#holo emitter

[ailendolin]

"When the kids find this ship, I can't have any memories of them. Of the weapon on board. Of you."

Hologram Janeway keeps breaking my heart. Not only does she continue to lose people throughout the two seasons, she also continues to lose herself - to the construct, to time, to self-sacrifice. And she's self-aware enough for that to hurt, and the pain she feels is so powerful that she even starts to lash out against Chakotay.

It's so obvious that she's grown beyond her programming. She longs to leave the ship, to be a true part of her crew and not the one who always gets left behind. She yearns for human connection despite knowing she's just a program; a copy of the real thing, even though it doesn't feel that way to her.

She feels and wants and loves and grieves, just like any other person, and I am so glad Chakotay found a way to save her. If we get a season 3 - and I very much hope we do because this show is brilliant - I hope she will get her own mobile emitter at some point because she deserves to have the freedom and opportunities it would give her.

[sw5w]

The Shields are Gone

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:26:15

[rhysmaart]

Ok I couldn’t resist finishing up that pixal design! This pix is a mixture of my hc versions of her from the movie-verse and an upgrade she could make for herself in the show.

Basic idea is just that she wants to fit in more around the merged realms, so she’s upgraded herself with holo-emitters and a more normal outfit so she can transform back and forth between pix and samurai x. She’s been wandering the realms trying to catalogue and map the new world while also helping Cyrus set up outreach for borg industries in the new lands.

[mylittleredgirl]

much more context with an episode list below the poll!

more info below by episode (forgive me in advance if i forgot your favorite doctor-evolution episode) (also forgive me for all the mistakes i will immediately see once i hit post but will be unable to fix because we can't edit poll posts):

season one: "i wasn't programmed for any of this!"

"eye of the needle": after kes starts advocating for him, janeway offers him the power to turn himself off, and he asks for a name.

"heroes and demons": he leaves sickbay for the first time and has his first non-medical mission. he's emotionally affected by freya's death at the end.

season two: "before you, i was just a projection of photons held together by forcefields [...] just a profession, not a life."

"projections": he hallucinates an existential crisis about whether he's a human or a hologram.

"twisted": the doctor spends time recreationally with the crew on the holodeck for the first time (though it's not clear if he enjoys it).

"lifesigns": he falls in love with vidiian doctor danara pel. at first he says his program is malfunctioning, but later believes his programming is adapting instead. he also records his first personal log.

season three: "i'm footloose and fancy-free."

"the swarm": his program starts to degrade because he has been expanding it for hobbies like opera and friendships with the crew. he says his program should be rebooted so he can serve his "primary responsibility," but kes and the others convince him that his memories are important to keep. (factoid: we learn his maximum runtime was supposed to be 1500 hours.)

"future's end": mobile emitter time!!! and his first time off the ship.

"darkling": he starts editing his own program (and it doesn't go well).

"real life": he creates a holo-family for himself.

according to the stardate mentioned in "latent image" (see season five), the flashback part of that episode happens at the very end of season three.

season four: "i believe i've earned the respect of the crew as an equal."

"revulsion": we meet our first delta quadrant hologram (and it doesn't go well). this is the first time we hear about holograms being subjugated by "organics."

"message in a bottle": the doctor meets the EMH-2 and reveals that at some point he programmed himself a dick and had sex.

"living witness": we learn that the doctor has a backup module who seems to have the same emotions and self-awareness as the doctor himself (which i take to mean that whatever sentience is now in his program can be duplicated by copying).

season five: "we gave him a soul. do we have any right to take it away now?"

"latent image": we learn the doctor had a holo-breakdown (off-screen in late season 3) after his ethical subroutines could not reconcile his decision to save harry's life over another patient's. at the time, they determined that erasing some of his memories was the only way to repair him. at the end of the episode, after the doctor and seven both argue for his individual rights, janeway decides to let him work through his guilt rather than deleting his memories again. assuming this ultimately works after the episode ends, it means that he was able to overcome a critical programming conflict through introspection and social support instead of altering his programming.

season six: "haven't I earned the right to self-determination?"

"tinker, tenor, doctor, spy": the doctor formally complains that his sentience is not being acknowledged and argues that he should be allowed to grow his abilities beyond his role as doctor. he also wants his potential to be evaluated based on his holographic nature rather than humanoid limits ("my program can be expanded indefinitely. i don't have limits!").

"blink of an eye": he lives for three years on the time dilation planet and even has a son ("it's a long story").

"virtuoso": he tries to leave the ship to become an opera star, choosing his passion (and his ego) over his originally programmed purpose.

side note: "fair haven" and "spirit folk" are both in season six, and that's the first time that anyone (including the doctor) seems to consider the concept that regular holodeck characters might also have some kind of feelings, personhood, or right to continued existence (unlike in season three, when in "alter ego" it's both a joke and a problem that harry falls in love with a hologram, or in "real life" when the doctor is fine with b'elanna reprogramming his family without consulting them).

season seven: "the doctor exhibits many of the traits we associate with a person [...] but are these traits real, or is the doctor merely programmed to simulate them?"

"critical care": the doctor violates the hippocratic oath in his programming by harming a patient to save others, and it does not trigger the ethical subroutine breakdown he experienced in season 5.

"body and soul": delta quadrant holograms are in revolt. the doctor experiences humanoid pleasures and enjoys them.

"flesh and blood": he betrays voyager to save the hirogen-programmed holograms and (temporarily) leaves the ship to join them, "because i'm one of you."

"author, author": a federation arbiter decides that he's not legally a person, but is "no ordinary hologram" and has some limited rights.

