#dr. berman

[helluvatrek]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine intro visuals at 1.4x speed with Thick of It by KSI at 1.5 speed replacing the music

[nerds-yearbook]

After 4 seasons of 98 episodes the controversal last episode of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001 - 2005) aired on May 13, 2005. The final episode had taken a lot of criticism for it's decision of ending the episode revealing the episode was a hologram watched by Star Trek the Next Generation character William T Riker (Jonathan Frakes). The decision to focus on Riker and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) had caused such backlash that in August, 2016, it was voted the worst episode of the entire Star Trek franchise. The main part of the episode took place in the year 2370. The end of this episode represented the first gap in a continous Star Trek TV projects since the launch of Star Trek the Next Generation. (These Are the Voyages...", Star Trek: Enterprise, TV Event)

[filmjunky-99]

r e m e m b e r i n g

Lisa Banes

9 July 1955 – 14 June 2021

⚘️

[pic: banes as dr. renhol, equilibrium, ds9]

[eternal-echoes]

“The makers of puberty blocking drugs such as Lupron and Supprelin warn that possible side effects include emotional instability, mood changes, aggression, nervousness, anxiety, agitation, confusion, delusions, insomnia, and depression, adding that you should "monitor for development or worsening of psychiatric symptoms during treatment."(12) Depression is considered a common side effect of puberty blockers, and according to drug manufacturers, "may be severe."(13)

Girls who take GnRHa experience a significant increase in behavioral and emotional problems and are more likely to self-harm.(14)

According to the largest gender clinic in the UK, after a year of being on puberty blockers, there was a significant increase in young women who agreed with the statement "I deliberately try to hurt or kill myself."(15) It should be noted, however, that there was no control group in this study, and so one cannot infer causation. What's clear, though, is that the drug was hardly curing the psychological distress of the children who took it. Rather, they expressed greater dissatisfaction with their bodies after being on the drug.(16) In the words of a team of researchers who promote the treatment, "It is therefore unlikely that GnRHa treatment will result in significant reduction in body dissatisfaction.’(17)

Understanding the role of hormones in brain functioning helps to explain why the drugs could have a negative emotional impact.

Puberty blocking drugs shut down the production of estrogen and progesterone. However, researchers believe that estrogen can have a protective effect against mental illnesses such as depression, acting as "nature's psychoprotectant."(18) Dr. Karen Berman, a senior investigator for the National Institutes of Mental Health, studied the effect of Lupron on the female brain. After injecting women with the drug, she scanned their brains with a PET scan and found that the activity in the frontal lobes of their brains had slowed to a near stop.(19) This leads to dulled or inappropriate emotions, lack of motivation, impulsiveness, and altered mental states such as delirium, disorientation, and confusion.(20) Studies also showed that puberty blockers cause memory problems and stunt brain development, which is the last thing a young person needs when making life-changing decisions about his or her future.(21) Therefore, those who argue that the outcomes of puberty blockers are uncertain are guilty of what some psychologists call "HARKing:" hypothesizing after the results are known.”

-Jason Evert, Male, Female, or Other: A Catholic Guide to Understanding Gender

—

Work cited:

12) Safety and Tolerability Profile, https://www.supprelinla.com/hcp/safety-tolerability-profile/; https://www.lupronpedpro.com/content/lupronped-hcp/countries/north-america/ us/en_us/pages.html, https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2014/020517s036_019732s041lbl.pdf

13) "Package leaflet: Decapeptyl" SR 11.25 mg," Ipsen Ltd. 2017, retrieved from http://www .medicines.org.uk/emc/product/780/pil.

14) Cf. Biggs, "The Tavistock's Experiment with Puberty Blockers," 6.

15) The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Board of Directors, June 23, 2015; Cf. Cohen, Deborah and Hannah Barnes, "Transgender treatment: Puberty blockers study under investigation," BBC Newsnight (July 22, 2019).

16) Cf. Biggs, "The Tavistock's Experiment with Puberty Blockers," 9.

17) P. Carmichael et al., "Short-term Outcomes of Pubertal Suppression in a Selected Cohort of 12 to 15 Year Old Young People with Persistent Gender Dysphoria in the UK," PLoS One 16:2 (February 2, 2021).

18) G. Fink et al., "Estrogen Control of Central Neurotransmission: Effect on Mood, Mental State, and Memory," Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, 16:3 (1996), 325-344.

19) Blum, Sex on the Brain, 206.

20) Cf. Chandler Marrs, "Lupron Side Effects Survey Results Part One: Scope and Severity," Hormones Matter, October 4, 2017.

21) Cf. M. Schneider et al., "Brain Maturation, Cognition and Voice Pattern in a Gender Dysphoria Case under Pubertal Suppression," Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 11 (November 2017), 1, 4-6; "Gender Dysphoria in Children: Understanding the Science and Medicine," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOniPhuyXeY.

—

For more recommended resources on gender dysphoria, click here.

[spockanalia-archive]

Spockanalia #1: Star Drek

By Ruth Berman

Art by Sherna Comerford and Juanita Coulson

by Ruth Berman Reprinted from Pantopon #16 (FAPA) by permission of the author

On the Enterprise, Sulu ran his hands through the space which had been occupied a moment ago. "Captain?" he said. "Mr. Spock?" His panic increased as he counted empty spaces.

Captain James Kirk of the Starship Enterprise glared at the young man asleep in the middle of the room. "Where are we?" he demanded.

The question woke the sleeper. "In a dungeon. Beyond that I don't know. Who are you?"

Kirk introduced himself, Lieutenant Uhura, Mr. Spock, and Doctor McCoy.

"How do you do," said the stranger politely. "I'm the Coceytus." He rose and bowed.

The walls were littered with fragmentary murals: here a tournament, there an orgy, or a hunt, or a dance of satyrs, and dozens of bright-colored boats sailing the grey stone rivers between each scene. Dr. McCoy grinned as he found the Coceytus staring up at an orgy in the middle of one wall.

"There's a more imaginative one to your left in the top corner," he said.

The young man smiled at him. "No, I have more a literary interest." He pointed at a neat inscription covering a fat man's rear. The others joined him in trying to decipher it, but it was upside-down, and all any of them got was a mild attack of vertigo.

The Coceytus blinked and rubbed his forehead. Then he rose in the air, cartwheeling as he went, until he stood on the ceiling, his eyes level with the inscription, and his cloak spreading out beneath him like a storm cloud. He let his feet fall and dropped to the floor, where he stood gazing up at the inscription with a bemused expression.

"Well?" said Kirk.

"Well," he said slowly, "it's an ordinary dirty joke, told in the form of a Spenserian stanza. The names of the protagonists are given as Prince Arthur and Queen Gloriana, fairest Tanaquil."

McCoy snorted.

"However," he went on, "there's a phrase that may be the key to a spell to get us out of here: 'elf's or man's or neither's kiss.' It's just stuck in parenthetically, and it doesn't make any sense in context, except, of course, that it rhymes with 'piss.' Lieutenant Uhura, may I kiss you?"

She was silent, dark face impassive, as she unwound his line of thought. "Very well."

He kissed her lips gently, ran to the door, and shoved it. It moved about half an inch and thumped on its lock. The Coceytus rubbed his bruised arm.

"Not very successful," McCoy commented.

"No. Would one of you humans care to try?"

"Are you serious about this?" Kirk asked.

"Oh, yes." He looked at the skeptical faces and laughed. "It's not all that uncommon—you have to remember that magic is science in this world. It's a standard sort of spell."

"All right." Kirk put his arms around Uhura and kissed her firmly.

"Perfectionist," McCoy muttered to himself. "On the other hand, he's probably never kissed her before. Jim doesn't sleep with officers."

One slanting eyebrow slanted higher on Spock's face, and McCoy suddenly remembered the Vulcan's acute hearing. He looked at Spock questioningly. "Your diagnosis is probably correct," Spock said.

"Still locked," the Coceytus announced. "I guess we're stuck. We don't have any elves around."

"What are you?" said Uhura.

"Me? Why, I'm—I suppose it depends on the definition. I was thinking of Spenser's elves—or was it green and yellow creatures sitting on a buttercup I had in mind? Well, that would still leave us needing someone neither elf nor human."

McCoy looked at the ceiling. Uhura looked at her feet, and Kirk looked at Spock. The Coceytus considered all the glances carefully. "I see," he said. "Mr. Spock?"

Spock returned Kirk's glance for a moment, then pulled Uhura to him. McCoy took his gaze off the ceiling.

