#romulan history

[maybeamultiverse]

New Romulan OC x human OC fic out-- first chapter available here.

"The year is 2022. Yhea, a Romulan geologist tasked with a covert survey of a planet known as 'Terrha' for potential colonization and mining activities, experiences a suspicious engine malfunction, finding himself stranded on this alien world while his ship undergoes automized repairs. Sophia, a recent college dropout, likes arts and crafts, having lunch with her parents, and spending time alone in her room. When their paths cross after she hits the scientist with her family's SUV, he decides that no one is better suited to be his guide in this alien landscape."

[lichqueenlibrarian]

Not only does the Praetor’s plan depend on the new timeline’s Kirk and Spock being as weird about one another as they are in the original timeline, it also hinges on neither of them being Weird Enough about the other to attempt to foul up this plan?

You’re going to kidnap Kirk and keep him away from Spock long enough that Spock will do whatever you ask, and you don’t… anticipate that there will be any problem with that?

[romulanslutempire]

KHAN: 1992. 2022. 2052. Each time you make an attempt on my life, you fail — miserably, I might add. You said so yourself. How time and time again you cannot complete your mission, that it is as though time itself is pushing back against you. Tell me, do you know what the definition of insanity is?

SERA: What's your point?

KHAN: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So do something different: join me. SERA: Join you? And here I thought I was unhinged. Seriously, they don't tell you just how screwy all this time travel stuff can make you. But you… you really are crazy. KHAN: I am a man who sees the truth. We can do great things together, you and I. We can build a new world. Creature a new future, one in which your people and mine are superior, as we should be. I believe it is our fate. That every missed opportunity and ripple of reinsertion was to lead us to this moment right here, right now. Do you deny it?

SERA: No.

KHAN: Excellent. Excellent. Then let us discuss it further. SERA: I'm all ears.

[hazel-of-sodor]

Bakers Dozen: Canon Ships I want to see in Star Trek Online

I love Star Trek Online, and one of my favorite features is the sheer number of ships you can fly from in the shows. From the 22nd century to the 32nd century, there are literally hundreds of choices. But there are still many canon starships I’ve have not had the chance to make poor finacial decisions for. So what better choice for the first round of Baker’s Dozen.

Here’s 12 canon Starships (and one honorable mention) I want in Star Trek Online.

Lets start with the Honorable mention:

The Consitution III Class

Picard Season III’s hero ship, the affectionatly dubbed NeoConnie bears the distiction of being both the Titan A and Enteprise G. Those who read my Enteprise F headcanon also encountered the USS Riptide, an early command of my Captain. Why then is she only an honorable mention? Because the developers have already announced they are working on her. *sighs* shes gonna be a promo ships isn’t she?

1. The Federation Class 

First appearing in Franz Joseph's Technical Manual, this design first appeared on screen as background display’s in The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock. More recently, Star Trek Picard saw model’s of this legendary starship in Ten Forward, alonside ships such as voyager and Enterprise D. Considering my flagship is a Gal-X, this would be a wonderful predecessor. Plus TOS ships are always welsome

2. The Romulan Bomber

In Picard Season 1 we were introduced to the Romulan ships with this beauty. An elegant design with blade like wings, it instantly caught my heart. Instantly recogniable as a Romulan vessel while being a new and distinctive shape, it was a perfect evolution of what came before.More Romulan rep is always appreciated. C-Store? Please?

3.The Niagra Class

One of my favorite ships in all of Star Trek, the Niagra class is a three nacelled cruiser blending elements of the ambassador and galaxy lines. Perhaps uniquely, the third nacelle is underslung. She has only appeared as wreckage, most notably the USS Princeton, lost at the Battle of Wolf 359, nut several other STO ships have the same origin. The Cheyenne and New Orleans both come from the same boneyard fleet. Also a updated Princeton Class to match the Lafeyette and Andromeda would be gorgeous.

4. Lower Decks BackGround Ship

This unamed Ship class from Lower Decks is beggin for someone to realize her full potential, maybe a desendant of the Crossfeild Class? I loved her from the moment I saw her, and desperatly want to know more.

5.The Yeager Class

No this is not a meme, its one of my favorite background ships. She has an isane amount of screentime, as shes in stock footage used alot in DS9. She served throughout the Dominion War. Why the weird hull? In my headcanon, she was built as a proof of concept for a tactical sister class to the Intrepid. (This will eventually be a full headcanon post). Once she proved succesful (for what she was), the go ahead was given to desgin a production version with a properly designed secondary hull. The outbreak of hostilities saw the Yeagar pushed into service, as she was a fully combat capable vessel. Also, the amazing Pundus already designed the 2412 variant. 

6.The Mayflower class

A ship from the Kelvin timeline, the namesake of this ADORABLE starship was lost at the Battle of Vulcan in 2258. We need more Kelvin ships, and it is a crime this sweet gal isn’t in game already.

7.The Duderstadt class

You knew. I knew. The Pakleds knew. A modified Bill Krause design, much like the Titan/Enterprise herself, the USS Intrepid made a daring, intimidating, and awe inpiring debut in Star Trek Picard Season 3. Its rare to see a new ship so univserally loved today. But she deserves it. The only bad thing is she’s prolly gonna be the lockbox ships.

