Star Trek: Phage

Episode: "Phage"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 1, Episode 5

Original Air Date: February 6, 1995

via Memory Alpha

During an away mission, Neelix's lungs are stolen by a Vidiian.  The thief's species is suffering from a horrible disease on a planetary scale.  They harvest the organs of others in order to survive.  The Doctor comes up with quite a brilliant idea to save Neelix: implant holographic lungs in him.  Unfortunately, that means Neelix has to remain tightly confined in sickbay for the rest of his life unless his own organs can be retrieved.

Okay, after a shaky couple episodes, this feels like firmer ground.  There's more permanent character development this week.  Before his pulmonary adventure, Neelix takes over the Captain's private dining room and turns it into a galley (without asking), establishing his own long term raison d'être on the ship.  Janeway balances compassion and rage impressively in her confrontation with the Vidiians.  Perhaps best of all, we witness the growth of a gratifying relationship between the two most intriguing characters in Voyager's early going: the Doctor and Kes.  Kes is the first to show the EMH any compassion for his unexpected and unwelcome promotion to the chief medical officer role.  She also proves to be a capable assistant.

Plus, the Doctor gets to slap Tom Paris.  See here.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Jennifer Lien (Kes) was born in Palos Heights, Illinois, August 24, 1974.  As a child, she was eager to escape from the south side of Chicago and acting proved to be the way out.  She took her first acting class in the eighth grade and got an agent soon after.  

Before Voyager, Lien had regular roles on both Another World and Phenom.

Lien left Voyager early in Season 4.  We'll address her departure when/if we get there.

Squid Eats: Bigg Daddy's Philly Steak House

As discussed the past two weeks, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) occupies facilities originally constructed for the Arnold Prints Work factory.  A few of the buildings near the museum's front entrance contain privately owned restaurants - a handy arrangement for travelers such as ourselves.  It is all the more so when you're staying at the Porches Inn (previously middle management housing for the factory) across the street from the museum.  One really doesn't need to walk any further than two blocks to address basic needs.

Our second night, we ordered sandwiches from one of the aforementioned restaurants, Bigg Daddy's Philly Steak House.  Bigg Daddy's only has outdoor seating and not much at that.  However, one can sit across the driveway at Bright Ideas Brewing, an excellent brewpub, and enjoy good grub and tasty beer at the same time.

I ordered a Turkey Hoagie (more or less my default sandwich regardless of whether you're calling it a sub, hoagie, grinder, whatever).  My wife got the Italian Hoagie.  Much to my disappointment, they were out of turkey.  How does a sandwich shop run out of turkey?!!!   Fortunately, they had plenty of roast beef so I got that instead.  It was quite nice.

I'd say the beer was even better.  

Star Trek: Life Support

Episode: "Life Support"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 13

Original Air Date: January 31, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Vedek Bareil has been badly injured in a transport accident on his way to the station.  Doctor Bashira and Nurse Jabara work desperately to save him but to no avail.  Bareil dies.  But during the autopsy, brain activity is detected and they are able to revive him, for a time.

More than just a man's life is at stake through all of this.  Bareil has been the point man in peace treaty negotiations with the Cardassians.  So while Major Kira, as Bareil's lover, has obvious personal interest in his survival, Kai Winn has diplomatic and political reasons for wanting the same.  

"Life Support" is an interesting story for many reasons.  Obviously, there is the loss and grief angle for Kira.  There's meaningful development for Winn, too, putting her in a more sympathetic light than we've seen to this point.  Bashir imagines Winn's interest in Bareil's well-being is motivated by ambition but Winn expresses genuine gratitude for Bareil's work and her own believable regret - for herself and for Bajor - at the loss.

Medical ethics are important to the tale, too.  Bashir manages to keep Bareil alive for a while with organ transplants but things get complicated once he starts to replace parts of the brain.  At what point are you preserving a life and a consciousness and not just a physical body?  Eventually, the doctor makes the tough choice and the merciful one. That doesn't make the loss any less painful.

Food Notes

via Memory Alpha

Quark invents a soufflé called a Kai Winn.  Food Replicator has a recipe.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Aron Eisenberg played the important recurring character Nog, Quark's nephew and Jake Sisko's best friend.  In this episode's secondary narrative, Jake (Cirroc Lofton) and Nog go on a double date.  For lack of better terminology, Nog behaves like a chauvinistic asshole, unfortunately typical of Ferengi males.  He embarrasses both of the young ladies and his buddy Jake horribly.  The story ultimately becomes one about cultural understanding - a clumsy one.