"Open," the Coceytus said, some moments later.

"Don't I get a turn?" said McCoy plaintively. "Oh, well," he added, "sorry we couldn't find a more Prince Charming sort of neither-nor for you, Uhura."

"Mr. Spock is quite satisfactory," she said calmly as she hurried out the door.

"No accounting for tastes," sighed McCoy, and ran to catch up to them.

They followed the Coceytus down a long corridor, dimly lit by rows of small blue lights set in the floor. The inverted shadows cast up on their faces distorted their looks. Kirk felt as if he was in a pack of monsters and had to fight the impulse to run and get away from the beasts.

The corridor ended, and three narrower corridors branched off from it. They stopped, uncertain which way to go. The Coceytus peered down each one, snuffing the chilly air. The little group pulled together in a cluster at the end of the corridor, hemmed in by a cage on one side and a large roll-top desk at the other. The cage held a stinking creature, something like a small dragon, so far as they could see it. Although it was asleep, they drew away from it and pressed up against the desk. Its surface was hidden by a mass of books, three jars of herbs, a row of quill pens in a stand, a half-written parchment, a plaster bust, and an inkwell full of a golden liquid that gave off a light. It was a faint light, but it seemed sharp after the shadowy blues. The parchment, too, shone gold, and a little pool of gold light was gathering on a furry blotter left beneath the pens.

"Still wet," Spock murmured. "I wonder…"

He reached for the parchment, but the Coceytus whirled, so swiftly that he knocked against Uhura, and caught Spock's arm. "Caref—"

"Master! Master!" yelled the plaster bust. Its voice was high and echoed thinly down the corridors.

Uhura stumbled, and McCoy steadied her. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, "one of those pens pricked me, that's all."

A screaming and clattering rose in the distance from the middle corridor. The thing in the cage snored and sighed and made a whistling sound like water boiling. The Coceytus shrugged and then ran headlong down the right hand corridor. It led them to a flight of winding stairs. There were no banisters, and the stairs were steep, so they used hands as well as feet in their race. Kirk, scrambling up the stairs, felt he had become one of the pack and wondered why he was not baying. A light flickered from the top of the stairs as they circled, and he ordered himself to concentrate on it.

The Coceytus reached the next floor and ran at random to the left. Kirk grabbed him and tugged him to a halt. The others collided with them.

"Look!" said Kirk, trying to pull his arm out of the tangle to point.

"What?" said the Coceytus. "Oh!"

The light was daylight, shining through a small, dirty window set high in the wall. McCoy, shorter than the others, looked at it dubiously.

The Coceytus jumped into the air and tugged at the window, but it stuck fast.

"Smash it," ordered Kirk.

The Coceytus nodded, wrapped his arm in his cloak, and swung. Fresh light streamed in, blinding them.

McCoy reached tentatively for the ledge.

"No need," said the Coceytus. He dropped to the floor, sprang up past the window, carrying Uhura, and shoved her out.

McCoy shivered as he was pulled up, partly from the rush of cool air, partly from the howls coming up the stairs. He fell heavily to the ground, a few feet below, and stood still, until Uhura grabbed him out of the way of Spock's descending feet. Kirk landed next, but the Coceytus, dropping after him, hung choking a foot above the ground, his cloak caught securely in a large blue hand.

Spock and Kirk tugged the cloak free, and the young man fell to his knees. They dragged him up again, and the group pelted across the red and orange flowers, a lawn of yellowed grass, up a hill, and down the hill through a wood. At the foot they came out of the wood to a narrow, dusty road.

"Do we dare follow this?" asked Kirk.

"We can make better time on it," said the Coceytus. "I think we'd better take the risk of being followed."

"All right, let's go," said Kirk.

The Coceytus offered his arm to Uhura, and McCoy smiled, wondering how she would react to the archaic courtesy. She accepted the arm. McCoy stared for a moment and dropped back a pace to the other side of the pair. He touched the wrist with the tiny scratch. It was cold. "How does your wrist feel?" he asked.

"Pretty awful," she said.

They were whispering, but Spock heard anyway. ''Lieutenant—" he began.

"My fault, too," the Coceytus interrupted. "Or no one's fault, really. A wizard's castle is just plain dangerous."

McCoy pulled out his diagnostikit and held it to the injured wrist as they walked along. "You keep talking about magic," he remarked, "but…" He paused.

"What is it, Bones?" asked Kirk.

"I can't get a reading."

"That's what happens to precision scientific instruments in a wizard's world," said the Coceytus.

McCoy looked at the diagnostikit again. It was obstinately motionless. He finished his remark: "but you must know what you're talking about, so do you have any ideas on what happened to Uhura? Was the ink poisoned?"

"Not necessarily," the Coceytus answered, "but poisonous, at any rate."

"Then we'll stop as soon as we cross a stream," McCoy said. "Do you think you can go on farther?" he asked Uhura gently. "We could rig something to carry water back in."

"I can manage," she said.

Spock raised his head and ran a few steps ahead of them. "There's a stream not far away," he called back. "I can hear it."

"How far?" said Kirk.

"I'm not sure. It probably crosses the road, but I think it's closer this way." Spock and Kirk pushed open a way through the underbrush that clogged the wood on the side away from the wizard's castle and held it open as the Coceytus and McCoy helped Uhura after them. Several yards later they came to the stream so suddenly that Kirk and Spock both slipped in.

"As long as we're wet anyway…" Kirk said.

Spock nodded and locked hands with him.

"Come on Lieutenant," Kirk said. "You'll have to get wet, Doctor." They carried Uhura over to the farther side, which was higher and not so grown over with brush. A grassy bank sloped up for several feet before the wood began again. McCoy splashed after them, grumbling at the Coceytus, who arced across in a graceful parabola.

"Cheer up," Kirk told him, "this may free us from pursuit."

"Thanks."

Kirk brushed twigs out of his uniform. "Now what, Bones?"

McCoy took out a small surgical knife from his kit. "I wish I had some proper materials with me," he muttered, "but this will have to—Coceytus, are you wearing a sword?"

"Yes." He shrugged back his cloak to reveal it.

"All right. Use it to cut me a bandage off your cloak. About so wide." McCoy gestured to show the width and turned to Uhura. "I'm sorry, this will hurt. Kneel by the stream."

She managed a smile. "You got it wrong, Doctor. You mean: Now this will only hurt a little bit."

He smiled back. "I'll ask you afterwards. Spock, hold her arm steady for me."

Uhura remained silent as he slashed across the scratch, motioned Spock to let go, and thrust her arm into the stream. He held it there some moments, forcing the blood to flow out freely, then bathed the wound and took the arm out. Instantly, the Coceytus bound the strip of cloth over the wound.

"Neat," McCoy said. "You've had training?"

"A little. First-aid procedures, mostly."

"You'd better lie down, Uhura," McCoy said.

Spock helped her down, and she sighed as she sank into the long grass. "You were right, Doctor," she said.

"Of course," he said smugly, and felt the injured arm. It was cool from the water, so he could not tell if it was cold in itself. He scowled at the arm. "I wish I could be sure lancing was any good against venom."

"Aren't you?" Uhura said, startled.

"There's no proper proof for it, medically speaking," McCoy answered. "But, medically speaking, a treatment that perhaps helps, does not damage, and is expected by the patient is a treatment that should be applied."

He glanced at Spock, waiting for the Vulcan to comment, "Most illogical," but Spock was silent, lost in thought. When he spoke it was to the Coceytus. "If you don't know where we are, do you know where we are going?"

Kirk broke in, "You know more about where we are than you admitted back in the castle."

"Well, I guessed more. I still don't know. I don't suppose any of you have read Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queen ?"

"No," said Uhura and McCoy.

"Yes," said Kirk and Spock. They looked at each other speculatively.

"You surprise me, Mr. Spock," said Kirk.

"I may say the same, Captain," Spock replied.

Kirk smiled. "You'd be surprised what a serious young man will get through who thinks captains are supposed to be well-read."

"And Spock is a walking reference library, we all know that," said McCoy. "Perfectly simple. Go on, Coceytus."

"I think we are either in Spenser's Faery Land or near it. More likely near it."

"Why?" said Kirk.

"Someone in Spenser's world wouldn't know about the Spenserian stanza, unless he was a wizard interested in other worlds. None of the wizards Spenser describes sound as if they'd be much interested in knowledge that isn't immediately useful; they're too busy haring after power—or dames. A mark of a poor wizard."

"That sounds like a professionally righteous indignation," McCoy commented.