8.Jupp Class

This Gal appears waaayyy in the back of a DS9 episode according to the art deparment. Good enough for me. Shes a clear member of the refit family, and is an obvious choice to add to the Miranda/Clarke/Light Cruiser Frame. Always could use TMP rep

9. The Intrepid Type

Really? This isn’t in game already? How?!? Please? Enterpise Era Rep? I haven’t even watched Enterprise yet (oops) and I know this ship!

10.Springfeild Class

Another ship lost at Wolf 359, common, pretty small science ship? Complete the fleet? It could literally be the Chekov class.

11.Curry Class

This class appears in Deep Space 9, and features tow variants with different Nacelles arrangements. TMP Carrier anyone?

12. Block 2 Constitution Class (Kelvin Timeline)

I just want to talk. Its been 7 years since this beautiful ships arrived, and theres no offical models, and no STO Release...WWWHWHHHHYYYYY????

I love this ship. Its my favorite lettered Enteprise. I need her. Shes the only canon Enterprise besides the G not in game, and they’re working on the G. Best design in the Kelvin Timeline, and we don’t have her. I would totally spend stupid money on her, but I can’t.

Please STO, show mercy.

Hope yall enjoyed this first Baker’s Dozen, see you next week!

[bagheerita]

DS9's "Second Skin" once again shaming the Stargate Atlantis writing team by doing an episode they wrote but over 10 years earlier and 50 times better. I went on a rant about "Sunday" vs "Lessons" a couple years ago, but watching "Second Skin" is like seeing what "Michael" could have been if written by people who understood drama instead of only being acted by people who did. There are definitely differences, like we start out having a relationship with Kira which we don't with Lt Kenmore, but with the whole fake identity plot having the person's actual parent there makes it sooooooo much more emotional. (This is what I wanted from "Michael"!! Not just handing him a stock photo that literally looks like it came with the frame and telling him "These are your parents." But an actual emotional connection, any tie for him to cling to to believe your bullshit and not just Teyla being quietly agreeable like whoring her out is the only way you can sell your lies. Because, here in DS9 as well, the lies are so obviously bullshit.) But making it a double blind also, where you lied to the parent as well to make sure you manipulated that honest emotional connection into existing, fantastic, exquisite, Stargate wishes. And in the end the point of the episode is different, as Lt Kenmore is the focus of his episode and Kira is really just the excuse to expose the Legate by having him try to protect his "daughter," but (and as much as I love "Michael") the emotional content here is so much deeper and sweeter. Maybe SGA writers are allergic to honest emotions, or maybe the writers were trying to hedge their bets with not portraying their main cast as being as evil as the Obsidian Order... though if you're going to go with the war crimes go whole hog with the war crimes come on.

[009isdrawing]

TNG Romulan dot Imagefile

[sokorra]

The Rewatch 234: Gambit

Series: Star Trek: TNGEpisode: 7.04 Gambit Part 1 (October 11, 1993) and 7.05 Gambit Part 2 (October 18, 1993)Rating: 4/5Redshirt Status: 0/7/64 Notable Guest Stars: Richard Lynch (Arctus Baran) – Lynch was a very productive actor.  Although I don’t recognize many titles on his filmography he made several a year so there are a lot of them.  It seemed he liked playing Villains in horror movies…

[stra-tek]

KIRK: I saved the galaxy several times

SPOCK: I began the reunification of the Vulcan and Romulan peoples

PIKE: They named medals of honor and shuttles after me

ARCHER: I have 2 planets named after me and became the Federation President

SISKO: I'm the Bajoran Jesus

PICARD: I saved the Federation from the Borg 3 times, I am also the cherished pet of a god

DATA: There's a whole village of android synths built in my image

WESLEY: I evolved into a time travelling superbeing

JANEWAY: I captained my ship across the whole galaxy

B'ELANNA: My child is the Klingon Jesus

MICHAEL: I saved all life in the galaxy from an insane AI, and then helped rebuild the Federation 900 years later

O'BRIEN: I'm the most important person in Federation history

CHAPEL: I wrote a cookbook

[trekmupf]

Pro

Action immediately starts (can't even get married in peace uff)

the crew working like a well oiled machine during that crisis

Another episode that shows Kirk as a great leader during a crisis and his morals and ethics as a person as well as the burden of his position

The racism towards Spock (today a bit heavy handed but back then good work) and the way it's shut down immediately by Kirk, who trusts Spock

Kirk calling the meeting to gather all possible info of his crew before making a decision

Kirk openly admitting the troubles of his positions and his very real feelings about his struggle with the responsibility to McCoy as his friend, and McCoy helping him the best way he can; they both know he can't decide for him, but he can support him; but also the knowledge that the people he can be vulnerable in front of and the times he's allowed to show this side of himself are so rare and limited

Shatner's vulnerability in this scene blows my mind

the inclusion of Stiles is well done: he represents partly generational trauma but also the inability to let go of old conflicts over generations, which clouds his judgement

the tension throughout is great: from the red alert in the intro to the unknown threat and revelation of the Romulans until the very end. the silent scenes are excellent and parallel the time between avalanches during a war

the almost impossible choice of what to do and the real possibility of starting an intergalactic war is so heavy, terrifying and relevant throughout time; the way the different characters bring different viewpoints to the table (practicality, morals etc.)

