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Star Trek - Voyager - Rock Version - Theme Song

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Jerry Goldsmith

Star trek, voyager, television series main title theme, avg duration, description.

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Star Trek: Voyager

Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home. Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home. Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.

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• Trivia When auditioning for the part of the holographic doctor, Robert Picardo was asked to say the line "Somebody forgot to turn off my program." He did so, then ad-libbed "I'm a doctor, not a light bulb" and got the part.
• Goofs There is speculation that the way the Ocampa are shown to have offspring is an impossible situation, as a species where the female can only have offspring at one event in her life would half in population every generation, even if every single member had offspring. While Ocampa females can only become pregnant once in their lifetime, if was never stated how many children could be born at one time. Kes mentions having an uncle, implying that multiple births from one pregnancy are possible.

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• Alternate versions Several episodes, such as the show's debut and finale, were originally aired as 2-hour TV-movies. For syndication, these episodes were reedited into two-part episodes to fit one-hour timeslots.
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Theme (From "Star Trek: Voyager")

Nic raine , jerry goldsmith , prague philharmonic orchestra.

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Jerry Goldsmith

Jerrald King "Jerry" Goldsmith (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring. more »

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Published Sep 15, 2013

The Trek Series With The Best Theme Music Is...

Well, this was just a little unexpected. StarTrek.com asked readers to cast their votes as to which Star Trek series had the best theme music, and The Next Generation won. Now, that's not the surprise. What shocked us was that 25,000 people voted and The Original Series came in dead last. Here are the results:

Here's what some of your fellow fans had to say about the options:

"Jerry Goldsmith is kicking some rear end with the top two places so far for a combined 53%." -- Carl James

"The Enterprise theme song is the best!! At first I thought it was cheesy but now I love it. It reminds me of an awesome power ballad from the 80's." -- Ange Hertz

" TNG , no contest, though most of them had good theme music." -- Cole Whiteley

"I understand people's dislike for Enterprise's theme music - it really was a drastic change from what came before, and, in a way, didn't really 'fit' with the other themes, but I like the song a lot personally, and I think it suits Trek very well in feel - the song is celebrating the need to explore, to wander, and to have confidence in yourself, defying the odds against you. It's a powerful song." -- Matthew B. R. Sims

" Voyager because its song tells the story in itself... "persevere." Next Gen is nice but was a derivative of The Motion Piicture ." -- S. James Chorvat II

"Both Star Trek: the Motion Picture (and the Next Gen theme) and the Voyager theme were written by Jerry Goldsmith. Goldsmith won the Emmy for Voyager 's theme. Every time I hear that climatic high note, then the sound affect of Voyager passing through a planet's ring on the up-beat, I still get warm fuzzies all up and down my spine. Voyager 's theme is a musical, visual, and sound design masterwork." -- Michele Hansen

" DS9 has the best orchestration. Voyager is good, too. TNG is a nice march. TOS is very 1960s, so it's dated. The pop sound and vocals make the Enterprise stand out--love it or hate it. Give me DS9 every time." -- Charles Kufs

"I love the original theme of Star Trek . I like the other Star Trek series, but I love the original better..." -- Curtis Simpkins

"I have always loved DS9 's opening theme. It's majestic." -- Vicki Love

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49 episodes

Charlie is a lifelong X-Men fan. Miles is a lifelong Doctor Who fan. If ANYONE can objectively rank every single episode of Star Trek on a big list, it’s gotta be the people who think that Star Trek’s ‘Pretty Decent.’ (Citation Needed.)

Casual Trek - A Star Trek Recap and Ranking Podcast Charlie and Miles

• TV & Film
• 5.0 • 3 Ratings
• APR 28, 2024

Go Nick a Starship

SHOW NOTES: Grab your popcorn, take a sledgehammer to your 80s Pan N’Scan VHS (Disclaimer: Casual Trek endorses Physical Media, just, just not Pan N’Scan) and climb into your favourite beep-chair as Casual Trek goes to the movies In Search of Spock for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock! But, we have a little B-Feature before we hit our A-Picture and so we’re also covering the other time a member of the Enterprise stole the Enterprise because the needs of the one, outweighed the needs of the many, ‘The Menagerie,’ a clever way to reuse the unaired pilot of Star Trek- ‘The Cage’ (See Episode 1 of this show) or a clever way to scrimp on some gold-pressed latinum for a series that was more expensive than it looked. Then, we go all in on ‘The Search for Spock,’ as the Casual Trek crew won’t stop raving about Christopher Lloyd’s turn as a baddie. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, but sometimes, the needs of the few is to be rated and reviewed on all good podcatchers and apps! CONTENT WARNING: We talk about some very ableist tropes from a piece of 60s television. Episodes talked about: ‘The Menagerie’ (12:22) and ‘Star Trek III: The Search for Spock,’ (49:03) Miles pimps his latest appearance on ‘Breakfast in the Ruins,’ Taskmaster, DragonBall, 2000ad and the Judge Dredd movies, Miles talks about Dan Dare, The Rolling Stones, Zager & Evans, our crew talk about attending our first gigs, Did Spock just kill a guy? How ‘The Cage’ completely rewrites the message and meaning of ‘The Cage,’ 60s ableism, Pike’s gloopy make-up job, how Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has made ‘The Cage’ REALLY weird, Tendii from Lower Decks would not be happy with the portrayal of Orions, Duran Duran (Wild Boys) Some of the many, many, many classic Genre Films of 1984 (and Miles didn’t even mention the film adaptation of 1984 which came out that same year), oh, and also Repo Man. Despite his love of ‘Buckaroo Banzai,’ you see Miles remember in real time that Christopher Lloyd also appears in that film. Casual Trek does not advocate underage drinking, but at least try for better than white wine. PAN AND SCAN IS THE DEVIL. Ponn Farr, David’s death, Shatner CAN act, Utopia still needs dive bars, Bones has a Top-Five Dive Bar list, the Bones/Spock fusion, Mr. Adventure is dead now, he died in the cupboard, words Miles never thought he would ever say on this show ‘Pallette-Swapped Adric,’ Kruge is a great villain, we’re just going to talk about him a lot, better Magnificent Seven in Space films than ‘Rebel Moon.’ James Horner, Does Spock’s Return cheapen death? Miles confuses lighting with colour, What do Christopher Lloyd and Patrick Troughton have in common?

• 1 hr 42 min
• APR 14, 2024

Threshold is Lovecraftian Horror

Casual Trek has ranked 97 episodes and two movies, so we decided to do something special for when we ranked our hundredth item on our big list. It would finally be time to rank the most infamous episode of Star Trek: Voyager! That’s right, it’s Threshold! While we could fill an hour and a forty minutes talking about one episode, but rather than doing that we’ve decided to have some Trekxtra Curricular studies. As well as being the bestselling author of TekWars, William Shatner also released multiple albums. We decided to put ourselves through his first album, The Transformed Man. It was… quite an experience. You’ll also get to hear how many comic-reading quests Charlie is taking and listen to two men with almost no experience of drugs try to figure out the best Star Trek episode to watch while under the influence. We also say “Flesh” too many times early on in the show in unpleasant ways. 02:00 What non-Trek thing we’ve been enjoying: X-Men ‘97, Flesh 15:42 Star Trek: Voyager “Threshold” 56:22 William Shatner “The Transformed Man” Talking points include: Godzilla is for everyone, X-Men ‘97, X-Men: The Animated Series, Put Dire Wraiths and Rom in X-Men ‘97 You Cowards!, X-Men: The Motion Picture, Flesh (I am so sorry for the moment of Flesh), 2000AD, Charlie’s Comic Marathons, Charlie posing like Jeff Goldblum from that photo, Shako: The Only Bear on the CIA Death List, Miles’ cunning trap, Neelix was assistant to the engineer, Dunking on Lovecraft, Cronenberging, HG Wells’ The Time Machine, Miles could say pretty much anything about what happens on Blake’s 7 and Charlie will believe it, Legion of Super-Heroes’ Evolvo Lad, The Outer Limits, David McCallum, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Fly, naming your child Khaleesi, Only Fools & Horses, everything better that debuted at the same time as Shatner’s album, Snoopy music, Leslie Nielsen, SNL skits, Andrew Ryan, Shatner trying to be a playful scamp, Shit my dad says, who would be a better Cyrano? The Free Design, Miles’ record collection, The Simpsons, Ranma ½, She Lies With Angels, Miles’ choice of song to sing in the style of William Shatner, The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, casting Alan Moore in Lord of the Rings, Charlie’s funny ears, Poirot facial hair (again). Oh, and occasionally Star Trek. Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com

