Trollheart

1.1 "Emissary"

Beginning as it does with the battle at Wolf 359, if you have not already seen TNG's “The best of both worlds” before embarking on your adventure into this series, it is highly recommended, otherwise the opening scene will confound you. Assuming you're conversant with those episodes though (if not, read no further: you have been warned), we see the battle being directed against the Federation by Locutus of Borg, none other than Captain Jean-Luc Picard in his Borg persona. Starfleet is losing the battle, and will suffer heavy losses before retreating against the marauding invaders, making this a watershed moment in Trek history. Never before has such a massive fleet been assembled, the very cream of Starfleet, to be brushed aside like insects as the Borg carve their way through the galaxy towards Earth.

The USS Saratoga is just one of the ships trying to stem the advance of the Borg, but they are as ineffectual as any of the others, and the ship takes a direct hit. Benjamin Sisko, serving aboard the ship, sees his wife, Jennifer, dead, pinned beneath a metal stanchion as the ship goes up in flames and he is forced to leave her there, taking his young son Jake as they escape, moments before the ship tears itself apart. Three years later, he is given command of the Federation space station, Deep Space Nine, which is in orbit around a planet called Bajor. This planet has just emerged from a long war of attrition with the Cardassian Empire, and they have requested a Federation presence in the sector, to discourage their old enemy from returning. The station the Federation are to take control of is an old Cardassian outpost known as Terak Nor, but Starfleet have renamed it.

Joining Sisko there is his new chief of operations, Miles O'Brien, whom we met in TNG previously. As it is the Enterprise that brings him and the station's doctor, Julian Bashir, to the station, it's not that surprising that we see a guest cameo for Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Sisko however is in no mood to be friendly: this is not a posting he requested and truth to tell, he is thinking of resigning his commission. He has a young son to bring up now, on his own, and a space station does not seem the best of places for him to grow up. He meets his new attache, Major Kira Nerys, who is less than overjoyed to see him. She is a Bajoran, fought against the Cardassians and is not happy to see the Federation, as she sees it, taking the place of the old oppressor. He also meets his chief of security, an alien called Odo, who can shift his shape into any form he wishes, and treats Sisko (and everyone really, bar Kira) with a sort of gruff tolerance. He was also chief of security when the Cardassians occupied this station, a fact that will not sit well with many now that the enemy has been overthrown.

After the nephew of Quark, the Ferengi who was running the local casino and bar but is now preparing to leave in the aftermath of the destruction wrought by the defeated, departing Cardassians, is caught stealing, Sisko offers him a choice. He will release the boy if Quark stays and reopens the casino. He wants someone to make a stand, put down roots and rebuild. Quark, with a tacit assurance of little or no interference from Starfleet in his gaming tables, grudgingly agrees. Odo begins to have a new respect for Sisko. Kira explains that she believes the provisional government set up to rule in the wake of the fall of the Cardassian occupation will itself fail, as factions develop and old scores are reignited. She says the only one who can reunite the planet is the spiritual leader, Kai Opaca, but she has secluded herself away. Just then, the vedek Sisko spoke to soon after his arrival advises him “it is time” and he goes to meet Opaca, who has sent for him. She shows him what she calls “a Tear of the Prophets”, a celestial orb of which she says there are nine, which appeared “mysteriously in the sky over the last ten thousand years.” She opens the casing and a blinding light suffuses him, and he is shown a most amazing vision.

He sees his future wife, Jennifer, now dead three years, as she was when he first met her. The vision does not last long, and when it is over Opaca tells him he has been chosen by the Prophets, her people's gods, to find the Celestial Temple before the Cardassians can. He has no idea what this temple is, but she tells him she cannot reunite her people until the Prophets have been warned. His pah --- the lifeforce or spiritual energy the Bajorans believe is in all beings --- is strong, and has helped her come to this conclusion. A little nonplussed, Sisko is nevertheless delighted later that night to see the promenade come alive as Quark keeps his end of the bargain and reopens the bar. The next day he greets his medical officer and his new science officer, the latter of whom is an old friend of his. Dax is a Trill, a symbiotic lifeform introduced in TNG which bonds to a host body and can live many hundreds of years. The relationship is totally benign, and neither is in control of the other, but when Sisko knew Dax he was in an old man named Curzon. Now he is in a young, pretty female called Jadzia, and Sisko is amused, still calling him “old man” despite the obvious curves.

The MO, Julian Bashir, is smitten with Jadzia, even though he knows about the Trill inside her, and is like a blushing schoolboy around her, which again affords Sisko and Dax much amusement. Sisko is less amused however when the former Cardassian Prefect of Bajor, and the man in whose office he is now sitting, drops by. Gul Dukat makes it plain that he is not happy to have been ousted, and tries to wring information from the commander about the orb he has seen, but Sisko feigns ignorance. A veiled threat that the station is “far from the protection of the Federation, with poor defences” does nothing to settle Sisko's mood of foreboding, and the two men take an instant dislike to each other, an air of mutual distrust and suspicion descending almost immediately.

