kathleen_dailey

Only one more ep is left in which to fix all the danglers and restore the Federation and Starfleet to what it used to be--and what it used to stand for. Spoilers follow.

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I'm not going to miss this series--or its writers' version of the Trek universe--but I'm looking forward to new seasons of SNW and LD.

Part Five spoilers follow:

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PTB, please give me more SNW and LD ASAP. (And no more season-long serial arcs ever, especially those that involve Starfleet conspirators and/or infiltrators.)

Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard was disappointing, but nevertheless I'm going to give season 3 a shot. Episode 1 worked in part for me. I'll have to do a rewatch to catch more details, including all those Easter eggs. Spoilers follow.

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Another wrenching loss for fandom. Jungle Kitty, whom I first knew back in the days of TrekFest and ASCEM, died at the end of 2022. During the years that we were on the lists together, she was an unending source of inspiration, critique, advice, and fun. 

She was a first-rate writer. Her portrayal of Kirk had, for me, the complete ring of truth, and greatly influenced my perception of the character. The stories from her Invisible Planets website are available on AO3: go to JungleKitty. I hope that readers who already know JK's stories will revisit them, and that many new readers will discover them. 

Lene Taylor has said that she'll keep the podcast up indefinitely, so JK's fans will be able to listen to all 300+ episodes.

JK was a shining light in Star Trek fandom from the late 1990s right up until the time of her death. I wish I'd had a chance to say goodbye.

Joanne Linville, who portrayed the Romulan Commander in the TOS episode "The Enterprise Incident," died on Sunday, June 20, at age 93. As I've said many times in many places, it was her serious and sensitive portrayal of the character that spurred me to write about What Happened Next. I hope that I did her character justice. I'm truly sorry to learn of her death, and I'm very grateful for her body of work.

I see that it's been many months since I posted--so much for all my good intentions. But "Unification III" captured my interest for obvious reasons. I'm wondering about the likelihood of my writing a canon-adjacent (rather than strictly canon-compliant) fic set in Disco's present timeline. (At least I've saved the ep on the PVR, so it's there for a one-off or a post-ep should the need and/or desire arise.)

How nice, and how surprising, to see the fannish coinage used canonically. And how especially good it was to remember Claire Gabriel's story in New Voyages, "Ni Var" (and its original version, "The Thousandth Man"), and Leonard Nimoy's introduction to "Ni Var": "A Vulcan term referring to the duality of things: two who are one, two diversities that are a unity, two halves that come together to make a whole.”

Yeah, I could probably bring myself to revisit that concept.

Seems as if too many of my journal entries have to do with deaths. D.C. Fontana, who died on December 2, was a pathbreaker in so many ways. She said in several interviews that she was unhappy with the televised version of "The Enterprise Incident," but I can truly say that the episode knocked me for a loop, and made me absolutely morally certain, as the lawyers like to say, of the OTP of TOS. It may have taken me a couple of decades to know what story I wanted to tell, but I'm sure that I never would have attempted fiction if it weren't for D.C. Fontana.

Greg Hatcher has an appreciation of Fontana's work and her contributions to the industry at Atomic Junkshop.

"Those Talosians tried this trick with me in the Terran Universe once, and I blew them and their stupid singing plants off the face of the planet." Some people are protesting Georgiou's boasting of genocide. Me, I think it's in character. And her tone makes me think it might even be hyperbole.

Disco Pike might eventually replace Sisko (I so wanted to type Disco Sisko) as number 1 in my hierarchy of captains. And Anson Mount is visually believable as Pike.

Still not quite buying Ethan Peck, except for his voice. But I'm willing to be persuaded. Spock, do please take Burnham's advice on the beard.

I guess Amanda meant that Spock was HER only child.

Finally, that did NOT look like Vulcan's Forge to me. Too verdant by far.

I think this ep has made me an actual Discovery fan at last. I'm not at the 13/10 stage as some fans are, but I may eventually get there.

I've heard a number of people saying that they're not happy about this incarnation of Trek (whenever it might actually arrive). I'm looking forward to it, though. Not only do I love Michelle Yeoh in any role, but I also welcome a darker Trek, especially one whose showrunners are women. May it live up to (my opinion of) its promise.

I'm less interested in the Picard series, but of course I'll watch it.

Admittedly, I don't hang out online as much as I once did in the earlyish-adopter days of GEnie and CompuServe and whatnot, but in the few places I do still frequent I haven't seen very much discussion of the fiftieth anniversary of TOS.

I've found something to like in all of the TV incarnations of Star Trek (with the exception of Voyager, which set my teeth on edge in every possible respect right from the first ep and essentially spoiled all my fun with respect to Trek). The other day, for example, I rewatched "In the Pale Moonlight" (DS9) for the first time in many years, and I was reminded again how very good the writing was on that series.

Not much appeals to me about the film reboot, though I don't hate that universe. I just haven't connected much with the characters--except, oddly, with Chris Pine's version of Kirk, who is appealing.

Evidently we'll soon have a broadcast or streamed version, so the universe lives on and, mostly, prospers. I just wish I could feel strongly about it again.

ETA: I was as much in love with the precepts of the Trek universe as I was with the personalities of the Trek characters. The imaginary zeitgeist hit all the marks for me. The spirit embodied in Trek was the spirit embodied in Suzette Haden Elgin's filksongs: hope, altruism, integrity, curiosity, the ability to learn from mistakes. If only it were all true.