by Matthew Rushing

“Here’s what Gene Roddenberry said in an interview just before he died in August 1991; somebody had asked him, ‘What’s going to become of Star Trek in the future?’ And he said that he hoped that some day some bright young thing would come along and do it again, bigger and better than he had ever done it. And he wished them well.” — Richard Arnold, Roddenberry’s assistant 

Poster by Paul Shipper

Star Trek Into Darkness has a lot to live up to. For some fans, it must redeem itself from a lackluster first movie. On the flip side, other fans don’t see how this film could reach the same heights of Star Trek (2009). Into Darkness is a thrill ride from the beginning that builds on the themes and characters from the first installment and ramps them up to new levels, giving fans and the general movie audience something worth cheering for.  

Manning Up

“Is there anything you would not do for your family?” — John Harrison

This movie is very much a Kirk story. In the first film, fans and general moviegoers alike scoffed at the idea that Cadet Kirk would be sitting in the captain’s chair by the end of the film. Kurtzman and Orci took that criticism and turned it into a major theme in this film. Kirk may have been given the “Big Chair” for being a wunderkind, but in this film, he earns it.

Kirk begins the movie brash as ever, buffeting the rules at his leisure. He cannot hear anyone else’s advice, nor any criticism of his decisions. Pike tells him that he is going to get everyone under his command killed because of his reckless disregard for the rules, and Starfleet actually takes the Enterprise away from Kirk.

The theme of fatherhood comes up strong in this film, just as it did in Star Trek (2009). Pike is the only father figure that Kirk has left in his life, and he is everything that Kirk needs. Pike is a disciplinarian, yet at the same time lifts Kirk up. As Kirk deals with the loss of his command, Pike says,  “I believe in you. If anyone deserves a second chance, it’s Jim Kirk.”    

Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

Throughout the film, Kirk learns what it means to be a man and a true leader. Kirk begins listening to his superiors and subordinates, and takes what they say to heart. He changes in light of the criticism he receives while discerning the wisest course of action at the same time, even if it does mean going against orders in the end. Kirk may still break the rules when he sees that as the best option, but his path to doing so changes drastically.

Unlike Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, it is Kirk who learns firsthand what it means to give his life for the needs of the many. This reversal works perfectly for Kirk’s arc; he learns humility and fallibility the hard way, yet by the end, the change in Kirk is evident. He is not just a savant with an ego to match. He is tempered by fire and forged into the leader that Pike always knew he could be.

War on Terrible Choices

“The purpose is to experience fear. Fear in the face of certain death. To accept that fear, and maintain control of oneself and one’s crew. This is a quality expected in every Starfleet captain.” — Spock  

Another major theme in the film is fear and how it drives our actions. Since the incursion of Nero in the first film, Starfleet has put itself on high alert. It even created Section 31, a rogue agency that acts in the interest of the Federation by protecting it at all costs. This film was dedicated to the memory of all those who gave their lives on 9/11 and in its aftermath. It is in that memory that sparks this question: How do we face fear of the unknown and respond to terror when it strikes at the heart of our cities, our countries and our very way of life?

The film helps us look at ourselves through the lens of Admiral Marcus. His goal is to protect the Federation and its way of life, but at the cost of the very things he stands for: freedom and liberty. Benjamin Franklin said it best: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Marcus’ militarization of Starfleet, along with his willingness to sacrifice the values of the Federation, mirrors our world, leaving us with difficult questions. The movie shows us it is always better to do what is right even when it is difficult, even if it costs us our lives. It keeps us from becoming the very thing we are fighting against.

Photo credit: Paramount Pictures 

Family Ties

“I am a great believer in found families and I’m not a great believer in blood.” — Joss Whedon

This movie is very much about family and finding it, even if it has been taken away. Kirk has no father and his surrogate is killed when John Harrison attacks a high-level Starfleet meeting. Spock learns what it means to be a part of a family that is dominated by humans, as well as deal with the immense pain of losing his home planet in the first film. John Harrison fights to save his family, while Carol Marcus deals with the shame that comes from having a family member betray everything she thought he stood for.

The crew of the Enterprise deals with severe growing pains in this film. One of the most interesting things is watching how each officer learns from one other, influencing and complementing each other’s skills. Trust and faith in the gifts of each member of the family clearly shines through. At center stage of this are Spock and Kirk. Each of them leans on the other’s strength, and doing so cements their friendship forever.

Photo credit: Paramount PicturesSpock finally comes to terms with the immensity of his feelings for the loss of Vulcan. The loss is so great that it wounds him to the core of his being. As a result, he has drawn even further inward, causing him to repress his typhoon-like emotions, alienating his friends and his paramour, Uhura, even more in the process. Spock learns the valuable lesson that withdrawing from community and cutting off emotions will not help him heal; he must grieve and process the loss, just like anyone who has experienced an important loss, and doing so is better with a support system of friends.

In our world, found families are becoming increasingly more important in place of the once-dominant nuclear family. Community is therefore a key ingredient to the success of individuals. An old song says, “Lean on me, when you’re not strong,” and this is a message the film speaks loudly. We need each other to remind us of who we are at our best and help us find our way back when we lose perspective. In this film, the crew of the Enterprise becomes a family that is dedicated to a mission that transcends themselves, and it is one that lies at the very heart of Star Trek: to seek out new life and new civilizations for the betterment of all of humanity while committing to Starfleet’s values and morality.  

Conclusion

“Space, the final frontier….” — Captain Kirk

This is a brilliant Star Trek film. It lives up the ideals and themes that fans expect from Trek, while at the same time, takes the audience on a wild ride. Some fans may complain about using plot ideas from the original series, but they are used to full effect here. What results is a story that furthers the characters and challenges the viewers. Many will mistake this as a retelling, yet it is not. Kutrzman, Orci and Abrams have taken pieces from previous Trek and re-engineered them into a new tale that is both compelling and contemporary. Personally, I think that this is a better movie that the first. There is no burden of the “origin story,” allowing us to dive right into the narrative from scene one, which lends itself to much more character development in this JJ-verse. Into Darkness uses most of the characters well (Sulu may be the one with the least to do, but he does get a taste of the big chair), and gives them all shining moments, creating a sense of urgency as we eagerly anticipate the next voyage of the starship Enterprise.

