The Vulcan Hello/Battle At The Binary Stars Vs Encounter At Farpoint

Before you ask, yes, I am still alive. Just really busy. Learning 2D animation is kind of intense and it eats up approximately 99% of my time. But you're not here to read about my personal misadventures (well, actually, maybe you are, I've definitely set a precedent for that) you're here because, for the first time in twelve years, there's a new Star Trek on television (well, a pay-per-month streaming service, but I'm not here to split hairs, unless maybe I am, I've also set a bit of a precedent for that) and, for whatever reason, you're interested in my thoughts regarding said new Star Trek.

Settle in, kids. This is a long one.

First off, a warning: There will be LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD so, if you don't want to be spoiled, just go ahead and stop here.

Discovery's pilot, A Vulcan Hello, finds Michael Burnham and her captain, Phillipa Georgiou, trekking around a desert planet hoping to help a species with their drought problems. When they get stuck under an incoming storm  and the Shinzhou's sensors can't locate them, Georgiou has the two of them walk in the shape of a giant Starfleet insignia and... somehow the Shinzhou can... pick them out from space? I don't know. In spite of this weirdness it's a fun moment but it still felt like a last minute addition to the pilot--something someone shoehorned in to say, "Hey! Please don't go anywhere! We promise this really is Star Trek!" because so much of the rest of the pilot feels kind of alien. 

But how alien? After finishing The Vulcan Hello I went over to (another monthly streaming service) Netflix and spooled up TNG's pilot, Encounter at Farpoint. And, as I watched, I asked myself, what is Star Trek? What does it mean? What does it set out to do? These are sort of big questions. But I've been writing this weird blog that is both about Star Trek and about the impact it's had in my life for four years now and I guess I've thought about these things as much as anyone.

FIRST OFF: WHAT I LOVED
-In spite of the silliness, I did love the chevron in the sand with the swell of the theme
-The line, "With respect, it would be unwise to confuse race and culture." Holy shit I love this line.
-Sonequa Martin-Green and Doug Jones are both well cast and perform in their roles admirably if, at times, a little stiff
-The Klingon language. This is, according to several Klingons I follow on Twitter, the most accurate version of Klingon we've ever seen on Trek because it comes from, hardcore fan and top Klingon grammarian, Robyn Stewart.
-Everyone calls Burnham, "Number One."
-Burnham uses logic to make the computer aid in her escape from the brig
-That sweet escape pod effect

NOW: GENERAL IMPRESSIONS and SOME HISTORY

So... both pilots are shaky. They move slower than they should because they are pilots and have a whole lot of exposition to get out. They both set up big questions, "Are humans worthy of space exploration or, even, existence at all?" and "Are humans (and this particular human specifically) ready to be part of a bigger and more nuanced galaxy than they had anticipated?" They both set out to feature strong female characters and both hit and miss the mark in ways that are both obvious and subtle. Both show off new, redesigned Klingons (even though both times the Klingons had been redesigned in interim movies.) They both feature a bit of a mystery (what's really going on at this space station/what's this weird object floating around in this part of space) and they both feature characters who struggle with their humanity (a must-have in Trek at this point.) They're both very clearly a product of their time both intentionally (when it's subtle) and unintentionally (when it's obvious and cringe-inducing) but that's also a solid Trekism now as well. Both have clunky dialogue and both, and this is important, came after a very long time without Trek on TV. 

When I was a kid, and TNG was about to premier, my parents (both die-hard Trekkies) almost didn't watch it. My mom grew up watching TOS with her little brother and cherished those memories and when I started this blog she told me how nervous she was about TNG saying that she was worried it would be too different... that something about it would taint those memories. My parents watched TNG anyway and loved it. And, because they loved it, I grew up on a steady diet of Trek. It's because they tried TNG that, on Sunday night, I found myself in the same position they were in thirty years ago. Thirty years ago today, in fact, was the premier of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

This morning, I asked my mom what she remembered about watching that premier. She said she remembers being worried, worried that they were remaking her Trek and that it didn't feel right but that she got totally involved with the new crew, especially Picard and Data and LaForge and Crusher and she was happy to see the way Starfleet had evolved over time. But, she was still hungry for her old Star Trek--her old TV friends. 

If I could go back in time, and watch Encounter at Farpoint with my mom, I would. I would ask her, "What do you think about these Klingons?" "What do you think about this female character?" "What do you think about this crew?" "What about the secondary characters?" "Does this feel like Star Trek to you?" But I can't. So, instead, I'll ask myself those questions in regard to Discovery. 

1- The Klingons

I've seen some folks complaining about The Klingon redesign. The design itself didn't offend me--in theory--though, Holy Light of Kahless I do miss that fabulous Klingon hair. I feel that Discovery is trying to add new depth and dimension to Klingon culture and making them look less human is likely a part of that. But, with all the extra apparatus on the actors' faces, I worry that it obscures their ability to really emote and this is kind of a problem because it's clear that the Klingons are going to be around a lot in Discovery and the emotional journeys of their characters are set up to matter. There's a reason that all the TNG-ENT aliens just had some kind of turtle on their head--because it let the rest of their face do some acting. 

2-The Women

Trek has always tried to have strong female characters. Going all the way back to Number One in TOS' pilot, The Cage. They often fell short, like when they only ever gave Crusher and Troi bad boyfriend plots for the first three seasons, but those characters grew along with the show and the introduction of Guinan (and the sorely underrated Pulaski) helped a lot. In Discovery we have Burnham and Georgiou. I like the idea of these two characters and the first ten minutes of pilot ensures that they pass the Bechdel test with flying colors but Burnham is kind of all over the place when it comes to whether she can keep a Vulcan grip on her emotions.  In spite of this, Martin-Green, portrays Burnham's issues capably and, at times, truly shines. Over time, I think she'll grow into this role and, really, I don't think it'll take that long. 

