Star Trek Social Club

From @zilatreks on Instagram

Imginn link: https://imginn.com/p/DPFjARZDSJE/

The title is from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Act I sc v: "Come, let's away, the strangers all are gone." It also appears in King Lear, Act V sc iii: "Come, let's away to prison; We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage”.

The opening song is “UFO”, a 2023 song by Olivia Dean, which talks about the feeling of not being in control when one is newly in love - appropriate to describe what’s happening between Caleb and Tamira.

The Deltan race was first seen in TMP with Ilia. Deltans are a very sensual and sexually open people, and to prevent issues with non-Deltans obsessing over them, those who join Starfleet have to take oaths of celibacy so as not to take advantage of sexually immature species.

Tamira’s neuroinhibitors start to flash; she wears them because she claims she feels emotions more intensely than other Betazoids (SFA: “Beta Test”) and that it can harm people if she loses control.

Betazoids are telepathic with others of their own species. However, they can teach this to people they are intimate with or close to, as Deanna Troi did with William Riker (TNG: “Encounter at Farpoint”).

The toy bear is Caleb’s toy Scrap, which he used as a diversion 15 years prior to escape from Pikaru (SFA: “Kids These Days”). He experiences flashbacks to those events.

Ship graveyards can be either actual graveyards where the wreckage of ships is left as a memorial to those who died there like the location of the Battle of Wolf 359 (TNG: “The Best of Both Worlds”, Star Trek Online), or junkyards/depots where old ships are abandoned (TNG: “Unification”).

The USS Miyazaki (NCC-316606) is presumably named after famed anime director Hayao Miyazaki (or his namesake city in Japan). This is the first we’ve heard of the “Singularity Drive”, although the Romulans famously used a quantum singularity to power their warp engines in the 24th century.

Kelrec was previously referred to as Commander, but now Nahla calls him “Chancellor”, so it may be that commander really is his rank after all. The mission, to repower Miyazaki and reboot the computer, bears some resemblance to reactivating the USS Hathaway in TNG: “Peak Performance”, although that was in preparation for war games.

The new “plasma-based” life support system is reminiscent of the force-field-based life-support belts used by Kirk & Co. during the animated series, starting from TAS: “Beyond the Farthest Star”.

This is the first time we’ve heard of ghan’aq, presumably a Klingon drink.

This is the first appearance of the Furies, although an ancient collective of races named the Furies or the Host were the antagonists in the Invasion! series of Star Trek novels.

Latinum (or gold-pressed latinum) is a currency most often used by Ferengi. The latinum itself is liquid and then encased in relatively worthless gold. Its value comes from the fact that latinum apparently cannot be replicated.

We last saw Nus Braka escaping Athena in a lifepod at the end of “Kids These Days”. Sector 119 is first mentioned here on-screen, but a planet in Sector 119-D was the setting of the Gold Key Star Trek comic story “Dwarf Planet” in issue #25 (1974).

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…” was an aphorism quoted by Spock in ST II to Kirk, who finished it with, “… or the one.” Of course, Kirk risked everything to save Spock in ST III “because the needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many.”

“The hills are alive with the sound of murder,” is an obvious take-off on “The hills are alive with the sound of music,” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical The Sound of Music, but I first read it as "the streets are alive with the sound of murder," in the book Sing along with Mad (1970), as part of a parody of the musical set in the world of organised crime, written by the great Frank Jacobs and drawn by the equally legendary Al Jaffee.

Añejo means “aged” in Spanish and is used to refer to (in this case) aged tequila or aged rum.

Vance here uses “T-Tauri System” as if it’s a proper name. Although TNG: “Clues” uses “the T-tauri system” several times, the dialogue makes it clear that it’s a type of star rather than the name of a star system and the crew are using “the” just to identify the relevant system that contains that kind of star. In fact, Data notes that unstable wormholes have been mapped near 39 T-Tauri systems.

Nus is apparently short for “Nustopher”. Taygeta is a trinary star system in the constellation of Taurus, with Taygeta V featured in the TOS novel Tears of the Singers by Melinda Snodgrass.