This review was originally posted at http://42lifeinbetween.wordpress.com/

by Shervin Sabeghi

“It’s some sort of chromo-dynamic module powered by a tripolymer plasma”

B’Elanna techs the tech in “Prototype.”Sound familiar? Technobabble (or Treknobabble, if you will) is the term used to describe all of the jargon used on Star Trek. The quote above was delivered by Lieutenant Torres in the episode “Prototype” and is just one of many examples of the kind of tech talk Star Trek provides. All the series contain it, but, when it comes to Voyager, resistance is truly futile because it’s packed full of it. In every episode we hear it to varying degrees of intensity. And, despite all the changes Voyager had throughout its run, if there was ever one constant, it was that technobabble would find its way into an episode. Whilst many can’t stand it and tune out whenever they hear it, not only do I not mind it -– I highly enjoy it. It irks me when I see fans judge an episode on the amount of technobabble it has, as I’ve always felt that it added a sense of authenticity to the series and heightened my overall enjoyment of the show — on Voyager especially. But before you throw me out of the airlock for my overly positive opinion, let me explain myself.

Starships without a warp drive or deflector dish simply wouldn’t be the same show.For me, and for a lot of fans, the main attraction to Star Trek is how it gives us all the “optimistic view of the future.” And, as part of that view, there are scientists on these high-tech starships who come up with these technobabble solutions to solve problems. It’s this futuristic feeling that I’ve always loved about Star Trek. Next time you’re watching a Star Trek episode of any of the series, imagine what it would be like if they weren’t using technobabble terms. No warp drive. No intertial dampeners. No deflector dish. Weird, right? That’s because it simply is not Trek without the tech. We’ve heard it so much now that it’s become a natural part of Star Trek. It’s so ingrained into us how teching the tech can be used to solve any problem that we expect it in a Trek episode. Without it, something is missing.

Despite it being such a natural part of Trek, Voyager’s use of technobabble still had the detrimental effect of putting people off of the series. It’s a shame that many only associate Voyager with technobabble and how it was used to complement the show’s supposedly ridiculous storylines. Whilst I agree that technobabble shouldn’t replace what could be effective dialogue, I don’t think the level of technobabble used in Voyager was enough to take away from the series as a whole. But then there’s the “technobabble solution of the week,” which can be taken in two ways: from the perspective of a television show and from the perspective of a starship. Star Trek: Voyager the TV show couldn’t rely on some techy words to conclude a story because that shows little story depth and lazy writing. But it also means that for the show to maintain its authenticity and futuristic nature, it has to show that the problems of a starship will be fixed with some sort of technology. Granted, technobabble shouldn’t be taken as far as picking a Borg component out of the hat so Seven of Nine can modify it and save the day. That is where I can see peoples’ point of view that technobabble was used to cover up lazy writing, but even then, I still liked it.

Let’s face it (har har): Tech is everywhere in Trek!

Not only is technobabble a fun and imaginative aspect of Star Trek that most can just let slide, it actually does mostly make sense. Some, even if not enough, effort was put into making sure that what was said actually did make some scientific sense and, though it wasn’t always fully accurate, I can appreciate this. I have seen posts online where someone has taken the time to actually research the terms said in an episode and judge the validity of them. But in the end, does it really matter?  The few times when using tech words correctly is important to the story in Voyager, it is evident that the time has been spent to make sure that there aren’t mistakes in the science which allows the story to run smoothly. So, surely if the technobabble doesn’t stop a story from running smoothly and coherently, there’s really no reason to dislike it, right? I think that people shouldn’t let the minor aspects of technobabble take away from their overall opinion of a show itself. The technobabble made me enjoy Star Trek even more — Voyager especially — and helped me realize the fun behind Star Trek, as well as to appreciate a certain amount of futuristic authenticity.

To cap off this all off, I offer some final thoughts: I know that most people don’t have a whole lot against technobabble and very few really dislike it, but I wanted the view of someone who actively likes it to be out there. If you’re one of the people who puts yourself in the group of disliking the technobabble of Voyager, try to look at it on a lighter level and set the technobabble aside to enjoy the story for what it is. You’re otherwise missing out on a genuinely enjoyable show.

All Good Things…

If Star Trek has taught us anything it is this: All good things must come to an end. David Mack’s grand new trilogy has come to its conclusion. As with his last trilogy, this one changes the universe of Star Trek forever. What is different about this series is that while the changes are massive, it also feels more intimate. All of the best stories in the Trek universe are not just about action; they are stories that challenge us philosophically and mentally. This last book in the Cold Equations series does not disappoint in this respect. The questions raised are the biggest that humanity can ask, making this a satisfying and provocative finale.

Lifeforms

The question about what constitutes a true life-form is still puzzling. The Body Electric does not seem capable of compassion or mercy — traits that sentient organic life holds very close. Also in question is whether or not AI has a soul. AI has sentience and is self determined, yet still lacks the intrinsic quality to jump a step beyond information to philosophy, religion, compassion and the synthesis of information into culture. The idea of a any kind of afterlife is also foreign. When a machine powers down or is destroyed, there is nothing left. However, even in the Star Trek universe, forms of being do exist beyond the physical realm for organic life. We have seen the evidence of this from many different cultures, including Klingons and Bajorans. The answer to this major question cannot be fully answered here, but wrestling with it is important because it is part of the foundation of existence.

