Nerd heaven

🎩 Exploring the World of Oz – Books, Movies & Future Adaptations 🌪️ In this episode, I’m joined by special guest Paeter Frandsen of Spirit Blade Productions, who has just released a brand-new audiobook recording of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum**. Together, we take a deep dive into the magical land of Oz—past, present, and future! We chat about: ✨ Our experiences reading the original Wizard of Oz books 🎬 The iconic 1939 Wizard of Oz movie 🌀 Return to Oz and its darker take on Baum’s world 💚 Oz the Great and Powerful 🎭 Wicked, and how its popularity has reshaped modern Oz fandom 🎶 The excitement around the upcoming adaptation Wicked: Part One (Wicked for Good) We also share our hopes and ideas for future adaptations of Baum’s novels and discuss how renewed interest in the Oz franchise could open the door to new faithful retellings. Whether you're a lifelong Oz fan, love the classic movie, are obsessed with Wicked, or curious about untapped corners of the Baum universe, this conversation is for you! 🔊 Check out Paeter Frandsen’s audiobook of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNC7Qz41mx8 or download it from https://www.patreon.com/posts/44479037 Find Paeter at https://Christiangeekcentral.com 💬 Join the conversation! What’s YOUR favorite Oz book or movie? What story would YOU love to see adapted next?

Join me for a full breakdown and character-focused analysis of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home — the hilarious, heartfelt time-travel classic that wraps up the three-part Spock resurrection arc. From whales and alien mysteries to Spock’s evolving relationship with his father, this is more than just a sci-fi comedy. We explore: 🖖 Why the tonal shift shouldn’t have worked — but did 🖖 The probe's mystery and how it deepens the Star Trek mythos 🖖 The completion of Spock’s emotional arc (and how Star Trek: Discovery enriches it) 🖖 Kirk’s final "punishment" and why it’s so satisfying 🖖 The quiet emotional weight behind key moments like Sarek’s confession   Whether you're a long-time Trekkie or just diving into the films, this is your place for thoughtful commentary, nostalgic appreciation, and character storytelling.   👉 Next up: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — and I’ve got thoughts.   📘 Love Star Trek? You’ll probably enjoy my own space opera series, Jewel of The Stars. Grab book one for less than a dollar at: https://books2read.com/jewel   🖖 Subscribe for more deep dives on Star Trek movies and series.

In this episode of Nerd Heaven, Adam David Collings takes you on a passionate and thoughtful journey through Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Often overshadowed by its predecessor and successor, this film is far more than a bridge—it’s a deeply emotional exploration of friendship, sacrifice, and what makes Star Trek so enduring. We break down pivotal scenes like the death of David Marcus, the Klingon confrontation with Kruge, and the climactic resurrection ceremony on Vulcan. From James Horner’s unforgettable score to Leonard Nimoy’s directorial choices and Spock’s spiritual rebirth, this episode offers insightful commentary that will resonate with fans of Star Trek lore, character arcs, and sci-fi storytelling. You'll hear: 🖖 Why Kirk's sacrifice defines his character 🖖 The surprising emotional growth of Sarek and McCoy 🖖 How Genesis represents both hope and destruction 🖖 Thoughts on the “even vs odd movie” theory 🖖 A tribute to James Horner’s legacy in Star Trek music Whether you're a longtime Trekkie or revisiting the films with fresh eyes, this episode will help you appreciate The Search for Spock as a beautifully crafted chapter in Star Trek’s cinematic saga. 👉 Subscribe for more Star Trek analysis, sci-fi reviews & geek culture deep dives. 🖖 Live long and prosper.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan—the film saved Star Trek, as it could be argued. This movie embraced the aging of its characters, leading to a very meaingful character arc for Kirk, which only means more to me as I get older. Let's geek out over the Star Trek movie that many still hold up as their favourite.

Today we start a new series looking at the original series Star Trek movies, starting with Star Trek The Motion Picture. This is a film with very clear weaknesses, but also some strengths. Let's take an honest look at what I like, and what I don't like about this movie.

This is an author's commentary for the first book in my Jewel of The Stars series. Think of it like the director's commentary on a DVD.

In this episode, I discuss the Babylon 5 animated movie The Road Home. How does it stack up as a Babylon 5 story? Let's dig in and find out.

Blood of the Stars is an epic fantasy novel, the first of a series by debut author Karyne Norton. Learn more about the book at https://www.karynenorton.com/ And check out my books at https://adamdavidcollings.com/books   

Bonus Episode - My thoughts on Indianna Jones and The Dial of Destiny.

Today, we're looking at the final episode of Star Trek Continues. "To Boldly Go. Part 2." So how does this episode hold up against other series finales such as "All Good Things" and "What You Leave Behind". And how well does this episode tie together Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. There's a lot to talk about, including some cool stories shared with me by director James Kerwin. Audio Player control at bottom of page. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a Nerd. This is episode 107 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the final episode of Star Trek Continues. “To Boldly Go, Part 2.” bringing our coverage of this show to a close.   The description on IMDB reads The iconic mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise comes to an end, as Kirk and his crew battle the ultimate adversary.   This teleplay was written by Robert J. Sawyer and James Kerwin. With story by Vic Mignogna, Robert J. Sawyer and James Kerwin. It was directed by James Kerwin And it first aired on the 13th of November 2017.   We pick up in a very tense situation from last episode’s great cliffhanger. Kirk is unwilling to relinquish his bridge. He, Spock, and Uhura all try to fight back. To no avail. Even the security officer’s phasers are useless against Lana’s powers.   And then the big surprise twist happens. Smith’s eyes go silver. She is uplifted as well. This was nicely foreshadowed in the last episode where they mentioned that she was holding Garry’s hand when they passed through the barrier. I felt then, that she was holding something back. She uses the same lightning force powers that Lana was using. We saw Gary Mitchel and Elizabeth Denher use them in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. She forces Lana and Sentek to retreat to the Kongo.   So … it seems Smith wasn’t quite so unaffected as she claimed. I think this is a very cool development. But it raises a lot of questions. Where does Smith sit in the esper scale? Has she always been affected, but has been hiding it, or have her powers only just now manifested. And if so, why?   Kirk asks security to escort her to sickbay. At first, she’s taken aback. After all, she’s one of the good guys right. She helped them against Lana. But after a moment of thought, she relents. It’s probably a good idea. She understands the potential threat she represents. She sees things from Kirk’s point of view. Maybe she’d even do the same thing in his place. She voluntarily goes with security.   The big question is, why are they just sitting there. Why have they not destroyed the Enterprise and her crew? McCoy has the answer. It takes time for uplifted  espers to grow in their powers. Perhaps they’re biding their time until they all reach full strength.   Bones has a medical defence that might help with the illusions. Scotty recommends keeping their distance as the espers don’t have unlimited range with their powers. The Kongo’s engines are offline. The crew must have shut it off before they were overpowered. Maybe the espers don’t know how to get them going again.   Kirk hasn’t slept for two days. McCoy doesn’t argue. Usually Kirk would be wrong, but not this time. He needs to keep going. I’m not sure McCoy is right, actually. As Riker says in Best of Both Worlds, you can’t fight the enemy at the same time you’re fighting your own fatigue. Lack of sleep impairs human decision making. I know my mind is absolutely useless after putting in a day of work, and Kirk has been going much longer than that. Yes, the situation is critical, but for the moment, it’s quiet, This might be the perfect time for Kirk to catch 30 minutes of sleep while the enemy regroups. Of course, there’s a lot to accomplish while they have this time. Coming up with defences, a plan of some sort. There are no good or easy answers, which is probably why McCoy is not arguing with him.   In five years, 73 people have died under Kirk’s command. He remembers the exact number. Of course he would.   McCoy says “we’ll stop them” but that’s not the point. “At what cost, Doctor?” Kirk asks. That’s what’s really on his mind. It’s fitting for Kirk to reflect back on the cost of his five year mission as it’s nearing its end. Especially at a moment like this, when it looks like that cost is about to skyrocket. But there’s more to it, as we’ll soon discover.   McKenna goes to see Smith. Everyone is afraid of her. Understandably. Contact with Gary, at the time of his uplifting left some residual energy in her. She didn’t uplift at the time, probably because she doesn’t have the psi rating necessary. But her proximity to the barrier now has reactivated that residual energy enough to uplift her.   Smith has developed telepathy. She can read McKenna’s mind. She can feel the power flowing through her, but she claims to not be dangerous. She would never hurt anybody.   But McKenna can’t know that for sure. Gary shows early signs of megalomania quite quickly. Denher much less so. She still retained her humanity despite temptation to the contrary. Why?   Was it that Denher was intrinsically a better person? What is because Denher had a lower psi rating than Gary? If that’s the case, it looks good for Smith as she seems to have a lower rating still.   So far, it’s looking like Smith has a good chance of keeping her humanity long term. But there are no guarantees here. We just just don’t know.   Charvanek comes to see Spock. It seems she is still trying to pursue a relationship with him. A relationship he was tempted to enter into in the past, but resisted.   She asks Spock to come with her when her ship departs. The mission of the Enterprise is almost over. His job is complete. It’s a logical time to make a change in his life. She tempts him with the promise of unification between Romulans and Vulcans. A promise that will consume him a century from now. But why would a Romulan commander want reunification? She is as he would want her to be, not as she truly is. This is not Charvanek. When Spock resists the illusion, it disappears.   Other illusions are being used against the crew. An order to Checkov to lower shields and head into the barrier. Even Kirk’s preoccupation with the deaths of crew under his command.   I’m glad these moments were included. The greatest weapon Lana’s espers have is their mental abilities. Their ability to confuse and manipulate the crew of the Enterprise. They should be using it every change they get. Probably a lot more than we see on screen. With that many espers, and so many on board the Enterprise susceptible to them, it’s actually a miracle they don’t blow up their own ship.   This is one weakness I see in Deep Space Nine, actually. Now DS9 is my favourite of all the Star Trek shows, and I love everything to do with the Dominion War and the changelings. But their greatest strength was not the military might of their ships, or the fighting acumen of the Jem Hadar. Their greatest weapon was the ability to infiltrate the Federation. We saw a little hint of the potential they possessed in Homefront and Paradise Lost. And that was only 4 changelings. They should have used these infiltration tactics a lot more during the war. We know the blood screenings were not entirely effective. The Federation wouldn’t have stood a chance.   The reason I bring all this up is just to praise this episode for including these scenes.   The battle begins. The Kongo fires on the Enterprise. The starboard nacelle is damaged. The Romulans join the fight but then move off.   The espers might need a minute to recharge their powers.   The nacelle needs 30 minutes to repair. Kirk orders a risky cold restart. The esper’s powers cannot deflect multiple simultaneous strikes. But two vectors will not be enough. Three would do the job, but they don’t have a third ship….or do they?   Kirk orders the crew to prepare for a risky procedure. One they have never before attempted. Scotty will re-start the engines. They will separate the saucer from the Stardrive. Spock will command the saucer. Kirk, the secondary hull.   Obviously, this is something that TNG did, but TOS never did.  I was already aware that Gene Roddenberry had intended that the TOS Enterprise be able to separate. They didn’t really have the budget to make it a reality until Encounter at Farpoint. What I didn’t realise, until it was pointed out by James Kerwin, is that Kirk referred to the process, which they called “Jettisoning”, not “Separating” in two different TOS episodes. “The Apple” and “Savage Curtain”.   Spock points out that it will be very difficult to re-integrate the ship after this. But not impossible I like this approach. It shows that while yes, the original Enterprise COULD separate the two sections, it wasn’t a routine operation like on the Enterprise D. It’s a last resort. Not necessarily indeed to be undone. Kirk describes it as “jettisoning the stardrive section.” So it’s not the same as in TNG.  I like this a lot.   This gives the final episode of Star Trek Continues quite an epic feel. Now they can conduct a three-pronged attack on the Kingo.   And it’s working. The Kongo’s power is decreasing.   Kirk is commanding the stardrive section from Auxilary control, which was seen from time to time in the original series. The set was built for episode 3 “Fairest of Them All”.  Director James Kerwin shared a story with me. The Auxilary control set was re-assembled for the finale, not having been used in a couple of years. But the buttons and lights on the helm console had deteriorated due to humidity and dust. They no longer worked, and they had to film in two days.   Kermin checked the travel manifest and realised that Grant Imahara, who played Sulu, was flying in that day. Grant was an electrical engineer by trade. Kermin called him on his mobile phone and said “Grant, I’m so sorry, I know you have a day off before you need to film, but could you please come to set now and try to repair th

