#trek talks

[isagrimorie]

Trek Talks 3 happens Saturday, January 13, 2024 beginning at 9:45am PST with the SyFy Sistas Pre-Show Panel!

Star Trek actor John Billingsley together with podcast hosts Bill Smith and Dan Davidson developed a streaming telethon for the Hollywood Food Coalition. The all-volunteer team quickly grew, as Roddenberry Podcasts joined Trek Geeks to co-produce the event, and Trek Talks was born. Now in its third year, Trek Talks has become an annual event that provides vital support for the Hollywood Food Coalition and the people it serves. Trek Talks’ guest list reads like an all-star roster of Trek luminaries, as its first two telethons have featured Jeri Ryan, Anson Mount, Scott Bakula, Alexander Siddig, Gates McFadden, Cirroc Lofton, Nana Visitor, Jonathan Frakes, Michael & Denise Okuda, Brent Spiner, Tony Todd, James Cromwell, Terry Farrell, Mike McMahan, Linda Park, Dan & Kevin Hageman, John de Lancie, Armin Shimerman, Brannon Braga, Robert Picardo, Ira Steven Behr, and many, many more. 

[trekkiester-blog]

hello... i don't bite. be my friend

[isagrimorie]

For the Trek Talks:

evviejo: how about this: what do you love most about ds9?

So many things! I love the worldbuilding, I love the exploration of one section of space, staying there, and reaping the consequences of each decision. I love the exploration of Bajoran faith and spirituality.

It works for me more than the weird Cylon faith on BSG reboot.

I love how it's an ensemble show, that we can explore each of the characters, and the economy of storytelling that a lot of their scenes does 2 things at once. The ARCS, the way there's episodes don't have anything to do with the main plot -- as a kind of breather/beach episode for the fans.

The non-Federation view of the other alien species and the gradual respect they have over it but also a willingness to still question it.

The way it can go really deep into Kira's understanding of herself, her part during the war, and the building of her empathy towards Cardassians while maintaining her certainty that what she's done was the right thing.

The Visitor episode and the way that tears your heartstring, the exploration of the flaws of Federation and Starfleet philosophy -- because the Federation stands stronger when it is questioned and learns from its mistakes.

The continuing war story.

Sisko slowly but surely falling in love with Bajor.

The willingness of the storytellers to let you wallow in an uncomfortable feeling, Sisko slowly but surely falls into a more utilitarian mindset as the war goes on and Starfleet keeps losing and losing people.

The camaraderie of everyone in the station.

Sisko, roping all of his friends into helping him defeat his Academy nemesis in a game of Baseball!

The way that the stories said to hell with Berman and set-up an ending arc for DS9 as opposed to Voyager's last season, which was left to flounder on its own because the producers have moved on to a different show.

(Bitter? Who is bitter? ME. I'm bitter. Unfortunately, Enterprise is going to endure my long and bitter fury).

Kira's arc in the final season. It's just amazing. I am sad about Sisko's ending and, I wish they let Sisko return in an epilogue, I know post-credit scenes aren't a thing in the 90s but imagine!

OF all the the Treks DS9 managed to tell a coherent story over seasons, building off the previous one and knowing all the BTS drama it's amazing we got what we got!

[isagrimorie]

Do you have a Trek episode/moment you currently can't get out of your mind? If so, why?

Trek Talks

I have several!

I think currently what's living rent free in my head are the Janeway moments in Year of Hell, the Seven moments in The Gift, and Picard's breakdown in Family.

The moment before the Jem'hadar attack in Seige of AR355 Bashir starts playing music. The moment in the bar between Ro Laren and Picard in Picard s3.

But weirdly what's going over my head again and again is the moment in Human Error when the Doctor is doing a routine check-up on Seven and discovers her 'biradial clamp' is out of alignment and she's experiencing shoulder pain. It struck me because I tried to watch Melora from DS9 -- I'm sure they had the best intentions there but yikes.

And I'm sure the writers didn't mean to and weren't writing to it-- and maybe that's why it worked with Seven but it felt more realistic how Seven is treated and acts than the kind of emotional porn the writers were after in Melora.

It also made me think about Seven in between Voyager and Picard -- Seven looked cool in Stardust City Rag but she also looked rough and frankly her ocular implant didn't look as well maintained. And I wondered how often Seven even has a chance to get maintenance check for her cybernetic systems.

She doesn't even say anything about shoulder pain because it might be a constant with her. And with the attitudes of people towards xBs in the Alpha Quadrant she can't just go to anyone.

It's why I feel, after she's finally had good relations with Starfleet again in between seasons 1 and 2 of Picard she started looking better and @dealanexmachina and I were discussing-- maybe the xBs in Coppelius help her do a whole system check. The infusion of brand-new nanoprobes while she was briefly a Queen might have helped too because Seven did look better post-'Queen Cell'.

And all these thoughts, of course, lead to the missed moments in season 2 -- and why 10 episodes isn't enough because if they had the space I would have loved it if they took more than a few seconds to acknowledge how weird it would be for Seven to be in a fully organic body.