Nog is pretty obnoxious in the early going but improves a lot over the course of the series.  In Season 7, he gets the lead in one of DS9's finest episodes.  All together, Eisenberg made 45 appearances as Nog.

Eisenberg was born in Los Angeles, January 6, 1969.  He was born with only one partially functioning kidney, a condition which limited his growth.  He was five feet tall as an adult.  Nog was the most prominent role of his career.  He had guest appearances on other shows including Tales from the Crypt, The Wonder Years and General Hospital.  Films include Puppet Master III, Streets and The Horror Show.  As discussed here, he and Cirroc Lofton co-hosted a DS9 re-watch podcast, The 7th Rule.  I was curious so I checked.  The 7th Rule of Acquisition is "Keep your ears open."

Beyond acting, Eisenberg was a professional photographer.  He passed away from a heart attack in 2019.  He was survived by a wife and two sons.

Family Adventures: Lickety Split at MASS MoCA

Lickety Split is the in-house restaurant at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams, Massachusetts.  We each got the BLT with extra avocado, a lovely sandwich.  Lickety Split has fun beverage options, too.  That bright red drink is my wife's hibiscus lemonade.  As with all museum food, it's overpriced ("I paid $20 for that s***?" exclaimed the teenager on a field trip at the next table).  But that's the cost of convenience.

As discussed last week, MASS MoCA is the largest contemporary art museum in the United States.  The buildings themselves, reclaimed from the long defunct Arnold Print Works plant, are an exhibit unto themselves.  As a family, we have grown fond of contemporary art museums over the years - beyond MASS MoCA, the Hirshhorn is our favorite at the Smithsonian.  Such museums always have something new and unusual.  The big hits right now at MASS MoCA are two virtual reality works by multi-media artist Laurie Anderson - definitely worth your time if you're in the area.

We already have our next trip planned for this summer.

Star Trek: Time and Again

Episode: "Time and Again"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 1, Episode 4

Original Air Date: January 30, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Our heroes investigate an explosion which has wiped out all life on an M-class planet.  During the away mission, Janeway and Paris are sent back a day giving them time enough to prevent the explosion.  Of course, there's the Prime Directive dilemma.  Would preventing the catastrophe or even warning the inhabitants count as interference?  Even if the alternative is extinction?

Wasn't it just last week that I was saying Voyager goes back to the time travel well too often?  What's more, this time, once the time wrinkle is sorted out, it's as if the entire incident never happened.  So not only is it "all just a dream" but nobody remembers the dream.  Any character or relationship growth is irrelevant.

Sigh...

There is one element of interest for the future.  It would seem Kes has some telepathic ability, even having a lingering sense of something wrong after everyone else "wakes up" from the time travel adventure.  Three episodes in, it's already apparent that Kes is one of the more interesting and enigmatic principals, a genuine shame given future developments.

As long as we're on the subject of the Prime Directive, I've been thinking about it a lot lately.  One does when one watches a lot of Star Trek.  For the more casual Trek fans among you, the Prime Directive prohibits Starfleet personnel from interfering with the normal development of any society.  In my experience, it is rarely mentioned without being violated soon after.  This fact has bothered me for a long time.  I like the Prime Directive both as a principle and as a narrative device.  Many Trek stories are built around PD dilemmas.  But whereas Asimov's comparable Three Laws of Robotics are absolutely inviolate, Starfleet captains seemingly can't stop themselves from breaking their own most important rule given the chance.

Recently, I've wondered if there's a message in this.  Simply put, one should not be guided by absolutes.  There is always grey area and judgment in each isolated situation matters.  Going back to the beginning, Kirk searching for the middle ground between Spock's logic and McCoy's gut instinct was always the heart of the matter.  The Prime Directive restricts the capacity for making the "right" choice, even the right Star Trek choice.  

I still feel the question remains as to whether or not anyone should ever be given the godlike powers inherent in making such decisions.  But there's no doubt the consideration itself makes for good television, 58 years and counting.

Acting Notes

via Headhunter's Holosuite Wiki

Roxann Biggs-Dawson (B'Elanna Torres) was born in Los Angeles, September 11, 1958.  She graduated from UC-Berkeley.  Success came quickly.  Her first professional acting job was on Broadway in A Chorus Line.  She appeared as a background dancer in the film of the same name.  Before Voyager, she made appearances on Nightingales, Matlock and Jake and the Fat Man.

Since Star Trek Biggs-Dawson, has had more work as a director than as an actor.  She has directed for many television series, including Star Trek: Enterprise, Heroes and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  She has written two plays: Desire to Fall and Passage Through the Heart.  She has also co-authored a science fiction trilogy with Daniel Graham: Entering Tenebrea, Tenebrea's Hope and Tenebrea Rising.