A hengra, also known as a hengrauggi, was a creature from the ice planet Delta Vega (not to be confused with the planetoid Delta Vega from TOS: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”), seen in the Star Trek (2009) movie.

Stardate 898898.3 translates to 3221, which is about 30 years in the future from SFA, so that can’t be right, especially when it’s said that Miyazaki hasn’t been operational for a century. The stardate should be in the 768000s.

Nus plays with a golden version of the NX-01 Enterprise.

A trauma loop is when an individual becomes stuck and re-experiences or re-enacts traumatic events over and over again. It is usually self-perpetuating, like a person who has been abused might unconsciously seek out situations where they will experience the same kind of abuse again. Nahla mentioned previously that she lost her son because of the Burn, but here we get some more detail.

Psilosynine is a neurotransmitter linked to Betazoid telepathy (TNG: “Dark Page”). As we saw in “Beta Test”, Tarima’s father, President Emrin Sadal of Betazed, is deaf. We find out why here.

The Furies are part-Lynar, which makes their inner ears sensitive to high sonic frequencies. Lynars were mentioned in TNG: "Chain of Command" by Picard as "a kind of Celtrine bat" (native to Celtris III).

The Intrepid-class USS Sargasso referred to here is not the 24th century class that the USS Voyager belonged to, but that of the 32nd century Voyager-J, first seen in DIS: “Die Trying”.

We see a trail of green blood at B’Avi’s mouth. Vulcan blood is copper-based, hence the colour.

We get a mention of Discovery, so she must have finished her retrofit (“Kids These Days”).

Nus’ final message to Nahla, where he rages about the self-righteousness of the Federation, is similar to Eddington’s speech to Sisko in DS9: “For the Cause”, accusing the Federation of being more insidious than the Borg in assimilating cultures.

The sound of the Furies screeching plays over the end credits.

I am so excited!

I just don't get it. What is the freaking problem of those directors, trying to rewrite federation into some kind of dystopian tech fascism?

I was annoyed by the first Star Trek movie by JJ Abrams, with those police cops. I was alienated by those anti-android resentments in Picard. I stopped watching Discovery after the first episode, because the main protagonist was sent to some kind of labor prison for disobedience, where prisoners regularly die. I didn't think it could get any worse but just watching the first 10 minutes of Starfleet Academy makes me want to bury the whole franchise [edit: and stopped watching]. Some drumhead court-martial, lifelong prison sentence, violently separating a mother from her child and some goons beating up a prisoner. How in the hell is this the same federation of TNG, Voyager and DS9?

Star Trek is supposed to be the ONE fiction with a positive, utopian view on mankind and the future. I totally get the attraction of dystopian settings but for that I can read some Warhammer 40k novels. This really makes me furious.

Fortunately there is still Strange New Worlds.

Please spoiler me, when this bullshit in Starfleet Academy gets turned around in some twist, because otherwise I will just ignore the show.

SFA episode 5 spoilers!!!

We were just introduced to Illa Dax, the latest host of the Dax symbiont, in the most recent episode of SFA, 'Series Acclimation Mil'. This has sparked some consternation in certain online Trek circles, because in the Disco episode, 'Jinaal', Adira claimed that is rare for a Trill symbiont to live past 800 years, but not unheard of. The Dax symbiont was born in 2018, so as of 3195 when SFA takes place, the symbiont is 1177 years old, give or take a bit to account for time travel or what have you.

Some thoughts!

in 'Jinaal', the discussion revolves around the Bix symbiont, that was active in the 24th century. The Trill xenobiologist, Jinaal, joined with Bix so that his knowledge of the Progenitors would live on past him and could be passed on to someone worthy of using the information. However, we don't know anything about Bix's hosts.

Jinaal could very well have been its first host, but I don't think that's likely given that it seems unlikely the symbiosis commission would agree to grant a new symbiont to a host simply because he "has some really important information," and "trust me, bro!" More likely Jinaal discussed it with Bix's previous host, and the symbiont agreed that Jinaal's mission was an important one.

Also, not for nothing, but Dax was over 150 years old when it was joined with its first host, so assuming that is standard, even if Jinaal was Bix's first host, it would be closer to 950 years old.