[traxanaxanos]

What POSSIBLE conservation need could installing holo-emitters all over the ship serve??

Guys, I don’t think the Voyager museum is accredited

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Emergency Medical Hologram

By Ames

Please state the nature of the medical emergency. For a hologram who was never constructed to be left on indefinitely, the Emergency Medical Hologram sure does get a lot of development. He starts off Voyager as an insufferable computer program, grows to learn to fight for his own agency, and ends Voyager as an insufferable computer program of an entirely new ilk! What an arc!

Your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By are quick to cringe at some of the Doctor’s squickier moments (that are interestingly heavily weighted toward the final seasons of the series), but there’s a lot to champion him for as well! The EMH makes us view artificial lifeforms like him as people, in the same way that Data did on TNG. So make sure your mobile emitter is firmly attached as we dive into the Best and Worst Moments of Voyager’s chief medical hologram below and on this week’s podcast episode (activate at timestamp 1:05:06). Hey, I’m a blogpost writer, not a doctor.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Inside you there are two Beowulfs For the first chunk of the show, the Doctor is confined to sickbay for the most part due to his holographic nature, so when he gets to do a hologram-appropriate mission in “Heroes and Demons,” it’s an adventure unto itself! He romances the bonny lass Freya. He solves the mystery of the disappearing crewman. He literally lives out an epic tale and it’s so engaging!

Before I met you, I was just a disease If you liked the Doctor’s relationship with Freya, you’re going to love his relationship with Danara Pel in “Lifesigns.” It’s probably the most genuine we’ve seen the Doc so far, as it’s clear he wants to do what’s best for the diseased Vidiian woman who hates her own body. But he urges her to keep fighting and keep healing because he loves her, the real her.

A physician must do no harm Boy, do we love it when our chief medical officers get righteous about their patients. We saw it with McCoy, we saw it with Crusher, and we saw it with Bashir. And now the EMH ends up being the only person on the Voyager to not silently condone splitting Tuvix in half in “Tuvix.” Sure, he doesn’t do anything to stop it either, but he makes it clear that what Janeway is doing is wrong.

You’re too sick to get better We’ve given B’Elanna and Tom some credit for helping the Doctor experience what it’s like to have a family in “Real Life,” but the actual growth we see is all his own. Deciding (with some encouragement from his friends) to be with his holo-daughter Belle as she dies is heart-breaking, but also encouraging for the Doc to treat the situation so realistically.

Two holograms, alone. Romulans on one side, Starfleet on the other. Alarms beeping everywhere. We see time and again the EMH use cleverness to resolve a situation, even when he’s severely out of his depth as he was in “Message in a Bottle.” But that’s where two EMHs are better than one! He and the EMH Mark 2 are able to take control of the Prometheus back from Romulans, keep the ship from exploding, and even reconnect with Starfleet in the Alpha Quadrant!

History is written by the victors Hands down, one of the best episodes of Voyager is “Living Witness,” and the EMH (or his backup program, who is essentially the same guy) really gets to shine throughout. Awoken 700 years in his future, he saves the reputation of the Voyager that the Kyrians and Vaskans have misrepresented, empowers Quarren to think critically, and keeps the two species from civil war.

Luke, I am your father We still can’t get over the fact that, when the Doctor went down to the planet in “Blink of an Eye” to perform some reconnaissance, he comes back claiming that he somehow had progeny. We never learn in what capacity and by what method, but it definitely blows up our skirts to know that the EMH somehow had a son whom he sadly had to disappear on.

You have the audacity to turn a house of worship into a prison? Jake just loves this little moment from “Spirit Folk” to death. It’s just the line delivery of the EMH as Father Mulligan in the Fair Haven holoprogram storming into the church and shouting “Sinners!” at all the Irish townsfolk who’ve taken Harry and Tom prisoner. He does get captured too and his mobile emitter gets swiped, but what a great line delivery from Robert Picardo.

Extremely Marginal Housecalls When the EMH’s creator, Dr. Zimmerman, is terminally ill in “Life Line,” our hero packs his bags for a trip to the Alpha Quadrant to cure him. And it takes a lot of coaxing and even some covert subterfuge to get to two egomaniacs to see eye to eye, even if all of those eyes belong to the same actor. But the Doctor succeeds! Turns out you can teach a Mark One new tricks.

My Treatment Coefficient is one When he’s kidnapped and forced to work on the Dinaali hospital ship in “Critical Care,” the Doctor is quick to observe the unethical medical practices, classism, and hypocrisy in their systems. And not only that, but he finds a clever way to work around their tight regulations to force the medical administration to care for all of its patients, not just the elite.

Hoshi, eat your heart out Though not the linguist that Ensign Sato is on Enterprise, the EMH is able to create a language that Fantome’s people can use to communicate in “The Void.” It’s no surprise that it’s derived from music which both the Doctor and Fantome share an affinity for, but it’s also a great moment of empathy when Doc and Seven determine these alien pests are more than they appear.

The holoprograms have nothing to lose but their chains We’ll go off in our next section about how the EMH is kind of a twat when he writes his holonovel, Photons Be Free in “Author, Author.” But on the flipside, his words also prove to be empowering to other sentient holo-people like the obsolete EMH Mark Ones out there. His depiction of subservient life as a holo-person may just start opening minds to their human rights.

