#in The Next Generation they assimilate Captain Picard and use him and his knowledge to attack Starfleet/the Federation

[sweetandglovelyart]

Are there any other Kirby fans on here who are also fans of Star Trek? I know of a couple people already, but I’m trying to see if there’s anyone else. I personally see a lot of parallels between Kirby and Star Trek, and some of my Kirby fanart is Star Trek-inspired, so that’s why I’m asking.

[thegreaterlink]

Reviewing Star Trek TNG - S4E1 "The Best of Both Worlds - Part 2"

PREVIOUSLY ON STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION...

...Just read my last review. Or watch the episode for yourself.

And now, the thrilling conclusion!

WHAT'S IN STORE IN SEASON 4?

...A few of the producers left…

…Jeri Taylor joined as a supervising producer and part of the writing crew… she co-created Voyager a few years later… I guess that’s kind of important…

Okay, how about I finally review this fucker?

MY REVIEW

"Mr Worf... fire."

The energy beam fires… and has no effect.

Four months of waiting well spent.

It turns out that assimilating Picard into Locutus added his knowledge and experience to the Borg's hive mind, so they know every possible move the crew is about to make. With the crippled Enterprise no longer posing a threat, the Borg continue on their course to Earth.

Admiral Hanson tries to reassure them that there's no way Picard is helping the Borg - despite significant evidence to the contrary - and gives Riker a field promotion to captain.

One of this episode's biggest strengths is its tension, since at the time audiences had no guarantee that Picard was going to make it out of this. It seemed entirely possible that Riker was going to take over as captain, with Shelby as his first officer.

Obviously said tension is now practically nonexistent with the knowledge that Picard went on to appear in four more seasons, four movies, an episode of Deep Space Nine and a three-season spinoff series with his name on it, but I digress.

Nevertheless, morale is running low throughout the entire ship, with the crew scrambling to repair the ship and find new means to combat the Borg and Riker feeling immense pressure to perform in a position he was unprepared for. Sensing that the crew is overwhelmed, Guinan comes to visit him, in an interesting parallel of the scene from part 1.

Guinan: When a man is convinced he's going to die tomorrow, he'll probably find a way to make it happen. The only one who can turn this around is you.

Riker: I'll do the best I can.

Guinan: You're going to have to do something you don't want to do. You have to let go of Picard.

To clarify, she means that they can't let the loss and influence of the captain hang over them, and that Riker has to let him go and be his own captain if he has any hope of defeating Locutus.

Before Riker can give it any more thought, the Enterprise arrives at the battle coordinates at Wolf 359.

Somewhere out there, Benjamin Sisko is incredibly pissed off at how his character arc has started.

More than forty ships, thousands of Starfleet personnel, destroyed in a matter of minutes by a single Borg cube. It gets even worse when we learn that one of these ships is the USS Melbourne, the very ship which Riker had been offered.

Riker seems to recover from the news pretty quickly (though it's more likely that he's just as horrified and hiding it for the sake of the crew) and orders them to move to intercept the Borg using Shelby's original plan of separating the Enterprise's saucer section. Picard may be expecting that (remember how Shelby had briefed him on it?) but Riker is counting on it.

Both halves of the ship fail to do any damage and evade any of the Borg's attacks. But that's not the point of the attack.

Riker had anticipated Locutus' reactions ahead of time. Earlier, he took Data and Worf aside to brief them on a special assignment. While the Borg are distracted by the two Enterprise sections, they fly a shuttle through the cube's electromagnetic field, allowing them to beam aboard and recover Locutus.

Don't you just love a happy reunion?

The saucer section may have been crippled, but with the threat seemingly being neutralised, the Borg continues on course to Earth, apparently being 100% fine that their incredibly high-value prisoner who was meant to act as the liaison between them and humanity has just been recaptured.

"You underestimate us if you believe this abduction is any concern."

Okay... I mean, I guess he wasn't exactly essential to the invasion.

"Oh shit... how much did I have to drink last night?"

Locutus says that he will do them no harm, and will continue to speak for the Borg as they continue on their course towards Earth.

And everyone is apparently okay with this? Having a Borg drone on board feels like a recipe for either disaster or wacky comedic hijinks. And they do deactivate him, but not before he gets a chance to talk shit about how he'll assimilate all of the crew.

They'd previously discovered that a series of subspace signals have been emanating between Locutus and the Borg cube, and theorise that these signals form the basis of the Borg's collective consciousness. Way back in Q Who, they witnessed that the Borg would self-destruct when separated from the hive mind, which would kill Picard, so their plan is to have Data connect his brain to Locutus' while Dr Crusher performs microsurgery to restore Picard's humanity.

Finally, some treknobabble that actually makes sense to me. Only took us four seasons.

Just as Data gains access to the Borg's neural net, Locutus realises what they're doing and tries to stop them. Data responds by removing Locutus' deely-bopper hand thing which all the Borg have for some reason, so now he just looks like he has his arm stuck in a high-tech Pringles tube.

They realise that the Borg are unable to sever their link to Picard, so Data attempts to implant a command in the Borg's consciousness to disarm their weapons.

Think of it like that Robot Chicken night crew sketch where getting one Borg to party convinced them all to party, except we're supposed to take this completely seriously.

I'll be honest, I was hoping for an ending that was a bit less... anticlimactic.

To the credit of Michael Piller (who wrote both parts), he probably realised this and tried to ramp up the tension by having Riker almost resort to setting the Enterprise on a collision course with the Borg cube, as well as the uncertainty of what will happen to Picard, but of course the Borg are disabled, the cube is destroyed, and Picard is returned to normal.

Riker: How much do you remember?

Picard: ...Everything. Including some brilliant strategy from a former First Officer of mine.

Hoo boy.

Even later, when Picard's implants have been removed, Shelby disembarks and Riker reaffirms his confidence in his own career path, we get the sense that he still hasn't entirely recovered.

Looks like someone's going to need some

Shore Leave Therapy!

7.5/10 - Not quite as strong as the first part, but still a worthy conclusion.

There. It's over. Now onto the rest of the season.

Previous Episode | TNG Masterpost | Next Episode

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#9: “Ladybug can't be akumatized because I said so!”

In the past three seasons of Miraculous Ladybug, Marinette has been through a lot. In addition to struggling to convey her feelings to Adrien, she has also fought several supervillains on a weekly basis, been subjected to all kinds of humiliation, and has had her friendships tested thanks to Lila's lies. Despite all of this stress, Marinette still hasn't akumatized, though she came close in the episode “Ladybug” (Hawkmoth was forced to abort his plan at the time). But because she was so close to becoming an Akuma, fans naturally wondered if this was only a taste of what was to come.

So someone on Twitter raised the question if Marinette would ever actually be akumatized. By this point, you can guess how Astruc responded.

As usual, despite being polite in the way this person phrased their tweet, Astruc acts like they're being ridiculous to even suggest something like that. And honestly, I'm surprised this tweet hasn't gotten more criticism from the Miraculous Ladybug fandom. Like, I think it's up there with the stuff he says about Chloe, it's that bad.

I mean, how can any writer say something like “That's a difference between an idea and a story” with a straight face? The difference between an idea and a story is that a story is simply an idea fully realized. That's it. This is like saying there's a difference between a recipe and an apple pie. One's still a page in a cookbook, the other is for dessert at Thanksgiving dinner because someone followed the recipe from said cookbook.

At the same time, Astruc barely explains why Marinette getting akumatized wouldn't work. What does he even mean when he says to think about when Hawkmoth talks to Marinette? Does he think she'll immediately hand over her Miraculous to him before going after Cat Noir? Does he think Cat Noir isn't able to stop Marinette should she get akumatized? What is he trying to say here? It's not like someone with a Miraculous can't be akumatized.

Someone brought up the fact that not only has Cat Noir been akumatized (As well as Carapace, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee), but since the Rabbit Miraculous has the power of time travel, they really aren't bound by anything, especially since the whole plot of “Cat Blanc” was that Bunnix helped to undo the timeline where he was akumatized.

And what does Astruc say in response to this? You won't believe it. The lack of self-awareness is purely mind-blowing here.

Yes. He actually claims that his show isn't just spinning its wheels by doing the same thing over and over again. How can he think something like this, when he literally had two separate episodes in Season 3 that were about Marinette and Adrien figuring out each other's identities and then undoing that massive plot development by the end? Are you telling me that isn't deceptive?

Astruc, how can you, as a creator, say what can and can't be done? You can't tell me that not a single person thought the concept for Miraculous Ladybug was ridiculous. If someone did, it obviously didn't stop you from going ahead and making your show. For God's sake, a big part of what got people interested in Miraculous Ladybug in the first place was the concepts introduced in the show, like the Love Square and Hawkmoth's Akumas. There are a lot of fans who outright think the actual show is garbage, and consider several fan works to be far superior, like @miraculouscontent‘s LadyBugOut AU, or @zoe-oneesama​‘s Scarlet Lady comic. Do you know why they made those? Because they had an idea (both ironically based on the show's poor writing), thought about it, and converted it into a story.

But then again, I don't think I've ever heard of a TV show where the main hero was brainwashed to work for the villain while the other characters have to stop them—OH WAIT.

Yes, arguably one of the most iconic episodes in television history, “The Best of Both Worlds” from Star Trek: The Next Generation follows a similar premise to what Astruc thinks can never happen. In case you live under a rock and haven't seen Star Trek, this episode is about Captain Picard getting assimilated into the hive mind of the Borg, forcing Commander Riker and the rest of the crew on the Enterprise to step up to stop the Borg from using Picard's knowledge of Starfleet to assimilate Earth.

This episode is often considered by many Trekkies to be the pinnacle of the entire franchise in its 54 year run, and the drama of Picard being assimilated is one of the key reasons. Without the Enterprise's fearless leader, there's a level of uncertainty to the situation, best reflected in Riker's reluctance to take charge as the new captain. It was even more interesting to see the crew's struggle to choose between defeating the Borg or saving Picard. There's a reason why the cliffhanger at the end of the first part was so shocking, as it showed Riker's development and willingness to do whatever it takes to save the day, even if it means possibly killing Picard.

You're telling me we can't get anything like that with Cat Noir or any of the other heroes if Marinette gets akumatized?

Hell, there's also a lot of narrative possibilities that could come from Marinette dealing with the trauma of being Akumatized. She could mentally berate herself for letting this happen to her, claiming this shouldn't happen and how she almost got everyone killed while working for Hawkmoth.

You know, like what the episode after “The Best of Both Worlds” did with Picard emotionally venting to his brother.