• 1 hr 40 min
• MAR 31, 2024

Captain Picard’s Sexy Bald Head

SHOWNOTES Great Scott! We’ve a new season of Discovery starting this week and Miles and Charlie want in on all the possible synergy and sponsorship deals talking about BRAND NEW STAR TREK should entail. But we weren’t invited to the premier and Miles has just discovered ‘Taskmaster’ so he has no time to fly anywhere, but what they do have is the Trailer on YouTube and they spend a lot of time on YouTube. So our brave explorers have picked three episodes which might have a connection to what might happen in the show. In ‘Captain’s Holiday,’ we see Picard take the right holiday on the wrong planet, in ‘Reflections,’ Boimler and Mariner attend a Job’s Fair while Rutherford discovers he’s not the man he used to be, or thought he used to be and in ‘Minefield,’ we see Reed be THE MOST BRITISH MAN in Star Trek as we finally tackle the prequel episode to ‘Dead Stop’ (See our 2023 Halloween Episode- Holodeck of Horror’) as we prepare to hit our 100th episode episode of Star Trek next episode! Captain’s Holiday: 00:16:45 Reflections: 00:43:23 Minefield: 01:05:22 TALKING POINTS INCLUDE: Professor Benny Summerfield, Dune Part 2, how we sometimes don’t look at the knock-on effects of flops on art, Dune 2’s white saviour narrative, Christopher Walken giving no f***s, Miles’ Walken impression if lackluster, changes to Dune, Miles can’t tell what will or will not scare his wife anymore, ‘I Love Rock ‘N Roll’ WASN’T by Aerosmith? That’s news to Miles! DRINKING GAME: Take a shot every time Miles says the phrase ‘Such and Such wants to ride Picard’s Sexy Bald Head.’ Patrick Stewart has, by this point in the show, become a damn maniac, Patrick Stewart’s infidelities, less complext Farenghi, the Bill and Ted school of Time-Travelling Archeology, Patrick Stewart’s ego, Gene is complicated sexually, Miles needs to cut Twitter out, Lewis Capaldi might be the next Ed Sheeran. One more ALLAMARAINE. Jerky Tech-Bro Rutherford, Miles is very eagle-eyed when it comes to the show dropping hints, AM= After Moopsy. Fantastic Store was a Brighton-based comic shop in the 90s that sadly closed by decade’s end. Miles has made another Starbucks think they’re cursed. How the uniforms have some character to them. Charlie has played GURPS, Bowie and Waites, not great shop music, the episode stops dead as Miles and Charlie count how many episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise they’ve each recapped, Miles sings a little song, no, it’s not the theme tune to Blake’s 7. Shadey Romulan Tech (not Tek), Reed is a self-sacrificing smeghead, he’s also too British, Charlie started reading 2000ad, chunky tech and props, one of our mission statements was to find GOOD episodes of Enterprise and we have. We’ve now almost seen ONE EIGHTH of Star Trek, for better or worse.

• 1 hr 36 min
• MAR 18, 2024

Whatever Happens on the Holodeck…

Look out, the Holodeck’s malfunctioning and we’re all trapped inside! And the safety protocols have been disabled! And the holograms are self aware! Today we’re looking at the Holodeck in three different shows and all the horrors it can cause. First up is The Big Sleep, which introduces Picard as the private dick, Dixon Hill and his entourage can’t stop touching things. We also both attempt to re-create Picard’s epic speech from the end of the episode. Then we’ve got Kobayashi, where Dal tries to get through a Holodeck Kobayashi Maru with some of the best people in Starfleet (and Odo who’s not technically part of Starfleet). Finally, Bashir and a very sassy Garak play at spies in Our Man Bashir, facing death traps and their comrades who think they’re characters in a campy spy film! We also get into some musical acts who gave us psychic damage, a nemesis of the pod and use this as an excuse to talk about a rare musical track that’s featured in an episode. 00:09:54 TNG: The Big Sleep 00:40:29 Prodigy: Kobayashi 01:03:12 DS9: Our Man Bashir Talking points include: Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, Arnold Judas Rimmer, Dune (1984), Dune (the SyFy movie), Sting’s movie career, Lil Gator, the Pokemon Fuecoco, Dead Ringers, The Maltese Falcon, Miles’ patronising clapping, Charlie’s egg-shaped head, the facial hair of all the different Poirots, D&D novels, Macross, Reboot, Ba Weep Granna Weep Ninny Bong, LA Confidential, Blob Detective, Red Harvest, Brad Dourif, Thunderstruck, Rock Band, Maximum Overdrive, Star Wars: Rebels, Pandemic, Will Self & Gareth Gates’ musical career, Explaining The Wombles & Britpop to Americans, James Bond movies, The Man from UNCLE, Alien, LeCarre, GoldenEye. Oh, and occasionally Star Trek. Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com

• MAR 3, 2024

No Starfleet, Just Have a Jelly Baby

SHOW NOTES: Because Miles’ schedule sometimes means he has to prioritise other shows, even shows that aren’t ours, we decide to do something quick and off the cuff and we end up with one of our longest episodes, go figure. Of course, we got Miles to talk about Doctor Who, what did we think would happen because that boy goes feral pretty quickly! Mainly talking about the four recent Doctor Who specials put on in the last few months, the boys talk toot about Star Beast’s, body horror and Ncuti Gatwa’s energy before Charlie asks Miles a lot of strange and stupid questions about Doctor Who and we lose the plot and our remaining sanity really damn quickly! The Star Beast (08:19) Wild Blue Yonder (25:57) The Giggle (45:00) The Church on Ruby Road (53:10) Silly and Insane Questions (1:15:11) The music for the opening and closing is ‘Who is the Doctor’ by Jon Pertwee. Yes. Him. TALKING POINTS INCLUDE: Why Miles doesn’t want to host a Doctor Who podcast. Miles’ application of ‘Get it done and go to the pub’ theory of how to deal with any job as applied to TV Production. The struggle of ongoing media to maintain a schedule. The theatrical camp charm of Classic Who. The number of actors from the era of Television we’re talking about whose Wiki articles usually end with ‘Death from complications due to Alcoholism’ is incredibly large and no joke. The curse of Doctor Who being that Modern Doctor Who can never look cheap ever again.Drinking Game Rules for this episode: Take a shot every time Charlie says Disney Money. Two shots if he sounds vaguely contemptuous. Watching the BBC have to learn how to do effects heavy shows. Red Dwarf. Differences between ‘Doctor Who and the Star Beast’ (Doctor Who Weekly) and ‘The Star Beast’ the TV Special. The different looks about the Meep, Miles’ wife’s massive Pokemon Plushie collection (which Miles doesn’t have a problem with). Traditional 2005-2009 Who. Miles doesn’t like the 10th Doctor (SHOCK), the alien-ness of the Doctor, Capaldi and the guitar, Charlie’s inability to watch the 90s X-Men cartoon, Miles’ issues with the Whittaker-era and what they could have done, Wild Blue Yonder, Event Horizon, Sunshine, Honestly, another drinking game rule at this point, if we mention Video Box and the 90s, take a shot, what parts of Doctor Who Miles finds scary, Silent Hill 2 (a game Miles wants to play) Body Horror for Kids. Miles compliments David Tennant’s acting. Mean Monsters, Neil Gaiman-y ways of looking at the world. Miles admits Logopolis’ hard SF and entropy is silly to him. Is magic real in Doctor Who? Magic being turned into a skill tree, Brandon Sanderson, Miles goes on FAR TOO LONG about Dragonball Z Power Levels. The Giggle and how Neil Patrick Harris has ruined the name AH-MEE POND for Miles and Reanna. The Bi-Generation as a way of tying up all our baggage before new baggage, Ncuti Gatwa’s incredible energy from the word GO, The Church on Ruby Road, the Doctor’s mental health, RTD taking notes from Moffat’s beats, Charlie always has time for The Leftovers, Christopher Eccleston’s American accent game is strong both here and in Night Country, Miles’ generally aparthy towards Star Wars: Ahsoka made him start crawling back to Doctor Who, Planet of the Daleks isn’t great, but it’s fun, Charlie’s old rewatch and Morris Men ARE Evil, Miles’ own rewatch and where he’s at (FUTURE MILES here, The Myth Makers… not great) Miles and Charlie will never escape Blackface, Series 3 follies and the shows stumbling blocks that’ll never really go away until Troughton, the show’s changes for better and worse, Charlie was asked to provide insane, stupid questions and HE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. Miles loves ‘The Mutants’ (although it turns out Charlie was actually going to be watching ‘The Sea Devils.’ Biggs Darklighter sans Porn Stache. PEDANT CORNER: The video Miles mentions that posits 50 years of American Doctor Who is here:

