Star Trek Social Club

I just found out about the "@TNG_S8" Star Trek parody twitter account and would love to read through it... anywhere other than on X (because fuck Elon).

Any ideas?

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/86718566/chapters/245447406 Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1655942552-star-trek-mar-del-plata-english-episode-3-forced

I hope you like it!

Captain's Log: We are heading toward a sector of the Alpha Quadrant where Hirogens have recently been detected following their arrival after a long journey. They are a race of hunters from the Delta Quadrant, first encountered by the USS Voyager, which discovered and made use of their communications network before later facing them in person on Stardate 51501.4.

We are dealing with hunters who seek prey across the galaxy. Our mission is to neutralize them, repel them, and, if necessary, destroy them. I hope we will not have to resort to extreme measures.

Commander Antos struck up a conversation with Captain Mark.

"Captain, we know very little about the Hirogens and the Breen. Sometimes I find myself wondering about things, like whether they enjoy music as much as we do."

"I don't know, Number One. I don't think the Breen necessarily have helmets designed for listening to music."

"Now that I think about it, don't you play any instruments? On other Federation ships, it's fairly common for crews to form bands during their free time."

"I don't see the point in playing an instrument when you can generate music with a computer without needing one." he replied in a neutral tone.

"Perhaps, but... there's something captivating about doing things the old-fashioned way."

"Not in my case."

Chief of Security David detected signals on his console.

"We're detecting warp signatures heading toward our position. A vessel is approaching."

"On screen." Mark ordered.

"A mixture of ship components... Romulan, Cardassian..." Antos observed.

"Pakleds!" Mark exclaimed. "Pilot, get us out of here."

"We can't move. They're trying to grab us with an amplified tractor beam. I've never seen anything with this much power!" said helmsman Stross.

"Try to establish communications with the Pakled vessel."

"We're receiving a message," said Stross. "Just one word: 'Stay.'"

"I'm detecting that the tractor beam is weakening at impulse speed. If we keep this up, we'll break free without any damage!" David reported.

"Whatever they're looking for, they can't have good intentions. Increase impulse speed."

Just as they were about to break free from the tractor beam, the Pakled vessel launched several spheres that embedded themselves into the USS Mar del Plata.

"Captain," said David, "there are one-meter-diameter spheres that have just attached themselves to the hull, right where the phasers are located."

"They're attempting to establish communications with us." Stross stated.

"They made us wait. Put them on screen."

The typical face of a male Pakled appeared on the screen: grayish-brown skin, vertical eyebrows, and a wrinkled face. He was their captain.

Without hesitation, Mark Epsilon was concise.

"You are violating the integrity of a Starfleet vessel. Do you understand what that means?" Then, in a sterner and more forceful tone, he shouted, "Would you mind telling me what the hell you just did?!"

"I... wouldn't want to ruin any surprises."

"What surprise are you talking about? What you're doing could be considered a threat."

"Threat? We only need help, one way or another. We asked you to stay, but you moved."

"There are ways to ask for assistance, and this isn't one of them. Besides, it's not that we're known for judging people prematurely, but we've already had previous attempts at betrayal from Pakleds. So I suggest you make your intentions clear, or I'll have to order you to leave Federation territory."

"You help Pakleds, Pakleds go."

"We can discuss that in another sector, but not here. We're not safe. There are hunter vessels in the area."

"Help Pakleds, Pakleds go."

"Captain," David said, "I think they're only going to understand the hard way."

"Wait a moment, Captain!" the commander exclaimed. "We don't know how the Pakleds might react if we attack them. They might leave us alone, or they might throw more things at us."

"I don't like resorting to this, but it seems I have to agree with Tactical this time," the captain replied. "Open fire. Consider this a warning shot."

"Fire? How will you do that?" the Pakled said on screen, furrowing his brow in complete confusion.

"Initiate phaser fire against the Pakled vessel."

The phasers activated and emitted a flash, but none of the beams struck the vessel.

"Captain," said Stross, "the phasers are blocked. The spheres are slowly expanding, and they're covering the emitters."

The Pakled smiled deviously while scratching his back.

"What exactly are they doing?" the captain asked.

"Help Pakled ship, then talk. We send more information. You obey to help." he replied before cutting communications.

The captain activated his communicator to speak with Yimak.

"Engineering, prepare a report on whatever is covering our phasers."

"We received a report. I think we're going to have to cooperate with them." Antos suggested.

"Let's see what they need..."

Captain's Log, Supplemental: The Pakled vessel withdrew after sending us a report. It begins with a promise to remove the spheres if we comply with their request. The Pakled captain sent the report in written digital form, as his verbal communication is quite rudimentary.

The Pakled vessel has five missing crew members whom we are expected to rescue with the little information they have provided.

The Pakled vessel will remain in contact with us while it stays within a few light-years of our position. The Hirogens are nearby, and we have no Starfleet reinforcements available at this precise moment. We are therefore forced to work for them in exchange for information on how to recover our weapons.