How come that can't happen because of what Hawkmoth says to Marinette?

Oh, wait! I get it now! “The Best of Both Worlds” is an actual story, but thinking about Marinette getting akumatized is just an idea because it hasn't become an actual story yet. It all makes sense now!

Then in that case, I guess these are just ideas as well.

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 Finale Easter Eggs & References

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 1 finale.

In terms of references, if “No Small Parts” was the only episode of Star Trek you’d ever seen, you would have been given a crash course on the entire franchise. Seriously, if you wanted to explain to someone, very quickly, what Star Trek was about, it would probably be easier to just have them watch the 26-minutes of the Star Trek: Lower Decks finale, “No Small Parts.” The Easter eggs and references start with The Original Series and end up with a big shout-out to the TNG movies, the infamous Enterprise finale, and one officially licensed Star Trek toy that is somehow now canon.

Beta III and Landru 

The episode opens with the USS Cerritos in orbit of Beta III, the planet from the TOS episode “The Return of the Archons.” In that episode, people all worshiped a bizarre god called Landru, but Kirk and Spock determined that Landru was a computer. Landru encouraged people to go nuts once a day during something called “The Red Hour,” which is kind of like the Trek version of The Purge. Ben Stiller also named his production company “The Red Hour,” a fact which he discussed at length in the first episode of the new Star Trek podcast, The Pod Directive, which is co-hosted by Tawny Newsome, better known to Lower Decks fans as the voice of Beckett Mariner. 

Wondering about the word “return” in the episode “Return of the Archons?” Well, the titular Archons were actually humans from an Earth ship called the Archon. The people of Beta III were actually waiting for “the return of the Archons,” meaning, humans from Earth. So, with the Cerritos back at this planet, this is the third time the “Archons” have returned. 

Kirk and Spock from TAS 

On Ransom’s padd, when he’s talking about Kirk and Spock figuring out that Landru “was a computer,” we see an image of Kirk and Spock, exactly as they appeared in Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1973 and 1974. This is the first time that exact animated series depictions of Trek characters have appeared in another Trek series.

Don’t make me paradox you into destroying yourself!

Captain Freeman’s threat to Landru references one of Kirk’s famous talking-a-computer-to-death speeches at the end of the same episode, “Return of the Archons.” Kirk also famously talked other AIs to death in “The Changeling” and “I, Mudd.” 

“TOS Era”

Ransom says it’s “always weird visiting planets from the TOS era.” Freeman naturally questions him on this, and he explains it’s what he calls the 2260s because it was filled with “Those Old Scientists,” or TOS. Obviously, the joke here is that “TOS” is what fans have been calling Star Trek: The Original Series, since, well, there’s been a Next Generation or TNG. 

“A Gamester of Triskelion or whatever” 

Freeman says she never wants people to get taken advantage of by “a gamester of triskelion.” This references the TOS episode “The Gamesters of Triskelion,” who are revealed to be talking brains who make bets using a currency known as “quatloos.” 

Captain Freeman Day

Boimler mentions that the Cerritos has a “Captain Freeman Day,” which references Captain Picard Day from the TNG episode, “The Pegasus.” This is the third time in 2020 that a new Trek series has referenced Captain Picard Day. In the first episode of Picard — “Remembrance” — Jean-Luc revisited the Captain Picard Day banner. And, in Episode 5 of Lower Decks, Captain Picard Day was also referenced outright.

Exocomp

The robot named Peanut Hamper is an Excocomp, a type of sentient artificial life first seen in the TNG episode “The Quality of Life.” In that episode, the Exocomps were recognized as being sentient in 2369. Lower Decks happens in 2380, so it seems like a lot has happened since then. “The Quality of Life” was also directed by Jonathan Frakes, who, spoiler alert, appears in this episode of Lower Decks. 

Wesley Crusher worked with his mom!

Mariner tries to deflect accusations of nepotism by pointing out that “Wesley Crusher worked with his mom!” This is true! In TNG, Wesley Crusher became an acting ensign on the Enterprise while his mother was a member of the senior staff. Both Crushers were often in staff meetings together! Notably, this episode also ends with Riker and Troi and the USS Titan. Riker and Troi are married and serve together as Captain and ship’s Counselor. 

Wolf 359 was an inside job

Mariner’s bad one-time-date tells her “Wolf 359 was an inside job.” This joke is hilarious, but you can also kind of see why people in Starfleet might believe it. After all, the guy who destroyed most of the Starfleet ships at Wolf 359 was Picard, who had been assimilated by the Borg in “The Best of Both Worlds.” Semantically, because the Borg stole knowledge from Picard’s mind and used him to take down Starfleet, they had inside information. 

As he’s leaving, Conspiracy Theory Guy says “Changelings aren’t real, the Dominion War didn’t happen!” This references the Dominion War in Deep Space Nine, which was mostly perpetrated by the shape-shifting race of aliens called The Founders but more commonly called, Changelings. 

Kalla system and the Pakleds

The faked distress call in this episode comes from the Kalla system. This references the TNG episode “Firstborn,” in which the Kalla system is mentioned as a place the Pakleds hang out. 

However, the Pakleds themselves only appeared in one TNG episode ever, “The Samaritan Snare.” As Boimler and Freeman point out, people thought they were a joke back then, too, but it turns out, they’re not anymore!

Apparently, people eat salmon on First Contact Day

Ransom says the Pakled ship is carving up the Cerritos like a “First Contact Day salmon.” First Contact Day references the First Contact, where the Vulcans first formally landed on Earth and met humans. Why would people eat salmon on First Contact Day? Well, First Contact happened in Montana, so maybe, just maybe, there were salmon there? 

Mariner’s contraband

We knew in Lower Decks episode 1, that Mariner had hidden various outlawed items throughout the ship. But, in this scene, we see way more of it. Here’s a breakdown of Mariner’s stuff.

A Tribble from “The Trouble With Tribbles” et al. Mariner later says she uses it for “personal reasons.”

A fencing foil. This references Sulu fighting with a sword like this in “The Naked Time.” It also references Mariner telling Boimler that he could become a “sword guy” in the first Lower Decks episode, “Second Contact.”

A bottle of Klingon Bloodwine

A Klingon Bat’leth

And…a “Spock” helmet. This helmet is based on a toy from the ‘70s produced by AHI. For years, fans have pointed out the helmet has nothing to do with Spock or Star Trek, despite the fact that it was sold as a real Star Trek toy. Ethan Peck jokingly unboxed one of these vintage Spock helmets in December 2019 on StarTrek.com. The fact that Marnier has one of these helmets as “contraband,” seems to imply the Spock helmet is canon. Other than Xon, this Easter egg might be Lower Deck’s deepest, deepest cut. 

Peanut Hamper’s Refusal to Help

When Peanut Hamper the Exocomp says she’ll “pass” on helping save the ship, Tendi says “What about the needs of the many?” This references Spock’s famous axiom from The Wrath of Khan: “The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few…or the one.”

USS Titan entrance

Although Riker’s USS Titan has been referenced several times on Lower Decks, and one officer even found himself transferred there in Episode 6, this is the first time we actually get to see Riker’s Luna-class starship in action. The way the Titan looks matches with its appearance on the covers of non-canon novels, as does its register number: NCC-80102. In 2379, Riker became the captain of the Titan and Troi, the ship’s counselor.

RED ALERT!

Riker says RED ALERT twice in these Titan scenes. Once when the ship makes its big entrance, and again when he says “We’re still at Red Alert!” This references Riker’s habit for saying “RED ALERT” really, really loud on TNG.

Riker’s first officer seems to be the same species as Linus from Star Trek: Discovery

The alien in the First Officer’s chair looks very much like the Saurian (lizard person) Linus from Star Trek: Discovery. In theory, “Saurians” have been in canon for a long time — Bones and Kirk drank Saurian brandy in TOS, and a Saurian was a prominent background character in The Motion Picture.

Romulan Ale

Mariner says that Riker is “flush with Romulan Ale.” Although Lower Decks referenced Romulan Whiskey in its first episode, this is the first reference to Romulan Ale. In Nemesis, Riker and Troi had Romulan Ale served at their wedding. So, Troi saying “We’ll talk about this,” might reference the idea that she had assumed that all the Romulan Ale had already been drunk.

Starship refit

Captain Freeman insists that she doesn’t want the Cerritos to have cosmetic changes, saying “I hate it when a ship gets repaired and comes out looking all-Sovereign-class.” This references the idea that the original TOS Enterprise looked very different after its refit in The Motion Picture. But, more specifically, it references the Sovereign-class USS Enterprise-E, the ship that replaced the Enterprise-D in Star Trek: First Contact.

Jax’s Death

Jax is the security chief of the USS Cerritos and unexpectedly dies in the first season of a new Star Trek show. This could reference Tasha Yar — the security chief of the Enterprise — who died in the first season of TNG. Jax’s funeral echo’s Spock’s funeral in The Wrath of Khan, but also, Airiam’s funeral in the Star Trek: Discovery episode “The Red Angel.”

Riker calls Carol Freeman his cha’dich

Like Mariner calling Boimler his “cha’dich,” in “Second Contact,” Riker calls Freeman — Mariner’s mom — the same thing. “Cha’dich” is a Klingon term that means someone is basically someone’s loyal assistant, who does their fighting for them. Picard was Worf’s “cha’dich” in the TNG episode “Sins of the Father.”

We don’t use money anymore

Riker tells Mariner “Why don’t you buy me a drink!” Mariner replies “We don’t use money anymore.” This references the fact that most people in the Federation don’t use money. Kirk says something very similar in The Voyage Home when Dr. Taylor says: “Don’t tell me you don’t use money in the 23rd century,” to which Kirk replies, “Well, we don’t!”

Tulgana IV

The planet the Titan is headed for at the very end of the episode is Tulgana IV. This is the same planet Boimler and Mariner visited in the second Lower Decks episode, “Envoys.” 

Boimler has a picture of Jack Ransom in his new quarters?

It really looks like that Boimler has a round photo of Ransom in a place of honor in his new quarters. This is hilarious and weird. Does Boimler think Ransom actually was his friend?

Armus 

Mariner is so angry that Boimler left the ship without telling her that she says: “I’m going to feed you to an Armus!” This references the oil-slick alien Armus from the TNG episode “Skin of Evil.” Again, this is the creature who killed Tasha Yar.

Riker is still obsessed with the NX-01 Enterprise

Riker says he is late to the bridge because “I was watching the first Enterprise on the holodeck, You know Archer and those guys.” This references the infamous finale of Enterprise called “These Are the Voyages…” which is framed as Riker interacting in a holodeck simulation that recreates the final mission of the NX-01 Enterprise. 