• 1 hr 54 min
• FEB 18, 2024

Saying ‘Borg Babies’ Again and Again Until it Loses All Meaning

We’ve been Borged! Oh no! Specifically, we’ve been I, Borged as each of today’s Borg-themed episodes are based in some way around Hugh Borg. I don’t think Borg’s his surname, but I don’t recall hearing any other name for him. First up is I, Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Crusher and LaForge have a new pet and it’s a deadly Borg! A traumatised Picard’s eager to use him to do a genocide and Guinan’s with him. Oh no! Second we have Star Trek: Lower Decks’ I, Excretus where attempts to perfect a Holodeck trial lead to Boimler getting a bit too close to the Borg and some fun, awful scenarios which happen when Upper and Lower Decks have to swap. Finally there’s Picard’s Impossible Box, which turns out to be both a Borg Cube used for rehab and a puzzle box that a weird hot Romulan uses for meditation when he’s not getting way too close to his sister. Picard has a nice reunion with Hugh and there’s a Lord of the Rings Elf who’s there for some reason. 09:28 Star Trek: The Next Generation “I, Borg” 37:38 Star Trek: Lower Decks “I, Excretus” 59:44 Picard “The Impossible Box” Pedant’s Corner: Charlie is going to have to recap Star Trek: Nemesis Alice Krige’s surname is pronounced “Kree-Guh” Talking points include: Battle Angel Alita, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Reanna being cancer free, Berserk, Joe Abercrombie, James Barclay, Elric, Picard would make a great Number Two in The Prisoner, Visionaries, X-Men: Fatal Attraction, Batman hologram trading cards, Matlock Bath’s Hologram Museum, Star Wars: Dark Droids, Whoopi Goldberg would make a great Doctor Who, a poop joke, Nemesis of the Pod Ed Sheeran, Funny Games, James VanDerBeek, not forgiving people for reminding us that Young Sheldon exists, mocking Geoff Johns’ career again, crowbarring The Legion of Super-Heroes into a recap, pesto, Grant Morrison, The X-Men’s Sentient Danger Room, being tired old men, Bond themes, Miles’ issues with James Bond, Alan Partridge, Orbital’s The Box, Evil Goth Merlin from the TV Show Merlin, Elnor is an elf ranger, Elnor has taken a level in rogue, Elnor has only seen the Lord of the Rings movies (probably not even the extended versions), Elnor saw the 90’s Three Musketeers or the Paul Anderson one, Rifts (Charlie will never run Rifts), JJ Abrams naming, weird incest siblings, Penny Dreadful, a weird The Cube room. Oh, and occasionally Star Trek. Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com

• 1 hr 31 min
• © Charlie and Miles

Customer Reviews

Star trek doesn’t have to be your personality.

Smart and extremely funny podcast with two charming hosts who understand Star Trek, but purposefully do not make it their whole personality. Each episode picks a theme and reviews three episodes that fit that theme, the hosts engage with the material and rank the episodes on a massive list. Great show!

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Kurtwood smith's 4 star trek roles explained.

Kurtwood Smith is best known for RoboCop and That '70s Show, but the actor also played four different Star Trek characters between 1991 and 2020.

Best known for his roles in RoboCop and That '70s Show , Kurtwood Smith has played four different characters in Star Trek movies and TV shows. Smith's breakthrough movie role was Clarence Boddicker opposite Star Trek into Darkness ' Peter Weller as Alex Murphy/RoboCop in Paul Verhoeven's brutal sci-fi satire. After RoboCop , Kurtwood Smith went on to star in an eclectic collection of movies from Rambo III to Dead Poet's Society . In tandem with his movie career, Kurtwood Smith made many guest appearances on popular shows such as The X-Files , 3rd Rock from the Sun , and two Star Trek TV shows .

In 1998, Kurtwood Smith was cast as Red Forman in That '70s Show , starring in 200 episodes of the nostalgic sitcom. One of Kurtwood Smith's That '70s Show co-stars was Don Stark, who is best known to Star Trek fans as the actor who played Nicky the Nose in 1996's Star Trek: First Contact . Kurtwood Smith starred in another of the best Star Trek movies , Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , after working with the movie's director, Nicholas Meyer on the espionage thriller, Company Business . Kurtwood Smith's casting in Star Trek 6 began a connection between the actor and the franchise that continued into the 2020s.

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Federation president in star trek vi: the undiscovered country.

Kurtwood Smith's first Star Trek role was as the Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . The Federation President's species was given as Efrosian in some publicity materials for Star Trek 6 , but was never confirmed on-screen . With his cranial ridges, long white hair and whiskery beard, Kurtwood Smith cuts quite a figure as the head of the United Federation of Planets. Smith discussed his role as the Federation President in The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine issue 18 , way back in 1998:

"It wasn't really an acting role. I had to achieve a quick sense of presence and then be shot at. I also had that scene in the office with all the boys [....] I was pleased to be a part of it. "

The President was targeted for assassination as part of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country 's vast Khitomer conspiracy to derail peace talks with the Klingon Empire. Thankfully, the crews of the USS Enterprise and USS Excelsior discover the truth about the conspiracy in time to stop the attempt on the President's life. Captain Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) killed the assassin, restoring order to the peace conference. It may have been a small role for Kurtwood Smith, but despite his lack of screentime, the President who oversaw the Klingon peace process is a hugely important character in Star Trek 's fictional history .

The small black glasses the Federation President wears during the rescue operation scene in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country were supposed to denote that the character was blind, but the fact was never mentioned in dialog.

Thrax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 5, Episode 8, "Things Past"

Kurtwood Smith played Thrax, the Cardassian predecessor of Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) from when Deep Space Nine was Terok Nor . Thrax appears in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5, episode 8, "Things Past", in which a freak runabout accident created a telepathic link between Odo, Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) and Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson). The link takes them back to a dark moment from Odo's past, during which Thrax ordered the execution of three innocent Bajorans who had been accused of attempting to murder Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo).

"Things Past" was the second time that Kurtwood Smith had worked with Rene Auberjonois on Star Trek , after they shared a scene together as the Federation President and Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

At the end of "Things Past", it was revealed that it wasn't Thrax who ordered the execution, but Odo. Kurtwood Smith was, therefore, playing quite a complicated character in the episode. Thrax was essentially an amalgam of the original Cardassian security officer, and Odo's own guilt. In a 2017 interview with the official Star Trek website , Kurtwood Smith reflected on the duality of his Star Trek: Deep Space Nine role, saying:

"[Thrax] was a character within a character, and he was also a mirror of Rene's character from a different time. I loved the depth of it. I always liked the size of the characters on Star Trek . It reminds me of when I used to do a lot of Shakespeare, back when I was first coming up. It has that feel about it, you know, because you've got all this stuff on, and you're dealing with enhanced language. They’re just very fun, complicated characters."

