Rob: Hello and welcome back.
Another week has passed.
Another Star Trek episode is out there in the universe and we, as always,
have tuned in here at Subspace Radio to discuss it, break it down, and see what
other topics spring from this episode.
Kevin, how are you?
Kevin: Hello.
Just thought I would "swing by" to discuss this week's episode with you.
Rob: We're here to discuss, uh, the penultimate episode of season three of
Lower Decks episode nine, Trusted Sources.
Kevin: This has been a packed season.
I was gonna say already at the end, but for the first time, it doesn't
feel like already at the end.
I feel like we have been given well and truly a season's worth
of stuff on Lower Decks just by how packed these episodes are.
Rob: Yeah, for someone, like my good self who has only watched the first
two seasons in binge format, for me to watch season three in this week to week
installment, it's been a good experience to go week to week, and it has been.
It's been a very, I was a bit trepidacious at the start going, Oh, it's quite, you
know, episode of the week type of thing.
But it's just slowly caught up on me and, uh, especially the last couple of episodes
have been some big steps, some big moments, and some big developments for the
characters, which is, uh, great to see.
That's what we are here for.
We're here for the characters we love being challenged, put
through the ringer and, uh, see how they come out on the other side.
Kevin: And this week they were challenged by the presence of
a reporter on the Cerritos.
What did you think of Trusted Sources?
Rob: A good episode.
It was a bit of a, it really got to me in the feels, Kevin.
There was some, there was some big moments that happen later on, which we'll
get to that really did, uh, affect me, which were quite uncomfortable, to see.
And you, I wasn't happy about it.
But to see journalism played out within the Star Trek universe is
something that we will explore a bit later on in this episode.
But yeah, to have someone as this outside presence, having a watchful eye and a
judgmental eye over the processes of, uh, how Starfleet works is quite intriguing
because we've only ever really got Starfleet's views amongst themselves as
a, or, alien sources wanting to either join the Federation or stuff like that.
But to have someone outside of all of that was fascinating to watch.
How'd you find it?
Kevin: I, uh, look, I could take or leave this one.
There were definitely things that I loved in it.
But overall, it left me a little lukewarm this week.
And looking back on it, I think the main reason for that is, in my view, this was
not an episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
This was an episode of Star Trek: Cerritos.
Most of the screen time, most of the story, this episode was not about our
lower decks crew members and their perspective; it was about the bridge crew
and about the Cerritos and the effect that the reporter would have on the ship.
Watching it the second time I was struck the, the entire teaser and most of
the first scene is all Captain Freeman and Ransom and the Admiral and the
mission that the ship is gonna go on.
And our lower decks crew members only just inch on screen with Mariner walking
down the hallway covered in blueberry, which is, you know, it's a funny way
to introduce her, but I felt like our lower deckers were the foil, this
episode, not the point of the episode.
Rob: That's a very good point.
Yeah.
I hadn't looked at it that way, but it was very much flipped.
Cuz there has been a lot of episodes this season, especially at the beginning, that
were very much like we've said, this is clearly a lower decks episode that you
wouldn't find anywhere else in Star Trek.
Whereas this one very much felt like what it is to be on the bridge crew
where the, the starring characters are.
Opening with the captain dealing with this issue and how they're gonna put
the ship into ship-shape condition.
Kevin: Yeah, it's a risky thing you do when you structure an episode around,
ultimately, a rather unsatisfying mission.
Like the whole point is the reporter's there to see what we hope
will be an awesome mission, and it turns out to be a bit of a flop.
But I think that bled too much into the episode, turning to the, the episode
at large into a bit of a flop for me.
Rob: It very much showed that the Cerritos is sort of like the
lower deck within the Federation.
So it's like the captain is there trying to build up the esteem of
the California class and instigating this new process will have a newfound
respect or recognition for the, that class of of ship within the Federation.
So there was that type of play there but it was very much the you know the
A team as opposed to what we wanna see is the people on the benches.
And like there was hardly any Boimler, Rutherford and I barely saw Tendi at all
Kevin: Tendi had one line about having learned to, uh, unhinge her
jaw for the pie eating contest.
Funny line, but not much else there for our characters.
Yeah, yeah.
Uh, highlights.
The, the return to Ornara and Brekka.
Rob: I did want to talk to you about that as I am not up to date with
Kevin: I'm surprised you don't remember this, because this is from
the last episode of TNG Before Skin of Evil, in which Tasha Yar dies.