On the Coffee Table: Sarah M. Broom

Title: The Yellow House

Author: Sarah M. Broom

via Amazon

The Yellow House is Sarah M. Broom's memoir regarding her connection with New Orleans East, the community where she grew up and where she has sought reconnection as an adult.  Her story revolves around the titular yellow house, the family home.  The book provides a history of a Black family in a largely neglected area of New Orleans, one whose suffering during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath is just the tip of the iceberg of its troubling history.

Sarah, known as Monique to her family, is the youngest of twelve children.  She and most of her siblings moved away from New Orleans after "the Water" with no intention of returning permanently.  Indeed, much of Brown's personal story is about building a life away from the city yet feeling the powerful draw back, even after the house itself is demolished.  The book made me think about how relationships with places define our lives, including my own.

A "hometown" has always been a complicated concept for me.  I spent 15 years of my childhood in Chevy Chase, Maryland so that's the one I usually claim but my own mother has expressed surprise that I feel that way.  Even though they've spent nearly half a century living there, neither of my parents is from the DC area.  They both grew up in the Midwest.  And then they lived a Peace Corps/foreign service nomadic experience for about a dozen years after college.  They haven't lived in my childhood home for 24 years and neither feels a long-term connection with our boring Maryland suburb.  Their current city apartment is home for them.

But not for me.

I don't know where they'd say I'm from.  If not Maryland, where?  I can't claim Japan, the nation of my birth.  I know I don't post many photos here and that's intentional.  But I can assure you I could hardly look more Northern European if I tried.  Japanese?  Not a chance.  I used to tell people I was from DC because it was easier to explain (and maybe sounded cooler?) than Maryland.  But I stopped doing that once my parents moved.  Now, I'm a proud Maryland native.

What's more, I wasn't exactly encouraged to stick around.  I realize as I write it that may seem resentful but that's not how I mean it.  My sister and I were encouraged, for instance, to try a different part of the country for college and we both did.  We were encouraged to travel and even live abroad.  Neither of us was expected to settle nearby.  Our parents both live far from their childhood turf and I think they more or less resigned themselves to the same for us.  I wonder how they feel about all of that now with my sister and me in opposite corners of the country - I in Vermont, she in California.  But given their own life choices, they're in no position to complain.

Of course, Broom's family ended up scattered, too, though for different reasons.

New Orleans and my parents' city of Washington, DC are both predominantly Black.  DC is no longer majority Black as it was during my childhood.  That is partly because of the ever-growing Hispanic/Latinx population, though gentrification has also played a role.  White Non-Hispanics are still the minority.  The two cities also share this: the vast majority of the millions who visit both annually would have no sense of these demographics.  For both, segregation's long legacy is preserved in entirely separate racial communities.  If one only visits the museums and monuments, it would be very easy to see Washington as a white city.  I've never been to New Orleans but from Broom's description, I get the sense the same is true for the French Quarter.  What representation there is of Black culture is often exoticized.

Why does this matter?  Portraying the United States as a white country is a deeply racist lie.  The story of our country is a story of race.  Everything that separates American culture from European cultures is attributable to people of color.  Black people, Hispanic/Latinx and Native Americans can all usually trace their "New World" lineage back several more generations than most white Americans can.  The othering of non-whites is not accidental.  Through segregationist policies, non-white culture is often remote if not invisible to white Americans - certainly in the South (and DC counts in this regard) but in the rest of the country, too.  The story of New Orleans East is a story of such invisibility.  The overwhelmingly Black community doesn't even turn up on most city maps.  

New Orleans East got plenty of worldwide exposure for tragic reasons during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.  Broom's family was far from the only one that didn't return and the city government didn't do much to encourage them beyond lip service.  Insurance payouts for Black homeowners were much lower on average than they were for whites and were generally far lower than the rebuilding cost.  

The subject of race is not the entirety of Broom's memoir but the subject is also impossible to ignore.

The Yellow House is excellent.  The form is episodic, befitting a family history.  I got more caught up in some chapters than others.  But taken as a whole, it's a solid read.

Squid Eats: PUBLIC eat + drink

PUBLIC eat + drink is a New American restaurant in North Adams, Massachusetts, home to Mass MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art).  My wife is a big fan of the museum, the largest contemporary art museum in the United States, so we make it down to North Adams rather often.  This was my third visit, though my first time at PUBLIC.