Dax has been researching possible locations for this so-called “Celestial Temple”, and they now have an area they need to check out, a locus for all the sightings and navigational errors that lead them to believe this may be the place they're looking for. With Odo managing to disable the Cardassian ship berthed at the station they are free to launch unchallenged, and head off in one of the small “Runabout”-class shuttles to explore. What they find, against all logic, is the first stable wormhole known to exist, and more, within that wormhole, a planet! Or an asteroid. Both see something different when, again against all logic, they find they land on ... something. Sisko sees a desolate, windswept, storm-lashed planetoid, while Dax see a vision of a beautiful garden; trees, flowers, rolling hills, blues sky and sun. Then they both see it: an orb, floating in the air. It shoots energy beams at them, and Dax is transported back to the station. When she relates what has happened, Major Kira realises the enormous strategic importance of the wormhole and comes to perhaps an odd decision: Deep Space Nine must be moved, somehow, to the mouth of the new wormhole, so that the Bajorans (and the Federation) can lay claim to it before the Cardassians do.

Sisko however remains behind and seems to have another vision, in which he contacts the aliens inside the wormhole, and finds that they have no conception whatever of time. For them, there is no “now”, “later”, “soon”, no “past” and no “future”: everything happens to them at the same moment. They test him, calling him adversarial, violent (sound familiar?) but he wins them over and they agree to anoint him as their emissary. They also bring him face-to-face with his own guilt and pain, and allow him to say goodbye properly to Jennifer. Meanwhile, Gul Dukat has not been idle in wake of the appearance of the wormhole and sets course for it, despite the warnings of Kira and Odo. Just as his ship enters it it collapses, and soon three Cardassian warships arrive in search of Dukat. Dismissing this story of a wormhole they can neither see nor detect, they surround the station, believing that the Bajorans have somehow destroyed their ship. They demand the total surrender of the space station, but Kira and O'Brien manage to make it look as if they are well armed and would not be an easy target. Nevertheless, mindful of the approach of the Enterprise, less than a day away, Jasad orders the attack.

As the station begins to sustain heavy damage, and after holding out as long as she can Kira prepares to surrender, the wormhole suddenly reappears. Jasad is dumbfounded, the moreso as the Rio Grande comes through, towing Dukhat's stricken ship! The attack is of course broken off and Sisko returns to Deep Space Nine. With the wormhole now a major attraction, both for commerce, tourists and scientific research, to say nothing of the strategic importance it has suddenly acquired in a military sense, Bajor is on the map in a way it never was before. The wormhole aliens, or Prophets as the Bajorans refer to them, have agreed to allow safe access for all through the wormhole, affording a quick and easy passage to the Gamma Quadrant, seventy thousand light-years away. His initial doubts about the post now vanished, and knowing he is where he is supposed to be, Sisko asks Picard to rescind his request for replacement, and takes his place at the helm of what will be one of the most exciting and challenging posts in Starfleet.

QUOTES

Bajoran Vedek: “Welcome, Commander. Enter please; the Prophets await you.”

(How prophetic and accurate that statement will turn out to be!)

Sisko: “Is something wrong, Major?”
Kira: “You don't want to ask me that.”
Sisko: “Why not?”
Kira: “Because I have the bad habit of telling the truth, even when it's what people don't want to hear.”
Sisko: “Maybe I want to hear.”
(This sentence distils the future relationship between the Bajoran attache and the commander: he will always want her to speak her mind, even if (as frequently happens) she disagrees with him, and he will never shrink from the hard questions)

Sisko: “I was just talking to our good friend Quark: he was laying odds the government will fall.”
Kira: “Quark knows a good bet when he hears it. This provisional government will be gone in a week, and so will you.”
Sisko: “What happens to Bajor then?”
Kira: “Civil war.”

Kai Opaca: “Ironic. One who does not wish to be among us is to become the Emissary.”

Opaca: “You will find the Celestial Temple, Commander. Not for Bajor, or for the Federation, but for your own pah. It is quite simply, Commander, the journey you have always been destined to take.”

Bashir: “This will be perfect! Real frontier medicine!”
Kira: “Frontier medicine?”
Bashir: “Major, I had my choice of any job in the fleet. I didn't want some cushy job or a research grant. I wanted this! The farthest reaches of the galaxy, one of the most remote outposts available. This is where the adventure is! This is where heroes are made, right here, in the wilderness.”
Kira: “This wilderness is my home. The Cardassians left a lot of injured people behind, Doctor! You can make yourself useful by bringing your Federation medicine to the natives. You'll find them a friendly, simple folk!”

Kira: “Red alert! Shields up!”
O'Brien: “What shields?”

Kira: “You don't think, Gul Jusad, that Starfleet took command of this station without giving it the ability to defend itself, do you?”
Jasad: “Defend itself? You could not defend yourselves against one Cardassian warship, let alone three!”
Kira: “You're probably right, Jasad. And if I were a Starfleet officer I'd agree with you that this is a hopeless cause. But I'm just a Bajoran, who's been fighting hopeless causes all her life against Cardassians. So if you want a war, Jasad, I'll give you one!”

Houston, we have a problem!