The Coceytus grinned. "I'm not in the profession, but I suppose I've absorbed their attitude. No, our wizard has to be someone who is close enough to Spenser's Faery Land to enjoy making fun of it and learned enough to have run across Spenser."

Spock said, "I wonder if we are justified in assuming that 'our wizard' is hostile."

"Well, I generally assume someone is hostile when a stranger comes to his door to ask for hospitality, and he orders his servants to grab the visitor and lock him up.''

"Why were you asking for hospitality?" asked Uhura.

"I got lost during a dragon hunt and fell into another country," he answered. "It's easy to do Back of the Beyond."

"Back of what?"

"Back of the Beyond…let's see…I guess you could call it Fairyland in General. The terrains shift a lot, so if you go near the border of one country Back of the Beyond it's easy to find yourself someplace else you'd never heard of. Why do you think our wizard may be friendly, Mr. Spock?"

"He provided you with the means of escape, or so I should assume."

"The means of…Oh, yes! You and Uhura. Yes, it's a possibility. His dungeon implies a certain piquant sense of humor. But if it's all a joke, I'm not sure I care for his taste in comedy. But as to where, we're going—maybe nowhere. If there's a full moon tonight I may be able to call my people without any help. Otherwise, where we're going is in search of a friendly wonder-worker to help me. If we're in Spenser's world, we could try Lady Cambina. If we're not, I haven't the faintest idea."

Kirk nodded. The whole set-up was ridiculous, but at least it had a modicum of internal consistency. "Uhura, do you feel up to walking again?"

"Yes, Captain," she said.

"Careful, Jim," McCoy interposed, "Uhura is one of those idiots who hate to admit a weakness. I think it's a bad habit she picked up from you and Spock."

"I really do feel well enough," she said, and got to her feet unaided to prove it.

"Good," said Kirk, "then we'll follow the stream to where it meets the road and follow the road till we find someone who can direct us to a wizard."

They set off, Uhura taking Spock's arm, but they had only gone a few steps when a knight came riding into view around the curve of the stream. His horse picked its way daintily along the strip of bank between water and wood. The knight was in full plate armor, neatly jointed.

"Well," said Kirk, "he looks like one of Spenser's knights."

"Yes," agreed Spock, "although I don't recall a description of a shield like that."

"Azure, a sphere argent," said the Coceytus. "I don't either."

The knight pushed up the bevor of his helmet with one hand and lowered his lance with the other in a flowing, easy motion which, Kirk suspected, took great strength. The face revealed was fair and conventionally handsome—he looked a little like Kirk, except that his features were set in a grave expression.

"Looks like Jim when he has to order other people into danger," McCoy thought to himself, and suppressed a smile.

The Coceytus stepped forward. "Good…" He paused and glanced uncertainly at the sun. "Good day, sir knight."

"Good day, youngling. Are you all Paynims?"

"All?" The Coceytus blinked. "None of us are."

"Your lady is, or should be. I have never seen a Christian with so black a Saracen's hide."

Uhura stared at him and decided the words were meant to be insulting. She rummaged through her memory for the few When-Knighthood-Was-in-Flower stories she had read and said coldly, "Sir, a knight is, or should be, courteous."

"I pray your pardon, lady." The knight raised his lance, and set it back in its holder, then dismounted and knelt before Uhura. "I have ridden far today, and my heart is burdened. I did not understand that the ladies of this land could look and…and dress so strangely."

He managed not to stare at her bare legs, left free by her uniform. Uhura, visualizing herself in a long dress with a flowing train, suddenly realized what an arousing sight a woman's ankle must be in his world and said gravely, "Your error is forgiven, sir."

Spock raised an eyebrow at the deep solemnity of her tone, and she nearly broke up. But she swallowed hard and managed not to laugh. Fortunately, the Coceytus distracted the knight's attention. "Then you are not a native to this country, sir?" he said.

"No, I am Adamantus of Faery Land."

Kirk and Spock exchanged congratulatory glances.

"And I serve Queen Gloriana—and my heart's lady, Constance." Sir Adamantus looked around "What is this country's name?" he asked.

"Alas, Sir Adamantus, we are strangers to it," said the Coceytus. "We had hoped you could tell us." He went on to introduce the group, tacking a knighthood onto Kirk and calling McCoy "Surgeon McCoy."

McCoy suspected that a few extra syllables were slurred into the word, so that Sir Adamantus would hear it as Chirurgeon.

Sir Adamantus bowed to them, and a few moments of embarrassing silence followed. The knight looked uncomfortable, as if wishing they would all go away. At last he said cautiously, "What make you, traveling so near an enchanter's castle?"

"We just escaped from it," said Kirk. "He had us locked up."

"Truly?" said Adamantus eagerly, "then I need not hide my thoughts. Now let me see…the third oak, Lady Cambina said, and the fifth stone. Here is the third oak." He glanced at a large tree at the edge of the wood and turned to the stream. "One…two…" He stopped and wrinkled his eyebrows. "Think you a pebble is a stone?"

"Yes," said Spock.

"No," said the Coceytus, "not for a spell."

"I am no vile sorcerer!" Sir Adamantus exclaimed, turning on him.

"I can see that," said the Coceytus, ''but something of sorcery concerns you."

The knight nodded and finished his count. He drew his sword and took as deep a breath as his armor allowed, then stooped and rolled aside the fifth stone at the stream's edge. A fox sprang out of the hole. The sword flashed blue in the sunlight and chopped off its head. A duck flew squawking out of the bloodless carcass. Sir Adamantus grabbed it and wrung its neck. An egg dropped out of it into the stream. Adamantus snatched the egg, leaning so far in that he nearly toppled over, and Kirk had to pull him back.

"Thank you, Sir James," he said, and rose slowly, holding the egg in both hands. "Now I hold the enchanter's heart, and he must do my will—if I can get to him."

"Oh?" said the Coceytus. "May we know your will?"

"I seek the Lady Constance, stol'n from me by the Titan's daughter, Mutability. I know only that she hid her nowhere in Faery Land. It is my hope that this enchanter can show me the road that leads to my love."

"Sir Adamantus, perhaps we can assist each other," said Kirk. "We were going to go looking for a friendly wizard…"

"You would have looked long!" said Adamantus. "Sir James, know you not that all men of magic are evil? The essence of magic is deceit. So say all wise men, and I know it to be true, for, look you, what is magic but the shifting of appearances, and the changing of true substance to false? A thing which my lady could never abide."

"She will have to," suggested the Coceytus, "if magic is the only way for you to rescue her."

The knight looked with horror at the egg in his hands. "True—and I am already stained with sorcerous dealing. How shall I face my lady?" He turned to his horse and fumbled in his saddlebag with one hand, drawing out at last a sort of canvas sack, which he proceeded to draw over his shield.

"What are you doing?" asked McCoy.

"I cannot bear my lady's moon, the emblem of constancy, on my shield while the taint of magic is upon me."

"But I thought the moon was the emblem of inconstancy," said McCoy.

Kirk and Spock made "shut up" gestures at him. "Not in the Spenserian universe, Doctor," whispered Spock.

Kirk drew his imaginary knighthood around him and held Adamantus' hand from fastening the cover. "Sir Adamantus," he said, "it may be you mistake the matter." He pulled the cover off. "Behold your moon—always in the full upon your shield. But in the unchanging heavens she waxes and wanes in her appointed course. Surely the changes of magic, rightly used, can be as regular?"

Kirk paused to kick the Coceytus, who was grinning in frank appreciation of the Platonic sophistries, and went on, "Would your lady disdain to meet the Lady Cambina?"

"I do not know," said Adamantus. "It may be as you say."

The Coceytus slid smoothly into the attack. "You have lost your love, Sir Adamantus, and we have lost ourselves. If we help you win your way to the enchanter, will you ask him to help me call my people as well as help you find Lady Constance?"

"Yes," said Adamantus, and repeated it with more conviction, "yes, and gladly. If I do this thing at all I must do it with some hope of success, and I will freely tell you that it puzzled me much to consider how I should pass the enchanter's guards and protect myself without losing the egg. Sir James, will you do me the honor of wearing my sword? For I see yours is lost."

"I would be honored," said Kirk, accepting the sword. It was heavier than it looked, and he felt like a fool as he tried to find some way of holding it that would not result in his tripping the moment he took a step. Sulu, an enthusiastic fencer, had managed to persuade them all to learn the rudiments of fencing, but Kirk had never gone beyond, preferring to study more generally useful forms of in-fighting. He wished that he had accepted more of Sulu's tutelage, although he was not sure that it would have helped him at all with the monster, heavier than a saber, which he now held.