10 Star Trek Actors Who Appeared In Shakespeare

Annorax in star trek: voyager, season 4, episodes 8 & 9, "year of hell".

Annorax is Kurtwood Smith's biggest Star Trek role to date, appearing in the epic Star Trek: Voyager two-parter, "Year of Hell". Annorax was a temporal scientist who had built a devastating weapon that could remove elements from the space-time continuum. Using his weapon, Annorax set about restoring the glory of the Krenim Imperium, which had been devastated by a war with the Rilnar. Star Trek: Voyager 's Krenim villains were so powerful that, in multiple alternate timelines, they destroyed Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and the majority of the USS Voyager crew.

To prepare for the role of Annorax, Kurtwood Smith watched Star Trek: Voyager episodes to see what was expected of the show's guest performers.

Annorax was a tyrant, but he was also a tragic figure, as his temporal weapon had accidentally destroyed a Krenim colony, killing his wife. However, having nothing left drove Annorax to more and more extreme measures as he struggled to reorganize the flow of history in his favor. It's a compelling performance from Kurtwood Smith and his scenes with his former Zoot Suit co-star Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay are some of the standout moments from the Star Trek: Voyager two-parter . Kurtwood Smith discussed how Thrax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine influenced his portrayal of Thrax in The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine , saying that:

" I guess the producers liked what I did on Deep Space Nine , and asked me to come back, which was fine with me. [...] Because Thrax was actually in the imagination of another character […] he wasn't quite as interesting to play as Annorax. He didn't have nearly as much to do. "

Imperium Magistrate Clar in Star Trek: Lower Decks, Season 1, Episode 8, "Veritas"

Imperium Magistrate Clar was a much lighter Star Trek role for Kurtwood Smith, as the character featured in the animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks . In "Veritas", the Lower Deckers are seemingly put on trial by Imperium Magistrate Clar as he interrogates them about the USS Cerritos' senior staff. However, Clar isn't putting the crew of the USS Cerritos on trial, he's instead honoring them according to his planet's traditions . However, Jack Quaid's Boimler and his fellow Lower Deckers torpedo the whole ceremony by misunderstanding Clar's line of questioning, which is designed to show them all as infallible heroes.

The design of the alien courtroom is reminiscent of the Klingon court in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , a nod to Kurtwood Smith's first Star Trek appearance.

While it's a voice performance, Kurtwood Smith is clearly having fun in the role of Imperium Magistrate Clar, perhaps delighting in sending up his previous villain roles. Just as Annorax in Star Trek: Voyager was Kurtwood Smith's last Star Trek role before That '70s Show , Clar was his last role before That '90s Show . Hopefully, Kurtwood Smith can return to Star Trek once That '90s Show season 2 drops on Netflix later in the year.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is streaming on Max.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

Star Trek Voyager

The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before.

Star Trek Lower Decks

The animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks follows the support crew on one of Starfleet’s least significant ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380. Ensigns Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and Tendi (Noël Wells) have to keep up with their duties and their social lives often. At the same time, the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.

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Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) isn’t thrilled by this prospect, pointing out before she leaves that it’s too dangerous a mission for a captain to undertake. But Burnham disagrees that this is enough of a reason to stop her; it’s a nice reminder that this is a show and a character that originated in the time of James T. Kirk, a time when captains didn’t stay behind in the face of danger.

But it’s not only that, there’s something else going on. Burnham gives Rayner permission to be blunt, quoting a classic work on Rayner’s native Kellerun , The Ballad of Krull , asking him to “serve it without a crumb of ossekat .” (As far as made-up Star Trek idioms go, that’s a pretty good one.)

It’s also the beginning of a sudden and relentless onslaught of references to Rayner’s culture, but more on that later. What’s Rayner’s problem? He’s uncomfortable with the prospect of being left in command of a ship and crew that aren’t “his.” Welcome to being second in command, buddy.

Book and Burnham take off, heading into the wormhole and finding it to be an inhospitable place. They quickly drop out of communication range with Discovery , there’s ship debris everywhere, including the wreckage of Moll and L’ak’s ship…. and what’s that, the  ISS Enterprise ?!

(A side note before we get too excited about that: what is the deal with all the empty space in the new shuttlecraft set, introduced in last season’s “All Is Possible”? The two pilot seats looked like they were crammed into the corner of a huge unfurnished room.)

Okay, Enterprise time. Burnham and Book rightly surmise that this is where Moll and L’ak must have escaped to and beam to the ship, which of course turns out to be a redress of the Strange New Worlds  standing sets. A quick scan identifies that no one else is aboard — though the clue, which Moll and L’ak have found, does also have a lifesign, hmm — and that Moll and L’ak are holed up in sickbay. Burnham takes a few moments to ponder her visit to the Mirror Universe back in Season 1 and wonder what the alternate version of her half-brother Spock might have been like (bearded, for one).

And aside from some brief storytelling about Mirror Saru’s role as a rebel leader, that’s about it for the Terran Empire of it all. Star Trek: Discovery has spent plenty of time in and around the Mirror Universe already, and I personally don’t think they need to revisit it again. But introducing the  ISS Enterprise — the ship that started it all with The Original Series ’ “Mirror, Mirror” — and then not doing anything momentous with it? Strange decision, and one that makes it ultimately feel more like this was a way for the show to get to reuse a set on the cheap than it does a materially significant addition to the episode.

In fact, in some ways it’s actually a detriment to the episode. If the action had been set on any other ship it would have been fine, but being on the ISS Enterprise I kept expecting something — like seeing Paul Wesley as Mirror Kirk slinking around, or finding Anson Mount camping it up as Mirror Pike in a personal log. If they’d set the action on a generic derelict ship, what we got wouldn’t have seemed like a let down. As it is though, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop… and it simply never did.

Maybe in a subsequent episode, it’ll turn out that there’s an advantage in having an entire functional starship composed of atoms from another universe at Starfleet’s disposal — or to have a convenient collection of Constitution -class sets available for that Starfleet Academy show to borrow once in a while — but until that happens (if it even does) the use of the ISS Enterprise just seems like a name drop and a “We have to set the action somewhere , why not here?” instead of a significant use of the setting and the huge amount of lore and history that comes with it.

It’s like setting something aboard the Titanic without ever mentioning any icebergs.

As Burnham and Book make their way down to sickbay they do find evidence that the ship was being used in a way that seemed unusually gentle for a Terran Empire vessel: signs that children and families were aboard at one time, and that they were the kind of people sentimental enough to have keepsakes and favorite stuffed animals. But again, nothing about this seems like it needs the Mirror Universe connection. Ships of people trying to escape adversity are already a Star Trek staple.

Burnham and Book find Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) in sickbay, and after a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at getting them to surrender, everyone starts shooting. Moll and L’ak have a Breen blood bounty — an erigah — on their heads and surrender is simply not an option. During the firefight a lockdown is triggered, forcefields coming down that split the group into pairs: Burnham and L’ak stuck in sickbay, while Book and Moll able to go back to the bridge to try and reset sickbay.

Pairing off also gives Book the opportunity to continue his efforts to connect with Moll, and I have to say, I don’t think I’m a fan. Setting aside the portion of this that’s purely a strategic attempt to forge a connection with someone who is very to keen to kill him, my first reaction to the way Book talks to Moll about her father (and his mentor) was distaste.

I don’t think Book meant it this way, but the way he’s written in these scenes feels unpleasantly close to the “Well, he was a great guy to me , I never saw him do anything bad” response that’s sometimes made to accusations of misconduct. A person can be wonderful to some people in their life and terrible to others; both experiences are true for the people who received them, but they’re not mutually exclusive.

Book is preternaturally empathetic, and yet he doesn’t seem to see how continually assuring Moll that her father loved her is an act that’s both unwanted and actively painful for Moll to hear. I understand that Book is just trying to bring a sliver of comfort to Moll – but in the process he’s dismissing her own experiences of her father and his place in her life. Unless Moll asks him for this, it’s really none of Book’s business.