—

Worst moments

The Strange Case of Dr. Doctor and Mr. Doctor Whoever gave the EMH the power to tinker with his own programming was just asking for trouble. One of the first things he does in “Darkling” is turn himself into a Mr. Hyde who is even more appropriate to the Robert Louis Stevenson novel than Kirk in “The Enemy Within.” And he somehow becomes even grosser around Kes than usual, which is saying something.

You are out. Auf wiedersehen. Fascinatingly, almost all of our Worst Moments take place after Seven of Nine has joined the crew. Maybe it’s because the Doctor starts getting more to do, and that includes more BAD things to do. Maybe it’s because he spends way too much time sexualizing Seven, as he does in “The Gift” by designing for her the ugliest, cringiest, most uncomfortable catsuit we’ve ever seen. Maybe it's something else. Let’s explore this trend…

Now you will cluck like a chicken And we already have a really awful example in “Retrospect” when the EMH peddles really problematic pseudoscience on Seven instead of impartially investigating the circumstances. He’s not even a little bit unbiased when he surveys the Entharan lab for evidence. But what we can’t forgive the Doc for is literally hypnotizing Seven – some mystical claptrap with no science behind it!

Rise and shine! The EMH has always been a bit of a prick, but usually he knows how to compromise for the good of the crew. So it’s actually a big negative to see how selfish and rude he is to Neelix and the other displaced crewmembers in “Demon” when the whole ship is bunking up to save energy. Dude, everyone is being inconvenienced here. The least you can do is let them sleep.

By George, I think she’s got it! Here’s another example of the Doctor treating Seven of Nine like a sex object instead of a peer! We’ve already given Tom grief for this one, but in “Someone to Watch Over Me,” the EMH recasts himself in the role of Henry Higgins to Seven’s Eliza Doolittle, and it’s just upsetting! Why can’t these men let Seven have her own agency without making it all about themselves?

Yep, here’s your problem: someone set this thing to evil It really shouldn’t take just turning off the EMH’s ethical subroutines for him to turn into a psychotic torturer like he does in “Equinox.” Does he not have common sense or the Hippocratic Oath or even anything better to do than torture Seven just because he’s told to? Just because he now CAN do unethical things apparently means he can ONLY do unethical things.

The dream dreams the dreamer… in bed I admit, I can’t judge someone for their private thoughts since no one other than telepaths would even know what they are. But the sheer concentration of the Doctor’s perverse daydreams all through “Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy” is a little much. When you can tell that he’s painting Seven in the nude just to titillate the audience, that might be bad writing, Berman.

Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, DOLT There’s something about seasons six and seven that turns the Doctor’s insufferableness up to eleven. When the Qomar inexplicably fawn all over him for his singing ability in “Virtuoso,” the ol’ doc really lets it all go to his head and is ruder to the crew than ever before. He’s even prepared to stay with the tone-deaf aliens because they unconditionally treat him like a celebrity.

This one takes the [cheese]cake Everything from “Body and Soul” paints the Doctor in a really ugly light and, especially in the final season of the show, it makes it hard to come back from the impression of him as unsympathetic, self-centered, and abrasive. So when Seven expresses that he has violated her body while he was possessing her and his response is to blame her, that is starkly unforgivable.

Anything you can do I can do better – I can do anything better than you This is the same as one of the extremely out-of-character moments from Harry Kim’s Worst Moments list from last week, but it warrants repeating. What the hell was the deal with the dick-measuring contest between the ECH and Kim in “Workforce”? For that matter, what is the Doc even doing as the ECH right now? Chakotay is back and in command! Step down already!

Once upon a Seven of Nine We gave the Doctor credit for speaking for holo-people in getting Photons Be Free published in “Author, Author,” but the way he workshopped it left much to be desired. How freakin’ hard would it have been to make the characters in his story more randomized and NOT just exaggerated, cynical versions of the crew? It would’ve been so easy to save face, my dude!

One Po-turd-o, Two Po-turdo-o, Three Po-turd-o, Four! I may be alone in my hatred of the turd people in “Renaissance Man,” but I maintain that the EMH shouldn’t have so eagerly (and boringly!) helped them. But what we can all agree on is that his confession to Seven when he thinks he’s dying is disgusting and a terrible impression for his character to basically go out on:

“You have no idea how difficult it's been, hiding my true feelings all these years, averting my eyes during your regular maintenance exams.”

VOMIT!!!

—

Computer, deactivate Emergency Medical Hologram. That’s all from the EMH, until we maybe revisit him when we get around to character spotlights for Prodigy which you are surely watching because it is stunning. For now, we’ve got some more Voyager characters to spotlight here and some more Enterprise to watch for the podcast over on SoundCloud or wherever you listen. You can also give us your medical prognosis over on Facebook and Twitter, and maybe tone down the “I’m a doctor, not a”s a little bit.

[meriadoc-doc-hamilton]

I've been having some very strange trouble with my mech lately that I haven't been able to track down the source of. I was hoping you could help?

Also, just to get it out of the way, I do not have a Manticore. I don't know why everyone keeps asking me that. As far as I know, I've never even seen a HORUS frame outside of holos, and I certainly don't have any licenses for one. And yes, I have checked what licenses I'm recorded as owning just to make sure. I've checked three times, because people would not stop going on about it until I'd done it in front of them.

Now that that's cleared up, I pilot a custom quadrupedal Everest that's been refitted to have a small two-person apartment in it. That all went off fine, but ever since I decided to integrate a new laser directly into the chassis, the toilet's started flushing itself at seemingly random intervals, and about half the time when I fire it the kettle turns on.