We shared the blistered shishito peppers to start.  They were good but hotter than expected.  I suffered for a good five minutes from one of them.  The honey was a nice idea but certainly not enough to offset the spice.  Mind you, I'm usually a fan of pepper heat and definitely prefer a restaurant not pull its punches.  Still.  It was much hotter than I was prepared for.

For entrees, I got the pulled pork tacos, my wife the udon noodles.  I might have gone for the latter myself but peanuts were a prominent feature, both in the broth and the toppings.  I'm allergic.  We both enjoyed.

For dessert, we shared the chocolate chip bread pudding, an excellent choice.  The ice cream sandwich was also tempting.  We'll need to try that next time.

Service was friendly and professional.  The decor is dark wood with big windows facing west towards the mountains - a lovely thing at dusk.  Patrons included both families and people clearly on dates, both locals and visitors like us.  I haven't quite gotten used to the North Adams cultural vibe.  It's an old industrial town but the factory work is long gone.  The museum occupies a converted Arnold Print Works plant.  So while the town looks industrial, the current residents bring more of an artist colony/hippie enclave feel.  Reclaimed warehouses and factories are a big part of how industrial New England has reinvented itself so I'm all for it.  Even so, the juxtaposition requires a mind shift for me.

We'll be back, both to the town and the restaurant.  We need to try that ice cream sandwich...

Star Trek: Parallax

Episode: "Parallax"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 1, Episode 3

Original Air Date: January 23, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Voyager is trapped in a quantum singularity.  The newly-merged crew must learn to work together quickly in order to survive the emergency and resume their long trip home.  

"Parallax" is all about personnel management, finding suitable roles for everyone.  It doesn't help, of course, that the Starfleet and Maquis factions don't trust each other yet.  And just how do Neelix and Kes, the Delta Quadrant natives, fit in to the scheme?  One of the highest priorities is assigning a new chief engineer and one of the candidates, B'Elanna Torres, is already a well-established hot head.  From a technical standpoint, Torres establishes her credentials quickly.  But can Janeway be convinced to trust her with the responsibility, all involved knowing full well that the Starfleet engineers will resent a recent Maquis rebel being promoted above them?

The episode has been criticized by some as dull but I love the human resources stuff.  This is exactly the sort of thinking I often have to do in my professional life and, indeed, I have found that much of my love for baseball, even during the offseason, stems from following all the roster moves.  That said, I'm not so keen on the singularity.  As previously discussed (ad nauseam, I'm sure), I don't like the way Star Trek handles time travel and Voyager goes to that well more often than other series.  I realize, of course, that for the Torres story to work, there needs to be a crisis and being caught in a trap - temporal or otherwise - is a good one.

It's all just a metaphor, Squid.  It's all just a metaphor...

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Robert Beltran (Chakotay) was born in Bakersfield, California, November 19, 1953.  He has nine siblings, two sisters and seven brothers.  Big families are a theme so far with the Voyager cast.  He graduated from Fresno State.

Before Voyager, his films included Eating Raoul, Lone Wolf McQuade and Night of the Comet.  He also guest starred in Murder, She Wrote.  During his Star Trek tenure, he remained active in theater.  He founded and co-directed the East LA Classic Theater Group.

Squid Eats: Guild Tavern

The Guild Tavern in South Burlington is one of the same family of farm-to-table restaurants as a couple of our standbys: The Farm House Tap & Grill and El Cortijo (read more here).  We recently visited the Guild for the first time.  It's a pleasant atmosphere.  We were seated near the bar and open kitchen which was fun.  The waitstaff is friendly.  We're reasonably certain many of them are former members of our child's youth orchestra.  It would hardly be shocking.  Restaurant work is great for gigging musicians and in my experience, they tend to network to help find each other jobs.  

If there are oysters on the menu, we're ordering them:

For entrees, I got the Surf and Turf, my wife the 6 oz. steak frites.  Mine came with steak and shrimp.  I have to admit that what I really want with an S&T is lobster but the shrimp was certainly good.  The highlight for me was the tasty whipped potatoes.  It was a heavy meal.  I couldn't finish, not a reflection of quality.  My wife was happy with hers, too.

We'll go again, I'm sure.

Star Trek: Caretaker

Episode: "Caretaker"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2

Original Air Date: January 16, 1995

via Memory Alpha

A Maquis raider led by Chakotay, desperate to get away from a Cardassian warship, blunders into a displacement wave that whisks it away to the other side of the galaxy.  A newly launched Federation ship, the USS Voyager led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, is sent to find them and suffers the same fate.  All have been kidnapped by a powerful entity known as The Caretaker.  Once both crews - ultimately united as one - wriggle out of their captors clutches, they're faced with the problem of how to get back home, 70,000 light years away.