Killing Your Creator

What You Leave Behind

The Body Electric creates meaning for its existence by fashioning an intergalactic work of art that will span a billion years. It faces the same question that has plagued humanity forever: “What is the meaning of life?” The Body Electric has a sense that when the universe comes to an end, nothing exists beyond that end. So the question becomes even more profound: “How do you find the meaning of life when nothing transcends the end of time?” Where does the purpose of existence come from if nothing is eternal? The answer that Wesley and The Body Electric come up with in this story is to create something that lasts to the bitter end — but is this an answer? Is that not still meaningless, since it leaves no hope that anything will truly matter? The answer to this question is the most vital ingredient to any being’s life, what a person believes about the purpose of life, and how the metaphysical will shape the course of their future.

Star Trek has showed us that for many races, there is something that exists beyond death, although it cannot be said for certain what that is. Even beings as advanced as the Q are not sure what happens after death. Also intriguing are The Prophets, who do not even exist in time. There are, as Spock would say, “always possibilities,” with so many of them yet to be explored.

It was fascinating that this book does not discuss the religious or philosophical ideas around the questions of life’s meaning and I think this stems from the reasons discussed previously. The Body Electric cannot think in those terms. It cannot transcend the data, think creatively, soulfully or philosophically. This does not imply that The Body Electric is not valid as a life-form; it merely points out one of its weaknesses as a species.  

As with the best of Trek, Mack pushes one of life’s biggest questions to the forefront and gives no firm answers, leaving the readers contemplating the answers for themselves.

Conclusion

[Note: This interview was conducted at ValleyCon 38, held October 19-21, 2012 in Fargo, North Dakota. See my personal recap of the convention here. — Managing Editor Charlynn Schmiedt]

Char: You’ve had a long career. You started as a child — and I’m kind of curious, because I’m not an actor — when you’re a child, how do you know that is what you want to do? It seems to me that lot of people know from a young age, “I want to act.” So, can you tell me a little bit about what helped you make that decision?

NdB: I don’t think that I really thought that I was gonna do it as a career when I was young. I just started being interested in it. It says this in a lot of my bios, but I was a really shy little girl. And then when I was nine, we did this play, The Wizard of Oz, at school, and I just stunned my family by coming home with the part of Dorothy. Somehow, I just loved transforming myself into this other character. I wasn’t shy to become someone else. To be myself, like if we had to speech arts in school and stand in front of the class, I went red. I got hives on my neck. I hated it. But to become another character was great. I loved it. And so it just started happening. My grandma took me downtown to get my first agent, and I just started doing it, and it was fun. By the time I got to be about 17… well actually, prior to that, I stopped acting for awhile because I was a punk rocker and I had really weird hair and I shaved my head. So, I kind of fell out of acting in commercial work, but I was also in a theatre group.  I still did that because we did the classics and I could wear wigs. So I kept up my theatre, but I didn’t call my agent for a couple of years. And then one day, I decided to grow my hair back normal and I phoned my agent, and the first thing I got was a TV series. At that point, I was turning 18 and I was making really good money and I was on a very big TV show in Canada, and I thought, “I guess this is what I do! This is what I’m going to do.”

Char: So it didn’t really hit you right away?

NdB: No, because I was still going to school and getting really good marks and I wanted to be a lawyer.

Char: Ah, okay.

NdB: But then one day I just kind of went, “Wait a minute. I’m being paid well. I’m having a blast. I enjoy it.  I seem to be good at it, so I guess this is what I do.”

Char: Yeah, why not, right?

NdB: But you know what? I didn’t go to university, and I still kind of kick myself for that. [Laughter]

Char: But you know what’s great is you can always go back to school.

NdB: That’s true.

Char: It’s always there. You can do that at any time in your life. As we talked last night, if you get involved in psychology, hey! It’s there!

NdB: There you go! Yeah! It’s something I could start now.

Char: It’s never too late.

NdB: That’s true. But there is an interesting thing about starting acting as a child as opposed to deciding in your late teens or early twenties that you want to be an actor and start training. As a child, you haven’t learned in society how to hide certain things yet. So when you go to learn how to be an actor when you’re older, the first thing they will teach you is to get rid of that. You want to be able to put yourself out on a sleeve and have no shame — just get it all out. As a kid, you naturally do that. You haven’t learned through society to hide stuff, hide stuff, hide stuff.

Char: That’s an interesting point. I hadn’t thought about that.

NdB: All child actors sort of can get there quicker, I find. When I worked on The Dead Zone with Anthony Michael Hall, he was a child actor, and I kind of felt that from him, too. You can just get to those emotions a lot quicker.

Char: One thing that I’ve noticed in your filmography is that you’ve done lots of sci-fi. You did TekWar, Stargate, and then of course, Deep Space Nine. Is this something you just fell into or was it because of an interest in sci-fi?

NdB: Definitely something I fell into. I mean, I’ve never been at a level — Only the biggest actors get to pick and choose what they want. The rest of us are out there auditioning and hoping. Whatever we get, we get. The great thing about being an actor in Toronto, where I grew up, is that a lot of American shows film there, but they need to hire Canadians for most of the parts. That’s the reason why they would get their tax breaks for working up there. So that would work to your benefit up there. That’s why I end up working in a lot of shows up in Canada. But it just so happened that a lot of sci-fi was filming there. And also, I guess, once you do a few, then the producers from some shows who are fans of other shows know that you were in that show, and they know that the fans will know.

Char: That’s true. Sci-fi is kind of a tight-knit group.

NdB: It is a tight circle. So then they think, “Oh, I would like to have her. She was on Outer Limits.” So it just sort of happens that way. And you get good at the jargon. You do it better than other actors who haven’t done it before, so then you do end up making the rounds.

Char: You’ve got to tech the tech, right?

NdB: Tech the tech, exactly. [Laughter]

Char: As far as Deep Space Nine goes, you came on in the seventh season. Was that difficult in terms of coming on for a show that had been well-established and you’re the new person on the block? Did you feel like Ezri did, where she’s in the midst of this thing that’s been going on for awhile?