Narad had gone with several other crew members aboard the ship, wearing their spacesuits to scan the spheres that had become attached to the hull.

Once they returned inside the ship, everyone went back to their stations to resume their routine and follow Yimak's direct orders. Narad, however, began conducting his own studies, using the computers located near the warp reactor in Engineering to learn more about the material the spheres were made of and how to remove them.

Later, the senior officers gathered in a conference room to discuss what to do next.

"Chief Engineer Yimak, I hope you have your report." said the captain.

"The spheres appear to be a compound that resists and even absorbs nadion radiation, and they also expand when exposed to other types of particles. Even if we do nothing, they're going to keep growing larger and larger."

"Any way to destroy them? Do you know where this technology comes from?"

"I ran simulations using different frequencies, but they absorb them regardless. There's nothing in the database that resembles this. They may have obtained it by stealing it from an inventor, or..." Yimak raised two fingers to enumerate the possibilities. "It could be an invention of the Pakleds themselves, which I highly doubt."

"Commander," said the captain. "What do you think we should do?"

"The Pakleds asked us for help. I reviewed the report we received with Stross. According to the details they sent us, they mention a mysterious probe that abducted some of their people. They're the same species that captured Captain Picard on Stardate 43714.1. Five members of the crew were replaced with doppelgängers, exact duplicates. It seems the Pakleds know each other very well, because they quickly realized they weren't the real ones."

"So now they're asking us to rescue them, but the Hirogens could be in this sector. Without phasers, we're vulnerable. Maybe the Pakleds will remove these things once we rescue the five crew members, but are we doing the right thing by trusting them? Pakleds aren't exactly known for keeping their word..." Mark inquired.

"They might try to steal technology from us afterward," Antos pointed out. "One thing to keep in mind is that our scanners don't detect any Starfleet components making up their ship, so perhaps they're missing something from our collection, or maybe... they don't have any because they're not interested in stealing from Starfleet."

"That's an interesting point of view, Commander. Let's search for signals from that probe. The sooner we get this over with, the better."

Narad was still investigating how to destroy the spheres.

Being an enthusiast, she was more creative and open-minded than the others, so she tried dozens of combinations using things she had learned at the Academy, going over her notes.

She ran a simulation involving a discharge generated by the shields. The computers produced mathematical results, but she wanted to test it in the holodeck to see if the outcome would be different.

Chief of Security David was frequently calling for reinforcements, but there were no available Starfleet vessels that could respond to the USS Mar del Plata.

He went to deliver the bad news to his superiors. They were on their own.

"Captain, the five Pakleds are right here." Stross reported.

"Any ship or planet?"

"Negative. There's nothing but the emptiness of space." Stross replied.

"Maybe they're using a cloaking device." the commander suggested.

"No, I think I know what they're doing. The signals are similar to those produced by warp speed. They may have managed to create a test field in subspace or another dimension, which means they're not in a physical location." the captain explained before contacting the transporter room. "Hecate, I've located five Pakleds. Try to beam them aboard. Try different configurations."

"Yes, sir."

Narad had finished her experiment in the holodeck, so she downloaded the data and ran to Yimak to tell her about her discovery.

The young Ferengi engineer jogged down the clean, pale corridors of the USS Mar del Plata, hyperventilating as she went.

Some of the crew members looked at her as she anxiously muttered to herself.

She quickly entered the reactor room.

"Chief Engineer! I know how to remove the spheres!"

"Is it an idea?"

"No, it was a theory, and I just confirmed it! The material in the spheres is similar to boron-10. There's a way to destroy it."

"I hope I don't ruin your excitement, but there isn't a phaser frequency capable of destroying them. I've already looked into it myself."

"The phasers aren't capable of doing it, but the shields are. I found a way to generate a discharge that would cause the spheres to deteriorate. I just sent the data to your console."

The chief engineer reviewed the data with a poker face.

"Narad, doing this would leave us without shields for several minutes while they regenerate. Besides, it wouldn't protect us from any more of those spheres."

"Actually, it creates a residual effect. Any spheres that come into contact with it would melt. I already ran the tests both on the consoles and in the holodeck."

"It's risky. The hull would be vulnerable to other attacks."

"That's why I hurried here! The sooner we do it, the safer it will be to use."

Yimak spent about ten seconds analyzing the situation, never taking her eyes off the report as she nodded.

"It looks like we have no other choice. I'll inform the captain and the commander about your experiment."

"Thank you for supporting me on this, Chief!"

Meanwhile, they had found a way to beam the five Pakleds aboard from a laboratory located inside a kind of pocket dimension.

On the bridge, they spotted a Hirogen vessel approaching. It had already dropped out of warp and was closing in at impulse speed.

The problem was that the phasers were still blocked.

The ship went to red alert.

They raised the shields while the transporter room worked on a way to rescue the Pakleds. Red lights flashed throughout the ship.

