Star Trek Social Club

Just grabbed the first part on DVD, as everyone's sold out of Blu-Rays, and I don't even own a functional BR player... plenty of third-party sellers on Amazon seem to have it in stock, whereas Amazon's got it marked as "shipping in 1-2 months" which likely means they are out of stock and hoping to get more, which might not happen.

I'd like to have the rest of it, but I suppose there's always sailing the seas for it.

Executive Producer Aaron Waltke’s list of positive ways to Save Prodigy include:

-- Completing your watch of season one. There are still a few days and completion stats count.

-- For those on Twitter and Mastodon using the hashtags #StarTrekProdigy and #SaveStarTrekProdigy.

— Using the ‘Save Prodigy’ avatars (linked here in an earlier post).

— Buying merchandise: DVDs, BlueRays, Actions Figures, Nintendo game etc. Much of this is already selling out in North America. In the UK, the DVD is now the top seller on Amazon.uk.

Additional options from fans that I’ve seen posted around social media to communicate your desire to Save Prodigy:

— Download Prodigy episodes from whatever streamer you watch Star Trek on (Paramount+, Crave Sky-Showtime etc.) or purchase season one and purchase to download from Amazon, Google etc.

-- Buy the chapter books for 8-10 year olds. 2 of 4 have been released, with the other 2 on preorder through major sellers.

-- Send a paper snail mail letter to the head of children’s programming at Paramount. I have seen this name and address posted elsewhere

Brian Robbins
President and CEO, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon
Chief Content Officer, Movies & Kids & Family, Paramount+
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036

-- Sign the Save Star Trek Prodigy petition if you’re willing to deal with the (now commercialized) platform and the ensuing spam. (Completely understand why most folks here would not want to.) The petition has reached nearly 10k supporters in less than 2 days. By comparison, the one calling for Star Trek Legacy took weeks to gain this level of support.

I'm rewatching it now, it's so well written that it almost stands out from the rest of the episode. It comes off like something from David Mamet or The West Wing. It's not Far Beyond The Stars or In The Pale Moonlight, the stakes of the episode are too low. But the material it gave all the actors to work with, the incredibly realistic way it weaves together different conversations going on between a large group, that the (really really good) acting abilities of the cast just get pushed over the top. It's all in one room, no effects, no cost except for the appearance of Bareil, but it's riveting, you can't stop paying attention. It's kind of a master class in writing. And it's buried after the opening credits in the second episode of season 2.

This is a long-running (13 years!) weekly discussion of Star Trek episodes, formerly on Twitter, but now hosted by Joe Sondow on Mastodon.

The discussions are on Tuesdays at 1300 PT / 1600 ET, and each week features a different episode. Questions are sourced from the community, and answers are shared on Mastodon.

This Tuesday's episode is Discovery's "Choose to Live".

Since many of us are relatively new to the Fediverse, I wanted to draw some attention to it - check it out!

Starfleet Design Twitter has provided a wide variety of ‘Save Prodigy’ images for use as social media avatars.

It’s one among many ways to show our support for those who are asking Paramount to reconsider, or at least demonstrate the show’s value to another global streamer.

I’ve adopted the Caitian (unsurprisingly) but are many to choose from.

Hope this is within the rules of this community. Tagging @ValueSubtracted@StarTrek.website to be sure.

Personally I would probably put "Devil's Due" at number one, but I realized not everyone can have such a refined taste in Trek.

Sometimes I feel like I'm part of the minority who actually enjoyed Enterprise. Sure, there were some stinkers but the world was incredibly interesting and in Series 3 / 4 I really felt like it scratched that Trek lore itch for me.

If Enterprise was to be rebooted for a series 5, perhaps on Paramount+ or another streaming service, what would it look like? I don't think Jolene Blalock would come back but I'm sure Scott Bakula could be convinced as well as most of the other actors.

I would really hope they keep the early 2000s aesthetic of the NX-01 and all of the retro low-tech gear, perhaps show a gradual transition into the aesthetic of Strange New Worlds. You could mix in some time shenanigans to explain why things look different than they did in TOS and make some fun callbacks, like In A Mirror Darkly.

There's a lot of room to move before the series finale happens - or you could just retcon it and present it as a deep cover-up. So many opportunities! I want to hear this community's opinions!

As a noob this is likely me, but I tried to start a community on another server and I can't see the post (my other account used to make said community) made and set as english. Unless it's just me being a noob, that can't be good. A cursory look seems to confirm that I can't see anything aside from "Undetermined".