Georgiou, meanwhile, is played by Michelle Yeoh and should be kick-punching Klingons left, right, and center. I've loved (been a little in love with) Yeoh since I saw Heroic Trio when I was a kid and, when I saw that she was captaining this pilot, I was sure there'd be some epic fight scene that harkened back to the TOS roots only, you know, actually good. But... no. When Burnham and Georgiou transport over to the Klingon ship they're both immediately disarmed and the most we get of the captain is a bit of her "oofing" and "owing" while she's beaten up by T'Kuvma in the background. She's killed without even putting up a decent fight and that's a missed opportunity. Otherwise, it seems Yeoh has a hard time getting her mouth around all the techno babble. You could argue it's because English is a second language but I've seen her in other English language stuff (most recently Strike Back, in which she was amazing) and I don't think that's it. I think it's more likely that SciFi techno-speak is just hard for a lot of actors to deliver convincingly. It's something actors like Roxann Dawson and LeVar Burton seemed to do naturally but most folks have bigger issues and end up sounding stiff and robotic when they start talking about all the ways they could polarize the neutron flow or whatever. It seems like Yeoh falls in that second category. 

3-The Crew

Ok, this is my biggest issue with Discovery so far. Two episodes in and we still haven't even met the crew. Ok, we know two characters: Burnham and Saru (who kind of hate each other, more on that later) and that's it. At the end of the pilot, Burnham is court-martialed (another Trek mainstay) and shipped off to the next episode where we will presumably meet Captain Malfoy and the rest of the Discovery crew. But, as much as Star Trek has always featured specific characters who stood out, as much as Saru is this Trek's Spock/Data and Burnham is this Trek's Worf, Trek has always been about the crew. These are the TV friends that make Star Trek as comforting as it is thought-provoking, interesting, sometimes action-packed, and, in turns, funny. The crew is the reason you tune in (or buffer, as the case may be.) 

It's about people who love each other, who would fight for each other, who respect each other even if they don't always agree, and who would stand shoulder to shoulder together to do the right thing--even if it means doing the impossible, even if they're flying headfirst into the no-win scenario. Here, all we have so far are Burnham and Saru who bicker incessantly while the captain tries to regain control of her own command. It irks me a little bit but, then again, it wasn't so long ago that I rewatched all of TOS and had to be reminded that, while Spock and McCoy would do anything for each other, they were constantly at odds. Discovery is much closer in era to Kirk's crew (and their tendencies) than that of Next Gen and their kumbaya dynamic. And, when rewatching the TNG pilot, it was interesting to see the way Tasha was constantly trying to jump and in take the militant route, the way Riker is set up to be a guy who has a tendency to second-guess his captain, the way Crusher straight-up disobeys orders by bringing Wesley onto the bridge (or the turbo lift adjoining the bridge.) In the next episode we'll (I assume) meet Discovery's real crew and I'm hopeful (and optimistic) that they'll reveal a crew we can latch on to.  

4- Secondary Characters

One of my favorite characters in all of Trek is Sarek. I loved him in The Original Series and I love that the national treasure that was Mark Lenard returned to play him in the breathtakingly beautiful episode, Sarek, in The Next Generation. I love that character. And, while TNG had a passing of the baton from McCoy to Data, this episode had Sarek. He's played very capably by James Frain and, because I just finished up Orphan Black I expected to be a little traumatized at the sight of Ferdinand with pointy ears but Frain acquits himself admirably. I was slightly more distracted by all the ways Discovery managed to have Sarek chat with Burnham on the regular. Flash back? Check. Star Wars Full Body Hologram? Check. Long distance call made possible through mind meld? Check. Considering Burnham is basically Spock's adopted sister, I wonder whether Spock was subjected to this kind of incessant parental check-in. Was Sarek there in the radiation chamber with Spock saying, "Son, forget these losers and I'll take you out for milkshakes." It opens up an interesting can of worms. Like, giving a superhero the ability to go back in time, why can't he just go back in time whenever he gets into trouble now? It's a dangerous precedent but I'm interested in seeing what they do with it--if they keep it around.  

Anyway, ONWARD! 

Lt Saru, played by the wonderful Doug Jones is, like Burnham, also conflicted in ways that don't seem on purpose. He has the whole, "My species can sense the coming of death," line which feels a little more magic than science but, whatever, I totally can buy that a species could evolve a heightened instinct of danger. What's interesting to me is the fact that he's not just played as a cautious worrywart but as a coward. He's pretty terrified of the unknown so I'm not super sure why he's serving in an organization whose sole purpose is to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Is he really the guy you want on the bridge informing all your decisions? I don't know. But I'm interested to see. Up to now every single character on Star Trek (minus, maybe poor Harry Kim) has been the fly straight into danger headfirst because COURAGE! So what can they do with a guy who's proudly afraid of everything? 

In Enterprise a big part of the story was how in-over-their-heads the crew was. Here, it seems more like this iteration of Starfleet is, probably unintentionally, being imperialistic and simplistic in the ways they deal with alien species and these characters and (as yet unseen) crew will have to figure out how to better navigate the complicated diplomatic waters of the galaxy. And that's fine. It's potentially a more nuanced version of Star Trek and that's a good thing. Ideas in black and white tend to reinforce our current beliefs, but ideas presented with nuance, in shades of gray, make us think. And Star Trek has always sought to get us thinking.

In both Encounter at Farpoint and The Vulcan Hello, we get a trial. One is a trial of humans as a species. The other is the trial of one human in particular. 

Encounter at Farpoint leaves the viewer with the message that, yes, humans screw shit up. Humans have been imperfect and impetuous and dangerous to themselves and others but, at their core, humans are capable of so much more. They are capable of so much good. The episode ends with the hint that we will continue to be judged, as a species, by our own actions, by the way we treat each other, by the way we treat those less familiar, those who we fear because they are so different and dangerous. 

The Vulcan Hello ends with the admission of guilt by one human for betraying her crew, her captain, her friend. Starfleet is cast in shadow. Burnham stands alone in a single pool of hard light. From here on out, as in TNG, Burnham will continue to be judged, as an individual, as a member of her species--a member of Starfleet--by her own actions, by the way she treats her fellow officers, and the way she treats those less familiar, those who she fears because they are so different and dangerous. 

It has been my hope, for as long as I've been writing this blog, that a new Star Trek series would show up on TV and I'd get to write about it. This weekend that happened. And it made me remember being a kid, watching TNG with my parents. It made me remember growing up with Star Trek--watching it through my parents' divorce, through all the moves, the shuffling back and forth, going in and out of poverty, learning to deal with sickness, death, loss of friends, family, learning hard lessons about the world but, all the while, tuning in to Star Trek. All the while looking at this bright, shining, optimistic future and thinking, "This is a place for me. This is a future that I can believe in. This is a humanity I can believe in."