Today, we're looking at "To Boldly Go Part 1", the first half of the Star Trek Continues grant finale. See how this episode ties back to the Star Trek pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before", how it sets up everything for the exciting conclusion, and hear some fascinating new insights into the episode from director James Kerwin. Player at bottom of page http://AdamDavidCollings.com/books ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a nerd   This is episode 106 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the first part of the Star Trek Continues grand finale, “To Boldly Go, Part 1”.   I got an email a few weeks ago. It was from James Kerwin. Yes, that James Kerin. Writer, producer and director for Star Trek Continues, including director of today’s episode.   He reached out to me to say he’d been listening to the podcast and enjoying it. This was a huge thrill. It’s very humbling to find that one of the creators of the show has been listening to the podcast, so I want to give a big shout out and thank you to him, not only for his work on the show, but for his encouragement.   And he pointed out a few fascinating things that I’d missed. Remember in episode three, I talked about how good the shuttlecraft exterior looked. It turns out, they didn’t build that from scratch that was the real shuttlecraft Galileo from Star Trek The Original Series. How awesome is that?   I’ve made mention of Nurse Chapel a couple of times, but that wasn’t actually Chapel. They made a conscious decision not to have Chapel appear on screen in this show because she should be off at Starfleet Medical getting her doctorate at this point in time, which makes a lot of sense. So it was always Nurse Burke, a character who had appeared in Star Trek comics and novels.   And Lieutenant Smith has not actually been on the Enterprise the whole time. But we’ll learn more about that in the next episode.   But here’s a big one I missed. The actress who plays her, Kipleigh Brown, was the writer of episode 9 “What Ships are For” I didn’t put that together, but I think that’s really cool.   The description on IMDB for today’s episode reads To solve the utmost mystery, the Enterprise must return to where Kirk's five-year mission began. The teleplay was by Roberty J. Sawyer based on a story by Vic Mignongna, James Kerwin, and Robert J. Sawyer. It was directed by James Kerwin, And it first aired on the 18th of October 2017.   Robert J. Sawyer was the primary writer of this two-parter. He is a very famous Canadian author who wrote FlashForward, which was adapted for TV by Star Trek’s Branon Braga, and Man of Steel’s David S. Goyer.   When Star Trek The Next Generation was preparing to wrap and move to the big screen, they gave it a two-hour finale. This idea was pretty unheard of at the time. Lots of shows in the 90s had movie-length pilots, but not finales. TV shows tended to pitter out and end with a bit of a whimper. TNG changed all that.   But the original Star Trek never got a proper finale, like TNG, DS9, and Voyager.  Even Enterprise got a finale of sorts, which I will partially defend, though not the feature length extravaganza that others got. But things were different in the 60s. TOS had no ending. It was cancelled. Turnabout Intruder wasn’t intended to be the end of the story, it was just an episode.   One of the greatest things about Star Trek Continues is that it rectifies this. It gives TOS the ending it always deserved. And it’s done so well.   Much like “All Good Things”, it calls back to a lot of things from the past, but it specifically links us back to the very first episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Even the titles relate, each is part of Kirk’s iconic phrase. The symmetry is beautiful.   But hold on, I hear you say. “What about the Cage? Isn’t that the pilot of TOS?” Well, yes it is. Star Trek had an unprecedented  two pilots. But The Cage never actually aired in its original form during the run of the show. These days, I tend to think of The Cage as the pilot for Strange New Worlds. So in my mind, it makes a lot of sense for this episode to tie in with “Where No Man has Gone Before.”   Director James Kerwin gave me some interesting insight into the production of these episodes. They actually filmed this two-parter before they filmed the last episode “What Ships are For.” CBS/Paramount had implemented their fan-film guidelines, guidelines.    Now a show like this would have needed some substantial changes to fit with these guidelines. They were required to be less than 15 minutes or no more than 2 30 minute parts in total with no additional seasons, episodes or sequels.   CBS didn’t require the show to shut down, but with these guidelines in place, and Discovery about to release, out of respect, they decided to wind down Star Trek Continues. They did a final fundraiser to complete episodes 8, 10 and 11, but there was no money to make episode 9.   But at the last minute, a generous donor gave them the money for episode 9. They shot the finale first to get it out of the way, and went back several months later to film “What Ships are For.” I’m glad that generous donor made it possible, because that last episode was pretty amazing.   The episode opens with Spock & McKenna meditating together. This is normally a very private affair, but Spock considers it an honour to teach a willing student.    Meditation is the one time that Vulcans truly acknowledge their emotions. You can see why it’s so private.   McKenna’s inclusion in this moment shows the level of intimacy that has grown between these two.   They will both miss these sessions when the mission is over.   We learn here about a vulcan discipline, the Dulhutnar, an alternative to the Kolinahr.  Rather than the purging of emotions, the Dulhutna is about accepting the wisdom of vestigial emotions. Spock considers there to be No chance of him pursuing either. Of course, we know that shortly after this finale, he will return to Vulcan and pursue the Kolinahr.   Spock and McKenna’s relationship is special. They share private things they wouldn’t share with others. Time with humans has taught Spock to value his human side. And then they hold hands. That’s a huge deal. Vulcans are not comfortable with physical contact. And even for humans, holding hands is a sign of affection and physical intimacy.   The Enterprise is scheduled to return home soon. Their 5 year mission is coming to an end. The loss of The Hood crew still weighs on him. You’ll remember that back in “Embracing the Winds” a mysterious life support failure cost the lives of the entire crew. A failure that Scotty was unable to explain.    I remember commenting at the time that I hoped the show would follow up on that. I couldn’t remember if it did. We’ll see in this episode that it is definitely followed up.   The Yorktown and the Republic were both damaged while investigating The Hood’s loss. The Enterprise is being sent to the Federation colony on Aldebran III which went completely silent shortly afterward.   Admiral Thesp, a very cool looking Andorian, admits that the Federation had a secret laboratory on the planet. A supply vessel sent to investigate never returned. They detected anti-proton residue. That means Romulans.   The colony has been destroyed. The central reactor suffered a containment failure. Scotty thinks that should be impossible. He installed the safeguards himself 5 years ago, which, I suppose, gives us a glimpse of what Scotty’s job was before the Enterprise’s 5 year mission began.   Interestingly, Vic pronounces the word Sabotage the same way Shatner does. Sabotage. I don’t know how common that is in America, or Canada for that matter, but here in Australia, we definitely say Sabotage. Anyway, I love these little bits of attention to detail. It’s really cool.   The underground pandora research lab is intact but it has a scattering field so Scotty will have to beam them down outside.   The set for the planet looks very reminiscent of what we might have seen on The Original Series, and yet, kind of better, in my opinion. It’s a real work of art.   I like the little elevator shaft to gain entrance to the lab. The only sign of habitation nearby. Presumably, the colony was elsewhere on the planet.   A drone appears and attacks them. The effects here are a good match for the original series. Again, better quality, but recognisable.   There’s a good sense of danger to this action scene.   After they’ve dealt with it, a human woman, Lana, appears out of the turbolift. She’s surprised to see a Vulcan. The sensors detected him as Romulan.   Lana is played by actress Nichola Bryant who famously portrayed the Doctor Who companion Peri, a character I’ve been known to refer to as “the whinging yank”. But in fairness to her, Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor was a bit of a prickly guy to be around.   James Kerwin was a big Doctor Who fan growing up. Colin Baker and Nichola Bryant were the doctor/companion pairing that he most remembered as a child. It was a big honour for him to work with both of them on Star Trek Continues. Colin Baker appeared in Episode 4, The White Iris, as Amphidamas. And Nichola Bryant appeared in this two-parter.  How cool is it that he got to work with them both on this show?    Lana is wearing a visor. To me, it looks similar to the one that Spock and Miranda Jones had to wear when viewing the Medusans back in “Is There No Truth in Beauty.”   But as she removes the visor, we see her eyes. The same metallic colour we saw in Gary Mitchell after he was uplifted by passage through the galactic barrier, back in the pilot episode.   Ever since this phenomenon was discovered, after “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, Starfleet have been gathering people with high psi-quotients and experimenting with them. Trying to uplift them. There are 25 of them.   This sounds like a REALLY BAD IDEA   My first thought is, are section 31 involved? This woman is

