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I knew I’d have a good time with this one. I’d heard we were getting a horror themed episode directed by someone who worked on The Haunting of Hill House, which is one of my favourite horror projects from the past decade. (Checking Google now, and I see it was actually Bly Manor. Close enough.)

You can certainly see the same approach at play, and I thought it was very fun to see in Trek. I also loved the nods to other sci-fi horror, including that one scene in TNG Night Terrors that really hit hard when I was 7.

I feel like a bit more backstory on the Griffen might have been nice. She was the last ship built in the Pyris shipyards, which mined its ore from an ancient alien graveyard, and all ships built there met a bad end. Or something better than that. But I see those in this thread unhappy that it wasn’t all explained with the sci-fi equivalent of a gas leak, so maybe the simple mystery approach is a good compromise.

Apart from the horror of it all, some nice character work, with Kirk being the stand out. Nice to see his early relationship with Carol. Or lack thereof. I wonder if they’ll ever have occasion to cast her or if she’ll be forever offscreen.

The Martians have a bit of a Vulcan look to them, and it’s referenced that their genetics can be found in a number of races known to the Federation. Is this a hint that Spock might in fact be descended from Martians, in reference to his original conception as a Martian science officer?

Might be supported by Spock’s mention in TOS Return to Tomorrow that being descended from an alien race is consistent with some Vulcan prehistory.

Or I’m reading too much into a basic makeup choice.

Of those, I was only around for Enterprise’s cancellation and, given I had pretty low esteem for it and for Nemesis, that one hurt a lot less. It felt like death by natural causes, the sad result of a gradual decline. This time around it doesn’t feel natural at all, particularly right on the heels of SFA’s very strong first season. Extremely frustrating.

Not gay enough. We need to go back to this.

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Trek is known for allegory, but routinely abandons it for time travel stories. Star Trek IV and Deep Space Nine’s “Past Tense” and “Far Beyond the Stars” all examples that tackle societal issues very directly, and they’re all highly thought of.

To be clear, I think Picard features possibly the worst writing in modern Trek, so I’m not setting out to defend it on all fronts. But the idea that addressing societal issues head on isn’t a valid approach for Star Trek doesn’t add up for me.

Oops, thanks for the fix

I’ve shared this here before. It’s the most extensive analysis of stardates I’ve encountered: atavachron.wikidot.com

Nick Locarno was a name Tom Paris went by for a while to distance himself from his father, Admiral Paris. I don’t care what Lower Decks had to say about it.

Q was Trelane all grown up. We’ll see if this holds up after SNW season 3 comes out.

Data always had emotions, he just didn’t understand them. Lore never had emotions, he was desperately faking it.

Spot was a robot who underwent a series of upgrades throughout the series, and Data applied the lessons he learned from that to the development of his daughter.