Little Risa and the Little Horga’hn

Riker and Troi talk about visiting “Little Risa” on Tulgana IV, which prompts Troi to ask if “we should bring the little Horga’hn.” This references a statue called the Horga’hn which you’re supposed to display openly on Risa if you want to well…get busy. In TNG’s “Captain’s Holiday,” Riker tricked Picard into picking up a statue.

Oh the Jazz

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Riker’s warp speed catchphrase is: “Give me warp in the factor of 5, 6, 7, 8!” He snaps and counts down to this like he’s getting ready to play jazz. Troi says “Oh the Jazz,” which seems to reference her annoyance with this obsession. In “Second Chances,” Troi mocks Riker for being unable to play a certain trombone solo correctly on a song called “Nightbird.” Riker’s interest in playing jazz, specifically the trombone, started with the episode “11001001.” Most recently, Riker was listening to jazz in the Picard episode “Nepenthe,” when Jean-Luc showed up at his house. And now that Lower Decks has put Boimler on the USS Titan, it seems very, very likely that we’ll be hearing more of Riker’s jazz trombone playing in season 2. Hit it!

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 Finale Easter Eggs & References appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3d8r37m

[jimintomystery]

TNG: “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”

Commander Riker didn’t want to accept a promotion that would take him away from the Enterprise, but now he’s the captain of the Enterprise.  Lt. Commander Shelby resented Riker for being in the way of her career advancement, but now she’s his first officer.  Captain Picard didn’t want to help the Borg invade the Federation, but now he is Locutus of Borg and his strategic knowledge is helping them cut through Earth’s defenses.  ...Wait, that last one is bad.

At long last, we’ve finally reached the point where I started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation regularly, as a fan, and not just because my parents had the remote control.  I hadn’t even heard of the Borg, let alone the shocking cliffhanger of the third season finale.  I just overheard my parents talking about how “the captain got turned into a Borg” and thought that was weird.  We were having dinner while this episode premiered, so by the time we finished eating I was sucked in to the story’s problem: How do you stop invincible cyborgs that stole your greatest leader?  Riker’s approach to solving the problem is probably what made me a bigger Trek fan than my parents.

This is, incidentally, the first time the Borg speak of assimilation, both to describe what they’ve done to Picard and what they wish to do to the Federation’s culture and technology.  In “Q Who” they just wanted to field-strip cities to consume the technology, and in “The Best of Both Worlds” they talk of making the Federation culture “service us.”  Turning Picard into a Borg seemed to be an unusual tactic to achieve those goals.  Now, though, turning everyone into Borg is the goal; the writers seem to have realized that it’s the most insidious and captivating thing about this enemy, and have suddenly made it their raison d'etre.  So now they consume technologies and subjugate cultures by absorbing them.

I’m not sure I can express what a powerful symbol the Borg became for an unstoppable, uncaring threat.  Internet memes have likened politicians and corporations to the Borg since before they were called memes.  The utter impotence of the Enterprise’s hot new weapon, and the righteousness of Riker’s lost cause, and the sense that it’s just not fair, probably have more to do with those memes than the whole techno-zombie aesthetic.  Nowadays, pop culture is spoiled for choice for instantly recognizable metaphors for absurdly overpowered opponents, from Sailor Moon to, uh, Shaggy for some reason.  But back in the day we mainly had “resistance is futile.”

To appreciate Riker’s winning strategy, I think it’s important to understand that Locutus’s dialogue is very much Borg objectives wrapped in Picard’s diplomacy.  They didn’t just get him to learn how to crush Starfleet armadas; they want him to persuade his countrymen to surrender.  If not for Locutus I’m not sure the Borg would even bother parleying with Riker.  It’s certainly the Picard in Locutus that makes him (incorrectly) surmise Riker’s ulterior motive, and then assume Riker wanted to capture him out of misguided sentiment.  The Borg assimilated Picard’s raw knowledge about Riker (he’s sneaky and he likes me) but make no use of Picard’s wisdom to figure out what Riker’s really up to.  This delays the Borg from realizing they can’t let Riker have Locutus until it’s too late.

In the end, of course, we get Picard back, and Shelby takes an assignment rebuilding the Federation fleet.  This leaves Captain Riker to decide whether to take his new promotion to another ship, or resume serving as Picard’s first officer.  I respect Riker’s decision to stick around (apparently busting him back down to commander), but I don’t entirely understand why Starfleet does.  It was clear in Part I that the top brass were annoyed that he wouldn’t accept a promotion to captain, and in this episode he finally does, so why would they immediately let him call backsies?

[phantom-le6]

Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 (1 of 6)

Ok, I’ve been procrastinating on this for a while, so without further ado, let’s renew our look into episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation by warping into the start of the show’s fourth season, beginning with the conclusion to the ground-breaking two-part story “The Best of Both Worlds”.

Episode 1: The Best of Both Worlds (Part 2)

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The discharge fired from the Enterprise’s deflector dish has no effect on the Borg cube; Locutus reveals that the Borg had prepared for the attack using Captain Picard's knowledge. The Borg cube continues at warp speed towards Earth, with the crippled Enterprise unable to follow. Upon reporting their failure to Admiral Hanson, Commander Riker is promoted to Captain and makes Commander Shelby his first officer. The crew learns that a fleet of starships is massing at Wolf 359 to stop the Borg. Guinan suggests to Riker that he "let go of Picard", since Picard's knowledge is being used to thwart Starfleet tactics, in order to defeat the Borg and possibly save Picard's life.

 The Enterprise arrives at Wolf 359 to find that Hanson has been killed and the fleet destroyed, including the starship Riker had been offered command of in Part 1. The Enterprise then follows the cube's warp trail to an intercept point and offers to negotiate with Locutus. The request is denied, but the communication reveals Locutus's location within the cube. The Enterprise then separates into saucer and stardrive sections. Although Shelby suggested attacking with the stardrive section, Riker does the reverse and orders the saucer section to fire an antimatter spread near the cube, disrupting its sensors and allowing a shuttlecraft piloted by Lt. Commander Data and Lt. Worf to pass the Borg shields and beam aboard the Borg cube. They kidnap Locutus, although the Borg ignore this and continue to Earth.

 Data and Dr Crusher create a neural link with Locutus to gain access to the Borg's collective consciousness. Data attempts to use the link to disable the Borg's weapons and defensive systems, but cannot, as they are protected by security protocols. Picard breaks free from Borg control and mutters, "sleep". Dr Crusher comments that Picard must be exhausted from this ordeal, however Data deduces that Picard is suggesting accessing the Borg regeneration subroutines, which are less protected than key systems like weapons or power. Data issues a command to the Borg to enter sleep mode, causing their weapons and shields to deactivate. A feedback loop builds in the Borg cube, which destroys the vessel. Dr Crusher and Data remove the Borg implants and augmentations from Picard.

 The Enterprise is awaiting repairs at an orbital shipyard, and Riker, although offered command of his own ship, insists on remaining as first officer. Shelby is reassigned to a task force dedicated to rebuilding the fleet. Picard physically recovers, but is still psychologically disturbed by his ordeal.

Review:

While Part 1 was great for the first season-bridging two-part cliff-hanger of TNG and of wider Trek lore ever to be done, the second part comes to drop the ball a little on delivering follow-through to part 1’s set-up.  Granted, we still get some decent character performances and a good plot with what little decent action the episode could afford, but it’s ultimately failing to deliver on the level of action that is at times promised.  Anyone coming into this from watching some later Trek productions like DS9’s story lines with fighting first the Klingons and then the Cardassian-Dominion alliance will see just how much this episode falls short on the action front; indeed, it’s not until DS9’s pilot episode that we get to see the infamous Battle of Wolf 359 in any real detail, as opposed to a DS9 episode like ‘Sacrifice of Angels’ which is almost wall-to-wall starship action at times.

 The solution also seems to come too quickly and is almost too convenient.  Part of this is because the first part was written without a solution ‘waiting in the wings’.  If Memory Alpha is to be believe, Michael Piller waited until he knew he would be staying on as TNG’s story editor before trying to write his way out the seemingly impossible-to-escape cliff-hanger he’d created in part 1.  Now while I can understand that desire not to tie yourself into a solution to something that might not be your problem, I think in any kind of continual story-telling, early parts should always be written to leave a few options open.  Even if you’re not writing the solution because you’re doing a form of writing like TV or film where you’re not guaranteed to write the next instalment, I think it’s just good manners to fellow writers and to your audience not to write a hard-to-solve cliff-hanger.

 As it is, I can’t help feeling TNG might have benefited from extending part 2 a bit more and potentially turning this into a trilogy, much as DS9 did with its season 2 opening episodes.  Still, I suppose it ends well enough, and I’m glad this episode and later ones gave us a sense that Picard remains affected by his assimilation experience.  Not only is this ground-work that later ex-Borg characters like Voyager’s Seven of Nine would rely on simply to exist, but it’s another move by the show away from being just an unending array of one-off adventures with little to no consequences for anyone involved.  That kind of overly simplistic and unrealistic story-telling just isn’t Trek-worthy, and I’m glad it was starting to die out here.  Overall score for this episode, 8 out of 10.

Episode 2: Family

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise is docked at Earth Station McKinley, undergoing repairs and refitting following its battle with the Borg. The episode follows the interactions of three members of the crew with their family members. Lt. Worf's adoptive human parents, Sergey and Helena Rozhenko visit the Enterprise, having learned about his discommendation some time ago, but also having been unable to support him as they would wish due to being lightyears apart. Worf, though embarrassed and uncomfortable with their doting behaviour at first, but in the end appreciates their concern. Dr Beverly Crusher retrieves a chest, kept in storage on Earth, containing her late husband Jack's mementos, including a holographic recording he made for Wesley when their child was only 10 weeks old. Beverly, though worried that the two of them have only recently truly come to terms with Jack's death, eventually gives the recording to Wesley. Wesley runs the recording and is given some degree of closure by the message.

 Captain Picard, recovering from his Borg assimilation, visits his family's vineyard in La Barre, France, which is run by his elder brother Robert along with his wife Marie and son René. Jean-Luc considers a position on Earth with an underwater research project called Atlantis. Robert has always been jealous of his brother's success and is concerned that Jean-Luc's presence will drive René to also join Starfleet. The two have a bitter argument and end up wrestling each other in a mud puddle, eventually culminating in an emotional reunion, with Jean-Luc breaking down and crying, admitting his sense of powerlessness and guilt at the things he was forced to do while under the influence of the Borg. Robert states that Jean-Luc will have to learn to live with what he did, regardless of where he goes. Jean-Luc decides to go back to the Enterprise. The two spend the night getting drunk as they resolve their differences. After Jean-Luc leaves, Robert decides to let René follow his dream to join Starfleet as René sits under a tree and looks up at space.