So I would expect this to be like fresh in your memory as one of the last
episodes of TNG that you ever watched.
Rob: A, a beautiful paradise before, before the serpent took it all away.
Kevin: This is like known by fans as the last episode that
Denise Crosby filmed as Yar.
So there is this scene at the end where Picard and Crusher are kind of
walking out of the cargo bay and the giant doors are closing behind them.
And if you squint, you can see Tasha Yar standing in the deep
background on the cargo bay.
And just as the doors close she waves enthusiastically because it's
her farewell and it it's so it's so sweet I watched it again just to warm
my heart today, reminded of that.
But, uh, yeah.
The the episode, Symbiosis, is about these two planets that, as Ransom
explains this episode, are in a symbiotic relationship where one provided the
cure for a plague to the other, but the cure was a addictive substance.
And so even after the plague was cured, the planet continued to push this cure
on the victims of that plague, who were happy to pay for it because they
were addicted to it by that point.
But uh the the planet supplying it had no need for any other economy because they
were creating this drug and getting all of their money from it And so they didn't
keep their ships maintained, and the the whole system was about to break down.
In swoops the Enterprise D and goes, Oh yeah we can fix your
ships for you, no problem.
Until they realize what's going on.
It's an unhealthy symbiotic relationship.
Now the creators of the drug say ah ah ah we know you, Federation.
You have a prime directive.
You're not allowed to interfere in the affairs of a civilization, so you can't
tell them what we're doing to them.
You can't tell them that they're addicted.
You can't tell them that the plague is cured.
And Picard goes, You're right and we also can't fix your ships.
Goodbye.
And that's the end of the episode just like, and just leaves.
Just like Ransom says uh in this like, He left?
Well that's it.
That's how it went down!
I loved that summary.
Rob: I wanted to talk to you about that, there, going, really?
Did that like no diplomacy, no Picard Shakespearean tone type of
uh delivery of a speech that would
Kevin: There's a monologue in the turbolift at the end, because Dr Crusher
is, she does not like this idea to leave the Ornarans to the ravages of withdrawal.
She says, isn't that cruel?
And Picard goes, Hold the lift I have a speech to make.
He like he does one of those, let's pause the turbolift?
And he walks around and he goes, You know, the Prime Directive, it's not always
easy, but it's the right thing to do.
Uh, anyway, what is not captured in Ransom's unkind summary of Picard's
solution here is that this is a clever workaround for the Prime Directive.
He can't tell them that they're addicted.
He can't explain to them that they will recover in time.
He has to leave them thinking they are going to die of the plague.
He has to leave them cold turkey cuz the Prime Directive won't let him tell
them, won't let him explain further.
But yeah, they warp outta there and don't come back, for sure.
Rob: And, okay, well then how was it for you coming back and seeing this planet
and seeing that they were all just you know gym, gym nuts and going on fun runs?
Kevin: As soon as I realized what episode they were referring to, I was
like, Oh, this is gonna be awesome.
And seeing the gym nuts and fun runs and the mural that has the dark place
in the middle, that was hilarious.
Rob: With the sharp teeth and the ripping of each other's heads off, yeah.
Kevin: Things got bad for a while.
That was the high point of the entire episode for me, but as soon as they
realized, Ugh, we're not needed here, let's go to Brekka instead,
uh, then it was a little downhill.
We got sidetracked by the interview stuff, and the Mariner stuff.
And Mariner gets kicked off the ship.
And then finally they get to Brekka, and there's a Breen invasion for some reason.
I mean, we could talk a bit about the Breen but I feel like this is
always the story with the Breen.
When they need, when they need an invading force but they don't
wanna get into the details.
Rob: the Breen.
Just chuck the
Kevin: Just get the Breen.
Yeah.
They're wearing masks, so you can't tell what they're
saying so don't worry about it.
They're evil.
Rob: They are literal generic, you know sci-fi villain.
Kevin: Yeah.
They are.
The storm troopers of Star Trek.
Rob: Exactly.
But their shots are a lot better.
What I do like about Star Trek: Lower Decks is when they do do violence and
stuff like that, they don't hold back, and they're a lot more Uh intense than
a lot of the other, I mean Deep Space Nine gets quite intense with the war
stories, but to have that you know callous death of that of the uh of the
civilian, and Ransom's reaction of horror.