Regards, Brimstone

P.S.: Speaking of laser systems, my lancemate's NHP designed one for her, and she figured she could do the install herself, but she's really been struggling with it recently and doesn't want to admit to needing her help for it. Any advice on connecting a customised GMS supercell blaze generator to a standard HA torch emitter?

With regards to the first question: it seems like you've linked them directly to the same power source. When your laser vents heat or fires, it's overloading the other systems on the same circuit, and causing them to activate. You can solve this by giving the laser a direct reactor connection, rather than attaching it to the expansion port.

With regards to the second: She'll probably need to install a voltage converter, since the two components aren't made by the same manufacturer. It should be fairly easy to acquire one from GMS. Additionally, they're constructed from different polycarbons, so she'll need to use an adhesive rather than attempting to fuse or magnaweld them.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep9: Future's End pt 2

Another episode where I sit there twirling my hair, kicking my feet, and grinning, having my happy Star Trek fun time. It's truly got it all: epic adventure, silly hijinks, time travel paradoxes, phaser shootouts, a cute romance subplot, heck, even a car chase! You could not ask for more.

It's also the ep that introduces the Doctor's moblie emitter, which is a huge deal for his character, and the show in general, now that he can leave sickbay like everyone else. It was honestly a genius move to have a villain use stolen 29th century holo technology to kidnap the Doctor, because not only do we have a workaround for how it can technically be accomplished, in spite of established limits of holodeck technology, we get to keep the emitter and use it forever without any temporal prime directive red tape. Slow clap for that one!

Also, what is up with Chakotay doing flirty flirt all the time in this story?! First with the Captain in the first part (typical, tbh), but then with B'Elanna in the second part! Was this a direction? Or just Beltran spicing things up for his own amusement? Idk, but it's a lot, and it feels weird with B'Elanna, especially when we straight up know he's down bad for Janeway.

And I gotta say, no alien on Star Trek has ever inspired me with visceral terror the way those flannel wearing white guys with guns in this one do. Even the Borg are pretend at the end of the day, but gun-toting rednecks are very real, and even though I know they're not going to kill off main characters, I still sit there thinking "get them out, get them out now!!" when they capture Chakotay and B'Elanna. Having the Doctor phaser those guys was a huge relief tbh!

This story feels more like a TV movie than a regular episode- being able to go to actual locations makes everything seem so much bigger. I mean, they drive past houses! They never just go down random streets on alien planets, because it's too expensive and time consuming to build just to be in the background, and here, we get all the little details of real places, atmosphere, sunshine! It's so great! All the colors look really saturated too, it's almost cartoonish, but not in a bad way. I honestly wonder if they used some kind of filters to make the trees greener and the sky bluer, or if LA really just looks like that. Star Trek tends to be very grey and beige, and I just love all the colors we see in this one.

There's so much here that's nostalgic- the flip phones! Rain Robinson's entire wardrobe! (Girl looks like she stepped out of the pages of Teen Vogue- every girl wanted to dress like her, she even had a VW van, which was very cool at the time.)

I really do like the little romantic subplot they gave to Tom and Rain. It was sweet that they bonded over being nerdy, and it was so lovely that they let Tom be genuine and not cheesy, finally. I love that they gave Rain a little speech recognizing how selfless and dutiful Tom actually is. (I think this episode is where little 10 year old me started to develop a crush on him- and here we are, 27 years later, and I'll still fight anyone who doesn't respect my cringefail nerd blorbo. I'm fine and normal, I promise!)

One thing I noticed on rewatching this, though, is that after the big car chase, when Tom and Rain have their little goodbye kiss, Tom walks away, and gets beamed back to Voyager, but, um... how is she supposed to get home?! Her van just got crashed into, and they're in the middle of the desert! You couldn't just get an Uber in those days! They left her stranded out on a desert road with no car, no food, no water! She's gonna die y'all! The least they can do after she helped them is beam her the hell back to town!! Lol wtf?!

This is one of those eps that's so much fun that you don't want it to end. But of course, our plucky Voyager crew stops Starling from taking the timeship back to the future, and prevents him from destroying the solar system. It's very satisfying knowing his greed is what gets him killed- if only billionaires always got what they deserved lol. And then they get to go back to their own time, but they have to go back to the Delta Quadrant- that pesky temporal prime directive! But we get treated to a final scene of all of the crew together in the mess hall, for the first time ever! I'm not sure if they're celebrating the Doctor's mobile emitter, or getting back to their own time, or what, but it's cute AF. Tom then calls Tuvok a freakasaurus (affectionate), and I'm just about to keel over from warm fuzzy feelings as the credits roll. I love this one so, so much!!

Tl;dr: A conclusion that lives up to the first part, this is an epic time travel story with all the fun, nostalgia, and excitement you could ask for. One of the series best, a true classic.

[episodicnostalgia]

Star Trek: The Next Generation, 111 (Jan. 9, 1988) - “The Big Goodbye”

Written by: Tracy Torme Directed by: Joseph L. Scanlan

The Breakdown

Picard is prepping for an especially stressful diplomatic mission wherein he is required to recite a specific speech in a complex alien language with a species that is deadly serious about grammar; Empasis on the word ‘deadly’. Noting his mounting anxiety, Beverly Crusher writes Picard a prescription for… a play date on the holodeck, and amazingly Picard takes the doctor’s orders to heart.  In fact, Jean Luc has such a good time playing a noir private-eye thriller that he invites Beverly, Data, and the ship’s 20th century literary buff along with him (his name isn’t important, because we’ll never see him again).  Unfortunately, this transpires at the same time that our Grammar-specific aliens arrive, pre-emptively scanning the ship, which accidentally locks the holodeck and takes the safety protocols offline in one fell swoop (which seems like a pretty substantial design flaw).

