Mar 31 2023

The Return Of James T. Kirk?

Sure, this title seems like your typical Aprl Fool’s Joke on Trekkers, but the possibility in official Star Trek canon was raised last week with the recent Star Trek: Picard episode, “The Bounty”. Spoiler warning for anyone who has not seen the episode.

During the episode Worf, Riker and Raffi raid the clandestine Daystrom Station. Unlike the noble, scientific think tanks named after Daystom shown and mentioned in other Star Treks, this orbital facility was the 25th century version of Area 51. The station stored many of Starfleet Intelligence’s top secret technology, weapons and alien contraband. The Daystrom Station was littered with many Star Trek Easter eggs and call backs, but the one that raised the most eyebrows among fans was the revelation that the station had the remains of Captain James T. Kirk.

The last time Kirk was seen onscreen, as played by William Shatner, was in the 1994 film Star Trek Generations. The late, great captain of the starship Enterprise met his end anticlimatically when he fell off a bridge while aiding Captain Jean-Luc Picard. To many fans this was an unsatisfying way to kill off the beloved Enterprise captain as they felt he warranted a more heroic death. Of course, this was not the last fans saw of James Kirk as he was portrayed by other actors, notably Chris Pine and Paul Wesley. But Shatner’s version of Kirk remains the definitive Kirk that is beloved by fans and many hoped that the actor would someday reprise the role. The closest we got to that was in Star Trek: Enterprise where there were plans for Shatner to reprise the Mirror Universe version of Kirk, and Shatner was slated to cameo in the Star Trek reboot film, but these plans never came to be.

Shatner himself expressed his dissatofaction with the way his character died on screen and went as far as to co-author a series of books with Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens where Kirk was resurrected. The first of these post-Star Trek Generations books was The Return and its plot revolved around Kirk being revived by Romulans using Borg technology to use him against the United Federation of Planets. Kirk with the aid of many Star Trek heroes overcame this plot and went on to live a full life in the 24th century. The books, called the Shatnerverse, are considered an alternate reality for obvious reasons, Still, they were popular with Kirk fans.

Getting back to Star Trek: Picard, which is official Star Trek canon, when Raffi passed by a containment unit in the Daystrom Station, a holographic display showed an image of a skeleton with the signage “James T. Kirk”. This image also had some biographical data and what was interesting was that the display revealed that Kirk was “critically injured” in the events of Star Trek: Generations. It does not say that he died in the film even though Picard was clearly seen standing over Kirk’s grave. So what gives?

Technology will be much more advanced in the far future, especially when it comes to medicine. For all we know a critical injury like falling off a bridge and being clinically dead as we know it today may not be the actual end of a person’s life. It can be possible to revive a person hours after death in the future and it’s possible this could be top-secret technology in the Federation that is reserved for very important people. Or perhaps Kirk remained dead but Starfleet Intelligence and its black-ops offshoot Section 31 may be trying to clone James T. Kirk for their own reasons. This is not far fetched since the Romulans cloned Picard in the film Star Trek Nemesis.

Most likely nothing will come of this, but this Easter egg is fertile ground for future screenwriters. It is also unlikely that Shatner, who is in his early nineties, will reprise his role one last time. However, this tantalizing Easter egg gives fans of the legendary James T. Kirk some hope that he can somehow return someday for one last, great adventure, at least in their imaginations. After all, legends never die.

Mar 23 2023

Top Ten Worst Star Trek Captains

We’ve celebrated Star Trek’s legendary starship captains, but for every Kirk, Picard or Sisko there are some truly horrendous captains that appeared in the Star Trek television shows and films. Here are the worst Star Trek captains in the history of Starfleet.  

10. Captain Liam Shaw (Star Trek: Picard Season Three)

Command: U.S.S. Titan-A, NCC-80102-A

This guy is certainly the best of the worst. Shaw is abrasive, rude, risk-averse and an all-around jerk. But what cements Liam Shaw’s place on this list was how he dumped command of his ship, the Titan A, onto Will Riker, instead of acting like a real captain and getting the Titan out of danger. Still, many times during Star Trek: Picard, Shaw was the voice of reason and he was not afraid to say “Wait a minute, should we be doing this?” whenever our heroes ran off to danger. Also, he often was a scene stealer thanks to Todd Stashwick’s acting skills, especially once we learned he was a survivor of the Battle of Wolf 359.