"Lady," said Adamantus, "will you please to ride?"

"Thank you," said Uhura uncertainly, and started towards the horse. The Coceytus steered her to the left side and helped her mount.

They went silently back to the road, back to the hill, through the wood to the hilltop, and down across the wizard's garden. Uhura looked in the broken window and peered carefully to both sides. "It's—" she began, and then remembered how the Coceytus had hovered in the air to read the inscription. So she craned her neck for a careful look upwards before leaning down from the horse to tell the others, "It's safe."

"Go ahead," said Kirk, "we'll follow."

The horse protested softly as she stepped to the saddle and into the hall through the window, but its master stroked it and held it steady. One after another the rest mounted the horse and scrambled into the castle, Adamantus last of all.

Something small squeaked on the right and dashed gibbering around a corner before they could see what it was. Kirk and the Coceytus looked at each other. Holding their swords ready, they stepped out in front of the rest and walked towards the corner.

Sir Adamantus forgot he had no sword and moved up beside them, grinding his teeth in frustration when Spock pulled him back. He glared at the egg in his hands and muttered "Sorcery!"

They reached the corner, turned it, and stopped. Two large, blue trolls stood blocking their way with drawn swords.

"En garde!" yelled Kirk, and feinted to the right, cursing the sword's weight which slowed him down as he went under the troll's parry and thrust at its breast. But the thrust almost went home. The troll had to jump back a pace to avoid it.

Kirk thrust again, half seeing out of one eye that the Coceytus, his cloak whirled around his left arm as a shield, was driving the other troll slowly back. Kirk wondered if his fencing stance was wrong. The Coceytus, facing his opponent directly, instead of turning his body sideways, thrust and slashed and darted to one side or another at his ease, while Kirk moved rigidly straight ahead, his thighs aching with the unaccustomed strain of the crab-like steps. But still his troll gave ground before his thrusts, and still he parried its strokes successfully.

Kirk gasped as the troll's sword jabbed his arm. He paused for a moment at the hot sting, but the wound was slight, and he was able to thrust once more. Even in that thrust he was wondering why the troll looked so upset, but it was his last stroke.

Spock announced loudly from behind him, "This is no battle."

The Coceytus beat his opponent's sword upwards, stepped back, and lowered his sword.

"You say true, Master Spock," said Adamantus, wonderingly.

Kirk let his arm fall.

The trolls stared at each other in consternation.

"Wizard!" yelled the Coceytus, "What's your game?"

A tall form stepped into the doorway. "To get you into this room. As you seem to have discovered my little device, I shall simply invite you in. If you'll step aside, I'll send your escort away."

The Coceytus stepped back to one side, shielding Adamantus.

The trolls looked miserable.

"You have done well," the wizard reassured them, "but now go and rest."

They stomped down the corridor and around the corner. Their footsteps echoed all the way to the staircase. The wizard shouted after them, "Find the glazier and tell him to fix the window, while you're at it," then stepped out of the doorway.

"Now what do we do?" said Kirk.

"Go on, I guess," said the Coceytus.

The room they came into was warmer than the corridor had been, for a large fire was lit and trying hard to take the chill off the stones. The wizard, a cadaverous man dressed in black, stood leaning against the mantelpiece. If he had stood upright he would have been taller than any of them, even Sir Adamantus. As it was, the Coceytus and McCoy looked like two small boys, and the others felt uncomfortably shrunken.

"Welcome, madam and gentlemen," said the wizard. "Won't you sit down?"

After a moment the Coceytus held a chair for Uhura and sat down next to her. "We thank you, lord of the house," he said.

McCoy followed suit and said meditatively, "Well, it seems you're not a wicked wizard after all."

"Wicked," the wizard repeated. "That is a curious word you humans use."

"Not just humans," interrupted the Coceytus.

The wizard paid no attention. "As I understand it," he went on, "it describes one who puts his own interests above those of others. Yes, of course I am wicked. However, I find it to my interest to grant your wishes."

"You must, vile enchanter, for I hold your heart."

"Yes, Sir Adamantus, precisely. My name, by the way, is Threngil. I prefer it to 'lord of the house' or…other titles."

His guests were all seated now, except Adamantus. The knight shook his head and sat down. Threngil arched his back once against the fire's warmth, then drew up a chair and sat down, too. "Tell me, Mr. Spock," he said, "how did you discover my stratagem?"

"Captain Kirk is not a skilled swordsman. The Coceytus obviously is, if I may judge by speed and appearance of ease. Yet each was driving his opponent back at the same pace. The discrepancy could not reasonably be due to chance."

"Thank you," said Threngil. "Now your wounds should be seen to." He rose, and Kirk pressed back into his chair, shrinking away from him. The wizard smiled bitterly and held out his hands to the ceiling. A quantity of white bandages fell into them. "Here," he said to McCoy, "but remember to change them when you return to your…spaceship. They will turn into cobwebs."

McCoy glanced at the Coceytus, who nodded. So McCoy bound up Kirk's wounds, and, after a moment's hesitation, put a fresh bandage on Uhura's arm.

Meanwhile Threngil went on, "Would you like some food or drink?"

"Master Threngil!" Adamantus burst out, but then stopped.

"We would, thank you," said the Coceytus.

Threngil clapped his hands and told the goblin who ran to the door to bring wine, fruit, and meat. "You are quite correct, Sir Adamantus," he remarked. "I enjoy your torment. But, aside from that, your companions are hungry. The Coceytus, for example, has eaten nothing for some twelve hours. You must forgive me," he said, turning to the Coceytus, "but I expected Sir Adamantus to arrive this morning. When he didn't I forgot to wake you for breakfast."

"You expected me?"

"Yes," said the wizard, "what kept you?"

"An old man was trying to get in his harvest, and his son was ill." Adamantus looked ashamed. "It is not work fit for a knight, but they needed help."

"You mortals have such inconsistent ideals," murmured Threngil. "I sometimes wonder how you ever disentangle them. However, you are here now. My intention, you see, was to send my servants to capture you before you reached the stream."

"But how did you know I was—"

"It is not so easy to sneak up on a wizard's heart as you suppose. One feels these things. And one has equipment to substantiate one's feeling." Threngil nodded at a crystal ball on the mantelpiece. "As it turned out, the Coceytus occupied the dungeon meant for you. And, as I inadvertently provided him with the means of escape, he escaped just when I should have sent my guards out to meet you, and they spent so much time chasing him that they missed you. A pity—such an ingenious plan."

"Why didn't you just hide your heart someplace else?" said McCoy.

"I cannot touch it. That is the penalty for security. I could have sent my servants, if they were fit to be trusted, but they are not."

"Are you?" said Adamantus suddenly.

"It all depends. For example, I am perfectly trustworthy as long as you hold my heart. I would be more comfortable, I may say, if you held it a little less tightly."

Adamantus relaxed his grip, after a suspicious glance, and Threngil slumped down in his chair. "Thank you," he said, straightening up again, "that is better. And here is your food. Excellent."

Threngil poured himself some wine and took a pear and some meat, tasted each, nodded his approval, and sent the goblin on to serve the others. Kirk wondered if the wizard was eating only to prove to his guests that they were not being poisoned, and decided that he probably was. With or without poison, the food was good and the wine excellent.

McCoy sipped his wine and carefully tasted it, enjoying both the light-bodied rosé and Spock's look of disapproval. "You really ought to try it, Spock," he said.

"Give up, Doctor," said Uhura, "you'll never change him."

"A teetotaller?" said Threngil. "Dear me, how interesting. And he sent the goblin back to bring Spock some water. "Now, Sir Adamantus," he said, "my plan originally was to take you prisoner, because I thought I could not fulfill your demands. I know where the Lady Constance is, but I cannot get there."

"Where?" said Adamantus eagerly.

"On the Moon."

"That's impossible," said McCoy. "She couldn't live there—or is she there but not alive?"

"Master Leech, do not say it," begged Adamantus.

"She is alive," said Threngil. He added to the doctor, "You know and I know that the moon is an airless rock, but in Queen Gloriana's realm they do not know it—and, I believe, it is not so in their sky. I changed my plan, however, when the Coceytus arrived, for I found in his mind an image he calls a spaceship. I took him prisoner and set about trying to transport a spaceship here for him to fly—"

"You could have asked me."

"Would you have agreed?"

"Oh—probably."