Politics and universe set up! Introduction of the Romulans, the cloaking device and the shared ancestry of Vulcans and Romulans; Establishes the history between the Federation and the Romulans as well as the current situation with the treaty and neutral zone

Interesting choice for the audience to see the Romulan perspective of the fight, which gives us the opportunity to understand them, empathize with the “evil” enemies

This way we also get the parallels between the Romulan Captain and Kirk the responsibility to their people and crew, the way they think and plan; they're so evenly matched until the very end

Mark Lenard's acting and Shatner's compliment each other's so well

it would've been easy to make a good guys / evil enemies storyline here, especially with the Romulans starting the conflict, but instead the narrative, acting makes it about the tragedy and pointlessness of war instead, which is especially underlined with the death of the Romulans in the end; There is no real winner in war

Kirk offering to save the survivors, but respecting the Romulan captain when he explains why he can't

the fact that Starfleet answers Kirk when it's all over and he had to carry this entire burden underlines the pointlessness of it all

Good scoring

Con

Yeoman Rand is sometimes just there to be the damsel women

Counter: red alert during intro

Quote: "I regret that we meet in this way. You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend" - Romulan commander

Moment: The commander saying goodbye and exploding his ship

Summary: Excellent episode with a deep anti war message showing giving insight into how the crew works under heavy pressure, how the characters compliment each other and work together in universe but also a narrative level, the trust of the trio in each other and a deeper understanding of what makes Kirk one of the best Captains of Starfleet

Previous Episode - Next Episode - All TOS Reviews

[quasi-normalcy]

Another point about the Romulans: They remembered their ancient kinship with the Vulcans, even though most of the Vulcans themselves were unaware of it; they were in fact working behind the scenes to reunify with the Vulcans, right at the time that humanity appeared on the galactic scene.

So basically, they have this rich, 2,000-year-old history with their old enemies/cousins; they've reached out, tentatively, to the highest levels of Vulcan High Command with a plan to merge their empires. They just need to get their boy in place as a dictator on Vulcan, and in order to do that, they need to stage a terrorist attack. Okay, well; against whom? Against the embassy of this absolute nothing-burger bunch of space-hillbillies called the "Humans." Whatever, they only just invented warp drive like 5 minutes ago, who cares about them? Blow up their embassy, blame this pacifist sect, get V'Las some emergency powers and then toast to the 10,000-year reign of the Romulo-Vulcan Empire.

But what's this? The humans are investigating? They've made contact with the pacifist sect and it turns out...that they have Surak's katra and and the true record of his writings? What? And now V'Las is being arrested? And now the Vulcan government is being dissolved, and the entire planetary religion is undergoing a reformation?? And the new government wants lasting peace with its neighbours! Well, we can't have that! We'll send a false-flag ship in to sow chaos between Vulcan, Andor, and Tellar; we'll have them back on a war-footing before they know what's going on, and hopefully get V'Las out of prison--

And our false-flag ship was just destroyed...By the Space-Hillbillies. AGAIN? Well, clearly these "Humans" are more dangerous than we've anticipated. No matter. We shall send our imperial navy to swoop in upon their nascent civilization, just as the unmerciful raptor swoops in upon its pr--

What the FUCK, our fleet was DEFEATED!?! And now the Vulcans are forming a union with these peasants?? They were supposed to be forming a union with US! WE are the ones with the thousands of years of shared history! WE are the ones with the bonds of blood-kinship going back since before our ancestors left Arret bearing tales of the Ganmadan! Who the hell are these people!?

And then they go off to sulk behind the Neutral Zone for the next 200 years.

[worflesbian]

my vision for more worf content comes in the form of a post-ds9 series that's like expanding on ezri's iconic takedown of the klingon empire, so really a klingon-centric political drama around the turning point they find themselves at at the end of the dominion war. worf and martok would only be one plot thread cause we'd also follow lower ranking soldiers in the imperial fleet, a-list celebrity opera singers in first city, farmers in the overlooked rural regions of qo'nos and other ordinary, everyday klingons, and it'd all weave together to form this picture of a civilisation dependent on war, in the immediate aftermath of the most devastating war in centuries. the fleet is decimated, countless lives lost, and they've fought side by side with not just the federation but the romulans for the first time in history - where do they go from here? there'd be a strong call to double down on rebuilding ships, recruiting new warriors, but would this not also be thee moment for a peace movement in the empire, if there ever would be one? for a people once hungry for war to decide they've had their fill of it? and worf as federation ambassador would be a key piece of the picture bc it'd be crucial after the dominion were defeated to solidify the allegiance between empire and federation into a stronger treaty (since gowron broke the last one), and the idea of peace as a 'federation ideal' would be a real source of tension for any klingons trying to broach the idea of demilitarisation. overall the picture of an imperial force dependent on violence for so long facing the prospect of peace and the question of who the klingons might be without war is such a fascinating prospect to me and i have not stopped thinking about it, ever.

[risingchaos]

My thoughts on if Romulans have telepathy

Prefacing with I’ve done some deep dives as research, but I have not read books or watched all the movies so if there’s something I’m missing, please let me know and I’ll edit this to better include information.

So, obviously, we know Vulcans are touch telepaths. As far as I can tell, this is an innate ability Vulcans have from when they are young and hone with training as they get older. It’s most likely not very strong if not almost non-existent until they train it. It seems to take control and precision to be good at, and a special skill with a lot of patience to be phenomenal at.