In the scene between Q and Jean-Luc Picard, Q delivers an amazingly stirring monologue about the importance of one person, saying "Must it always have galactic import? Universal stakes? Celestial upheaval? Isn't one life enough?" This line is an impressive reminder that sometimes, saving a single individual can be just as important as saving a galaxy.

In this moment, we see a different side of Q - one that is vulnerable and sincere. Or was that his true side all along? The scene impresses the deep friendship between Q and Jean-Luc, as Q reveals his true motivation - to heal Jean-Luc's heart.

Overall, this scene is such a beautiful and touching moment that adds even more depth to these two already well-developed characters. It reminds me of the power of friendship and the importance of valuing individual lives.

"Humans. Your griefs, your pains, fix you to moments in the past long gone. You’re like butterflies with your wings pinned”. There is so much food for thought in this piece of wisdom alone. Every sentence in this scene has its place, has meaning beyond the words expressing it. Note also the stunning, subtle yet powerful soundtrack.

This scene and the one to follow is so well paced and delivered by John de Lancie and Patrick Stewart, it will stick with me for many years to come. I have rewatched it over and over. It alone makes the entire 3rd season worthwhile.

May we all remember to say this to someome from our heart. Almost nothing means more than that:

"You matter to me."

Spoilers for both episodes:

In the alternate future depicted in "A Quality of Mercy", Una has been in prison for the past seven years. In the main timeline, we now know that Una wins her trial and doesn't serve any prison time. How do we account for the fact that the same events led to two different outcomes?

This bugged me for hours yesterday. But after some thought and time, I think a solution exists!

We know, in the Prime timeline, that Pike literally risked his life to visit Neera (the Illyrian attorney). Her skills, and devotion to Illyrian rights, ultimately win the case. Therefore, in the alternate future, we must conclude that Pike did not take this same action.

The only difference between the two version of Pike, with regard to Una's trial anyway, is that the prime Pike had already seen the alternate future. He knew that if something drastic didn't happen, Una would lose and be imprisoned. This is why he sought an outspoken attorney from outside Starfleet.

It's interesting, then, to consider the fact that Una's victory was indirectly caused by Pike seeing the future - which was in turn caused by his first glimpse of the canon future back in Discovery. And if Una was fated to lose the trial without the interference of future knowledge, will this change have ramifications too? Is SNW now branched off of the original canon into its own timeline?

(Personally, I hope so! My wish is that SNW diverges from the Prime timeline, and finds a way for Pike to escape his fate without causing disaster. And that Spock & Chapel end up together.)

That article speculates that elements of Paramount (including CBS Studios, which produces Trek these days) could be sold off to other companies, perhaps even Netflix. This, however, doesn't get into the hairy discussion surrounding rights to the franchise.

I've been watching through ds9 for the first time and the show has always been good, even the first season I thought started fairly strong. And season 6 (as I've said in another post) has started really strong, with an actual deviation from the show's status quo that lasts longer than one episode.

But holy shit, this might be one of my favorite episodes. Not just of ds9, or star trek in general, but maybe of any show I've seen. And as far as I'm aware people barely talk about it.

The whole episode is essentially Dukat's facade of composure slowly breaking down. He's always been an interesting villain, and at times his insistence that he's doing his best can almost convince you that he might not entirely be the bad guy; that maybe he is, in some way, trying to do good.

And a lesser show might try to redeem him. But not ds9. Millions died under his command, people were sent to the deaths, and as long as he tries defend his actions in any way there's no room for redemption.

This episode finally breaks down all of his fake pretenses of helping Bajor, or trying his best to "rule with a softer hand." Finally his deception is broken down and reveals what he has always been. And it's done in the best way possible.

The scene where he finally breaks down is fantastic. No music, just Marc Alaimo acting his ass off. The panning back and forth between him talking to sisko and talking to the various voices in his head...

"And that is why you're not an evil man?"

From Wikipedia, "A practical effect is a special effect produced physically, without computer-generated imagery or other post-production techniques."

Some of my favorite practical effect species are from TOS. There's the Horta from TOS "The Devil in the Dark" s1e25. I was about 9 years old when I first saw the Horta episode. Old enough to know it wasn't real, but young enough to be utterly fascinated by something that looked like an angry chunk of hot lava making its way around on the ground.

TOS's the Salt Vampire's look scared little kid me. Truth be told, the way it looks still gives me the creeps.

The Gorn (TOS "Arena" s1e18) didn't scare me, but I thought it was intimidating. Sure, it looks like somebody in a lizard man suit. But, that Gorn had a knife! And, was trying to kill Kirk! Bonus points for the Gorn's sparkly, stylish armor.

I think tribbles are just adorable.

Spoiler Warning (of course)

Punch it!