I find it odd, unlikely in the extreme that the Cardassians are allowed back on the station off which they were ejected but two weeks ago. Admittedly, there is a reason for their visit and it is no coincidence that they wait until the Enterprise has left before approaching, but the ease with which Sisko allows them to “enjoy the facilities” is unsettling. It's like the SS coming back into Auschwitz after it's been liberated, or Al Quadea perhaps walking up to Ground Zero. Is there no tension here, no hostility? It's a Bajoran station after all; surely the locals are upset about this? But nobody seems to say anything, even raise an eyebrow. They're just accepted back. Granted, they're big heavy military types and nobody would want to mess with them, but you would think Sisko might have raised some objections, yet he doesn't. Odd, I feel.

Also, how is it that this wormhole has existed for approximately ten thousand years and yet Sisko and Dax are the first ones to ever locate it? Surely that's too massive a coincidence to ignore? Ten millennia: think about that. All right, man has only had space travel at this point for maybe two hundred years or less, but what about all the alien races passing through this sector? Did the Cardassians, in surely many supply runs to or even attacks on Bajor, never stumble across this? Is that in any way believable, that it's just been here, all this time, waiting for Sisko to discover it?

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Trollheart

Ten things I hate about you

Unlike the original series and even its successor, DS9 is not people with characters who like each other. Quite the opposite in fact, and there are rivalries, jealousies and agendas going on all the time. This is not surprising, given the shaky nature of most of the relationships. The Federation is seen as an intruder, perhaps an unwelcome guest, and many of the people there would rather be somewhere else. In this section I'll be looking at the more negative aspects of the relationships between characters, how they fit in to the overall storylines, how they change (if at all) over time and how enemies become allies and sometimes allies can become enemies. It's one of the great strengths of the series that nothing is black and white, and that the good guys are sometimes hard to distinguish from the bad. It's much more realistic in a characterisation kind of way, where people have flaws and failings, and nobody is lily white.

Sisko and Picard

This is the first real conflict we come across, and though it doesn't last --- by the end of the episode it's resolved --- it's important as it speaks to the reasons Sisko thinks he might not even any longer wish to be part of Starfleet. Nobody could blame him for hating Picard on sight: the last time he saw the man was as Locutus, directing the Borg offensive against Starfleet at Wolf 359, and being directly responsible for the death of his wife. Logic says he should realise this is a different man now, and that Picard had no choice in the transformation: he did not ask to be assimilated nor willingly serve the Borg, but a man who is hurting inside from pain he believes will never lessen is not a man to listen to logic. Sisko also possibly blames Starfleet itself for Jennifer's death, and thinks he should have died with her, but left with their son to bring up on his own he does not consider the space station the best environment in which to accomplish that. By the end of the episode he has been shown by the Prophets that it is his own guilt and sense of loss that is keeping him where he is, and once he breaks that tie, says goodbye to his wife, he is able to move on, even able to shake Picard's hand. The past is the past, and let it stay there.

Sisko and Kira
A much more tempestuous relationship, which will not be as easily or quickly resolved. This too is understandable. Kira Nerys comes from a background of fighting an implacable oppressor for the freedom of her home planet, and now, with that finally accomplished, she groans as the newly elected provisional government bows and scrapes to the Federation and invites them to run Terak Nor. To her mind, the Bajorans have beaten one master only to fasten the chains again and hand them to a new one. She believes too that the government will soon fall, and then Starfleet will pull out as her planet descends into bloody civil war.

She is, therefore, most impressed when the spiritual leader of her people sends for Sisko and tasks him with finding the “Celestial Temple”, and even more so when he does find it, precipitating a shift of historical proportions as suddenly Bajor finds itself the gateway to a whole new quadrant of the galaxy, assuring it of revenue, fame and indeed protection. The Federation will now jealously guard Bajor, which has just become the shining jewel in their strategic and propaganda crown. And she sees too how Sisko deals with Quark, the Ferengi who wishes to leave but who is convinced to stay. She also finds new admiration and respect for Starfleet through O'Brien, whose technical wizardry helps her save the station. Perhaps having the Federation here is not such a bad idea after all.

Sisko and Dukat
By far the greatest rivalry though will be between the erstwhile oppressor of Bajor and the new commander of Deep Space Nine. Dukat makes it quite plain that he is not happy to have been forced off Terak Nor and makes veiled threats that Sisko, while not in the least cowed by them, knows are not quite so empty. They are a long way from home, with no starship to protect them, and Cardassia is much closer than any Federation world. This of course changes once the wormhole is discovered; now, Starfleet and other vessels will be regularly visiting the once-poor planet and its orbiting space station, and it will become a hive of activity, leaving Dukat little opportunity to carry out any reprisals he had intended.

But it is more than just Federation versus Cardassia here. Dukat has taken an instant dislike to Sisko, and vice versa. The two will cross swords regularly over the course of the next seven seasons, and will remain bitter enemies right to the end.