I suspect they’re setting up Moll’s character for a nice, cathartic arc where she comes to terms with her life, forgives her father, releases her past, whatever. And when that happens in real life that’s great — but it doesn’t always, and that’s okay too. If Moll never sees in her father the man Book saw in his mentor, it’s not a character failing. Discovery is really hammering home the theme of confronting one’s past in order to take control of one’s present and future, and I think it would be valuable if they included an example of a character learning to do the latter… without having to be okay with the former.

And to return to a question I posed in my review of “Under the Twin Moons,” I know Book is isolated and excruciatingly lonely after the destruction of Kweijan and his split with Michael, but the weight he’s placed on his relationship with Moll as “the closest thing he has to family” seems like he’s setting himself up for disappointment. Maybe I’m just a cynic, but this does not feel like a hopeful storyline to me. Not everyone wants to be family, and right now it doesn’t seem like Moll’s been given much of a choice in the matter — despite her frequent and very powerful explanations of why she’s not interested.

Clearly frustrated with Book’s topic of conversation and desperate to return to L’ak, Moll makes a reckless decision to brute-force a solution and overload some circuits. It works, and the forcefields in sickbay come down, but it also sends the Enterprise onto an unstoppable collision course with the too-small-to-pass-through and also going-to-be-closing-forever-soon wormhole. They’ve got eight minutes to figure this out.

Meanwhile aboard Discovery , we see Rayner’s struggles to interact with the crew. This thread could have gone so many different ways, Rayner seeming “too good” for a temporary command, him seeing this as his chance to do things “better” than Burnham or show how it’s “really done,” but instead the show takes the much more subtle and satisfying route: Rayner is deeply respectful of the captaincy, as a rank and a role, and really doesn’t want to step on Burnham’s authority.

He’s more than willing to disagree with her on command decisions , but he doesn’t question her command . And more personally, he doesn’t want his gruffness and lack of experience with this crew to cause problems. He’s trying, in his own Rayner way, and more importantly he’s succeeding — and, as we see as he shepherds the crew through figuring out how to communicate with and then rescue Book and Burnham, the crew does their part and meets him halfway.

Rayner is learning that he needs to tone down his temperament just enough that he doesn’t come across as an actual asshole to this crew, and the crew is learning that his gruffness isn’t a sign of disrespect but simply a desire to cut to the chase and get to direct, actionable information with a minimum of fluff. There are shades of Nimoy’s Spock or Voyager -era Seven of Nine here, but couched within a distinctly different temperament, and it’s fascinating to watch. I’d love to have seen him interacting with the crew of the Antares , where he presumably felt more comfortable.

The interpersonal stuff with Rayner and the crew is great; where Rayner’s thread feels distractingly like a box being checked is the explosion of “Rayner is a Kellerun!” being shouted from the bulkheads. I could practically hear the writers yelping out a panicked “Oh crap, we forgot to say what kind of alien Rayner is!”

Again, Discovery is back to its old self with the clunky, heavy-handed, and oddly paced character work. Rayner goes from having zero cultural touchstones to having about five in the span of the 15-20 minutes of screentime that his story gets this week. They’re good touchstones, don’t get me wrong — I’m skeptical of Kellerun citrus mash, I have to be honest, but I’d give it a try; not so sure about boiling a cake though — they’re just very present .

As with Rayner’s alienness, the frequent flashbacks throughout the episode to Moll and L’ak’s meeting and courtship feel like a “We forgot to explain this and now we’re trying to reference it!” correction. The content of the flashbacks is fine, there’s a lot of interesting Breen worldbuilding for a species that’s been mysterious from the start — and watching Moll and L’ak’s relationship grow from one of mutual convenience to one of true love is genuinely moving. But the way it’s woven into an episode that, again, feels like it’s composed of bits and pieces of storyline, makes it hard to shake the sense that I was watching a To Do list get checked off.

By the time the season is over it might be clear that there was simply no extra room to give a full episode over to Moll and L’ak’s meeting, or maybe an episode without any of the main cast wasn’t something they were willing or contractually able to do, but I would have loved if these flashbacks were pulled out and expanded into a full-length episode of their own. Some of the worldbuilding felt hasty to the point of hindering the emotional beats — at times I wondered if I’d forgotten a whole bunch of Breen lore and at others I was just trying to keep up with what was going on.

For example, my confusion about L’ak’s comment about having two faces, which Moll seemed to completely understand — “Duh, everyone knows the Breen have two faces” — was a distraction in the middle of an otherwise nice and significant moment. This is later clarified as the translucent face and the solid face, but again I was distracted from fully appreciating an interesting bit of Breen culture because I was busy applying what I’d just learned back to the previous scene.

The quickly (and maybe not totally clearly articulated notion) that Breen deliberately restrict themselves to their translucent form for reasons that are entirely to do with avoiding any perception of weakness is a potent if hasty bit of social commentary, and as I said I nearly didn’t catch it.

Whether holding the translucent form requires the armor for protection or the armor necessitates the translucent form — it seems like it would be more comfortable wearing that helmet all the time if you were the texture and consistency of lime jello — this is surely a metaphor for the increasingly rigid, isolating, and emotionally and sometimes physically unhealthy things men in certain circles feel they must do to be appropriately masculine. Seeing L’ak free himself from that rigidity is powerful.

With the forcefields in sickbay down, Burnham and L’ak immediately spring into action:  Burnham trying to get the artifact from L’ak and L’ak simply trying to get away. They fight, and Burnham impressively proves she can hold her own against a Breen. When L’ak accidentally falls on his own blade, Burnham grabs the clue and speeds to the bridge where she manages to get a message to Rayner through some tractor beam trickery. The message? Another reference to that classic of Kellerun literature that gives Rayner the info he needs. Hey, did you know Rayner was a Kellerun?

The ISS Enterprise makes it through the wormhole, Moll and L’ak zip away in an escape pod, and it’s time to wrap things up. We head to Red’s for a quick but significant moment between Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Culber (Wilson Cruz), as Tilly offers advice and an ear to a Culber who’s going through a quiet existential – maybe also spiritual? – crisis.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• In addition to the dedication plaques on the bridge, the ISS Enterprise has an additional plaque in its transporter room — one which, despite recounting the heroism of rebel action hero Mirror Saru, still states “Long Live the Empire.”
• The transporter room plaque is marked with “Stardate 32336.6,” which is about 9 years before the events of “Encounter at Farpoint.”
• The plaque describes the fate of Mirror Spock, who was killed after instituting the reforms which later led to the fall of the Terran Empire (as described in DS9’s “Crossover”).

The full text of the ISS Enterprise transporter room plaque:

The new High Chancellor presented hope and justice as if they were natural to our world. His words, “The light of hope shines through even the darkest of nights” became our rallying cry. He spoke of reform, and changed many of us. But some saw this as weakness. They killed him, and we sought help from an unlikely ally: A Kelpien slave turned rebel leader.   He spoke of visitors from another world… a near perfect mirror cast our darkness into light. With his aid we secured the Enterprise and stayed behind to continue his work. We bear scars from our escape, but our hope remains. May it carry us into a pristine, peaceful, and just future.

• Not counting L’ak’s previous appearances this season, this episode marks the first time we have seen the Breen in live action since their involvement in the Dominion War in Deep Space Nine.  (The species has appeared in  Star Trek: Lower Decks three times.)
• The 32nd century Breen wear updated encounter suits clearly based on the designs introduced in  Deep Space Nine ; their digital speech is extremely faithful to the incomprehensible noises Breen soldiers have spoken in past appearances.
• Given the fact that Moll appears to be just fine in the environment of the Breen ship, I guess Weyoun was right when he said the Breen homeworld was “quite comfortable” in “The Changing Face of Evil.”
• When L’ak is stabbed he gently oozes some green goo — but as we learned in “In Purgatory’s Shadow,” Breen do not have traditional humanoid blood.

