holodexmachina - Tumblr blog

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there are tons of amazing moments in a piece of the action but this whole married banter about driving really got me

bonus: jim's sensing bones and spock are upset and he isn't gonna let it go

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perfect opening, no notes

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

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OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. SCREAMING.

So, I was thinking about that quote from Goncharov, "I love you, that's why I shot you." "If you really loved me, you wouldn't have missed." And how well it fits Garashir, but then it hit me.

Goncharov is a holodeck program. That's why it's got so many different people saying different things happen. It's just a program in the style of Martin Scorsese.

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Earlier today, some friends and I were discussing one of those Star Trek captains memes. You know the ones I’m talking about, the ones that pit the captains against each other with pithy descriptions that glorify and champion the men and shit on Janeway. The ones where Picard is describe as the wise teacher and scholarly diplomat; Kirk is the brave trailblazer and lovable rogue; Sisko is the take-no-shit commander and more-than-human uniter; Archer is the quick thinking explorer and the avenging do-gooder; Pike is the empathetic Boy Scout and the quippy everyman…and Janeway is an irrational murderer and erratic loose canon. And, as usual, I went on a bit of a rant. They (looking at you @redsesame, @epersonae, and @emi--rose) told me to share it here so, if you trudge through this whole thing, blame them.

Does Janeway make some questionable decisions throughout VOY (Prodigy!Janeway is a different conversation for another time)? Yes, absolutely. But here’s the thing: every captain does. What I still love about her though and will champion until I'm blue in the face is that Janeway owns her decisions more than I think any other captain does.

Picard and Kirk hide behind the Prime Directive a lot. That's the reasoning Picard gives for not interfering in the drug running in “Symbiosis” and leaving the Ornarans trapped in dependence on the abusive Brekkans. His line, “Beverly, the Prime Directive is not just a set of rules. It is a philosophy, and a very correct one. History has proved again and again that whenever mankind interferes with a less developed civilization, no matter how well-intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous." is a cop-out we hear from him time and time again, especially to Dr. Crusher, as she is the one who most often calls him on his bullshit.

Kirk does the same thing. We still this when he leaves Shanna and the other thralls behind in "The Gamesters of Triskelion" and when he forces Elaan of Troyius into a marriage she clearly doesn't want because it's "for a greater good." And all the while, he's got Spock at his side giving him confirmation bias that he's following regulations.

And Sisko, Sisko makes some of the most horrific and destructive decisions of any captain and uses not only the Prime Directive to fall back on, but he's got the Dominion War to blame. He poisons an entire planet to get back at one man he feels betrayed him in "For the Uniform" and don't even get me started on his actions in "In the Pale Moonlight".

Enterprise is so unjustly shat on by the fandom that I almost hate to bring some of Archer's questionable choices into this conversation but I'm going to do it anyway. Similar to Sisko and the Dominion War, Archer has the threat of the Xindi in his back pocket to excuse some of his worst behavior. If Tuvix is the worst thing people can point to for Janeway, then we have to talk about Archer and Sim, the simbiont created solely to be a living tissue donor for an injured Trip, a procedure that will kill the living, breathing, sentient Sim. Archer orders Sim created against the arguments made by Dr. Phlox. He rationalizes his decision with the same argument for the greater good that we see from all the others. He says to T'Pol before Sim is created "…we've got to complete this mission. Earth needs Enterprise. Enterprise needs Trip. It's as simple as that." And it doesn't end there. When Sim is grown enough for the procedure and has figured out what's going to happen to him, he challenges Archer himself, arguing for his own right to live, and Archer sticks to his guns. This exchange directly between Archer and Sim is haunting.

Archer: I must complete this mission; and to do that, I need Trip. Trip! I'll take whatever steps necessary to save him. Sim: Even if it means killing me? Archer: Even if it means killing you. Sim: You're not a murderer. Archer: Don't make me one.

Not only do all of these captains (except Archer, who arguably writes the damn thing himself at the end of the series) have the Prime Directive to fall back on, they also have Starfleet/the Federation/Vulcan High Council right there on speed dial to validate their choices and hear their excuses and give them another commendation. They all know that ultimately, they can turn to someone higher in command to turn to for help.