"I preferred the certainty. I worked through the night and, indeed, found a spaceship. But my attempt to bring the whole ship here, as you see, foundered." He gestured at the four from the Enterprise.

"Look here," said Kirk, "one man alone couldn't operate my ship."

"Indeed?" said Threngil. "Then it is fortunate that you have already promised Sir Adamantus your assistance."

McCoy touched his diagnostikit. "The Enterprise won't operate Back of the Beyond, will it?" he said.

"Normally, no," said the Coceytus. "However, things could be arranged." He rose. "May I?"

Threngil nodded, and the Coceytus took the crystal ball off the mantelpiece and sat down with it. He stroked it with his right hand, never taking his finger-tips off it, and crooned a spell over it softly.

A cloud of color grew up in the crystal—shapeless, so far as Kirk could see, but the Coceytus spoke to it happily.

"Hello, Father…Yes, I'm in trouble again…No, I'd like to be transported to a ship called the Enterprise. I've got four members of its crew here with me…No, six of us all together. Sir Adamantus of Spenser's Faery…Just a moment." Ho turned to Kirk. "Where is the Enterprise now?"

Kirk gave him the co-ordinates, wondering what, if anything, they would mean to the young jack-of-all-trades. He rattled them off to the crystal ball and went on, "And then, can you transport the Enterprise to the Spenserian world with enough of its own space to leave it operable? …Thanks—oh, anywhere between the Moon's orbit and Mercury's will do. Can you keep in touch with me through all that? …Right. Bye."

"Between the Moon and Mercury?" said Kirk.

The Coceytus nodded.

"A Ptolemaic universe, sir," said Spock.

"I should have known," said Kirk ruefully. "It's described in the Mutability Cantos. That reminds me of something." He stared into his glass of wine as the lines came back to him. "Cynthia lives in her palace on the Moon. Couldn't she send Lady Constance back to Earth? Why hasn't she done something to help her?"

"Because Mutability put a spell of silence on the lady's lips and told Cynthia that the parents of the speechless maiden begged her to take the girl under her protection. Not a very good lie, but she left before anyone could challenge it."

"A spell of silence," mused the Coceytus. "Do you know what can break it?"

"Threngil let his head fall back and nearly choked on howls of rusty laughter. "What would, you guess, Coceytus?" he gasped at last, "what would you guess?"

The Coceytus raised his eyebrows. "True love's kiss?"

"Exactly!"

"You wizards seem to like kisses in spells," remarked McCoy.

"Mutability is no wizard," said Threngil. "I like kisses in spells because they provide the maximum embarrassment for the participants—hence, the maximum amusement for me. But lovers feel no embarrassment at kissing. True love's kiss is not only unimaginative but dull. Still, what can you expect from a Titan's daughter?"

The Coceytus stood up. "We'll be off in a minute," he said. The others rose, except Threngil and Adamantus. "You'd better stand up," he told the knight, and turned to the wizard. "Thank you for your unusual hospitality. I've enjoyed myself, I think, in a way, on the whole."

"I'm delighted to hear it," answered Threngil. "Sir Adamantus, tell me, do you insist on dragging my heart all over the universe, or will you consider my part played and leave it behind so that I can spell it back into hiding?"

Adamantus looked at the wizard for a moment and set the egg down carefully. "Farewell, Master Threngil," he said.

"Farewell."

The Coceytus looked at the egg. "Why not put it back where it belongs?"

Haze closed around them as the wizard answered, "That is a—" Their ears popped at the slight difference in air-pressure between Threngil's castle and the bridge of the Enterprise.

"Captain!" said Sulu, jumping out of the captain's chair, ''Where've you been the last five minutes?"

"Five minutes?" said Kirk.

"Yes, and who's that?" asked Sulu. "And that?" he added, a moment later. Adamantus' armor was so spectacularly out of place that the Coceytus was at first invisible.

Kirk looked around at the familiar chairs and panels. His arm hurt, and he could feel a little blood oozing out of the cut. A bit of wadded-up cobweb fell from his sleeve to the floor. "I'm not sure I know the answers to any of your questions, Mr. Sulu, but these gentlemen are called Sir Adamantus and the Coceytus."

Sulu started over to his own seat, but Kirk stopped him. "Keep command, Mr. Sulu. We're going down to the sick-bay for a few minutes."

While McCoy cleansed and bound Uhura's wound properly, Kirk said, "The five minutes' absence is your doing, Coceytus?"

"Yes. My father's, rather."

"How long do we have till the next shift?"

"A few minutes—longer than it took him to get ready to get us here. It's a more complicated movement."

"I appreciate that," Kirk said dryly.

"How does that feel, Uhura?" asked McCoy.

"Not bad. I don't feel shaky all over now."

"Good. Your turn, Jim." He set to work on Kirk's arm.

"Uhura," said Kirk, "you're relieved from duty, if you want to be. You, too, Spock. We've all had a—well—a disquieting time."

"I'd rather not, sir," Uhura said. "At least, not till after we've seen the Ptolemaic Moon."

"Understandable," said Kirk. "Same with you, Spock?"

"Yes, Captain."

McCoy grinned. "Can't I be relieved from duty so I can come hang around the bridge for the fun?"

"Yes, if you're done tying ribbons on me."

"Done, Captain."

"All right." Kirk looked around at his little company. Grass, dirt, and water competed for precedence in staining, and his own uniform had a small patch of dried blood in addition to everything else. "I'll see you on the bridge, when we've changed. Sir Adamantus, Coceytus, would you like to borrow fresh clothes?"

"Better not," said the Coceytus. "We'll be out of here pretty quickly."

A few minutes later they were all gathered on the bridge. Uhura and Kirk were the last. They entered together and found the second navigator and the second communications officer standing by the captain's chair, listening incredulously to a discussion of the advantages of fencing as opposed to sword-fighting with a shield between Sulu and Sir Adamantus. Spock, McCoy, and the Coceytus were listening with less interest, although the Coceytus occasionally threw in remarks, randomly supporting one side or the other.

Spock rose from the captain's chair, in his obtrusively quiet way, and walked to his own when he saw Kirk. Sulu and the navigation and communications officers scurried to theirs. "All in order, Mr. Spock?" said Kirk, ignoring the race to restore order.

"Yes, sir," said Spock.

As Kirk and Uhura took their seats the ship bucked. Kirk clamped his teeth against a cry as his injured arm bumped against the arm of the chair.

"Captain," said Sulu unhappily, "is that Earth I see on the screen, or aren't you sure of that, either?"

"I'm not sure, Mr. Sulu," said Kirk cautiously, "but it's an Earth. We won't be here long. Set a course for the Moon."

"Without crossing the Moon's orbit," added the Coceytus.

"Seriously?" said Sulu.

"Yes," said Kirk.

"Otherwise you'll break the crystal sphere," explained the Coceytus.

Sulu and the second navigator looked at each other and then at the Coceytus. "What crystal sphere?" they said in unison.

"The one the Moon is set in. All the planets are set in them. Their turning is what makes everything rotate around the earth, you know. If you can get a view on your screen at right angles to the plane of the ecliptic you should be able to see the axletree."

"Oh," said Sulu.

"What axletree?" said the second navigator.

"The one that turns the crystal spheres."

"Sir, we can't establish an orbit this way," offered the second navigator.

"Unnecessary," said Kirk. "We just want an approach close enough to beam Sir Adamantus down."

The second navigator subsided with a few muttered remarks about plate armor and space-suits, and he and Sulu set the course.

"Captain," said Uhura, "I'm picking up something."

"Radio?" said Spock incredulously, going to look over her shoulder.

"Yes, but Very Low Frequency. Not more than four kilocycles or so. Just a moment. I think I can make it audible."

Soon she had a sweet humming sound filling the bridge. It was a chord, but the base note was much lower than the rest. They found themselves straining to hear all the notes equally. The blend had a comforting sound. Kirk felt his head fall back, his muscles eased, and the pain left his arm. It occurred to him that he should not be staring slack-jawed at the ceiling, but he was too comfortable to do anything about it. He could just see an upside-down Coceytus running towards Uhura before the young man collapsed languidly out of his field of vision.

"Spock!" the Coceytus called. It was meant to be desperate, but it came out in a yawn, blending with the sweet noise.

Spock moved one hand slowly past Uhura. At last he fell, knocking them both against the panel, where his hand, dragging along the dials, found the main communicator and turned it off.

Kirk snapped his head down and sprang out of his chair. The Coceytus thrust himself off the floor. Spock and Uhura disentangled themselves, murmuring polite apologies. McCoy rubbed his eyes and asked, "What in heaven's name was that?"