That was absolutely beautiful cuz he's, he really amps up his
dickish gym quality and, and sleazy uncomfortable quality in it.
So to have him show that humanity of or that compassion and empathy about
the shock of that was really powerful.
And just the speed and the the tension there was was really exciting.
Kevin: There were some exciting, tense moments.
Seeing them like huddling behind the, the thing getting shot at, and
all, like getting beamed up at once.
It like, it gave me some a good action sequence for sure, but then
it just didn't really go anywhere.
They were rescued by the robot ships.
Rob: Yeah that's something I did wanna address of like what that means for like
Cuz what makes Star Trek Star Trek is the humanity behind, you know, the ships.
Kevin: Yeah it feels risky.
It feels risky, messing with the formula.
Don't look too closely.
Rob: Well that's the thing.
It's boldest, it's the boldest move they've done, really.
They've been playing in this safe world of, you know, oh
we can be a little bit rude.
We can bleep out swear words.
We can have a little bit of graphic violence for comedy.
But we can then throw in a bit of actual tension and threat to boost
it above just this sitcomy thing.
But then, no, this is a big, bold step in the continuity of Federation just being
done in this you know silly, and I do in inverted commas, silly uh animation show.
This is big ramifications about the future of Star Trek, and where
this fits in within you know the Picard series world in the future.
Um all that type of stuff is very, yeah that's some big, bold steps that they're
taking in in that little animation show.
Kevin: What did you think of all of the stuff with Mariner and the
interviews and her crew members kind
Rob: It was
Kevin: assuming she'd done the wrong thing?
Rob: um yeah I probably should have uh telegraphed it earlier that of course you
know um it's played up in a way and is done in such a structure that of course
she's the one who's speaking, you know, so compassionately about the Cerritos.
And those people who the captain trusted um unbeknownst to
Kevin: This is maybe gonna be a recurring theme, but I, I was fooled.
I fell for it, hook,
Rob: Ah!
Kevin: I was right with everyone else, assuming Mariner,
maybe even meaning no wrong.
I assumed she had opened her big mouth and, and told some stories outta school.
Uh, but yes, in hindsight it's obvious.
Rob: Yeah.
Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah.
Rob: Especially how positive she is in the whole start of it, to
go this is all the great stuff.
This is amazing.
This is incredible.
And those people who were being brought in were so smug about
their own role within the ship.
Of course they're gonna let slip all this stuff that that
incriminates the the captain.
And um yeah there wasn't enough put on the captain's reaction that you
just see the the captain like you know this is her daughter and you know
saying you know you're you know not even my daughter anymore, type of.
That's some intense stuff.
There's gotta be some sort of yeah emotional payoff to that, because that's
some, that's some serious mending that has to be done if it can ever be healed.
Kevin: When she was thrown off the ship and she packed her bags and just kind of,
when she sadly left the, the, uh, Lower Decks quarters, like doing her Vulcan
salute, uh, as she walked out of the room.
As she did, she did it sadly, and said, This always happens.
And, then, and she runs into Jennifer in the hallway who gives her her candle back
and I'm gonna keep my opinions to myself.
Um, just, it was pretty brutal.
Rob: Yeah I mean I was like like I said I should have picked it but I
was there going yeah Wow Okay You've really turned everything around.
Um, but yeah then I'm they're going of course she's gonna be the the staunchly
supportive one because this is you know she's just moved from ship to ship and
home to home and never really invested.
And I've watched it over three years as we all have.
I was really annoyed with her at the start.
But then the true compassion she has for the for this ship and the crew and
stuff has uh elevated her into this you know new area of of endearment.
Um and to yeah it was heartbreaking to have her go back to her usual
dismissive, emotionally distant.
Yep just flip it, flipping the live long and prosper and getting
on the ship of with her off to…
Kevin: Yeah, Starbase 80.
We got the payoff of Starbase 80.
Um, the place where they lose their sammiches in their
one size fits some uniforms.
Rob: And their elbow grease.
That's not the phrase that you use.
Kevin: Just a random thing to mention.
In amongst all the interviews, there was an interview with the dolphins
and it was subtitled, but in the version of the episode on Amazon
Prime, the subtitles were missing.
So I spent an inordinate amount of time gaining access to what it was those
subtitles were supposed to be, what I had missed that those dolphins were saying.
And it was, it was sadly disappointing, in the end.