Janeway is alone. She is alone with her crew 70,000 lightyears from home with only her training and her own moral compass to guide her. Yes, she claims the Prime Directive a lot but she also goes with what she feels is right and she is clear about that with her crew. When she makes the decision to split Tuvix, despite what everyone else says, she sticks to it and more importantly, does the procedure herself. Picard would have forced Beverly to do it, saying Doctor I gave you an order, your conscience be damned, and Archer does the same to Phlox with Sim, but Janeway takes the tool out of the Doctor's hand and says it's my call, I'll do it. When everyone is angry and mad about her destroying the Caretaker's array, she stands up for her decision and says yes, I did it, because it's what my Starfleet training said to do AND because I think it was the right thing and it's on me to make the hard choices.

She also can admit when she made the wrong decision, which isn't something we see from the other captains. In the season 5 opener, "Night", we see her in a depressive state because she's questioning her decision to effectively strand her crew in the Delta quadrant but she comes out of it when she's reminded by her senior staff that the crew believes in her and trusts her, she should do the same for herself. When the Doctor has a mental crisis in "Latent Image" after questioning his own choice to save the life of Harry Kim over that of another crew member, Janeway admits she did the wrong thing by first deleting his memories of it so he could get back to work and then sits with him for days while he works through it because that's what captains do.

And she does all of this without the backup and support of Starfleet. She doesn't have anyone higher on the chain of command. She's 70,000 miles away from the admiralty and her support system. There's no one higher than her to give her a break from making every decision.

To quote my fellow Missourian Harry Truman, for Janeway the buck stops with her in a way it doesn't for any other captain and she is painfully aware of that and owns that and that is why I love her and she's my captain.

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okay we have GOT to put this phrase in circulation

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why don’t we talk about the fact that according to the official Star Trek constellation class Enterprise blue prints, the Chief Engineer and the chief medical officer’s quarters share a bathroom.

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Leonard Nimoy, assistant director Charles Washburn and William Shatner behind the scenes on Star Trek (1966)

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Happy Amok Time Day, friendly reminder that Theodore Sturgeon, the writer of the episode, is credited with the first positive portrayal of homosexuality in science fiction with his short story The World Well Lost (1953), 14 years before Amok Time aired. Which could mean nothing.

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Helpful Resources

Memory-Alpha is the official Star Trek wiki, which is exceedingly well run and has articles for everything you can think of.

Memory-Beta is the wiki for Star Trek secondary canon (novels, comics, video games, etc.) and a good resource for finding additional information on something that isn’t covered much in canon.

TrekCore has high quality screencaps from every series, as well as audio clips, ship schematics, and more.

Star Trek Minutiae has a lot of things, including fonts, logos, scripts, a warp speed calculator, and starship size comparisons.

Ship Schematics has more images and schematics for ships than you would ever think existed.

Cygnus-X1 also has a lot of detailed schematics.

Chakoteya has episode transcripts from every series.

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Have you ever drawn Janice Rand? I love her and her extreme beehive.

no i have not!! shes great

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HAPPY STAR TREK DAY! 🖖

STAR TREK premiered in the United States on the 8th of September, 1966 with the episode "The Man Trap". Today, over 900 episodes across 12 tv and streaming series, as well as 13 feature films have been released, with more still in various stages of production.

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Crusher x Picard making each other playlists like:

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I feel it is important to bring attention to the sheer levels of CUNT sulu was serving in search for spock and voyage home like...

LOOK AT HIM!!!!

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Jim Kirk would beat up William Shatner in a 7-11 parking lot

Jean-Luc Picard and Patrick Stewart would write non-fiction bestsellers together

Benjamin Sisko would have Avery Brooks over for dinner, cook him the best meal of his life, and they'd talk animatedly about racial justice until 2am and then say "so, same time next year?"

Kate Mulgrew and Kathryn Janeway would go on a coast-to-coast road trip and take a selfie kissing in front of the world's largest ball of yarn