Regardless, it is unusual for symbionts to live to be more than 800. Fair enough. That information comes from Adira, who is joined to the Tal symbiont, so presumably they would know. In the liminal space where Adira meets and is accepted by the previous Tal hosts, one them is wearing a Starfleet uniform from the late 24th century, and it's established that he was not Tal's first host, so Tal is presumably also closing around 800 years of age.

In 'Jinaal' it's stated that Bix and its current host, Kalzara, are both essentially waiting to die, only holding on so they can pass on the knowledge of the Progenitor's power. Kalzara does die, and then Bix is returned to the pools of Mak'ala while be eulogized by Grey and Xi, the implication being Bix did not live much longer.

So, we know:

    • Most symbionts don't live past 800

    • The Dax and Bix symbionts did live past 800, and signs would indicate that so the Tal symbiont did as well.

    • Bix was ready to die when its purpose was finished.

I would venture that symbionts have some measure of control over their natural lifespan. They don't necessarily age the same way other beings, but so long as they're in an environment they can survive in, such as the pools, or a living host, they can survive for many centuries undeterred.

But, after a certain amount of living, symbionts choose to die. And I think that's because of who who their hosts are. In season one of DS9, we saw the recently joined Jadzia explain to Bashir that Trill attempt to "live on a higher plane" and avoid temptation. Obviously that inclination did not last very long for Jadzia, but I think it speaks to the sort of individuals the Symbiosis Commission selects to be joined. Only the best of the best get to join, and most often we see joined Trill as, reserved, high minded, trying to live up to the ideal of their species.

Several of the Dax hosts are a bit different, though. Jadzia had a lust for life that we saw on screen. Even early on, we're told that Curzon was lustful and adventurous. Torias was a test pilot. Emony, an Olympic gymnast who caroused with Starfleet officers. Dax hosts have frequently broke the mold. They go out and they live life, which is not the impression we get of most joined Trill.

So, I think the reason most symbionts choose to not live to 800 years is that they get bored. Their experiences are limited by the sorts of people who make it through the Symbiosis Commission selection process.

The ones who live longer are those like Bix, who have a specific purpose they feel the need to fulfil, or Dax who is constantly going out and experiencing new things. I suspect the Tal symbiont is in that later group, considering three of it's five hosts prior to Grey were all Starfleet officers.

Further, I believe that this could also explain why in the 32nd century, there are not enough Trill capable of joining anymore, as we learned in 'Forget Me Not', despite it being established in 'Equilibrium' that more Trill than it was commonly believed were capable of joining. The symbionts aren't finding the staid, tranquil life of the Trill to be fulfilling any more. They seek out new experiences, and, especially post-Burn when space travel was severely curtailed for 100 years, new experiences were more difficult to come by.

The fifth episode of Star Fleet Academy was filled with memberberries for Deep Space Nine. So now I want to re-watch this magnificent Star Trek show. I first watched it, back when it aired in the 1990s.

There are many versions of it available: DVD, Laserdisc, free streaming on pirate websites, legal streaming, pirate DVDRips, pirate AI upscaled versions.

Pirate streaming ended up being a muddy picture, mislabeled episodes and such. So I checked out torrents and found a whole zoo of DVDRips and AI upscaled versions. Some upscaled versions have gigantic file sizes of hundreds of GB.

DVDRips

There are DVDs following the analog video standards PAL and NTSC. PAL has a higher vertical resolution of 576p compared to 480p for NTSC. The colors of PAL are also better. PAL is sped up by 5% to 25 fps, leading to a slightly shorter runtime and pitched up audio. Some say the PAL version makes people speaking sound like chipmunks. I don't think it's that noticeable, if you don't compare it directly.

The version I'm currently watching is called Star Trek Deep Space Nine - Complete Series - 576P - Multi Subs - DVDrip - X265-HEVC - O69. Each episode is around 250 MB encoded in x265. The DVD extras are included and a lot of fun. It's acceptable quality wise. However the image is too dark overall. I added a gamma adjustment filter of 0.9 to bring out the contrast and details in the shadows in my video player.

