Star Trek Social Club

I was lucky enough to see The Search for Spock on the last day and the remaster frankly blew me away, the surround sound was fun but what really stood out was the matte painting backgrounds. I'm not sure what magic they did, but every single one was truly breathtaking. It made me sad I didn't get to see all of them in theaters now.

The stardate is 2179.3. Enterprise is orbiting an M-class moon (later seen labelled Sigma-287D). In Star Trek, M-class (or as established in ENT, Minshara-class) means it is generally Earth-like or habitable by oxygen-breathing humanoids with minimal assistance.

Kirk was stabbed by La’An while she was in the thrall of whatever was aboard the USS Griffin (SNW: “The Griffin Incident”). Coradrazine is a powerful stimulant, which in small doses can save lives, but in large doses can cause psychosis and paranoia (TOS: “The City on the Edge of Forever”), as M'Benga says here. In that episode, Kirk questioned McCoy’s use of cordrazine on a wounded Sulu, indicating he was familiar with its effects. We see here his first encounter with the drug.

La’An had a romantic interlude with an alternate timeline Kirk in SNW: “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, and while Prime Kirk and her shared a connection in SNW: “Subspace Rhapsody”, he was in the “on-phase” of his off-and-on relationship with Carol Marcus at the time. Now, however, both of them are single - La’An ended her relationship with Spock in SNW: “Level-Five Transporter Accident” and Kirk was ghosted by Carol at the end of “The Griffin Incident”.

When Ortegas speaks to La'An, she is eating sliced strawberries. In SNW: “Ghosts of Illyria”, La’An says that she picked up strawberries as a comfort food from Una, which may be a hint to her emotional state.

Altairans are presumably from the Altair system. The star is also known as Alpha Aquilae, part of the constellation Aquila (meaning “eagle”) and in Trek lore has at least six planets. Altair VI is inhabited in TOS: “Amok Time”, and is the origin port for Kobayashi Maru (ST II). Altair III and IV were mentioned in TNG: “Encounter at Farpoint” and DS9: “Prophet Motive”, respectively. Altair IV was also the titular Forbidden Planet of the 1956 movie, which was a huge influence on Star Trek.

Cadet A’Sha is with the landing party. Uhura mentions that once inside the cave, they’ll lose comms and the ability to transport. Beckett Mariner, who hates caves, sarcastically mentions in LD: “Caves” how rocks can successfully block centuries of technological process, and in LD: “Mining the Mind’s Mines”, she said that it’s not a real day in Starfleet until comms get blocked. How the SOS signal can get through if comms are going to be blocked is a question I leave for the interested viewer.

La’An’s diver’s watch is from the alternate timeline mentioned, and was worn by the alternate Kirk c. 2023.

The Klingon War took place during Season 1 of DIS, from 2257-2258. The USS Constitution, NCC-1700, was seen on a chart of ships undergoing repair at Starbase 11 in TOS: “Court Martial”, and presumably is the class ship for the Constitution-class starships of which Enterprise is one. This is the first time it’s been mentioned in on-screen dialogue, her other appearances to date being only in production and background art. Beta canon goes more into the ship’s story.

This is the first appearance of ADM Simon Reeger, played by Joe Morton. Ortegas is said to have helmed Pelanque during the war, presumably named after the Mayan ruins in Southern Mexico. Enterprise was at the Prospero system in SNW: “Under the Cloak of War”, where it was mentioned that Ortegas was stationed near it during the war.

This is the first mention of the Vaardan Massacre, an unprovoked attack that caused 5 million casualties.

Scotty mentions a cloaking system and refers to the Klingons using them. In DIS, the Klingons did use cloaks, which led to somewhat of a tizzy in fan circles because the impression was that cloaks where only used by Romulans at that point and in TOS: “Balance of Terror” the crew did not seem familiar with cloaks. I won’t get into it now, except to say that like many things, fan perception of what is canon isn’t as strong as they might imagine.

Ortegas says that during the Cold War, destroyers would follow enemy submarines via their trash. In the 1965 movie The Bedford Incident, the destroyer Bedford figures out that a Soviet sub they are hunting has been in the water for about 36 hours by analysing the thickness of the potato peels in the garbage it left behind.