Now, what do we know about Vulcan’s history with telepathy? We’ve been told that back before Surak’s teachings reformed Vulcan, they had used their telepathy as a weapon against each other. Post reform, there was a lot of shame surrounding their telepathy (talked about in Enterprise I believe) so it fell out of practice. Sometime between ENT and TOG, it fell back into favor at least slightly as we see Spock demonstrating his own very well practiced abilities.

We know that Surak’s teachings and the Time of Awakening is the period when the later known as Romulans broke off from Vulcan. They did not to follow the teachings of logic and pursed a war-like philosophy instead. By the time we meet them in TOG, it’s been approximately two thousand years since then. A lot can happen in two thousand years.

I’ve got two main theories.

One - The Romulans have simply evolved out of it. When they split off, they did not pursue strengthening their telepathy, so they stopped being able to have telepathy. Two thousand years down the line, the ability is simply gone.

Two - This one is more interesting to me. Romulans still possess the ability to have touch telepathy, they just can’t access it very much because of their lack of control. Considering that the only way Vulcans now seem able to use it is through practice and control, I’d imagine that that was still the case back then, they were just also very emotional creatures. Perhaps the Romulans still have the ability, but have lost what’s needed to use it practically.

Of course I could be talking entirely out of my ass and there’s an in universe explanation I’ve missed in which case I’ll cry and delete this whole thing, but please, let me know if there is one! I’d probably just make a whole post with that instead. Genuinely curious on everyone’s thoughts.

[writergeekrhw]

The Romulans and Cardassians feel like they have a similar species concept. How do you separate them?

I feel like the Romulans are Imperialistic and Machiavellian while the Cardassians are Colonialists and Fascists. I know those are small distinctions, but for example:

Romulans are happy with tribute. Cardassians want to occupy, exploit, and exterminate.

Romulan trials might be politically motivated, but probably follow a set procedure and if you pull the right strings, you might get a fair trial. Cardassian trials are Orwellian and EVERYONE ends up guilty, often for crimes they did not commit (if anyone ever actually tells them what they're charged with).

Romulan government is a constant shifting oligarchy made up of numorous factions plotting against each other. Sudden coups are not uncommon. Cardassian government is a faceless, implacable bureaucracy which crushes all dissent. Coups are rare.

The history of the Romulan Empire would be written by Edward Gibbon with an assist by George R. R. Martin. The history of Cardassia would be penned by Kafka, Huxley, and Orwell.

[electronickingdomfox]

"Killing Time" review

Novel from 1985, by Della Van Hise. Published right after Ishmael, it involves again time-tampering. Only this time, the villains (here Romulans) are successful in their attempts to rewrite history, so most of the novel is set in an alternate universe. The basic difference is that, in this new universe, the Federation was founded by Vulcans instead of humans, so Spock is the starship captain, while Kirk is a mere Ensign with a troubled past.

The story presents some interesting concepts, like the flow of time and history being somehow ingrained in the very fabric of the universe, so no matter the alterations, it tends to revert to its original course, or rip itself apart (a concept which, in some shape or another, was also present in The Entropy Effect and the previous novel). There's also much discussion about "alternate selves", paths not taken in life, and whether these versions of ourselves still exist somewhere and can be reached through dreams. Sometimes, the "mechanics" of time-alteration are a bit iffy, or poorly explained. For example, it seems very unlikely that people like Uhura or Scotty would have the same exact post in the alternate universe (shouldn't they be replaced by Vulcans?). And since it's explained that travelling at warp drive makes one immune to the time alterations, why aren't more starships (the Enterprise included) spared from the effects? Anyway, this is just to be nitpicky; after all, the story doesn't require much more suspension of disbelief than other TOS novels.

Other than a bit of purple prose here and there, I didn't find the writing bad. And characterization is pretty fine. The portrait of Kirk as a rebellious Ensign is a curious precedent for the 2009 movie Kirk, and his grief is quite moving. Spock and McCoy's interactions are spot-on. And so far, this novel has the best, most complex portrayal of the Romulan Commander (from "The Enterprise Incident"), as a cunning, powerful woman, and yet vulnerable in her love/hate for Spock. It's perhaps the latter who comes off most out-of-character; at times Spock seems a bit too emotional and soft, though not to the point of being unrecognizable.

On the other hand, the structure is a bit clumsy. A good chunk of the book keeps going over and over the effects that history alteration has on the mind, turning people crazy, or inducing dreams about the original reality. Since the Romulan scheme is fully revealed quite early on, these chapters don't have all that much interest: we already know what's happening, we already know why people are having those dreams... (So no, I'm not interested in the content of Ensign Kirk's dreams, since I already know what's there; stop trying to put him in that vid-scan thing, McCoy). However, the plot takes off once the characters finally decide to do something about all this mess, and get involved in further Romulan schemes. The later chapters, thus, are more interesting, and there are some pretty emotive scenes towards the ending.

In conclusion, this isn't one of the best novels, though it has its high points. It would have been rather unremarkable among the long string of TOS novels, were it not for the controversies surrounding its publication. For those, see the "Spirk Meter" at the end.

Spoilers under the cut:

The Enterprise is patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone, when several crewmembers start experiencing disturbing dreams. A common theme in those, is seeing Spock as the Captain, in a somehow changed Enterprise. While Kirk sees himself as a mere Ensign. There are also some rumors about an experiment going on in the Romulan Empire...