Review:

This episode really helps the previous one in terms of moving TNG away from being a series without consequence.  While Wesley’s storyline is little more than filler covering a bit more screen-time that the other plots could have made better use of, Worf’s part in the episode is our first real sense of follow-on from ‘Sins of the Father’.  At last, Worf’s discommendation gets its first notable repeat mention, and at the same time we get to see our first glimpse into the human family that raised Worf. Their part in this episode brings up some great little messages about good parenting, and as Guinnan points out, there are a lot of parents out there who could stand to learn something from the Rozhenkos.

 However, the real sign that TNG is starting to take the idea of multi-episode story-telling seriously in this episode is Picard’s story.  ‘Best of Both Worlds’ essentially hinted that Picard remained shaken by his experiences with the Borg, but that was as far as it went.  ‘Family’ brings Picard down to Earth, literally, by having him go home and be cajoled into dealing with those experiences by the only people who could do that; his family.  Ultimately, that’s the role that Picard’s family, or more accurately his brother, has to play in this episode; to be the spur that forces Picard to drop his outer reserve and let himself feel what he needs to in order to better deal with the mental trauma.

 In many ways, it’s not unlike the kind of mental cajoling and breaking through a therapist might use in helping a patient deal with mental trauma, and I think the only reason Troi doesn’t provide this is because she’s part of Picard’s crew, and there’s only so far Picard would ever go to open up around those under his command.  Ultimately, it has to be Robert that pushes his younger brother into opening up, and who points out that no matter what Picard does, the experience isn’t going to go away whether you avoid anything related to the source of that trauma or not.  It’s a great message that I imagine many people suffering with psychological traumas could identify with and take as advice themselves, which adds in what defines Trek at its best; issue exploration through metaphor. Discounting the wasted time on the Wesley plot, I’d give this episode 9 out of 10.

Episode 3: Brothers

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

A misguided prank between two young brothers exposes the younger of them to a toxic parasite that cannot be treated aboard the Enterprise, but Dr Crusher is able to stabilize his condition in a controlled environment in Sickbay while the ship sets out for a starbase that can cure the boy. As Lt. Commander Data escorts the older brother to visit his sibling, he suddenly stops and returns to the bridge where, unseen by the crew, he sets a new course for the ship and triggers a life support alarm, causing the evacuation of the bridge to be ordered. Captain Picard orders navigational control transferred the controls to Engineering while the rest of the bridge crew evacuates, but Data remains on the bridge, mimics Picard's voice and locks down control of the ship with a complex access code, preventing any interference with his actions. The crew discover Data's lock-down and manually disable the transporter's site-to-site function to prevent Data from easily moving about the ship. Once the Enterprise is in orbit about the planet Terlina III, Data creates a programmed sequence of force fields to allow him to move from the bridge to the nearest transporter room without being stopped by security, and then beams down to the planet, leaving the Enterprise still under his lock-down. Picard orders his crew to attempt to override Data's lock-down of the ship, while Dr Crusher attempts to keep the infected boy stabilized.

 Data finds himself in the home of his creator, Dr Noonien Soong. Soong states that he called Data to him using a form of automatic recall and makes a manual adjustment on Data to return him to normal. As they talk, they are joined by Lore, inadvertently also drawn by the same recall that Data received, since Soong assumed that Lore was still disassembled. Lore expresses resentment towards his creator and starts to leave, but stops when Soong tells both of his creations that he is dying and wishes to give Data an "emotion chip" he has created. Soong decides to rest before implanting the chip, leaving Data and Lore to talk. When he returns, he proceeds to implant the chip but discovers too late that Lore had managed to deactivate Data and switch clothing with him, so that he now possesses the emotion chip. Soong tries to warn Lore the chip is not meant for him, but Lore instead injures Soong and transports off the planet.

 The crew of the Enterprise find a way to beam down an away team to the planet, where they discover the dying Soong and the deactivated Data. After Data is reactivated, he cannot recall any of what he did on the Enterprise to arrive at this planet, until Soong reveals to him where he can find that information stored in his memory files. Data apologizes to Soong that he will not be able to grieve for his loss, but Soong tells him he will grieve in his own way. After Soong states that he wishes to die on the planet, the Enterprise leaves and returns to its course to the medical facility, where the sick boy is successfully treated. Data observes the brothers at play after forgiving each other for the accident, contemplating his own relationship with Lore.

Review:

This episode is the second in a trilogy that covers the concept of family, although this time we’re exploring it through Data being reunited with his creator, as well as fellow android Lore; in essence, the reunification of a somewhat dysfunctional father-and-sons dynamic that bears echoes of the Thor-Loki-Odin relationship of Marvel lore.  Not only is this a great little character piece for Data, but Brent Spiner actually plays all three members of this family.  It’s a remarkable enough technical feat to see one actor play two roles, such as when Lisa Kudrow would play Phoebe Buffay’s twin sister Ursula in episodes of Friends or the earlier TNG episode ‘Datalore’ where Spiner played Data and Lore.  Playing three characters in one episode, however, is all the more remarkable.

 The main plot is very good, albeit lacking any real issue exploration because it is ultimately just a character piece.  We also get to see some of Data’s more advanced abilities unleashed, such as his voice emulation and higher-level computer programming abilities.  For anything close to issue exploration, it’s the guest siblings, or rather the younger one, that makes the closest thing to a salient point about anything of note. When Dr Crusher is trying to convince the kid to forgive his older brother for the prank gone wrong, the lad claims he’s never played practical jokes on anyone, even for April Fools, because he feels “it’s not funny for the person being pranked.”

 As someone with autism who can’t generally separate practical jokes from bullying and sees the two of fundamentally synonymous except where the victim has behaved so poorly that a practical joke is equitable punishment, I totally agree with this kid’s assessment of practical joking.  Such pranks, outside of punishing truly horrendous people and the slapstick antics of something like Looney Toons, are little more than the cruellest, stupidest and generally most immature of all humour forms imaginable.  It’s not funny because it is essentially humour in weaponised form, laughter directed against a victim in mockery and shame, and in any truly enlightened society it simply has no place, save for an occasional punishment of necessity.  Likewise, anything that encourages practical jokes as a generally accepted form of humour like April Fools should be banned.

 Hell, April Fools only started because some idiots several centuries back refused to shift from an old model of calendars to a new one.  How the hell does that justify all the stupidity of April Fools all this time later?  The answer is simple; it never has, and the only true fools are the ones who still celebrate the custom instead of opting out. Frankly, the fact that pranks and April Fools haven’t been edited out of society by the time TNG is set is a flaw in the supposedly utopian world of Trek.  If humans are still using humour as a weapon like this by the 24th century, if we haven’t grown up properly by then, how the hell have we managed to establish the kind of world that Trek claims to be.  To say I am disappointed by this facet of this episode, and Trek as a whole, is to woefully understate things.  Because of this, what might have been a top-scoring episode despite an otherwise total lack of issue-depth becomes worth 8 out of 10.

Episode 4: Suddenly Human

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a Talarian vessel. They rescue five teenaged crewmembers - four Talarian, and one human, Jono.

Jono keeps to himself, but shows strict obedience to Captain Picard, which together with some unexplained past injuries leads Dr Crusher to suggest Jono may have been physically abused. It is determined that Jono is Jeremiah Rossa, a long-lost Federation citizen. His grandmother is a Starfleet admiral, and he was orphaned ten years ago when his parents were killed in a skirmish with the Talarians.

 When the Captain introduces the topic of Jono's human family, Jono becomes angry. After persistent effort by Picard, Jono's memories of the attack begin to return and a friendship develops between Jono and Wesley Crusher.

 A Talarian ship arrives. Its Captain, Endar, asks for a status on his son, who happens to be Jono. Ten years ago, Endar claimed Jono after Jono's parents were killed. This is part of the Talarian custom of adopting the children of slain enemies to replace their own children who have died in battle. Endar explains Jono's injuries as the products of a boy trying to impress his father by participating in high-risk activities; Picard seems satisfied and observes that Endar seems to care for Jono. Picard allows Endar to see Jono, but when Jono says he wants to stay with Endar, Picard suspects the boy is afraid to say he wants to stay in the Federation. Endar insists that Jono will come back with him, even if the result is war between the Talarians and the Federation.

 Returning to his vessel, Endar calls for reinforcements, as Picard decides to try to convince Jono to stay. After Jono receives a message from his grandmother, Picard takes the boy to play a form of racquetball, where Jono breaks down and cries due to the sounds of the game triggering long-buried memories of his human parents being killed. The crew believes they are making progress with the boy, but that night, Jono stabs the Captain. The dagger is deflected by Picard's sternum, and the wound is minor. The problem of where Jono should live is now compounded as Jono has committed a crime.

 When Picard learns that Jono feels he cannot betray Endar by befriending Picard, the Captain realizes he has been trying to impose his wishes on the boy. Just as Endar's patience is about to run out, Picard contacts the Talarians and lets them know he will let Jono go back. Jono bids Picard farewell with a Talarian ritual that is normally reserved for family members.

Review:

This is the third episode on the trot that covers the theme of family, and again we get a different perspective.  The apparent intention behind it was to explore something the show normally looks at using Worf, namely if you raise a child of one culture in another culture, can they ever be of their birth culture or do they inevitably revert to the culture they were raised in.  However, exploration of this is partly muddled by the fact that the episode raises issues of child abuse regarding the Talarian-raised human teenager that the episode focuses on.  Some less observant and more reactionary viewers seem to think the conclusion of the episode effectively condones child abuse, since those the Enterprise crew suspect of abusing the child get custody in the end.  However, the episode clearly shows Jono’s injuries result from the physically harsh games of the world where he grows up, and as such are simply accidental injuries rather than intentional ones.

 I think if there is a message regarding child abuse and custody cases in this episode despite the intentions of the writers, it’s not to let your suspicions and the personal emotions that stem from those suspicions cloud your judgement.  While better safe than sorry is undoubtedly a wise policy for anyone to adhere to, I think that some people can be inclined to wrap their children up in cotton wool for fear that if their child gets injured even by accident, the state will use it as an excuse to label them as abusers to satisfy themselves.  Such fears are perfectly understandable, as this episode clearly shows how easy it can be even for the supposedly enlightened and more rational humanity of the 24th century to leap to the worst possible conclusions and act from those rather considering all the facts.  As soon as they see Jono is human, and once Dr Crusher finds broken bones and assumes abuse, the crew is hell-bent on winning Jono back to humanity, even when the broken bones are explained away as accidental, all because the Enterprise crew values its own assumptions over actual fact.