We're taking a brief side-quest from our regular coverage of Star Trek Continues, to look at an episode of Star Trek New Voyages, because it sets up the back-story of Kirk and Carol Marcus's relationship, and I just like to throw it in there when I'm doing a re-watch of Star Trek Continues. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd.   This is episode 105 of the podcast.   Today, we’re talking about an episode of a different fan series - Star Trek New Voyages. “The Holiest Thing”   Why? I just like to throw this one in when I do a re-watch of Star Trek Continues, because it does a similar thing to Continues, that is, to help develop the story filling in the gaps between TOS and the Star Trek movies. This one introduces Kirk to a much younger Carol Marcus, for the very first time. So I figured, let’s have a look at this one. Next time, we’ll be back with part 1 of the finale of Star Trek Continues.   The description on IMDB reads Captain Kirk and the Enterprise investigate the devastation of Lappa III, apparently by the terraforming efforts of Dr. Carol Marcus.   This episode was written by Rick Chambers It was directed by Daren Dochterman   And it first aired on the 15th of January 2016   We start this episode in a very unexpected place. A shuttle flies past the camera. But it’s not a TOS shuttle. It’s an Enterprise D shuttle. We cut to the inside where we see a woman in TNG era uniform and an older Scotty. So, clearly this is set some time after the TNG episode “Relics” where a retired Scotty finds himself in the 24th century. I have to say, they cast a pretty decent look-alike for older scotty. A guy named Carl Sheldon. He hasn’t done a lot of acting.   Watching this scene, I’m again reminded just how professional the acting and writing are in Star Trek Continues. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Star Trek New Voyages. They did some amazing stuff long before Star Trek Continues was a thing. But the acting, and the dialog here just isn’t at the same standard as Continues.   But I want to give this show credit for set design and visual effects. What we see in this episode is great. And not all the acting feels as amateur as this first scene.   The ensign has been doing some training with Captain Scott. They’re approaching the Lappa system. She asks Scotty if he’s ever been there. He recalls a time in his past, when the world was still very much on the frontier. It was un-inhabited back then. At least, that’s what they thought.   We then cut to the TOS present day. A scientist, who we’ll shortly learn is Dr. Carol Marcus, is working to terraform this planet. Scotty is there, and in this show, he has a moustache. Another little nod to closing the gap between TOS and TMP.   Marcus says “we have Enterprise and her chief Engineer watching over our shoulder.” This is something that bugs me. That she says “Enterprise” rather than “The Enterprise.” Voyager was the first Star Trek show to drop the word “The” when referring to the ship. And I was okay with that because “The Voyager” somehow sounded wrong. In contrast to “The Enterprise” and “The Defant” which both sounded completely natural and right.   Then we got Enterprise, and on that show, they did the same thing. They called the ship “Enterprise”, not “The Enterprise” That annoyed me a little, but I got over it.   But nowadays, in Strange New Worlds, they are referring to the original starship Enterprise, the one commanded by Pike and eventually Kirk, as “Enterprise.” I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong. That ship was always “The Enterprise” so that annoys me quite a bit. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. Here, in New Voyages, we have the same problem. Carol is referring to Kirk’s ship. It should be “The Enterprise”   Marcus told the science council she could terraform Lappa III in less than a decade. But with recent problems with the equipment, it’s going to take twice that long. Both Marcus AND the council seem to be very inpatient about that, even though, as Scotty points out, it’s a whole century faster than anybody else has done it before. It amuses me to see her pacing impatiently when we’re talking timeframes of decades and centuries.    And centuries sounds about right for terraforming, something that, if it is actually possible, is not going to be quick.   Apparently, they’re using transporter technology in a whole new way. Scotty wants to see what it’s all about. Something goes terribly wrong and the lab explodes. Scotty and Marcus barely escape in their shuttle. But they crash. This was a pretty spectacular sequence.   The Enterprise crew have recovered Scotty and Marcus. Scotty is pretty banged up. Marcus is unconscious but should be out of here soon. But Kirk is very impatient to speak with her. He needs to know what happened on the outpost.   Jacy King plays Carol Marcus. Married to Brian Gross who plays Kirk. She’s a good choice. She definitely looks the part, a lot more than Alice Eve did in Star Trek Into Darkness. And, of course, she doesn’t have the inexplicable British accent.   I didn’t see Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn at the cinema. I don’t know if it even showed here in Tasmania. But I was only 4 years old. I saw the first half of it on TV, and then watched the whole thing on VHS many years later. When I watched it, it had been quite some time since I’d seen the original TV series. So I had assumed, from the way she was introduced, that we’d seen the character of Carol Marcus at some point in the past. Of course, that wasn’t the case. The back-story of Kirk and Carol Marcus always seemed like this big glaring hole that demanded to be filled. So I liked that Star Trek New Voyages chose to fill that hole.   Carol is shocked and horrified to learn all her team is dead. There’s no evidence of alien contact. Kirk is going to begin the investigation assuming it was an accident. Carol wants to be a part of it. She will work with Spock.   But McCoy thinks she needs to work with someone more sensitive to her current emotional needs, given her great loss. So Kirk volunteers.   Carol’s terraforming technology uses transporters to re-arrange matter. Seems like a pre-cursor to the Genesis device she’ll eventually create.   Scotty thought he saw a ship on sensors, but now they can’t detect anything.   Spock wants to run background checks on Carol’s staff, considering the possibility of sabotage. She doesn’t react to this well. There is now clear tension between her and Spock. He’s not sure she should accompany him to the surface, given her “emotional outbursts.”   This episode actually gives a character arc to both Marcus and Spock. Marcus, of course, is trying to figure out how to deal with the painful emotions of having lost her crew, and feeling responsible. Spock, on the other hand, has to learn how to relate to a human who is experiencing very understandable strong emotions. It’s a learning experience for both.   A quick zoom out shows us that there is indeed a ship hiding in the system. It’s not cloaked. It seems to be hiding in a gas cloud. It’s not a familiar design. At least, it wasn’t to me, in this shot, but we’ll come back to that.   Kirk goes to see Marcus. He apologises for Spock. Marcus has come to agree that Spock asked the right question, she just didn’t like it.   We get some insight into why Marcus is so passionate about terraforming. She talks of a famine that happened on a world. People suffered. She wanted to help. Terraforming dead worlds is an answer, but it’s far too slow to be of any practical help. She is driven by compassion for people.   She sees herself becoming a mother of worlds   It’s a good conversation. There’s no flirting or inappropriate behaviour, as you often get from Kirk the minute he meets a pretty girl, Just 2 people getting to know each other.  They’re both people with authority. They understand each other   Kir acts s little sheepish as he starts to realise his attraction to her. Maybe he’s sensing that he feels more than just sexual attraction. Something deeper.   She’s feeling it too   Spock and Carol beam down to investigate destruction site. We see Xon at transporter console. He is the Vulcan character created to replace Spock in the original Star Trek Phase 2 series that was cancelled in favour of Star Trek the Motion picture, because Nimoy wasn’t going to be involved in that show. When it became a movie instead of a series, Nimoy agreed to return.   Star Trek New Voyages chose to bring Xon onto the Enterprise as a new character alongside Spock.   Spock and Marcus are learning to appreciate each other. Marcus seems to be a little envious of Spock’s ability to suppress emotion as a Vulcan. They’ve found something on the planet. Not something belonging to the team. It doesn’t belong there. They’re bringing it aboard for analysis.   Kirk is seeking counsel from bones on how to help Dr. Marcus through what she’s going through. He claims he has no romantic interest in her. That would be wrong. Interesting to see Kirk say that when nothing usually stops him. But Carol is going through a great deal of emotional pain at the loss of her friends.   Sometimes in older fiction, like Star Trek, you’ll see characters who are trying to comfort someone through grief, and suddenly it becomes romantic. Like they’re taking advantage of the other person. Even Star Trek 2009 did this with Uhura and Spock, but reversing the expected gender roles. It felt really odd. I’m glad to see Kirk not doing that here. His relationship with Carol Marcus is one that is important to us as fans, so it’s nice to see them doing it right.   When the mysterious object causes problems with their respirators, and even Scotty can’t get a lock on Carol, Kirk has a very reckless plan to rescue her. Beaming down without a respirator of his own to give Scotty something to lock onto. It’s a plan that could work, but probably not something the captain of the ships should