I hope that Discovery will eventually come to the same place that all Star Treks have eventually found themselves. A place where they can prophecy hope and optimism and a future where we are better than we are now. Burnham's path seems dark and difficult and outside the scope of the rosy-colored TNG era that so many of us think of when we think of Trek. But Star Trek has always been a reflection of our times. And now, our times are dark. I hope, in spite of this darkness, though, that Discovery will find a way to be a beacon of something brighter. Something that can both inspire and comfort. Something that can speak to kids who are downtrodden and say, "It gets better. There will be a place for you and it will be better than the place you are in now." I hope that they will. 

Like my mom, thirty years ago, I am interested in this new Trek. But I am also hungry. I'm hungry for the themes of hope and optimism that have always accompanied Star Trek. And I'll be watching Discovery, every Sunday, to see where they go and what they do. Unfortunately, my mom won't because, like so many other people who need to hear a message of hope in these dark times, she can't justify the monthly cost of a streaming service for a single show. Instead, maybe she'll watch The Orville (Seth MacFarlane's love letter to Star Trek) which has hardcore geek references, a solid crew, a big dose of optimism, and enough pluck to go around. 

Generic Ensign's vLog #8: Time's Arrow - Chain of Command

It's been a long few weeks (you'll hear this from Generic Ensign as well) and I'm glad to finally be getting back to the blog. I had some really intense family stuff going on that laid me pretty low for a while but then Thanksgiving was for serious amazing. The best in my memory. I played video games. I hung out with Scott. I took naps. I played more video games. I ate SO MUCH turkey. (I butterflied the bird this year and this is something I HIGHLY recommend) I made the biggest, craziest pumpkin pie. It weighed three+ pounds and took several days to polish off. This week I got back to work and FINALLY returned to Generic Ensign. So, here's the latest:

Generic Ensign's Vlog #8 from AshleyRose on Vimeo.

Generic Ensign's Vlog #7: The Inner Light

This is a weird one.

Generic Ensign Vlog #7 from AshleyRose on Vimeo.

TNG Time Capsule: A Matter of Time, Hero Worship and Cause and Effect

A few years ago my mom found a couple of the journals I'd been made to keep in the second grade. I nearly cried when she gave them to me. As someone who writes and illustrates her own life, these little composition books are precious treasure troves of memory. PROOF! Proof that I existed as a small human. That I thought things and felt things and watched, even then, copious amounts of television.

Earlier this year I got them out and looked through them again, thinking that I would do a "on this night" series as I watched episodes that originally aired on dates corresponding to my journal entries. Unfortunately, life got a bit in the way. Waylaid by health issues and the like, I completely forgot about my plans. It wasn't until I was straightening up my workspace yesterday that I remembered.

Luckily, we're not that far away from these episodes. I only just finished the season in question! I handpicked a couple (for what will be obvious reasons) and here they are:


A Matter of Time
Original Air Date: November 18, 1991
This entry is the closest I could find since TNG was likely on winter hiatus at the time but I felt it was fairly appropriate. It's also the first entry in this specific journal.

"Yesterday it was cold. I stayed in and watched TV for 5 hours. Then did homework. Then I played and watched a movie. I fell asleep. I woke up. And I got to go to bed. 

I loved last night."

Hero Worship

Original Air Date: January 27, 1992

Again, this one isn't on the exact date (new episodes hadn't yet returned) and they would've been showing re-runs. 

"Tonight I can stay up as late as I want. I can watch late night shows. I can do anything I want. I love to stay up. I can play until 10:30. I can go to bed at one in the morning. But I like to watch TV best." 

PS- I think it's fairly plausible that the person on the TV is Worf. Just look at the haircut. 

Cause and Effect

Original Air Date: March 23, 1992

I picked this one out because it's one of my favorite episodes. I have a very clear memory of watching this one for the first time, feeling that sort of Hitchcock zoom trick your mind plays when it suddenly turns inside out.  I would've written this entry on the day the Cause and Effect premiered. 

"This weekend I flew a kite. I saw old friends. I played with them. And I wrote my dad a letter. I built a "made". And a story box." 

A few things strike me about this entry. 

1-In spite of being pretty poor through a lot of my childhood, I had plenty of toys. Still, I was always building stuff out of cardboard. My journals from this time actually have a lot of little rockets and such and I have really strong memories of building sprawling doll houses and weird little dioramas. I still do this kind of thing. In my kitchen there's a recycling bin and, beside it, a pile of cardboard pieces that I want to use for paintings and projects and whatever. Sometimes I actually get around to those projects and sometimes they make the slow march into the bin. I remember this maid construction really well. She was made out of toilet paper rolls and a shoebox. I'm not sure what her hat was made of but, knowing me, it was likely a stollen coffee filter. 

2-Why a maid? I'm not sure. My mom worked as a maid for a while during this time. I remember going with her to a couple of swanky houses. One of them had a gorgeous mural in the basement. I remember thinking, "Wow, this place is so clean." And my mom was like, "Yeah, gee, I wonder why." 

So maybe I made a maid to help her out around our house. I mean, what else was I going to do? Actually clean? Clearly I was too busy watching TV. 

3- The letter to my dad. This was about thirteen months after my parents split up. I hadn't seen my dad since then and, in child years, thirteen months seems like about forever plus ten. My journals reflect the memories I have of my attitude from that time. A sort of weird practicality I had toward stressful situations. I missed my dad but I didn't mope about it. I wrote a letter and got on with my life. What else was I supposed to do? 

Boy, this is a lot of typing. I actually saved my hands up all day just so I could do this post. And I'm glad I did. I LOVE doing Generic Ensign and I'm going to keep those Vlog posts going but I do also miss speaking in my own voice. After all, that's sort of my whole thing—writing about myself, my life, my history. Hoping that somewhere out there it'll strike a chord and resonate with someone else. So, if you're out there, thanks for taking this stroll down memory lane with me. 

Generic Ensing's Vlog #6: New Ground, Conundrum, Ethics

You may have noticed that I skipped over the legendary episode, Darmok, last week. I actually had a big plan for it but it kind of crashed and burned. Hopefully, the next time I watch TNG, I'll have the kind of time I need to put into it... or maybe I'll just come up with something else. In any case, I did watch it. Darmok is my favorite episode of any Trek and sometimes those are the hardest ones to cover.