 I also think the episode is a victim of when it was made; the later TV franchise of CSI shows the medical examiners of their various shows identifying whether certain injuries could be accidentally or deliberately inflicted, and the earliest of those shows began about a decade after this episode.  This makes me wonder if forensic medicine had yet to develop this science far enough in 1990 that a show like TNG could capitalise on it in the same way.  After all, if early 21st century MEs can determine the difference between an accidental bone fracture and one caused by an act of abuse, you’d think a 24th century doctor like Beverley Crusher could make similar determinations.  As it is, this lack of diagnostic accuracy on Crusher’s part only adds to the error committed by Picard, and it’s only at the end when Jono is driven to violence that anyone realises ‘ok, we’ve messed up and mis-read the entire situation.’

 What makes the whole thing really stupid, however, is that Jono’s situation is something of a mirror to Worf’s, and yet Worf is among those seeking to insist upon Jono throwing off his adoptive culture for his birth one.  That seems very hypocritical coming from a Klingon who has gone into Star Fleet; if Worf were to live by the gospel of this episode, he’d have gone back to the Klingon empire as soon as he was old enough.  Has he done that?  No, he’s the tactical officer and chief of security for the Federation flagship, for crying out loud.  For someone from a race valuing honour so heavily, it’s just stupid and inconsistent to have Worf follow everyone else’s assumption and not argue in Jono’s corner. I won’t even start on the stupid howling ritual that had me muting the episode every time it came on.  Bottom line, this episode only gets 5 out of 10 from me.

Episode 5: Remember Me

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The USS Enterprise docks at Starbase 133, where Dr Beverly Crusher greets her elderly friend and mentor, Dr Dalen Quaice. After taking him to his quarters, discussing the loss of old friends, Dr Crusher visits her son Ensign Wesley Crusher in Engineering. Wesley attempts to create a static warp bubble, but the experiment appears to fail. As the Enterprise leaves Starbase, Dr Crusher finds that Dr Quaice is missing, with no record of him coming aboard the ship. As she performs a medical test on transporter chief O'Brien, she realizes that her medical staff is missing; further investigation and discussion with the crew show that she has always worked alone in sick bay.

 Dr Crusher continues to try to track down the disappearing people and finds more and more crew members that she remembers being completely unknown to the crew or the computer. At one point, a vortex appears near Dr Crusher and attempts to pull her in, but she is able to hold on to a fixture until it dissipates; the ship shows no record of the vortex's appearance when she investigates. Eventually, no one but Captain Picard and herself remain on the ship, but Picard believes that the situation is normal. Dr Crusher orders the computer to give Picard's vital signs over the ship's speakers so she knows he is still there, but shortly thereafter, even he disappears. Then, the vortex reappears, and once again tries to claim Beverly. She is blown across the bridge, but she manages to hang onto the chair for the Ops position until the vortex disappears.

 At this point, it is revealed that the actual Enterprise, where Wesley had successfully created the warp bubble and accidentally trapped his mother within it, is trying to rescue Dr Crusher. With the warp bubble collapsing rapidly, Wesley's fears lead the Traveller to appear and help Wesley attempt to stabilize the bubble. The Traveller recommends the Enterprise return to the Starbase, where the warp bubble was formed and may be more stable.

 Within the warp bubble, Dr Crusher attempts to direct the Enterprise to the home planet of the Traveller, but soon finds the ship is unable to set that destination, as it no longer exists. More of the universe she knows disappears, soon leaving only the Enterprise. She recognizes the shape as being that of Wesley's warp bubbles, and determines that she is trapped, the earlier vortex being the Enterprise crew's first attempt to save her. As the warp bubble shrinks, erasing parts of the Enterprise, she races for Engineering, the centre of the warp bubble, and finds a vortex waiting there. She jumps in at the last moment, finding herself back in Engineering along with Picard, Wesley, Geordi La Forge, and the Traveller. She embraces her son and obtains confirmation from Picard that the Enterprise's population is 1,014, including her guest Dr Quaice), which is the correct number.

Review:

Here we have another example of a cost-saving bottle episode made to save money where earlier episodes perhaps involved an over-spend.  It’s not up there with the like of ‘The Offspring’ for quality; it’s taking an item that was apparently intended for the earlier episode ‘Family’ and got for time, turning it into a stand-alone episode and then bringing back the Traveller, a guest character not seen since his only prior appearance in TNG’s first season. As a result, we get a re-hash of the ‘thoughts making reality’ premise from the Traveller’s one previous episode, albeit focused entirely around Beverley Crusher.  Gates McFadden does a wonderful job taking centre stage for this episode, but there’s only so much she can do to raise its quality; there’s simply not enough substance for her performance, and the performances of the other actors, to bring to life.  No character exploration, a recycled issue from a past episode.  The only reason I give it 6 out of 10 and not less is that we’re at least getting a break from the kind of stupid we got on the previous episode.

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Star Trek: Picard Is Answering TNG’s Most Frustrating Unanswered Question

Star Trek: Picard is poised to answer one of the biggest open questions from Star Trek: The Next Generation - the fate of Hugh and his collective of independent Borg drones. The CBS All Access series marks the return of Sir Patrick Stewart to the role of Jean-Luc Picard, which he first took on in 1987 on the small screen for the first-ever Star Trek spinoff. The new series is set to pick up roughly two decades after the events of 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, the final film to feature Picard and the rest of the TNG crew.

A handful of major Star Trek players will be around for Star Trek: Picard. Stewart confirmed Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis will return as William Riker and Deanna Troi, respectively, late in the first season; Frakes will also direct a pair of episodes. The show's fantastic San Diego Comic-Con trailer also revealed that Brent Spiner will be reprising his role as the beloved (and deceased) android Data, and Star Trek: Voyager's Jeri Ryan is returning as former Borg drone Seven of Nine. Seven's participation is yet another indicator that Star Trek: Picard will once again be grappling with the Borg, the most vicious threat Picard ever faced in his days as the captain of the Enterprise.

Related: Every Next Generation (& Voyager) Character Returning In Star Trek: Picard

Along with those franchise heavyweights, however, was the announcement that Jonathan Del Arco will also be returning as Hugh, the liberated Borg drone who was the focal point of two of The Next Generation's best episodes. Hugh's return is loaded with philosophical and emotional resonance for Star Trek fans, as he was the one avenue through which TNG could ever find a way to empathize with the nightmarish Borg. But before we can understand what Hugh's return means for the future of Star Trek, we need to take a look back at how we got here.

The Borg are generally remembered as the biggest and baddest threat the Enterprise ever took on in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the cybernetic space zombies actually only appeared in three episodes over the show's first four seasons. They were introduced in season two's "Q Who?," in which the omnipotent trickster Q threw the Enterprise thousands of light-years away into the Delta Quadrant to prove humanity wasn't ready for the dangers that awaited them in deep space. There they met the Borg, the impossibly powerful cyborg race bent on the assimilation of all life. After the Enterprise narrowly escaped destruction and Q had made his point, the Enterprise was returned to the Alpha Quadrant, but the damage was done - the Borg were now coming for Earth.

That confrontation would happen in the epic two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds," which bridged the third and fourth seasons. During a failed attempt to stop their march toward Earth, Picard was captured and assimilated into Locutus, a Borg drone that would be used to speak to humanity and utilize Picard's knowledge of Starfleet defenses. Earth and Picard would both be saved by some ingenious strategy by Commander Riker, but the cost was high; the Borg destroyed 40 Starfleet vessels and killed over 11,000 people at the Battle of Wolf 359 before they were finally stopped. Ostensible foes like the Ferengi and Romulans felt like speed bumps in the face of the Borg, and TNG would maintain the Borg's mystique by keeping them off the board for two years after "The Best of Both Worlds."

The next time the Borg would be featured was in season five's "I Borg," in which the Enterprise unwittingly uncovers a crashed Borg scout ship with one survivor, a young Borg drone classified as Third of Five. While Dr. Beverly Crusher and Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge attempt to heal, study, and understand the drone - eventually giving him the name Hugh - Picard plots to reinsert Hugh into the Borg Collective as a kind of computer virus that would potentially wipe out the entire race. Seeing Picard so overtly court what essentially boils down to genocide is disturbing, and it's supposed to be - Picard's assimilation was a deeply traumatic assault that left him with mental scars he'd spend the next decade of his life attempting to overcome. Once Picard realized Hugh was beginning to reassert his humanity, he abandoned his plans for destruction and offered Hugh the choice of staying with humanity or returning to the collective. Hugh chose to return the collective in hopes that his individuality would spread throughout the Borg and alter the race forever.

Related: Star Trek: Picard Trailer Breakdown - 18 Story Reveals & Easter Eggs

Hugh and the Borg would return in Star Trek: The Next Generation's two-part season six finale/season seven premiere "Descent," in which it's revealed many Borg drones were indeed affected by Hugh's individuality, but not necessarily in the same ways; many drones were unable to reconcile their programming with the return of their individual impulses, sometimes resulting in horrific malfunctions and even suicides. A group of affected Borg were taken in by Lore, Data's evil brother, so he could fashion them into his own personal army. Hugh and a group of liberated Borg aided Picard and his crew in defeating Lore, with the promise that he would help guide these vulnerable Borg drones toward their own independence and peace of mind.

However, this would be the last time Hugh was seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and when the Borg were next seen in the big screen TNG film Star Trek: First Contact, they were back to the lethal space zombies of old, with no mention of Hugh and his kind. And while Hugh was something of a test run for Seven of Nine, the nature of Voyager's story meant there really wasn't an opportunity to address the liberated Borg during that show's run. It has been one of Star Trek's most frustrating unanswered questions for over 25 years - and Star Trek: Picard is finally poised to give us some answers.

The Star Trek: Picard trailer dropped some pretty strong hints that the Borg played a role in the decimation of the Romulan Empire, and that there are many more unassimilated drones that exist in a Romulan-run prison. It's easy to imagine Hugh's collective have been attempting to quietly live their lives, but that galactic politics have made them a target of hatred and violence. Not only would this be a way to acknowledge the current real-world antagonization of refugees and immigrants - a welcome return to Star Trek's roots as a culturally progressive moral arbiter - it would also be thematically resonant for Jean-Luc Picard himself.