Faith

Deep Space Nine succeeded in bringing one thing to the Star Trek universe that its two predecessors had rarely if ever touched, and certainly never focussed upon: religion. There is a strong theme of spirituality and religion running through this series, and it informs much of the overall plot. Many viewers found this a little boring, a little preachy, and in some cases a little unnecessary, and I would not disagree with that. Had the wormhole aliens just been treated as such there might not have needed to be such focus on gods and religion, but the writers decided that was the way they were going to go, and it was a brave decision, if not always a good one. But it certainly made DS9 stand out from its fellows, and perhaps drew in some more casual viewers who had not really seen the concept of religion explored so thoroughly and so openly in a TV drama series, especially a science-fiction one.

Bajor exists on its religion. Its leaders are called vedeks and its spiritual leader in chief is the Kai. In some ways, it could be said to be a theocracy, and likened to perhaps Iran or other countries where there is no separation of church and state, but without the hardline repression practiced by at least Iran on its people. The Bajoran religious rule of law is more harmonious, more relaxed, less concerned with a vengeful god breathing fire and brimstone than in trying to get everyone to live in peace. Almost Utopian, it would seem. And pretty much defenceless in that regard, leaving them open to attack, subjugation and conquest and occupation by a militaristic race like the Cardassians. Religion is what sustained the Bajorans throughout the occupation, and now that they are free they hope it will bless their new lives.

But as in any government, theocratic or not, factions rise and squabble, disputes break out, family feuds resurface, and all the petty little jealousies and grievances that were put on hold while the planet fought as one against their oppressors now come bubbling back to the surface, rising inexorably like a genii who has been let out of the bottle. Bajor is in danger of fragmenting and tearing itself apart, and only Kai Opaka can bring them together. But to do that, she needs to seek the guidance of the Prophets, the mythical beings her people worship and whom Sisko finds living in the wormhole. With this sign in the heavens (could there be a more direct indication of the favour of the Prophets towards their people?) tensions will ease, for a time, on the planet and Opaka will be able to calm her people and bring about a cessation to any talk of civil war.

But there are doubts about the chosen emissary of the Prophets. An unbeliever? An infidel? An outworlder? Such questions will continue to plague Ben Sisko as he tries to juggle his position of commander of a Starfleet base with that of messiah and messenger to a people who, a few short weeks ago, he didn't even know existed.

Lies, damn lies and politics

The other main theme explored in this series is politics, and of course as ever this is inextricably linked with religion, especially when dealing with a theocracy. It's politically expedient that the Federation and Starfleet take control of the wormhole, as it will become perhaps the single most important fixture in the quadrant, affording as it does the only way to travel to the Gamma Quadrant, and indeed welcoming strange alien races from 70,000 light years away to their part of space. As a military outpost it could not be more significant, which perhaps makes it odd that Starfleet does not berth a number of starships there from the outset, though perhaps they want to avoid showing too heavy a hand. After all, nobody is at war with anyone ... yet. They probably prefer to offer the hand of friendship before revealing that the other hand may hold a sword.

But throughout the series, politics will play a huge part in the sprawling story to unfold once the second season comes to a close, and Sisko will find himself enmeshed in affairs he could not have dreamed of as he and his son headed disconsolately towards their new home at the beginning of the episode. He will find himself making decisions that will keep him awake at night, and struggling in the end not only for survival of the Federation, his species and Bajor, but for his very soul itself.

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Trollheart

With the success and open-endedness of The Wrath of Khan, the Star Trek movie franchise had basically a three-part story on its hands, the second of which would feature, despite his reluctance to continue or reprise the role, the return of Spock and his “resurrection” after his harrowing and emotional death at the end of the previous movie. Initially intended to have been a permanent death, the fan outcry at the killing off of their hero was such that both writers and actor bowed to pressure, the latter only agreeing to play the part if he were allowed direct the movie.



Title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Released: 1984
Writer(s): Harve Bennett
Director: Leonard Nimoy
Starring: All the usual Star Trek crew plus: Mark Lenard as Sarek, Merritt Butrick as David Marcus, Christopher Lloyd as Kruge, Robin Curtis as Saavik and James B. Sikking as Captain Styles
Runtime: 105 minutes
Budget: USD 16 million
Boxoffice: USD 87 million
Critical acclaim: Extremely high
Fan acclaim: Extremely high
Legacy: Brought Spock back from the dead, final voyage for NCC-1701
Enterprise: NCC-1701

We pick up exactly where the second movie left off, as Enterprise limps back home after having defeated Khan, and with Spock dead. Lieutenant Saavik and David Marcus have stayed behind on the newly-formed Genesis planet to survey it. Meanwhile, a shifty character has sold the Genesis data to a Klingon woman, who now transmits it to her lover, Kruge. He then destroys the ship she is in, along with the traitor, and heads for the Neutral Zone. Enterprise arrives home, and as they dock Chekov alerts Kirk to the fact that the door to Spock’s quarters has been forced, after the captain had ordered it sealed, and that a life energy reading is being detected there! Rushing down, Kirk finds McCoy sitting there, seemingly in a trance. He emulates Spock’s voice and asks Kirk to take him home. When Kirk says they are home it becomes clear he means Vulcan, not Earth, and that somehow the dead Spock is talking through Doctor McCoy, who then collapses.