The screen shows the mystery ship heading off in the direction of the Romulan Neutral Zone, which implies heavily that it might be Romulans who are responsible. The idea of tracing it via the emissions of its impulse engines also harkens back to Scotty’s line in “Balance of Terror” that the Romulan ship’s power is “simple impulse”. The incident in “Balance”, however, will not occur for another 3 or 4 years.

ADM Reeger commandeers Enterprise, presumably under Starfleet Order 104, Section B, paragraph 1(a) (TOS: “The Doomsday Machine”).

Enterprise warps out of orbit at Warp 5. The show has not really been consistent as to exactly when it is dangerous to go to warp while within a planet’s gravity well, or even a star system’s, although fan lore has long held that it is shouldn’t be done.

Zeta Reticuli is a real binary star system (consisting of Zeta-1 and Zeta-2 Reticuli) about 39 ly from Earth. It first appeared in a chart in ENT: “Cold Front”. In UFO lore, it is allegedly the home of the Grey aliens, also known as Reticulans.

George Samuel Kirk, Sr. is Jim and George Jr.’s father, who was played by Chris Hemsworth in Star Trek (2009), where he was first officer of the USS Kelvin in 2233. In the novel Final Frontier by Diane Carey he was first officer under Robert April on the maiden voyage of Enterprise.

Argus II could be related to Gamma Argus II, which was listed in production art in TNG: “Conspiracy”. The map on Ortegas’ console shows a system of four planets.

General Order 24 (TOS: “A Taste of Armageddon”) orders the destruction of “the entire inhabited surface of [a] planet.” Its mention here settles a long fan debate about whether Kirk was making it up when he ordered Scotty to implement it in “Armageddon”.

Increasing phaser power by routing it through the warp core became part of Enterprise’s design when it was refitted following the five-year mission (TMP).

Nadions are particles emitted when energy weapons like phasers or disruptors are used. The TNG Tech Manual says that nations can disrupt nuclear forces and free atomic nuclei. Nadion radiation can be fatal (VOY: “Nothing Human”) or used to slow the progress of a disease (DS9: “Extreme Measures”).

The Andorian leader, Tuur, says he has no love for Vulcans. In the 22nd century, Vulcans and Andorians were in a near constant state of hostilities (ENT: “Shadows of P’Jem”). Tuur is played by Currie Graham, who also acted in the Star Trek fan production Of Gods and Men.

As stated in “The Doomsday Machine”, if a medical officer certifies the commander medically or psychologically unfit, they may be relieved under Order 104, Section C.

Reeger's line, "And when that ship attacks again — and it will — the blood, the terror, will be on your head," is also another allusion to "Balance of Terror".

Pike tells Uhura, “You can do everything right, and sometimes things still don’t work out the way we hoped.” This echoes Picard’s advice to Data in TNG: “Peak Performance”: “[I]t is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”

Hemmer was Enterprise’s Aenar engineer, who Uhura referred to earlier in conversation with Tuur, and who sacrificed himself in SNW: “All Those Who Wander”.

The script seems to want to excuse George Kirk Sr.'s stalled career and absence as a parent when the brothers were growing up to Reeger's sabotage, but if that malice only dates back to the Klingon War and the Battle of Zeta Reticuli, it's only been about 4 or 5 years since the war ended.

This may be the first episode this season not to be a clear genre homage (although Crimson Tide would do), but "badmiral" episodes are a staple in Star Trek.

From the new Le Creuset Star Trek collection.

Tl;Dr - everybody on Voyager lacks the most basic of common security sense, and roams the delta quadrant with the naivety of children. Discuss.

Long version: Let me preface by stating that we've watched all of TNG and DS9, and we're approaching the end of Voyager, so maybe I'm just burned out on Trek's writing in general, but why do so many of Voyager's plots require a complete lack of security common sense to work?