NdB: Well, exactly! That’s a really good point. That’s what I went with because I realized that’s what my character was going through. Ezri was thrown into this world. She didn’t want to be joined. She just happened to be there and they needed a Trill to put it in [the Dax symbiont], so she got thrown into it. Now she’s going back like in a wave, feeling that she knows these people, but she doesn’t know these people. It was great because they had little introduction scenes for me with everybody because they’re re-meeting me again. For me as an actor, that was great. It was my way of having a scene with Armin [Shimerman], and then a scene with Michael Dorn, so it was a great way to ease into it. It all happened so fast. I got the part so quickly and then I was suddenly in L.A.  and suddenly filming, so I didn’t really have too much time to think about it, which is good because I probably would have been more freaked out and realized the magnitude of the fandom.

Char: So you weren’t entirely aware of that when you busted into it?

NdB: No. On my first day on set, I showed up and there were two garbage bags full of fan mail, and I hadn’t even shot anything yet. But what was great about this show is that it was one more coming into the family. They [the cast] have all known each other forever, and they were excited to have some fresh blood.

Char: So they embraced it?

NdB: They totally embraced it. They’re all such pros, so it was a thrill to work with such great character actors, veteran actors, you know? It felt pretty easy, I have to say. It felt pretty smooth.

Char: Let’s shift gears a little bit and talk about the [Deep Space Nine] novels. Ezri is a captain in the books.

NdB: So cool! Woo!

Char: That’s the ultimate, right? So, have you read any of the books and do you know what she’s doing?

NdB: No, I haven’t. I’m so bad. David Mack gave me the books and I have them in my cupboard, and when my daughter sees them she asks, “Why is your face on a book, Mommy?” [Laughter] Have you read them?

Char: I’ve read some of them. I have the jist. But I’d like to know, having not read the books, what do you want Ezri to do after Deep Space Nine?

NdB: I don’t know. Just the fact she got to captain – I mean, that is pretty cool – and it does make sense for Ezri because she was on that sort of trajectory. She was growing. I would have liked to have had a little longer on the show to become even more confident. What would be cool is if we did another show and you did see me walk through the doors with wonderful confidence because she was so lost before. And they [the other characters] would be like, “Whoa! That’s Ezri! She’s really grown a lot.” But then we could also see how those people inside her have manifested in interesting ways now that she’s really grasped how to do it. That would be really fun just to explore all that stuff but with more confidence than I could at the time because it was brand-new for her.

Char: You mentioned a TNG/Deep Space Nine crossover [before the interview]. It sounds like you’d be pretty game to do that at some point.

NdB: Oh gosh, yeah.

Char: It would be fun if we could see where they are now and update us somehow on what’s happened with these characters since we left them.

NdB: That would be so great. I would do it in a heartbeat. That would be amazing.

Char: Okay, one final question.

NdB: One thing I have to add is that I am bummed out that I wasn’t dating Worf and I was dating Julian because I was like, “Now I can’t get in the movies!”

[Laughter]

Char: That’s right! Worf was the key, wasn’t he?

NdB: And I could have been singing Klingon opera with him and Patrick Stewart in the next film, and I was like, “Damn.” Oh well.

Char: It’s a shame that they didn’t wait just a little longer because Worf and Ezri were trying to figure things out for awhile.

NdB: In the end, I don’t really care [about not dating Worf]. I just really wanted to be in the movies.

[Laughter]

Char: I don’t blame you. I would have, too. Do you think Julian and Ezri lasted?

NdB: No. I think when she got her stuff together, she probably ate him for breakfast. I’m kidding. [Laughter] They were very cute, but I don’t know if they would have lasted. I think they might have been sent to different places, and long-distance relationships…

Char: Well, considering that Ezri became a captain…do you want a little spoiler on what’s happened in the books?

NdB: Yeah, tell me.

Char: They broke up.

NdB: Ah, okay! So there you go. I knew it!

Char: I think she dumped Julian so she could focus on her career, and he’s so focused on what he’s doing that it makes sense. It was cute when it happened, but…yeah. Maybe she’ll get back with Worf and we’ll see what happens there.

NdB: Exactly.

Char: Okay, so the final question: What is next for you? Do you have anything coming up, or is there something you want to do aside from a Deep Space Nine revival?

NdB: The one thing that my manager keeps saying to me to do is to write. I don’t even have a blog or anything and it’s silly. [I’ve had] so many crazy experiences – going to all of these conventions all over the world – and not just that, but other things in my life. So I’ve considered writing and every week, it starts fresh. I say, “This is the week. I’m gonna get up, get my daughter to school, and then start writing.” I just haven’t done it yet, but I feel I am on the precipice of doing it. I have some things I’ve written. Normally, I write about those strange things on planes while I’m traveling alone. I think there’s something about that recycled air that gets me going. [Laughter] Honestly, I think there’s something in that airplane air!

Char: [Laughter] Hey, if it works!

NdB: But I can’t be buying myself tickets everywhere just to get my writer on.

Char: No, that’s expensive.

NdB: But that’s what I’m looking at, because you can’t just sit around waiting for the phone to ring. That just makes you crazy. In the meantime, I’m really loving being a mom. It’s so great and it is a gift. It’s great having a little girl.

Char: Well, thank you so much for your time. It was great talking with you.

NdB: Thank you!

Continuing Voyages

David Mack’s Cold Equations trilogy continues in Silent Weapons, and just like the first book, it does not disappoint. Each book in this series is a stand-alone adventure, yet threads and themes run through each one. This works well and leaves the reader satisfied, yet still longing for the full completion of the series. 

Families in Space

In The Next Generation, much was made of the Enterprise-D having families aboard; people no longer had to leave them behind, but could bring them along as Starfleet explored the galaxy. It was a wonderful premise, but it was never truly realized on screen. Most of the main cast did not have children. Wesley and Beverly Crusher were not a good representation of family life in Starfleet, nor was the introduction of Alexander into Worf’s life. Neither of these situations was sufficiently explored or looked at; fans had to wait for DS9 to really get their first look at the inner workings of the 24th century family.  