9. Captain J.T. Esteban (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)

Command: U.S.S. Grissom, NCC-638

The list has many risk-averse commanding officers and J.T. Esteban is great example of this trait. During his brief appearance in the film, Esteban came off as an unyielding, by-the-book type who refused to listen to reason. What was even worse with Esteban was that he was too slow to react to sudden developments and this cost him his life, along with the crew of the Grissom when the Klingons destroyed his ship.

8. Captain John Harriman (Star Trek Generations)

Command: U.S.S. Enterprise-B, NCC-1701-B

“It won’t be installed until Tuesday!” was the infamous catchphrase from this hapless captain. Harriman had the unenviable task of following up the legendary James T. Kirk as he assumed command of the Enterprise B during the opening scenes of Star Trek Generations. Right away, Harriman was in over his head and was frozen with indecision as he tried to command the Enterprise literally under the shadow of Kirk.

7. Captain Lawrence Styles (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)

Command: U.S.S. Excelsior, NX-2000

Styles was a pompous, egotistical jerk who had the audacity to think his shiny new Excelsior was superior to the original Enterprise. Yes, the Excelsior was new with the latest tech, but that does not mean it becomes a legend. The minute he was introduced in the film and displayed a dismissive attitude towards the Enterprise and the original crew, fans instantly disliked him and for good reason. One of the best moments in the film was when he saw his beloved ship suffer an epic malfunction as it tried to pursue the Enterprise as it took off on its last voyage.

6. Captain Gabriel Lorca (Star Trek: Discovery Season One)

Command: U.S.S. Discovery, NCC-1031

The captain of the Discovery was popular when he was first introduced due to his no-nonsense and stern attitude that was a more realistic portrayal of a commanding officer. He even gave the disgraced Michael Burnham a chance to redeem herself by posting her on the ship. However, once it was revealed that Lorca was actually a manipulative wannabe despot from the Mirror Universe, he earned a permanent spot on this list. It’s too bad Lorca turned out to be such a dick, for a while, he was the best character on the show.

5. Captain Ben Maxwell (Star Trek: The Next Generation “The Wounded”)

Command: U.S.S. Phoenix, NCC-65420

The ends clearly do not justify the means with this starship captain. He has a tragic backstory where his family was killed by Cardassians during a war. In the episode “The Wounded”, Maxwell took it upon himself to launch preemptive attacks on Cardassians with his starship, the Phoenix, because he was convinced the Cardassians violated a treaty with the United Federation of Planets and were rearming themselves against the Federation. Even though in the end he was correct, his actions nearly sparked a war between the Federation and the Cardassians that the Federation was not in the condition to fight after Starfleet was decimated by the Borg earlier in the season.

4. Captain Ronald Tracey (Star Trek “The Omega Glory”)

Command: U.S.S. Exeter, NCC-1672

How this lunatic ever passed Starfleet Academy is anyone’s guess. First, he got his crew killed when he led a landing party on one of those parallel worlds and contracted a virus that killed everyone on his ship, the Exeter. Then, he openly violated the Prime Directive by taking sides in a local war on the planet. This he did to supposedly provide immortality to humanity. Finally, he tried to get the locals to kill Kirk, Spock and McCoy by exploiting their superstitious beliefs. Great job there, Tracey.

3. Captain Rudy Ransom (Star Trek: Voyager “Equinox, Part I and II”)

Command: U.S.S. Equinox, NCC-72381

Here is another fallen Starfleet captain who flagrantly violated the Prime Directive. Stranded in the distant Delta Quadrant, Ransom and his ship, the Equinox, had suffered numerous calamities. Desperate for fuel to get home faster, Ransom’s crew discovered that dimensional beings generated a power source for the Equinox, but the beings had to be murdered for the fuel.  This led to a disastrous conflict with the Voyager and its crew. Special dishonor also has to go to Ransom’s first officer, Maxwell Burke, for taking command of the Equinox from Ransom after the captain began to see the error of his ways.  

2. “Captain” Tim Watters (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine “Valiant”)

Command: U.S.S. Valiant, NCC-74210

This insufferable snot-nosed punk deserved to be killed for his arrogance. He gets the title of captain in quotes because he was just an elite cadet who wound up in command of the Valiant when the ship’s crew was killed. So, he doesn’t even deserve to be called a captain. Anyway, during his dictatorial command he refused to listen to reason, threw people who disagreed with him in the brig, and let his arrogance kill the remaining crew of the Valiant when he foolishly led a doomed attack on a Jem’Hadar battlecruiser. In the words of Nog, who was one of the few survivors, “in the end, he was a bad captain.”