The Cerritos is the first time I've had unlimited fish in my life, says one.
The other says, when we're not stellar mapping, we're partying!
Rob: Well I can't I can't believe I haven't brought this up, or maybe I have.
I've kind of lost track of all the podcasts we're doing.
That is one of the most uh beautiful deep cut references to uh um seaQuest DSV.
Uh cuz uh that was famously a show I was really excited to watch cuz it
had Roy Scheider and uh yeah lest we forget the wonderful Jonathan Brandis.
Um and I remember sitting down when I was a kid in high school watching, uh seaQuest
DSV and I got my grandparents to sit down.
My grandfather who you know liked the old Star Trek but you know he was into
his Hogan's Heroes and his MASH and those were the type of shows he watched.
Within five minutes of watching seaQuest, and as soon as the
dolphin Darwin started talking, my grandfather went Nope I'm outta here.
Kevin: I suspect, uh, seaQuest may have actually been inspired
by, uh, some offscreen lore about Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Some of the early blueprints of the Enterprise had labeled on it Cetacean
Ops, so there was kind of like this.
In the, you know, writer's guide sort materials off screen, there
was established this concept that Cetacean Ops was a thing.
We never saw it on screen until Lower Decks, but, uh, I guess whales
were just big in the culture in the, the late eighties, early nineties.
Rob: Look you know what, if you gotta go back in time to get
some humpbacks of course gonna.
George and Gracie have made a massive impact.
Kevin: The only other thing I kind of wanna call out as a highlight is Dr.
Migleemo's Meema.
Rob: And when the captain walks in and looks at the screen and just goes, Meema?!
Kevin: All hands to battle sta— Meema?!
Rob: I just love that the captain knows everything so much and doesn't
call her by you know Mrs Migleemo.
You get, Meema?!
I went,
Kevin: I am with you now.
I am on the Captain Freeman bandwagon.
As of this episode, I agree with you.
She is the funniest character in this series.
Rob: I'm so glad you finally, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
And it's all stealth.
It's, she's not showy.
Kevin: She plays it completely straight.
Rob: Not showy like Boimler in his in his high pitch wailing scream that
gets you know gets the easy laugh.
No no no.
She is there subtle.
She is the sniper, just coming in and just taking out.
She is the hitman taking out the big laughs when you least expect it.
Kevin: The big thing that made this episode stand out for me was the presence
of a journalist on board the Cerritos.
And it made me think, where have we seen that before?
Um, what is the, what is the presence of journalism as a thing, and, and, you
know, news in the Star Trek universe.
Um, so I thought we'd explore that.
Uh, there, there is not super much of it.
Rob: Yeah, and that's a fascinating concept for us.
You know a lot of the topics that we've brought up, there's so much uh in the
way of resources and examples, but for this in you know how and especially it's
become uh so like a battle line has been drawn between what is news and what is
dare I say the word fake news within society at the moment and journalism
is now very much more of a dangerous occupation than it ever used to be.
Kevin: That is certainly, I agree with you, that is probably behind
the, the recent like surge of news coverage in the Star Trek universe.
I think the, the premiere of Picard season one, where he's sat down at the start
in the first episode in his chateau and grilled by the Federation News Network
Reporter about what actually happened in the evacuation of, of Romulus.
Um, yeah, the, the sense that the journalist is against you and maybe not
that interested in the truth, does seem like a particularly of our times thing.
Rob: Very much so.
Very much so.
And how the journalist was portrayed within their own little
world, and what expectations and their ambition that they have.
But there is that positive element of even though it is done as an
exposé of how bad the captain is, exposing the positivity that is you
know within the the ship's crew.
Um like the big one for me that came to my head and when you did the list
I went, yeah, was Jake Sisko from
Kevin: Mm-hmm
Rob: Deep Space Nine.
And it was he came across in the more naive almost uh very innocent view
of I want to report on things and I wanna spread the word out there of
Kevin: It is the opposite, that it is news as a force, or news writing
in this case as a force for truth.
Rob: And information and sharing stories of people.
And that's very almost romantic view of um what journalism is.
Very much the opposite to that you know cynical view of things
that is in Picard especially.
But you know the word cynicism can be used quite liberally when describing
season one of Picard but to have but Jake was very much that anchor of um
that romantic, optimistic view of getting to the truth and sharing the story.