Case in point: we've just watched "Repression", wherein Tuvok has been attacking and mind melding with all of the old Marquis crew, who have now all recovered from their mystery comas and been put straight back on duty. Tuvok is in the brig talking with Janeway. Not only did they let him keep his combadge, but when he uses it to relay a bunch of strange words to Chakotay, who replies that he "understood", Janeway at no point thinks it might be prudent to have Chakotay immediately detained. This leads to a full ship takeover and Janeway almost getting killed.

Then literally the very next episode a random trader is able to straight up steal the doctor out from under everyone's noses. I know the internet was in its infancy when Voyager was created and we were all pretty naive about data security, but come on!

So many plots rely on critical systems being wide open for anyone to tamper with, or crew members lacking the most basic of common sense and/or being way too trusting of complete strangers.

I appreciate that it would be a pretty boring show if everything was locked down and people did their jobs properly, and that I might as well be complaining about the fallacy of Holodeck safety protocols, but I had to get it off my chest!

If it weren't for the fact that it's become a bit of a running joke to point out all of the ways a major plot device could've been avoided I think we'd have stopped watching a couple of seasons ago.

Has Trek always been this way, or is the writing on Voyager just particularly lazy/bad?

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/86718566/chapters/245447406 Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1655942552-star-trek-mar-del-plata-english-episode-3-forced

I hope you like it!

Captain's Log: We are heading toward a sector of the Alpha Quadrant where Hirogens have recently been detected following their arrival after a long journey. They are a race of hunters from the Delta Quadrant, first encountered by the USS Voyager, which discovered and made use of their communications network before later facing them in person on Stardate 51501.4.

We are dealing with hunters who seek prey across the galaxy. Our mission is to neutralize them, repel them, and, if necessary, destroy them. I hope we will not have to resort to extreme measures.

Commander Antos struck up a conversation with Captain Mark.

"Captain, we know very little about the Hirogens and the Breen. Sometimes I find myself wondering about things, like whether they enjoy music as much as we do."

"I don't know, Number One. I don't think the Breen necessarily have helmets designed for listening to music."

"Now that I think about it, don't you play any instruments? On other Federation ships, it's fairly common for crews to form bands during their free time."

"I don't see the point in playing an instrument when you can generate music with a computer without needing one." he replied in a neutral tone.

"Perhaps, but... there's something captivating about doing things the old-fashioned way."

"Not in my case."

Chief of Security David detected signals on his console.

"We're detecting warp signatures heading toward our position. A vessel is approaching."

"On screen." Mark ordered.

"A mixture of ship components... Romulan, Cardassian..." Antos observed.

"Pakleds!" Mark exclaimed. "Pilot, get us out of here."

"We can't move. They're trying to grab us with an amplified tractor beam. I've never seen anything with this much power!" said helmsman Stross.

"Try to establish communications with the Pakled vessel."

"We're receiving a message," said Stross. "Just one word: 'Stay.'"

"I'm detecting that the tractor beam is weakening at impulse speed. If we keep this up, we'll break free without any damage!" David reported.

"Whatever they're looking for, they can't have good intentions. Increase impulse speed."

Just as they were about to break free from the tractor beam, the Pakled vessel launched several spheres that embedded themselves into the USS Mar del Plata.

"Captain," said David, "there are one-meter-diameter spheres that have just attached themselves to the hull, right where the phasers are located."

"They're attempting to establish communications with us." Stross stated.

"They made us wait. Put them on screen."

The typical face of a male Pakled appeared on the screen: grayish-brown skin, vertical eyebrows, and a wrinkled face. He was their captain.

Without hesitation, Mark Epsilon was concise.

"You are violating the integrity of a Starfleet vessel. Do you understand what that means?" Then, in a sterner and more forceful tone, he shouted, "Would you mind telling me what the hell you just did?!"

"I... wouldn't want to ruin any surprises."

"What surprise are you talking about? What you're doing could be considered a threat."

"Threat? We only need help, one way or another. We asked you to stay, but you moved."

"There are ways to ask for assistance, and this isn't one of them. Besides, it's not that we're known for judging people prematurely, but we've already had previous attempts at betrayal from Pakleds. So I suggest you make your intentions clear, or I'll have to order you to leave Federation territory."

"You help Pakleds, Pakleds go."