Kirk and the others are dismayed to find that the Enterprise is to be decommissioned, Starfleet believing it is too old and has had its day. They are also told that the Genesis Planet is off-limits, as ordered by the Federation High Council. Scotty is seconded to the Excelsior as head of engineering, and goes with bad grace. Kruge meanwhile sets course for the Genesis Planet, intent on discovering the secret of this new, as he sees it, Federation weapon. Saavik and David, onboard the USS Grissom which is surveying the planet, locate the torpedo tube which was used to eject Spock’s body into space, but are intrigued to see that there is a lifeform registering in the area. They decide to beam down to investigate. Sarek, Spock’s father and Vulcan ambassador, visits Kirk and berates him for having left his son behind. Spock trusted him, he tells the captain, to bring his body back to Vulcan, where his katra, his spirit, his soul, could be regenerated. Sarek finds it unbelievable that Spock did not make this request to Kirk, his closest friend and the one who saw him last. After mind-melding with him though, Sarek sees that this is not the case. Kirk points out that they could not touch, that glass separated them, so Spock could not have mind-melded with him. Sarek sighs, saying that in that case, all is lost. Spock’s katra is gone, and his second chance at life has vanished.

But Kirk is not prepared to give up so easily. If it was that important, he says, Spock would have found a way. Reviewing the tapes of the incidents leading up to Spock’s death, he and Sarek see Spock place his palm on McCoy’s face and say “Remember”, and they known now that the Vulcan must have mind-melded with the doctor. Sarek says that in order to separate the two, Spock’s katra from McCoy’s brain, he must bring Spock’s body with McCoy to Vulcan. This will not be easy, as they have just been advised a) their ship is to fly no more missions and b) the Genesis planet is off-limits, but Kirk determines to ensure he performs this one last service for his friend.

On the planet’s surface Saavik and David find the source of their lifeform readings: microbes which were o n the surface of the torpedo tube when it was launched have grown and mutated under the Genesis effect. But they also find the empty burial robe of Spock: his body is nowhere to be seen. The planet appears to be going through some sort of tectonic activity, as tremors shake it. Then a voice pierces the air, a roar of something in pain. Meanwhile, Kirk springs McCoy, whose odd behaviour and an attempt to charter a ship to the Genesis planet has constrained Federation Security to place him in holding. He and the crew then “appropriate” the Enterprise and take it to the Genesis planet. The Excelsior, sent to pursue it, suffers something of a mental breakdown thanks to Scotty’s tinkering while stationed there and is left behind. On the planet Saavik and David find a Vulcan child, whom they believe to be Spock, regenerated by the Genesis effect. She recommends they beam back up, but before that can happen Kruge’s ship appears and destroys the Grissom.

He is annoyed however, as he had intended to take prisoners. When lifesigns are detected on the planet below, he sends a landing party and takes the three prisoner. David reveals that he used proto-matter, a substance that is prohibited or at least that all ethical scientists have denounced as “dangerously unpredictable” in the Genesis Device, and he believes this is why the planet is now tearing itself apart. Genesis, it would seem, is something of a failure. The Spock child, too, is ageing rapidly, turning from a small boy to a teenager in the space of a few hours. His instability seems to be mirrored in that of the planet, as if the two have some kind of psychic connection. Saavik worries that he will soon face Pon Farr, and is not prepared for the Vulcan blood ritual. Kirk is concerned that there has been no reply to his hail from the Grissom, and wonders if the captain will join him or try to turn him in, as the admiral and all his crew are now fugitives from Starfleet. He is unaware that the science vessel is not answering because it has been destroyed.

As Spock begins to go through Pon Farr the planet seems to rage with him, and when the Enterprise encounters Kruge’s Bird of Prey they are able to partially disable it, but as Scotty did not anticipate a combat situation their few shots have knocked out the power for the shields. As the two ships hang in space, each badly damaged but trying to bluff it out and force the surrender of the other, Kruge plays his trump card, and tells Kirk he has prisoners on the planet. If the admiral does not surrender, he will kill them, and to show he is not bluffing he tells his soldiers to pick one of the three to kill now. The Klingon goes to kill Saavik, but David attacks him and ends up becoming the victim. Kirk is crushed to hear that his son is dead. To save the rest of the prisoners though he agrees to surrender his ship, but starts the self-destruct sequence before his crew is beamed to the Klingons hip and he himself beams down to the Genesis Planet. When Kruge’s people beam over the Enterprise explodes, taking them with it.

Reunited with Saavik and the young-but-ageing Spock, Kirk contacts Kruge, taunting him that he has the secret he has been looking for, and Kruge beams down. As the planet tears itself apart they fight, until eventually Kirk is victorious and they trick the crew of Kruge’s ship into beaming them aboard, whereupon they take over the ship. Setting course for Vulcan, they deliver Spock to the priests there, also meeting Uhura and Sarek. The procedure for merging his katra with his body is a dangerous one, and by no means certain to succeed. But of course it does, and Spock is reborn.

The human adventure, as it says at the end, continues.

QUOTES

Kirk (to log): “The Enterprise feels like a house with all the children gone; no, more empty even than that.The death of Spock is like an open wound, and it seems that I have left the noblest part of myself back there, on that newborn planet.”