• During his time in command of Discovery , Rayner never sits in the captain’s chair.
• This episode closes with a dedication plaque that reads “In loving memory of our friend, Allan ‘Red’ Marceta”. Marceta was, I presume, the namesake for Discovery’s bar.
• Someone aboard Discovery keeps a Cardassian vole as a pet. Going by Tilly’s reaction, and what we know from  Deep Space Nine , this is not a good thing.
• Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson) plays a mean piano.
• Owosekun and Detmer get the off-screen cherry assignment of flying the ISS Enterprise back to Federation Headquarters, alone. I’m thinking that’s going to inspire some fanfic…

We don’t learn what this week’s clue is, though we know there’s a blue vial tucked away inside it, but we do learn that the crew of the ISS Enterprise did indeed make it to our universe. The scientist responsible for hiding this particular clue there was one of them, a Dr. Cho, who eventually made it all the way to branch admiral.

They strove for something positive and succeeded against all odds. Hopefully Discovery will be able to do the same as they continue their pursuit of Moll, L’ak, and the Progenitors.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 returns with “Whistlespeak” on Thursday, May 2.

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Interview: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Writer Carlos Cisco On Unmasking The Breen And Revisiting The ISS Enterprise

| April 28, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 36 comments so far

The fifth episode (“ Mirrors “) of season 5 of Star Trek: Discovery was co-written by Carlos Cisco, working with Johanna Lee. Cisco joined Discovery in season 3 as a writers’ assistant, moved up to staff writer during season 4, and is now a writer and story editor in season 5.

In our SPOILERS interview, TrekMovie had a chance to talk to Cisco about getting a chance to expand on some big pieces of Trek lore in “Mirrors” and more.

Can you give a bit of background on your fandom and how you came to work on Discovery ?

I am a huge fan now, but I wasn’t always that way because I didn’t have TV growing up in the ’90s. I had seen some of the original movies, a handful of Next Gen episodes and the J.J. Abrams movies before coming onto Discovery . It was intimidating because didn’t know the franchise really well but I love sci-fi and genre. Once I started on season 3, I began to watch Next Gen episodes and when it became clear we were dealing with Andorians and Orions, our then-staff writer Brandon Schultz suggested I watch Enterprise because that is when they were the most featured and I really came to appreciate it. I had been a huge fan of Jeffrey Combs before any knowledge of Trek, and to find how deep he was in Trek was a delightful surprise. So I watched Enterprise all the way through, I watched all of Next Gen , DS9, TOS, I got up to season 4 of Voyager …

So you did an almost complete binge of the franchise during your first year as a writers’ assistant?

Yeah, I was watching like two to four episodes a day. It was a lot. I am an extremely online person and understand how fandoms work and understand that Trek is the fandom that created the sort of framework for all modern fandom. I also love researching things. I love fake histories of and diving into the lore of something. So yeah, I went through all of it and eventually finished up Voyager during the pandemic and kept on, I am current with all the Trek shows.

Was this just extra obsessiveness because it was your job, or because you were you getting into it?

I really enjoyed Next Generation . Deep Space Nine is among my favorite TV series of all time and the one I go back and rewatch the most because it’s just that good, I love it. I will go back to other ones like if we are referencing it in the room.

Carlos Cisco beamed to the set of Star Trek: Discovery

So having watched it all so recently, did you find yourself as one of the quasi-experts in the room?

Yeah. I would have upper level writers texting me asking like, “What’s something I can inject in here?” Yeah, I became one of the experts in the room. I feel like the most passionate people about a religion are the recent converts, and that became one of my positions in the room. So I was always trying to push how could we recontextualize Trek canon for the 32nd century? How can we better worldbuild each season? That was something that was important to me.

For an episode like “Mirrors,” it must occur to you that you are about to double the page on Memory Alpha for the Breen and also the Kelleruns and even the Mirror Universe. Do you find that exciting or terrifying?

Both. Trek fans, they know their shit. It’s a really terrifying and great responsibility to get to be that additive to canon. The Breen were one of my strongest pushes for the season. Early on a couple of us who were really into the lore were asked for ideas on the season big bads and [staff writer] Eric [Robbins] was pushing for the Vidiians and I was like we should do the Breen.” Because, A: They’re not going to have horrible makeup, and B: We can just put a bunch of big guys in suits and they don’t need to talk. Being mindful of the COVID protocols, the suits and masks would be really great. And then there were all the possibilities for the Breen because in every season Discovery is trying to do something we have never seen before. And getting to unmask the Breen was a really big privilege.

“Mirrors” showed how there was more to just unmasking them with the two faces. Can you talk about the look and inspiration behind that?

I don’t remember where in the process we landed on “gelatinous” but when we hit the art team with that they came back to us with deep sea fish like the Barreleye Fish with a see-through head. We got really excited about that. So we started talking about what is this species? Why do they wear the suits? So, the thing we landed on is they have this soft gelatinous form and also a hardened form. Our thinking was that the Breen came up on a very harsh planet with a harsh environment. So they developed a way to protect themselves which was hardening their outer shell into basically a skin, but that takes an immense amount of concentration and energy, making them slower, more sluggish, less intelligent, basically. Over time, they compensated for that by creating the refrigeration suits. Then culturally, it became anathema for them to display that solid face, especially to outsiders, because it was essentially a sign of weakness.

L’ak in his gelatinous state

This idea of a taboo reminded me of episodes like “The Outcast.” So L’ak is part of a segment of Breen society that chose to go against this norm?

Yeah, I think that the Breen that would do that would be outcasts in their society. We still wanted to leave a lot of mystery with the Breen. One of the most appealing parts of being a writer in Trek, is you can see something that was mentioned once in Trek and go, “I’m going to build a whole episode about this, or a whole character arc that explores this.” The Breen started as a single line in TNG and then got one of the most important arcs in DS9. Getting to build and expand off that of that was really cool.

One quick question: Is this the same Breen ship we saw next to the destroyed Federation HQ in the future in the time travel episode?

Yep, that big honking thing next to Federation HQ is the Breen ship. It’s not a space station, it’s a ship. That was one of the things I was super proud of pitching. I had been looking at Breen ship designs, including the Star Trek Online ones, which were these colossal, city ships that could house entire armies and fleets inside of them. And again, talking about what haven’t we seen and what could we have as our adversary. Like, Osyraa’s ship was big in comparison to Discovery, but we wanted to do something – this thing was just a behemoth. Like a Discovery-sized ship could fly into its shuttle bay.

Using the ISS Enterprise was a way to sort of visit the Mirror Universe again. What came first: a creative way of using the available Strange New Worlds set in Toronto, or the decision to revisit the Mirror Universe?

We were given access the sets so we could pitch ideas that could take place on those sets, whether it is the Enterprise or not. There were a few pitches, like one with an old science vessel from the 23 rd century stuck inside a planet of liquid mercury. And one pitch was it was a Mirror Universe ship sort of trapped like a ship in a bottle, which became the pocket of dimensional space. We even considered fluidic space, trying to bring in one more little reference [laughs]. So once it was settled to do the Mirror ship, the opportunity to define what happened to the ISS Enterprise after the events of “Mirror, Mirror” was really cool.

Was there any talk about also bringing in some Mirror characters?

We had considered Ethan [Peck] as Mirror Spock early on but there might have been availability issues, I don’t know.

Burnham and Book on the ISS Enterprise bridge

So you say you are the lore guy, so how about a nitpick speed round? Starting with: The Breen aren’t supposed to bleed, right?

They don’t have a circulatory system, it’s just the jelly spilling out. I know they don’t bleed! Come on. [laughs]

The solution to open the wormhole was to replace the photon torpedoes with antimatter, but aren’t photon torpedoes anti-matter torpedoes?

I think they were adding more, okay? [laughs]

Final sort of nitpick: Owo and Detmer were tasked with taking the ship back to HQ, but the warp drive was disabled.  We don’t see it go to warp, so are they not going to show up at HQ for years?

