any possible knowledge of the elusive Red Angel. The Ba'ul, have subjugated the Kelpiens with their superior technology and killed them before they experience Vaha'rai, an experience Kelpiens are taught they do not survive.  Saru is the only member of his people who has survived Vaha'rai. His discovery is that, although painful, it is a natural part of their evolutionary process to reach a more mature stage of development. This information - and the revelation about life among the stars and the miracle of the Red Angel - puts the entire Kelpien people in danger of extinction. How to watch Season Two: Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on Space and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else. Star Trek: Age of Discovery is a fan podcast for the CBS All Access show STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Subscribe to Star Trek: Age of Discovery in iTunes by CLICKING HERE. Email the show at startrekaod@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at @StarTrekAoD and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StarTrekAoD/. Visit our website at http://startrekaod.net where we offer additional articles on Star Trek canon, interesting sidebar issues and aspects of the show. 2019 © Star Trek: Age of Discovery

Another signal appears, this time over Saru's home planet, Kaminar. Discovery immediately gets caught between the plight of the Kelpiens and the seemingly predatory species, the Ba'ul. But like most things, there's more going on than meets the eye.  Hannah Spear returns as Siranna, Javier Botet plays the Baul, and David Benjamin Tomlinson returns as Linus and as a random Kelpien. The Sound of Thunder was directed by Douglas Aarniokoski and written by Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lipoldt.

Star Trek Discovery Season 2 continues to be a great season. We have so much to discuss, laugh about, cry about and celebrate. What more could we ask for for these last 3 episodes? Topics: The show keeping the Star Trek exploring elements while still working towards the search for Spock Episode 4 is Saru's "Flu Game" If you don't want us to think about what Kelpien tastes like, don't put Saru on a bed of lettuce L'Rell and the Klingons are getting closer to the Klingons we know and we like how they're doing it Emperor Georgiou back...and now she's a member of Section 31 Ash Tyler has the worst life ever Tilly & her imaginary friend Dr. Hugh Culber is officially back. Stamets' man returns and so does the most loving relationship on the show Anthony Rapp & Wilson Cruz interview about their characters and the return of their love story and much much more! We love this show so much and we can't wait to see where they go next.  Reviewers on this episode: @InsanityReport @MusingsofaShibe @TheDrIsin2015 @Pfunk1130  @MrJoseph45   Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't miss an episode!   Follow us on Twitter: @TheMTRNetwork   Our shirts are now on TeePublic:  https://teepublic.com/stores/mtr-network   Want more podcast greatness? Sign up for a MTR Premium Account!

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 2, Episode 4: An Obol for Charon For episode 29 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie is out sick, but I was able to get emergency guest co-host Wes Huntington from the Minnesota Star Trek Nerd Podcast to fill in, as we discuss Season 2 Episode 4 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, An Obol for Charon. The teleplay was written by producer Alan McElroy (I got his name wrong during the recording – it’s Alan, not Adam) & co-executive producer Andrew Colville, the story was written by co-executive producer Jordon Nardino & showrunners Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts (who were still showrunners at the time). It was directed by Lee Rose. She also directed S1E5 Choose Your Pain. Fred’s Pics! We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post. A Tough One for Saru… It was a tough episode for Commander Saru. It looked like we would be losing the first and only Kelpien in Starfleet during this episode, and they sold that death. I had myself questioning it. Could they kill him off? Would this be the right time to do that? I knew we see his sister Siranna in the last trailer, but I thought that maybe it could end up being a flashback or a hallucination before death. When it looked like he was going to die, though, he didn’t die. He evolved. One of his most problematic traits, his threat ganglia, are gone for good, and he feels like he’s never felt before. I loved the Burnham/Saru scenes, showing that the bickering we had seen early on was the behavior of brother and sister. It took a tragedy for them both to admit it to each other, and to themselves. So, what will become of Saru, and the Kelpiens, who were being culled, seemingly as a part of a big lie. Time will tell. STDP 029 – Saru in Full Makeup I liked Saru’s quarters, by the way. Very idyllic. STDP 029 – Saru’s Quarters A Tough One for Tilly… This was also a tough episode for Tilly, and looks like the next one will be, too. The blob formerly seen as May has attached itself to Tilly, and isn’t going to easily let go. Tilly gets a drill to the head to facilitate communications, which had to hurt. At the end of the episode, we see Tilly’s been consumed by the blob. For what purpose, we cannot know. STDP 029 – A Distressed Tilly