Kirk: “How much refit time before we can take her out again?”
Scott: “Eight weeks, Sir. But ye don’t have eight weeks so I’ll do it in two.”
Kirk: “Mr. Scott, have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?”
Scott: “Certainly, Sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?”

Valkris: “Transmission sent. You will find it most useful.”
Kruge: “Then you have seen it?”
Valrkris: “I have, my lord.”
Kruge: “Unfortunate.”
Valrkis: “Understood. Success, my lord. And my love.”
Kruge: “You will be remembered with honour.”

Kirk: “My friends, the great experiment: Excelsior!”
Sulu: “She’s supposed to have transwarp drive.”
Scott: “Aye. And if my grandmother had wheels she’d be a wagon!”

Kruge: “Oh yes, new cities, homes in the country, your woman at your side, children playing at your feet. And overhead, fluttering in the breeze, the flag of the Federation! Charming!”

Sulu: “The word, Sir?”
Kirk: “The word is no. I am therefore going anyway.”

McCoy: “How much and how soon?”
Alien: “How soon is now. How much is where?”
McCoy: “Somewhere in the Mutara sector.”
Alien: “Oh! Mutara is restricted! Cost permits many, money more.”
McCoy: “There aren’t going to be any damned permits! How can you get a permit to do a damned illegal thing? Look: price you name, money I got.”
Alien: “Place you name, money I name or else bargain no.”
McCoy: “Alright then dammit! Genesis! The name of the place we’re going to is Genesis!”
Alien: “Genesis?”
McCoy: “Yes! Genesis! How can you be deaf with ears like that?”

Guard: “Make it quick Admiral: they’re moving him to the Federation funny farm soon.”
Kirk: “Yes, poor fellow. I hear he’s fruity as a nutcake!”

Kirk: “You’re suffering from a Vulcan mind-meld, Doctor.”
McCoy: “That green-blooded son of a bitch! It’s his revenge for all those arguments he lost!”
Kirk: “Unit two, this is unit one. The Kobyashi Maru has set sail for the promised land.”

Kirk: “NOW, Scotty!”
Scott: “Sir?”
Kirk: “The doors, Mr. Scott!”
Scott: “Aye, sir. I’m workin’ on it!”

Kirk: “Good work, Mister Scott.”
Scott: “The more they improve the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drains!”

Kirk: “Gentlemen, your work today has been outstanding, and I intend to recommend you all for promotion. In whatever fleet we end up serving…”

Saavik: “How many have paid the price for your impatience? How many have died? How much damage have you done? And what is yet to come?”
(Tune in next week to find out!)

Kirk: “You Klingon bastards! You killed my son!”
(This is a watershed moment for Kirk. He has never trusted Klingons but has up to now not really had any reason to hate them. Now, his fury and grief will carry him through three more movies, culminating in his heartfelt wish to see the entire race die. It’s hard to be sympathetic when your own flesh and blood has been murdered by these people).

Kruge: “Genesis! I want it!”
Kirk: “Beam the Vulcan up and we’ll talk.”
Kruge: “Give me what I want, and I’ll consider it.”
Kirk: “You fool! Look around you! The planet’s destroying itself! If we don’t help each other we’ll die!”
Kruge: “Perfect! Then that is how it shall be!”

Kirk: “Help us or die!”
Klingon: “I do not deserve to live.”
Kirk: “Fine. I’ll kill you later.”

Spock: “My father says that you have been my friend, that you came back for me.”
Kirk: “You’d have done the same.”
Spock: “Why would you do this?”
Kirk: “Because the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.”

Memorable scenes and effects

The self-destruct scene of the Enterprise is both effective, moving and slightly humourous as the Klingons report “There is nothing on board but someone speaking”, this being the computer counting down to the self-destruct. But the scenes as the ship tears itself apart and slowly descends into the atmosphere of the equally doomed Genesis planet raise a lump in the throat. After all, we’ve seen this ship ply its way through space for over twenty years now, on and off, and somehow we’ve just never expected to see it destroyed. It’s the end of an era, and further proof that within the film franchise, the series is growing up and facing the hard questions, taking the tough decisions.

The scene where Kirk finds David’s body and covers it with his jacket is also very touching.

Spock’s rebirth scene on Vulcan is really well done too. The wearing of the white robe to signify, presumably, a new life, the officiating of a high-profile Vulcan high priestess mirrors what happened in “Amok time”, though the ritual was of course different, and the sense of ceremony without real emotion and the overarching logic, which temporarily gives way to the stronger feelings and beliefs of a father for his lost son, is carried out well.

Kirk’s hubris

To be fair, there’s not that much this time around. After two movies, Kirk has learned his lesson. He’s older, wiser and sadder. It’s like with the death of Spock, much of the fight has been knocked out of him and he is almost like an old man who allows himself to be led without resistance. Which for Kirk means listening to what his crew says and not second-guessing them, and using this procedure most of his decisions seem to be the right ones. The only time he guesses wrong is when he challenges Kruge to beam him up from the planet to get “the secret of Genesis” (which sort of echoes his taunt to Khan in the previous film, when they were marooned on Regula) and the Klingon decides instead to beam down and beat it out of him. Oops!