"Tactical, do we have access to the photon cannons, or are they blocked as well?"

"Yes, sir. Photon torpedoes are our only available weapons." David replied.

"Helmsman, try to establish communications with the Hirogen vessel."

"They're receiving our signal, but they're not responding."

The ship was then attacked by a sequence of five green plasma blasts that struck the shields.

"Damage report."

"Shields at ninety-five percent. Although I notice these attacks are designed to weaken the shields. I assume they'll switch tactics once we're weakened." David explained.

"Or perhaps they'll board us. That would make more sense for a race of fierce hunters." Mark Epsilon realized.

Chief Engineer Yimak arrived on the bridge via the turbolift.

"Captain, Commander, Engineer Narad has conducted some research that could be useful to us."

"I don't know if this is the best time." the commander growled.

"Feel free to speak." the captain replied with nerves of steel.

"There's a way to overload the shields and trigger a discharge that will melt the spheres attached to us. We would recover our weapons, but we'd have to wait for the shields to recharge."

The ship was attacked again one minute after the previous attack, and once again the integrity of the shields was reduced by five percent. At this rate, the ship would be without shields in eighteen minutes.

In the transporter room, Hecate reported that she had figured out a way to beam the five Pakleds aboard, but it couldn't be done while the shields were raised.

The captain thought over the situation for thirty seconds.

"This will be the plan. Initiate the discharge." Mark Epsilon ordered. "Once we're without shields, helmsman Stross will begin evasive maneuvers while the transporter room rescues the five Pakleds. With the phasers, we'll counterattack their warp core to prevent them from transporting here."

Yimak put the plan into action in Engineering. The shields were at 65%, but they could still perform the overload.

At 45%, they initiated the overload.

Everything went as Narad had predicted. The ship's shields emitted a white flash and shattered like glass.

The spheres began to dissolve.

Under other circumstances, they would have been prepared for the Hirogens. The phasers could now be used, but without shields, the Hirogens might board the ship.

In the transporter room, five bulky Pakleds stood there, bewildered, looking at one another.

"It seems the raiders detected that we're from Starfleet. The laboratory disappeared, but this time they didn't come for us like they did with the Enterprise," Antos reported.

"I suppose Picard's experience of having a taste of his own medicine, combined with their telepathy, must have left them with a rather strong fear of us. Unfortunately, not enough to leave other species alone." Mark Epsilon reflected. "Now we have to deal with these Hirogens."

"Captain, the Pakleds are already in the transporter room, and the Pakled vessel is heading this way!" Stross reported.

"Understood, helm. Send my congratulations to the transporter room and have them bring a security team. We don't want them trying anything strange. Establish communications with the Pakled vessel, maintain evasive maneuvers, and change the weapons targeting to neutralize the Hirogens."

The Pakled who had neutralized them appeared on the screen once again.

"Were they rescued?"

"That's right."

"Did you get the trap out?"

"We found a way to remove it on our own, but we'll need support against the Hirogen vessel."

"Understood. Do we attack?"

"Disable their weapons, and cover us while you're at it."

The USS Mar del Plata opened fire with its phasers on the Hirogen vessel's weapons, but they were the toughest part of the ship. But with the Pakleds' help, they believed they could stand a chance against them.

Before the Hirogens could attack, the Pakled vessel moved in front of the USS Mar del Plata to protect its hull.

They then began counterattacking the weapons, but that was useless as well.

The captain called the Pakleds again.

"Pakled vessel, new orders: destroy their shields and then their ship. The lives of my entire crew and your five crew members are at stake."

"Understood..."

"Sir!" scream the commander, "perhaps we could take down their shields and destroy their warp core instead of blowing them up."

"That wouldn't protect us from their attacks, and besides, if they can't move, they'll have even more reason to board us. I have to protect the crew. There's no other choice but to resort to violence, to give those hunters what they're looking for: a battle. We won't be the prey."

The Hirogen vessel attempted to flank the Mar del Plata, but the Pakled vessel resisted it. When they subsequently had a clear firing solution, the Federation vessel attacked, destabilizing the Hirogens' targeting.

They repeated the maneuver: attack, protect, and give them an opportunity to attack the USS Mar del Plata.

"Communications?" the captain inquired.

"None." the helmsman reported.

"Just as I expected. They won't surrender."

The USS Mar del Plata's shields had partially regenerated.

The Hirogen vessel managed to strike the ship's shields.

"Shield integrity at 23%."

Captain Mark Epsilon initiated a maneuver, going to maximum impulse to quickly flank from the opposite side of the Hirogen vessel. They moved fast enough that the Hirogens barely had time to detect that they had even moved, very similar to Picard's maneuver, only without making a jump or been in front of the enemy ship.

And so, the Hirogen vessel was unable to withstand the might of Starfleet, nor the amalgamation of Pakled technology.