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 2, Episode 4: An Obol for Charon For episode 29 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie is out sick, but I was able to get emergency guest co-host Wes Huntington from the Minnesota Star Trek Nerd Podcast to fill in, as we discuss Season 2 Episode 4 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, An Obol for Charon. The teleplay was written by producer Alan McElroy (I got his name wrong during the recording – it’s Alan, not Adam) & co-executive producer Andrew Colville, the story was written by co-executive producer Jordon Nardino & showrunners Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts (who were still showrunners at the time). It was directed by Lee Rose. She also directed S1E5 Choose Your Pain. Fred’s Pics! We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post. A Tough One for Saru… It was a tough episode for Commander Saru. It looked like we would be losing the first and only Kelpien in Starfleet during this episode, and they sold that death. I had myself questioning it. Could they kill him off? Would this be the right time to do that? I knew we see his sister Siranna in the last trailer, but I thought that maybe it could end up being a flashback or a hallucination before death. When it looked like he was going to die, though, he didn’t die. He evolved. One of his most problematic traits, his threat ganglia, are gone for good, and he feels like he’s never felt before. I loved the Burnham/Saru scenes, showing that the bickering we had seen early on was the behavior of brother and sister. It took a tragedy for them both to admit it to each other, and to themselves. So, what will become of Saru, and the Kelpiens, who were being culled, seemingly as a part of a big lie. Time will tell. STDP 029 – Saru in Full Makeup I liked Saru’s quarters, by the way. Very idyllic. STDP 029 – Saru’s Quarters A Tough One for Tilly… This was also a tough episode for Tilly, and looks like the next one will be, too. The blob formerly seen as May has attached itself to Tilly, and isn’t going to easily let go. Tilly gets a drill to the head to facilitate communications, which had to hurt. At the end of the episode, we see Tilly’s been consumed by the blob. For what purpose, we cannot know. STDP 029 – A Distressed Tilly

STAR TREK DISCOVERY IS BACK and your Fave Podcast is here to Discuss. Follow Anthony, Moe, and Patrick as They Boldly go again where no man has ever gone Welcome To Our Discovery Discussion EPISODE TITLE: Point Of Light Synopsis: A surprise visitor to the U.S.S. Discovery brings shocking news about Spock and dredges up past regrets for Burnham. EPISODE TITLE: An Obol for Charon Synopsis: A mysterious sphere threatens the U.S.S. Discovery; Saru and Burnham's bond grows when Saru is forced to acknowledge a deeply unsettling Kelpien truth; Pike receives new intel on Spock from a loyal friend.

DEBRIEF returns to unpack "The Brightest Star," the third episode of SHORT TREKS focused on principal DISCOVERY character SARU played by Doug Jones! With a panel at half-strength featuring Chris Clow (Movies.com, Comics on Consoles) and Rachael Clow (Biology PhD candidate), the duo discuss the details concerning revelations this short brings about Saru, the Kelpien people at-large, the society they live in, and the civilization that preys upon them. What is stronger than fear, and allows our heroically exceptional Kelpien to rise above the trappings of his society? We discuss in this episode of DEBRIEF! Plus, a look at some news and an update on new episodes of this show! Music by Bensound.com. STAR TREK trademarks and related elements are owned by CBS Studios Inc., and are used expressly under "fair use" guidelines.