1. Captain Edward Jellico (Star Trek: The Next Generation “Chain of Command, Part I and II”)

Command: U.S.S. Cairo, NCC-42136 and U.S.S. Enterprise-D, NCC-1701-D

Man, was this guy a raging A-hole! Super strict, authoritarian, obtuse, antagonistic, unwilling to listen to others, Jellico just rubbed people the wrong way. After taking command of the Enterprise D from Jean-Luc Picard, Jellico quickly alienated the ship’s command officers with his brusque, My-Way-Or-The-Highway style of command. Sure, his manner of running things was effective, and arguably realistic according to those with military experience, but he had everyone so wound up that morale plummeted badly on the ship. It was no wonder that we cheered when Riker finally told him off. Unfortunately, this jerkwad was eventually promoted to an admiral as seen in Star Trek: Prodigy, and he has not changed a bit.

Anyone has a different list of captains that should be mentioned? Feel free to leave a comment!

José Soto

Mar 13 2023

The Last Of Us Is First As A Faithful Adaptation

The television adaptation of the video game The Last of Us concluded its first season on HBO Max. Ever since it premiered this past January, the TV show has received widespread acclaim from critics and fans for being both a faithful adaptation and for its quality.

The Last of Us stands apart from your typical post-apocalyptic fare in many ways. For starters, despite its premise being similar to other post-apocalyptic yarns, it does not involve undead flesh-eaters. It is more contemplative and offers richer character studies as the main characters face moral dilemmas every moment of their fragile existence.

The Last of Us takes place in an alternate world where a fungal infection that started in 2003 destroyed our society as the parasitic fungus, called Cordyceps, altered the brains of its victims and turned them into mindless savages. Their humanity gone, the infected victims ran rampant through society as they infected others though bites and savage attacks. During the outbreak, the world descended into anarchy and the United States basically became lawless as murderous gangs and warlords rule the land except for certain cities that are run by the tyrannical FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency). FEDRA is barely able to maintain some meaure of order through an iron fist and are opposed by a rebel group called the Fireflies. The show picks up twenty years later and stars Pedro Pascal as Joel an embittered survivor who lives a hard existence in the crumbling remains of Boston, which is barely controlled by FEDRA.

Joel is hired by the leader of the Fireflies, Marlene (Merl Dandridge, who is the only actor to reprise the same role from the video game), to transport a young teenage girl called Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the country to a Firefly-operated medical facility. Joel soon learns that Ellie is immune to the Cordyceps and is humanity’s only hope to recover from the pandemic. At first distrustful and hostile towards each other, the two gradually form an intense bond as they travel through the hostile continent.

While it is true the basic premise strongly echoes that of Pedro Pascal’s other popular TV show, The Mandalorian, The Last of Us differs greatly because of its themes and dark nature.

At its core, The Last of Us is a character study of two hardened survivors and the emotional trauma they suffer and how they rely on each other to heal emotionally.

From the very first episode, we see the start of the pandemic and its immediate and devastating effect on our society as we follow Joel, who lost his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker). This event nearly destroys Joe,l who became hard, bitter and even cruel. We get hints that he did evil things in order to survive and his only goal is to reconnect with his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna), who is located in Wyoming. Unlike Joel, Tommy is shown to be more idealistic and was a member of the Fireflies. Joel, who is desperate to connect with a family member agrees to take Ellie with him from Boston to her destination out west.

During their journey, Joel and Ellie encounter different types of people who have fascinating and even tragic stories. One episode (“Long, Long Time”) was nearly devoted entirely to a survivalist named Bill (Nick Offerman) who finds a renewed purpose in life, which is to protect and love Frank (Murray Bartlett), a survivor that made his way to Bill’s fortified territory. While that episode showcased the good in humanity, the penultimate episode “When We are in Need” showed us the worst as Ellie is captured by David (Scott Shepherd), a monster who poses as a pastor and is a would-be savior for a desperate town.

Unlike the video game, which was more devoted to accomplishing tasks (get certain items to enter a room, as an example) or battling the infected or FEDRA, the TV show focuses more on exploring the characters and themes, such as collectivism versus individualism. This theme is very central in the last episode “Look for the Light” as we see that while Joel and Ellie are able to heal from their mental wounds they still deal with ethical and moral issues, especially Joel. The actions taken by the characters are very morally dubious and leave you wondering about their moral centers.

While this more nuanced and layered exploration of characters and themes will be appreciated by many seeking something different from all the recent zombie shoot-em-ups, it may leave fans of the classic video game disappointed. It is very faithful to the video game, with it even lifting entire lines of dialogue, and it has tons of Easter eggs and references to the game. However, at times the TV show is light on action scenes as the infected barely appear in some episodes. They do not feel like a constant threat like in the game or your typical episode of The Walking Dead, nor is it as violent. Instead we see the impact of the Cordyceps infection in the ruined landscape of America and how the pandemic brought out the worst in people.