This week I watched a slew of Season Five offerings and came up with Generic Ensign's vLogs for New Ground, Conundrum, and Ethics. I'd really, really hoped to do one for Cause and Effect but I couldn't come up with any ideas that lived up to the amazing craziness of the episode. There's still time.

Anyway, here's this week's Generic Ensign:

Generic Ensign's Vlog #6 from AshleyRose on Vimeo.

Generic Ensign's Vlog #5: Ensign Ro, The Game, Disaster, Unification

Generic Ensign's at it again! She's well into Season Five and trucking right along:

Generic Ensign Vlog #5: My Year Of Star Trek from AshleyRose on Vimeo.

In other news, back when I first started doing comics, I had this dream that someday I might be published in the very prestigious and totally awesome magazine, The Rumpus. Earlier this week, that dream came true with my graphic essay, Distance. Feel free to check it out!

Generic Ensign's Vlog: Clues, Qpid, Mind's Eye

Wow, apparently that last Generic Ensign Vlog I put up was the 500th MYOST post! I had no idea (clearly) but hooray! If I'd known, I'd have thrown confetti or made a Deana Troi cake or at least poured myself a big glass of Romulan Ale. But whatever, Congratulations to me anyway! And also you for reading this blog and sticking around and leaving comments and emailing me. I love my little Trek family.

My hands ARE getting better. Splints, physical therapy, finger strengthening exercises, rest etc etc are definitely helping but typing is still the worst. So, there'll be more GE Vlogs to come. Here's a brand spankin' new one covering TNG's Season Four episodes: Clues, Qpid, and Mind's Eye. Enjoy!

Generic Ensign Vlog #4 from AshleyRose on Vimeo.

Generic Ensign's Vlog 3: Data's Day

Holy cow I've been sick. I spent the last three weeks hacking and wheezing. Last week I finally scraped myself off the couch and stumped into the doctor's office (where they apparently make you wear a surgical mask if you look like you might be Typhoid Mary) and she gave me an antibiotic to clear up what had become a nasty sinus/upper respiratory infection. It's taken another week to really get back on my feet but I'm still coughing a bit and I still feel a little sluggish but... this illness did not keep me from recording yet another Generic Ensign Vlog!

So here's Generic Ensign, rolling out her version of Data's Day:

Generic Ensign Vlog #3 from AshleyRose on Vimeo.

I'm actually into season five now so I think I'm going to pick up the pace with Generic Ensign and do a few really quick entries. Are there any episodes from Season 4 that you REALLY want to see GE's side of? Let me know and I'll try to hit them before moving on to Season 5.

Generic Ensign's Vlog #2

I've been laid up with a crap cold and that means Generic Ensign has as well. Her encounter with the Borg was not as eventful as that of her more vital crew-mates.

Stardate: 44012.3

(Best of Both Worlds - Family)

Generic Ensign's VLOG #1

My hands are still healing up so I've spent a lot of time thinking, "Hmm. What can I possibly do to continue the blog without having to use my hands...?" Finally, I hit on the idea of pulling the Generic Ensign concept into video form. If you're new to this, the conceit is that I write summaries of or commentaries on the show or specific episodes in the form of logs from the point of view of a nameless Ensign. So... here's the first one. 

Thanks to Trek Core for the sounds and http://www.lcars.org.uk/ for the LCARS animations. 

TNG Re-Watch: Commander Shelby

Over the weekend I re-watched Best of Both Worlds. I'd known it would be coming up and was sort of dreading in. Not just because I always dread it because of the whole Locutus thing but because I've written about this major episode twice already. And so has every other Trek blogger/reviewer/fan out there. So I just let this blog sit here.

I thought, "Maybe I'll write about Worf's perspective, or Data's. Or follow Beverly through the trauma of this whole mess."

But no. None of that really felt right. And I didn't really feel like writing at all, to be honest. Not because I don't want to. Because my hands are still a complete mess. An hour of typing renders them completely useless so I feel the need to save them for the comic I'm working on and the query letters I'm sending out for the most recent book and the editing I was doing (now finished!) for the second Awesome Jones book. I never mean to put this project on the back burner but there it is. It happens sometimes.

Anyway, re-watching this two-parter, what I mostly thought about was the role of the women herein.

Troi actually has something useful to do here. She can sense when Picard is and isn't Locutus. She can monitor the emotions of the crew. She can actively participate in the mission with something other than, "He's hiding something, Captain."

Crusher goes on the away mission to retrieve Picard and comes up with the idea of treating the Borg ship like a giant organism and acting as a virus within it.

Guinan realizes how bad is the state of the crew's emotional wellbeing and confronts Riker about how he needs to let Picard go. It's in this speech that we get a clue about the closeness between Guinan and Picard. She's assertive and involved here in a way that she, in her mysterious Guinan way, doesn't usually get to be.

And finally, SHELBY. Everyone hates Shelby. When I was a kid, I didn't like Shelby. She shook up the crew, my crew, and she challenged Riker in ways I found uncomfortable. As an adult female though, I see Shelby differently. Under that floofy hair and flamingo lipstick, Shelby is 1000% baller. This woman has made it her business to know everything there is to know about The Borg. THE BORG. That's a dangerous damn job. She's also gunning for first mate of the Federation's flag ship, something she lets practically everyone know as soon as she steps foot on board. She's assertive and smart and she has bucket loads of gumption--which she gets chastised for. I get that she shouldn't be running off to inspect suspicious business with Data without letting anyone know but this is how bitches get shit done. They beat every dude at poker and don't get to sleep until 1AM. They roll out of bed in full (probably yesterday's) makeup. They beam down to some dangerous planet with their new robot friend in tow. And they do risky science at the crack of dawn. And... they still get talked about in terms of being, "just an old man's fantasy..." which is a shame. Because Shelby has fantasies of her own. And those fantasies include commanding a damn starship. I have no doubt that she does just that.

Ok. As predicted, my fingers are on fire. So this BAMF lady is going to go soak her hands in some hot water and say a thousand curse words while I wonder, "What would Shelby do?"

Generic Ensign's Log: Year Three

(In case you're new here, Generic Ensign's Log is a series of posts wherein I write from the point of view of a no-name Ensign and record the crew's misadventures.)