Attacked from opposite sides, the hull of the Hirogen vessel was compromised. Space was illuminated by a green explosion, which merged with a red one caused by the implosion of its weapons and the destruction of its warp reactor.

A mixture of colors that glowed like a highly radioactive torch.

The mission had been completed, with no casualties on either side, but they had been unable to stop the Hirogens without having to kill them.

After destroying the Hirogens, the Pakled vessel partially fulfilled its part of the deal by showing us another way to destroy the spheres they had launched at us.

They also requested a diplomatic meeting with the captain, which led to them meeting face-to-face. Pakleds wanting diplomacy? That was quite surprising.

Mark Epsilon agreed, so both captains were sitting down for tea in the captain's quarters aboard the USS Mar del Plata.

"You must be the most talkative Pakled I've ever met. Even so, I find it difficult to understand you. Do you want to join Starfleet?"

"Space very dangerous, alliance very safe. Formal request for nomadic Pakled peoples and not-so-nomadic Pakled peoples, future of collaboration together."

"I'll communicate that to the admirals. They will evaluate your request."

"Pakled ship wants Starfleet. Be part, unite."

"In the hypothetical event that you were to join Starfleet, there are several things you need to know. The first is that if what you needed was help, we could have rescued your crew members without the need for extortion. Communication is the embodiment of our fundamental principles."

"Panicked Pakled ship. Did not know how to act. Opportunity not to waste."

"There's something to keep in mind about Starfleet. All of us undergo training to control our emotions during every mission. The other thing you need to work on is communication. It's important for diplomacy. Acting on impulse can be reckless. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes. I hope to be a good student. I am... We are eager to become part of Starfleet."

The captain of the Pakled vessel departed theUSS Mar del Plata through the transporter room, saying, "Things can change, things can improve."

Clark Gregg (The Avengers) was a surprise guest who took over as Nancy’s professor husband.

The night kicked off with a read of the “Mudd’s Passion” script from a 1973 episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series. Nathan Fillion (The Rookie) took over as Kirk while D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) assumed the role of Spock and Adam Arkin played the mad creator of a love potion. Other participants from the night included Iman Vellani (The Marvels), and Paul Scheer and Paul F. Tompkins, both from Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Rod Roddenberry was there to remember his dad, series creator Gene Roddenberry, and pay tribute to both the foundation’s 60th anniversary as well as the 60th anniversary of Star Trek.

The episode title alludes to the famous opening narration of the long-running television soap opera, Days of Our Lives: "Like sands through the hourglass, so go the days of our lives." Soap operas, the subject of this episode's homage, are best known for melodrama and plot twists. Incidentally, Days is broadcast on NBC/Paramount. Chronitons are technobabble particles associated with time travel.

The bright and hazy environment is typical of the lighting in daytime soaps, which are usually shot on video. “The dreaded Abbott-Chancellor Collision” is a reference to two rival families in The Young and the Restless. The dramatic pauses, looking to the side, camera angles, music and excessive exposition are all imitative of the style of soaps.

Pike hears the dramatic music, which means it is diegetic in nature. He wonders if he’s back in the musical (SNW: “Subspace Rhapsody”) or in a simulation (SNW: “A Space Adventure Hour”).

Dr Elanor Chivers is played by Deidre Hall, who has played the character of Dr Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives for 50 years. Old fogeys like me also remember her as Electra Woman on the Sid and Marty Krofft series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Chivers is described as the ship’s counselor, which is a position that until now we did not think existed on 23rd century starships but was only established in the 24th century with officers like Deanna Troi. In an early draft of TNG: “Relics”, Troi says that counselors were only assigned to starships starting in 2330. Prior to that, the role of looking after the ship’s psychological welfare seemed to come down to medical officers like McCoy. That being said, in the fan production Star Trek Continues, Kirk’s Enterprise had a ship’s counselor, Dr Elise McKenna, played by Michele Specht.

The teaser ends with the reveal that the trickster cosmic entity (unnamed but definitely Trelane from TOS: “The Squire of Gothos”) from SNW: “Wedding Bell Blues” is behind this. Sadly, they didn’t do a soap-opera remix of the theme for this.

Sybok (ST V) is the half-brother of Spock and a v’tosh ka’tur, one who rejects the denial of emotion that Vulcan society demands and embraces it. He was mentioned last in SNW: “The Serene Squall” as being imprisoned at the Ankeshtan K'Til Vulcan Rehabiltation Center on the 3rd Moon of Omicron Lyrae, where he used the alias Xaverius. Sybok was played by Laurence Luckinbill in ST V, who did not resemble Leonard Nimoy in the slightest (the role was originally written for Sean Connery) but is played by Ethan Peck here, likely because plot twists like “evil twins” are also a common soap trope, as are secret offspring.

Trelane starts to say his name but only gets as far as “Tre—“ before Pike cuts him off, preserving the idea that we don’t get his name until his proper debut in “The Squire of Gothos”.