Such is the basic setup for Star Trek's fourth spinoff: Voyager.  Simple enough, right?  The long voyage home, one of the oldest and most important stories in world literature, with a crew that doesn't entirely trust each other yet.  It's a strong premise to build on, fueling 168 episodes over seven seasons.  

Voyager certainly has its devotees among the Star Trek faithful.  However, the critical consensus has generally been that Deep Space Nine, which ran concurrently for five seasons, is the stronger show.  In my own family, our child's regard for DS9 borders on religious whereas they couldn't even make it very far into Season 4 before giving up on Voyager.  

There was a deliberate intention to make Voyager different from DS9: more action, fewer dark stories, more exploration.  There's nothing wrong with any of that.  And the creative engines behind the two shows were essentially the same.  The two series shared executive producers, showrunners, writers, directors, guest actors and more.  So, why did the one work better than the other?

My theory: Voyager tried to do too many things and, as is often the risk, didn't do any of them well enough.  The to-do list coming out of the pilot is already long:

• Find a quicker way home.
• Explore the Delta Quadrant while we're at it.
• Develop the principals.
• Resolve the tensions between the combined crews.
• Keep the action-level high.
• Keep the atmosphere light, at least in comparison to DS9.

For my part, I promise not to dwell on the differences too much.  I will try to judge Voyager on its own merits as much as possible.  But I also want to make my own biases clear at the outset.  And I don't mean to imply that I don't like Voyager.  I enjoy it well enough and "Caretaker" is a strong pilot.  But that's not to say there won't be issues to discuss moving forward.  The pursuits of the goals on the list above often run contrary to each other.

Okay, it's game time.  With each new Star Trek series, I match the new characters with counterparts from the earlier series.  I make these matches based on what I see as narrative function rather than job title.  In so doing, I draw a legacy line back to the original series.  This is by no means an exact science.  What I have found thus far is that the more difficult matches go a long way to defining the differences between one series and the next and that's a good thing.  As always, I welcome debate.

While the writers did their best to sell Voyager as a spinoff of DS9, including a stop at Quark's bar in the pilot, I don't feel Deep Space Nine is established enough (only 57 episodes to this point) to boast its own legacy just yet.  So, for the sake of my game, I am sticking with The Next Generation as my template.  Yes, that will mean two separate branches in the family tree and yes, that will complicate things when/if I get all the way to Enterprise.  I can live with such wrinkles.

One final point of clarification before we begin: I base these choices on what we know from the first episode.  Imagine going to a new school and seeking familiarity in all of the new faces.  That's what I'm after.  Obviously, the roles will evolve over time and there will be casting changes to address.  We'll cross those bridges when we get to them.

Picard = Janeway

via Wikipedia

The first move is always the easiest.  Protagonist becomes protagonist.  Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) was the first woman to lead a Star Trek series and that was a very big deal indeed.  The Next Generation, particularly in its early seasons, received no shortage of well-deserved criticism for sexist material and what was going on in front of the camera paled in comparison with the mess playing out behind it.  Deanna Troi's survival as a character and her growth into someone more than a great body in a jumpsuit comprise Marina Sirtis's triumphant tale to tell.  But it wasn't enough to make up for the scant and shoddy material generally supplied to the show's female principals.

Both Deep Space Nine and Voyager were developed with this shortcoming in mind.  Representation isn't everything, either.  The women (still outnumbered in principal cast in both shows) needed to be strong and they needed meaningful stories.  The Bechdel Test matters.

Janeway definitely has a soft side.  We see her as a nurturing dog mom as she prepares for her mission.  She also has a maternal attitude towards her crew, as we see in the way she talks about Harry Kim.  But there's a toughness, too, and a willingness to get her hands dirty.

The overall lineage thus far:  Kirk = Picard = Janeway

Riker = Chakotay

NextGen is a Picard-centered show and after seven seasons, most of the other principals are best defined by their relationship with the captain.  Will Riker is Picard's friendly foil.  Admittedly, the Janeway-Chakotay dynamic is still a bit of a mystery by the end of the pilot.   Just as with Sisko and Kira on DS9, there's obvious tension to resolve between them.  It's tempting to put Tuvok in this slot.  But in the final scene, there's a much celebrated exchange between Chakotay and his fellow Maquis rebel, B'Elanna Torres.

Torres: Who is she to be making these decisions for all of us?

Chakotay: She's the captain.