While Picard misses every single advance that Crusher makes towards Picard (and folks I gotta tell you, she’s REALLY not being subtle about it), the holo-adventure begins to take a turn for the worse as the program’s mobster-villains show up with fully lethal weapons, which they happily use on Picard’s history-nerd friend (who remarkably survives, but barely). Meanwhile the literal-grammar-nazi-aliens are getting impatient with Riker’s inability to produce Picard for their scheduled meeting (apparently explaining that a ship malfunction has Picard temporarily incapacitated isn’t a viable option).  Thankfully the holodeck door eventually opens, and Picard is able to convince the mobsters to walk through first, causing them to disappear (since there are no holo-emitters in the corridor).  And so Picard is free to deliver his nonsense speech to the grammar enthusiasts, and the day is saved.

The Verdict

Finally! A holodeck Episode!

‘The Big Goodbye’ gives us our first “just-for-fun” episode and it’s about goddamn time. Oh don’t misunderstand, the episode is exactly as ridiculous as what I’ve described above, but for the most part it’s intentional, and in this case it makes all the difference.  I’ve always had a soft spot for holodeck stories, because it gives us a look into what the crew get up to when they aren’t spouting techno-babble, debating the prime directive, or dealing with transporter disasters.

Picard also gets to have some fun here, meaning this might be the first time he doesn’t come across as a total buzzkill. Aside from some clunky pacing and a slightly anticlimactic ending, this is a pretty fun episode.  Superior holodeck adventures would follow, but this one had to walk so the others could run.

3 stars (out of 5)

Additional Observations

Based on what we've seen this season, it would seem that the holodeck is still a fairly new technology, especially considering how Picard marvels at what it can do.

Right off the bat, this episode clearly establishes that holodeck characters are/can become self aware, and are capable experiencing fear (and likely pain). This is just the first of many times that Star Trek will play at this across multiple shows. As fun as these episodes are, it’s always struck me that there should be a greater ethical consideration for Holo-people and their rights.

I have always wondered why the ability to remove safety protocols was ever an option, especially on a holodeck that’s accessible to both crew and civilians alike.

Picard has no business being so clueless about women. In fact when it comes to relationships and courtship the entire crew seems to possess the emotional intelligence of an average 14-year-old.

I gotta hand it to Patrick Stewart, even when he’s spewing absolute nonsense alien gibberish, he commits 100%.

I never mentioned the set design, but this episode also looks great.  Really fun to see the noir aesthetic on Star Trek.

[stopaskingme]

The alternate ending for Star Trek (2009) is to me the American "Mrs.Darcy"-kiss ending for Pride & Prejudice (2005).

Does the film need it? No.

But would it have made me blubber emotionally until I am a puddle of feelings? 1000%.

(Pasting the alternate ending here in case the webpage gets deleted)

—————————

ALTERNATE SCENE B

SPOCK PRIME Then I ask that you do yourself a  favor… put away logic, and do what  feels right. The world you’ve inherited  lives in the shadow of incalculable  devastation… but there’s no reason you  must face it alone. 

And from around his neck, he removes the PENDANT that  until now, we’ve only caught glimpses of. Places it on  the table beside his younger self. The feeling in his  eyes is profound… 

SPOCK PRIME (CONT’D)This was a gift to me. Representing…  a dream. One we were unable to fulfill. (softly) The way you can now.

And moves to the door. Stops. Offers the VULCAN SALUTE:

SPOCK PRIME (CONT’D) As my customary farewell would appear  oddly self serving, I will simply say…  good luck. 

Their eyes hold. Spock turns, disappearing into the  corridor. Young Spock stares at the empty doorway a  beat, his mind a jumble of thoughts. Looks to the  pendant… and realizes it’s a HOLO-EMITTER. After  considering a beat, he hits an activation button and a  MOVING HOLOGRAPHIC MESSAGE materializes before him:

CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK. WILLIAM SHATNER. As always,  brash, wry, confident — and SINGING:

KIRK/ SHATNER Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to  you…  (stops, grins) I know I know, it’s illogical to  celebrate something you had nothing to do  with, but I haven’t had the chance to  congratulate you on your appointment to  the ambassadorship so I thought I’d seize  the occasion… Bravo, Spock — they tell  me your first mission may take you away  for awhile, so I’ll be the first to wish  you luck… and to say… (beat, emotional) I miss you, old friend. 

… and we’re PUSHING IN on Young Spock, taking in the  image of Kirk’s future self, the message, but above all —  the clear, unquestionable friendship these two men had…

INT. CORRIDOR – CONTINUOUS

As Spock Prime walks off down the corridor, he passes  right by a man conferring with a nurse — the man pauses,  turns… it’s SAREK. Suddenly overcome by a feeling that  the stranger who’s just passed him is… oddly familiar.

KIRK/SHATNER (V.O.) I suppose I’d always imagined us…  outgrowing Starfleet together. Watching  life swing us into our Emeritus years… 

INT. STARBASE ONE – HANGAR – ETERNAL NIGHT

MUSIC BUILDING — glass walls reveal THE ENTERPRISE at  dock, UTILITY CRAFTS floating around it, repairing.  Standing at attention in rows, THE ENTERPRISE CREW —  over four hundred of them wearing DRESS UNIFORMS — TRACK  DOWN the faces, all proud: 

KIRK/SHATNER (V.O.) I look around at the new cadets now and  can’t help thinking… has it really been  so long? Wasn’t it only yesterday we  stepped onto the Enterprise as boys?  That I had to prove to the crew I  deserved command… and their respect? 