"A most apt expletive, Doctor," said Spock. "The music of the spheres, obviously."

"Oh, obviously," agreed Kirk. A slow, joyous smile crept over his face. McCoy glared at him.

"Stop jotting that down in your mental notebook of Spockisms and do something! Sir."

"Spock's done all that's necessary, but I suppose I could escort Sir Adamantus to the transporter room. Sulu, how soon will we be close enough?"

"Five minutes, sir."

"Excellent." Kirk bowed, glancing sideways to see if the Coceytus enjoyed the gesture. He did. "Sir Adamantus, may I show you the way?"

"Lead on, Sir James."

Kirk reappeared by himself shortly. "Uhura," he said, "stand by to notify the transporter room. Sulu, give her the signal directly."

"Yes, sir," they said.

Kirk examined the screen unhappily. "Mr. Spock," he said. "Is there really any life on that Moon?"

Spock checked the sensors. "Affirmative, sir. Quite a large concentration in one spot—I assume it to be the location of Cynthia's palace."

"What are they breathing?" asked Sulu.

"Ether."

"There isn't any such thing," several voices said.

"If you like attenuated, but breathable, air any better, you may call it air. However, it extends beyond the surface of the Moon. It is, in fact, pervasive, except in our immediate vicinity. I prefer to call it ether."

"Quite right," said the Coceytus.

On the screen the Moon grew larger. Already they could see Cynthia's palace of ivory and silver. Slowly the palace grew, and they could see figures running out of the palace to stare at them.

"Now," said Sulu.

"Now," said Uhura to the intercom.

A silver figure appeared on the plain and moved towards the palace. One of the figures in the group ran forward to meet the newcomer. They embraced.

"Now," said the Coceytus to the empty air.

The ship jerked again, and they were back where they had started a few minutes—or hours—ago.

"Goodbye," said the Coceytus, and disappeared.

Spock looked at the empty space and turned to Kirk. "Sir, how will you enter this on the log?"

"Well Mr. Spock…" Kirk said and paused. He smiled sweetly. "That's not your concern."

"No, sir," agreed Spock politely.

"Besides, you'll look it up as soon as the Captain goes off duty," said McCoy.

Spock looked hurt.

Sulu leaned back in his chair and counted faces. The right ones were all there. "I don't suppose, Captain," he remarked, "that you have any sureties now about what happened?"

"Oh, yes," said Kirk, "I have one, Mr. Sulu."

"And that is?''

"It never happened. And, since it never happened, I need not record it in the log. Understood?"

They nodded.

"Mr. Sulu," said Spock thoughtfully.

"Yes?"

"I'd like a few more fencing lessons, if you don't mind."

"So would I," said Kirk.

"Me, too," said McCoy.

"I'd be delighted. How about you, Uhura?" said Sulu.

"No, thanks," she said, rising to go off duty. "I'm going to be too busy the next few days—there's a long poem I want to read, if the ship's library has it."

"It does," said Spock.

Note: With the help and guidance of Open Doors, we digitized the first volume of Spockanalia and imported it to AO3, which you can view here. In order to meet AO3's terms of service, some of the content was edited or removed. The full version of the zine is preserved on this blog. The masterpost is here.

[antimatterpod]

189. A Real Rick Berman Kind of Horror (LD 5.04 and 5.05)

Anika and Liz visit the Klingon homeworld and Starbase 80, and Anika does not partake in blood wine or corn dogs because these episodes are not inclusive for vegetarians.

Yes, we’re talking about Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes “A Farewell to Farms” and “Starbase 80?!”, and we have a few things to say…

“A Farewell to Farms” was fine

Mary Chieffo deserves better

It’s time for Liz to admit the truth: she has a soft spot for Dr Migleemo

Is Migleemo Freeman’s Tuvok?

It’s very possible that there are external reasons that season 5 of Lower Decks hasn’t been working for us

The SNWification of Star Trek since 2022

Starbase 80 is symptomatic of an empire in decay

What is Mariner’s arc in season 5?

We are here to ship Mariner/Kassia

Listen here or in your favourite podcatcher, unless it's Google because that shut down, or Spotify, because our RSS feed keeps disconnecting. Your favourite GOOD podcatcher.

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Dr. West (Skit) • 3 A.M. • My Mom • Insane • Bagpipes From Baghdad • Hello • Tonya (Skit) • Same Song & Dance • We Made You • Medicine Ball • Paul (Skit) • Stay Wide Awake • Old Time's Sake • Must Be The Ganja • Mr. Mathers • Déjà Vu • Beautiful • Crack A Bottle • Steve Berman (Skit) • Underground

Spotify ♪ YouTube

[marley-manson]

My main takeaway of Fade Out, Fade In is that Hawkeye is extremely chill and secure lol. I feel like I've seen it used as an example of Hawkeye's egotism and I think that must be due to misremembering the episode because Hawkeye is constantly gracious wrt Charles as a surgeon. He's overjoyed that Charles knows the aneurysm operation they need to do and more than happy to let him do it, assist, and learn from him, asking questions and complimenting him. He's quick to give him the credit afterwards when Dr Berman wakes up as well.

When Charles finds a flood of patients too intense and doubts himself, Hawkeye reassures him by saying, "We're not any better than you, it's just that by sheer repetition we've gotten fast."

What Hawkeye takes issue with and makes fun of is Charles' superiority complex. He rolls his eyes when Charles pointedly insults him or anyone else, he mocks his haughty demeanour and upper class accent, calls him Chuck to annoy him, etc. This is all separate from his skill as a surgeon, which Hawkeye vocally admires, and all completely warranted because obviously Charles is an asshole lol.

The second takeaway of this episode is that I wish Potter was a villain. I'd forgotten this, but he's the one who arranges to keep Charles at the 4077 when otherwise Baldwin would've taken him back. Blah blah blah they need good surgeons and saving lives is important and someone's gotta do it blah blah blah, fact is Charles is well within his rights to hate Potter for this and I wish he did, and I wish we could be on his side about it properly, because I absolutely am on his side here.

Instead it's framed as something Charles deserves for being haughty, and a trial by fire to improve him. I would prefer to see it framed as a personal tragedy that engenders sympathy, perhaps planting the seed of comraderie between him and Hawk and BJ. Not a fan of framing being forced to work in a warzone as character building.

And now some miscellaneous thoughts:

-- Hawkeye clocks that Berman is jewish after hearing him speak one sentence (i assume, since hawk immediately jokes about him kibitzing), for the jewish hawkeye headcanoners

-- also love how overtly gay Berman is, I'm calling the "you doctors are all alike" joke as evidence of Berman clocking Hawkeye in return

-- "command me, o tall one with the presbyterian features" is such an amazing Klinger line

-- Hawk stealing Frank's boxers for himself

-- the scene with Margaret and Hawkeye and BJ is such an awful bait and switch lol, I go from 'aw they're friends!!' and loving Hawkeye when he tells her she doesn't have to tell them what's bothering her but she's clearly upset so she should sit and have a drink either way, to 'nooooo' when the (narratively endorsed) answer given to Margaret is she's too much of a flirty slut and it hurt Donald's feelings :(

-- Hawkeye being nice to Frank on the phone even when he's pissed at him and throws the phone immediately afterwards was cute honestly. Hawk speaking for both him and BJ was cute and married too ("we both think that's wonderful. we're proud to have known you")

-- BJ and Hawkeye both collaborated on the snake prank but Hawkeye's the one who gets a comeuppance >:( "Please, Mozart" is a fantastic final line though.

-- OH! the patient who didn't want to go back to the front because he doesn't want to kill anyone else! When he speaks to Mulcahy, Mulcahy starts off with his usual rote 'yeah it's scary go fight anyway' thing, and when dude corrects him about his reasons Mulcahy doesn't say anything, just stares off into the middle distance. And that's the end of that storyline.

Like man I would've liked to know what Mulcahy said to him lol, how Mulcahy squared that with himself. It's a fantastic counterpoint to his usual encouragement but I want more. Wish we could've repeated this premise in a Mulcahy-heavy episode.

[antisemitism-us]

“We’ve had a 53% increase in transfers this year,” Berman said. We don’t have room. We opened up our transfer portal to give students a chance to transfer. We were already full – I don’t even know where we’re going to put them – but we can’t leave a Jewish student who feels endangered behind, so we opened the portal. We already had conversations with several Columbia [University] students who want to come, meaning we’ll do it because we have to, but we can’t fit all the Jews in America. It’s very important to me that other campuses need to be safe for Jews, not free from Jews.”