After an abrupt change, the next chapter presents a totally different reality. Kirk is now an Ensign recently assigned to the "VSS ShiKahr", commanded by Spock. Having been in prison for the murder of an Academy teacher (of which he has no recollection), Kirk was subjected to the Talos Device, which left him having frequent nightmares and addicted to drugs. He was given the choice between a rehabilitation colony, or forceful draft into the Fleet. Anyway, he has little interest in serving in a starship, or life in general, since he knows he'll never get his own command due to his past. His life is made even more miserable by his bully roomate Donner. Soon thereafter, strange phenomena are experienced by some crewmembers. Spock gets fleeting glimpses of another reality, that leave him dizzy. And one crewman succumbs to madness, and tries to blow up the entire ship, after sabotaging the matter/antimatter valves. After performing some scans on the insane man, McCoy discovers that his brain has two separate sets of brain waves, as if they belonged to two different persons altogether. Further cases of insanity throughout the galaxy are suspected, when a Vulcan Admiral orders the ShiKahr to invade the Romulan Empire in a suicidal mission. Spock, of course, stalls the order as long as he can.

The narrative changes focus then, to present what's going on in the Romulan ship "Ravon", where Commander Tazol remembers his recent confrontation with her wife Sarela. She was strongly opposed to the Praetor's plans to interfere in Earth's past, and assassinate three key figures in the founding of the Federation, so it never comes to be. Sarela is afraid the plan will be a total failure, like all the other plans of the Praetor to tamper with timelines. Nonetheless, Tazol is a complete blockhead, and proceeds with the plan. The idea is receiving the Praetor aboard (a mysterious, hooded figure that only his close advisors have ever seen face to face), and then enter warp drive to avoid the history-altering effects. That way, everyone aboard the Ravon will keep intact their memories of the so-called First History, along with its records, to later compare them with the situation in the Second History (the altered timeline). It turns out that, as Sarela expected, Second History isn't all it's cracked up to be... The Federation wasn't founded on Earth, true, but in its place, a similar Alliance of planets was started in Vulcan. The Romulan Empire has hardly benefitted from this, and now its enemies are mostly the tough Vulcans, instead of humans. The Praetor orders Sarela to his quarters, for a private discussion of the situation, much to Tazol's chagrin.

Meanwhile in the ShiKahr, McCoy has been performing vid-scans (a kind of visual recording of people's dreams) on several persons. Some of them show dreams of a "golden-haired Captain". While others show disturbing "negative scans". McCoy is a complete genius, because from this flimsy evidence he concludes, correctly, that reality has been shifted. And those that have ended in different positions in life, will become maladjusted to the changes, and eventually turn mad. Also, those showing negative scans now, are persons who are already dead in the original timeline (and this opens up an interesting ethical dilemma when reverting the changes, since it will mean instant death for those persons; sadly, this isn't further explored). For his part, crazy Admiral is still doing his crazy thing, and now orders the ShiKahr on a diplomatic mission, on a planet of savages that weren't expecting diplomats at all. The landing party is attacked, Donner is killed (good for him) and Spock is injured.

Cutting back to the Ravon, Sarela discovers that the Praetor is actually... a woman! Something that's not allowed in the Romulan Empire, thus the need for the permanent hood in public (and it also explains why all the Praetor slaves are now pretty boys...). Automatically, Sarela's respect for the Praetor goes up tenfold (huh, wasn't the Praetor a complete idiot a second ago, with all those stupid plans? The fact she's a woman should change nothing!). Well, as it turns out, the stupid plans weren't hers, but came from her father. She just went ahead with them because it was too late to back out, and also because she still expects some good to come out of it. Thea (the Praetor) explains that she's going to use Spock to sign a peace treaty with the Alliance, and introduce Surak's teachings among Romulans, to further the cause of peace (doesn't sound like a very evil plan, if you ask me). By kidnapping Kirk, she'll blackmail Spock into doing all this, while disguised with the hood as if he were the real Praetor. She still holds a grudge towards Kirk and Spock, since in First History, those two stole a cloaking device from her, revealing thus that she's the Romulan Commander from the series. Thea suspects that the Vulcans will, sooner or later, discover the time tampering and revert it, but some effects of Second History (like the peace treaty) will be indelibly embedded in the universe, anyway. Sarela agrees to help her, specially after she receives her own pretty boy slave.

For his part, Spock instructs Christopher Pike (here still a happy captain of a ship) to stop the crazy Admiral, before he causes all-out war. After this, the ShiKahr intercepts a Romulan shuttle, apparently crippled and adrift, and takes it aboard. The only passengers, apparently, are Thea and Sarela, and they're taken into custody. However, hibernating inside the shuttle, and thus not detected as life forms, were Thea's slaves. They wake up a while later, disguise themselves as Vulcan guards, and order Kirk to the briefing room. Sensing a trap, Kirk attacks them, but the Romulans subdue and kidnap both Kirk and his new roomate: Richardson. They depart in the Ravon, and leave the two hostages stranded in a desolate planet, with just basic survival gear. Spock learns about this too late, so he has no alternative but cooperating with Thea. Secretly, though, he plans to infiltrate the Romulan Empire to get the secret of time travel (unknown to the Alliance), and the details to revert the timeline.