"We can discuss that in another sector, but not here. We're not safe. There are hunter vessels in the area."

"Help Pakleds, Pakleds go."

"Captain," David said, "I think they're only going to understand the hard way."

"Wait a moment, Captain!" the commander exclaimed. "We don't know how the Pakleds might react if we attack them. They might leave us alone, or they might throw more things at us."

"I don't like resorting to this, but it seems I have to agree with Tactical this time," the captain replied. "Open fire. Consider this a warning shot."

"Fire? How will you do that?" the Pakled said on screen, furrowing his brow in complete confusion.

"Initiate phaser fire against the Pakled vessel."

The phasers activated and emitted a flash, but none of the beams struck the vessel.

"Captain," said Stross, "the phasers are blocked. The spheres are slowly expanding, and they're covering the emitters."

The Pakled smiled deviously while scratching his back.

"What exactly are they doing?" the captain asked.

"Help Pakled ship, then talk. We send more information. You obey to help." he replied before cutting communications.

The captain activated his communicator to speak with Yimak.

"Engineering, prepare a report on whatever is covering our phasers."

"We received a report. I think we're going to have to cooperate with them." Antos suggested.

"Let's see what they need..."

Captain's Log, Supplemental: The Pakled vessel withdrew after sending us a report. It begins with a promise to remove the spheres if we comply with their request. The Pakled captain sent the report in written digital form, as his verbal communication is quite rudimentary.

The Pakled vessel has five missing crew members whom we are expected to rescue with the little information they have provided.

The Pakled vessel will remain in contact with us while it stays within a few light-years of our position. The Hirogens are nearby, and we have no Starfleet reinforcements available at this precise moment. We are therefore forced to work for them in exchange for information on how to recover our weapons.

Narad had gone with several other crew members aboard the ship, wearing their spacesuits to scan the spheres that had become attached to the hull.

Once they returned inside the ship, everyone went back to their stations to resume their routine and follow Yimak's direct orders. Narad, however, began conducting his own studies, using the computers located near the warp reactor in Engineering to learn more about the material the spheres were made of and how to remove them.

Later, the senior officers gathered in a conference room to discuss what to do next.

"Chief Engineer Yimak, I hope you have your report." said the captain.

"The spheres appear to be a compound that resists and even absorbs nadion radiation, and they also expand when exposed to other types of particles. Even if we do nothing, they're going to keep growing larger and larger."

"Any way to destroy them? Do you know where this technology comes from?"

"I ran simulations using different frequencies, but they absorb them regardless. There's nothing in the database that resembles this. They may have obtained it by stealing it from an inventor, or..." Yimak raised two fingers to enumerate the possibilities. "It could be an invention of the Pakleds themselves, which I highly doubt."

"Commander," said the captain. "What do you think we should do?"

"The Pakleds asked us for help. I reviewed the report we received with Stross. According to the details they sent us, they mention a mysterious probe that abducted some of their people. They're the same species that captured Captain Picard on Stardate 43714.1. Five members of the crew were replaced with doppelgängers, exact duplicates. It seems the Pakleds know each other very well, because they quickly realized they weren't the real ones."

"So now they're asking us to rescue them, but the Hirogens could be in this sector. Without phasers, we're vulnerable. Maybe the Pakleds will remove these things once we rescue the five crew members, but are we doing the right thing by trusting them? Pakleds aren't exactly known for keeping their word..." Mark inquired.

"They might try to steal technology from us afterward," Antos pointed out. "One thing to keep in mind is that our scanners don't detect any Starfleet components making up their ship, so perhaps they're missing something from our collection, or maybe... they don't have any because they're not interested in stealing from Starfleet."

"That's an interesting point of view, Commander. Let's search for signals from that probe. The sooner we get this over with, the better."

Narad was still investigating how to destroy the spheres.

Being an enthusiast, she was more creative and open-minded than the others, so she tried dozens of combinations using things she had learned at the Academy, going over her notes.

She ran a simulation involving a discharge generated by the shields. The computers produced mathematical results, but she wanted to test it in the holodeck to see if the outcome would be different.