The fact that Pike understands what a soap opera doesn’t necessarily mean the format has survived to the 23rd century (although given Ferengi television - LD: “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” - who knows?), because Pike has a fondness for classic media (SNW: “Strange New Worlds”).

Some of our younger viewers may not know that they literally did say “and now for a word from our sponsors” before ad breaks on television, much like YouTubers do nowadays.

The recipe book’s blank pages may be a reference to the days when television props weren’t as detailed as they are now because without HD television, nobody could really see it.

The robes and elaborate headdress of Trelane’s proctor resemble Q’s judge’s robes first seen in TNG: “Encounter at Farpoint”.

“Vulcans can’t engage in subterfuge,” is a misconception. Vulcans (and Spock) are perfectly capable of lying (TOS: “The Enterprise Incident”, et al.). Kal-toh is a Vulcan logic puzzle game, playable solo or with an opponent. It was first seen in VOY: “Alter Ego”, several times in VOY and later on in LD and PIC. 

“Space madness”, like “cosmic amnesia” might refer to the habit of pulp science fiction to make something typical seem exotic by affixing a prefix to it. In TOS: “The Naked Time”, Spock says, “It could be some sort of space madness we’ve never heard of.” 
Sybok here paraphrases his dialogue from ST V: “Each man hides a secret pain. It must be exposed and reckoned with. It must be dragged from the darkness and forced into the light. Share your pain. Share your pain with me and gain strength from it.”

The Arachnid Nebula was first mentioned in ENT: “Fusion”. There is no such nebula in real life, although the Tarantula Nebula exists in the Larger Magellanic Cloud, outside the Milky Way, some 160,000 ly from Earth.

Cadet A’Sha’s name has been in the credits when she has appeared, but this is the first mention in dialogue.

Uhura’s parents were killed (on Stardate 1443.2 as per this episode), along with her older brother, in a shuttle accident a week before she was due to start at the University of Nairobi where they taught. Her grandmother, a former Starfleet officer, inspired Uhura to enlist (SNW: “Children of the Comet”). 
Ortegas, together with M’Benga and others, was kidnapped aboard a Gorn ship in SNW: “Hegemony, Part I” at the end of Season 2, escaping in “Hegemony, Part II” at the start of Season 3. Ortegas says this was “last year”, which more or less jibes with my calculations that the current year is around 2262-63.

Trelane’s screens display the status: “technical difficulties” as we enter the act break. While “technical difficulties” that interrupted a broadcast did happen, there is a trope that uses it as a euphemism when there is a need to cut transmission but not reveal why to the audience, like it is here.

Spock’s blood is definitely green here, despite showing red bruises in SNW: “Off-Hour”. The X-ray type scan shows his heart around where a human liver should be (TOS: “Mudd’s Women”). Having Sybok donating a cloned heart to Spock and lying next to him echoes Sarek’s cryogenic open heart procedure in TOS: “Journey to Babel” where Spock was also lying next to his father while donating blood for the operation.

Pike dealt with time travel most recently in SNW: “Valles Marineris”, zombie Klingons in SNW: “Last Shuttle to Kenfori” and his lover Marie Batel’s ascension in SNW: “New Life and New Civilizations”. 
 Juliet Pike, played by Anna Mirodin, was Pike and Batel’s daughter in the vision created by Batel in “New Life and New Civilizations”, although she was only named in the credits. Two weeks ago was Pike’s last memory, hosting a Captain’s Table, before waking up at the start of this episode, as stated earlier. This is Galor III’s first mention in lore, although the Cardassians have Galor-class cruisers (TNG: “The Wounded”), and Galor IV was the site of a Starfleet Research facility (TNG: “The Offspring”). 

The stardate is 2654.9, and it’s established that Sybok’s appearance is not the same as Spock’s. Dr Chivers is apparently real, though. In the part of the vision we saw, Juliet was engaged to Elijah April, the son of Admiral Robert April.

I was wrong! The soap opera mix and titles comes after the credits. I don’t know what the Jackaroony cereal box is referencing, unless it’s the BBC children’s programme Jackanory, broadcast between 1965 and 1996, which featured actors reading stories aloud for the child audience.

If anyone’s counting, this is the fourth episode this season involving hallucinations (SNW: “The Griffin incident”, SNW: “Human Best Friend” and SNW: “Level-Five Transporter Accident” being the other three). At least Spock didn't hallucinate this time. 


More than 750 theaters across the U.S. will screen restored 4K presentations of classic Star Trek films paired with episodes of STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES making their theatrical debut, from Sept. 4-8. Fans attending will also have the first opportunity to purchase limited-edition Star Trek “Enterprise” popcorn vessels and commemorative drink cups at participating theaters, while supplies last.