And it's very much a you know gee golly gosh, gee willikers type of you know
Jimmy Olsen type approach to journalism.
Kevin: Certainly at the beginning, the.
When I went back and looked at it, cuz I remembered Jake being a reporter,
but I didn't remember the details.
And when I looked back I was surprised by how little actual, of how little of
Jake's writing is actually shown to us.
Like we are told again and again that he is a writer,
Rob: Then he became, yeah.
And that he released like especially in is it The Visitor?
The one where Sisko is revisiting Jake as he's getting older and older and
older and he becomes a you know an award winning author as opposed to a journalist.
Kevin: Yeah.
We are told of his writing, but we never actually get much of a sample of it.
There is a headline that is read in an episode, uh, called Call
to Arms, season five, episode 26.
Just as the war is sparking off, um, so is Jake's writing.
He gets a Federation News Service article published with a headline,
uh, citing Station Commander Opposes Non-Aggression Pact.
So there he is making headlines by writing about his dad.
His, his dad's not too impressed.
But that headline, as far as I can tell, is the only actual on-screen
sample of Jake's writing that we get.
Rob: I believe so.
Kevin: So it is almost more a character trait that we are told, than anything we
are, we actually get to witness or see.
Rob: Exactly.
Yes.
And so I mean when you're dealing with ensemble there are always gonna
be elements of characters that will be you know thrown by the wayside.
So just go giving the title of uh would-be journalist to Jake, you're sort of like
a well you can assume the other stuff.
Where as opposed to you going, no we want to actually see how his writing
is and how that moves people or not.
Kevin: For me, the meatiest bit of Jake as a reporter is in season
six, episode one, A Time to Stand.
This is the very next episode.
So we had the season finale of season five, and then the
season premiere of season six.
This is when, uh, the, the Cardassians and the Dominion return to occupy the station.
Jake stays behind to report on the war.
And there's this great scene where he's, he's chasing a interview with Weyoun,
and he corners him on the promenade and he says, Mr Weyoun can I get a, can
I get a, an interview for my readers?
And Weyoun says, No I don't talk to biased journalists, basically.
Rob: Ha ha ha ha ha.
Kevin: It is a great scene for Weyoun.
I think my, like watching it again now, Cirroc Lofton is still
like, Learning his acting, chops.
He's still not quite there yet.
He definitely gets there before the end of the season.
He blossoms as an actor, but in this, he's still a little shaky, certainly
in the face of Jeffrey Coombs as Weyoun who, who kicks this scene in the butt.
And he, he basically says to, he, he, he takes everything that Jake has
been reporting in his, uh, missives that Weyoun has been blocking.
So none of Jake's writing has been getting back to the Federation.
And he's like, You're, you're all your perspectives are biased, Jake Sisko.
You call us an occupying force, um, when this is a Cardassian station.
We are just retaking our rightful place.
And there are no occupiers on Bajor.
We have a peace treaty with them.
They're our allies.
So you, you, Jake, if you want your writing to get out there, you're
gonna have to make a more balanced perspective in your writing.
It is just beautiful how you almost see it his way.
Rob: Oh
Kevin: That is Weyoun's gift, again and again, is you almost see it his way.
Rob: And that's the gift of Jeffrey Coombs, and I'm so glad that Deep Space
Nine used him so much, uh within the show.
He, his time on Star Trek playing multiple characters.
He's a phenomenal uh actor and I was lucky enough to interview him uh years ago.
Kevin: What!
Rob: Yeah yeah yeah.
Kevin: Stop the podcast.
Tell me that story.
Rob: When I hosted uh my own show on Channel 31 uh called uh Live on Bowen
back in uh 2012 and 2013 I did a big push to get us tickets to interview uh
guests at the conventions, so Supernova and ComicCon and stuff like that.
And um I think it was 2013 uh for ComicCon they had Tim Rose who was uh
puppeteer operating uh Admiral Ackbar in Return of the Jedi, and Jeffrey Coombs.
And I got to sit down with him and I went over time, and uh Jeffrey Coombs
just said Oh no let's keep going.
And we spoke about Frighteners we spoke about a Star Trek.
We spoke about his his solo show about Edgar Allen Poe.
And he's that quintessential theater actor.
He love, he love, I love actors who love being actors, not actors who
like being superstars or celebrities.
I love actors who love the craft, and he loves, he loves the process of
acting and creating a character and working with directors, and you know
ripping apart a script, and Jeffrey Coombs just lives and breathes that.