Legal Streams

Use the DVDs and recompress them. So at best as good as a DVDRip.

AI Upscale

There are a bunch of different upscaled versions, and new ones are regularly. These are just a few examples of many.

DS9: Redefined

Is a newish project for an actually good upscaled version. They use LaserDisc as source, correct the colors, and then upscale.

Their demo videos actually look pretty great. Sadly I couldn't find where to actually download the completed video files. Do you know?

Other upscales

https://berglyd.net/blog/2023/08/upscaling-startrek-ds9/ shows only a slight difference. Noise and grain are reduced, sure. Details like the pips on Sisko's collar are smudged and arguably worse.

https://community.topazlabs.com/t/star-trek-deep-space-nine-upscaling-project-by-leland-kovich-pal-dvd-to-1080phd-in-4-3/92214/8 Noise and grain is suppressed, but also the texture. Too much saturation, too much contrast, sharpening, ringing. Sisko's legs are an abomination, see the parallel line in the water. The rocks went from background blur, to sharp. The whole image has lost depth and looks flat.

Since 2000 this has been the episode guide in German. It’s still going strong. A reminder of how the internet used to be.

Why has there not been a ‘Star Trek’ series or series of movie that involves people with super intelligence & skills like that, but the challenges go along with it? Half joking, but ‘Big Bang Theory’s* character Shelton would work & be funny. Shelton fanboy did not pay me to say that or have something on me to force me to say that. Heck the other ‘Big Bang Theory’s character characters would also work & be funny. But a lot more serious, there are some challenges that give people traits that makes them the perfect crew members.

*- Funnies comedy of all time, The GOAT!

I was born into & will die with Learning Challenges (in- language processing & short & long term memories), have earned degree in SLD, many certifications, including VE & ESE, from the most respected higher educational school in Fl., whatever that is worth, & facilitated learning in Elementary schools’-high schools’-adult education school’s ESE & Etc. classrooms. So I understand that challenges can be extremely hard identify-prove & everywhere, I think everyone has a challenge, to some degree.

Yet I cannot understand the challenges that genetic engineered friends of Dr. Bashir character Lauren (played by Hillary Shepard) & Patrick (played by Michael Keenan).
The only thing that comes close to challenges I see in- Lauren having is higher attraction drive to men, than the average person &
Patrick having is he is easily manipulated-to easy to go along with others, especially by Jack.

Lauren thing seems like UPN censored away the writers from going to a real challenge & forced them to her being just higher attraction drive to men, than the average person, which is not a challenge.
&
Patrick thing is not even close to being a challenge at all, maybe, lack confidence or whatever, but not a challenge, while Lauren is also not a challenge, I can understand that if the writers were not censored away from her being sex addiction, then that would been a challenge.

The title comes from Sam’s full name, the first photonic cadet from Kasq. Sam is only 217 days old at this point, having been created as the first hologram to reintegrate with organics, but programmed to act like a 17-year-old.

Sam states that in the last millennium (i.e. since 2191, close enough to the founding of the Federation in 2161 that we can just take it as a rounding error), the Federation has encountered 4633 sentient species, over 37 trillion individuals.

We see a Cheronian cadet. The race first appeared in TOS: “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”, where the ruling half-white class (white on the left side) oppressed the half-black (black on the left side). They are extremely long-lived - Bele had been chasing Lokai for 5000 years - but assumed to be extinct since 2268, casualties of a civil war that wiped out Cheron’s population. However, Virgil, a half-white Cheronian appeared in the Section 31 movie, which takes place c.2324. The cadet here is half-white.

It’s been 97 days, or a little over 3 months, after Sam began the Fall Semester of Starfleet Academy (SFA: “Kids These Days”), placing this episode at the end of 3191 (Sam says later that the semester is nearly over).

Of the list of homeworlds displayed in Sam’s database, the names that are not known Federation worlds in the 24th Century are Denobula, Bajor, Ferengar, Hirogen Prime and Kazon Prime. Whether this means that these worlds are now, in the 32nd century, Federation members is not clear.