Silent Weapons is the answer to this issue. Picard and Crusher have a family now, and instead of ignoring that, Mack has explored what it means head-on. He explores the issues of what it is like to have a family on a starship and the effect on Picard’s son of being the child of one of the most famous men in the galaxy. Crusher asks these questions intently after seeing her son in the ship’s daycare. When he leads, the other children follow, and she worries that it is only because he is “the captain’s son.” The idea of social hierarchy on a starship, the officers, noncoms and enlisted persons all gravitating towards their own rank — a kind of segregation that naturally happens with humans, even in the 24th century — is picked up and emulated by the children. Crusher worries about how this will impact her son. Will he become prejudiced against those of lower ranks or look down on others just because he is the “captain’s son?” Will he face undue pressure to perform, or be just like his parents? It seems that even in the Federation, and especially in Starfleet, many of the issues dealt with today are still struggles in the future. 

Picard and Crusher have issues of their own to deal with; specifically, the ways in which marriage and family have changed Picard. Crusher comes face to face with the “new” Picard when he chooses to shield her in a firefight instead of guarding the Federation president or the Gorn Imperator. Why did he not protect them and choose her instead? Where is the hero she married? It is at this moment that she realizes Picard is no longer the hero, but a husband and father. He explains his rationale for protecting her instead of the heads of state in a heated discussion with Beverly in their quarters,

“But if I lost you, there would be no one replacing you in my life — or in René’s. The same would be true if I’d been killed. Or worse yet, both of us… Beverly, I waited a long time to start a family, perhaps too long. But now I have one, nothing in the universe matters more to me. Not my president, not my oath of service, nothing. If that diminishes me in your eye…so be it.”

The raw honesty of Picard’s words cut Beverly to the heart, and the tension does not end until they talk at the end of the book.

Marriage and family change people and priorities. This change can be hard to deal with if both partners are not willing to listen and work towards understanding. For the Picards, the answer is loving family first, exploring the galaxy and being on the Enterprise, in that order. If the last one interferes with the first, Picard makes it clear he will gladly give it up. This is a far cry from the man yelling at Wesley to get off his bridge, or being annoyed at the very thought of children on a starship in the first place. It’s a welcome change.

Death and Growth

A theme that is repeated in this book from the last is, “What is Data?” Data says, “Because my prior self was destroyed, his original continuity of consciousness ceased to exist. Mine is therefore unique and separate, and by virtue of sequentially, second. As distinctions go, this one seems far from trivial.” So, Data is different and yet so much the same. For him, there is merely a gap in his life that is filled in by the memories of his father. He hasn’t experienced any of the loss his death created, nor as he puts it, has had no time to “miss” anyone. 

Geordi has had nothing but time to miss his friend. He has spent the last four years coming to grips with the loss of his best friend, and now that friend has been thrust back into his life in a most unusual way. In many sci-fi shows and comic books, a character comes back to life and the people around them are left struggling to cope with this reversal of nature. Geordi’s frustration with this conundrum gives the character some much-needed growth. We finally see the inner workings of the now-second officer of the Federation flagship, and Mack gives him some shining, long-overdue moments in this book. 

You Reap What You Sow

One of the most interesting things that plays out is the Breen’s machiavellian machinations. They are willing to use their allies as fodder so they can elevate themselves into a greater position in the Typhon Pact, as well as the Alpha Quadrant. This devious plan backfires, creating a new sense of mistrust for the maligned Gorn, giving the already weary archosaurs further reason to begin working towards seceding from their current alliance. The power play that the Breen make spreads the seeds of disharmony, and the result of their plans leave them in a worse position than before. The law of the harvest is in full effect, leading to the question, “How might these issues be seen today and what can be learned from the mistakes of the Breen?” Treating allies as stepping stones and adapting a foreign policy of selfish exploitation will ultimately lead to ruin. When a society’s back is against the wall, it reveals its true principles. Mack shows this in the fashion that all of the best Star Trek episodes have, giving the reader plenty to ponder. 

Conclusion and Rating

Silent Weapons has the impressive action that readers expect from a David Mack book. He mirrors this perfectly with character moments that continuously push the Next Generation crew into new and interesting places, all while providing the shake-ups he is know for. I cannot recommend this book more highly; I give it nine androids out of ten.

The “Reset Button”: it’s a phrase so thrown around when talking about Voyager that no fan can escape the Trek world without it finding its way into their ears at least once.  And, unlike a lot of the criticism fans give Voyager that might be subject to opinion, comments about the reset button do actually apply. In short, if anything of epic proportion happens that results in the destruction of a permanent component of the show, or if an episode has dabbled in time travel and has screwed up the timeline good and proper, the writers press the reset button and, bippity boppity boo, everything’s back to how it was at the beginning of the episode. With all of the Trek series touching upon time travel in some way, the reset button has been featured on all the series; however, since Voyager was on its own in the Delta Quadrant, the writers weren’t at liberty to blow up Federation ships left, right and centre, so when they wanted to actually do anything so dramatic, it nearly always required a large dose of reset. This happened so many times on Voyager that it was dubbed the “HMS Reset Button” and was even once featured as the picture of the Reset Button section of tvtropes.org. Let’s take a closer look at the many uses of the reset button on Voyager.

The Weekly Reset

When it comes to Voyager, many extend the definition of the reset button to include how they felt that each episode seemed to have little effect on the episodes after it. Some didn’t appreciate how the characters seemingly forgot their previous experiences, i.e., as in how things from previous episodes were hardly ever mentioned in later episodes. This is why, when there were throwbacks to earlier episodes, the fans highly appreciated it. For example, when B’Elanna mentions in season two’s “Lifesigns” what occurred in season one’s “Faces,” it was a rare instance that showed that sometimes the characters do indeed remember the life-changing things that have happened in previous adventures.             