• Friday, September 4: Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director's Edition + S02E03 "The Changeling"
• Saturday, September 5: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Director's Cut) + S01E22 "Space Seed"
• Sunday, September 6: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock + S02E01 "Amok Time"
• Monday, September 7: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home + S01E28 "The City on the Edge of Forever"
• Tuesday, September 8: Star Trek: The Genesis Trilogy (TWoK, TSFS, TVH)

AMC and Regal will also be selling popcorn buckets to commemorate the occasion:

A bit of a list, some of which has been previously announced.

This is basically SNW's take on disaster movies, like The Poseidon Adventure and TNG: "Disaster”, in the same way so far this season they’ve homaged Doctor Who, Event Horizon, The Hangover, Casablanca and The Muppet Show. There's also some 24 in here with the ticking clock and near real-time action.

The stardate is 1213.72, and the “weekend” is about to begin. The jaunty notes of the soundtrack at the beginning remind me of a motif from TOS: “Shore Leave” when his old nemesis Finnegan appears to taunt Kirk.

As established in TNG: “Chain of Command”, starships work on a three-shift rotation, although some captains prefer four. Alpha shift is also usually the one where the captain is on duty.

The Bussard collectors that Ortegas mentions are the glowing caps at the front of the nacelles. They generate a magnetic funnel that sweeps in front of the ship gathering stray hydrogen from space which is then used to top up the ship’s fuel.

Dr Boyce would be Phillip Boyce, the former chief medical officer of Enterprise in 2254, who was played by John Hoyt in TOS: “The Cage”. This is the first time we are told he was actually interim CMO until M’Benga came along.

In TOS: “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”, Kirk mentions that Chapel gave up a career in “bio-research” to sign aboard a starship. When first introduced in SNW: “Strange New Worlds”, Chapel was on a civilian exchange from the Stanford Morehouse Epigenetic Project (mentioned again later in this episode), although it was revealed later she did serve with M’Benga during the Klingon War a few years prior.

Scotty is right that there doesn’t really seem to be much of a difference between the terms “Bussard collectors” and “Bussard ramscoops”, the latter of which is just another name for the same technology. 

LT Radha (assuming it’s the same character) first appeared as a helm officer in TOS: “That Which Survives”, played by Naomi Pollack. On the wall in the briefing room we see a picture of Phoenix, the first Earth vessel to break the warp barrier (First Contact).

The person playing the piano is a Bolian - although I’m not sure if this is the ENS Rankin that Uhura mentioned earlier, which sounds like a human name.

Getting caught in a wormhole slipstream seems similar to what happened to Enterprise when initiating its upgraded warp engines in TMP. An antimatter imbalance created a wormhole and sent them speeding out of control.

M’Benga isn’t being wholly unfair when he says Chapel runs when things get real. In SNW: “Spock Amok” she confesses that she avoids relationships because they require sacrifice. When Spock became more serious about her, she applies for the archeological fellowship and broke up with him (SNW: “Subspace Rhapsody”). We’ve not been updated on the state of her current relationship with Roger Korby, although we do know they get engaged before he vanishes on Exo III (“What Are Little Girls Made Of?”). Chapel’s retort hints at what she knows about M’Benga’s past in the Klingon War and the trauma he carries from it.

Pike’s recklessness in reaching for an electrified control may be due to his knowledge that he has yet to meet his destined accident in a few years (DIS: “Through the Valley of Shadows”).

Scotty’s thought that the ship’s computer doesn’t recognise his accent (which is fairly mild by Scottish standards) reminds me of a sketch from the Scottish comedy show Bornistoun, where an elevator equipped with voice recognition technology hilariously fails to understand Scottish accents.

“Neutrino radiation at lethal levels” strikes me as a bit odd, because neutrinos have no charge, have almost zero mass, and trillions of them coming from the Sun pass through our bodies all the time with no issues since they rarely hit other atoms (and even if they do the radiation is negligible). That being said, the number of neutrinos emitted during a supernova could be lethal, and if they were focused enough, but the levels would really have to be ludicrous.

Inertial dampeners are what protects the crew from being smeared against the walls at high impulse or warp velocities. Ortegas is referring to the high G-forces produced at such velocities when she talks about “nosebleed city”.

The Vulcan cadet is A’Sha, who first appeared in SNW: “Valles Marineris” and has only ever been named in the closing credits. Black pudding is not a dessert, but a sausage made from flour, onions, grains, pork/beef fat and pork blood. It’s a vital part of a Full English Breakfast and really yummy.

Scotty calling Enterprise a “damn useless bucket of bolts” is a far cry from the affection he will feel for the ship in time to come, even willing to come to blows with people who insult her (TOS: “The Trouble with Tribbles”). This episode shows that transition. Princess Leia calls the Millennium Falcon a “bucket of bolts” in The Empire Strikes Back.

The lab table holding M’Benga’s vital organs in place and keeping him alive despite a fatal injury is similar to what happens in the Homicide: Life on the Street episode “The Subway”, where a man is only kept alive because a subway car is pinning him between it and the station platform. This was based on an apparently real incident related in the HBO show Taxicab Confessions by a New York City detective.