In this episode of Star Trek Continues, we are treated to the return of John De Lancie is a new role. But just because he's not playing Q, doesn't mean he isn't awesome. "What Ships Are For" explores an issue that has been topical in our world in recent years - immigration and refugees. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd.   This is episode 104 of the podcast. (Yes, I’m counting the chat about DC comics from last time) Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “What Ships are For”.   The description on IMDB reads Kirk struggles with aiding a society whose inhabitants view their isolated world in a very unique way.   This teleplay was written by Kipleigh Brown With story by Vic Mignogna, James Kerwin, and Kipleigh Brown,  It was directed by Vic Mignogna   And it first aired on the 30th of July 2017   When I first heard that Star Trek Continues was bringing in the legendary John DeLancie, but that he’d be playing a character that wasn’t Q, my initial reaction was “What a waste of John De Lancie.”   My thinking went something like this. The idea of having Q visit Kirk’s Enterprise would be fun. Something that could certainly happen in-universe because Q can travel through time with the click of a finger. But it couldn’t have ever been done in TOS because The Next Generation didn’t exist yet. It’s the similar problem to having Kirk and Spock make references to Archer and T’Pol. While Enterprise took place before TOS, it was created more than 30 years later. These kinds of references and interactions can only be done by fan productions (or maybe Strange New Worlds). But as fun as it would be having Q show up in a TOS episode, it’s unlikely a fan production would be able to get John DeLancie.   But Star Trek Continues managed to get him. But they didn’t use him for Q. They cast him as another character. Added to the disappointment of him not being Q, was the fact that De Lancie is a very recognisable guy, so seeing him as a different character would be odd to say the least.   After watching the episode the first time, I had to back-pedal my thoughts on this because of De Lancie’s great performance. He did a fantastic job with this character, and now it’s hard to imagine this episode without him.   The Enterprise is responding to a distress call from an inhabited asteroid with a limited warp capable society.   I like that it’s an inhabited asteroid. We always see people living on planets, but I think we need more inhibited moons and asteroids, not only in sci-fi, but in fantasy as well. If I ever write a fantasy book, the world I set it on will be a moon, rather than a planet.   And a nice bit of ongoing continuity, we learn that two Federation starships have been dispatched to investigate what happened to the hood. Both have suffered unexplainable damage. We also learn that Nurse Chapel is already at Starfleet medical, studying to become a doctor. We know that by the time of Star Trek The Motion Picture, Chapen is a doctor. This is the first really big sign that Star Trek Continues is on a trajectory toward that movie, starting to set up some of the big changes that occurred off-screen between season 3 and the movie.   You sometimes see nurses who decide to become doctors in both fiction and real life. It can be almost viewed as a promotion, which, I suspect it technically is, if you look at the hierarchy of authority in a hospital. But nursing certainly needn't be seen as a stepping stone to medicine. Nursing is a respected profession of highly intelligent people. And interestingly, my wife works with a nurse who used to be a doctor, but decided she’d rather be a nurse. You don’t often see it go that direction.   The other hint of the motion picture you see is the white medical uniform the doctor at Starfleet is wearing. Kirk jokes that you’ll never get him in one of those things.   The Hyalini have refused outside contact for centuries. We know little about them.   We get a little TOS style womp-womp humour, which I don’t really care for, but it’s very authentic.   When the landing party beam down to the asteroid, they are surprised to be seeing everything in black and white. When I heard that the creative team behind this show were looking for ways to do a black and white episode, I wasn’t convinced. But the conceit they come up with works nicely for me as a science fiction concept, and also allows them to approach a topical issue in a very unique way. So good on ‘em.   While they puzzle over what might be affecting their eyes, they are met by Galisti, leader of the inner council, played by De Lanci, and Thaius, their newly appointed ambassador to the Federation.   Galisti is surprised that the human visitors look so much like Hyanoid bipeds. He was expecting a tentacle or two. Thaius is the first to notice that Spock is different from the others. I laughed out loud when she asked with all sincerity,  if he was an Earth female. McCoy managed to get by with a stifled chuckle.   She is also fascinated and delighted by Spock’s kindness and gallantry revealed by pure calculated reason.   She notes that in all her excitement at meeting aliens, she didn’t see anything other than his ears. “How often we look but forget to see.” This is an important line, not only because of what it says, but because of who says it. As we’ll see at the end of the episode.   We also learn that Galisti and Thaius are married. Galisti says “How fortunate I am to call my friend, my wife.” And I totally get behind that. I believe that romantic love is best born out of friendship.That’s why I don’t understand this whole “friend zone” thing that “the kids” talk about these days.   Kirk struggles to find the words to ask the aliens about the lack of colour. How do you describe colour to someone who has no concept of it? It would be a bit like describing colour to a blind person. There is simply no common frame of reference.   Gaisti and Thaius don’t really know what Kirk is getting at, but they assure him the way their world looks is the same as it has always been.   They launch right into an explanation of their situation. Their isolation was never meant to end now. Hundreds of years ago, they united in a goal of becoming worthy to one day join the galactic community (clearly they knew, or believed, that alien life existed). They wanted to become a utopian society, somewhat like what Earth has become.   Spock explains the black-and-white as the property of an unusual form of radiation from their sun, which impairs the cone cells in humanoid eyes. So far, this is just a strange quirk of this world. And Star Trek is all about discovering strange new worlds. But this will come into play in an important thematic way later in the episode.   I love the establishing shot we see of the town. Feels reminiscent of the planet where Pike fought the warrior on Rigel in The Cage. I wonder where they shot it. Might even just be stock footage.   When Kirk is introduced to Thaius’s most promising student, Sekara, Kirk goes all … Kirk. When he meets an attractive woman, he can’t help but flirt with her.   Things get awkward when Tomiat, one of the council, points a gun to his head and yells that Galisti shouldn’t have brought the aliens here. They are all ruined. His perspective seems to be that making contact with aliens, before they themselves are perfect, will destroy them. I can kind of understand why a group of people would want to perfect themselves before joining the larger community, but this guy’s ideas seem odd and extreme. Evidently, the others of his people do not share the extremity of his view. He refers to himself as a “true believer”. But a believer in what? Their plan to perfect themselves? What leads him to take the mental jump from “This would be a good strategy” to “if it doesn’t go as we planned, we’re doomed”? It seems a bit of an absurd leap. I don’t know what he’s basing it on.   Spock brings things to a peaceful end with a well-placed neck pinch.   That’s when Galisti explains that Sekara had a disease. She’ll be dead before the year is out. This is why they broke their isolation with the distress signal. They don’t know what it is, only what it isn’t. These people seem to have medical knowledge at least in line with ours.   McCoy is confident the disease is related to the same radiation that makes everything look black and white. Not sure how he concludes this.   He wants to bring Sekara on board the Enterprise to examine her in sickbay, but Kirk sees a potential issue. On the Enterprise, she’ll be shielded from the radiation. Spock isn’t certain whether she’ll see colour or not, but if she does, it could be traumatic. I can totally get that. Kirk tries to prepare her for what she might see. He does a good job of it. He warns her that it will be unusual, it might frighten her, but it will be safe. She accepts this.   When she arrives in the transporter room, we get the reveal that her skin and hair colouring are not what you’d expect from a human. Greenish skin and purple hair. Cleverly concealed by the black-and-white nature of her asteroid home.   She still sees in black and white for a moment. But then it happens. And as you can imagine, it’s pretty overwhelming.She goes into a panic attack. She asks “is it alive?” Again, Kirk does a good job of calming and reassuring her.   This was nicely done.   It's taken millennia for the radiotoxins to induce acute radiation syndrome. Mccoy has started sekaras treatment   Now that she’s gotten used to it, Sekara has a real sense of wonder about colour. It’s like nothing she’s ever experienced before. I like how something that is so mundane to us is so awe-inspiring to her.   The Hyalinans do have limited space travel, but they don’t have shields that can block the radiation. That’s why they still don’t see colour when they travel through space, but Sekara can when on board the Enterprise.   A

In this episode, I talk about some of the DC Comics that I've read in recent time. I cover * Batman: The Killing Joke * Green Lantern Emerald Twilight * Zero Hour: Crisis in Time * Superman: Dead Again   This is a bonus as my next Star Trek Continues podcast is not yet ready. Next fortnight, we'll return to our regularly scheduled program.  