The Priority One Mission Darem is given consists of chicken, banana (which he hates) and yeel pudding. The yeel tree exists within the mycelial network (DIS: “Saints of Imperfection”), but its bark is deadly to the jahSepp who also live there.

Darem’s personnel file says his major is Sciences and he’s 17 years old, born on Stardate 851095.82, and he graduated from Khionian Royal High on Stardate 868490.0 (consistent with the stardate in SFA: “Vitus Reflux”). By TNG stardate reckoning, that still makes the current year 3191, and he was born in 3174. The file also notes his captaincy of the Khionian All-Planet Under-18 Calico Team and being part of the Premiere Team Khionian Parrises Squares, among other achievements.

Polyphenol oxidase is the enzyme that causes browning and damage to fruits and vegetables. Also, Khionians vomit glitter.

Sam is playing a theremin, an instrument that creates different tones as you interact with its magnetic field. Patented by Leon Theremin in 1928, its unique sound has been used to evoke an otherworldly atmosphere in SF media. Contrary to popular belief, the TOS Star Trek theme did not use a theremin, but was performed by soprano Loulie Jean Norman.

The original Emergency Medical Hologram Mark 1s (of which the Doctor is one) were repurposed by the Federation to become menial labourers in the 24th century (VOY: “Author, Author”), primarily because they were not viewed as sentient. Photonic lifeforms do naturally exist, as in seen in various VOY episodes (“Heroes and Demons”, “Bride of Chaotica!”, “The Voyager Conspiracy”) as well as in LD: “Of Gods and Angles”.

Sam speaking to her Makers reminds me of how the Orkian alien Mork used to report to his supervisor Orson on the strange habits of humans in the 1978-1982 sitcom Mork and Mindy.

The “stupid talking plants” refers to the events of “Vitus Reflux”.

While watching Tamira, Caleb is chewing on a jumja stick, a Bajoran confection made from the sap of the jumja tree (DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”).

Appropriately enough, the cadet sniffing Caleb’s pheromones is Orion. Orion women secrete a powerful pheromone which can intoxicate and dominate the males. Underground “scentuaries” on Orion exist, akin to sex and BDSM clubs (LD: “Something Borrowed, Something Green”).

The screens in the “Confronting the Unexplainable” course show “Origins of the Omega Molecule” (VOY: “The Omega Directive”), “Psionic Effects of the Galactic Barrier” (TOS: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”), “Déjà Vu - Alternate Universe Theories” (TNG: “Cause and Effect”), “Katra Stones” (DIS: “Light and Shadows”), “Immortal/Non-Corporeal Entities” (the Guardian of Forever, TOS: “The City on the Edge of Forever”), “Subspace Divergence Fields” (VOY: “Deadlock”), “Alternate Continuums” (like the Q Continuum, VOY: “Death Wish”) and “Multi-Species Accelerated Evolution” (VOY: “Threshold”, perhaps).

Sam stops in front of “The Fate of Benjamin Sisko - Emissary of the Prophets”. It poses two questions: whether he died in the Fire Caves of Bajor or lived on in the Celestial Temple at the end of DS9: “What You Leave Behind”. As viewers, we know that the latter is true, but also that he promised to return (“Maybe a year, maybe yesterday.”). As the screen implies, this has not happened by the 32nd century, although he did return for a time in the IDW Star Trek comic taking place just before Nemesis. Part of the reason, speaking in a Doylist sense, is because Avery Brooks has retired from acting.

Professor Illa (played by LD’s Tawny Newsome) is of Cardassian descent, with the distinctive loop on her forehead (which led to the racial slur “spoonheads” being applied to Cardassians by veterans of the 2340s wars). She says it is midterm season, which usually happens between mid-October and early November. The scene ends with the DS9 theme song swelling.

Darem refers to the Schrodinger’s Cat paradox, a thought experiment where a cat in a box with a poison that has a 50-50 chance of triggering is, accordingly to quantum theory, neither alive nor dead until the box is opened.

The Bajoran custom of grabbing the earlobe to feel a person’s “pagh” (spirit) was first seen in DS9: “Emissary”.