Directed by Douglas Aarniokoski and written by Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt, the third episode of Short Treks has our favorite Kelpien facing the hard reality behind the expression "You can't go home again." But in his case it's literal. The military told him he's not allowed to go there anymore. Featuring Doug Jones as Saru, and introducing Hannah Spear as Siranna and Robert Verlaque as Aradar, who may or may not play a role in the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Discovery. The always exceptional Michelle Yeoh also swings by for a bit.

We close out the 2018 year with a review of Short Treks episode 3 “The Brightest Star” which stars Doug Jones as Saru. We begin with some news pertaining to the upcoming Picard series as well as some thoughts on the latest Discovery season 2 trailer. Finally, we discuss plans for 2019 including our new...

In this month’s episode, we review the Short Treks episode, “The Brightest Star,” the third of four mini-episodes leading up to Season Two of Discovery. Here’s a synopsis: A story from before Saru became the first Kelpien to join Starfleet. On his home planet of Kaminar, Young Saru lived a simple life with his father and sister. Full of ingenuity and a level of curiosity uncommon among his people, the Kelpien yearns to find out what lies beyond his village, leading him on an unexpected path. Discovery co-star Doug Jones stars as Saru. Written by Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt. Directed by Douglas Aarniokski. The episode stars Doug Jones as Saru and Clayton Scott as a Kelpien villager. Also, we report on some Star Trek news – and one rumor – that has come out over the last few weeks. Here’s our December 2018 podcast. Enjoy. #LLAP

Young Saru yearns for a life for he and his sister free of fear as a prey species, so the Kelpien wunderkind looks to the cosmos for answers. Matt and Pete bask in the warmth of Short Trek #3, “The Brightest Star.”Thanks as always to everyone who supports the podcast by visiting Patreon.com/PhantasticGeek.Share your feedback for Star Trek: Discovery by emailing PhantasticGeek@gmail.com, commenting at PhantasticGeek.com, or tweeting @PhantasticGeek.MP3iTunes

Jack is back with Barm again to talk about the third original novel based on the explosive new CBS All Access series, Star Trek: Discovery!  As with every other Star Trek: Discovery book, this one does not follow the crew of the Discovery.  Instead, it focuses on a tale as old of time: a Kelpien learning to overcome his fear.  In that vein, we’ll be talking about fear chubs, the ol’ Constitution Class, Goro & Mortal Kombat, Saurians, the original Saru make-up, Tholians, the Peliar-Zel and their role in TNG and DS9, and all the latest (as of three months ago) trailers and Season 2 news.  This is, without question, the single most exciting podcast you will ever hear.

Discord: http://discord.thisweekintrek.com Twitch: http://twitch.tv/starmiketv Review spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zWUJXbg-ShYgZLfBWIqCih3G_DgFdujgkZsrDsFllxA/edit?usp=drive_web#gid=1 News The Metal Hallmark Enterprise can be ordered now and is $45.99. Ships Oct 17. Actress Hannah Spear to play Saru’s Kelpien sister Serana in DSC S2. Ten Forward: Chris on Twitter: Was xmas shopping & thought: What holidays that we celebrate now will make it to the 23rd century? Star Trek in pop culture: The Lord’s Prayer in Klingon by Michael Roney Jr. Last week in Trek - 00:58 Episode insight: TNG: S6 Rightful Hair