This episode of Star Trek Continues takes an alternative look at what might have happened to the USS Defiant after The Tholian Web, making use of a divergence field so as not to contradict In a Mirror Darkly. It also features a guest appearance of Rekha Sharma, before her role in Star Trek Discovery. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd.   This is episode 102 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Still Treads The Shadows”.   The description on IMDB reads The Enterprise becomes trapped on the edge of a rift in space where alternate universes meet and Kirk finds himself having to contend with a ghost from his past and danger in the present.   This episode was written by Judy Burns It was directed by Julian Higgins And it first aired on the 1st of April 2017   And this one guest stars Rekha Sharma of Battlestar Galactica fame, and she actually appeared here long before she appeared in Star Trek Discovery.    The Enterprise is investigating a nascent singularity. A gravitational wave engineer has been sent along to help them. This makes sense to me, while one of Starfleet’s primary missions is scientific, and they have their own scientists, if there is no expert on a given field on board, a guest may be sent with them. And if the leading expert on a field is a civilian, it makes sense that a civilian would go along to work with the crew.   There’s a stronger than anticipated gravitational wave. It has consumed planets 3 through 8 in ten days and is about to destroy a moon.   It seems our guest, Avi Samara, is on a first name basis with Kirk. She calls him Jim, then corrects herself.   They’re detecting an interdimensional rift, like the one Kirk was nearly lost in back in The Tholian Web.   They’ve detected a lifeform, it’s not on the moon as they first think, but on a ship. The USS Defiant.   Well that’s interesting. Especially since we know what happened to the Defiant after The Tholian Web. It ended up in the 22 century of the mirror universe. (and that episode aired long before this series was thought of)   Also when The Defiant vanished, there was nobody alive on board.   Samara wants to go aboard to investigate, but Kirk denies her request without explanation.   All the dead crewmen Kirk saw last time are gone. The bridge is empty.   Bones has found the lifesign. It’s a much older looking Kirk. Cryonically preserved.   A DNA scan suggests he’s not a clone because there’s no genetic drift. He’s literally Kirk.   Samara’s research suggests that rogue singularities can move from universe to universe. The Defiant is stuck, halfway between two universes. Her engines have been modified over a long period of time to reach warp 15.   Old Kirk arrives in the briefing lounge. All this time he thought they’d left him behind. Now he finds his old crew, still young, and …. Himself.   Even old Kirk knows Samara, so they’ve known each other prior to this mission. Given their embrace it seems they were close.   Old Kirk remembers the attempt to beam him back to the Enterprise, but he found himself back on the Defient. Samara suggests a divergence field. Two Kirks. Two Defiants. They don’t know where our Defiant went, (but we do) but this is the duplicate. The other defiant has been in another universe for 217 years. The big question is, who put Kirk in cryo?   The old-age makeup isn’t bad. Along similar lines to what was done in the original series. But not at the level of what could be done today with a professional budget. And Vic does a good job of altering his performance, his voice, to help sell it. It would have been interesting if they’d been able to get William Shatner for this episode to play older Kirk. It would be a good way to bring him back, something he’s sometimes said he’d like to do if the role was more than a cameo. Fan productions have had original series actors appear in the past, and Continues is one of the most professional.   Part of me wonders if they actually approached him.   Before we can get an answer, a Klingon ship appears. They claim salvage rights over the Defiant but they’re struck with phaser fire from an unknown source and pulled into the anomaly   The only other ship here is the defiant but there’s nobody on board. That’s when old Kirk appears and orders Uhura to open a channel to the defiant.   Kirk speaks to someone called Tiberius. It appears to be an artificial intelligence. It speaks with Jim’s voice. It claims to be the protector of James Kirk.   Samara speculates that given the time, the Defiant computer could have developed multi-tronic circuits. Which is a bizarre statement to me. Is she suggesting that the computer evolved? By itself? That’s a bit out there.   Tiberius wants its friend back. It wants old Kirk to be returned.   Old Kirk warns against firing at the defiant, saying “you can’t give him the power, it feeds the dark.” He then clutches his head and Bones rushes him back to sickbay. That seems to be a foolish move. Clearly old kirk has information. Information about Tiberius that is vital, that could determine their safety. And Bones just gets him out of there before he can give that information. I understand the need to get the older man medical help, he is clutching his head in obvious pain, but this doesn’t give the impression of a medical emergency so life-threatening that they can’t take a moment to let old Kirk explain. What makes it even worse is that not long after, Bones will confirm there is nothing physically wrong with the man, he’s just old, and will send him to McKenna.   Kirk tries to negotiate with Tiberius but it isn’t interested in the crew’s safety. He blames them for abandoning Kirk, which they technically didn’t do. They didn’t know the duplicate Kirk existed. And old Kirk tried to explain this to tiberius.   Scotty has found a recording of Tiberius saying “it is forbidden for you to remember.” That’s creepy. “Know you are safe. The dark will send you home.”   A brainwashing device. Is Tiberius protecting him from something? Something it thinks old Kirk shouldn’t remember?   They’ve found the duplicate’s logs. Duplicate kirk reprogrammed the computer with a new prime directive, to get Kirk home. It’s started developing a personality.  Kirk says “he’s imprinting on me.” I’m not sure what he means by that.   Now I’m a software developer. Now you can code an artificial intelligence. We’ve done a little of that at our work, with image recognition, but most of my work relates to an asset management system. It has some cleverness and expert knowledge built into it, but it’s essetially a database that stores the details and condition of assets, like bridges. No matter how much data we store in this system, no matter how many features I code into it, it’s not going to spontaneously become self-aware. It’s going to suddenly transform into an AI application like ChatGPT.  You can make an AI, but you’ve actually got to code it. Microsoft Word is not suddenly going to turn into Alexa.   I’m just not buying the idea of Tiberius, which makes it difficult for me to connect with this story, because its existence is kind of crucial to that story.   Anway, after 31 years, Kirk is still failing to find a way home.   Old Kirk is back in his old quarters. This was his cabin once. He has a lot fo talk to McKenna about. It took him 4 months to bury all the crew of the Defiant.   McKenna tries to comfort Kirk with the words of The Ancient Mariner. He was given a second chance to help ensure that others don’t lose hope.   Kirk is struggling with a sense of betrayal on two fronts, first from his crew he thought abandoned him, and second, from the only “friend” he’s had in many years. McKenna says what he needs is to know that although he’s lost all those years, he hasn’t lost who he is. Interestingly, the best person to help him might be our Kirk. Who knows him better? What would Kirk need to hear if he was in old Kirk’s place?   I like that McKenna gets to be a counsellor in this episode.   They reminisce about knowing Samara. Apparently they were close when Kirk was a teenager. Samara rebuilt a biplance.   Another nice touch is seeing the defiant uniform with its custom logo patch. But we’ll talk more about that when we get to the finale.   A question old kirk had to grapple with was Are you even a captain when you have no crew? Are you a leader when no one is following? He knew his crew wouldn't leave him, but the decades passed and they never came. You can’t replace them because there are no other societies to integrate into. It was a universe of void. Nothingness. When does a machine become conscious? When there is nobody around to say it can’t. I never said he couldn’t, so he did. And now he’s as self aware as he is invincible.   And this is all nicely poetic, but I’m still not buying it.   If he’s self aware, maybe he can be reasoned with. Kirk says Tiberious is hiding something. Something so horrific that you could never face it. Old kirk says “the dark.” but he can’t remember what that means.   The rift is emitting dark matter. The Computer suggested a new engine design with the power to open a rift home. In year 51, the computer is sentient. And bloomin McCoy, just as old kirk is explaining things, he wants to give him another sedative. Why? I dunno, because it’s hard for him to get the words out. I'm sure there’s more to it but the episode doesn’t really explain the stakes to us. IT almost feels like McCoy is the one trying to keep this horrible secret.   Shared realities. Two black holes that must not merge. McCoy has to finally give him that sedative because old kirk’s blood pressure is going through the roof.   Spock speculates on what I think is a really interesting sci-fi idea. Binary black holes. Black holes are basically collapsed stars, right? Two black holes,somehow separated into the two realities? Not sure I’m fully putting t

