Daddy-Sodes for Father's Day

Ok, so I'm bad at holidays. I should've written this last night but instead I was working on the second Awesome Jones novel and watching the Dodgers and thinking about an upcoming post about Game of Thrones and Bleak House. Father's Day wasn't really on my mind. I did manage to order a present for my dad but it won't get there until like Tuesday.

Anyway, my dad is a huge part of why I'm into Trek and, really, why this blog even exists (such as it is these days) so it's only fitting that I should write a post about the dads of Star Trek.

The folks in Star Trek tend to have rather complicated relationships with their dads. I get it. My dad and I are about as close as we can get given who we are and our past together. I've written about that before. So, in honor of father's day, here are a few episodes that showcase some of the great (and not so great) dads of Trek.

1- Sarek/Spock: Journey to Babel
It seems like I write about this episode all the time. I love this one. DC Fontana's telling of the complicated, bi-cultural, bi-racial, father-son relationship between Spock and Sarek laid the groundwork for so much of Spock's character. Sarek is stoic, cold, a little snarky and quintessentially Vulcan and Spock tries as hard as he can, in spite of his human blood, to be just the same. It's a family drama wrapped up in a murder mystery and served with plenty of festive neon food cubes.

2- Worf, Son of Mogh: Sins of the Father, Birthright
Sometimes all you have is your dad's legacy. But, sometimes a man's legacy can cast a longer shadow over you than the man ever could. I don't know how many times the phrase, "Worf, son of Mogh" is uttered in Star Trek but, man, last year it seemed like I heard it every five minutes. In Sins of the Father and Birthright, Worf has to face with his father's possible wrong-doings and then take them upon himself. In Birthright, he gets to the bottom of what really happened to his father and some of the other Klingons at Khitomer.

3- Rom/Nog: Heart of Stone, Facets
From the beginning of DS9, Nog sets out to better himself through education and, for a long time, we don't really get his motivation. Then, in Heart of Stone, when no one takes his dream of joining Starfleet seriously, he finally confesses that he doesn't want to end up like his father. The speech he gives Sisko is beautiful and heartfelt and perfectly portrays the complicated ways our parents' decisions effect us. In Facets, we see the other side. While Dax is getting her past-life on, Quark attempts to sabotage Nog's Starfleet entrance exam and Rom catches on. This usually timid dad isn't about to let Quark mess with his kid's chances at a better life and his fury is sweet and justified.

4- Sarek/Spock: Unification Part 1
We've known since "Sarek" that Spock's dad is fighting a losing battle with Bendii Syndrome. The decorated ambassador has always been closed off toward his son but, so close to death, he reveals his complicated emotions regarding Spock. I love Sarek and I love every Sarek episode and this one is no exception. The Sarek/Picard combo is a beautiful thing.

5- Neelix/Naomi: Once Upon A Time
Alright, I get that a whole lot of folks hate Naomi and a whole lot of other folks hate Neelix and this bothers me not at all. I love both of these characters and, while Once Upon A Time's goofy holosuite characters can be a little much, the emotional undercurrent of this one more than makes up for it. Neelix is Naomi's god-father and he's read her to sleep since she was a teensy baby. Naomi's mama is a busy science officer and when her shuttle gets caught in an ion storm and no one can reach her, it's up to Neelix to break the news to Naomi and then take care of her in her time of great need.

6- Janeway/Seven: Hope and Fear
Sometimes your mom is your dad. In the case of Voyager, Janeway is pretty much everyone's single mom and she parents her crew through seven years of Delta Quadrant craziness. In Hope and Fear, it looks like they might finally have a means of escape. They'll be back in the Alpha Quadrant in no time! Everyone's excited--except Seven, who isn't sure she has any business on Earth. Janeway and Seven are at cross purposes through this entire story but, when they're stuck together on an alien bridge, Seven's emotions are revealed and Janeway is there for her.