Generic Ensign's Log
Stardate: 43917.4

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks. And, I should say first off that my hands were damaged while I was uncoupling a node in Jeffries Tube 19 so this entry will have to be short.

A few weeks ago things were going pretty smoothly after Riker's insane holodeck murder trial. Nothing happened at all except one day I saw Guinan giving Commander Worf some prune juice and then right after that she called into the bridge. It sort of felt like something was happening. Sort of like... all of time and space were briefly in flux and things weren't as they were supposed to be and it would take two entire starships to right some cosmic wrong and possibly one of our own crew would have volunteer to die in a timeline which we will never know anything about.
But, I mean, I didn't hear about anything weird so I guess it was fine. In any case, things were quiet on my deck.

Then, I swear to Sha Ka Ree, not two days later Data up and had a kid. She was adorable and I mean, legit adorable. And he seemed like he was going to be a great dad. Her name was Lal. I talked to her a few times in Ten Forward. Just like Data but... different. But it didn't last. I wanted to make note. I want to not forget her. We aren't all capable of just permanently storing her memory in our cybernetic brains.

About a week after that we got an officer named Kurn through the Klingon Officer Exchange Program. Man, this guy was a real piece of work. Total hard ass. And he brought all this drama with him. He was here for like twenty-four hours and then suddenly Worf and Picard are all up in arms and everything is Cha'DIch this and Mogh that and then they took off for a while and when they got back Worf was a sad sack. But that probably won't last long, right? How long can Worf really go around being depressed?

Alright, about a week after they got back the cap was replaced with an imposter who was just really amazing at flirting and ordering us to go places and singing Starfleet drinking songs.

Not gonna lie. There was a mutiny.

After our real captain got back he went out on a holiday and things on the ship were back to normal. I went down to Risa for a few days but I got a sunburn so I spent the rest of the R&R days in my quarters reading an ancient JK Rowling tome.

Right after that we took on a Betazoid guy who was sorta kinda crazy and I know that because Counsellor Troi has apparently NEVER heard of doctor-patient confidentiality and she was basically going around the entire ship yammering about how this guy used to be her patient. Anyway, he and Data got good and chummy but then he flounced off with a giant, space dwelling alien.

The next few days were a major headache for me and pretty much everyone else. Some biological samples apparently leaked everywhere during transport and the ship's systems went on the fritz. We were all working around the clock to fix it. Everyone seemed really centered on Barclay and I'm glad about that. He's a really smart guy, just awkward, probably logs too many hours in the holodeck. He gets in his own way a lot of the time, bless his heart. Eventually they fixed the issue and I hear Barclay was instrumental in that.

After all that, I think everyone needed some rest. We were scheduled to pick up Sarek. THE Sarek. So he could talk trade relations with the Legarans. We organized a banquet and a concert and we were all gonna take it easy breezy until we got to Legara IV. Things were quiet at first but then people just started getting super intense. I was walking into Ten Forward and saw a huge brawl going on:

And later I heard Riker say that he saw LaForge and that Crusher kid almost come to blows. Come to blows? What would that even look like? The greatest slap fight ever? Ugh. I wish I'd been there. Anyway, I don't know what they did but this whole thing only lasted about a day and then we made it to Legara IV and things were pretty chill during the whole conference. Though, I didn't see Captain Picard for a few days. Not until after Sarek left.

Next up we're headed to Betazed for a trade conference. Hopefully things'll be more relaxed for a while. I know I need the rest.

TNG Re-Watch: The Price-Deja Q

Over the last week I watched several episodes of TNG while I worked or, as it happens, didn't work. I don't have a lot of time to type for "reasons" and I'll get to those reasons (hopefully) at the bottom of this post. Anyway, this is a quick and dirty roundup of observations from Season 3 episodes 8-14.

The Price:
I spent this entire episode texting back and forth with my BFF about Troi's terrible taste in men. I've gone into this issue in (too much?) depth before. But this is my blog so I'm gonna harp on it some more. I love TNG and I really try not to be too hard on it but I do get frustrated when the thrust of just about every female crew-member-centric episode is about babies or children or some terrible/dangerous boyfriend. This is something that got a lot better in DS9 and heaps better in Voyager but The Price falls in lockstep with the bad boyfriend parade of TNG.

Soft synth music, overlong foot massages, "advice" about Troi's hair and clothes, macho conversations about who will "win" Troi, and, of course, BOOB CUTOUTS:

No amount of thirty-something-esque boyfriend drama can overcome boob cutouts. I'm sorry. Ultimately Troi does stand up for herself and her crew but this whole episode is just another example of TNG not really knowing what to do with this character. 

The Vengeance Factor: 

For some reason this one really stuck with me from the time I was a little kid. I'm not sure why. As an adult, the main thing I think when I watch this one is, why doesn't Yuta go down when she's shot with the phaser. It worked on the dude Riker inexplicably hit when he beamed in. I know she's been genetically altered but the fact that Riker has to keep hitting her with stun when... I don't know... someone could just get off their ass (ahem, Picard, ahem) and tackle her? And then he ultimately has to set his phaser to kill and disintegrate her? I guess this is dramatically more interesting and less messy in terms of TV-time wrap-up but Yuta's (probably unnecessary) death at the hands of Riker just unnerves me a little bit. 

The Defector: 

Welp, I love this one. Top to bottom, I think this is a swell episode and an early example of what TNG was capable of. This one has Shakespeare, a (not very) secret Patrick Stewart cameo, Romulans (I love the Romulans,) mystery and excellent speeches from Picard and Jarok. Go watch it. 

The Hunted: 

A dangerous convict escapes prison, boards the Enterprise, and is thrown in the brig so, of course, Troi senses his beautiful mind and seeks to help him. I make fun but this is actually a pretty decent try at getting to the heart of PTSD, soldier programming, and veteran rights and physical/emotional care upon their return. Watch this one in conjunction with Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and Kipling's "Last of the Light Brigade."  