Boyce makes his first SNW appearance, played by Brian Markinson, who previously appeared in various other roles in Star Trek, notably as Dr Elias Giger in DS9: “In the Cards”. He also appears in TNG: “Homeword” as Vorin and VOY: “Cathexis” and “Faces” as LT Pete Durst/Sulan. He is wearing a pin above his delta which I can’t quite make out but it looks like the design on the tunic he wears in TOS: “The Cage”, which is an Earth map encircled by laurel leaves.

I know Una’s an Illyrian, but why isn’t Spock going? Vulcan is normally portrayed as a high-gravity planet in various RPG source books, and Vulcans are physiologically hardier.

Scotty invokes Starfleet Safety Protocol 429 to shut off life-support in the corridors (first mention).

The warp threshold Scotty refers to sounds similar to the concept established in TNG that nothing can exceed Warp 10 (on the TNG scale Warp 10 is infinite speed, where the ship is simultaneously at all points of the universe at once). VOY: “Threshold” refers to the “transwarp threshold” that divides warp and transwarp speeds. The maximum speed the TOS Enterprise achieved was Warp 14.1 (TOS: “That Which Survives), which by the TOS warp scales was about 2,803c. In TAS: "The Counterclock Incident", Enterprise exceeds Warp 22 while being dragged long by an alien starship capable of Warp 36.

M’Benga says the temperature will reach “negative 400 degrees”. He must be referring to the Fahrenheit scale, because temperatures can’t go below -273°C (0 Kelvin, or absolute zero), which is -459.67°F. The vacuum of space is approximately 2.7 K, or -270.45°C or -454.81°F.

The ion pod is a manned pod that is usually used to take readings during ion storms. It can be jettisoned if it picks up a dangerous charge from the storm (TOS: “Court Martial”). We’ve seen spacewalks while the ship is at warp before (Trip Tucker in ENT: “Divergence, Dal R’El in PRO: “Mindwalk” and Michael Burnham in DIS: “Red Directive”) - it’s usually okay as long as you remain within the warp bubble. 

Scotty materialises in a Jeffries tube, a maintenance tube named after real-life Enterprise designer Matt Jeffries, in a shot instantly familiar to those who have seen James Doohan in that exact position.

Rukiya was M’Benga’s terminally ill daughter which he placed in the care of a non-corporeal life form (SNW: “The Elysian Kingdom”).

“Strong force neutrinos” are made up because neutrinos and other leptons don’t possess any color or electromagnetic charge, and are therefore non-interactive with strong and electromagnetic forces. It’s not a question of a big enough lab. And since we’re making stuff up, sure, these “strong force neutrinos” could very well heal tissue. And be a dessert and a floor wax. Pike points out that neutrinos are “ghost particles” (thank you!) and Chapel retorts that these are “new ones” that act differently. Ooohkay. And now they can make more deuterium? Can I call them deus ex neutrinos?

Pike does the same as Kirk did in “Court Martial”, jettisoning the pod with a man inside (in the latter’s case LT-CMDR Ben Finney) before it endangers the ship.

Pelia tells Scotty he has to be a “miracle worker”. This is something he will try to continue to keep up a reputation for being (ST III, TNG: “Relics”).

Spock’s bruises look like they’re red with green scabs. Vulcan blood is supposed to be green, i.e. copper-based as opposed to human iron-based blood (although hemocyanin should be blue), and Spock does bleed green in TOS: “Patterns of Force”. The colour of his bruises here could be a function of his half-human heritage. That being said, in Star Trek (2009) young Spock had apparently red blood, and in SNW: “Ad Astra Per Aspera” Spock’s knuckles are red after he punches a wall.

Aquans first appeared in TAS: “The Ambergris Element”, and we recently saw one in the Cesnar Grand promotional video in SNW: “Human Best Friend”. Lanthanites are Pelia’s very long-lived race. Benzar is the homeworld of the Benzites (TNG: “A Matter of Honor”).

If Chapel’s fingers can get frozen to the table, why doesn’t vital tissue from M’Benga also break off when she pushes the table away? Oh fine, I give up.

Scotty says to tell Chapel she “rewrote the laws of physics”. In TOS: “The Naked Time”, Scotty says, “I can’t rewrite the laws of physics,” and in TNG: “Relics”, he says “You canna change the laws of physics,” when he relates the story of “The Naked Time” to Geordi.

Chapel finally signs on permanently to Starfleet, fulfilling Kirk’s remark in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”

Logline

An off-duty window becomes a warp emergency when the Enterprise is pushed beyond its safe limits.

Written by: Bill Wolkoff

Directed by: Dan Liu

For me at least, the only interesting thing in here is that contrary to prior reports, the SNW sets have not been destroyed (but are disassembled and in storage somewhere).

While IMDB users are not representative of the wider population, I find it interesting to see that they've soured on Season 4 episodes so far.