In today's Star Trek Continues podcast, we talk about the episode "Embracing The Winds" which tries to address Janice Lester's claims that "your world of Starship captains doesn't welcome women" in the episode Turnabout Intruder. This episode does a good job of looking at a contemporary issue in a new way through a Star Trek lens. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a Nerd.   This is episode 101 of the podcast.  Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Embracing the Winds.”   And I’m excited to announce that the third book in my Jewel of The Stars series is now available in eBook and print from all the usual retailers. You can find links to many of them by going to books2read.com/jewel3 (and that’s the number 2 in books 2 read)   Let me quickly read the back cover blurb and then we’ll jump into this episode.   Tourists on a cruise. Stranded in an alien battleground   When their warp drive mysteriously stops working, the luxury cruise ship Jewel of The Stars becomes easy pickings for humanity’s enemy – the Dracnor. And there may be an enemy agent on board.   Before the fall of Earth, a madman made doomsday predictions on Captain Les Miller’s doorstop. How did he know the invasion was coming? Now that same man has been spotted walking the promenade. Les must stop him, but the evidence contradicts what he knows to be true.   Will the legacy of an ancient war mean the end of the galaxy’s last free humans? So if that sounds interesting to you, please consider checking it out. You can find the first links to all the books in the series at AdamDavidCollings.com/books   The description on Star Trek Continues.com reads   While the Enterprise is sent on a seemingly routine mission, Kirk is recalled to starbase where he faces an ethical dilemma that challenges the very core of Starfleet Command.   This episode was written by James Kerwin and Vic Mignogna It was directed by James Kerwin And it first aired on the 3rd of September 2016   Star Trek has a problem which was introduced in the original series episode “Turnabout Intruder.” That episode postulates that women are not allowed to be Starship captains in Starfleet. Of course, we’ll see a number of female captains after this, in Star Trek 4, Yesterday’s Enterprise, and Voyager just to name a couple, and we even saw a female Captain before this, back in Enterprise. It seems a very out-dated concept to think that there are not female captains in the 23rd century. So how do you deal with this?   This episode of Star Trek Continues is one approach to try to explain this issue, which I find very creative.   Another approach, postulated by the youTuber Lorerunner, is simply that Janice Lester was mad (just look at her) and the whole rule against women being Starship captains was all in her mind. I don’t mind that explanation either.   Interestingly, Star Trek Continues re-shot the final scenes of Turnabout Intruder as a transitional short film to connect to the new show before their first episode.   So Kirk and Spock have been called down to Corinth IV. Sulu is along for sightseeing and Mckennah for work research.   We get a nice little bit of continuity back to the episode “Lolani” dealing with the fallout in the Orion Syndicate, and how things may be changing due to Lolani’s influence. And that’s beautiful. This is the kind of ongoing continuity you just didn’t get in the original series. Not to this extent.   Sulu makes reference to one of his ancestors being in an internment camp during World War 2, which is a nod to George Takai who actually lived that experience.   I love the planet. Very TOS but with effects that couldn’t have been done in the 60s.   I have to ask, are there any high ranking Starfleet officers who don’t indulge in Romulan ale? Perhaps Admiral Ross really was the only one. Even Spock relents and drinks after the news he’s about to be given.   They meet Commodore Gray. She and Kirk have had some differences. She also appeared in Lolani, where she ordered Kirk to return the Orion slave to her master.   The Crew of Hood have been lost. Some sort of life support failure. No evidence of foul play   Kirk and Spock have been called here because the Hood needs a new captain and crew. Starfleet have chosen Spock   Kirk has mixed feelings. I get this. He’s proud of Spock and happy for him, but he doesn’t want to lose his first officer, and his friend.   But there could be a complication with spock’s promotion A Commander Garret had also applied for the job. They decided she wasn’t the best suited for command. She has an excellent service record. She has filed an appeal that she’s been selectively overlooked because she’s a woman.   The Federation was founded around the time of the Romulan war. Earth needed military allies. The Tellarites were founding member. Tellarite men are very adversarial and argumentative. And they frown on female starship captains.  (They probably wouldn’t be accepted into the federation at this point in time, certainly not in 24th century, but at the time of the Romulan war, Earth REALLY needed military allies, and the Tellarites were that. Plus they were one of the major races that Earth helped to broker peace with before the Federation was founded.) The Federation isn’t technically bound by this but after the admission of Corridan (a continuity nod to Journey To Babel), the Tellarites are threatening to pull their seat from the council.   Kirk says Starfleet has always had female captains (see Enterprise). Laura is an example, but she commands a starbase, not a constitution class ship There is no rule officially. Kirk and Spock are both of the opinion that Garrett deserves the ship and should be given command.   But upon further reflection, Spock starts to consider that Starfleet may have been correct in their assessment of Commander Garrett. Maybe Spock IS the best person for the job. He says his opinion is not based on her gender.   Kirk says something interesting. He says “maybe it should be.”   Starfleet has never given a woman command of a constitution class starship. He’s always thought that was just how the cards fell, but perhaps there is a greater good to be considered.   Spock says that if they were to actively and deliberately choose a female officer, Commodore Gray would be the better option, but she doesn’t want the job.   And this is an issue which has certainly had relevance of the last century, even today.   When you have an imbalance like this, the way I see it, there are two ways you can address it. The first is to simply remove the bias, and then proceed, hiring based solely on qualifications and suitability. If you have an equal number of candidates from each group, then theoretically, over time, the imbalance will go away, and you should have a roughly even split, though there could be many other factors that would make it not so simple. And in a sense, this seems like the fairest way. Just treat everyone on their merits. The problem with this approach is that it’s slow. It could take a long time for that imbalance to be corrected.   The other option, which is what Kirk seems to be proposing, is that you actively seek to correct it, by deliberately hiring from the minority group. In this case, females. You steer the ship the other way to correct it. This will set things right much quicker, but it has its own problem. It means that well-deserving people in the majority group will start to miss out. If you’re a male candidate, and would make a great captain, your career is basically on hold. You’ll miss out on a job you’re qualified for because of your gender. Which, ironically, is the exact problem you’re trying to solve. It’s just that it’s happening to people on the other side now. There are no perfect solutions. I’m sure people much smarter than me have been trying to solve this.   Now Spock is willing to forgoe his own opportunity in favour of Garett, maybe partly because as a Vulcan he has less ambition for personal advancement, but mostly because I think he beleives that is what is right. Spock is a good person.   So now that the desire and intention is there to hire Garret because she is part of that minority group, (and I mean minority in the sense of Starship captains, not in the sense of the population) there is one last thing to consider. Is she actually right for the job based on her merits?   Kirk is firmly on team Garrett right now. But he’s been ordered to interview her and form his own conclusions. Spock points out that perhaps Kirk’s opinion is coloured by his desire to keep his first officer and friend on the Enterprise. He admits he can’t deny that is part of what he’s feeling.   Garrett served on the Constitution, the original prototype that the class was named after. When Kirk mentions the loss of that ship, the death of her captain, at Nimbus III, nice little Star Trek 5 reference, Garrett clamps up and doesn’t want to talk about it. Her testimony, and her personal logs are all on record. She feels she has nothing more to say, and doesn’t want to discuss it face to face with Kirk, a matter he finds unusual, and perhaps a little troubling.   Kirk has filled McKenna in on what’s happening. She decides to check in on Spock to see how he’s doing, and he seeks her advice. It may not be prudent to provoke the Tellarites at this time. McKenna says the Tellarites rarely make good on their threats, which makes Starfleet’s hesitance to give a woman command of a Starship that much more problematic. (which in a sense, I think, takes away some of the drama) She thinks Spock’s issue is something else.   She had to work hard to convince people that having a counsellor on board a Starship was a necessary thing.  (which I find extraordinary) but she never felt that the reluctance was because she was female. However, if there is bias in Starfleet it needs to be addressed.   And I think that’s a good word. I don’t

I'm very busy preparing to publish my third book and I have run out of time to produce today's episode. I'll be taking a little break over January to rest and publish my book. I intend to be back with regular fortnightly episodes in February.   Thank you so much for listening to Nerd Heaven and have a wonderful holiday.  

On this 100th episode of the Nerd Heaven Podcast, I discuss the Star Trek Continues episode "Come Not Between The Dragons" a deeply thematic episode starring aussie sci-fi royalty - Gigi Edgly of Farscape Fame. Join me as we discuss the episode and it's themes, and then reminisce a little over the last 100 podcasts. (Place button to listen at bottom of page) ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David  Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd.   And it’s a big moment. This is episode 100 of the podcast. How insane is that? When TV shows make it to 100 episodes, it’s a big deal and they usually celebrate by doing something special.    I’m going to spend a bit of time reflecting on the past, and maybe having a little fun, at the end of this podcast, But first, we’re going to be talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Come Not Between The Dragons”.   The description on IMDB reads A troubled creature pierces the Enterprise hull, pitting the crew against a pursuer that threatens to tear them apart.   The teleplay was written by Greg Dykstra, James Kerwin and Vic Mignogna The story was by Greg Dykstra It was directed by Julian Higgins And it first aired on the 28th of May 2016.   And just a little warning, this episode deals with themes of violent abuse by a parent.   The first thing you’ll notice that’s special about this episode is the presence of Aussie sci-fi royalty - Gigi Edgley. Most famous for her role in Farscape as Chiana. In this episode, she plays Ensign Eliza Taylor. And the cool thing is, they let her keep her Australian accent for the role. I don’t hear many familiar aussie accents in Star Trek, so I found that pretty cool.   While I gave up on it too early back in the day, I’ve become quite a fan of Farscape, so it’s very cool to see her here. By the way, I can’t believe I didn’t notice it, but a few episodes back, in The White Iris, the character of Amphidamas, the alien representative, was played by another member of sci-royalty, Colin Baker, who played the 6th Doctor on Doctor Who. I’m unbelievably embarrassed that I didn’t notice and comment on it. Sorry about that.   This one starts off seeming to be a monster story. But we’ll soon learn that it’s not. This is a real thematic message show, but one with a real difference.   Scotty is currently in command. Eliza Taylor hands him a padd. And then Kirk enters. 8 ships have been destroyed studying an accretion disc. But the crew have been rescued   It’s very telling of Scotty when Kirk says “at least there were no casualties” and Scotty says “there were - the Lexington.”   With the shift over, Smith and Eliza leave the bridge. Smith and McKennah are heading to the rec room, and they invite Eliza to join them. I get the impression she’s not quite part of their little friendship circle, but they’re welcoming her in. And isn’t that just the way a friendship group should work? I know it’s not easy. You really need an extrovert in your group to do the inviting, but cliques are not healthy, and being excluded can be quite hurtful - even for an introvert.   The Enterprise suffers a hull breach from a meteorite travelling near light speed.  As Chekov says, “that should be impossible.” But I’d have to believe that an object travelling that fast making impact with the ship would have to completely destroy it, so there must have been some substantial and rapid deceleration.   Whatever it is, is moving through the ship, from Deck to deck. Scotty can’t find it. As we end the teaser, we see that whatever it is has broken into Eliza’s quarters. But we don’t see it, only her reaction.   This is an okay use of the ‘hide the monster’ trope because we’ll almost immediately see what she’s seeing after the credits, but her reaction gives us a powerful hook. And Taylor isn’t sure what she’s looking at just yet. We experience it with her as the thing slowly unfolds. Some kind of lifeform. Hard and rocky with glowing eyes and a part that looks almost insectoid.   This creature was a practical effect. The alien was designed by the writer of this episode, Greg Dykstra, who appeared in the previous episode as the union doctor. He pitched this story to Vic because it was very personal to him. We’ll get to that. Dykstra designed the alien and then they got a creature effects company to actually build it. It was huge. An actor could wear it as a suit, but it was very heavy and hot, so the guy they cast needed to have breaks.   I’m a big lover of CGI creatures, but I have to admit that this alien works very well as a practical effect. It looks awesome. It provides a link to the original series who always had to use practical effects, because CGI wasn’t a thing yet. It’s also fitting because we have a Farscape actor in this episode, and Farscape was really into practical creatures, being made by the Jim Henson company.   The alien stands tall. Much bigger than a human. It’s bipedal. Taylor cowers in the corner and throws something at it. It retreats.   I’d say Taylor reacts in a very non starfleet way here. She’s trained to experience the unexpected. But she may be a new officer. This might be her first experience with the unknown. And despite all your training, seeing something like that in person for the first time could be quite scary, especially if it suddenly appears in your quarters. So I can’t judge her too harshly.   It doesn’t take long to find the intruder. It rips holes through walls. It’s not exactly subtle.  Kirk begins by assuming the intruder is intelligent. He asks if it understands him. The lack of reply certainly doesn’t imply a lack of intelligence, though.   Kirk calls the transporter room and asks the chief on duty to beam it out of here. Now when I hear that, it implies to me that Kirk wants it beamed into space. But he asked the chief about his intra-ship beaming skills. Either way, Kirk’s order is very imprecise. Where exactly does he want the chief to beam the intruder to? In any case, the alien can shield itself from scanners so they can’t transport it.   Kirk’s next action is strange. He throws some debris at the alien. The alien reacts pretty much as any lifeform would to being attacked. It lashes out in self defence, requiring security to stun it with a phaser.   I’m not sure what Kirk was trying to accomplish there, but it certainly didn’t help build any rapport of trust between them.   Kirk and Bones have found some fascinating things about the creature’s biology. It’s a unique lifeform - probably natively spaceborn. It has multiple hearts and no lungs. But all McCoy’s tricorder will register is a rock. Again, suggesting the creature can shield itself from their sensors.   Spock and Uhura have configured the universal translator to better work with the alien’s unique vocalisations. I don’t know that we’ve ever seen a hand-held universal translator like this in TOS before, but I could be wrong. In the TNG era, we know that Starfleet universal translators are embedded in the com badge (while Ferengi use implants in the ear)   Kirk gives the honour of speaking to the alien to Taylor, as she was the first human to encounter it. This is a big deal. First contact is what Starfleet are all about, afterall.   Taylor seems to carefully consider what her first words should be. She wisely, in my opinion, chooses to start with “I’m sorry if I hurt you.” and then asks what it’s called. It replies, Usdi. When asked why he came here, Usdi replies “Me. To. Hurt.” That doesn’t sound good. Is it a threat? It’s hard to tell with such a limited understanding between them.   Usdi is an example of a cosmozoa, a space-fearing lifeform. His species is called the Utana.   Something out there is using a form of echo-location to search for something. The shockwaves are damaging to the ship.   When the next wave hits, Spock begins to act very strangely. His voice filled with anger, he calls Udsi disobedient and demands his respect. Fires a phaser at him. He then attacks Taylor when she tries to intervene, and blames it on Usdi.   This, I believe, is a common thing with people who struggle with extreme anger problems. Blaming the subject of their anger for their own actions.   Something is clearly going on with Spock. He’s not himself. Perhaps in a literal sense. But others are feeling it too. Kirk is the first to vocalise his concern, in a way, opening it up for others in the bridge crew to discuss what they’re experiencing without fear of judgement. Checkov is feeling suspicion and paranoia.   Spock’s in a bad way. We learn that the part of the brain responsible for suppressing emotions in Vulcans is called the mesiofrontal cortex. So that’s pretty cool. But it’s working so hard right now McCoy is worried it’ll burn up. Spock is filled with powerful emotions. But they’re not his. Spock is also physically injured. Possibly from his dust-up with the alien. He asks Spock to lock him up. He’s dangerous. Something dark and dangerous in his Vulcan mind is being awoken. Kirk would do well to follow Spock’s recommendation here. Spock knows what he’s talking about, and currently still has the presence of mind to communicate it.   The next wave is stronger than anything so far. It drives Spock to rampage through the ship after the alien. He says “Usdi is hiding from me.” He looks like he’ll tear the alien limb from limb.   After Kirk stuns him, he orders Spock put in the bridge. McCoy argues against this, because Spock is not himself.   The funny thing is, Kirk is right. He’s absolutely right. For the wrong reason. He’s wanting to put Spock in the brig as punishment for insubordination. McCoy is right that Spock isn’t himself, but he needs to be put in the brig for his own safety, and the safety of those on the ship.   When McCoy helps Kirk realise that he’s not himself either, that he’s filled with unnatural anger, he changes his turn and has Spock taken back to sickbay under double restraint. Yeah, good luck with that.   The brig was the bes