One of Starfleet's most decorated officers, and often held up both within the fiction and in real life as a paragon of virtue and intellectualism, Picard's one true personal failing was his inability to consistently empathize with the Borg. Despite the grace he showed Hugh, Picard was violently unhinged in Star Trek: First Contact, very nearly sacrificing his crew - and potentially the purity of the timeline - in his quest for vengeance against them. Picard spending his twilight years attempting to protect his most despised enemies feels like a fitting final chapter for one of the most towering figures in science fiction history.

It's more difficult to predict what exactly has become of Hugh so many years later. There have been hints that Hugh and his collective may not look as cybernetic as they once did, perhaps in an effort to not draw attention to themselves. If he's survived for 25 years with the face of the quadrant's most dreaded foe, it means Hugh is a survivor, and likely the leader Picard predicted he would become at the end of "Descent." No matter what life has been like for Hugh and his collective, when Star Trek: Picard releases, it will finally give an answer fans have been waiting for since 1993.

Next: Star Trek: Everything That Picard Is A Sequel To

source https://screenrant.com/star-trek-picard-tng-unanswered-question-hugh-borg/

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Ch. 2: “The Empress of Mars” Analysis Doctor Who S10.9: Friday, Odin & the Doctor; Missy’s 2 Faces; Etc.

Apologies for getting these 3 chapters for “The Empress of Mars” out after the airing of “The Eaters of Light.”  I post first on Archive Of Our Own, which I did before the 10th episode.  With photos, it takes more time to post here.

If you missed the 1st chapter, check it out Ch. 1: Fastballs, Mars-Not-Mars, Rassilon References, Etc.

NOTE:

TPEW = “The Pyramid at the End of the World” TRODM = “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” THORS = “The Husbands of River Song” CAL = Charlotte Abigail Lux, the little girl from the Library TOS = The Original Series of Star Trek TNG = Star Trek: The Next Generation

Norse Mythology & Vikings Have a Big Role

Roman and Egyptian mythology aren’t the only mythological references in “The Empress of Mars.” Norse Mythology, for example, has a huge role in the episode, as well as other Viking references.

Egil & Eagle

At NASA, we see a sign “EGIL” in front of the Doctor in the image below, which refers to Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicized as Egil Skallagrimsson).  The Doctor, The Ghost, is associated here with Egil.  At first we see the sign without the Doctor.

According to Wikipedia, Egil “was a Viking-Age poet, warrior and farmer. He is also the protagonist of the eponymous Egil's Saga. Egil's Saga historically narrates a period from approximately 850 to 1000 CE and is believed to have been written between 1220 and 1240 CE.”

Egill was born in Iceland, the son of Skalla-Grímr Kveldúlfsson and Bera Yngvarsdóttir, and the grandson of Kveld-Úlfr ("Night Wolf"). His ancestor, Hallbjorn, was Norwegian-Sami.

Here’s another wolf reference, where the Doctor-mirror is the grandson of a metaphorical wolf.

When Grímr arrived in Iceland, he settled at Borg, the place where his father's coffin landed. Grímr was a respected chieftain and mortal enemy of King Harald Fairhair of Norway.

OK, the term “Borg” automatically conjures thoughts of several Star Trek: TNG episodes where alien cyborgs known as the Borg show up to assimilate people, turning them into Borg and absorbing them into the collective. They first show up in the episode “Q Who?”  Um… I never thought about this before, but wow, just change Q to Doctor!  Captain Picard gets converted to a Borg in “The Best of Both Worlds.”  Part 1 was the finale to Season 3, while Part 2 was the premiere of Season 4.

Egill composed his first poem at the age of three years. He exhibited berserk behaviour, and this, together with the description of his large and unattractive head, has led to the theory that he might have suffered from Paget's disease. As professor Byock explains in his Scientific American article, Paget's disease causes a thickening of the bones and may lead eventually to blindness. The poetry of Egill contains clues to Paget's disease, and this is the first application of science, with the exclusion of archaeology, to the Icelandic sagas.

Here’s a reference to blindness.

Egil had a very bloody history.  At times, he was marked for death, but his epic poetry, fit for kings, saved him. So words saved him, just like they have saved the Doctor time and time again.

“Egil” is another overloaded word, as its homophone is “eagle.”  The Doctor is either a bird, being a proxy of Zeus, or Zeus, himself. Zeus’s Roman equivalent is Jupiter. In Norse mythology, Odin is the chief god.  He’s not a one-to-one correspondence, though, to Zeus and Jupiter, like the typical Greek and Roman gods are to each other.  Odin, among other things, is also a god of war like Mars.  He’s a tyrannical leader who is not concerned with justice, and this sounds like Morbius, who may be the possessed Doctor. 

Odin, too, was a shape-shifter and turned himself into an eagle.  It’s one of his many disguises.

Valkyrie Has Multiple Meanings

The Martian probe Valkyrie, while probing the Martian ice caps, is named for multiple references.

Operation Valkyrie & “Let’s Kill Hitler”

Operation Valkyrie was a German plan during WWII to assassinate Hitler, take control of German cities, disarm the SS, and arrest the Nazi leadership.  Although the participants made lengthy preparations, the plot failed.  Of course, this also refers to the 11th Doctor episode “Let’s Kill Hitler,” where River was engineered to kill the Doctor.  Of course, that lengthy plot failed, too, at least for the time being.

In “The Lie of the Land,” we saw the Doctor involved in a totalitarian government with the Truth logo, which looked like it could be a type of Nazi logo with an SS (mirrored Ss). Interestingly, Daleks were created as symbols of the Nazis.

Valkyries of Norse Mythology

In Norse mythology, valkyries are female figures who decide the fate of those who die in battle. 

According to Wikipedia:

Selecting among half of those who die in battle (the other half go to the goddess Freyja's afterlife field Fólkvangr), the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin. There, the deceased warriors become einherjar (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"). When the einherjar are not preparing for the events of Ragnarök, the valkyries bear them mead. Valkyries also appear as lovers of heroes and other mortals, where they are sometimes described as the daughters of royalty, sometimes accompanied by ravens and sometimes connected to swans or horses.

Ravens and horses are certainly significant.  In fact, ravens are indirectly referenced at least 4 times in the current story.  We’ll examine more about the raven in a few minutes.  And we’ll look at them in more depth in regards to Clara and the Doctor in the next chapter.

Valkyries today tend to be romanticized in a way, but in heathen times, they were more sinister and sound like they have a connection to the 12 Monks.  According to Norse-Mythology.org:

The meaning of their name, “choosers of the slain,” refers not only to their choosing who gains admittance to Valhalla, but also to their choosing who dies in battle and using malicious magic to ensure that their preferences in this regard are brought to fruition. Examples of valkyries deciding who lives and who dies abound in the Eddas and sagas. The valkyries’ gruesome side is illustrated most vividly in the Darraðarljóð, a poem contained within Njal’s Saga. Here, twelve valkyries are seen prior to the Battle of Clontarf, sitting at a loom and weaving the tragic destiny of the warriors (an activity highly reminiscent of the Norns). They use intestines for their thread, severed heads for weights, and swords and arrows for beaters, all the while chanting their intentions with ominous delight. The Saga of the Volsungs compares beholding a valkyrie to “staring into a flame.”

The Norns sound very similar to the 3 Fates, which we examined in my analysis in TPEW, where I likened the Monks to weaving a tapestry and compared them to the 3 Fates who weave destinies.  It seems likely then that the 12 Monks may symbolize the 12 Valkyries, who are weaving the tragic destiny to come.

Valhalla & the Cloister Wraiths

Valhalla is a the hall where the dead are deemed worthy of dwelling with Odin, and it’s located on Asgard, which brings in the references to the Doctor and River picnicking on Asgard. This picnic entry in River’s diary came up in “Silence in the Library,” as well as “The Husbands of River Song.”

Wolves guard Valhalla’s gates, and eagles fly above it.

According to Norse-Mythology.org:

Odin presides over Valhalla, the most prestigious of the dwelling-places of the dead. After every battle, he and his helping-spirits, the valkyries (“choosers of the fallen”), comb the field and take their pick of half of the slain warriors to carry back to Valhalla. (Freya then claims the remaining half.)

According to Norse-Mythology.org:

The dead who reside in Valhalla, the einherjar, live a life that would have been the envy of any Viking warrior. All day long, they fight one another, doing countless valorous deeds along the way. But every evening, all their wounds are healed, and they are restored to full health. They surely work up quite an appetite from all those battles, and their dinners don’t disappoint. Their meat comes from the boar Saehrimnir (Old Norse Sæhrímnir, whose meaning is unknown), who comes back to life every time he is slaughtered and butchered. For their drink they have mead that comes from the udder of the goat Heidrun (Old Norse Heiðrun, whose meaning is unknown). They thereby enjoy an endless supply of their exceptionally fine food and drink. They are waited on by the beautiful Valkyries.

But the einherjar won’t live this charmed life forever. Valhalla’s battle-honed residents are there by the will of Odin, who collects them for the perfectly selfish purpose of having them come to his aid in his fated struggle against the wolf Fenrir during Ragnarök – a battle in which Odin and the einherjar are doomed to die.

From what we’ve seen in “Hell Bent,” the Cloister Wraiths are, at least in one way, like the dead who reside in Valhalla.  As the Doctor said, they are the dead manning the battlements.  We may be experiencing the unreality of the symbolic Valhalla right now.  The relative calm before the Ragnarök storm.

The Ice Queen Mirroring a Valkyrie or Odin

The Ice Queen, Iraxxa, decided who died and who lived, especially when it came to Colonel Godsacre. (God’s acre actually means “a churchyard or a cemetery, especially one adjacent to a church.”)  Therefore, Iraxxa is mirroring a Valkyrie or even Odin, given her position of leader of the hive. 

Odin, Ravens & the Valkyries

According to Wikipedia,

In Germanic mythology, Odin is a widely revered god.  In Norse mythology, from which stems most of the information about the god, Odin is associated with healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, battle, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and is the husband of the goddess Frigg. In wider Germanic mythology and paganism, Odin was known in Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Wōdan, and in Old High German as Wuotan or Wōtan, all stemming from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic theonym wōđanaz.

BTW, WOTAN is a reference to a 1st Doctor story called “The War Machines.”  According to the TARDIS Wikia, “WOTAN was one of the first artificial intelligences created on Earth by Professor Brett. Its name stood for Will Operating Thought ANalogue.”  It goes on to say, “Deciding to conquer the world, WOTAN ordered the construction of mobile, armed computers which were designated War Machines. These were constructed in locations across London.”