[filmjunky-99]

s t a r t r e k d e e p s p a c e n i n e created by rick berman, michael piller Dr. Renhol of Trill [equilibrium, s3ep4]

'Nearly half our population is capable of being Joined. There aren't enough symbionts for that many hosts.

The potential danger to the symbionts would be enormous. They would become commodities to be purchased or prizes to be fought over.' - dr. renhol [to sisko]

[sexcandle]

forever obsessed with "cardassians flirt by arguing" being like a fully canonical element of worldbuilding. they really backed themselves into a corner with that one. like one of yr most prominent cardassian characters has so far spent a considerable fraction of his screentime "sparring amicably over lunch" with dr cunt himself. once you realize this is a bit too gay for rick bermans liking theres no way to dial it back in a way that matters. like making their onscreen interactions more antagonistic only makes it worse because of actual canon that was established in that very same show. also it makes all dukat-sisko interactions looking like even more like a series of pathetic come ons on dukats side than they would already be. you basically created an enemies to lovers culture at this point all the fanfic in the world just writes itself. what did u expect truly

[fancoloredglasses]

Star Trek, part 4: The Next Generation (Making the Federation even more Mary Sue)

[All images are owned by Paramount. Please don’t sue me]

The introduction of the Enterprise-A in Star Trek IV opened up the possibility of new adventures of the USS Enterprise, so when it was announced in 1987 that a new Star Trek television series would be starting, fans were hopeful that the crew of the Enterprise would go from the big screen back to the small screen.

They were very wrong.

(Thanks to Great80sTV)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (or simply TNG) takes place 80 years following the original Enterprise’s five-year missions. Gene Roddenberry is once again at the helm of the show, though he is assisted by Rick Berman, who would become the official showrunner following Roddenberry’s death.

The Federation of the 24th century is, if possible, even more utopian than before, having signed a peace treaty with the Klingon Empire (even if more than a few Klingons aren’t happy about it)

The latest ship to carry the legendary name, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) is a Galaxy class starship, capable of longer missions into deep space. Warp technology has progressed far enough that the formula for warp speed had to be amended. Now (according to fan publications) the calculation is to a power of 5 (meaning that Warp 5 would be 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5, or 3,125 times the speed of light. Using my Alpha Centauri example from my review of the original series, it would take about 9 1/2 hours at Warp 5 to reach Alpha Centauri from Earth, a much more reasonable time frame.

In addition to better Warp and defensive technologies, the Enterprise had a new technology known as holodecks, that made life-like imagery that the crew could touch and interact with, as a way to keep the crew from going stir-crazy. And the holodecks never, ever, ever had anything go wrong inside. Nope. Never. Not even once. (excuse me as I stifle several giggles)

Two other things that were different than previous Enterprises.

(Thanks to April 5, 2063)

Since the Galaxy class was designed to go farther out than was previously possible, crew quarters are large enough to allow the families of the crew to join them on board. Because of this, the saucer section can be detached from the Engineering hull to allow the civilian population to be evacuated in cases of extreme peril.

One other change was in the uniforms.

(Thanks to The Hollywood Reporter)

Starfleet has replaced the uniform used for over 70 years with an almost “throwback” uniform with the uniform color matching divisions (though red is now operations and gold is now service; but don’t worry, we’ll still call the doomed security personnel “Redshirts”)

You will note that the uniforms are all onesies. This will be changed by Season 2 (along with several minor changes as the series progresses, almost as if whoever designed the uniform didn’t plan for the comfort of the wearer)

Now let’s meet this new crew…

The Enterprise’s commanding officer is Captain Jean-Luc Picard (played by Sir Patrick Stewart, a Shakespearean actor who had never seen Star Trek before auditioning) Stewart takes the gravitas he learned on stage and brings it to the 24th century, setting the tone of the series to something a bit more thought-provoking and less fist-provoking (just one question: why is a French starship captain talking with a British accent?)

Picard’s First Officer is Commander William Riker, who tends to be more Kirk-like in his command style. He’s not the type to get into a brawl or anything, but he’s more the smooth-talking type who leads his team when danger presents itself. He tends to lead missions that are away from the ship, preferring the Captain stay within the relative safety of the Enterprise.

The Second Officer and Chief Navigator is Lt. Commander Data (played by Brent Spiner, who previously was known as recurring character Bob Wheeler on Night Court), an android created by Dr. Noonian Soong capable of independent initiative. Despite rumors to the contrary, Data earned the rank he holds. His journey of learning to be as human as possible often puts him at the center of humorous situations (like when he tried growing a beard) He (and it’s been confirmed that he is male, with all of the plumbing to match) is incapable of showing emotion or using contractions, and often gets so wrapped up in what he’s saying that he has to be cut off by whomever he’s talking to due to not knowing when to stop spouting facts.

Some time during the series (it’s never explained in or out of canon when or how), Data acquired a cat, which he named Spot (despite the fact that the cat had stripes) There were four different “Spots” throughout the series and NONE of them looked alike (plus Spot’s gender changed at least once) Spiner has gone on record saying he hated doing scenes that included Spot, as they always took three times as long to shoot due to the cat not cooperating.

The Ship’s Counselor and advisor to the Captain is Lt. Commander Counselor Deanna Troi (played by Marina Sirtis), a member of a telepathic race known as Betazoids (she mainly uses her abilities as an empath, preferring not to use telepathy) Troi is actually half-Betazoid. She previously had a relationship with Riker that ended amiably, which comes back into play every now and then.

Her mother Lwoxana (played by Majel Barrett) is infatuated with Picard, much to his chagrin.

The Chief Helmsman (and eventually Data’s best friend) is Lt. (later Lt. Commander) Geordi La Forge (played by Reading Rainbow host LaVar Burton) La Forge is blind (due to a blind girl wanting a role model on Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry having an ironic sense of humor by making the pilot blind) The object that looks like a banana clip (because that’s what it is!) is a VISOR (Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement), which is connected to implants on La Forge’s temples that feed his brain sensory data, including infrared and ultraviolet emissions. Starting in Season 2 (following Season 1’s “Chief Engineer of the Week”), La Forge is transferred to Engineering where he remained through the remainder of the series and beyond.

Lt. Worf (played by Michael Dorn) is the first and (thus far) only Klingon to serve on a Starfleet vessel. He was the last survivor when the Romulans attacked a Klingon outpost when he was a boy. A Starfleet crewman found him and raised him. He is still very much a Klingon warrior, though tempered by Federation ideals.

He serves on the Enterprise as…well, I’m not entirely certain what his duties are at the start of the series other than to be the Token Klingon.

[FUN FACT: The prosthetic Dorn wore in season 1 was stolen after the season ended, so a new one had to be crafted but wasn’t an exact replica, which is why he looks different from Season 2 onward]

The Chief Medical Officer is Commander Dr. Beverly Crusher (played by Gates McFadden) Unlike Dr. McCoy, she doesn’t have any memorable catchphrases. Her husband was killed under Picard’s command years prior. She and Picard have unresolved romantic tension throughout the series.

Since families are allowed on the Enterprise, Dr. Crusher is allowed to bring her son Wesley (played by Wil Wheaton, who was previously known for Stand by Me) aboard. Wesley is a child prodigy who…

Look, I’m just gonna say it. I never liked Wesley (though I’ve gotten a lot of respect for Wheaton since he left the series) because he was pretty much a Mary Sue. He knows more about every aspect of the Enterprise than officers who’ve spent years to earn their posts. Despite being a teenager, he refers to the crew as “grown ups” rather than “adults” and (at least in the early parts of the first season) threw tantrums when the people in authority wouldn’t let him get his way.

That being said, he managed to somehow gain the respect of the crew (especially Captain Picard)

(Thanks again to April 5, 2063)

Last, but certainly not first, we have Head of Security and Tactical Officer Lt. Tasha Yar (played by Denise Crosby) Yar comes from a colony that had broken down, now ruled by the strongest. At times it seemed like there could be romantic leanings between Yar and Worf (and there WAS a sexual encounter with Data!) however, this never came to fruition as the season 1 finale will explain.

(Thanks to Frustrated Idealist)

It turns out that Denise Crosby had the same issue that Nichelle Nichols had (her role was essentially window dressing), but unlike Nichols, Crosby didn’t have a famous comedian to urge her to stay so she left the series. With Yar’s death, Worf was moved to her position (which really should’ve been the case from the start, given he’s a Klingon)

In addition to Wesley’s field commission and the transfers of Worf and La Forge (oh, and Riker grew a beard), there were two casting changes for season 2.