Today in the podcast, we talk about the Star Trek Continues episode "Divided We Stand" which sees Kirk and McCoy living out something of a nightmare in the American civil war. And we discuss what the mysterious nanites might represent in the greater world of Star Trek. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd.   This is episode 99 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “Divided We Stand.” And if you’d like to check out some of my original science fiction, head over to AdamDavidCollings.com/books   I recently appeared as a guest on the Yum Yum Podcast with fellow Australian nerds, Ryan and Rachel, discussing the Babylon 5 episode “Ceremonies of Light and Dark.” If you love Babylon 5, as well you should, be sure to check out the episode, and all the other stuff that Ryan and Rachel do at Yum Yum Podcast.   The description on IMDB reads After an explosion on the bridge resulting from a failed attempt to isolate the ship's computer from a nano-virus, Kirk and McCoy wake up to find themselves in the middle of one of America's bloodiest conflicts.   The teleplay was written by Marc Cushman & Susan Osborn With story by Vic Mignogna and additional material by Todd Haberkorn It was directed by Vic Mignogna And it first aired on the 25th of September 2015.   This episode was dedicated to the memory of Grace Lee Whitney. Another of Star Trek’s veterans who sadly passed away during the making of this show.   This one gets right into the action, making good use of the captain’s log to skip past all the setup and throw us right in the thick of the crew’s trouble. The Enterprise computer has been infected with a virus, or as Kirk calls it, a pathogen, a term I haven’t heard in computer science before. This happened when they tried to make contact with an old Earther probe called Friendship 3. This is significant, because, as you may remember, Voyager once encountered the predecessor - Friendship 1 - in the Delta Quadrant.   What makes this pathogen interesting is that it is of a much more advanced technology than the primitive earth probe. It is quickly migrating through the entire ship, Spock’s library computer, scotty’s engineering specs.    Spock doesn’t think this is a virus, and it’s not singular. He says he detects hundreds of thousands of microscopic objects. So…are we talking actual physical objects? He’s also seeing evidence of high-level intelligence.   McCoy shows a startling lack of awareness as he casually arrives on the bridge and berates Kirk for not keeping his medical checkup appointment. Now if the circumstances were different, McCoy would be well within his rights, but it’s very obvious that the bridge crew are in the middle of a crisis. Kirk clearly has a good reason for missing his appointment and this is not the time or place to hassle him about it. That time will come later, of course.   The intelligence of whatever is invading the ship is growing.   As the bridge controls overload, Kirk finds himself in a very unexpected place and time. He’s on a primitive battlefield, surrounded by men firing rifles, and wearing unfamiliar uniforms.   This scene marks “Divided We Stand” as the first episode of Star Trek Continues to take us off the ship. If you think about it, the last four have all taken place on board the Enterprise.   If I’m not mistaken, this is the American civil war. Is this a holographic simulation? A fantasy created by a being like Trelane? In Star Trek, there are many possibilities, but in their shoes, time travel wouldn’t be my first thought. I mean, what could have caused it right? So Kirk and McCoy would be feeling understandably disoriented and confused. But, they’re in uniform, which means they’re expected to fight. At the very least, they can’t just sit here and wait for the bullets. They may have to play along until they figure out what the go is. But they wisely manage to remove themselves from the situation to avoid taking any rash actions they may not be able to undo.   They wisely also choose to treat this as real, and not take any unnecessary risks.   Now, you’ll have to excuse my lack of knowledge about his particular event in history. Oh, I know the basics. North vs South. I believe it was primarily fought over the issue of slavery, although they may be more to it? I imagine American audiences would be able to tell immediately by looking at their uniforms, which side Kirk and McCoy are meant to be on. At this point in the story, I haven’t figured that out yet.   The interesting thing is, it seems that they are both on different sides. Now THAT could make things interesting.   And it was cool to see Dr. M’Benga in this episode. It’s only logical for him to step up and take on the role of chief medical officer while McCoy is missing. I believe M’Benga only appeared in two episodes of the original series, although he is, of course, a series regular on Strange New Worlds. At the time of recording, I still have no idea why, although he was chief medical officer under pike, he seems to have been demoted by TOS. I mean, he’s still serving on the Enterprise but McCoy is chief. So what happened? Strange New Worlds is gonna have to address that at some point.   At first it seems strange that Spock is asking M’Benga about the computer virus. Why would  you have a medical doctor assess a computer problem? Then we pan over and see Kirk and Bones unconscious in bio-beds, their faces pale. Whatever has infected the ship has also infected their bodies.   I think this episode is lacking some precision of terminology when it comes to what we are dealing with. From what I gather, this isn’t a computer virus, which is simply a self-perpetuating piece of software with malicious intent. It’s some kind of swarm of small physical objects that are interfering with the computer somehow, but also invading Kirk and McCoy’s bodies.   M’Benga can’t prevent the spread of these things in the human bodies, he can only slow it, but in a day or two, they’ll be dead.   So, what we can gather so far is that despite the episode descrition, we’re not dealing with time travel here. We’re dealing with some kind of mental projection from an alien entity.   Kirk refers to McCoy as a southern gentleman, so I gather his uniform is from the south. But then again, McCoy himself IS southern, so Kirk could be referring to that. A group of Kirk’s team find them. They assume McCoy is Kirk’s prisoner, at least until they notice Bones still has his weapon.   The leader of this group is pretty aggressive toward McCoy, but then, this is war. He takes Kirk’s word for it a little too easily when he pretends to be a famous Kirk from the time, especially given his uniform has the wrong rank.   The leader is shot by a sniper on the other side. And we get verbal confirmation that McCoy’s uniform is confederate, which I believe is the south. Kirk wants to bury the confederate sniper. The northerners are hesitant. Afterall, he’s the enemy.   Kirk tries to preach the virtue of having compassion for all people, even one’s enemies, but they’re not very interested.   It’s hard to judge them too harshly. Kirk is correct, of course, but it’s not easy to have compassion on somebody who just killed one of your own - probably a friend.   McCoy could easily save this wounded soldier’s life with 23rd century technology, but it’ll be a challenge with period instruments. But I don’t think it’s just technology. A doctor of the time could probably do a lot more because they’re familiar with the equipment.   McCoy raises the typical time travel problems. What if man is supposed to die and they heal him, or what if he was supposed to live, but by being here, they caused him to get shot? Being in the past is very risky. Of course, they don’t know that they’re not actually in the past. They have to treat this as if it’s real.   Like the previous episode, this one had new music composed by Andy Farber and performed by the STC Orchestra.  Back in the original series, they didn’t write all new music for every episode. Each season, they’d record some new music cues to add to the toolbox, and a music editor was apply them to the scenes of episodes, But when something big, special, or out-of-the-box happened, they’d write specific new music for it.   That’s kind of how they did this episode. With all the civil war stuff going on, this episode really cried out for new original music. They re-used stuff where appropriate, but created new stuff where it was needed.   Some really interesting trivia. They used the melody of Uhura’s song about Charlie, in the episode Charlie X, but that melody actually dates back to the American Civil war. It was a folk song about union volunteer soldiers. In this episode, it becomes Billy’s theme.   Spock and Scotty have found a way to draw the alien presence out of the Enterprise computer. It’s attracted to new sources of information. They can lure it into a backup module and then jettison it.   I’m a little shocked that Spock chose to destroy the jettisoned objects with the phasers. Yes, they were an infestation that caused problems to the ship, but there was also evidence that collectively, they represented an intelligent lifeform. It doesn’t seem very Starfleet to just blow them up. Once removed from the ship, they were no longer an immediate danger.   In any case, the ship is safe. Now they’ve just got to save Kirk and McCoy.   The northerner doctor doesn’t care about uniforms, he is just happy to have another set of hands to help the wounded. And as a doctor, McCoy is willing to help whoever is in medical trouble, regardless of who they are.   Spock clearly values McKenna’s services. He knows that this will be a stressful time for the crew, with the captain and doctor incapacitated. But he naturally assumes he is immune. McKenna not-so-subley makes it clear she is available to him as well.   It raises the question