It goes without saying that Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are the highlights of The Last of Us as the two have a natural chemistry which made their characters so endearing. Bit by bit, we see Joel quietly dropping his emotional barriers and rekindle his humanity as he forms a parental relationship with Ellie. She too, undergoes an emotional transformation as she learns about survival from Joel and looks up to Joel as the father figure she never had and needed. Through their ordeals, the two find a renewed purpose in life. For Joel his goal is to protect this young girl as he transferred his feelings over Sarah to her and in a sense accomplished with Ellie what he could not with Sarah. For Ellie, she becomes a Moses-like figure who is resolved to be able to lead humanity out of darkness with her immunity to the Cordyceps. How well they accomplished their purpose made for a wrenching finale as its emphasized how fragile and flawed the two really are.

The Last of Us is as captivating and intense as the classic video game. It also demonstrates that it is possible to be able to faithfully adapt engrossing video games into live-action media, as by the last seconds of the final episode, we’re left wanting to see more of this world and its characters.

Mar 5 2023

Star Trek: Discovery Concludes With Its Fifth Season

Star Trek fans have either been mourning or celebrating the recent announcement that the Paramount + streaming series, Star Trek: Discovery, will end when its upcoming fifth season concludes.

Ever since Star Trek: Discovery was first announced back in 2016 and debuted on CBS All Access the series was mired in controversey and alienated many fans. Instead of there being a mutual celebration that Star Trek finally returned to TV, fandom was bitterly divided over the TV show.

Even though Star Trek has always been forward thinking, progressive and pushed social envelopes, Star Trek: Discovery is overtly and even aggressive with its progressiveness. It has a Black woman as the main character, it features a homosexual couple and even a non-binary character. This made many fans uncomfortable, especially those who are more socially conservative, and they were quick to deride the show.

However, while it may be easy for these fans to dismiss Star Trek: Discovery for its so-called “wokeness”, the show had many problems that did not have to do with the racial or sexual nature of its characters.

Basically, Star Trek: Discovery departed too far from what worked with Star Trek, which was presenting engaging characters, well-written and provocative storylines, and an interesting premise. It did have its moments, especially in its second season, and it ushered in a new era for Star Trek, but from its pilot episode “The Vulcan Hello” it was apparent it had its faults.

To start, by setting the show just a few short years before the original Star Trek it wrecked the complex Trek continuity that is cherished by fans. Being that it was a modern show with access to the best special effects technology available, the look of the show was vastly different from the primitive production design of the original Star Trek. Of course, we viewers were supposed to ignore that but it was a nagging stickler for continuity’s sake.

There was little attempt to at least try to copy the look of the orginal Star Trek, as with the distinctive gold, blue and red uniforms, the Klingons received an ugly redesign that no one asked for, and the starship Discovery had technology that was so advanced compared to what we saw in other Star Trek shows and films. For example, why didn’t the ships in the other Star Trek shows have this revolutionary spore drive that allowed the Discovery to travel anywhere in the galaxy? It seemed as if the showrunners had little regard for what worked before and for what fans wanted. A full-scale war with Klingons that no one talked about in the other shows? Klingons that eat humans? The showrunners even botched the Mirror Universe and let their actors chew the scenes to the point that it was comical but not in a good way. The show departed from previous Treks in that it was no longer episodic and followed a season-long arc (the Klingon War with a visit to the Mirror Universe). While this echoed what modern TV shows do, when Star Trek: Discovery tried it the execution was poor. Becoming an arc-oriented TV show somehow robbed it of a key premise of Star Trek, which was exploring new worlds and civilizations.

Seeing the negative reactions to Star Trek: Discovery, the showrunners hastily tried to course correct for the remainder of the show’s run with mixed results. In the second season, Captain Christopher Pike and Spock were added to the cast and they were the best things on the show thanks to the acting chops of Anson Mount and Ethan Peck. The stories revolving around them captivated viewers and were the highlights of the second season, but frankly this took time away from the regular characters. This was another issue with the show in that the recurring and guest characters were more interesting or had more screen time than the regular cast. Aside from Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Saru (Doug Jones), Paul Stemets (Anthony Rapp), and Sylivia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), we barely knew anything about the bridge crew. We see them all the time saying “Aye sir” and spouting technobabble, but most viewers would be hard-pressed to even know their names. Instead, lots of bandwidth was spent on Pike, Spock, Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and most recently with the intergalactic courier Cleveland Booker (David Ajala). The show is supposed to be about the starship Discovery and its crew.