The message to Janeway is clear.  Whatever our differences, I've got your back.

Scotty = Tasha Yar = Riker (née Willard Decker line) = Chakotay

Data = The Doctor

This is more obvious.  If Data were cranky and put-upon, he'd be the Doctor, also known as the emergency medical hologram (EMH).  As he clearly has the capacity to be irritated, the EMH already has more emotional range than pre-Generations Data but he's still function-first, personality-second.  Once again, it's tempting to put Tuvok here, practically sacrilegious not to have the Vulcan in the Spock line.  But I'm going to need him somewhere else and the Doctor truly is the better fit.

Interesting that for both DS9 and Voyager, the lead physician goes in the Spock chair rather than the McCoy chair.  I swear, I don't plan these things.

Spock = Data = The Doctor

Worf = Torres

Yes, they both have the Klingon temper.  More importantly, they both bring a healthy paranoia to the operation.  Torres is obviously going to be a tougher sell in adjusting to the new command structure than Chakotay is but in the long run, her natural skepticism will serve both her and her new captain well.

Chekov = Worf = Torres

Dr. Crusher = Tuvok

Even before she is revealed to be Picard's love interest, Beverly Crusher is the captain's strongest emotional link to his past.  Tuvok is, in fact, the only principal character who knew Janeway before our story began so this chair becomes his by default.  But that's not giving him enough credit.  Already, we see that he's more than a competent subordinate.  He's Janeway's trusted friend - not quite a buddy the way Dax is to Sisko but clearly valued on a personal level.  

Uhura = Dr. Crusher = Pulaski = Dr. Crusher = Tuvok

Troi = Kes

Even in the awkward early going, Deanna Troi was Picard's emotional confidant.  To be honest, we don't have much to go on with Kes so far but the few lines she has reveal wisdom, warmth and empathy, all qualities she shares with Counselor Troi.  If she's not Janeway's confidant yet, it's not difficult to imagine she could be, especially given her outside-the-command structure civilian status.

McCoy = Troi = Kes

La Forge = Kim

If NextGen has an everyman character, it's Geordi La Forge.  Harry Kim takes up the mantle for Voyager.  Harry is not only new to the audience but new to Starfleet.  Voyager is his first assignment.  Even before he boards the ship, he has to be rescued from being swindled by Quark.  His mother calls the captain to tell her Harry forgot his clarinet at home.  That's about as close as Star Trek ever gets to adorable.

Interestingly, like both La Forge and Miles O'Brien (the DS9 equivalent), Kim will ultimately become important as the buddy to another principal.  Though it won't be the Data equivalent in Harry's case.

Sulu = La Forge = Kim

That's every match for the TNG regulars but there are still two more on the Voyager side.  This part's always especially fun for me.

Guinan = Neelix

Without the success of Guinan, I wonder if either Neelix or Quark would have happened.  Whoopi Goldberg is awesome, obviously, and her most important long-term contribution to Star Trek was the demonstrated value of a character outside the power structure.  The captain needs one person to talk to who doesn't see her (or him) as a boss or a parent.  For Voyager, both Neelix and Kes fit the bill.  Neelix fits more comfortably in the Guinan chair because... didn't he say he can cook?

Obviously, I have the benefit of having watched most of the series before and I know that Neelix takes charge of meals for the crew.  Thus, his role is closely analogous with Guinan's.  Plus, Kes really does look right in that McCoy/Troi chair.

Nick Locarno = Paris

Who?

Tom Paris doesn't fit any of the usual Star Trek principal molds.  Janeway recruits him out of a penal colony for the mission.  Once he's on-board, those who know who he is are not sparing in their contempt.  Even Chakotay bears a potent grudge against him.  No Trek principal has walked in at such a deficit before.  His story is one of redemption from the get-go.  As such, putting him in a Ro Laren chair would seem logical.  But there's some important history worth noting in this case, both in terms of the creative development of the character and the actor's history with the franchise.

Nick Locarno made only one appearance in The Next Generation but it was a memorable one.  He was the leader of Wesley Crusher's scandal-ridden flight team at the Academy in "The First Duty."  It's an important episode for several reasons.  It's the best Wesley episode.  It introduced Sito Jaxa who would feature in an even more important episode, "Lower Decks."  Most pertinent to our current discussion, it brought both Nick and Robert Duncan McNeill, the actor who played him, into the fold.  