James Swallow: Fear Itself. For many fans, the breakout character of Star Trek: Discovery has been Saru, the Kelpien science officer aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou. Kelpiens are a prey species, driven by instinct to heed their natural fear response and be hyper-alert to any danger present in their surroundings. Saru is no exception to this, and when a rescue mission begins to spiral out of control, he must learn to temper his fear if he has any hope of getting himself and his team out alive. In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson are joined by James Swallow, author of the new Discovery novel, Fear Itself. We discuss the process of writing the novel, getting inside Saru's head, the various species involved in the story, Saru and Burnham's relationship, Captain Georgiou's leadership style, overcoming fear, and what other projects James has on the horizon. We also briefly talk about the current troubled state of Pocket Books' Star Trek line, and what might be in store for its future. In the news section, we preview a new book coming next year from Dayton Ward: Kirk Fu Manual: An Introduction to the Final Frontier's Most Feared Martial Art! News Kirk Fu Manual (00:02:39) Feature: James Swallow The Latest Discovery (00:05:47) The Process (00:06:22) Inside Saru's Head (00:13:04) Two Races (00:17:18) The Tholians (00:21:25) The Gorlans (00:25:07) The Hub (00:29:10) Burnham and Saru (00:31:51) A Novel About Fear (00:40:28) Beginning and the End (00:42:21) The Return of Trek Novels? (00:55:22) James Upcoming and Online (01:02:19) Final Thoughts (01:06:49) Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Guest James Swallow Production Matthew Rushing (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Bruce Gibson (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer)

Saru. The first Kelpien in Starfleet, Saru served admirably aboard the USS Shenzhou and the USS Discovery, ultimately earning the Starfleet Medal of Honor. Although his rank was lieutenant when we first saw him in “The Vulcan Hello,” he was promoted to commander and first officer by the time of “Context Is for Kings.” He also served as acting captain multiple times when Captain Gabriel Lorca was away. In this episode of The Edge, hosts Patrick Devlin and Amy Nelson are joined by John Krikorian of Trek Profiles on The Tricorder Transmissions Network to discuss this new Star Trek species. Kelpiens are known to sense the coming of death through their threat ganglia, but what else do we learn about Saru's species? We deep-dive into his relationship with Michael Burnham, how he lives in continual fear, and his competency to be captain. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) A New Species (00:04:35) Brother–Sister Dynamic (00:06:00) One-Dimensional? (00:09:20) His Station in Starfleet (00:14:25) Fight or Flight (00:18:25) Pahvo (00:28:36) Mirror Universe (00:50:49) Captain Saru (01:09:26) Final Thoughts (01:17:06) Closing (01:26:13) Hosts Patrick Devlin and Amy Nelson Guest John Krikorian Production Patrick Devlin (Editor) Amy Nelson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Hanelle M. Culpepper Interview. Energetic and unflappable, Hanelle M. Culpepper is an award-winning television and film writer/director whose visual- and story-driven work has played at festivals around the world and on television. Her extensive directing credits include Hawaii Five-0, Criminal Minds, Castle, The Flash, and Grimm. Her episode of Parenthood was chosen by the producers to represent the series for Emmy consideration. In this episode of The Edge, hosts Brandon-Shea Mutala and Amy Nelson are joined by Culpepper to talk about the Star Trek: Discovery installment she directed, “Vaulting Ambition.” We also discuss her short films How to Wait in Line for Star Wars and The Wedding Dress, how she prepares for a production, problems on set, and Kelpien stew. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) How to Wait in Line for Star Wars (00:05:09) The Wedding Dress (00:07:01) Genres (00:08:48) Cameras (00:13:23) Editing (00:16:32) Twists (00:20:41) Hanelle's Signature (00:23:47) CGI (00:25:08) The Inside Scoop on Ganglia (00:28:05) Listener Questions (00:32:02) Closing (00:47:08) Hosts Brandon-Shea Mutala and Amy Nelson Guest Hanelle M. Culpepper Production Brandon-Shea Mutala (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

"Vaulting Ambition" AnalysisIn the shortest episode of Star Trek ever we get many confirmations, reveals and questions about what the last 3 episodes will hold. Captain Lorca is ... revealed. And the trio has a lot to say about it. Join them as they examine the Discovery’s continued adventure into the Mirror Universe with Emperor Georgiou, sampling Kelpien dishes, and Stamets meets himself & his departed partner. Where do you think these storylines are going? What surprised you the most?