Spock, dressed as the Praetor, McCoy, half-dressed as his...slave, and S'Parva, some kind of dog-girl with telepathic powers, accompany Thea back to the Ravon. Spock, as many other people, is also succumbing to madness, which in his case manifests as pon farr. He covers it up as a simple infection, and requests the medical assistance of slave-McCoy to create a distraction. The moment is seized by S'Parva to get inside the computer system. Later, Spock reviews the data, learning about the slingshot effect to travel through time. Both Spock and S'Parva receive also telepathic transmissions from Kirk and Richardson, respectively (S'Parva having formed previously a mind link with Richardson through an experiment). This way, they learn the location of the hostages. Nonetheless, Spock ends up losing consciousness due to the worsening of his symptons. Thea, who still loves Spock in some way, forms a temporary bond with him, and helps him out of pon farr (that is, they fuck).

Once in the Praetor's palace in Romulus, Thea learns about all the incidents of madness happening in the Empire. And finally, after a lengthy conversation, Spock manages to convince her of the necessity of reversing the changes. If this goes on, soon half the galaxy will be destroyed by madness. Spock regrets that he can't stay with her, as his present persona will disappear along Second History. Nonetheless, he will bring Kirk along to the past, to restore the timeline; that way, both of them will keep some remembrance of this alternate history, and will later use their influence to realize Thea's plans for peace. Thea relents, and after rescuing Kirk and Richardson, they make a slingshot maneuver in the shuttle, arriving in Earth's past. However, Thea leaves them to their own devices from now onwards.

Having arrived in San Francisco a while before the assassination, Kirk, Spock and Richardson enter the conference room, where the three politicians are due to make a speech. Kirk creates a distraction by revealing Spock's alien features to the surprised humans, and this prompts the assassins to reveal themselves. In the commotion, everyone escapes to safety (including the politicians), while Kirk and Spock confront the assassins. These are actually human-looking androids, and after a difficult fight, they destroy them, though Richardson is killed in the process. Then Spock takes out a disruptor to destroy the android remains (his excuse for not using the disruptor earlier being that Kirk needed to reassert himself as Captain by getting into a fist-fight, which is... a bullshit excuse, really). After this, Kirk and Spock (also mortally wounded in the fight) go to the rooftop. And there's a pretty sad scene, where both wait for their current selves to disappear in the reality shift, thus dying in a sense.

Everything is back to normal, though Kirk, Spock and Richardson keep having dreams about their alternate lives. Kirk also finds a ring that belonged to his other self, and reflects with melancholy about the fate of "Ensign Kirk". After a mind-meld with Spock, both of them get a clearer view about the events of Second History, and decide to cooperate with Thea to achieve peace. In the end, Kirk leaves the ring behind, knowing it will disappear and return to its real owner, somewhere.

Spirk Meter: 10/10*. Now, this novel is generally regarded as the K/S novel par excellence. Is it very slashy? Yes. But is it something completely in a different league? Well, no. Most of the Marshak & Culbreath novels are as slashy as this one (and The Price of the Phoenix definitely more). Hell, a good deal of this stuff is just taken from TOS episodes, and while in "Amok Time" Spock got out of pon farr by rolling around with Kirk, here he uses the more conservative approach of sex with a woman (and Kirk is totally okay with that, not showing the slightest jealousy). I suspect that most of this fame is simply due to the novel's publication history, and not to the actual content. I've encountered two versions of this incident. The most popular one tells of readers being so scandalized by the novel's first edition, that some higher-up (even Roddenberry himself) had to intervene, and censor the novel for subsequent printings. Della Van Hise's version (presented in several fanzine articles, that you can read in sites like Fanlore) tells a much less exciting story: Basically, the editor made some cuts here and there, she approved of the changes, and then sent the novel for printing. There was an error, and the unedited version was printed instead. When the publishing house noticed it, they corrected the mistake in the second edition, which was the one supposed to see the light from the beginning. In my opinion, Van Hise's version sounds more realistic. I have difficulty believing that the same public who received Triangle a couple years before without batting an eyelid, would start a riot for this. Let alone that Gene-t'hy'la-means-lover-Roddenberry would give two shits about it (was he even that involved in the franchise by 1985?). Apart from this, the edits seem very cursorily: a slight toning-down of some affectionate scenes, cutting curse words here and there, removal of partial nudity (even in medical settings that have absolutely nothing to do with K/S), etc. They really don't look like the kind of heavy censorship of someone set against K/S after a scandal.

Now, for the slash elements (I read the first edition, so this is based on that version): Kirk and Spock are quite affectionate, often reassuring each other with a touch on the shoulder or the hand, or confiding things that they wouldn't trust to anybody else. The mental link between them (which is a staple in many novels and comics, and thus not that remarkable) is given, however, a special relevance, with them often using it to transmit warm feelings, and even communicating over great distances. The link is so strong, that some effects of Spock's pon farr start affecting Kirk. And when the reality first shifts into the alternate universe, Kirk experiences great anguish, upon feeling the link broken. It's also noteworthy that other characters that share this kind of link (Spock and Thea; Richardson and S'Parva) are in romantic relationships of sorts. Apart from the permanent link, Spock performs several mind-melds with Kirk. The first time, when he finds the Ensign sleeping in the garden and suffering nightmares, he attempts a meld to soothe his mind (similar to "Requiem for Methuselah") but Kirk rejects it. Spock, who's already starting to go crazy, attacks Jim then, and forces a mind-meld with him. The fight and Kirk's submission are vaguely homoerotic, and this was by far the most censored passage in the book. The second meld happens when they're both waiting for "death", Spock resting his head on Kirk's shoulder, and the Vulcan uses it to bring Kirk to the other reality along him. The third meld was already covered in the plot summary. Apart from this, when Spock receives glimpses of his previous life, he misses a companion by his side, once wondering if the man he sees there is his t'hy'la. And when Kirk visits his quarters at night to get his medication, Spock interviews him while still shirtless, and understands that he can't keep secrets from him. But perhaps the most blatant examples aren't what Kirk and Spock actually do, but what other characters think about them. Thea is unreasonably jealous of Kirk, and kidnaps him with the belief that Spock will do anything to rescue him, since he's his treasured human and dearest to him in all the combined universes. Actually, this isn't the real reason why Spock complies with Thea, but he agrees with her assessment that "James Kirk is even deeper in your blood than Vulcan". Richardson, as well, has the impression that Kirk and Spock belong together in any universe.