Furthermore, after “Caretaker” and certain episodes in season one where we see how Voyager’s distance from the Federation will be a strain on the ship’s supplies, many were looking forward to seeing this played out as an ongoing struggle. It was seen in some episodes such as “Demon,” where Voyager enters ‘grey mode’ to conserve energy. However, for the most part, it was a dropped storyline. After each episode, it was as if the reset button magically restocked Voyager’s supplies. This relatively small ship, which was sent out for a mission that was meant to last no more than a few weeks, gives the impression that it has no real trouble sustaining its crew every week. Whether this happened through the endless supply of photon torpedoes that originally began with an irreplaceable set of 38, or how Chakotay singlehandedly destroyed a full fleet of shuttles, the apparent resetting of Voyager’s supplies really irked fans who were looking forward to seeing a crew constantly scrounging around for things to power their ship.

Some fans were irked by Voyager’s squeaky-clean appearance week in, week out.

Similar to the problem with Voyager’s supplies, another thing the premise of the show promised that wasn’t realised due the reset button was wear and tear to Voyager itself. Being thousands of light years away from a Starfleet dry-dock repair station, one would think that Voyager would suffer a steady deterioration from all of the attacks it received, so much so that after its seven year journey, it would have noticeable damage. But, alas, at the beginning of every single episode — even after instances where it received heavy damage such as in “Deadlock” and “Equinox” — we’d see Voyager looking as sparkly and undamaged as it was when we first saw it docked at Deep Space Nine in “Caretaker.” The reset button strikes again.       

Though some could argue that use of the reset button was a more subtle but constant part of Voyager, it still has its episodes with a clear, traditional use of the reset button – here are some of the main examples.

Time and Again

Perhaps not a glowing example of Voyager at its best, the fact remains that the earliest use of the reset button in Voyager was in the fourth episode of the first series with “Time and Again.” Voyager encounters a planet which has been ravaged by a disaster of sorts and, when they go to investigate, Janeway and Paris are taken back in time to just before the disaster. A trail of forgettable events leads to them realising that they were the cause of the disaster, and they must stop themselves. What counts as memorable parts of this story are such for the wrong reasons, like the ridiculous outfits akin to an extremely bad circus color palate, as well as Kes’ Troi/Sarah Connor-esque premonition about the planet being destroyed. The end of this episode features one of the most insulting uses of the reset button; Janeway prevents herself from causing the disaster and, by doing so, resets the entire episode to the beginning, meaning that all of what we endured was for nothing. The very few good elements of this story, such as the character development that we saw, never even happened.      

Before and After

In this late season three episode, an elderly Kes from Voyager’s future involuntarily jumps backward in time. However, with the help of the Doctor from various timelines, Kes returns herself to the present timeline and stops the time jumping for good. Though the reset button does apply in this episode (as the possible future for Voyager doesn’t happen in the end), it’s a variation of the reset button from the usual. This time, instead of the events of an episode being completely reset with no recollection of what happened by any of the characters, what happens in the episode is used as foreshadowing for the future episode “Year of Hell,” as Kes remembers the events of the future and warns the crew about what happens. Because of this, “Before and After” has, arguably, Voyager’s best use of the reset button, as it allows the writers to hint at something big that may happen in the future so they can build anticipation for it. Unfortunately, it must be said that when “Year of Hell” was played out in the next season, the crew didn’t seem to use the information that Kes had given them about what will happen — a fact which takes away from “Before and After.”      

Year of Hell

“Year of Hell” features Voyager’s biggest use of the reset button. In this two-part episode, we are introduced to the Krenim, an alien species that has most of what they have because of their superior temporal technology. It allows them to completely wipe out entire planets from time, thus decimating their existence — and that of any inhabitants. Of all the Voyager episodes, the word epic applies the most to this one. In the first part, Voyager is constantly attacked by Krenim ships, which are trying to destroy them because they’ve apparently violated their space. By the end of part one, Voyager has been severely damaged and, with half of the ship uninhabitable, Janeway must order every surviving crew member to abandon ship except for the senior staff — including Neelix, for whatever reason. Despite the amazing storytelling in part one, devoted fans know that somehow, the reset button will present itself in part two. The ship has been too badly damaged, the crew compliment has been too critically reduced, Tuvok has been blinded and, most importantly, Janeway’s hair has been to hell and back. And, to no one’s surprise, the end of part two sees Janeway flying her ship into Annorax’s vessel, which causes a temporal incursion inside Annorax’s ship. This removes his ship from existance and resets everything to when Voyager first encounters a Krenim ship at the beginning of part one. This time however, the Krenim ship doesn’t attack and Voyager continues on their journey.

This episode, particularly part one, is a fan favourite. It’s an action epic as well as a story with great character moments. The reset button ending does somewhat let it down as it makes some think, “Well, what was the point of all the action and drama if none of it happened anyway?” but most can forgive the ending due to the fantastic moments before it. Some, however, also see it as another missed opportunity for Voyager, and they wish that the episode had occupied the whole of one season and that the effects of something so damaging had actually been experienced by the characters. Even so, “Year of Hell” shows a much better use of the reset button than “Time and Again,” as it actually made sense to the episode’s plot. What was seen leading up to the reset button was more than worth watching.

Course: Oblivion

“Course: Oblivion” from Voyager’s fifth season is unusual: we see the crew members all gradually die. The premise alone requires the reset button. However, in this episode, it is reasonably disputable whether or not the reset button is actually used; we see all of this happen to duplicates of the crew, which were created in the episode “Demon” from the previous season. So, though we see the characters all suffer and die, it begs the question, “Is this really happening to Voyager’s crew, or a bunch of people we have never seen before?” Without looking into things too deeply, another use of the reset button occurs and, just like “Year of Hell,” the reset happens with the destruction of the ship. But, unlike “Year of Hell,” it doesn’t happen by resetting time to when all was still rosy, but instead by revealing that the killed crew was duplicates.