Backstage tension between Gates McFadden and the show’s head writer (who had gotten more authority as Gene Roddenberry started stepping back) caused McFadden to be fired. In canon, Dr. Crusher was reassigned to Starfleet Medical (though Wesley stayed aboard for some reason)

Replacing Dr. Crusher is Lt. Commander Dr. Kate Pulaski (played by Diana Maldaur (who had appeared in an episode of the Original Series and was best known for falling down an elevator shaft on LA Law) Dr. Pulaski was far more gruff than Dr. Crusher (more similar to Dr. McCoy, but without the catchphrases), and proved to be unpopular. She was replaced when the writer left and Rick Berman asked McFadden to return for season 3.

Finally, we come to the other Nichelle Nichols story she enjoyed telling.

There was a young black girl who saw Uhura and was amazed there was a black woman on TV who wasn’t a maid (this was the 60s, so that kind of thing was almost unheard of) She would be inspired to become a stand-up comedian, and eventually a popular movie actress. When TNG started, she went to Roddenberry and told him she wanted a role on the show…ANY role!

That little girl’s name?

Whoopie Goldberg, who was given the role of Guinan, the bartender of the Enterprise’s Ten Forward lounge. Guinan is of a race with cosmic-ish abilities (when the Enterprise is involved in a temporal event that changed history, Guinan was the only one who knew something was amiss)

Also over the course of the series we got interactions with Original Series crew members...

Admiral McCoy (retired, now over 130 years old)

Captain Scott (retired, who was suspended in time for over 70 years)

...and Ambassador Spock (well, Vulcans do live over 200 years)

It’s the interactions between the cast members that sets the series apart from the Original Series, and it truly is an ensemble cast; every cast member is given their chance in the spotlight on a number of episodes (particularly Data (in his quest to try to be more human) and Worf (as he tries to find his place between two cultures))

With the Klingons more-or-less friends, Starfleet needed more recurring alien threats to deal with (the Romulans were still around, but were quiet during the early seasons)

The Ferengi are a race that personify the absolute worst a capitalist society can be, prioritizing profit above all else (they even codify it in their code of “ethics” known as the Rules of Acquisition) Unfortunately, rather than being the threat they were intended they turned out to be little more than comic relief.

The Cardassians are a militaristic race bent on conquest (there are certainly a lot of those hanging around in the galaxy, aren’t there?) They tend to be cruel to those they conquer. However, to prevent a war the Federation ceded a number of Federation colony worlds that once belonged to the Cardassians, leaving those who chose to stay to fend for themselves against their new rulers (this may be the first crack in the utopian facade the Federation shows) Many Federation citizens (including a number of Starfleet personnel) formed a resistance group known as the Maquis, who are dedicated to freeing the colonies left to the Cardassians. Both the Federation and the Cardassians treat the group as terrorists.

Q (a member of the Q Continuum, played by John deLancie) is an omnipotent entity who appears occasionally to attempt to teach the Enterprise (and more importantly Captain Picard) about the fallacies of humanity and the dangers of What Lies Beyond. Many times his antics are played for laughs, but unlike the Ferengi there is always a dangerous undercurrent to Q’s games. Unfortunately, his antics have gotten Q in trouble with his fellow Q, and at one point he had been stripped of his powers and made human for a brief period.

Q is directly responsible for introducing the Federation to the gravest threat to the galaxy…

The Borg.

The Borg are humanoid beings that have been enhanced with cybernetics and, due to their hive mind, are able to adapt quickly to dangers (a phaser will down a few Borg, but they will quickly adapt and be able to repel future blasts on that light frequency) Any time they encounter a new species, they assimilate the species and their technology into their Collective.

The series ran for 7 seasons, beginning and ending with Q putting the humanity on trial (with the crew of the Enterprise playing the role of defendant for the entire race) The series laid the groundwork for two spin-off series set in the same era (plus at least one that debuted after 2010, so I won’t be covering it), but those are tales for future reviews.

If you would like to watch the series it’s available on Paramount+, PlutoTV, or behind your favorite paywall. If you would like to see an episode reviewed, please let me know!

One quick note before I go: I would like to show the tale of the first Meeting of the Generations (which occurred during the filming of Star Trek V), as told by Wil Wheaton.

[DISCLAIMER: This is told entirely from Wheaton’s perspective, and I’m sure William Shatner has a different take on it, but given all the stories about Shatner over the years, I’m inclined to think this is closer to the truth]

(Thanks to Eric Webb)

[leodeserti]

TOP 6-9 FIRST TIME WATCHES OF 2024 tagged by @geniusflesh thank youuuu 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🐈‍⬛

Alice (1988) Dir. Jan Švankmajer

Food (1992) Dir. Jan Švankmajer

Jabberwocky (1971) Dir. Jan Švankmajer

The Illusionist (2010) Dir. Sylvain Chomet

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021) Dir. Hideaki Anno

The Black Cauldron (1985) Dir. Ted Berman, Richard Rich

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) Dir. Robert Wiene

Suspiria (1977) Dir. Dario Argento

Häxan (1922) Dir. Benjamin Christensen

Tagging -> @lilliangazer @reihun @a-twinkleinthesky @elegyofthemoon @diffshadow @nyaanko @winterwedded only if y'all want to of course :)

[fuckyeahogonbat]

Any head-cannons for a contemporary English-language voice cast for Golden Bat?

that's a kinda hard question because I can never remember voice actor names, just the people they play, BUT

for Phantoma himself, my ideal VA for him would Ian Richardson, but he is unfortunately no longer alive, so I'd choose Gary Oldman or Kevin Michael Richardson as my next option. I imagine Goldie's actual speaking voice to be deep but quiet, maybe a little gravely at first because he hasn't spoken much (even though he typically speaks through telepathy. it's a sort of mentality state of mind thing) but eventually loses that gravely tone. his intimidation laugh is very loud and cacophonous, but his actual, genuine laugh is very boisterous. it would also have a sort of echo to it. Dark Bat could share a voice with him but much raspier sounding.

ngl my heart is saying Kristen Schaal for Marie but I'm not sure how fitting that would be in actuality. I mostly know her as Mabel Pines who is such a sweet fun loving, creature loving kid to me, so it feels right.

I could totally see Andy Berman (Dib Membrane) as Takeru. they both have science dads, both deal unusual creatures and an alien, and are very energetic to the point it gets them in trouble. literally perfect.

Dr Yamatone... actually. why not Gedde Watanabe? I know him best as Hayao Sato/Ultradad, but they also have stuff in common. they're both scientists and they're both dads of very energetic, cocky sons. Yamatone is lucky he doesn't have to deal with Kenji's shenanigans at least.

I think Dan Green would make a GREAT Nazo.

for Mazo/Gorgo, I think the VA for the 1985 Horned king (John Hurt) could be fun. alternatively, Nick Jameson, specifically doing a Dr Loboto type voice (I'm more used to his Italian dub voice, which is a little nasally).

Dareo is literally the only one I'm at a complete loss for. maybe Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse? I can't decide. honestly I'm torn between him, Zach Callison, or Jeremy Shada rn.

for the lady who looks like Lapis (I forgot her name) I think it'd be extremely funny for Jennifer Paz to voice her.

and for fun throw in Gianni Matragrano to do voices for Nazo's goons. he's GREAT at doing goon voices.

[therearepeoplewho]

i’ve never sent fanmail other than on tumblr (i’ve never sent an anon either)

but when david berman passed i really regretted never having sent any. i had meant to on many occasions

so i tell myself i should take that as a lesson.

i don’t mean to be morbid - i say this and meanwhile i’m idly wondering whether a pack of jalapeño peanuts would make it through u.s. customs. but fanmail is embarassing right and where do you even send it

also @dr-gene-ray i am very aware i owe your good self a parcel and a goodreads review. i would say on average i remind myself of this twice a day .. i’m useless ! also are there any uk specific snacks i could send to you once i get my act together? too much has been happening and time is flying past

[drrubinspomade]

#ingrid berman #ned scott photo

STILL ROCKIN’.

We post glorious pinups like this one all day, every day, all unique! If you dig this pic we’ve found online, u should investigate the creator/subjects of the work and fan them, follow them, hire them.

If you’d like us to remove, or you know who made this so that we can credit, DM. Thanks and greetings from Los Angeles.

YOU ARE THE LIGHT

Dr Rubin’s Pomade