I would like the Starfleet Academy score and even the main title theme to lean more into the show's own, original musical themes and motifs.
Nobody enjoys all the nods to past Star Trek scores more than I do, but the show also needs to elevate and further develop its own identity.
I am very pleased overall with the first season of Starfleet Academy.
I did not much care for the first three episodes, but there was a big improvement starting in episode 4.
And it's a pretty solid entry point for newcomers to the franchise.
Star Trek sometimes gets worryingly overconfident in the power of reason, science, empathy, and rhetoric.
I confront their limits in my work every single day.
The West Wing had the same issue, and it wrecked the brains of generations worth of liberals.
I don't want Star Trek to repeat that.
With modern Star Trek, I typically need to see the whole season twice before my evaluation of individual episodes settles into place.
I'm making plans to attend GalaxyCon Richmond on Saturday, March 21 with a friend.
This will be my first time attending a fan convention. I can't wait to see what it's like and tell folks I meet about Books of the Emissary.
If you'll be there, let me know.
My sense is that the optimal duration of an apocalyptic crisis in a Star Trek show is 2-4 episodes.
The franchise now has plenty of examples where exceeding that time frame does not go well or strains the season.
I hope future writers and producers absorb and retain this hard-won lesson.
That makes it the ideal time to check out a revised and expanded version of an existing Star Trek production.
Might I suggest Books of the Emissary. See the link in my profile for more details and the complete watch list.
I would love to see Books of the Emissary made into a high definition streaming property someday, but not under Paramount's current ownership.
In the meantime, you can watch it all on your own. The full playlist is at the link. Just keep your remote handy!
medium.com/@treknotes12...
Best thing that happened this week:
Getting neighbors, coworkers, family members, and even a few lawyers to use the term "null space."
The situation involves an architectural, real estate, and zoning anomaly directly adjacent to my condo.
memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Null_sp...
This is the same face Weyoun makes every time a Changeling tells him to go away.
With Books of the Emissary, updating DS9 to HD gets you two lucrative streaming properties for the price of one.
It seems like Jay-Den is in a strong position to be Starfleet Academy's breakout character.
People outside of Star Trek's core fanbase are noticing and talking about him.
My five year (fitness) mission has been going remarkably well this week, but here's a small gripe:
Both my gym and my work office have two very long flights of stairs just inside the entrance that I must use.
On leg day and the day or two after, it's a lot.
Somebody please invent transporters.
One thing I appreciate about Starfleet Academy is that all of the characters are facing moments where they are struggling with things that I can relate to, sometimes directly.
Odo was the last time I felt like I saw myself reflected in a Star Trek character in this way, so it's been a while.
Enjoying a hard media Trek through the Book of Worf.
Such a great book, with lots of ties to Khitomer!
Some ideas and motifs we have in common:
-A major role for Curzon Dax, with some of his plans going awry
-Tensions between the great powers and great Klingon houses are a big part of the story
-Countless easter eggs with connections to established Trek, including in casting decisions
There are just 3 points where my own continuity would diverge from this book:
1) K'mpec is about 3 years into his chancellorship at the time of the massacre.
2) There's only one chancellor -- K'Duras -- between Azetbur and K'mpec.
3) Tain becomes head of the Obsidian Order in the second season.
Kaasin hit the nail on the head, though let me know how to pronounce her name.
I plan to adopt and expand this take on Worf's mother, add some detail and backstory, and credit the author.
In my TV version, this role would be offered first to Terry Farrell, ideally with additional input from her.
Part 3 felt like a mostly by-the-numbers treatment of the Khitomer Massacre, which helpfully (for me) supplied a baseline of what needs to happen.
It checked all the boxes, plus a few key ones I hadn't thought of, such as young Worf's partial memory loss and Kahlest's role in his fate.
Comments on The Art of the Impossible by @kradec.bsky.social.
Although my primary interest was in Part 3, I liked how the book built out the Betreka Nebula incident into a full story centered around Raknal V.
This was a highly effective use of Ian Troi, about whom canon has said very little.
On his birthday, we remember the great composer Jerry Goldsmith, who wrote the musical scores for five Star Trek movies and the main title themes for Star Trek TNG and Voyager. What's your favorite Goldsmith score, Star Trek or otherwise?
I will let you know. I haven't read a Star Trek novel since the early aughts, so I'm really excited for this one!
I can already tell we are playing with many of the same characters, and are drawing upon a lot of the same historical canon.
Over the past year, I've been imagining a two-season TV series focused on the characters, events, and galactic politics leading up to the Khitomer Massacre.
Arriving today: @kradec.bsky.social's Lost Era novel The Art of the Impossible.
Very interested in his take on all this.
In Books of the Emissary, the Sisko has already returned. And as promised, it's not linear.
It's Deep Space Nine re-imagined for the streaming age.
Visit the link in my profile for the complete list of episodes and films.
Starfleet Academy has done a remarkable job embodying the philosophy of IDIC.
So I think it would be pretty darn cool if this painting (or a replica of it) was displayed somewhere on the Academy grounds.
This series has earned it.
Alterpiece No. 1 was painted by Hilma af Klint in 1915.
It was completely hidden from the world until it was first exhibited in 1986.
Star Trek fans may notice that it bears a striking resemblance to the Vulcan IDIC symbol, which stands for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.
Way back during the Clinton administration, I thought:
You know what Star Trek needs?
A witty, sharp, dry comedic character loosely modeled on the persona of Attorney General Janet Reno.
Wish granted.
I'm glad SFA is finally giving us a gay Klingon.
In my longstanding head canon, Alexander is gay.
There would have been a Nog-Jake-Alexander story late in season six that raises the question, and sets up an Alexander-Ezri-Worf story for mid season seven that confronts it directly.
If you're a Deep Space Nine fan, check out Books of the Emissary.
It's an entirely new way to watch this iconic and groundbreaking show.
See this post for a brief description of it, and then scroll down for the complete list of episodes and films.
medium.com/@treknotes12...
This was a big night and a very good one for SFA, DS9, and Star Trek.
With the addition of Series Acclimation Mil to The Book of Ghosts, Books of the Emissary's overall count has reached a total of 250 Treks.