Although this is definitely a K/S novel, there's also a bit of Spones, and it's kind of hilarious that it went totally unnoticed by censors, considering the sexual element is more blatant, compared with the rather spiritual relationship of Kirk and Spock. For starters, when Kirk is first having dreams about Spock as a Captain, McCoy dismisses it as just a typical fantasy of wanting to be under Spock's authority (which totally seems like McCoy projecting there, since that's not the real cause at all). Once Spock gets the first symptoms of pon farr, McCoy is very stubborn about going with him to Romulus to treat his illness, even if he has to be his slave to do so (and as previously seen, those slaves are also the Praetor's lovers). And when Spock gets worse, McCoy confronts him about being so proud and rejecting something that should be pleasurable, pointing out that many people would want to sleep with him... while blushing himself. Finally, McCoy refuses to leave Thea alone with Spock to do her thing, and has to be brought out basically by force (like, what was his alternate plan?). It doesn't help either that McCoy is said to care for Spock more than professional ethics should have permitted.

Also incredibly explicit is Kirk's relationship with Richardson. Kirk comes out from the shower totally naked in front of him. And later they both swim naked in a pond, while Kirk experiences the heat of pon farr through his link. Not enough? Well, Richardson often calls Jim "Juliet", while Kirk calls him "Romeo". Yup.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[blogquantumreality]

Suggested ST: TOS Episodes to Watch

If you really don't want to go through all of the original series' episodes, here are fifteen I would suggest watching to get the big picture of the major aspects of TOS that feed into TNG, DS9 and so forth:

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" - as the pilot, this is self-explanatory. It shows us many of the major characters who we'll see over and over through the series, and shows how they react to a new phenomenon that threatens the mental stability of two crew members.

"Balance of Terror" - introduces the Romulans, one of two principal antagonist powers in the TOS era and which still has a sizable rivalry with the Federation in TNG/DS9.

"The Menagerie, Pt. I/II" - along with the original pilot "The Cage", this two-parter is noteworthy for giving us a look into the Enterprise's past when it was commanded by Captain Christopher Pike. It also establishes one of the few crimes for which the Federation has imposed a death penalty.

"Space Seed" - introduces Khan Noonien Singh and establishes one of the major cataclysmic wars of Trek's 20th century, the Eugenics Wars, with Khan as one of the principal instigators.

"Errand of Mercy" - introduces the Klingon Empire as the second of two principal antagonist powers in the TOS era, and also introduces the Organians who impose an armistice between the Klingons and the Federation, promising that one day they would come to see each other as allies.

"Metamorphosis" - introduces Zefram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive which is the foundation upon which TOS era spacefaring rests upon.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" - for sheer feels this episode cannot be matched. We meet Edith Keeler, a woman who strikes a chord with Kirk beyond friendship, and see the potential cost of accidentally changing history.

"Mirror, Mirror" - here, we see an alternate universe in which a different set of conditions took hold, especially on Earth. In this universe, humanity's darker traits are admired and upheld, leading to the Federation morphing into an aggressively expansionist empire that brooks no opposition. Noteworthy for the way it explores the differences and similarities between mirror and canon Kirk as well as mirror and canon Spock.

"Amok Time" - this episode gives us an in-depth look at Spock, some of his life story, and the planet Vulcan and its customs.

"Journey to Babel" - introduces Spock's parents :P

"Patterns of Force" - rather topical in today's world, it is an interesting exploration of how any fascist movement inevitably drives towards extremism and only heroic efforts can usually stop one once it has taken hold.

"The Trouble with Tribbles" - tribbles. 'nuff said. :P

"The Paradise Syndrome" - introduces the Preservers, which serve as a canonically convenient way to explain the wide variety of similar biospheres on many planets as well as the tendency for human or human derived cultures to show up in places known to not be warp-capable. It can also tie into TNG's "The Chase".

"Day of the Dove" - introduces the last in the trio of Kor ("Errand"), Koloth ("Tribbles") and Kang, and gives more perspective on TOS-era Klingon perceptions of the Federation.

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" - somewhat anvilicious as an allegory for the arbitrariness and futility of racism.

Honorable mentions include "The Savage Curtain", which introduces (Kirk's idea of) Kahless the Unforgettable, as well as "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and "Assignment: Earth" as a loosely connected pair of 1960s Earth centered episodes in which unintentional interference by the Enterprise could cause severe temporal issues.