The Sisko Museum is in New Orleans because Sisko is a native of that city. His father ran a restaurant there (DS9: "Homefront") which was still open as of 2381 (LD: “Grounded”).

This is the first mention of the planet Alpherat in lore. There is a star named Alpheratz (Alpha Andromedae or Delta Pegasi), mentioned in the Franz Joseph Star Fleet Technical Manual and the Star Trek Adventures RPG, but this may be a different place. There are fire eels on Earth, but Alpherati ones are presumably not the same.

The uniform on display is the version Sisko wore from DS9: “Rapture” onwards, having been introduced in the movie First Contact.

On display is a Deep Space Niners cap (the station baseball team, DS9: “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”), Sisko’s Niner baseball card, and the ball signed by the team in that episode. We also see a box used to contain an Orb of the Prophets and Benny Russell’s typewriter (DS9: “Far Beyond the Stars”).

There are signs for Sisko’s Creole Kitchen, the Dominion War, Jake Sisko with an article he wrote for the Federation News Service on the arrival of a Dominion Founder, and a video titled Jada Ava Sisko. Jada does not appear on the family tree, nor does Sisko’s daughter with Kasidy Yates, as yet unborn in the DS9 finale. While this may be ominous, in the Litverse novels the daughter was born and named Rebecca Jae Sisko.

Cirroc Lofton reprises his role as Jake Sisko. He mentions Sisko punching out Q (DS9: “Q-Less”), how he supported Jake’s writing, and his ability as a chef.

Krebbs’ Talaxian furfly is now eating its own fur.

Jay-Den claims Klingons invented raktajino, which isn’t really true. Raktajino is a hybrid beverage, with human and Klingon elements involved in its creation. This could simply be like Chekov claiming everything was of Russian origin.

Jake began writing his novel Anslem in DS9: “The Muse”, but we find out he never published it. In the alternate timeline of DS9: “The Visitor”, it was published in 2381. We also find out “Anslem” means “father” in Bajoran - the semi-autobiographical novel features the father of the protagonist.

The story of a Vulcan punching out Sisko refers to Solok defeating Sisko in a wrestling match when they were cadets at The Launching Pad (“Take Me Out to the Holosuite”).

The Kometa fish looks similar to an Earth blobfish, which although it looks like jello on land, has a relatively normal appearance deep underwater where it lives.

Behind the 32nd century San Francisco Ferry Building is a neon sign saying “King Mei”. This same sign appeared in an underground city on Turkana IV (TNG: “Legacy”).

Nahla left Starfleet 15 years prior because of how they treated Caleb and his mother (“Kids These Days”), but returned when Vance offered her the chancellorship of Starfleet Academy.

Sam drunkenly refers to Sisko building sailboats (a Bajoran lightship, DS9: “Explorers”) and starting riots (fulfilling history in 2024, DS9: “Past Tense”).

Muir Woods is part of the Golden Gate Recreation Area, north of San Francisco and near the Academy campus. It’s best known for its grove of coast redwoods, which are the tallest living things on Earth.

The cover of Anslem has a Bajoran crest on it. Sisko bought a plot of land in Kendra Valley on Bajor in DS9: “Penumbra”, the same episode the Prophets warned him that if he married Kasidy - if he did not walk his path alone - he would know nothing but sorrow.

Illa is Illa Dax, the latest host for the Dax symbiont, a Cardassian-Trill hybrid. As Sam speaks to her Makers, we hear the TOS theme played on a theremin.

According to Tawny Newsome, Sam's line, "I can live with that," alludes to Sisko's famous line from DS9: "In the Pale Moonlight".

That last voice-over is Avery Brooks, not from Star Trek but from Here… a spoken word and jazz album he released in 2006. In the sky over San Francisco, there seems to be an image of Sisko's face formed by the clouds.

The dedication is "For Avery". The DS9 theme plays over the closing credits.

Written by: Kirsten Beyer & Tawny Newsome

Directed by: Larry Teng

Sometimes the time travel confuse me, in this case, the new Borg queen pretend to create a new collective, now, the third season Borg queen is the old one, right?

So, what happend with one and the other collective? The new one affected the other one?

Edit: I add an spoiler warning in the title.