The trade-offs of having a fully organic body vs the cybernetic body she's had all her life.

It's just a spiral from there until I reach the point where I start thinking about Omega and how for half of that episode, Jeri Ryan carried the show by herself-- it's not something a lot of actors can do. She should seriously have a show on her own after Voyager because she has the chops to be Number One in the Callsheet.

[isagrimorie]

Ezri Dax and Kathyrn Janeway meeting, maybe at Starfleet HQ or a conference on leadership and trauma? I think they'd get along in an interesting way. Also what made you love season 3 of Picard?

For the Trek Talks

They meet because Starfleet orders Captain Janeway to report to Ezri Dax for mandatory therapy -- the usual fandom choice is Deanna Troi but Starfleet recognizes that Ezri could be someone they can utilize.

Apart from the enforced leave, Starfleet made it a condition for her promotion that Janeway take mandatory therapy. Janeway does not like this-- if Janeway was already a hard customer for the EMH, Janeway is even a tougher one when it comes to mandatory therapy.

Also, Janeway's initial grumpy kneejerk reaction about Ezri is to get offended that she was assigned a child for therapy.

Ezri recognizes all these of course, and she's not at all intimidated by all the ways Janeway is trying to hack her way out of therapy. Compared to Garak, Janeway is not nearly as slippery as she thinks she is. Also, she has several lifetimes under her belt, but most importantly, Ezri Dax is a damned good therapist.

Eventually, Ezri chips away Janeway's reluctance and they begin to make some headway. Unfortunately, some crisis happens and Janeway is pulled away before she's ready to but Ezri Dax is nothing if not persistent. If the mountain can't go to therapy, therapy will go to the mountain. Or something.

After, they do become great friends but boy, were there some tough things they had to work through to get there.

----

Also, what made you love season 3 of Picard?

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but that flavor of Trek is my exact flavor of Trek. I love the space show, the starship, the Starfleet of it all. I love the full-on minute of ship porn with the swelling music.

I love seeing Seven of Nine finally in uniform. I love a good Bridge crew, I love the pace. The dialogue, I love the complicated messiness of relationships and I got two really great conversational minefields first between Crusher and Picard and next between Ro and Picard. The weight of history between those relationships.

The weight of history between the characters.

The sheer beauty and menace of the Shrike, the SUBMARINE STYLE starship fight-- I'm a sucker for a great submarine-style starship fight.

Amanda Plummer as VADIC. The way she says: "Jean-Luc Picard."

Seven of Nine, in the background manning Ops station, hints that the maintenance and engineering is so well oiled because Seven might not have been in Starfleet in nearly two decades but she slipped back into the same person who would do efficiency reports on EVERYONE.

Voyager slowly but surely returns to Seven after two seasons of Seven not saying anything about Voyager, we finally see the ship, Seven talks about the ship and her crew.

TUVOK AND SEVEN.

It has my whole heart.

The way the Dominion war is set into the bones and DNA of the Federation and Starfleet that it clearly left a mark. The DS9 callbacks, the way the virus idea from Dark Frontier pays off in Federation Day, assimilating people unknowingly. (Because Admiral Janeway fucked up the Borg/Queen so bad they can't even assimilate in the way they usually did).

The promise of tomorrow.

(And from a 12 Monkeys fan -- the very, very blatant 12 Monkeys easter eggs.)

Is it a perfect season? Of course not, no Trek has a Perfect season, it could have benefitted from a few more passes, especially the last half of the season. They could have IMO done a lot more with Seven, especially with the Borg stuff-- it's the same complaint I've had of Picard since season 1.

But I get it -- the show is called Star Trek Picard and not Star Trek Seven of Nine/Legacy. But it should be. Also, 10 episodes aren't enough, and I get how the COVID precautions ate at the budget, that season 2 ate up both production and budgets.

But that's just the nature of the beast of loving a Trek show.

[isagrimorie]

Kira and Kathryn Janeway meeting thoughts?

For the Trek Talks discussion ask

Oh, I have thought of this a LOT in the AU where Janeway and Sisko switch places and I think they would pretty much have the same kind of connection as Kira and Sisko originally had.

Sisko is charismatic but also has a way of putting people at arms length the first time he meets them.

I think Janeway starts off with Charm offensive first and that might rub Kira the wrong way initially until she realizes that Janeway also has a similar experience with the Cardassians.

It would be fascinating how Janeway would interact with Kira -- also like Sisko I think Janeway would start off as Commander and not Captain since this happened years before Voyager.

I keep mentioning how Janeway and Sisko are cut from the same cloth, I think that's even more true with Kira and Janeway!

[ashleywritesstuff]

We've got a Mission Log: Gene-ology supplemental episode while we're on a hiatus. Earl and I talk a little about the hiatus, ways to stay up-to-date, and introduce this special episode from the Trek Talks 2026 telethon on Remembering Gene and Majel.