And we STOP ON YOUNG KIRK. Composed, focused, proud. A  man. And to every fan’s delight, finally wearing his  YELLOW SHIRT. The FEDERATION COMMANDANT stands at a  podium:

COMMANDANT This assembly calls Captain James  Tiberius Kirk…

Kirk breaks from formation, pivots, marches down the  hangar — past UHURA… SULU… CHEKOV… SCOTTY. All  Beaming. Notably absent, is Spock. Kirk ascends the  stairs, snaps to attention:

COMMANDANT (CONT’D)Your inspirational valor and supreme  dedication to your comrades are in  keeping with the highest traditions of  service and reflect utmost credit to  yourself, your crew, and the Federation.  By Starfleet Order 28455, you are hereby  directed to report to Commanding Officer,  USS Enterprise, for duty as his relief.

Kirk turns. Walks to… PIKE. In a wheelchair now,  wearing an ADMIRAL’S UNIFORM. Overnight, his hair’s  turned totally grey — but despite his trauma, his  pride’s overwhelming. They SALUTE each other:

KIRK I relieve you, Sir.  

PIKE … I am relieved.

He opens a BOX in his lap — glorious in repose, a MEDAL: 

PIKE (CONT’D)And as Fleet Admiral, for your… unique  solution to the Kobayashi Maru, it’s my  honor to award you with a commendation  for original thinking.

Pike containing a smirk, pins the medal to Kirk’s  chest…

PIKE (CONT’D) (a touch choked) Congratulations, Captain.

KIRK Thank you, Sir.

Kirk turns to the crowd. Eyes shining. WILD APPLAUSE.  OUR MUSIC SOARS. Bones leans in to Sulu, rolling his  eyes: 

BONES … Same ship, different day.

As Kirk rejoins his crew for hugs and congratulations, we  go to the BACK of the hangar… SPOCK PRIME. Watching.  Moved beyond words. He turns and leaves them to it… as  he goes… 

KIRK/SHATNER (V.O.) I know what you’d say — ‘It’s their turn  now, Jim…’ And of course you’re  right… but it got me thinking: 

INT. STARFLEET HOSPITAL – EARTH – DAY

Our montage comes full circle as we END on Kirk’s  transmission:

KIRK/SHATNER Who’s to say we can’t go one more round?  By the last tally, only twenty five  percent of the galaxy’s been chartered…  I’d call that negligent. Criminal even —  an invitation. You once said being a  starship captain was my first, best  destiny… if that’s true, then yours is  to be by my side. If there’s any true  logic to the universe… we’ll end up on  that bridge again someday. 

Stops, grins. Because this is the part he needs to say  most… 

KIRK/SHATNER Admit it, Spock. For people like us, the  journey itself… is home.

Young Spock’s face. Lost in feelings that flood through  him.

[thefrostychemist]

Just got to the point in Voyager where the Doctor gets a mobile holo-emitter, and maybe we're crossing fandoms that shouldn't be crossed, but they totally just went and made the Doctor a Crystal Gem didn't they?

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. last night we watched voy's "concerning flight" and ds9's "statistical probabilities."

concerning flight (voy):

this one sucked sooo bad this was the second-worst of season 4 so far after the racist one with chakotay in the woods

the sad thing is that as a bit character i really liked gimli i mean leonardo. it's one of only like a tiny handful of times when i didn't mind the holodeck as like a background device. so naturally we have to ruin it by giving him his own episode

yes he is a good actor. you saw gimli in him before he gimli'd. he didn't need his own episode because it didn't make any goddamn sense

firstly, playing the doctor losing his holo-emitter for laughs was MEEEAN please treat him very niceys. secondly, what was with that racist remark at tuvok...come on

like, whatever emotional arc janeway was supposed to be having about her childhood hero giving up on his dreams and then building the flying machine after all was lost under the weird pirate adventure that was boring and bad

all love and light to tuvok, whomst i love, whose outfit was perfect, but i think it was a bad idea to bring him along because what he did was point out how illogical the situation was in order for the writers to justify it, which they failed to do. there was no good reason to keep the hologram out when the emitter was needed on the ship except that janeway wanted to hang out with him

also, character assassination to say that tuvok wouldn't slay at small talk. he's very cunning and last episode he tricked the ao3 black market people into thinking he wanted to buy problematic fanfic but now he can't rustle up a distraction for a hologram??? come on

i did like seven in this episode. her moment with the emh was so good i love that she and b'elanna are like regularly almost coming to blows. but then pretty much all of seven's scenes are good

maybe this episode helped this guy get gimli...a small price to pay i suppose but sheesh

statistical probabilities (ds9):

WAH............................nobody look at me

i spent the first 15 or however many minutes of this episode going "boy this sure is heavy-handed commentary" and then we got to the scene where julian and obrien are playing darts and he's raving about how wonderful they are when they are some of the most horrifically offputting characters that have ever been on genuinely had me welling up

like maybe............sometimes people who are offputting and weird in an unpleasant way...............deserve to be shown compassion and understanding and deserve to connect with people who genuinely think they're cool. as someone who experienced the social consequences of being a weird and offputting child i love that this episode said with chest WEIRD OFFPUTTING PEOPLE HAVE PERSONHOOD AND RIGHTS!!!!!!!! good for them and good for me. i love to feel an earnest human emotion while watching star trek. that's probably the most authentic was to experience it

like forget all that shit about the war and surrendering. that was stupid. they presented us with like a handful of people who felt extremely difficult to care about and then julian cared about them and then we cared about them and by the end they seemed very charming in their own weird ways. you could stand this in for like autism, being ND, being disabled, whatever, but it's such a smart and good way to 1. illustrate julians compassion and 2. teach us that same compassion. for them. for ourselves. dont worry about it!!!!!!!