Chief of Security David was frequently calling for reinforcements, but there were no available Starfleet vessels that could respond to the USS Mar del Plata.

He went to deliver the bad news to his superiors. They were on their own.

"Captain, the five Pakleds are right here." Stross reported.

"Any ship or planet?"

"Negative. There's nothing but the emptiness of space." Stross replied.

"Maybe they're using a cloaking device." the commander suggested.

"No, I think I know what they're doing. The signals are similar to those produced by warp speed. They may have managed to create a test field in subspace or another dimension, which means they're not in a physical location." the captain explained before contacting the transporter room. "Hecate, I've located five Pakleds. Try to beam them aboard. Try different configurations."

"Yes, sir."

Narad had finished her experiment in the holodeck, so she downloaded the data and ran to Yimak to tell her about her discovery.

The young Ferengi engineer jogged down the clean, pale corridors of the USS Mar del Plata, hyperventilating as she went.

Some of the crew members looked at her as she anxiously muttered to herself.

She quickly entered the reactor room.

"Chief Engineer! I know how to remove the spheres!"

"Is it an idea?"

"No, it was a theory, and I just confirmed it! The material in the spheres is similar to boron-10. There's a way to destroy it."

"I hope I don't ruin your excitement, but there isn't a phaser frequency capable of destroying them. I've already looked into it myself."

"The phasers aren't capable of doing it, but the shields are. I found a way to generate a discharge that would cause the spheres to deteriorate. I just sent the data to your console."

The chief engineer reviewed the data with a poker face.

"Narad, doing this would leave us without shields for several minutes while they regenerate. Besides, it wouldn't protect us from any more of those spheres."

"Actually, it creates a residual effect. Any spheres that come into contact with it would melt. I already ran the tests both on the consoles and in the holodeck."

"It's risky. The hull would be vulnerable to other attacks."

"That's why I hurried here! The sooner we do it, the safer it will be to use."

Yimak spent about ten seconds analyzing the situation, never taking her eyes off the report as she nodded.

"It looks like we have no other choice. I'll inform the captain and the commander about your experiment."

"Thank you for supporting me on this, Chief!"

Meanwhile, they had found a way to beam the five Pakleds aboard from a laboratory located inside a kind of pocket dimension.

On the bridge, they spotted a Hirogen vessel approaching. It had already dropped out of warp and was closing in at impulse speed.

The problem was that the phasers were still blocked.

The ship went to red alert.

They raised the shields while the transporter room worked on a way to rescue the Pakleds. Red lights flashed throughout the ship.

"Tactical, do we have access to the photon cannons, or are they blocked as well?"

"Yes, sir. Photon torpedoes are our only available weapons." David replied.

"Helmsman, try to establish communications with the Hirogen vessel."

"They're receiving our signal, but they're not responding."

The ship was then attacked by a sequence of five green plasma blasts that struck the shields.

"Damage report."

"Shields at ninety-five percent. Although I notice these attacks are designed to weaken the shields. I assume they'll switch tactics once we're weakened." David explained.

"Or perhaps they'll board us. That would make more sense for a race of fierce hunters." Mark Epsilon realized.

Chief Engineer Yimak arrived on the bridge via the turbolift.

"Captain, Commander, Engineer Narad has conducted some research that could be useful to us."

"I don't know if this is the best time." the commander growled.

"Feel free to speak." the captain replied with nerves of steel.

"There's a way to overload the shields and trigger a discharge that will melt the spheres attached to us. We would recover our weapons, but we'd have to wait for the shields to recharge."

The ship was attacked again one minute after the previous attack, and once again the integrity of the shields was reduced by five percent. At this rate, the ship would be without shields in eighteen minutes.

In the transporter room, Hecate reported that she had figured out a way to beam the five Pakleds aboard, but it couldn't be done while the shields were raised.

The captain thought over the situation for thirty seconds.

"This will be the plan. Initiate the discharge." Mark Epsilon ordered. "Once we're without shields, helmsman Stross will begin evasive maneuvers while the transporter room rescues the five Pakleds. With the phasers, we'll counterattack their warp core to prevent them from transporting here."