Those clever little touches

The captain of the Grissom is called Esteban, his initials being J.T., obviously a nod to Kirk.

When McCoy is being arrested by Federation Security, he tries to nerve pinch the guard. Of course, being only human he cannot do this, but obviously Spock’s mind does not realise it is not in its own body.

When Kirk hears the news about the death of his son, he staggers backwards and goes to sit down but misses the chair, just as someone who had received a terrible shock would do. I’m not sure if it was planned, but either way it’s very authentic and gives a sense of reality to the scene.

It’s good too, how when he fights Kruge, the climactic scene takes place on an outcrop of rock overlooking a burning, molten chasm. Kirk is staggering on the precipice of his own personal hell, dealing with the death of two of the most important people in his life, and he’s about to exact vengeance for the death of at least one of them. Couldn’t be more symbolic. It’s also interesting how Genesis becomes Hell (Genesis to Revelation?) and how Kirk literally saves Spock (and himself) from Hell at the very last moment by beaming off the doomed planet.

I like, too, how the place of Spock’s rebirth on Vulcan is another high promontory, a cliff which resembles the one off which Kruge was kicked by Kirk and from which Spock was then rescued.

Questions?

Where is Carol Marcus? In The Wrath of Khan we are given to understand that the Genesis Project is her baby, with David only helping her. It is, after all, she who makes the proposal to the Federation, and she who must have had the last word as to who they would work with, as her son has reservations about getting in bed with Starfleet. But here it’s David who is in charge, and Carol is not mentioned once, not even by Kirk. Are we supposed to believe she forgot about the whole thing? Is she answering delicate Starfleet questions? Is she under arrest? Is she now working covertly for the Federation on other projects? Nothing is ever said, and it’s something of a large omission I feel, given that so much of the second movie revolved around her.

Why does Kruge’s henchman, when told to kill one of the prisoners --- he doesn’t care which --- circle around until he is behind them and then strike? Klingons are supposed to be honourable warriors: is this any way to behave? Attacking someone from behind? And an unarmed victim too?

Parallels

Without meaning to offend any hardline Christians here, the rebirth of Spock obviously mirrors the resurrection of Jesus, right down to his empty coffin being found on the Genesis planet. The factions warring over the --- eventually proven to be faulty and therefore useless --- Genesis technology harks back to the arms race between the superpowers, and in a small way there’s a nod to the godawful “Spock’s brain”, where the Vulcan’s brain is literally stolen from his head by aliens and Kirk and McCoy have to go in pursuit of it to save their friend. I’m not joking, you know I’m not! Parallels too of course to “Amok time”, where we first see the planet Vulcan and learn of its inhabitants’ spiritual beliefs, which almost seem at odds with logic.

And isn’t that….?

Although she reprised her role as Janice Rand in the first movie, Grace Lee Whitney is in a very brief scene near the beginning here, in a very bad wig, and not named. She is the woman who watches the Enterprise return, damaged but victorious, to spacedock.

Boston Legal’s John Larroquette is Maltz, the Klingon transportation chief on Kruge’s ship.

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Trollheart

Music

Although it’s great music I feel that Horner, returning to score this as a promise he made, sticks pretty closely to the theme he developed for the second movie, and while there are new sequences that accompany, for instance, the breakup of the Genesis planet and the battle above it, and on Vulcan at the end, I find it hard to separate the two whenever I hear them. Not surprisingly, this basic musical motif would become the new theme for most of the movies, especially as soon enough the original soundtrack used on the first movie would become the theme for TNG. It is nice though to hear the old fanfare from the TV series being used right at the end, as Spock recognises Kirk. Nice touch.

Themes and motifs

Loss and rebirth, faith and friendship certainly have their place in this movie. There’s the continuing gulf left by the loss of Spock, mirrored in Sarek’s eyes when he realises his son could not have mind-melded with his friend before he died. There’s even the loss of Leonard Nimoy from the opening credits for the very first time ever, and the loss of Scotty --- temporarily --- to the Excelsior. Then there’s the initial loss of the Enterprise, as Kirk is informed his ship is to be decommissioned, and later the very real and actual loss of the very ship that has carried Kirk and co through so many adventures. Genesis is a loss, too, as it is clear it is a broken flush. David having taken the shortcuts he berated his father for taking has ensured that this is an unstable process which will never fly. Kirk loses David to the Klingons, setting him up for the loss of any empathy or sympathy he might once have had for the warrior race. In the series, generally, the Klingons were seen as loud and obnoxious, occasionally evil but really more like the Vogons in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. They were buffoons, foils for Kirk and the polar opposite of the do-gooding Federation.