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Feb 27 2023

Where Are The MCU’s New Avengers?

This is a nagging question that many have had ever since Avengers: Endgame. At the end of the film, after the Avengers and company defeated Thanos, the superhero team was effectively finished. Tony Stark/Iron Man and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow were dead, Steve Rogers/Captain America went back in time and returned as Joe Biden, Bruce Banner/Hulk was maimed, Thor left for space to pursue adventure with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Clint Barton/Hawkeye went back to retirement in order to spend time with his family. While this was a fitting way to close the chapters on these heroes, their departures left a void that has yet to be filled by another team.

This has not happened so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). After the Avengers split up, which was not the first time since they first broke up in Captain America: Civil War, no one came forward to continue the team. This feels irresponsible since there are still threats going on in the world and beyond, so there is still a need for the Avengers. Also, part of the reason why Thanos was triumphant in Avengers: Infinity War was because the team no longer existed. You would think the surviving heroes in Avengers: Endgame would have at least given thought to continuing the team to face any future threats.

In the Marvel Comics, whenever there were a lot of vacancies in the Avengers, there would be a huge rush of heroes to fill the void of the departed Avengers to form a new roster for the team. The first time this happened with the Avengers actually was very early in the comic book’s run with issue number 16, where the OG Avengers Iron Man, Giant-Man, the Wasp and Thor left the team. This left only Captain America, who was the first recruit, to form a new team of Avengers with Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye. Over time, heroes came and went as the make up of the tesm radically changed.

What is unusual about the MCU is that post-Endgame various superheroes operating solo in the films and TV shows often claim to be an Avenger, yet they are not part of an active team. We saw Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Falcon and to some extent, Hawkeye doing this in their solo films/TV shows. If there was an actual team of Avengers in the MCU after Avengers: Endgame think of how quickly the calamities would have ended for the heroes in their individual films and TV shows. Now it seems as if history is repeating itself as Kang has emerged as the next high-level threat following Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, although in Ant-Man’s defense, he believes that Kang has been killed. But we know better.

Why hasn’t there been a new roster of MCU Avengers, yet? It boils down to two reasons: Resources and leadership. With Tony Stark gone, there wasn’t anyone who could effectively bankroll the team. Sure, there is his wife, Pepper Potts, but as we saw in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Stark’s company landed in hot water with the authorities because of their drones that were used by Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. So, the company is probably not in the best financial shape to provide resources for an Avengers team. Once Iron Man and Captain America were written out of the MCU, there has been a lack of leadership in the MCU. Unlike that issue of Avengers #16, there is no Captain America or some equivalent to lead the way and put together a new roster.

Of course, this will change fairly soon with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. It’s clear that a new team of MCU Avengers will emerge to face a threat that no solo hero can handle, namely Kang or Doctor Doom. This may start to happen with next year’s Captain America: New World Order, as the new Capain America/Sam Wilson, who has no super-soldier serum, is forced to create a new team of Avengers. The Thunderbolts could also serve as a catalyst for a new roster of Avengers. Made up of mercenaries, the Thunderbolts in their debut film will probably operate in a less-than-noble manner and prompt the creation of a new Avengers team for the MCU. It’s too bad the MCU version of the Thunderbolts could not more closely match the original comic book counterpart, but to keep the true nature of the team under wraps would be impossible for fans and the “surprise” reveal would lack the same impact as the end of Thunderbolts #1.

There have been recent rumors that the new Captain America would not lead the new Avengers and Spider-Man would do so instead. That is hard to believe for real-world reasons in that the Spider-Man film rights are held by Sony Pictures and it is unlikely that Marvel Studios would have the leader of the Avengers be a character they don’t own the rights to. It will be interesting to see who else will lead the team if not Captain America.

An interesting development that the MCU could do is have the Young Avengers become the de facto Avengers, at least briefly. We have seen many of the Young Avengers members like Kate Bishop, America Chavez, Patriot, and Stature appear in the MCU. Perhaps they will be the new Avengers led by Sam Wilson, or the team could be made up of the following: Captain America, the Hulk, She-Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Shang-Chi, all three of the Marvels, and some members of the Eternals and even the Thunderbolts.

Part of the fun right now is speculating over who will be in the new lineup of MCU Avengers. The waiting for the revelation will be worth it as soon as the new team in the films rallies with the iconic battle cry “Avengers Assemble!”.