Yimak put the plan into action in Engineering. The shields were at 65%, but they could still perform the overload.

At 45%, they initiated the overload.

Everything went as Narad had predicted. The ship's shields emitted a white flash and shattered like glass.

The spheres began to dissolve.

Under other circumstances, they would have been prepared for the Hirogens. The phasers could now be used, but without shields, the Hirogens might board the ship.

In the transporter room, five bulky Pakleds stood there, bewildered, looking at one another.

"It seems the raiders detected that we're from Starfleet. The laboratory disappeared, but this time they didn't come for us like they did with the Enterprise," Antos reported.

"I suppose Picard's experience of having a taste of his own medicine, combined with their telepathy, must have left them with a rather strong fear of us. Unfortunately, not enough to leave other species alone." Mark Epsilon reflected. "Now we have to deal with these Hirogens."

"Captain, the Pakleds are already in the transporter room, and the Pakled vessel is heading this way!" Stross reported.

"Understood, helm. Send my congratulations to the transporter room and have them bring a security team. We don't want them trying anything strange. Establish communications with the Pakled vessel, maintain evasive maneuvers, and change the weapons targeting to neutralize the Hirogens."

The Pakled who had neutralized them appeared on the screen once again.

"Were they rescued?"

"That's right."

"Did you get the trap out?"

"We found a way to remove it on our own, but we'll need support against the Hirogen vessel."

"Understood. Do we attack?"

"Disable their weapons, and cover us while you're at it."

The USS Mar del Plata opened fire with its phasers on the Hirogen vessel's weapons, but they were the toughest part of the ship. But with the Pakleds' help, they believed they could stand a chance against them.

Before the Hirogens could attack, the Pakled vessel moved in front of the USS Mar del Plata to protect its hull.

They then began counterattacking the weapons, but that was useless as well.

The captain called the Pakleds again.

"Pakled vessel, new orders: destroy their shields and then their ship. The lives of my entire crew and your five crew members are at stake."

"Understood..."

"Sir!" scream the commander, "perhaps we could take down their shields and destroy their warp core instead of blowing them up."

"That wouldn't protect us from their attacks, and besides, if they can't move, they'll have even more reason to board us. I have to protect the crew. There's no other choice but to resort to violence, to give those hunters what they're looking for: a battle. We won't be the prey."

The Hirogen vessel attempted to flank the Mar del Plata, but the Pakled vessel resisted it. When they subsequently had a clear firing solution, the Federation vessel attacked, destabilizing the Hirogens' targeting.

They repeated the maneuver: attack, protect, and give them an opportunity to attack the USS Mar del Plata.

"Communications?" the captain inquired.

"None." the helmsman reported.

"Just as I expected. They won't surrender."

The USS Mar del Plata's shields had partially regenerated.

The Hirogen vessel managed to strike the ship's shields.

"Shield integrity at 23%."

Captain Mark Epsilon initiated a maneuver, going to maximum impulse to quickly flank from the opposite side of the Hirogen vessel. They moved fast enough that the Hirogens barely had time to detect that they had even moved, very similar to Picard's maneuver, only without making a jump or been in front of the enemy ship.

And so, the Hirogen vessel was unable to withstand the might of Starfleet, nor the amalgamation of Pakled technology.

Attacked from opposite sides, the hull of the Hirogen vessel was compromised. Space was illuminated by a green explosion, which merged with a red one caused by the implosion of its weapons and the destruction of its warp reactor.

A mixture of colors that glowed like a highly radioactive torch.

The mission had been completed, with no casualties on either side, but they had been unable to stop the Hirogens without having to kill them.

After destroying the Hirogens, the Pakled vessel partially fulfilled its part of the deal by showing us another way to destroy the spheres they had launched at us.

They also requested a diplomatic meeting with the captain, which led to them meeting face-to-face. Pakleds wanting diplomacy? That was quite surprising.

Mark Epsilon agreed, so both captains were sitting down for tea in the captain's quarters aboard the USS Mar del Plata.

"You must be the most talkative Pakled I've ever met. Even so, I find it difficult to understand you. Do you want to join Starfleet?"