Here though they become, at least for Kirk, a symbol of savagery and evil, a reckless, wild people who will do anything to take power and hold on to it, and he has good reason now to hate them. I don’t believe they’re even mentioned, much less used, until the final “original” movie, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, but it’s clear that Kirk now hates every Klingon and wishes they were dead. Here we come across failure: failure of the Genesis Project, Kirk’s failure to save his son, Spock’s failure to mind-meld with Kirk and Kruge’s failure to discover “the secret of the Genesis Torpedo!” Rebirth is another theme of course, most obviously in the regeneration of the body of Spock, with his immortal katra trapped inside the mind of Doctor McCoy, a clever touch in itself, as if he had any choice in the matter this is the last place Spock would want to reside. Faith and friendship carry the movie far; if it wasn’t for Kirk’s faith in, if not the beliefs of his friend, their right to be exercised and credited, he would not have put himself at risk of losing his position in Starfleet as he steals the Enterprise to enable him to help Spock. The friendship and loyalty of his crew demands they share the risk with him.

Does this movie deserve its reputation?

I’d say yes it does. It’s something of a get-out clause to bring Spock back, but let’s face it, nobody wanted him to remain dead and Star Trek would excel at doing this sort of thing. In series like Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica, people who died stayed dead: there was no coming back. But Star Trek has always been a series of second chances, and until the advent of Deep Space Nine, no major character who ever died stayed dead, so this fits in with the whole ethos behind the franchise.

However, making this part of a trilogy was something of a master stroke, and obviously copied from the likes of Star Wars. This idea of almost making a film-length episode of a TV series would become quite popular in film over the nineties and beyond, and of course left us all salivating for the next part, or conclusion. But up until almost the end, there is still no actual guarantee that Spock will be back, or at least as we know him, so there is some element of doubt there. It’s not as good as The Wrath of Khan of course, but it’s a very worthy followup, and I would award it a good

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Trollheart

Although my least favourite of all the four series in Star Trek, this theme gets a little higher placed in my top ten than perhaps it should, for several reasons. Firstly, it's the first and only Trek theme to have lyrics and for that it has to get some points. Second, it's accompanied by a very clever and well-crafted montage of the history of Man's attempts to fly, and eventually make it into space. Third, it's probably the best thing about the series. Fourth, it's written by hitmaker Diane Warren. And so, standing rather uncertainly and perhaps slightly ironically at number

we have the oft-maligned (and quite rightly too) so-far-final attempt at a continuation of the Trek franchise, one that lasted the least of all the spinoffs and which, though it tried to survive for two seasons without the prefix "Star Trek", eventually had to realise that nobody cared about it without it. Unfortunately, it also turned out that nobody cared about it with it!

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Ferengi

Class: Humanoid, traders
Home planet: Ferengenar
Values: Profit, financial gain, cunning, trickery, shrewdness.
Ferengi of note: Quark, Rom, Nog, The Grand Nagus, Moogie, Brunt
Feature in: TNG, DS9

The businessmen of the Trekverse, the Ferengi were originally presented as something of a warrior race but that never took so they quickly became comic relief. Ferengi are smaller than humans, with large, almost elephantine ears, but what they lack in size and strength and courage they make up for in cunning. A Ferengi’s life is centred around wealth: how much can he accumulate, what deals can he make, how can he get one over on his rivals etc, and they live by a creed they call “The Rules of Acquisition”, which contain such gems as “Treat your employees like family: exploit them!” and “Once you have their money you never give it back!” They will easily swindle you if they feel that they can get away with it, but will shy from actual physical confrontation, being quite small and not at all versed in combat, either with or without weapons. Their planet is a drab, dreary place where it seems to be always raining, which is probably why so many Ferengi strike out on their own, heading out to the great wide galaxy to make their fortune.

As you may have gleaned from one of the Rules of Acquisition above, family means very little to Ferengi, other than people they can exploit. Even so, there are strong ties between some Ferengi families. Women are not permitted to trade, or even wear clothes, in Ferengi society, leading to a lot of shock, revulsion and prudish disbelief when some of the younger ones got out to see other worlds. Everything in Ferengi society is governed by bargaining, bartering and manipulation, and bribes are as much a part of the fabric of their everyday lives as eating is to ours. Everything has a price, even lives, and while no Ferengi I’ve seen or heard about has ever actively indulged in slave trading, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were those who were prepared to risk it. Anything that can turn a profit is usually acceptable to the Ferengi, and they think money can buy everything.

The Ferengi are ruled by the Grand Nagus, an old Ferengi who at this point is going a little senile, and to gain his patronage is absolutely invaluable. No business venture proceeds without his getting a cut of the profits, and while getting on his right side is essential, those who anger him can consider themselves basically bankrupt. A Ferengi without profit is equivalent to a Klingon without honour. Because they are such good dealers Ferengi are also one of the most cunning races in the galaxy, usually able to turn any situation to their profit, either literal or metaphorical; this would probably make them master strategists, but Ferengi have no interest in the military, apart from perhaps selling arms to both sides in a war. As one Ferengi puts it: “Peace is good for business! Unless you happen to be an arms dealer!"

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The Batlord

Dude, you already posted this.

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Trollheart

Are you sure? I've checked back and I see Klingons, then Vulcans, then Cardassians and Borg. Are you sure you're not confusing it with my piece on the planet Ferenginar?

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Trollheart

Gates McFadden (Crusher)
Then

Now


Levar Burton (LaForge)
Then



Now



Micheal Dorn (Worf, without makeup)
Then


Now



Wil Wheaton (Wesley)
Then


Now

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The Batlord

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