So that is a vague title, but this is obviously spoiler related but it also felt fitting with what this post is about. I am going to be a corny emotional potato right now and I really needed this off my chest.

Also before you go reading my post and complain that is now what you want, it is mainly a self reflection post relating to being trans, transphobia, modern society etc. So if its not your cup o tea, gotcha but yeah. Also unsurprisingly in relation to that, yes I am trans. And I guess I should warn this post will deal with some societal issues, self loathing, emotions yada yada.

So even last season I felt that I could relate to Una's story, having to hide her identity as Illyrian because society deemed it illegal. We saw the anger and fear from La'an when she felt deceived alongside her own identity issues with being related to Noonien Singh. Now of course augments aren't a direct 1 - 1 the same as trans people and I am not trying to make that claim either. But I did read parts of it as allegorical for trans experiences, and I think its also partially intentional. I remember being a bit teary seeing La'an and Una's fight and everything else.

Then we got this absolutely amazing episode dealing with the aftermath. Of course we knew she would be safe but the journey there was what is interesting and this episode blew it out of it all.

Already seeing the way her identity was used and presented as some form of deception, as if she had lied to others and that it was harmful rings a very clear bell with both past histories of laws with lgbtq people but still do today. While I do not live in the US, seeing the laws presented these days, the moral panic and continuous attack made on trans people I see a clear connection. And even if I am not suffering under them, I still fear both for friends who do and the worry that those same laws might come to my country. We can't choose to be born like this, we never had that choice and yet it's argued that it should be used to exclude trans people. It leads to a lot of pain.

Knowing how laws where discussed, might even have passed of trans children being taken from their parents if doctors reported them under arguments of child abuse if they went in to health care providers made me think of the way Una could not get health care for the fear of being arrested with her family. This is of course most likely relatable aswell to a lot of other minorities. The whole passing argument how people where divided in two cities, and those that passed could live in society as everyone else, if they kept their identity hidden and if you didn't passed you would face persecution, hatred etc.

Not to mention when they mentioned all the slurs used, I found so many points where I could change the word augment for trans related things and it painfully made sense.

There was so much here but in the end that is not why I made this post, what actually made me just break down crying and hit so hard in feeling that I was told my own life was okay was this discussion between Neera and La'an.

Counselor: There is nothing wrong with you Lieutenant, no hidden monster inside. But I do know how they make us feel. They look down at us for so long that we begin to look down at ourselves. Genetics is not our destiny despite what you may have been taught. The fear of yourself it’s not your own. It was drilled into you. You’re not born a monster. You were just born with a capacity for actions, good or ill. Just like the rest of us…

While we talk about augments here again, there is a clear correlation with the notion of that self loathing that comes with being part of something you have no control over. That fear of being discriminated against but also the way people talk about you..

I have felt like a monster before for being trans. Same with freak, and a lot of other words. Both being told by strangers but also familiar people's reactions. Feeling like I was damaging their lives, feeling like I robbed my parents of the child they thought I had. The deceiver, liar. I still feel like that a lot of the time. And then just hearing those words, despite the varying context it helped. I felt a bit more at peace, or relieved to see that sort of affirmation on screen.

I don't know how many times I have feared my own existence, or worried what others will think or react. To feel lesser, faker but also potentially dangerous. I don't even know how to explain what it made me feel but I felt seen. I felt seen for the first time in forever on screen and it makes me feel less wrong. Despite everything bad in the world there still exists some good, some people that still see how wrong things can be, and I am happy Star Trek remains there, always optimistic about it despite the hardships.

This turned into a weird rambling post, I am not sure it made a lot of sense but I needed to share/vent somewhere.

Is the new episode of @startrek #StrangeNewWorlds already streaming in México?

Or should I go to the 🏴‍☠️🌊🏖️???

Reposting this from the SNW S2E2 thread as it was removed by a mod for being “off topic”.

For those not already familiar, Simon & Schuster offers a monthly ebook promotion with an array of Treklit across shows and eras.

It’s a great way to dip your toe into the Litverse at modest cost.

Recommended price is $ 0.99 in the USA through the major ebook sellers, with similar pricing offers in Canada and some other countries.

This month’s selection includes the Destiny trilogy from the Relaunch novelverse. It’s David Mack’s excellent alpha to omega story of The Borg, featuring the Enterprise under Picard, the Titan under Riker, and the Aventine under newly promoted Captain Ezri Dax, with a Voyager cameo as well.

There’s also the Worlds of DS9 series, some favourites from the TOS and TNG eras from Greg Cox, Christopher L Bennett and Michael Jan Friedman as well as tie-in books to the new series.

This month’s offer is available until July 3rd