Fast forward a couple of years.  As the creators were building the concept for Voyager, the working name for the character who would ultimately become Tom Paris was Nick Locarno.  Whether they actually intended to resurrect the character is unclear but casting McNeill was certainly not a given.  When he read the script (with the name already changed), McNeill immediately saw Nick in the new character.  In retrospect, it all feels like destiny.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Kate Mulgrew was born in Dubuque, Iowa, April 29, 1955, the second of eight children.  At 17, she was accepted into the Stella Adler Conservatory in New York, though she left after only one year.  She made her on-screen breakthrough on the soap opera Ryan's Hope in which she played the role of Mary Ryan for the first three seasons.  As is practically required for Trek leads to this point, her Shakespearean resume is solid: Desdemona in Othello (particularly interesting as both Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks have played the title role), Isabella in Measure for Measure, Tamora in Titus Andronicus and Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra.

Before Voyager, she played the title character for the brief run of Mrs. Columbo, co-starred with Pierce Brosnan in the miniseries Mansions of America and made guest appearances on Dallas, Murphy Brown and Murder, She Wrote.  Films included Lovespell, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins and Throw Momma from the Train.  She first came to my attention as Janet Eldridge, a Boston city councilwoman and briefly Sam's fiancée on Cheers.

Mulgrew was not the first choice to play Janeway.  Quebecois actor Geneviève Bujold won the part initially.  Bujold wasn't a good fit.  When she left, Mulgrew got the job.

Squid Eats: Onion City Chicken & Oyster

The first time we visited Onion City Chicken & Oyster in Winooski, Vermont, my wife said, "Wow, it's like someone asked you what food you would want and built a restaurant around it."

I can't deny that I'm a sucker for both raw oysters and fried chicken.  A restaurant specializing in both is pretty darn exciting.  Beyond the main features, there's a lot of what I would call up-scale comfort food on the menu: hot dogs, tater tots, fish & chips and so on.  There's plenty of up-scale for up-scale's sake, too, notably caviar and lobster rolls.

We have been several times now and I don't think I've ever ordered exactly the same thing twice: a good thing, by my reckoning.  I've never been disappointed either.  This most recent trip, we went all in on the bi-valves: a dozen oysters - 3 each of 4 different varieties - followed by PEI mussels.  All were excellent.  Dessert was nice, too: chocolate mousse for me and a root beer float for my wife.  The mousse was thicker than what I'm used to - not a bad thing.  My wife's a root beer float connoisseur and she was pleased.

From previous visits, I can report that the fried chicken is excellent.  And one can order it in a bucket, KFC-style.  Thankfully, the chicken is much better than KFC's.  Service is top notch.  We always seem to be seated near the front of the restaurant which is nice, especially when there's still natural light.  One drawback: the front door closes very loudly.  I always try to close it gently when we leave.

Star Trek: Past Tense, Part II

Episode: "Past Tense, Part II"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 12

Original Air Date: January 15, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Last week's episode continues.  In last week's final scene, Sisko (identifying himself as "Gabriel Bell" - long story) and Bashir walk into a hostage situation in the district processing office.  Our friends take the side of the captors - an odd choice at first glance but they do it to calm the situation and keep people from getting hurt.  The ploy works.  By this point, the priority for Sisko and Bashir has shifted from their own survival to preserving the timeline.  The "Bell Riots" as they came to be known, have to happen in order for the residents of Earth to come to their collective senses regarding the homeless, an important step in reaching the utopian future Star Trek promises.

Again, I am on board with the message and admire the production value of "Past Tense."  There is time for comedy as Kira and O'Brien, in trying to rescue their colleagues, pop in on San Francisco of the 1930s and the late 1960s.  But Trek's eternal clumsiness with time travel prevents me from jumping on the "best ever" band wagon.  One could argue, in the end, that the timeline was never actually corrupted as a man named Gabriel Bell was still the hero of the riots.  Maybe this was always the way it happened.  That would be the Doctor Who explanation.  Trek's techno-babble explanation only muddies the waters.

So, "Past Tense" is good, probably even outstanding.  I'm just not ready to call it one of the best.

Because there is still so much awesome yet to come.

Acting Notes

via Miami Vice Wiki

Frank Military played B.C., the leader of the band that takes over the district processing office.  Acting has been a relatively small part of Military's career.  He's done a lot more as a writer and producer.  He's had guest appearances on Miami Vice, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and The X-Files.  Film appearances include The Last Castle and Last Exit to Brooklyn.  He was an executive producer and writer for NCIS: Los Angeles which just completed its 14th and final season.