Always Resetting?  

Despite the fact that Voyager episodes with heavy emphasis on the reset button were typically good ones, many fans were turned off by the “weekly reset,” as mentioned before. Following in the footsteps of The Next Generation, Voyager episodes were nearly all self-contained stories of their own. Story arcs were rare in Voyager’s run. Though we did see character and relationship development on Voyager –- in fact, the characters are considered a fan favourite when it comes to Voyager — few stories spanned across more than one episode. When it did happen, it was reserved for hyped-up two-parters.

This wasn’t a rare thing at the time. Television of the ’90s as a whole followed the episodic structure. Show runners felt it was best if a viewer could come into a series with any episode and appreciate what they were watching, even if they hadn’t seen anything previously. This seems fairly logical, as Voyager’s original run aired at a time when if you missed an episode, you missed it. On-demand television didn’t exist, and especially with a network show like Voyager, reruns of an episode wouldn’t air for several weeks.

However, in the case of Voyager, many thought that the episodic nature was a disservice to the series. Some fans felt that each and every episode had a reset button, which lowered their appreciation of the show. People felt that, had Voyager been quicker to adopt the story arc way of doing things (as Deep Space Nine was doing), even better character development could have progressed, and the show would have grown more naturally. Some, however, don’t really mind the episodic nature of Voyager. I, for one, never even thought it worth mentioning until I saw how other Trek fans felt about it. And, though wistful thinking sometimes makes me think “what if…,” my original stance stays put.     

Final Thoughts      

The fact remains that the reset button was something often present on Voyager. Whether it represented a slap in the face as it did in “Time and Again,” or it was the sacrifice that had to be paid for a brilliant episode such as “Year of Hell,” the reset button will always be something which fans and haters alike use to gibe at Voyager. It’s something you either embrace or ignore.

by Matthew Rushing

WARNING: This review does contain spoilers.

Kirsten Beyer has a tall order in The Eternal Tide: How do you bring back a beloved character and not have it feel like a cheap stunt? To do this, she dips her fingers into the Star Trek mythos and pulls out something that has generally been the purview of Deep Space Nine. DS9 was the only series that seriously looked at the ideas of faith and destiny from a very religious sense. Sisko ended up being born of the Prophets and made for the specific purpose to save Bajor and lead them into a greater understanding of their faith. Beyer plunges Voyager deep into this milieu by weaving a Star Trek version of “Paradise Lost,” complete with forbidden fruit and omnipotent beings born to save. Beyer uses these elements because the ultimate questions have been wrestled with since humans could ask, and faith has been at the forefront of trying to find answers. Janeway herself, before she is returned, exists purely as her soul. She exists as the culmination of everything she was, is, and could be and this what she thinks:

“Faith.

Her soul.

They have always been there, underpinning what she believed were more useful to her: reason and passion. But, however briefly, Kathryn had touched something infinitely deeper. That short exposure had left her adrift but more firmly anchored to herself.

She had never shared with anyone the absolute devastation she had felt when a scientific explanation had been discovered to explain the ‘miracle.’ Had she spent more time in the company  of her soul prior to this experience, the would not have been as quick to return to business as usual. Kathryn did not need to locate her soul within her. This ineffable thing was now the sum total of her reality”

By anchoring the return of Janeway in such epic and spiritual circumstances, Beyer has allowed her return to be greater than a stunt. She has fulfilled the very mission of Star Trek: seeking out new life and better understanding the cosmos. It is not just the science that is important to human understanding, but the metaphysical as well. Beyer does not shy away from this, and it makes the story all the more powerful.

Destiny plays a large part in The Eternal Tide. Janeway’s actions, along with the actions of Admiral Janeway, led to the ultimate destruction of the Borg. It may have come at the cost of billions, but the chain of events all led to the salvation of the universe instead of its enslavement. It seems that the left hand of destiny is not only with the Klingons, but working for the protection of the universe. The eternal tide has pulled all of these people together for such a time as this.

Even Janeway’s death has been used by destiny. Had she been alive, she would have fought against having Voyager return to the Delta Quadrant. Yet because of her death, Voyager and the fleet are in the Delta Quadrant with Afsarah Eden, one of the only people who can solve the galactic issue at hand. Eden has been given to this universe to bring the balance that had been corrupted many millennia ago by a race called the Anschlasom.

Some callbacks from the Voyager TV series have huge ramifications for the multiverse. In “The Q and the Grey,” Janeway helps the Q create life in the form of Junior. Q and Q create a child to save the continuum in that episode. In the end, Junior not only saves the continuum but the entire multiverse. He and Eden have both been created so that at the right time they can bring balance back to the multiverse. At one point in the book, Junior even quotes Christ, adding to the themes of faith and destiny in a more direct way.

Janeway needed to be resurrected at the last moment so that she could help Q and Q see that Junior had to sacrifice himself. She is the only person close enough to the situation who can truly speak to them in a way that they can understand. Just like Harry Potter, it was Junior’s destiny and his choice, and no one had the right to take that away from him. Because of Janeway’s experience in death and seeing how it has all worked together, she is able to encourage the Q to have faith — faith that the multiverse and whatever is behind it will work things out for the best. Nancy Conlon says it best at the end of the book: “There’s nowhere to run. Life has its share of truly awful days. It’s what you do with the rest of them that makes the difference.”

Another major theme portrayed strongly in the book is the idea of community and family and its importance in our lives. Tom and B’Elanna struggle with the issues of raising a child on a starship and the dangers that are involved; in the end, they decide that it is more important for the family to stay together. Nancy Conlon, who reaches her breaking point and is ready to go back to the Alpha Quadrant and hide behind a desk job, hopes that her issues will disappear as well. Harry helps her see that it is not by sequestering ourselves that we heal and move forward, it is in the light of community that we flourish. Though there are more examples, the strongest one is that the book constantly reminds us that Voyager is a family. Eden remarks to herself in the first staff meeting since Janeway’s return that the electricity in the air is because the family is all but complete, and together they can do anything.