7- Ben/Jake: The Visitor
Welp, I pretty much saved the best for last. This is the ultimate Star Trek daddy-sode. Benjamin Sisko is a pretty great dad (most of the time) and nowhere in DS9 is this showcased more than in The Visitor which always, every single time, never ever fails to make me ugly cry into my pillow. If you only watch one of these episode today (or ever) watch this one.

Star Trek Mix Tape: Momisodes

I was born when my mom was pretty young. Ten years and a whole lot of ridiculousness passed and my mom had another kid--my little sister. Another ten years and even more ridiculousness passed and my mom had another kid--my baby brother. These two kids account for half of my siblings (my dad also got into some ridiculousness as well and produced my little twin sisters) and three decades of my mom's life. Every time one of us started growing out of childhood, my mom made another kid which means that for thirty years she has been Santa. She has been the Easter Bunny. She's been the homework helper, the shoulder to cry on, the taxi service to play rehearsal or academic team or little league.

And you know what?  For thirty years, she's been amazing at that stuff. She loves it. This year my little brother is finally growing out of his childhood and into tween-ness and for the first time in thirty years my mom won't be Santa or the Easter Bunny. But she'll still be there for all three of us in all of the unique ways that we need her to be.

For my crazy mom, and your crazy mom and you (if you're a crazy mom) I made the following Star Trek Mix Tape:

1-TOS: Journey to Babel
This is one of my all time favorite TOS episodes. Amanda Greyson and Sarek--Spock's parents--show up on the Enterprise and cause all kinds of under-the-surface-emotional-trauma for Spock. Amanda is such an interesting character all by herself. She's a human, married to a Vulcan ambassador and has taken up the Vulcan ways even though it's clear Vulcan's have a somewhat disdainful (read: xenophobic) attitude toward humans. She's not only married into this completely non-emotional culture but produced a son who also follows the Vulcan path and her handling of these stoic men is really nicely done.

2-TOS:  Devil In The Dark
This is one of the first episodes of TOS I remember watching as a kid. It totally blew my little kid mind and, when it first aired, The Horta became an instant part of classic Trek.

3- TNG: Remember Me
Beverly is totally ship mom on Picard's Enterprise. She mothers practically everyone but especially her actual kid, Wesley. In "Remember Me" she realizes the Enterprise crew is slowly vanishing but no one can even remember them existing. Its an effectively creepy, quiet episode which grows more claustrophobic and strange as the story moves along. Finally, Beverly realizes the key to her survival is her connection to her son.

4-TNG: Family
I'm not sure exactly when we learn that Worf was raised by human parents. Seems like it's pretty early on. But it's not until after the Borg attack in Season Three that we get to see them and Helena Rozhenko is a force to be reckoned with. It couldn't have been easy raising a Klingon child in a human culture and Helena talks about the struggles that a lot of adoptive parents face.

5- TNG: Interface
Here, Geordi gets word that his mom's ship has gone missing. Right around this time, he's also checking out the possibilities/limitations of a virtual reality probe and hears his mother's voice calling to him from a wrecked ship within a gas giant. Convinced that his mother is still alive, he takes the probe's interface system into dangerous territory to find and save her. This one deals as much with the loss and letting go of one's mom as anything else and, for that reason, it's bitter sweet. It's also perfectly played by LeVar Burton.

6- DS9: Take Me Out To The Holosuite/For The Cause
I loved Kasidy Yates and her relationship with Jake was great. She's an excellent example of a step-mom-gone-right. But, like a lot of DS9, her character development was a slow progression. It's hard to point to a single episode that showcases their relationship. So, instead, I picked two that exemplify Kasidy's greatness as a character and a woman. "For The Cause" shows Kasidy standing up for her ethics even when it means losing the people she loved. "Take Me Out To The Holosuite" shows her taking on the Vulcans in a game of baseball right along with Jake and Ben.

7- DS9: Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night
I'm not gonna lie, this is not a fun episode to watch. That being said, this is a mighty good one. On the anniversary of Kira's mom's birthday, Gul Dukat spills the beans to her about her mom's true fate in the Bajoran Occupation. When she doesn't believe him, she uses a Bajoran orb to find the truth and the truth isn't pretty. Still, what Kira's mother did for her family is incredible and her sacrifice is exemplary of the power of a mother's love for her children.