In my headcanon, they are being met by a Federation tug, the 32 nd century version of the California-class like the Cerritos. They are heading off to meet them and it will tug them to spacedock. [laughs]

ISS Enterprise leaves for Starfleet HQ

We have talked a lot about lore, but season 3 was a way for the show to kind of jump past all of Star Trek canon. Now in season 5, it feels like the show is reembracing the lore, is that by design?

Yeah, I think the studio and Secret Hideout, [co-showrunners] Alex [Kurtzman] and Michelle [Paradise] all wanted this season to sort of connect Discovery back to the greater body of Trek a little more. That didn’t mean we had to really dig into canon, but there was a greater desire to see what we are familiar with from the past and what it looks like in 32 nd century and how it’s different or how it’s not different, and why. Obviously, this is a season that has focused on an episode from the 24 th century [TNG “The Chase”] and so naturally because of that, every episode focused on the clues is going to be focused on the whims of a 24th-century scientist. So that is naturally going to have more connections back to what people would consider classic Trek.

Discovery is ending and the writers room wrapped up a while ago. Are you hoping to return to the franchise? If there is a second season of Academy , are you hoping to get back to the 32 nd century?

I’d love to, if they’d have me. But if this is the last episode I get to write of Star Trek, I’m very proud that this is my final contribution. I’m hoping to pitch some games to the franchise and stuff like that as well down the line. I’m a game designer on the other side of my career. But yeah, I would love to come back and write for Trek, anytime. We’ll see if that happens.

Finally, last year you played a big part in organizing for the WGA strike, which included rallying Trek writers. Can you talk about that?

Yeah, one of the proudest things I’ve contributed to the franchise didn’t even take place while I was employed on Star Trek. Or [employed] at all. I was a lot coordinator and strike captain. Followers of the strike might remember we did theme days to boost morale and turnout. I, along with fellow captain and Strange New Worlds writer Bill Wolkoff was one of the architects of the Star Trek strike day in May. It was one of the first theme days, and we didn’t advertise. But the turnout from franchise was immense. We had actors, writers, and designers from every single Trek TV show attend. It was, as a fan and a writer, an immensely emotional day and an incredible few hours where folks who worked on the show could fan out on other folks whose shoulders we stand on. There were reunions that hadn’t happened in years and it was a really joyful celebration of the shows we all put our blood, sweat, and tears into.

Carlos Cisco (highlighted) at Star Trek-themed picket day in May 2023 (Photo: JW Hendricks)

The fifth and final season of Discovery debuted with two episodes on Thursday, April 4 exclusively on Paramount+  in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria.  Discovery also premiered on April 4 on Paramount+ in Canada and will be broadcast on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada. The rest of the 10-episode final season is available to stream weekly on Thursdays. Season 5 debuted on SkyShowtime in select European countries on April 5.

Note: The interview has  been edited for brevity and clarity.  

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I’m not sure I like the reveal. To me, this is one of those things like the Klingon headridges where I think the mystery was more interesting than the answer they came up with. I so wish Enterprise had not explained the headridges and Worf’s “we don’t discuss it with outsiders” joke in DS9’s “Trials and Tribbleations” was the end-all be-all for it.

Also, the behind-the-scenes thinking and explanation for the Breen doesn’t fit with DS9.

Their idea that the Breen come from a harsh planet and harsh environment is directly conflicted in dialogue by Weyoun, who states the environment of the Breen homeworld is actually normal. In DS9, it gave the Breen a mysterious quality that I think made them stand out.

Good point. Pretty much everything about this episode was badly done.

Frankly, given what a disappointment Discovery seasons 3-5 have been, I truly hope Carlos Cisco and Johanna Lee are not invited back. They just aren’t good writers.

as all Disco writers are…

You dislike all the writers on all current trek shows. Not actually sure what you consider a “good” writer.

Just to be sure, it would be nice if we can put all Disco writers in one big box and ship them to Antartica.

DS9 built up a real mystique about the Breen. To find out that they are really green jello people was a bit anti-climatic.

In fairness, though, what would have been exciting enough as an answer to the mystery? Some things are better left unanswered. It brings to mind Steven Moffat teasing a reveal of The Doctor’s (as in Doctor Who) name, abut then admitting he never would. To parapgrase, he said, “What could it possibly turn out to be? Keith?”

but on the other hand, who trusts anything Weyoun says?

The Typhon Pact books dug into the Breen in an interesting way, and this doesn’t stray too far from that (in some respects) which is refreshing to see.

Two unnecessary reveals in one episode.

Anyone who says DS9 is their favorite show is already alright in my book!

However I did have a lot of problems with this episode. The whole MU connection and it also being the Enterprise just felt beyond a stretch and very unnecessary. And he confirmed what I think a lot of us assumed and that they were able to use the Enterprise sets and just came up with a story around it instead of the opposite and came up with a story first that warranted it. I really wish it was just another Constitution class ship from the prime universe instead of the ham fisted stuff they came up with that added really nothing to the story.

As for the Breen I do like they are using them again since this is a species many fans wanted to see again. I’m torn with the head reveal but OK with it. But would’ve been fine if they didn’t show them.

I also like the idea of using the Vidians too although IIRC weren’t they already cured by the end of Voyager? But this is why it’s fun to go so forward in the future because now you can use species from any part of the galaxy.

And I suspect we will see a lot more of them in the Academy show.

Agreed on all fronts.

agree on everything ;)

Yep Jason Alexander cured the Phage.

Yeah, I don’t think every mystery or open question needs to be answered by our franchises. I don’t understand the compulsion to answer every open question from past series or movies.

Things like the Breen and Bobba Fett were cooler with less said.

yes. for sure. let the secrets be secrets, don’t explain them, create new ones!

The shame of it all, though, is that this just wasn’t a good episode. It was badly written, L’ak and Moll were really boring, and the Breen’s other face was cheesy-looking. This may have been the worst episode of DISCO since the ship left the 23rd century. What a disappointment this season has turned out to be; after two really fun opening episodes, it’s gone downhill fast and has turned into the same padded schlock that was seasons three and four.

You literally complained about the first two episodes when they aired and now you are saying that were great? And you’re making sweeping judgements about a season being disappointing even though you haven’t seen it all? There’s a word for this: trolling.

That’s nonsense, and you know it. I don’t know why you have a bug up your butt about me, but if you don’t like my posts, stop replying to them. I’m clearly not a troll. I’ve been an active member of this group for years.

Also, I just looked up my comments about the early episodes on this board.

Episode 1: “Now THAT was good.”

Episode 2: I made no comment at all.

Episode 3: “Oh, boy. After two stellar episodes, this was one of the worst in the show’s history. If this is setting the tone for the rest of the season, I’m frankly worried.”

So, M1701, when exactly did I “literally complain about the first two episodes when they aired?” It’s pretty clear which one of us is the troll. So get off my back. You don’t out-rank me and you don’t have pointed ears.

I don’t know. I thought it was a very good episode. The pacing was great. I like the added backstory to Moll and L’ak. I found it added depth and meaning to their characters. And I did love that the MU ship was the Enterprise. As a long-time fan of Trek and loving “Mirror, Mirror” – I often wondered what happened to the ISS-E. This was quite satisfying to me to know where she ended up. Being a writer myself (I wrote several episodes or ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK and other series from time to time), I quite enjoyed the story telling here and in this season. I work more in the technical field now but I still write from time to time. Funny enough, I did write a fan fiction years and years ago that find the ISS-E in the future with Mirror Spock at the helm.

Oh neat I used to watch AYOTD when I was a kid good show.

This awful story is what you get when you assign a novice to write this episode. No offense to Carlos Cisco, but the ‘Mirrors’ episode is a huge mess.

The ‘no offense’ made a huge difference indeed… LOL

What they should’ve done with the extra pages they got in the end (to wrap up the series) is go back and ‘fix’ certain things they would’ve done, had they known it was their last episode. Like bringing in Ethan for at least a cameo or recorded log scene and Lorca in the previous one. Would’ve fixed the ‘talk in stead of show’ issues.

Guess we can add the Breen to the list of things the First Splinter did better (a list that already includes the MU).