Anyway, according to WizardRealm.com:

Odin (or, depending upon the dialect Woden or Wotan) was the Father of all the Gods and men.  Odhinn is pictured either wearing a winged helm or a floppy hat, and a blue-grey cloak. He can travel to any realm within the 9 Nordic worlds.  His two ravens, Huginn and Munin (Thought and Memory) fly over the world daily and return to tell him everything that has happened in Midgard.  He is a God of magick, wisdom, wit, and learning. He too is a psychopomp; a chooser of those slain in battle.  In later times, he was associated with war and bloodshed from the Viking perspective, although in earlier times, no such association was present.

Interestingly, Odin has ravens.  And this is another example of how “The Empress of Mars” has quite a few indirect references to ravens.  Because Clara is associated with a raven, it brings up a reference to her, too. However, there are very pointed Clara references, which we’ll examine in the next chapter.

Being the god of magic, wisdom, wit, and learning, Odin has a lot in common with Merlin.  Odin actually disguises himself as an old man and travels Midgard (Earth) looking for heroes for the coming of Ragnarök.

According to WizardRealm.com:

If anything, the wars fought by Odhinn exist strictly upon the Mental plane of awareness; appropriate for that of such a mentally polarized God.  He is both the shaper of Wyrd and the bender of Orlog; again, a task only possible through the power of Mental thought and impress.  It is he who sacrifices an eye at the well of Mimir to gain inner wisdom, and later hangs himself upon the World Tree Yggdrasil to gain the knowledge and power of the Runes.  All of his actions are related to knowledge, wisdom, and the dissemination of ideas and concepts to help Mankind.  Because there is duality in all logic and wisdom, he is seen as being duplicitous; this is illusory and it is through his actions that the best outcomes are conceived and derived.  Just as a point of curiosity:  in no other pantheon is the head Deity also the God of Thought and Logic.  It's interesting to note that the Norse/Teutonic peoples also set such a great importance upon brainwork and logic.  The day Wednesday (Wodensdaeg) is named for him.

It’s really interesting that Odin’s wars are fought on the “Mental plane of awareness.”  This corresponds to the Doctor being a creature of pure thought through the Great Work.  This also corresponds to him being a mirror of CAL, who is also a being of pure thought in a mental plane of awareness.

Odin & the Doctor

In “The Girl Who Died,” the Doctor pretended to be Odin when the Vikings took him and Clara captive. We then saw another extraterrestrial claiming to be Odin, shown below.  His helmet is obviously symbolic in some ways of a bird.  Are the wings those of an eagle or a raven?  There are symbolic feathers on the top of the helmet, too, but that’s where the similarities to a bird end.  

The crest looks more like something a Roman soldier would wear on his helmet.  And then there’s the weird part covering his forehead that looks like 2 eyes and a nose.  Is the representation supposed to be 2 faces in One?  The symbolic eyes are empty, perhaps, representing The Ghost.  Odin is a dark mirror of the Doctor, and it seems to me from the symbolism that Odin represents the possessed Doctor, who has an augmented eye.  That could be a reference to the Eye of Harmony.

The Doctor actually does more than just pretend to be Odin in this episode.  Like Odin in mythology, the Doctor decides life and death here. He assumes Odin’s role.  Ashildr dies, and the Doctor literally brings her back to life, another signal of the coming of Ragnarök.  Clara represents a valkyrie, the Doctor’s helping spirit. 

But this isn’t all. Extraterrestrial (ET) Odin in “The Girl Who Died” has a connection to the “Robot of Sherwood.”  The sheriff’s boar emblem looks very much like ET Odin’s helmet when placed behind someone’s head.  Check out this image below of the arrow bearer in this perfectly centered camera shot where the emblem of the boar’s ears (yellow arrow) now looks like the wings on Odin’s helmet.

In fact, the sheriff looks a lot like Odin without the helmet.

Interestingly, we have seen a character in TRODM, Lucy Fletcher, whose name means arrow maker or to furnish (an arrow) with a feather.  Through all the mirrors we’ve examined, she connects to Amy, who connects to River.  Susan connects to River, too.  And River may connect to Missy.  We know Missy has been controlling the Doctor through Clara, and she’s running a con game now. 

Who’s Behind Controlling the TARDIS?

Check out the image below in the darkened TARDIS when Nardole goes to get some gear to help Bill after she falls into the pit.  The bookcase is lit, which is very abnormal.  And it’s only one bookcase in particular.  This indicates it’s River.

In fact, interestingly, Missy has 2 faces when we first see her at the end of “The Empress of Mars.”  The blue arrow points to her face that looks like it’s inside the TARDIS, while the yellow arrow points to her other face.  The TARDIS symbolizes the Doctor’s wife and the Doctor’s mind.

The Doctor is being controlled by his wife is what part of the subtext is pointing to.  We saw in “The Lie of the Land” analysis that with the 2nd Doctor story “The Mind Robber,” where the Master was the author who controlled things in the same way River controlled things in “The Angels Take Manhattan” with her novel.  We know River is one of the architects of the rescue plan.

Friday Has a Norse Connection

Of course, the name Friday comes from Robinson Crusoe.  However, given the plot along with Friday’s name, appearance, and references, there are other allusions intended, too, making Friday a brilliant name with overloaded meanings.

Friday & Odin

“Friday,” as the actual day of the week, is named after Odin’s wife.  In Old English, her name is Frīge, so it’s "Frīge's day."  Other spellings, according to Wikipedia, are Frigg (Old Norse), Frija (Old High German), and Frea (Langobardic).

So the character Friday automatically has a connection to Odin and can represent Odin’s wife.  However, there’s more. 

Like Friday, Odin has one eye.

In fact, according to Norse-Mythology.org:

Odin’s quest for wisdom is never-ending, and he is willing to pay any price, it seems, for the understanding of life’s mysteries that he craves more than anything else. On one occasion, he hanged himself, wounded himself with his spear, and fasted from food and drink for nine days and nights in order to discover the runes.

On another occasion, he ventured to Mimir’s Well – which is surely none other than the Well of Urd – amongst the roots of the world-tree Yggdrasil. There dwelt Mimir, a shadowy being whose knowledge of all things was practically unparalleled among the inhabitants of the cosmos. He achieved this status largely by taking his water from the well, whose waters impart this cosmic knowledge.

When Odin arrived, he asked Mimir for a drink from the water. The well’s guardian, knowing the value of such a draught, refused unless the seeker offered an eye in return. Odin – whether straightaway or after anguished deliberation, we can only wonder – gouged out one of his eyes and dropped it into the well. Having made the necessary sacrifice, Mimir dipped his horn into the well and offered the now-one-eyed god a drink.

Odin’s story of trading an eye for a different type of perception and knowledge meshes with the concepts of the Eye of Harmony and the Matrix.  We��ve examined how the Matrix gives the gift of prophecy.

ENGIN: Yes. Trillions of electrochemical cells in a continuous matrix. The cells are the repository of departed Time Lords. At the moment of death, an electrical scan is made of the brain pattern and these millions of impulses are immediately transferred to the DOCTOR: Shush. I understand the theory. What's the function?

ENGIN: Well, to monitor life in the Capitol. We use all this combined knowledge and experience to predict future developments.

And the Eye of Harmony from TRODM clearly has to do with the Matrix.  The Eye, as the 8th Doctor said in the movie, is his.

DOCTOR: Lee, this is my Tardis. This is my Eye and I'm in my own body. The Master has run out of all his lives. Now he plans to steal mine. That's the truth!

Anyway, in Friday’s case, because he defers to Iraxxa, he symbolically could represent Odin in disguise as an old man.  After all, he did tell the Doctor:

DOCTOR: Why have you really come back? FRIDAY: (sigh) I am old and tired and spent.

The reversed roles of the queen and Friday could also possibly be explained through the gender change.

Friday & The Vikings

After the Doctor and Bill discuss the Ice Warrior, Bill mentions a movie and an eye gouging when Friday is present, tying the movie to Friday.

DOCTOR: Yes. The indigenous species. An ancient reptilian race. They built themselves a sort of bio-mechanical armour for protection. The creature within is at one with its carapace. The Ice Warriors. They could build a city under the sand, yet drench the snows of Mars with innocent blood. They could slaughter whole civilisations, yet weep at the crushing of a flower. BILL: Like The Vikings. DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, very much. BILL: Yeah, Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis. Oh, the theme tune is amazing! There's this brilliant bit where his eye gets gouged out (Friday stops and Bill notices the missing eye.)

Friday’s missing eye resembles that of Kirk Douglas’ character in the 1958 movie The Vikings. 

Wikipedia says

The King of Northumbria is killed during a Viking raid led by the fearsome Ragnar (Ernest Borgnine). Because the king had died childless, his cousin Aella (Frank Thring) takes the throne. The king's widow, however, is pregnant with what she knows is Ragnar's child because he had raped her during that fateful raid, and to protect the infant from her cousin-in-law's ambitions, she sends him off to Italy. By a twist of fate, the ship is intercepted by the Vikings, who are unaware of the child's kinship, and enslave him.

BTW, the queen sends the child with the monks.

Many years later, we see that the boy has grown into a young man named Erik (Tony Curtis), who is still a slave.  After some events take place, Erik in retaliation orders his falcon to attack Einar (Kirk Douglas), Ragnar's legitimate son and heir.  The falcon gouges out Einar’s left eye. 

The enmity between the half brothers is exacerbated when they both fall in love with the same woman, Princess Morgana, who is to marry King Aella but gets captured in a raid.  In a way, this is like the 11th and 12th Doctors with River. BTW, I forgot to mention this, but the Doctor in Missy’s execution scene in “Extremis” and in the scenes in “The Lie of the Land” wears an old raggedy coat, which would represent the 11th Doctor.  In fact, the 11th Doctor’s theme music does play in the latter episode.

Anyway, at one point Aella captures Ragnar and, according to Wikipedia, “orders the Viking leader bound and thrown into a pit filled with starved wolves. To give Ragnar a Viking's death (so that he can enter Valhalla), Erik, who is granted the honour of forcing him into the pit, cuts the prisoner's bonds and gives him his sword. Laughing, Ragnar jumps to his death. In response to Erik's "treason", Aella cuts off his left hand, puts him back on his ship and casts him adrift.”

(Amy cuts off Rorybot’s hands in “The Girl Who Waited.”  Rorybot is sentient.  So is this movie scene significant to the story?)