You know from the guy who did Re-Animator to have that passion.
Yeah it should be on YouTube.
Kevin: Look in the show notes Listeners, the link is there
if I've been able to find it.
Rob: Yeah.
He's um amazing and um yeah his work as Weyoun is sort like a character that you
don't expect to have so much depth to him being a a clone and being multiple
versions of a character but, and his work as Brunt as well is hilarious.
Um, yeah, yeah.
And I think that would've worked great uh to you know for a for a
actor still developing their craft to work up against the greats.
You always step up.
Kevin: It's a shame for poor Jake that we never actually got to hear his writing,
cuz I could imagine a great episode that had Jake's writing as the narration.
Like there's a, there's a couple of other star Trek episodes that
are structured that way, like, Dear Doctor from Enterprise, where Dr.
Phlox is writing letters about his experiences on the Enterprise,
and that that provides the narrative backbone of the episode.
And I could really see a, a DS9 episode being structured that way.
Sadly, we never got it.
Um, but, uh, um, just coincidentally this very week, in comic book form, we have
Star Trek #1, a new series, a new ongoing series from IDW that opens with Sisko
returning from the wormhole and his, the first words out of his mouth are Jake.
Rob: Thank You for sending me that little uh sneak preview as well.
Kevin: Yeah, well what I didn't send you is the very next page is an article by
Jake Sisko, and I don't know, you tell me if this should stay in the episode,
but I'm gonna read this now to you just cuz I know you'll appreciate it, rob.
The, uh, the title of this article is What We Left Behind, how about that.
Rob: Beautiful.
Kevin: By Jake Sisko.
Let's start with the story we tell ourselves.
315 years ago as Earth recovered from decades of war, Zephram Cochrane
launched a homemade starship from the ruins of a missile silo and
achieved faster than light travel for the first time in human history.
He called it warp drive.
The flight was noticed by a passing science vessel from the
highly advanced planet of Vulcan.
Soon Vulcan and Earth, alongside warlike Andoria, commercial hub Tellar, and
rugged human colony Proxima formed an allied government that would forever
alter the landscape of the galaxy.
Now for 200 years, the United Federation of Planets and their Starfleet have stood
for mutual understanding, scientific achievement, defense, and exploration.
The pinnacle of civilization, where collective interest outshines individual
greed and war is a distant memory.
What men like Zephram Cochrane would have called Utopia.
That's the story.
Anyway, but I've lived a different one.
When I was two years old, a god-like species attacked
the starship I called home.
They called themselves the Borg.
They had no use for our utopian ideals and they felt nothing
when they killed my mother.
When I was 14, my father took a Starfleet command on the border
between Cardassia and Bajor.
The Cardassians had spent the last 40 years subjugating the Bajoran home world.
When I saw the scars from the labor camps on refugee children at my
school, I asked my father why we'd allowed such crimes to take place.
He answered with a sigh, and a single word: politics.
When I was 17, Starfleet went to war with the Dominion.
I watched as everyone I knew went to war.
My best friend lost his leg.
My father, a thoughtful man of peace, became known across the
galaxy as a Machiavellian war hero.
And a few days before my 20th birthday, the gods of the Bajoran people, an
alien species who lived in the nearby wormhole, known as the Prophets, told
my father he had a grand destiny.
They took him into their temple beyond space and time.
He promised that one day he would return.
And that was the last time I ever saw Benjamin Sisko.
So I've learned something about promises, living the last three years, watching as
the Federation News Service speaks less and less about the war each day, listening
as we begin to once again talk about our utopia like it will last forever,
like there aren't gods at the gates that make everything we are look small.
And I've begun to wonder if, like my mother, I'm just another
thing this story's left behind.
Rob: Now that's what I call good writing, Jake.
Kevin: How about that?
Nice one, Jake Sisko.
And nice one to Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing who wrote this comic.
Rob: Well done.
Kevin: Uh I recommend it even if you have never picked up a Star
Trek comic before, I would say this is a great place to start.
Rob: So it's just under the banner Star Trek.
It's not
Kevin: It's just called Star Trek.
Uh, featured on the cover of the first issue are, Commander Sisko, or,
or Captain Sisko, I suppose he is.
Uh, Data and Beverly Crusher, all standing together on a transporter pad.