I still hate the 32rd century, the entire thing completely destroys world building in the Star Trek Universe to me.

If it was the late 25th century or early 26th century, just a difference in Number really, the jump in tech capabilities would be entirely reasonable and no more than from the late 23rd to the late 24th century. All of the things that happened in the meantime, the burn, the reunification of vulcan etc would have all been much more plausible in a shorter period of time and honestly opening the possibility for many more interesting stories to tell. Even the federation continuing on as a shadow of its former self, the way it is presented in the show, would make much more sense if the burn had been just, say, 30 years ago – and not over 100!

Look at how our real world changed just within the last 80 years since WW2, how a society such as Korea could evolve into two completely different cultures, how entire populations were displaced in Europe, yet that reality became totally normal now. In star trek, on the other hand, somehow progress and change completely ground to a crawl, apparently, following the 2400s.

Again, that baffling decision completely destroys world building and plausibility of the events in Disco for me. Such a minor thing as the number of the date has have such profound ramnifications towards the plausibility of the story (which was probably only chose because it was beyond ANY mentioned events in Canon) and it is just so disappointing that this decision has been apparently been made on a whim.

And now they are doubling down with SF Academy. Just leave it in peace and call it an “alternate Timeline/split timeline” or whatever.

This. I just can’t even bring myself to watch Disco anymore (stopped after season 2). Have seen every episode of every other series excluding Prodigy (am getting to that one), but Disco just doesn’t feel like the same universe, and I’m simply not interested.

This episode was damn fantastic and I find Trekmovie’s comments section for this article a bit more wearying than most.

Ah, thank you. The comments here are becoming grumpy central. I liked the episode and this interview was honest and fun.

I love the Trekmovie podcast and the news coverage, but nowadays I do kind of see the Trekmovie comments as obnoxious haters looking for shallow excuses to flex what they think is their creative writing muscle vs. the comments at Trekcore that are a little more down-to-earth and rational. The comments over there are also much more discussion-based as opposed to the reaction-based dramaticism of the jerks over here. I want to be clear, I’m just talking about the comments. Anthony and Laurie’s podcast and this site’s news coverage is one of the shining lights of the fandom in general. It’s just that the comments section make my eyes roll so hard they occasionally fall out.

A. It’s just people giving their opinions. I don’t think people are trying to be ‘haters’ just honest. Yes people are passionate.

B. It’s literally been like this here since 2009. It’s actually better today than a decade ago after STID came out. That was brutal lol.

I liked that TNG mostly didn’t revisit TOS aliens (but when it did, it overused them – see: Klingons — or made them lame – see: Vulcans and Romulans).

I wish Discovery had tried to do its own thing.

Honestly I think it is Enterprise that made the Vulcans lame. Outside of Spock and Sarek we didn’t really even get many Vulcans in TNG

I agree to an extent. That being said I’d rather use an established adversary than invent something new out of whole cloth.

I for one am happy to see the Breen back as they were one of my favorite parts of DS9. I wouldn’t have shown their faces but I like what we got. Im also glad we’re using and expanding on something established as opposed to inventing something brand new. I hope we see the Tholians too as they were name dropped earlier in the season.

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Good news from Voyager 1, which is now out past the edge of the solar system

Nell Greenfieldboyce

In mid-November, Voyager 1 suffered a glitch, and it's messages stopped making sense. But the NASA probe is once again sending messages to Earth that make sense.

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One Star Trek: The Original Series Episode Had The Cast Swimming In Their Sweat

V asquez Rocks is located in the northern part of Los Angeles County about 25 minutes away from Downtown L.A. via the 14 freeway. It's close enough to the city to be easily accessed by car, but far away enough to look like a remote wilderness. The park's celebrated rock formations look eerie, ancient, and alien from certain angles, making it a popular place for film and TV productions going back to the 1930s.

Trekkies likely recognize Vasquez Rocks as an oft-reused filming location, serving as a variety of alien worlds for various "Star Trek" projects . The park was featured in the "Original Series" episodes "Shore Leave" (December 29, 1966), "Arena" (January 19, 1967), "The Alternative Factor" (March 30, 1967), and "Friday's Child" (December 1, 1967). Later, Vasquez Rocks would serve as Vulcan "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" and "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," released in 1983 and 1984 respectively.

Fans of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" would recognize Vasquez Rocks from the episode "Who Watches the Watchers?" (October 16, 1989), and the park would later be seen playing alien worlds in the "Star Trek: Voyager" episodes "Initiations" (September 4, 1995) and "Gravity" (February 3, 1999). It was in the "Enterprise" episode "Unexpected" (October 12, 2001). "Star Trek" characters wouldn't visit Vasquez Rocks on Earth -- that is, the park wouldn't play itself -- until the "Star Trek: Picard" episodes "Maps and Legends" and "The End is the Beginning," both from 2020. No natural monument is more closely tied to the franchise.

And what was shooting at Vasquez Rocks like? Horrible. In a 2013 interview with StarTrek.com , actor Michael Dante recalled playing the part of Maab in "Friday's Child," and he only remembered that Vasquez Rocks reached 117 degrees the day of filming.

Read more: The Main Star Trek Captains Ranked Worst To Best

Michael Dante Vs. Vasquez Rocks

"Friday's Child" sees Captain Kirk (William Shatner) traveling to the planet Capella IV to negotiate a mining contract with the violent, but honorable, locals. Kirk has to convince the Capellans to give their ore to the Federation and not to a visiting Klingon (Tige Andrews) who would use it for nefarious purposes. During the negotiations, a civil war breaks out, with Maab (Dante) killing the Capellan leader and usurping the throne. Maab also wants to kill the pregnant queen Eleen (Julie Newmar) , forcing Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) to protect her. The episode features a lot of outdoor fighting, silly regal costumes, and over-the-top acting. Eleen eventually names her child after Kirk and McCoy.

Dante had to wear an outsize blonde wig to play Maab, as well as an uncomfortable-looking headpiece that covered his neck and ears (see above). The regal costumes looked to be made of disused theatre curtains and wool. As itchy as they appear, however, Dante said they were also filled with sweat:

"The weather [stands out]. It was 117 degrees at Vasquez Rocks, where we were filming. The outfits we had, they couldn't breathe. There weren't any openings in the clothing. They were all tight, with boots. I was 180 pounds at that time -- and I'm still 180 pounds, which I'm very proud of -- but I lost seven pounds in one day. I literally lost muscle. I looked at myself in the mirror when I got home and I said, 'I can't believe what happened.'"

Sweating too much doesn't actually reduce muscle mass, but one can indeed lose several pounds of water a day if they don't rehydrate in a hot climate. Keep the canteen full, kids.

As one can see in the above picture, Dante also had to wear giant furry boots, which are not ideal for desert hiking. What's more, the boots he wore weren't porous or vented, allowing them to catch every drop of Dante's sweat. "It was just so hot. The water was oozing out of us. Every time I'd take a step in my boots, there'd be a swooshing sound, and that was perspiration that went down to my boots," he recalled.

Yuck. 

"Friday's Child" was written by longtime "Star Trek" luminary D.C. Fontana, who said that she wanted to write a character like Eleen who didn't want to have children. Such a conceit would have been novel on 1960s TV, and Fontana's script was kept largely intact for filming. Other writers added the Klingon character, but Eleen remained the same. Weirdly, there is a dark moment in "Friday's Child" when Dr. McCoy realizes that he needs to be more forceful and angry with Eleen in order to gain her respect. Her species values aggression, and McCoy was too gentle. To show his strength, he smacks Eleen across the face. It might be the only instance in "Star Trek" of a main character punching a pregnant woman. Perhaps ickily, it worked.

Regardless, Datne said he has rewatched his episode since the 1960s and feels that, dramatically, it holds up pretty well. He was told "Star Trek" was just a Western in space , and he played Maab accordingly. Dante retired from acting in the late 1980s and hosted a syndicated interview radio show from 1995 until 2007. He is still alive and well at 92. 

Read the original article on SlashFilm