The High Ground: 

Another foray into political territory has Crusher tending to the wounded after a terrorist attack when she is then captured by said terrorists. Like The Hunted (and most early TNG) this one makes a good attempt at showing both sides of a conflict within the early 90s network TV limitations. I've got to hand it to them for not cleaning this one up too neatly, not making either side too right or too wrong and I really love the dimensional shift transporters causing sickness. Of course, because it's a Crusher (read: woman) episode there must be a bad boyfriend somewhere so the main baddie falls for her and she uses that to her advantage. My favorite thing about this episode is this chick right here: 

She's caught up in the middle of all this nasty business and knows how awful and messy it is but she never wavers and, importantly, never falls for Riker. 

Deja Q: 

Initially I was just going to write about this episode but decided it would be "quicker" to do a round-up. That didn't really work out. This post is much longer than I'd intended. 

Anyway, Deja Q is a legitimately great episode. It has a lot going for it: 

1-Q shows up sans Q powers.

2-Guinan enters and tests #1. 

3-Data and Q form a brief but perfect friendship.

4-Several fantastic conversations regarding "humanness" happen. 

5-There is a MOON hurtling toward a PLANET. I don't know why this lights my christmas tree but it does.

Ultimately this episode has a lot of what's good about TNG. Crazy space problem, long discussions about what it means to be human, and heart. Another must-watch.

Speaking of what it means to be human. I'm having some more EDS related issues. Namely, my hands have been cramping up and aching like mad and there's not a lot I can do for them at this point. I've been wearing compression gloves, ring splints, rolling them, massaging them, soaking them in hot water, writing with fountain pens instead of regular pens etc. This stuff helps but the problem is still there. I saw my doctor about it yesterday but he doesn't know what's going on and he's referred me to a hand specialist—which will take at least two weeks to schedule—in the meantime, my ability to work is limited. Typing, drawing, writing is fairly agonizing so, until this gets taken care of, posts will likely be spaced out, short, or both. But know that I'm still here. Watching. 

TNG Re-Watch: Who Watches The Bonding Of The Booby Trap And The Enemy

Monday night (Independence Day) we headed over to the Dodger game (which was awesome and I ate nachos out of a hat) and because I have a dime store immune system and went out amongst humanity and nature I spent the next day totally laid out by the crud. Also, I took some (expired) Mucinex DM and it messed me up big time. Big Time. Thanks to the meds I renewed my love affair with the couch and together we watched four episodes of Next Gen (and five episodes of The Murdoch Mysteries) Granted, I was tripping balls somewhat stoned (and not in a pleasant way) from the cold medicine, so I'm not sure how great my attention span really was but anyway, here's what I noticed:

1-Beverly's sudden and unexpected hair growth.
In my addled state, I was unduly distressed by the plain fact that Beverly's hair grew about eight inches over the course of two episodes:

Who Watches The Watchers

The Enemy

2- Worf has a "brother"
In The Bonding, Worf leads an away mission in which a crewman is killed. The crewman in question was a single mom who leaves behind a little boy and Worf feels obliged to go through a Klingon ritual that would bond the two of them as brothers. Lots of wacky stuff happens (or may not have happened, again, I wasn't really on top of things yesterday) but my takeaway here is that at the end of the episode Worf is all, "Now we're going to be forever linked as brothers." And then we never see this kid again.

Just doing brother stuff, I guess. 

3-Picard is a god, or not, maybe.
In Who Watches The Watchers a bunch of scientists accidentally reveal themselves to the primitive society they're studying and then religion happens. Their god is Picard because, I mean, come on, if you're lining this bunch of 23rd century jerks up and saying, "Pick one of these to be your god," obviously you're going to pick The Picard. I mean, if you've seen seasons 1-2, you're definitely going to pick Picard. At least, if Guinan isn't there. Because then you might pick Guinan. Anyway, they pick Picard. And Picard goes through all these god-like elaborate but earnest steps to show his new followers that he isn't a god and finally he's out of options and is all, "If the only way that you will believe I'm mortal is if you kill me, then fine! I will die!" And so they shoot him in the chest with a bow and arrow and he dies.

Except... he doesn't. He goes back to the ship (in a scene we don't see) and Beverly fixes him up and the next time we (and his followers) see The Picard, it looks like this:

And The Picard is calmly explaining the tenets of the Federation and the core principles of anthropology and suchlike and somehow no one is talking about the fact that The Picard died and then (probably on the third day) was resurrected. I mean, I may have been kind of zonked out yesterday but I did happen to grow up in the Bible Belt and, let me tell you, if I've seen one Sermon on the Mount painting on someone's grandma's bathroom wall, I've seen 'em all.

Hmm. I had a "really good" joke to stick here but in the time it took me to put together this Space Jesus photo collage, I totally forgot what it was...

Moving on.

4-Booby Trap
This episode has the word "booby" in it. Given that this is a holodeck intensive episode, I feel hoodwinked.

5- The Enemy
In this one the Enterprise comes upon some Romulans where they aren't supposed to be. One of them is stuck on a junk planet with Geordi. The other one is dying in sickbay and the only thing that can save him is a ribosome donation from Worf. You know what's super surprising and kind of awesome? Worf won't do it. And, he never backs down. And, he never shows any guilt about it. Obviously, TNG shouldn't be overrun with this kind of thing. If it were, it wouldn't be TNG. But I like the complexity here. Michael Dorn is given some meatier stuff in this season and he's making the most of it. Worf's character is deepened by his unqualified hatred of Romulans. And, Geordi's is deepened by his willingness to compromise à la Enemy Mine.

Ok. Well, it's been 24 hours and I'm fairly sure I've finished riding the Mucinex DM roller coaster so I have to get back to work. Fortunately for me, some of that work entails watching TNG. Unfortunately for me, the next episode is The Price:

Give me patience, The Picard. Amen. 

TNG Re-Watch: The Emissary

First of all, some good news, my newest graphic essay was recently published over at Neutrons/Protons. It's about dads, death, and video games so, if you feel inclined, you can go check it out. It's called, Growing Up Together.

Second of all, I'm in an editorial phase of work which means that I spend about eight hours a day melting my brain trying to critically read every sentence of a long work and comment on/correct it. So, about midway through the day, I need a break. And that's when I have #LunchWithPicard.  Yesterday, I re-watched The Emissary.

Holy hell, I love this episode. More specifically, I love K'Ehleyr. I love what she brings to this episode and what Suzie Plakson brought to the character. And I love what that character ultimately brought to TNG. Worf has always been an intriguing dude but this opens him up in a way "girlfriend episodes" don't usually do. I think a lot of that is because of the paradoxical way Worf chooses to Klingon. He loves all the crap about honor and death in battle and warrior worship but he's way more stodgy than the other Klingons we've seen. He's not a fan of loud drinking songs, inexplicably yelling everything he says, or bawdy jokes. Dude is uptight. (Later on, in DS9, we finally find out why.)