[ovenproofowl]

a lot of people have said it, but I’m throwing in my two cents just to get it off my chest.

Picard season 3 was . Bad . For a LOT of reasons . It felt like - as many before me have expressed - a self-insert fanfic with the dullest self-insert in history.

Jack Crusher wasn’t much of a character but he could have had some promise if they hadn’t spent an aggravating amount of time having him decree how different he always felt, you guys. Did you get that part? He’d always felt different. That sort of dialogue might have flown if we were dealing with Picard’s adolescent son, but instead we’re dealing with a 24 year old played by a 35 year old who looks every bit his age. (It was a hard 24 years, we must assume.)

The reason that Jack Crusher didn’t work for me personally, though, wasn’t because of how cliché his character was. I would have let that pass much easier if it wasn’t for the big ol’ elephant in the room. And that is simply that :

JACK CRUSHER WAS NEVER NECESSARY

Jack may have served a purpose to the storyline that was presented if only because he was the sole reason there was a Big Bad to be defeated in the first place. Everyone wanted to kidnap him, he brought the old gang back together just to protect him and then later save him from said Big Bad which was also actually .. him. Everything Was About Jack. But I’m not talking about the main plot. I Really Don’t Want to Talk About the Main Plot. Ever. What I want to talk about is what Jack represented that made him so unnecessary:

He was intended to represent Jean-Luc Picard’s only reason to start living.

Personally, that really, really offended me. Picard didn’t need to have a biological kid to have a purpose. In fact, it’s been established time and time again that he wasn’t ever really dad material. More of a... weirdly intense uncle. For a while, he wasn’t a fan of kids at all. Eventually, though, Picard is seen to warm to the idea of letting children within his general vicinity. This starts in TNG and continues on in season 1 of Picard. The Only Categorically Good Season of this whole. show.

In season 1, we see flashbacks of Jean-Luc’s relationship with a young Elnor, how he would read him stories and have sword fights with him. He was an absent father to an adopted child he hadn’t even realised he’d adopted and yet Elnor still fought for his hopeless cause. In much the same way, Picard meets Dahj and then later, Soji. He feels a kinship with these androids because of their connection to Data. He wants to protect Soji becase he couldn’t protect Dahj and Soji even canonically questions whether she should allow Picard to act as her father figure before she begins to remember where she came from. Both of these dynamics were infinitely more interesting and a lot deeper rooted. Soji and Elnor were both young twenty-somethings without parental guidance but found that guidance through Picard. Soji had her connection to Jurati, too, and Elnor had his with Seven and Raffi and that’s what made the whole group so intriguing to follow. They all had interesting connections to each other that had so many avenues to explore.

Unfortunately, the show decided to more or less write Soji and Elnor out of the story come season 2. Elnor was killed off for the majority of the season and only brought back by Q intervention in the last episode. Soji wasn’t even a part of the story at all. And do you know what’s sad about that? What’s really sad? Season 2 was trying to sell us the exact same message as season 3. That Picard needed a reason to live. But, like, not that reason. Not the reasons he’d already been given in the form of his found family with his Romulan and android adopted children, or even the rest of the La Sirena crew. No no no, we can’t have that, better get rid of them. This time, Laris is the focal point. Picard had been avoiding a romantic relationship with her because of a never before mentioned dark history surrounding his mother’s suicide. Because, sure, at this point, why not? While we’re at it, let’s also kill off Rios in the most slap-in-the-face out of character way possible and fling Jurati at the Borg for good measure just so she won’t be around for season 3. Her character development into the Borg Queen was pretty intriguing, but we’ll totally ignore that they even exist post her departure, just for funsies. Oh, and Soji and Elnor? Best not mention them at all come that third and final season. Otherwise, people might get the crazy notion that Picard already had a reason not to hunker down and die at the vinyard at the tender age of 104.

Season 3 picks up where season 2 leaves off in that Picard is now in that aforementioned romantic relationship with Laris. Except, no he isn’t because he immediately gets an emergency call from his ex and literally never sees or talks to Laris ever again. There wasn’t even a throw-away line or implied reference to her, but by now I’m sure you know the reason for that.

That’s right, folks. Because if we were allowed to remember Laris and what she meant to Picard, then we might just remember that other thing. Say it with me now!!

JACK CRUSHER WAS NEVER NECESSARY!!

In summary, there were so many brilliant options to give Picard for signficant found family dynamics, but the show just wasn’t interested in any of them. Season 3 wanted a Picard who had given it all up, who was ready to die because he’d never had a family to pass on his legacy. They wanted him at his lowest so that we’d all rejoice to see him return to the TNG crew. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a massive TNG fan and I could rave about the fan service and nostalgia porn for hours on end. If season 3 had stood alone as a singular unconnected event, it might even have been passable as a warm hug from old and beloved characters with some fun new spins to their stories along the way, juust so long as you didn’t squint too hard at the actual attempt at plot writing going on in the background.

But the fact of the matter is, Picard season 3 came far too late into the game. Season 1 held the building blocks to something new and interesting. By the end of season 2, it was becoming clear we were never going to see those blocks stand. By season 3, those blocks were just scattered headstones in a graveyard.

They teased us with the potential new show of Captain Seven and her Number One Raffi Musiker and that might have just been okay. . .

. . .If the La Sirena Crew had been allowed to be a part of that future.

In closing: Picard season 3? Too little, too late, mate. 👎🏻