And, uh, let me tell you, the promise of that cover image
is fulfilled in this issue.
Rob: So it's three years after Deep Space Nine.
Kevin: Yeah.
Rob: Wow.
Well written Jake and of course those wonderful gentlemen.
Wow.
Kevin: So yeah, a taste of what we didn't get from Jake and, and
what I, I think, like I am still craving that, uh, use of journalism,
investigative journalism as a force for truth in, in the Star Trek universe.
We never really got it.
Rob: No no It's it's one of those the more you're get engrossed in a franchise and
the universe of that franchise the more you think about what about you know those
everyday jobs or the jobs that don't don't fit into the parameters of a storyline,
that you want to see and how it fits in.
You know for me personally being a performer, you know I always
what happens with you know acting and performing and movies and and
theater and all that type of stuff.
It's one of my favorite parts of uh um uh you know the greatest Star Trek movie ever
made, Galaxy Quest when uh Alan Rickman's character goes don't you have any
acting in your culture, any any theater?
Uh but they go Oh no no no no no no no no.
We don't know what that is.
Um yeah it's a fascinating thing to to find out, what it actually is to be a
journalist within the you know within the Starfleet, Star Trek universe,
you know to explore that a bit more as opposed to having uh so cut and dry
as either you know enemy of the people or uh embittered but still hopeful uh
journalist trying to find the truth.
Kevin: One of the reasons I, I suspect we have not gotten stories of journalism,
at least not traditionally in Star Trek, uh, is that in the same way
that money is not present in the Star Trek universe because it is a, you
know, money is the root of all evil.
It is, it is a flaw of current humanity that aspirationally we have shed
by the time we take to the stars.
I feel like Gene Roddenberry perhaps would've put
journalism in that same bucket.
The idea that the truth is not, uh, obviously known and embraced universally
by humanity, that we need people arguing over the truth or negotiating
history as it happens, feels to me like something that he would've seen as a
flaw of humanity that we might have left behind in our perfection by then.
Rob: And especially like with what would that mean in or look
like in other species as well.
You know especially like the Bajoran are such a deeply spiritually
rooted uh culture that you wouldn't see, you know their their way of
communicating is through their their teachings from from their religion.
And um and that is and they seek their their truth from their Kais or whoever is
the highest, you know religious figure.
Um or within sort like the Cardassian culture it's all based on war,
so they control the message.
The war machine is and what is their truth is controlled by the military.
Um and the Klingons their, you know their truth or their passing on of
message is through song, of figures and warriors from the past are handed down,
the songs that are sung about them.
So how journalism fits within those cultures um that hasn't really
been created to fit that in there.
Kevin: Yeah.
There are a few other occurrences of journalism in,
in various forms in Star Trek.
There is in Star Trek Voyager, uh, Neelix starts a morning show on
board the ship which is, it's less journalism and it's more like, uh,
Radar on MASH like, Hey everybody.
Good morning.
It is a bit like that.
Rob: It's interesting you say that, cuz Radar was my favorite character on MASH
and Neelix, if I hit him with a car I'd probably back up just to make sure.
I'm sorry.
Cut that out.
Kevin: Well, there is, uh, there is one episode called Investigations in which
Neelix starts to take his role as the ship's journalist a little seriously.
He's inspired by the idea of journalism being about getting to the bottom
of the truth no matter what, and he starts to, uh, unravel a mystery
on the ship, involving Tom Paris.
Tuvok is trying to talk him out of it, and it's because it is a deliberate,
sort of undercover operation that Neelix is at risk of, of, foiling
in his efforts to report on it.
So it is kind of charming, but it is just one episode and it's it's
plot device more than, more than heart of the story I feel like.
Rob: Yes.
Yes.
And I I'm particularly interested in the fact that I'd forgotten about
it, because it is from the movie uh Generations, there's actually a journalist
crew on uh board and interviewing um uh this momentous occasion of the new
Enterprise going out with, with um Alan Ruck and and the daughter of Sulu.
Um the journalists are there to report on this occasion because
you've got the three big guns coming outta retirement to to greet it off.
Kevin: Yeah.
I'm gonna argue that this, this opening of what is, I think most people would
say is an uneven Star Trek movie.
It has its charms as the, the first appearance of the Next
Generation crew on the big screen.
Um, but, uh, yeah, this opening of Star Trek Generations with the Enterprise B,
I'm gonna argue is the most effective use of journalism in all of Star Trek.