But this one is just as much (or more) about K'Ehleyr as it is about Worf. Again, this is kinda rare for a girlfriend episode. K'Ehleyr is bi-species: Klingon/Human. And she briefly talks about her experience with Troi, who can sort of relate. Two women. Having a meaningful conversation about their histories and cultures. What show even is this?

K'Ehleyr is unconventional. She speaks her mind and she doesn't let Worf get away with sulkily slinking around the LCARS systems. She knows what she wants and she's not afraid to ask for it. She wears red spandex better than anyone on the Enterprise and has amazing, unapologetic sex with Worf, then tells him how ridiculous it would be for them to get suddenly married. She leads high ranking Starfleet officers in discussions about strategy and though her bias about Klingon attitudes shows she's level headed enough to go along with a smart plan when one is offered.

Even in her exit, K'Ehleyr is amazing. She refuses to let Worf sulk his way through their goodbye and helps him see that, even if they aren't getting married RIGHT THIS SECOND BECAUSE THEY SCHTUPPED they don't have to be on bad terms and can even go on to have a relationship.

In a lot of ways, I feel like they hit something with K'Ehleyr that they wouldn't get again until DS9 and, even more so, with Voyager. (But especially not while Roddenberry was still piloting the ship) An exceptionally well-rounded, complicated female character who's capable of having real discussions (not comforting platitudes or worries about children and boyfriends) with the people around her, capable of being flawed and owning up to it, capable of leadership and of admitting when she's wrong, capable of being unapologetically sexual without being injured or somehow punished by it, capable of just, you know, being a person.

Actually, you know, there are a couple of women in TNG who do this stuff:

Guinan and Pulaski are both full of gumption and realness. Unfortunately, they're both far too underutilized in TNG. I watched all the way into the first episode of season three yesterday which means I got to see Crusher return and spend a lot of time wringing her hands over Wesley's non-problems (not the ship-wide crisis) in Picard's ready room at which point, I made this face:

TNG Re-Watch: Time Squared or The Best/Worst of Times

A few weeks ago I was sitting at a table in Kentucky with my husband and some of my dearest, best-loved friends—my Shakespeare kids adults. Whenever we're home, we try to meet up with as many of them as we can. Though, they now have their own lives which include jobs or college and even a baby! So it can be hard to get the family back together. Still, a few of us were there. It was fantastic.

I bring this up because, as I was re-watching TNG's Time Squared, I thought about an old and often repeated conversation I've had with my husband regarding Trek and other SciFi shows. The people who inhabit the Whoniverse, the Hellmouth, The Verse, the Twelve Colonies, and (maybe especially) The Federation, are always getting into some seriously traumatic trouble. So far I'm only forty-two episodes into TNG and already they all got drunk and had sex with each other, Data was replaced by his evil twin brother AND an old, jerk scientist, Deana had a pregnancy and then a baby and then a little kid who then went off to become one with space, Tasha got eaten by a blob, and the whole ship was captured by a weird giant face who wouldn't let them go until Picard threatened to blow up the ship.

The point is, it seems like these folks wouldn't even be able to sit at their stations and press their flat LCARS buttons because of how traumatized they would be. It seems like all they would do is go around saying things like, "Man, remember that time Riker had a fish tail sticking out of his neck and then a guy's head straight-up exploded. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget about that."

But they don't. Obviously. A lot of this is just practical. You have 24 episodes a season. You have forty-five minutes per episode. You have to get into the plot and get out. You can't clutter all that up with everyone bemoaning what happened to them last week. This isn't Luther.

Or is it?

Ok. Time Squared wherein the Enterprise is just going about its business when they discover a shuttlecraft adrift. They reel it in only to find that an unconscious but very real Captain Picard at its helm. So now there are two Picards. Everything begins to feel very Primer-ish as the crew tries to puzzle out what happened (or is going to happen) and what to do (or what they did) with the copy of Picard. By the end, one Picard just full out murders his double, they escape the time loop they're caught in, and they go on their way to the next episode. They will never speak of this again.

Ok, back to lunch with my Shakespeare family. I asked one of my kids why he never emails and he says, "Well, I read your blog and you have so much going on I don't want to add to your problems. You order a bike and it doesn't work, you're injured, you go to the hospital, you wear a heart monitor. Then your grandma dies. Then your other grandma dies. Then you get diagnosed with a chronic illness. You have a really stressful life!"

As he rattled off all the unpleasant facts of my life from the last couple of years, I felt really uncomfortable. His summary was a distilled reduction of my life—a best (or worst) of list. I realized that to him and the rest of my readers (all six of you) my life is probably more like episodic TV than real life. But that's because, like episodic TV, I only really have (and take the) time to write about stuff that's a fairly big deal. Injuries, illnesses, deaths—this stuff is "news" because it fills up a lot of my emotional space while I'm living it. And also because I think reading about my dead grandma is probably more interesting to you than reading about what I had for lunch or what a pleasantly uneventful morning I had watching my favorite Murdoch Mysteries episode for the fifth time or how the roomba I bought has been the some of the best money we ever spent. I'm not saying I don't put that stuff online. I do. I put it right over on my Instagram feed which you are more than welcome to follow:

I ran out of cheesy chips but I'm still having #LunchWithPicard

A photo posted by AshleyRose (@thisashleyrose) on Jun 9, 2016 at 2:12pm PDT

The point is that, I guess now, while I watch the coming episodes of TNG, while Troi turns into Cruella Deville, while Picard is tortured by the Cardassians, while Data has a daughter who is just as lovable as he is but who then tragically dies, while Dr. Crusher gets it on with her dead grandma's boyfriend, I'll think about how this is just one instance in these people's lives. I'll think about how yes, at the moment dealing with half-Romulan Tasha's daughter is super important but the rest of the time everyone's mostly doing their day-to-day, boring job or just sitting around drinking prune juice in Ten Forward, or playing poker, or reading old volumes of Shakespeare, or simply farting around on the holodeck. That's the stuff that doesn't get a lot of screen time... or blog time. That's the stuff that, while pleasantly uneventful, real life is mostly made up of. This is the stuff that might not even register. These are, in many ways, the best of times. If only Picard were on Instagram. 