even though i thought the plot where they predicted the end of the war and tried to betray the federation was dumb (are we backtracking all that good work and making a point that autistic people/ND people/disabled people/etc ARE dangerous after all and should not be allowed in society?? come on), i DID like that it sort of touched on and played with development missing from the initial episode where we found out about julian being genetically modified

like, firstly that he got to go jesus christ i fucking lucked out SO good like what was done to me was horrible but at least i am able to pass in society and the privileges i got afforded as a result were MASSIVE compared to these people kept in an institute with very few personal freedoms who quite literally cannot function alone and whose living situations are actively making their various conditions WORSE

but secondly that he got to say aloud "yeah the reason they don't let us do stuff is because we could turn out like khan!" and believe that with his whole pussy (which shows that he HAS believed that for awhile) and then he gets to question his belief when they all do something good together. and like yeah in the end he has to sit back and go jesus christ like FOUR PEOPLE almost handed over the entire alpha quadrant to the enemy on a platter we ARE dangerous after all better send those fuckers back to the looney bin which i think negates the point of the episode somewhat but i do like that it gives him angst and problems. mwah.

like, i'd be lying if i said i'd be happy if his khan fears got cured in a single episode. live with that. marinate in it. have psychological problems about it. go have a deep space talk with garak about it and get him to work it out of you with his d--

TONIGHT: voy's "the mortal coil" and ds9's "the magnificent ferengi" both of which, love and light, look awful. manifesting strength.

[procrastinatorproject]

For the WIP Folder Game. First of all, how do you expect me to choose one? After much deliberation, I narrowed it down to "Calluses" and "Dino Hunt" 😁

It is wild to me with what kind of precision all of you are picking these stories :D @jazzfic managed to zero in on the one Agnebal snippet, you picked the two fics that aren't even in the same list but are actually closely connected... I love it so much!

So, those two stories were originally inspired by @regionalpancake. I think I was feeling very bad at the time (a couple years back) and asked for prompts for holo-stories I could write. Pancakes came in with "Calluses", "no you stop it!" and "DINOSAURS!". And because the brain was in a bad place, I never ended up really doing much with it, but I do still have two bits of fic in my wip folder based on those prompts.

For the dino story, I only have one paragraph.

The insect looked similar to the stickflies that bred in the southern swamps on Vashti during the harvest months. They swarmed the fields once the drones and workers left, and feasted on the husks and straw left in the sandy earth. As a child, Elnor would sometimes ask Zani to let him walk down to the hill overlooking the monastery’s grain fields after dinner, so he could listen to their songs. Stickflies made the most tantilizing music by rubbing their five pairs of iridescent wings together. This specimen did not make music with its wings, maybe because it only had four, but it hummed a gently oscillating tone as it approached.

Well, one paragraph and one sentence. I think the idea was that there has been some holodeck malfunction and a bunch of terrifying prehistoric creatures have broken free and taken over La Sirena (given that she has holo-emitters throughout). And Elnor and the others are trying to round them up and herd them back into the holodeck before someone gets hurt. But alas, I don't have any additional notes here.

As for calluses, I have a few hundred words of dialogue between Ian and Soji. But I actually really like the notes I wrote underneath, so I'm gonna share those! (The square brackets are how I mark notes where a story isn't written out but I only have bits of summary)

[The holos, as many computers are want to do, build heuristics to do certain tasks more quickly. These connections get strengthened and over time, they form a map of sorts, that will show you what they do often, the same way calluses might for humans. Emmet likes to externalize many of his internal structures, similar to the way the captain likes to keep his scars. For the captain, it’s partially self-neglect, but it’s also a way to know where he’s been and keep a record of things that have happened and that were real. For Emmet, it’s absolutely the latter. [Soji has been thinking about externalizing some of her memories. Memories of Dahj, of childhood adventures. Dahj had a scar on her ankle that Soji remembers being from a kayaking trip they went on in the Pudget Sound. They rescued some wild animal — Dahj always loved animals! Soji knows the story is fake and the scar was fake and it’s all very frustrating, but she would like some kind of permanent reminder of the things she has accomplished and the past she has lived] [Ian suggests that Emil would probably be very pissed if Soji hurt herself to get some kind of cosmetic scar. But maybe she can talk to Emmet about getting a tattoo. As for calluses to show what she has accomplished: her brain is a map of all the things that have defined her. Dahj has left a mark there, and she can choose to express this in a myriad of small ways. And whichever one she chooses, Ian will help her get there.]

I feel like this is extremely on brand for me: thinking A Lot about how the holos function on a technological level and what that means for them as people. And also thinking and writing about Soji's relationship with Dahj and her manufactured past and memories. There's so much there there, and I really want to explore that more in the future!

(I cannot get over how you managed to pick these two, out of the dozen wip titles in that list 🤣 Absolutely brilliant! And thank you so much for the opportunity to dig through some old stories and reread my own writing. It's a real joy to do this kind of personal archaeology!)

Also: I had completely forgotten that there was a third prompt, too! I might have to create another WIP jut to make a note of that. Maybe it'll give me some inspiration 🤔

---

I'm still very happy to answer questions or post snippets of the many things in my WIP folder :D Here's the original list of titles if you want to see what's available!