8- Voyager: Basically All Of It
Janeway is a super mom. She moms everyone around her all day and all night and all day. She moms the hell out of this show for seven years and I love every bit of it. Of course, she's especially mom-ish to Kes and Seven. Her goodbye to Kes in "The Gift" is absolutely beautiful and her relationship with Seven is wonderfully showcased in "Think Tank" "Year Of Hell" and "Hope And Fear."

9- ENT: Home/Awakening
T'Pol's mom has a pretty rough exterior but she truly cares for her daughter and these episodes show us a mother with both a clear understanding of her own ethics and a deep love for her daughter. Again, Vulcan's aren't great at having/showing their feelings so any time you get into these complex "non-emotions" you're getting what Trek does best.

BONUS: All of Lwaxana in all of TNG. 

Star Trek Mix Tape: Super Powers & A Pretty Big Announcement

Star Trek is full of guys who are way more powerful than you or I or Kirk. And, I'm not talking about the regular super characters. Yes, Spock, Data, Troi, Odo, and Tuvok all qualify as extra-super-special in our world but, in the world of Trek, it takes some outside influence. Starfleet crews are constantly running up against immensely powerful alien peoples but, sometimes, one of their own exceeds the boundaries of their species and starts acting like some kind of freaked out super hero. It happens enough that I actually managed to pull together a super power-themed mix tape just for you.

1- Where No Man Has Gone Before

TOS: SSN 1, Ep 1 (Actually the second pilot they made) 

Before Sulu became helmsman there was Gary Mitchell. He just sitting around on the bridge, minding his own business, thinking about all the good times he and Kirk had had in the past, and insulting pretty ladies who don't so much want to get with him when he's struck (along with said pretty lady) by a crazy electric pulse. When he wakes up he has god-like powers and killer silver eyes. Spock's super worried about the whole thing but Kirk thinks his old chum will probably come around and stop acting like a jerk. Of course, we know how these things go. 

2- Hide and Q
TNG: SSN 1, Ep 10
Q shows up to stir the pot and dolls out some profound power to a beardless Riker.

To say he's happy about it is a bit of an understatement. 

Actually, Riker doesn't (who knows why) want Q's awesome-as-hell superpowers at first but eventually warms to them. He starts saving lives willy nilly, giving out his own (also inexplicably unwanted) gifts, and acting pretty much exactly like Q. 

Bonus Points: There's a nice long scene here wherein Picard and Q discuss one of the best soliloquies in Shakespeare when Q reads "What a piece of work is man..."from Hamlet.

3- Cold Fire

Voyager: SSN 2, Ep 10

Kes was always a somewhat strange character. Her species only lives about seven years and she came aboard already with some psychic gifts in tow. However, it wasn't until she met up with some renegade Okampans out in the Delta Quadrant that she began to truly hone her gifts. Unfortunately, she realizes in "Cold Fire" that, along with the excessive power, she also has some rather dark impulses. 

4- Plato's Stepchildren

TOS: SSN 3, Ep 12

Kirk's crew come upon a planet peopled by a small group of jerks with ridiculous powers who like to live like Greek gods and order everyone else around. Not surprisingly, after several hundred years of TV-less habitation, they decide they want to keep the Enterprise folks around as playthings. Between Spock, McCoy and Kirk, they figure out how to give themselves super powers so they can fight back. 

Bonus Points: This one features American TV's first interracial kiss-- the famous Kirk/Uhura liplock.

4- The Reckoning

DS9: SSN 6, Ep 21

I know Odo is basically a superhero 24-7 and Ben Sisko is practically a god but, for regular people like Kira and Jake, days pass without them having to worry about wielding mighty power for good or evil--until the prophets and pah-wraiths decide to have it out on the commissary. A prophet takes charge of Kira's body while Jake is inhabited by an evil Pah-Wraith and what ensues is a cross between Marvel and Harry Potter. 