This, uh, contrast it creates between Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov stepping on the
ship, like dazzled by the lights of the reporters in their eyes, and they don't
know what to do in front of a film crew.
Uh, they are constantly like awkward about it.
They, they come back to the ship and go, What did you think of the warp
core And they're like, Oh, it's fine.
I feel fine.
You know, they, they don't know how to put on a show for the cameras and
then Captain Harriman like struts across the bridge and gives a live
Rob: Exactly what do.
Yeah.
Kevin: Knows exactly how to work the camera and he gives them his
best angle and then the distress call comes in and he freezes.
He freaks the freak out.
Um, and it is, it is effective.
Uh, when eventually Kirk steps in to save the day.
And he, uh, it is beautifully written and played.
You can tell he knows his place.
He's not gonna step in until he asks, but as soon as he's asked, he switches on.
Rob: It is a beautiful moment.
He's there going I know what to do I know what to do but I'm not doing anything.
And so he goes, right okay, here we go.
Bang.
Kevin: Scotty goes, Captain, is there something wrong with your chair?
Rob: Right.
Yes.
Kevin: But, uh, yeah, as soon as Captain Harriman says, I would appreciate any
suggestions, Kirk says, Well, suggestion one is get in transporter range and start
beaming those people off those ships.
Uh, and number two, turn that damn thing off he says to the camera.
Uh, so the beautiful, I think this is again, uh, it's going to, that
thing I was, I was talking about where the presence of journalism
is seen as a flaw or a weakness.
It cheapens the moment.
You kind of get the sense, and you're on Kirk's side, that, uh, the media
attempting to make headlines out of the sacred act of, launching a starship
is cheapening the entire event.
Rob: And it is interesting, isn't it?
Because especially like, um, there's multiple examples of in reality, you know,
journalists in war zones, being able to pass on stories about, um, the horrors
or the triumphs on the battlefield, or in moments like this, or, you know,
within the war zone, that would not have gotten out because especially we're
seeing it now with, you know, sorry for getting so heavy, within the war
in Ukraine, that both Russia and also Ukraine have become experts in how they
spin the war uh, for their own campaigns.
So to have, you know, Ukraine spin it in a way to, to build up that hope and also
show the victories that they have, um, the u the, the Russian journalists are
sort of like, there's, you know, this is all, you know, this is not occupation.
This is liberating of people.
And so to have those journalists on the field bringing out stories
of, of truth about war crimes and horrors and, but also moments of
bravery and all that type of stuff.
So there is, you know, it's not just a black and white issue despite
how clearly it is in Star Trek, sometimes, uh, quite black and white.
There is an element of capturing those moments of heroism, so that can inspire,
and the stories of people who are affected by this is important to hear.
Kevin: The first ever mention of the media or news reporting in Star Trek that
I was able to dig up, is Star Trek VI.
So one movie before Generations, in which, uh, after the assassination of
Chancellor Gorkon, Valeris just casually drops in a conversation, um, that his, his
daughter, Azetbur has been, uh, appointed as Chancellor of Klingon High Council.
It was on the news, she says.
And it was, it is such a strange line.
Like I remember the first time I heard it, I was like, Oh, that's weird.
But it's not commented on, it's not the point of the scene.
It's just like, um, everyone kind of gives her a second look
of like, How do you know that?
And she goes, It was on the news.
And I don't know if it's meant to be like a hint at the fact that she's the
traitor later, that she knows a little too much about, about what's going on
among the conspirators in this story, but, uh, yeah, every time I have watched
that movie, that line has stuck out as odd, but also just a passing moment.
It's not the point of the story or anything.
But the, the presence of the media, just the recognition
of its existence feels weird.
Rob: Yeah, well spotted.
Yeah, I've, I've, you know, Star Trek VI is one of the best
and I've never picked that up.
So,
Kevin: You'll notice it next time.
Rob: I'll notice it next time.
Kevin: Well, we will be back next week with the, uh, season finale of Star
Trek: Lower Decks, and perhaps even the mid-season premiere, uh, seasons
have no meaning, apparently we're still in season one of Star Trek: Prodigy.
Rob: Have no sense of time or seasons or anything anymore.
What the hell is going on.
Kevin: I look forward to chatting about it and, and chatting about
Lower Decks one last time for this
Rob: One last time.
So until next time, second, turn that damn thing off.