[trekkie2819]

Deleted Scene from 2009 Star Trek

We could have had this scene (written by J.J. Abrams, so all credit goes to him) in the 2009 Star Trek:

SPOCK PRIME (talking to YOUNG SPOCK) Then I ask that you do yourself a favor… put away logic, and do what feels right. The world you’ve inherited lives in the shadow of incalculable devastation… but there’s no reason you must face it alone.

And from around his neck, he removes the PENDANT that until now, we’ve only caught glimpses of. Places it on the table beside his younger self. The feeling in his eyes is profound…

SPOCK PRIME (CONT’D) This was a gift to me. Representing… a dream. One we were unable to fulfill. (softly) The way you can now.

And moves to the door. Stops. Offers the VULCAN SALUTE:

SPOCK PRIME (CONT’D) As my customary farewell would appear oddly self serving, I will simply say… good luck.

Their eyes hold. Spock turns, disappearing into the corridor. Young Spock stares at the empty doorway a beat, his mind a jumble of thoughts. Looks to the pendant… and realises it’s a HOLO-EMITTER. After considering a beat, he hits an activation button and a MOVING HOLOGRAPHIC MESSAGE materialises before him:

CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK. WILLIAM SHATNER. As always, brash, wry, confident — and SINGING:

KIRK/ SHATNER Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you… (stops, grins) I know I know, it’s illogical to celebrate something you had nothing to do with, but I haven’t had the chance to congratulate you on your appointment to the ambassadorship so I thought I’d seize the occasion… Bravo, Spock — they tell me your first mission may take you away for awhile, so I’ll be the first to wish you luck… and to say… (beat, emotional) I miss you, old friend.

… and we’re PUSHING IN on Young Spock, taking in the image of Kirk’s future self, the message, but above all —the clear, unquestionable friendship these two men had…

INT. CORRIDOR – CONTINUOUS

As Spock Prime walks off down the corridor, he passes right by a man conferring with a nurse — the man pauses, turns… it’s SAREK. Suddenly overcome by a feeling that the stranger who’s just passed him is… oddly familiar.

KIRK/SHATNER (V.O.) I suppose I’d always imagined us… outgrowing Starfleet together. Watching life swing us into our Emeritus years…

INT. STARBASE ONE – HANGAR – ETERNAL NIGHT

MUSIC BUILDING — glass walls reveal THE ENTERPRISE at dock, UTILITY CRAFTS floating around it, repairing. Standing at attention in rows, THE ENTERPRISE CREW — over four hundred of them wearing DRESS UNIFORMS — TRACK DOWN the faces, all proud:

KIRK/SHATNER (V.O.) I look around at the new cadets now and can’t help thinking… has it really been so long? Wasn’t it only yesterday we stepped onto the Enterprise as boys? That I had to prove to the crew I deserved command… and their respect?

And we STOP ON YOUNG KIRK. Composed, focused, proud. A man. And to every fan’s delight, finally wearing his YELLOW SHIRT. The FEDERATION COMMANDANT stands at a podium:

COMMANDANT This assembly calls Captain James Tiberius Kirk… Kirk breaks from formation, pivots, marches down the hangar — past UHURA… SULU… CHEKOV… SCOTTY. All Beaming. Notably absent, is Spock. Kirk ascends the stairs, snaps to attention:

COMMANDANT (CONT’D) Your inspirational valor and supreme dedication to your comrades are in keeping with the highest traditions of service and reflect utmost credit to yourself, your crew, and the Federation. By Starfleet Order 28455, you are hereby directed to report to Commanding Officer, USS Enterprise, for duty as his relief.

Kirk turns. Walks to… PIKE. In a wheelchair now, wearing an ADMIRAL’S UNIFORM. Overnight, his hair’s turned totally grey — but despite his trauma, his pride’s overwhelming. They SALUTE each other:

KIRK I relieve you, Sir.

PIKE … I am relieved.

He opens a BOX in his lap — glorious in repose, a MEDAL:

PIKE (CONT’D) And as Fleet Admiral, for your… unique solution to the Kobayashi Maru, it’s my honor to award you with a commendation for original thinking.

Pike containing a smirk, pins the medal to Kirk’s chest…

PIKE (CONT’D) (a touch choked) Congratulations, Captain.

KIRK Thank you, Sir.

Kirk turns to the crowd. Eyes shining. WILD APPLAUSE. OUR MUSIC SOARS. Bones leans in to Sulu, rolling his eyes:

BONES … Same ship, different day.

As Kirk rejoins his crew for hugs and congratulations, we go to the BACK of the hangar… SPOCK PRIME. Watching. Moved beyond words. He turns and leaves them to it… as he goes…

KIRK/SHATNER (V.O.) I know what you’d say — ‘It’s their turn now, Jim…’ And of course you’re right… but it got me thinking:

INT. STARFLEET HOSPITAL – EARTH – DAY

Our montage comes full circle as we END on Kirk’s transmission:

KIRK/SHATNER Who’s to say we can’t go one more round? By the last tally, only twenty five percent of the galaxy’s been chartered… I’d call that negligent. Criminal even — an invitation. You once said being a starship captain was my first, best destiny… if that’s true, then yours is to be by my side. If there’s any true logic to the universe… we’ll end up on that bridge again someday.

Stops, grins. Because this is the part he needs to say most…

KIRK/SHATNER Admit it, Spock. For people like us, the journey itself… is home.

Young Spock’s face. Lost in feelings that flood through him.

<3