TNG Re-Watch: The Dauphin

A few years ago I worked for an environmental education farm in Kentucky. My job was to teach groups of kids (and sometimes adults) about farm life and to expose them to various aspects of nature. A lot of the kids were from the burbs or inner city (Cincinnati) and couldn't tell a goat from a dog and I let them put their hands all over both. I did birthday parties, school tours, summer camps, and—my favorite—winter camp. Sure, the lush greenness of a Kentucky summer can't be beat (except by the lush greenness of a North Carolina mountain summer) but there was something really nice about sitting in a cold barn with a warm goat and a bunch of kids (human children not goat babies—although there were always plenty of goat babies also) making hot chocolate, decorating pine cone ornaments, and talking about life.

Ok. I worked at this farm for four years and apparently have no pictures of myself with small goats (or any goats.) This is a travesty but I have changed computers about three times since then so I guess some stuff got lost in the shuffle. Just use your imagination and pretend this idyllic girl with goat painting is me. 

One of these winter camps, I found myself sitting next to a 6th grade girl in the early morning as we milked a goat named Mandy. She'd been to the camp in previous years and she chattered to me as if I were the same farmer she'd hung out with last year and the year before (and, in her defense, we were mostly all 20-something college student chicks with hairy legs and company t-shirts) and she said, "Here's an update. It's been an interesting year. I started playing trombone. I'm down one grandpa. But I'm up one puppy. Huzzah!"

She actually said, "Huzzah!"

The kid was homeschooled. Obviously. And I loved her.

Encountering a homeschooled kid in the wild was always, to me, very similar to encountering someone from Tennessee or Virginia now that I live in SoCal. No, we aren't from exactly from the same place, but there are certain environmental/socio-cultural touchstones that we both understand. And, because of that, I feel a certain kind of kinship with them.

The homeschool kids I met and befriended when I was younger were typically really bright, curious, highly-educated, compassionate people. They were also typically very open, tactless, and truthful. They were a lot like someone with Asperger's. They were a lot like me.

Obviously I can't speak for the wide swath of homeschooled folks out there but the kids I usually encountered (and this was pre-wide-spread internet usage) hadn't got caught up in the same social games I'd been trying to avoid. They didn't give a shit about side ponytails or light up shoes or who they were supposed to listen to on the radio. They liked what they liked (or what their parents or big sister) liked and they told you about it with zero hesitation or apology. Even when these kids were homeschooled for really intense religious reasons and they eerily spouted bible stories with the same sort of practical recitation they might lay down the state capitals in alphabetical order, I couldn't help liking them.

And I guess maybe that's why I can't help liking this awkward, gangly episode of The Next Generation. Because this girl right here:

is every gawky, curious, compassionate, open-hearted, frank homeschooler I ever sat next to and smiled when they said, "Huzzah."

The actresses who play Salia and Anya (Salia's over-protective matron/best friend/confidant) both do a fantastic job in this weird little Westley-centric, rompy episode.

Escorting a female ruler to her new home where she will then presumably lead her people to peace and prosperity is a tried and tested story for Trek. Usually the lady ruler has a love affair with the Cap or possibly the first mate but here, because it's 2nd season TNG, it's Wesley.

Much like a homeschooler in bygone days, I don't know or care what other people think about this episode—though I can likely guess. I realize that focusing on a silly teenager and his silly teenage problems/innocence/mistakes/puberty was a mistake for TNG's early years. It wasn't Saved By The Bell (what possibly could be?) and it shouldn't have tried to be. Nevertheless, just like a girl I once befriended on a hiking trip who played five instruments, spoke three languages and had really strong opinions about the Franco Spanish Civi War but no clue who "Clarissa" was or why she was explaining it all, I have a soft spot in my heart for The Dauphin.



Oh, also, this one gets bonus points for this scene:

TNG Re-Watch: Measure of a Man

I'm finally back from my travels, my injuries are healing up, and Scott's hiatus is over. All of this means that work can now commence! And by work I mean finally editing the second Awesome Jones book, finishing up and submitting new comic essays, and getting back to Star Trek: The Next Generation and blogging about it.

Yesterday I watched Unnatural Selection and A Matter of Honor. Then I started up the next one and they were playing poker for the first time. Here were Pulaski, Geordi, O'Brien, Riker, and Data sitting around the table. I thought, "Wow, this is a bit of a watershed. What episode is this?"

Guys, I even took a picture.

Anyway, the episode ended up being Measure of a Man. THE Measure of a Man. Of course, I wrote about this episode during My (Actual) Year of Star Trek. A couple of years have gone by since then. At the time I'd been married for just over five years and now I'm coming up on my (omg!) ninth wedding anniversary. I moved twice. I wrote more books and started shifting my focus to comics. I watched as Scott started working in TV full time. I found out about my Aspergers and Ehlers Danlos. I sort of sucked at dealing with death. I lifted a bunch of weight. I ate a bunch of ice cream. I played a bunch of video games. I watched all of Voyager. I lived.

Essentially, I humaned. I humaned the crap out of the last couple of years. I was humaning the best way that I could think to human. And, even though I'm kind of bad at various emotional things, I feel fairly certain I could pass Commander Maddox's requirements for sentience and he (probably) wouldn't dis-assemble me.

Today, while watching Measure of a Man, I worked on fine tuning part of my latest comic essay. I drank coffee. I texted with my BFF who sent me pictures of the handouts she'd just got from a writing conference. I thought about how I need to clean the kitchen. Still, I put all of my daily human business on pause to really watch the last fifteen or so minutes. The trial of Data.

I didn't cry. But I did smile. This episode is still, after all these years (after five more seasons of TNG, three more Trek series, several movies, a three movie reboot, and all the hope and anxiety that comes with the new series,) a beautiful, pretty much perfect example of what science fiction can and should do. In 2013 I said that if you only watch one episode of Star Trek, in your whole life, then Measure of a Man (even though it's still not my all-time favorite) might be that episode. I'm not backing down from that now.

One more thing! If you haven't already entered my giveaway to win the new, anniversary edition of Boarding The Enterprise, go over and do that now! The winner will be announced on Monday!