"Space very dangerous, alliance very safe. Formal request for nomadic Pakled peoples and not-so-nomadic Pakled peoples, future of collaboration together."

"I'll communicate that to the admirals. They will evaluate your request."

"Pakled ship wants Starfleet. Be part, unite."

"In the hypothetical event that you were to join Starfleet, there are several things you need to know. The first is that if what you needed was help, we could have rescued your crew members without the need for extortion. Communication is the embodiment of our fundamental principles."

"Panicked Pakled ship. Did not know how to act. Opportunity not to waste."

"There's something to keep in mind about Starfleet. All of us undergo training to control our emotions during every mission. The other thing you need to work on is communication. It's important for diplomacy. Acting on impulse can be reckless. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes. I hope to be a good student. I am... We are eager to become part of Starfleet."

The captain of the Pakled vessel departed theUSS Mar del Plata through the transporter room, saying, "Things can change, things can improve."

I just found out about the "@TNG_S8" Star Trek parody twitter account and would love to read through it... anywhere other than on X (because fuck Elon).

Any ideas?

The episode title alludes to the famous opening narration of the long-running television soap opera, Days of Our Lives: "Like sands through the hourglass, so go the days of our lives." Soap operas, the subject of this episode's homage, are best known for melodrama and plot twists. Incidentally, Days is broadcast on NBC/Paramount. Chronitons are technobabble particles associated with time travel.

The bright and hazy environment is typical of the lighting in daytime soaps, which are usually shot on video. “The dreaded Abbott-Chancellor Collision” is a reference to two rival families in The Young and the Restless. The dramatic pauses, looking to the side, camera angles, music and excessive exposition are all imitative of the style of soaps.

Pike hears the dramatic music, which means it is diegetic in nature. He wonders if he’s back in the musical (SNW: “Subspace Rhapsody”) or in a simulation (SNW: “A Space Adventure Hour”).

Dr Elanor Chivers is played by Deidre Hall, who has played the character of Dr Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives for 50 years. Old fogeys like me also remember her as Electra Woman on the Sid and Marty Krofft series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Chivers is described as the ship’s counselor, which is a position that until now we did not think existed on 23rd century starships but was only established in the 24th century with officers like Deanna Troi. In an early draft of TNG: “Relics”, Troi says that counselors were only assigned to starships starting in 2330. Prior to that, the role of looking after the ship’s psychological welfare seemed to come down to medical officers like McCoy. That being said, in the fan production Star Trek Continues, Kirk’s Enterprise had a ship’s counselor, Dr Elise McKenna, played by Michele Specht.

The teaser ends with the reveal that the trickster cosmic entity (unnamed but definitely Trelane from TOS: “The Squire of Gothos”) from SNW: “Wedding Bell Blues” is behind this. Sadly, they didn’t do a soap-opera remix of the theme for this.

Sybok (ST V) is the half-brother of Spock and a v’tosh ka’tur, one who rejects the denial of emotion that Vulcan society demands and embraces it. He was mentioned last in SNW: “The Serene Squall” as being imprisoned at the Ankeshtan K'Til Vulcan Rehabiltation Center on the 3rd Moon of Omicron Lyrae, where he used the alias Xaverius. Sybok was played by Laurence Luckinbill in ST V, who did not resemble Leonard Nimoy in the slightest (the role was originally written for Sean Connery) but is played by Ethan Peck here, likely because plot twists like “evil twins” are also a common soap trope, as are secret offspring.

Trelane starts to say his name but only gets as far as “Tre—“ before Pike cuts him off, preserving the idea that we don’t get his name until his proper debut in “The Squire of Gothos”.

The fact that Pike understands what a soap opera doesn’t necessarily mean the format has survived to the 23rd century (although given Ferengi television - LD: “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” - who knows?), because Pike has a fondness for classic media (SNW: “Strange New Worlds”).

Some of our younger viewers may not know that they literally did say “and now for a word from our sponsors” before ad breaks on television, much like YouTubers do nowadays.

The recipe book’s blank pages may be a reference to the days when television props weren’t as detailed as they are now because without HD television, nobody could really see it.