In the end, Erik and Einar fight for Morgana, and Erik mortally wounds Einar. Wikipedia says, “Echoing the scene with Ragnar, Erik gives Einar a sword, so that he too can enter Valhalla. In the final scene, Einar is given a Viking funeral: his body is placed on a longship, which is set on fire by flaming arrows.”

Friday not only represents Einar with his eye gouged out, but also Erik, as a servant.

Erik is a hybrid, half-Northumbrian and half-Viking, mirroring the hybrid nature of the Doctor.

Also, it’s interesting that Erik and Einar are half brothers because I’ve wondered for quite some time if the Master and Doctor were brothers (as was originally planned in Classic Who) or half brothers.  The idea that the Doctor has a half brother has come up in the subtext before. In fact, it most likely relates to Castor and Pollux, which we’ll look at below.

The idea of Valhalla and a Viking funeral for the Doctor is important for several reasons.  The first is that Rory gave the Doctor a Viking funeral in “The Impossible Astronaut” after River killed him.  (Interestingly, though, there is a hidden face of the Doctor’s in the reflection in River’s helmet.  Things didn’t quite happen the way they appeared.)

The ideas of Valhalla and a Viking funeral lead to redemption for the Doctor and his fate. We’ll look at this more in the next chapter when we examine the Victorians.

The First Time We See Friday

The first time we see Friday, something curious takes place.  The Ice Warrior comes toward the Doctor in a threatening manner.  However, the Doctor diffuses the situation with an Ice Warrior greeting. 

DOCTOR: I know your people of old. I was once an Honorary Guardian of the Tythonian Hive.

(A rifle bolt is moved.)

However, we then hear Godsacre’s voice, and he says and does something curious.

GODSACRE: Don't move. I'll sort this beggar out.

(A red-coat with white pith helmet is pointing what ought to be a Martini-Henry breech loading rifle at them.)

DOCTOR: No, no, no, no! You don't understand. This creature is no threat. He may look like a monster to you

(A rifle shot at the Doctor's feet makes him jump back.)

GODSACRE: I wasn't talking to you. Are you all right, Friday?

The Doctor is portrayed as the monster here, not Friday.  To make that clear, the Doctor even says, “He may look like a monster to you…”

This really is interesting behavior, especially since the Doctor looks human here in this altered reality.  What does he really look like?

Friday, the Doctor & Shakespeare’s Henry V

Since the Doctor is metaphorically Shakespeare, it seems as though there may be another connection with both the Doctor, Friday, and Henry V. Since they can be a symbol of Odin, walking through Midgard in disguise, they could also symbolically be King Henry V, who disguises himself as a commoner and walks around camp, where nobody recognizes him as the king.

Actually, we already saw this type of thing with Queen Liz 10 in “The Beast Below,” where she walked around with her mask on, not wanting to be recognized. Therefore, we should expect that something like this is happening now.

If the Doctor has been possessed, mind controlled, or some other type of usurpation, then there is a disguise of sorts going on.

Castor & Pollux: The Master/Missy & the Doctor?

Are the Master/Missy and the Doctor mirrors of Castor and Pollux from Greek and Roman mythology? The references have come up in the subtext before, and it seems appropriate to consider this since the plan in Classic Who was to have the Master and the Doctor be brothers. However, once Roger Delgado, the 1st Master, died in a car crash, the plans never came to fruition. In fact, the 3rd Doctor, Jon Pertwee, who was good friends with Delgado, left DW because of Delgado’s death.

Anyway, there are multiple versions of the Castor and Pollux myth, where they could be brothers or half brothers, depending on the version.  Since The Vikings refers to half brothers, I’ll concentrate on that version.

Castor and Pollux were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi.  According to Wikipedia:

Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus, who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are sometimes said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters or half-sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra.

In Latin the twins are also known as the Gemini or Castores. When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together, and they were transformed into the constellation Gemini. The pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo's fire, and were also associated with horsemanship.

There was a common belief that one child would live among the gods, while the other was among the dead. That’s interesting since the Doctor is associated in multiple ways with ghosts.

Anyway, here’s yet another reference to Zeus.  We know the Doctor has been cast as either a proxy to Zeus or Zeus, himself.  However, there are multiple versions of the Doctor. Is one the father and one the son while a third is a ghost?  Like in the Trinity?

We also see other important references.  We know horses are important.  Sailors could also possibly refer to space and time travelers.  And the topic of eggs comes up a lot.  For example, we saw the moon as an egg in “Kill the Moon.” Missy, too, mentioned that Nardole looks like and egg in “The Lie of the Land”:

MISSY: You haven't been to see me in six months. No-one has! Not even that bald bloke who looks like an egg.

However, eggs also come up in other episodes, like the 9th Doctor episode, “The End of the World,” which we looked at in the analysis of “The Lie of the Land.”  And there’s an indirect reference to eggs in “The Empress of Mars” where the Doctor mentions “Tythonian Hive” when he meets Friday.

DOCTOR: By the moons, I honour thee. I'm the Doctor. What is your name? (The Ice Warrior growls. He has one eye missing and a scrape across the helmet nose guard.) DOCTOR: I know your people of old. I was once an Honorary Guardian of the Tythonian Hive. (A rifle bolt is moved.)

The Tythonian Hive reference, BTW, makes no sense when relating it to Ice Warriors.  The term refers to the 4th Doctor episode “The Creature from the Pit.”  However, there are other important pieces of information in that episode.  For example, it also refers to a pit, which Bill happens to fall into in “The Empress of Mars.” 

“The Creature from the Pit,” the Egg & the Y symbol

I had never seen “The Creature from the Pit” before, so I was surprised when I watched it that there were no hives or references to Ice Warriors.  I haven’t seen this happen before with a reference that didn’t make sense, but obviously, we are supposed to get other things out of that reference.

When it comes to this episode, many things don’t make sense.  There is a giant structure that looks like a flat wall, but the Doctor calls it an egg and eggshell and says it’s alive:

ADRASTA: Yes. My huntsman heard you say that the shell was alive. DOCTOR: Alive and screaming in pain. ADRASTA: The shell? Then why can no one hear it? DOCTOR: Because it can only be detected on very low frequency wavelengths. ADRASTA: What's the shell screaming about? DOCTOR: Ah. More to the point, for whom is it screaming? Its mummy? By the pyramids, imagine the size of its mummy.

Not only is it an egg, but here’s something once again that is looking possibly for it’s mummy, like “The Empty Child.”  Also, it’s screaming but can’t be heard like the Star Whale in “The Beast Below.” Both the Empty Child and the Star Whale are metaphors for the Doctor.

Nardole is associated with an egg, just like the Doctor is with the moon as an egg concept.  And Nardole is an unactualized mirror for the Doctor.  The egg also symbolizes going back to the beginning.  This meshes with other things we’ve examined like how the universe was only 23 million years old in “The Pilot.”  Also, the Doctor’s timeline is going backwards, and we see that in the opening credits.

In “The Creature from the Pit,” there’s also a pit, of course, with a creature in it.  The Doctor actually jumps into the pit, like the 10th Doctor jumped into the pit in “The Satan Pit.”  Both find gigantic creatures.  Bill falls into the pit in “The Empress of Mars” and finds a gigantic hive and the sinister Captain Catchlove.

However, the 4th Doctor calls the creature a giant brain.  Um… this doesn’t make sense, either.

Here’s what the TARDIS Wikia says

The Tythonians were massive, blob-like organisms, sometimes hundreds of feet long. They were glowing green and had an outer membrane that was deeply creased. They had no true limbs, but had two large pseudopods. One pseudopod was shaped like the letter Y, while the other was simply a large tube. They had no vocal cords and communicated with the aid of Tythonian communicators. Tythonians could live for forty thousand years.  

The Y shape refers to a plague of deaths.  The humanoids throw people down into the pit for the creature to eat.

While this all is important, I also see the whole pit and creature reference important, which refer back to “The Satan Pit” and the war for freedom from slavery.  The 4th Doctor does help free the creature in the pit, who actually doesn’t eat people.

Therefore, this episode is hugely symbolic of what is happening in Season 10; however, not by the Tythonian Hive reference.

Living Underground As a Theme

Not only do the Ice Warriors live underground, but the Silurians do too, as we saw in the 11th Doctor episodes “The Hungry Earth” and “Cold Blood.”  In the 1st Dalek story, “The Daleks,” the Daleks also live underground.  The creature in “The Creature from the Pit” and the Beast in “The Satan Pit” also live underground. 

In all these cases, it’s not really by choice.  They are forced to live underground because conditions on the surface are problematic, or the creatures are imprisoned underground.

It’s interesting that on Gallifrey everything looks dead, as far as the landscape is concerned.  The Doctor and Master talked about how it used to be beautiful with grass, trees, etc.  While people live in the doomed city, where do they get their food from?  Of course, we are only seeing a small portion of the planet, but it still makes me wonder.

Skaro looks much the same.

Tunnels & The Thing

Interestingly, Bill mentions the movie The Thing, tunnels, and how the Doctor would like the movie because everyone dies.  The latter seems really odd for the Doctor we know, unless we consider the Doctor as the mirror to alternate-Donna in “Turn Left.”  Both have to die, along with the parallel world. The Master, Morbius, the Valeyard, and some others would also like to see everyone die.

BILL: (walking away) Oh, it's like the underground tunnels in The Thing. DOCTOR: The what? BILL: It's a movie. You'd like that one too. Everybody dies.

There are several movie versions of The Thing.  In the 1982 version, the setting is in Antarctica, which fits the Ice Warriors.  Where is the ice for the Ice Warriors anyway?  The setting is reminiscent of “The Planet of the Ood” and the large brain found on the ice. Also, it also is the setting of “The Seeds of Doom,” another 4th Doctor usurpation story that we looked at.

The creature from a crashed spaceship can perfectly duplicate other beings, like “The Zygon Invasion” and “The Zygon Inversion.”  This creates a very similar situation that we saw in “Midnight,” where at first Skye got possessed and people freaked out.  The being then possessed the Doctor, and they freaked out even more. It was mob mentality and a witchhunt, just like the movie.  And they turned on each other.

This also brings in the idea of “Love & Monsters,” the 10th Doctor episode where Victor Kennedy/The Abzorbaloff, absorbs people into his body.

Here are more themes that are being repeated.

The Next Chapter

In the next chapter, we’ll examine the Victorians and how Clara fits in in multiple ways, along with the ravens.  I’ll show you what I call collective symbolism vs. individual symbolism.

Go to next chapter => Ch. 3: Clara, Ravens, Victoria(ns), Oh My!