5- The Nth Degree

TNG: SSN 4, Ep 19

After Barclay comes in contact with an alien probe, he wakes up in sickbay feeling a little super power-ey. He soon displays heightened intelligence, ability, and confidence. And, unlike the rest of the schmucks on this list, he's not only not asking questions, he's freaking thrilled. 

"I've finally become the person I've always wanted to be. Do we have to ask why?"

I wrote an entire post about this episode, my ongoing appreciation of Barclay, and my own wish for superpowers last year so I won't tread over all that stuff again. Suffice it to say, I love this one and it perfectly rounds out this mix tape.

Now it's time for the Big Announcement part of this post. Today, the cover of my first novel, Awesome Jones, was released by my publisher, Seventh Star Press:

This is a pretty big deal for me. This book has been a long time in the making and, in just about a week, it will be available for purchase! Check out Seventh Star's press release for more information. 

Star Trek MixTape: Crazy Alternate History Heart Rippers

So here's a feature that I've been planning since about October of last year but haven't been able to get around to it until right this very second. After a year of ALL OF STAR TREK, I sorta noticed a few things. Like, wow there are a lot of tropes that Trek really loves. It makes sense. There are only a certain number of stories you can tell about a group of 5-9 unflinching optimists on the edge of space in forty five minutes before you start to repeat. It happens.You get 726 episodes of a thing and eventually you gotta hit up some old material. And, that's ok. The reason these ideas recur is that they're generally good ones.

Now, about this post series: Remember back in the days of TNG, when you made mixtapes (or mixed tapes-- I asked google about this but she wouldn't give me a straight answer) for the current love of your life/current BFF? I say you because I never did this. For some reason I've always kept my music preferences to myself. I refuse to let anyone else in on my Pandora habits, let alone give them a handmade tape with all my fav songs. But, I've chosen to share my love of Trek with the world so, instead of a collection of tunes, here's the first entry in a series of Star Trek MixTapes: Crazy Alternate History Heart Rippers.

Star Trek first started their foray in Crazy Alternate History Heart Rippers way back in The Original Series. From here on out, every time a character got flung through spacetime and we all ended up crying into our cereal bowls, we thought about that first, gut punching episode--City On The Edge Of Forever. It set the standard and Trek ran with this idea. Seriously. Every single series had one of these.

So, here, I present to you a bunch of episodes that seem really silly at first but end up ripping your heart out:

1- TOS: City On The Edge Of Forever:
Kirk and Spock chase Tripping-Balls-Bones through a talking gateway and into 1930's Earth. Kirk (and me and you and everyone we know) falls in love with Edith Keeler but, as Spock tells us at the end of the first act: Edith Keeler Must Die. What follows is an exercise in the utterly devastating nature temporal causality.

2- TNG: The Inner Light:
A weirdo probe shows up and flashes a light at Picard who promptly passes out and wakes up on a strange planet where everyone calls him Kamin. He's married and his planet has some issues. He plays a flute and somehow even typing that makes me taste tears in my throat.

3- DS9: The Visitor:
Jake watches his dad die in an explosion only to return periodically--haunting/parenting Jake throughout his entire life. The father/son-ness of this one is so sincere and honestly-played that I just want to wander off into the kitchen and not come back until I've emotional binge eaten an entire box of cinnamon toast crunch.

4- Voyager: Course Oblivion
This one starts out with just about the happiest thing ever: Tom and B'Elanna's wedding. It takes a fast, hard turn into the most depressing part of the Delta Quadrant. As I watch my beloved crew try to do what any good, Starfleet ship would do, I find myself falling apart at approximately the same rate as Janeway and Paris.

5- Enterprise: Twilight
Archer saves T'Pol from a spatial anomaly and, as a consequence, loses his longterm memory, his command, and his entire planet. T'Pol refuses to leave his side and their resultant relationship is one of the sweetest, most beautiful things in this series.

So there ya go. Five episodes from me to you. These all take place in a pocket of space/time that sort of doesn't really exist and everything goes back to the way it was before--except our hearts. Those are ripped out and chucked through a dilithium powered engine going warp nine and the pieces are scattered throughout the stars.





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