Kate Mulgrew acts her best Janeway with the cast from Frasier.

No indication a recording will be made available, just the livestream for anyone who can’t attend in person.

In TNG, the lower the level of something the higher in intensity it was (a Level One Diagnostic was more intensive than a Level Four). In the 32nd century, the opposite seemed to be the case, as Reno talks about a Level-10 diagnostic in SFA: “Rubincon”. SNW seems to be taking the latter approach as well. This episode is not the first time we’ve seen people turned into puppets - in LD: “Kayshon, His Eyes Open”, Cerritos security chief Kayshon was turned into an (albeit inanimate) puppet by an energy beam. Fans might also remember the Angel episode “Smile Time”, a parody sequence in Stargate SG-1’s “200” and an imaginary sequence in Community’s “Advanced Documentary Filmmaking”.

The stardate is 3019.4. Enterprise is patrolling Rizonian space (first mention) on her way to Vulcan. Space piracy is indeed extant in Star Trek, with various species and factions engaging in piratical or privateering activities, notably the Orions (TAS: “The Pirates of Orion”), the Ferengi (TNG: “Rascals”) and the Breen (DS9: “To the Death”).

Spock and Scotty discuss longer-range transportation. Spock says 27,000 km is 2,000 km further than any transport achieved. By the 24th century, transporter ranges on the Galaxy-class could reach up to 40,000 km (TNG Tech Manual). To be honest, 27,000 km seems a bit short, since Earth geosynchronous orbit is 35,786 km. This might be a “Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale” trope issue.

That Scotty is working on increasing transport ranges references Star Trek (2009), where the Kelvin timeline Scotty is working on transwarp transportation to allow transmission across interstellar distances. Prime Spock helped him with this, giving him the necessary equations his Prime counterpart had already solved.

While chanting the mantra, “Logic is the rhythm of your katra,” (katra being roughly the Vulcan equivalent of the soul, ST III), Spock hears echoes from SNW: “The Griffin Incident”.

Kal Rekk, a day of “atonement, solitude and silence” was first mentioned in VOY: “Meld”.

T’Pring’s suspicion of “hijinks” refers to her two previous trips to Enterprise, one which resulted in a body swap (SNW: “Spock Amok”) and another which had Spock turned physically human (SNW: “Charades”). Specifically, in “Spock Amok” while in Spock’s body she says she does not like hijinks.

When Spock turns to see the puppet T’Pring, the music echoes bits of the soundtrack to TOS: “Amok Time”, the episode that introduced her and Vulcan.

April is actually less nonplussed about the situation than would be expected. But then again, as Janeway said in VOY: “Deadlock”, “We’re Starfleet officers. Weird is part of the job.” He says the nearest ship is two days away, but didn't Spock say the USS Witmere was 29,647 km away? This is answered at the end of the episode.

La’An has been concerned since SNW: “Four and a Half Vulcans” that her Augment heritage is asserting itself.

Orion interceptors first appeared in ENT: “Borderland” and are playable Tier 6 ships in Star Trek Online. Ch'Rol is played by Rachael Harris, who played Kes' mother Martis in VOY: "Before and After" and is better known for playing Dr Linda Martin in Lucifer. Her lieutenant Ejachi is played by Joe Lo Truglio, best known for playing Charles Boyle on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

This is the second time in the series that someone has captured Enterprise, the previous time being Captain Angel in SNW: “The Serene Squall”. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: to lose a ship once may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose it twice looks like carelessness.

While the stereotype of the submissive Orion slave girl is prevalent in popular culture, it is true that Orion women control the males via the use of pheromones (ENT: “Bound”). Another matriarchal society was seen in TNG: “Angel One”.

Spock “touching hands” with Pike while separated through glass and Pike saying, “The needs of the many…” echoes Spock and Kirk’s scene at the end of ST II when Spock dies. The full phrase - a Vulcan aphorism - is, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” Kirk, naturally, disagrees, sacrificing his ship and career to save Spock in ST III because “The needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many.”

Wait, how did Pike get back into the ship (and that room) if none of them can operate doors and they couldn’t even get out of the room? This is answered at the end of the episode.

Pike, La’An and Una in Vulcan robes is the first time the classic totem pole trench trope has been used in Star Trek.

When T’Pring rescues Spock, we can see a Romulan ale bottle behind the counter, although the liquid inside does not appear to be Romulan ale blue.

While the phrase “my mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts,” is forever associated with mind melds, it was not actually used in TOS. The phrase debuted in TAS: “The Infinite Vulcan”, said by Spock’s giant clone.

And to round off a trilogy of tropes, we have the “All Just a Dream” trope, which was used to probably better effect in DS9: “Far Beyond the Stars”, although the dream appears to have had some therapeutic effect for Spock. Hoshi also experienced an entire episode’s hallucination during 8 seconds in the transporter buffer in ENT: “Vanishing Point”.