While not as memorable as the big tentpole episodes, "The White Iris" is a true classic. This is a very emotional character-driven episode that advances Kirk's arc and adds depth to a number of previous Star Trek episodes. This episode is a great example of what makes Star Trek Continues so special. ----more---- Transcript Welcomed to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd   This is episode 98 of the podcast.  Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “The White Iris”   The description on IMDB reads Captain Kirk finds himself haunted by guilt from his past as the fate of an alien world hangs in the balance.   The teleplay was written by James Kerwin, Chris White, and Vic Mignogna Based on a story by Vic Mignogna and Chris White.   The episode first aired on the 29th of May 2015. This episode was dedicated to the memory of Leonard Niymoy, placing it in time just after he passed away ,which was certainly a significant and sad moment for all Star Trek fans.   Going into this one, I didn’t remember the episode. Looking at the thumbnail and description on the Star Trek Continues website didn’t ring any bells, but I knew I must have seen it before, because I’ve watched all of Star Trek Continues.   It gets right into the action from the get go. Some aliens, the Calsins, are expressing their pleasure at the invitation to join the Federation when Kirk is unexpectedly attacked from behind by one of them. He’s beamed to sickbay but is suffering fatal damage to the part of the brain responsible for emotional memories.   Spock suggests an experimental drug. It hasn’t even been tested yet. They don’t know the dosage. Now I have a feeling that in the real world, by administering this drug to a patient, McCoy would be doing something highly unethical and probably illegal. Although Kirk does give his verbal consent.  Still, giving an untested drug that doesn’t have approval to a patient has got to be a huge risk.   Kirk sees a vision of Rayna, an android woman Kirk had feelings for in the episode Requiem for Methuselah, one that I don’t remember in huge detail either. Spock erased all memory of Rayna from Kirk’s mind, to spare him the pain of her death. But now he remembers it all again.   After just a few seconds of receiving the medication, Kirk is himself again. And then he’s straight off the bed and back to duty.   I get there’s a time-critical situation on the planet, but minutes ago he was near death. Now he looks okay but he’s been given a guessed dosage of an experimental drug. Who knows what kinds of side effects he might experience. I think it’s kind of insane not to keep him in sickbay for observation for a while. Spock is an accomplished commander and a capable diplomat. And he can always liaise with Kirk from Sickbay. This was a big believability problem to me.   Anyway, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura marvel at how nothing can keep Kirk down.   Kirk has a lot of guilt over Rayna. In his opinion, while she started out as an android, she was human when he pushed her too far and she malfunctioned, unable to deal with the conflicting emotions inside of her.   I’m not sure that human is the right word here, but Kirk clearly saw her as a sapient being.   So Calsis, the planet they’re currently orbiting, wants to join the Federation, but their sister world opposes it and will do anything, including assassinating Kirk, to prevent it. Although I do wonder how they think Kirk’s murder will accomplish what they want.   The Federation is giving them a defence grid to protect their world, but Kirk is suddenly hesitant. Possibly because he’s seeing another vision. Time time, a woman named Nakia. She appears to be a new character created for Star Trek Continues. Interestingly, she is named after the actress that plays her - Nakia Burrise.   Nakia is ghostly translucent. Kirk can’t remember the passcode for the defence grid. He created the code himself, with the understanding he would make the final decision whether or not to give the grid to the Calsins. Nobody else knows it. See, this is why you use a password management product like KeePass.   Kirk leaves Spock in charge while he reports to sickbay for further tests.   Spock hopes that Checkov might be able to decrypt Kirk’s forgotten password. It wouldn’t be a very secure system if that were possible. But Checkov mentions that at the academy, he once decrypted something of Xindi origin. This is very cool as it’s a reference to the Xindi who nearly destroyed Earth in Enterprise season 3, a story that took place chronologically long before TOS, but was, of course, produced long after TOS. I do appreciate these touches.   On the way to sickbay, Kirk sees a little girl in the hallways. Who is she?   So the sister planet fires a missile at Calsis. They’re not mucking about. The representative is desperate for that defence network now.   Why hasn’t Kirk told anyone about his hallucinations? This is an annoying trope in Star Trek. A character is undergoing something super weird but they keep it to themselves. It’s pretty annoying. McCoy senses there’s something Kirk isn’t telling him, but Kirk is a little non-committal as to what that is. There’s something wrong with Kirk’s heart. It’s weakening and McCoy has no medical explanation.     Spock asks Checkov if he’s tried a brute force attack to guess the password. Checkov points out the computer on this device is designed to shut down on repeated failed login attempts. Well that’s something. Honestly, if a brute force attack could work then Starfleet needs to fire their entire IT department, and Spock is pretty silly for suggesting it.   Kirk finally opens up about Nakia. They served together on the Farragut 13 years ago. They were very close but she died in the line of duty and Kirk blamed himself. He’s never spoken of her. He thought he could forget her.   I quite like that they created a new character from Kirk’s past to go alongside the older ones we’ve seen in the show previously. It means we’re not just dwelling in nostalgia, as cool as that is, but we’re also pushing things forward with new backstory. That’s what sets this kind of writing apart from a lot of fan fiction. Technically, of course, this show is fan fiction, but it’s of a very high quality.   I’m really curious what a psycho-tricorder detects.  There is a strong link between the biological and the mental, of course, when it comes to health. There are physiological things that affect the mind, the emotions. But a standard medical tricorder should show you all you need to know about the physiological, and how can a device like a tricorder tell you about the non-physiological aspects of mental health? It would have to be a telepathic device. Perhaps it’s not so different from a standard medical tricorder, it’s just configured to focus on aspects of the brain and body that are specifically related to mental health.   In any case, Kirk’s emotions are being affected. He’s cranky. He’s giving in to emotional outbursts that he’d normally control. He’s ignoring very reasonable recommendations from McCoy and Spock, and honestly, being a little paranoid.   The actres playing Edith Keeler is very well cast. She does a fantastic job of replicating Joan Collins’ way of speaking.   A replacement console is days away. Sulu emphasises to Uhura to inform Spock as well as Kirk, which already shows how he’s starting to lose the confidence of his crew.   Also, interesting to note that Smith is back, this time the prime universe version. So, she’s probably been on the Enterprise this whole time since “Where No Man has Gone Before” which I think is cool.   The Enterprise is unable to destroy the incoming missile because it seems to have disappeared. We’re never really given an explanation for this. I assume the sister planet has some form of cloaking technology on their weapons.   We get a little more insight into the cultures of these sister planets. The people of Calsis developed a spiritual culture while the others became more materialistic, and disdainful of the Calsis way.   Now this is an example of the planet of hats problem which Star Trek does so often, where an entire planet’s population will share a specific personality trait. And this concept has been rightly criticised by many. But on the other hand, I think there’s room for a little of it. If we look at the countries of Earth we see there are some commonly shared traits.  For example, the British people are often thought of as stiff while we Australians have a reputation for being laid back.   You could say that Americans are generally quite materialistic as a people, but some European cultures might be focussed more on family.   It’s all generalisations and stereotypes which will, of course, break down, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be some truth to these kinds of perceptions. So I’m willing to let the episode get away with this.   Spock is meeting with McCoy and McKenna to discuss Kirk’s state of mind. The physical injury is healed. His problems might be related to the experimental drug but there’s no evidence of this. McKenna can’t assess his mental state without Kirk’s cooperation. This might be one of the big differences between physical and mental health. While patient consent is certainly a big issue in medicine, you don’t need much input from the patient to set a broken leg, but you can’t help a patient with mental health difficulties unless they’re willing to be a big part of it.   And Kirk is certainly not willing. He dismisses McKenna to discuss the issue at hand with his officers.   The next hallucination Kirk sees is Miramanee, Kirk’s late wife from the planet Amerind, where Kirk spent some extended time, having lost his memory. That episode had a number of issues, but it also dared to do some darker character stuff you wouldn’t typically see in the 60s. For that, and the introduction of the mysterious preservers,