Beyer deserves praise for the way she fits all these themes together. On top of that, this is one of the finest examples of using temporal mechanics I have ever seen in Star Trek. The more one thinks about the storyline Beyer has been laying out, the more it comes together. She has taken pieces from the series, the past books and the relaunch series to build something worth the potential Voyager started with in 1993. The truth with which she writes the characters cannot be denied. Especially in the small moments, each character shines as an extension of the growth that happened so haphazardly in the series, but has flourished under the attentive leadership of Voyager’s new captain, Kirsten Beyer. This is a warp ten book (on a warp scale from 1 to 9.99).

“Humanity is a stubborn thing, Kathryn Janeway. It hopes, even when all hope is gone” - Afsarah Eden

The morning started off with stage appearances by Classic Trek stars George Takei (Sulu) and Walter Koenig (Chekov). The two shared stories and laugh just as two old friends would do. They shared memories, talked about much of the cast’s shared feelings about William Shatner, which Koenig has worked out with him, and talked about their upcoming projects.

One particularly funny story was shared by Koenig. A few years ago, he and Takei were invited to Tennessee for the grand opening of a family-owned video store. Koenig said the family was very gracious and took the two out to dinner. The owner thanked them for coming out for the opening, and Takei, with his eloquent way of speaking, thanked him for having them there and said they were happy to be there. Koenig, who said there was no way he could meet Takei’s eloquence, simply said “We had a great f****** time.”

Another funny story came when a fan asked if the two created backstories for their mirror universe characters. Koenig said he used the anger the character would have felt in his spinoff series, where Chekov was marooned and built his own metropolis. In the spinoff, his character lost limbs because of conflict and that’s where he got the Mirror anger. While this might sound like an entertaining idea, Koenig couldn’t even finish his “spinoff idea” because he burst out into laughter at his own joke.

The two then talked about their upcoming projects. Takei is rehearsing for his stage performance in “Allegiance.” Koenig announced the pre-order of his graphic novel, “Things to Come,” which is about vampires living in a post-apocalyptic world where they are the only sentient beings remaining. The novel is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Following the classic duo, was longtime fan and former assistant to Gene Roddenberry, Richard Arnold. He shared well-known and unknown details of Roddenberry’s personal and professional life. He also shared pictures of Roddenberry in the early and later years of Star Trek and TNG.

Early afternoon brought what many fans were waiting for—the four captains live and in person. Each captain came out for a bit on their own, starting with Kate Mulgrew, then William Shatner, Avery Brooks, and finally Scott Bakula.

Mulgrew spent a few minutes appreciating sci-fi fans, calling them incredibly intelligent and saying non-fans don’t understand them simply because they don’t understand sci-fi; she seemed to truly appreciate her fans. Then, in between the audience’s bursts of laugher from the entertaining leading lady, Mulgrew gave inspiring advice to her fans about living life to the fullest.

Shatner then came out and mostly took questions from the audience, yielding many about his role of Captain Kirk and other aspects of TOS. Then out came Brooks. In a surprise appearance, Brooks brought out his on-screen son, Cirroc Lofton. Lofton said Brooks was a father to him in more than one way and dedicated a painting he did of the Captain, which he made with scripts from scenes they shared together. The painting featured a rendition of the American flag with the United Federation of Planets logo and Brooks’s portrait on it. Lofton said he hopes to do one for each captain someday, but wanted to do Brooks’s first.

After Brooks, Bakula came out. Almost as soon as he was on the stage, he was off, running to the back of the ballroom and back to the stage to see all of his fans. Once back onstage, as he was catching his breath, he answered questions from the audience, both about Enterprise and Quantum Leap.

Soon, all four captains were on one stage. Before taking questions from the audience, Adam Malin, Creation co-owner, asked them some questions, including what they’re driving forces are and what charities they advocate. For Avery, his driving force is his music; for Shatner, it’s his family and horses; for Mulgrew, it’s the world, finding out ‘why I am here,’ personal relationships and writing; For Bakula, it’s his family and improving the world in which we live.

Each captain also has charity advocacies. Avery’s is the United Negro College Fund in honor of his grandfather, who was the first black man to graduate from a Mississippi college; Shatner’s is horse therapy for children and veterans; Mulgrew’s has been Alzheimer’s since her mother died; Bakula’s is the environment, performing arts programs in schools, and Broadway Cares.

In between jokes and jabs at each other, which Bakula and Shatner seemed to be quite good at, the captains yielded fans questions and entertained many during their time on stage.

Immediately following the captains’ appearance, Creation screened Shatner’s new documentary “Get a Life,” which he filmed mainly at STLV 2011. The documentary was well received and showed Trekkies in a way that many people do not see—as regular people who share a common passion. The documentary told several fans’ stories, including those of Star Trek helping people heal, stay strong, and even bring them together through marriage.

The documentary also shared the touching story of Captain Dave, a Star Trek fan who was featured in Shatner’s “The Captains” and had muscular dystrophy since he was born. In the documentary, his mother said Star Trek helped him live life; she said he had gotten near death many times, but he couldn’t let go because there was a new episode coming on, or he had a convention to go to. He has since passed away, but his memory lived on in the documentary. He embodied everything Star Trek is—acceptance, hope and passion. This year, the vendors’ room was also named in his honor as the “Captain Dave Vendors’ Room.” Star Trek fans and non-fans alike should see “Get a Life” to fully understand the culture of Star Trek and its amazing fans.

Though STLV 2012 has come to end, the memories of great events and good times with good people will live on in fans’ hearts and memories until next year, when Starfleet again takes shore leave in Las Vegas—the closest we’ll get to Risa for some time.