The robes and elaborate headdress of Trelane’s proctor resemble Q’s judge’s robes first seen in TNG: “Encounter at Farpoint”.

“Vulcans can’t engage in subterfuge,” is a misconception. Vulcans (and Spock) are perfectly capable of lying (TOS: “The Enterprise Incident”, et al.). Kal-toh is a Vulcan logic puzzle game, playable solo or with an opponent. It was first seen in VOY: “Alter Ego”, several times in VOY and later on in LD and PIC. 

“Space madness”, like “cosmic amnesia” might refer to the habit of pulp science fiction to make something typical seem exotic by affixing a prefix to it. In TOS: “The Naked Time”, Spock says, “It could be some sort of space madness we’ve never heard of.” 
Sybok here paraphrases his dialogue from ST V: “Each man hides a secret pain. It must be exposed and reckoned with. It must be dragged from the darkness and forced into the light. Share your pain. Share your pain with me and gain strength from it.”

The Arachnid Nebula was first mentioned in ENT: “Fusion”. There is no such nebula in real life, although the Tarantula Nebula exists in the Larger Magellanic Cloud, outside the Milky Way, some 160,000 ly from Earth.

Cadet A’Sha’s name has been in the credits when she has appeared, but this is the first mention in dialogue.

Uhura’s parents were killed (on Stardate 1443.2 as per this episode), along with her older brother, in a shuttle accident a week before she was due to start at the University of Nairobi where they taught. Her grandmother, a former Starfleet officer, inspired Uhura to enlist (SNW: “Children of the Comet”). 
Ortegas, together with M’Benga and others, was kidnapped aboard a Gorn ship in SNW: “Hegemony, Part I” at the end of Season 2, escaping in “Hegemony, Part II” at the start of Season 3. Ortegas says this was “last year”, which more or less jibes with my calculations that the current year is around 2262-63.

Trelane’s screens display the status: “technical difficulties” as we enter the act break. While “technical difficulties” that interrupted a broadcast did happen, there is a trope that uses it as a euphemism when there is a need to cut transmission but not reveal why to the audience, like it is here.

Spock’s blood is definitely green here, despite showing red bruises in SNW: “Off-Hour”. The X-ray type scan shows his heart around where a human liver should be (TOS: “Mudd’s Women”). Having Sybok donating a cloned heart to Spock and lying next to him echoes Sarek’s cryogenic open heart procedure in TOS: “Journey to Babel” where Spock was also lying next to his father while donating blood for the operation.

Pike dealt with time travel most recently in SNW: “Valles Marineris”, zombie Klingons in SNW: “Last Shuttle to Kenfori” and his lover Marie Batel’s ascension in SNW: “New Life and New Civilizations”. 
 Juliet Pike, played by Anna Mirodin, was Pike and Batel’s daughter in the vision created by Batel in “New Life and New Civilizations”, although she was only named in the credits. Two weeks ago was Pike’s last memory, hosting a Captain’s Table, before waking up at the start of this episode, as stated earlier. This is Galor III’s first mention in lore, although the Cardassians have Galor-class cruisers (TNG: “The Wounded”), and Galor IV was the site of a Starfleet Research facility (TNG: “The Offspring”). 

The stardate is 2654.9, and it’s established that Sybok’s appearance is not the same as Spock’s. Dr Chivers is apparently real, though. In the part of the vision we saw, Juliet was engaged to Elijah April, the son of Admiral Robert April.

I was wrong! The soap opera mix and titles comes after the credits. I don’t know what the Jackaroony cereal box is referencing, unless it’s the BBC children’s programme Jackanory, broadcast between 1965 and 1996, which featured actors reading stories aloud for the child audience.

If anyone’s counting, this is the fourth episode this season involving hallucinations (SNW: “The Griffin incident”, SNW: “Human Best Friend” and SNW: “Level-Five Transporter Accident” being the other three). At least Spock didn't hallucinate this time. 


Logline

A temporal anomaly traps the crew inside a soap-opera reality while Pike confronts a life he lost.

Written by: Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff

Directed by: Anna Dozoka