Cherry Battle: Starlino vs. Luxardo

The garnish is an essential element of a perfect cocktail and we've been in love with Luxardo, our favored Maraschino cherry brand, for years.  Amareña Fabbri found favor in my recipe for a while (see here) but over time, Luxardo proved more satisfying, not least for its longer shelf life (see here).  The one major drawback with Luxardo is the price.  A jar is $21.28 on Amazon, and frequently more at local stores.  I realize most people wouldn't even consider spending that much and I don't exactly blame them.  We are not top-shelf spenders when it comes to liquor.  So spending more for damn good cherries seems a tolerable indulgence.  "Are they really that good?" I hear you wondering.  Yes, they truly are.  

Which is not to say it's not still worth trying something else from time to time.  We recently picked up a jar of Starlino cherries for an audition.  Let the battle begin...  

The Luxardo was its usual dark, warm, syrupy loveliness.  The Starlino... oh boy, you should have seen my wife's face after popping the Starlino in her mouth.  I can only describe her expression as disgust.  Plasticy, she said.  I wasn't nearly as offended but will concede the Starlino was sweeter, and not in a pleasant way.  

So, what to do with them?  My wife agreed to still help eat the Starlinos which is good because even though they cost less than the Luxardos, they aren't exactly cheap.  Plus the jar takes up space on the shelf that could be devoted to something we actually like.  Once we finish the Luxardos, we could add the syrup to the Starlino jar, perhaps improving the flavor.  Of course, I have this idea mere days after disposing of some Luxardo syrup I'd been hoarding in order to make room for the Starlino jar.  Wouldn't you know it?

Winner and Still Champion: Luxardo

Star Trek: Past Tense, Part I

Episode: "Past Tense, Part I"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 11

Original Air Date: January 8, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Due to a transporter malfunction, Commander Sisko, Bashir and Dax arrive in San Francisco, year 2024.  Right place, wrong time - off by three-and-a-half centuries.  It's a few days before a riot which changed the course of (in-universe) history.  They must figure out how to survive and get back to their own era while not corrupting the timeline - no easy task.

The social commentary is direct and heavy in "Past Tense."  In 2024 San Francisco, the jobless were kept in Sanctuary Districts, walled off from the rest of the city.  Sisko and Bashir found themselves in Sanctuary District A, home to about ten thousand residents.  Housing, food and hope are all in short supply.  Speculative fiction dystopia?  While the episode was in production, The Los Angeles Times ran an article outlining a proposal by Richard Riordan, real-world mayor of Los Angeles in 1995, to create fenced-in havens for the city's homeless population in order to make the downtown area more appealing for businesses.  Fortunately, that particular idea never went anywhere but neither did LA's homeless problem.  

"Past Tense" (a two-parter; I'll get to Part II next week) does very well on best episode lists, not just for DS9 but for all of Star Trek.  I won't deny the production quality but Trek's typical time travel clumsiness prevents me from listing the story among my favorites.  The technical justifications not only for the transporter gaffe but also for the Defiant crew's ability to remain unscathed by an already corrupted timeline are ridiculous.  Truly, they would have done better to simply drop the three characters in 2024 without any explanation at all.  

Acting Notes

via Miami Vice Wiki

Bill Smitrovich played Michael Webb, a resident of Sanctuary District A who becomes a civil rights advocate.  Smitrovich was born William Stanley Zmitrowicz, Jr. in Bridgeport, Connecticut, May 16, 1947.  He attended Bridgeport University as an undergrad, then Smith College - a significant institution in my family - for graduate school.  

Smitrovich has had principal cast roles on several television shows, including Crime Story, Life Goes On, The Event and A Nero Wolfe Mystery, one of our family favorites.  His films include Independence Day, Air Force One and Iron Man.

Squid Eats: Mexcalito Taco Bar

Mexicalito Taco Bar has two Massachusetts locations: one in Amherst, one in Northampton.  We went to the Northampton location this past weekend, our second visit.

Mexicalito has all of the typical (for the United States) Mexican offerings: tacos, enchiladas, margaritas, etc.  I got the Alambre, a fajitas dish, with steak.  The food is nice - nothing especially adventurous (or spicy) but it's fine.  If we go again, I may seek out heat more deliberately, or ask for hot sauce.

One shouldn't have to ask for hot sauce in a Mexican restaurant...  

Definitely can't fault their service.  Both visits, our wait staff has been incredibly warm and friendly.  I don't know if I'd seek out Mexicalito for its own sake but it's not as crowded as other nearby restaurants and therefore getting a table is relatively easy.  It was our fallback plan this time.  T. Roots was full.  They now have a breakfast menu, though as far as I can tell no typical breakfast hours - never open before 11:30.  So maybe it's really more brunch.  I have to admit, I'm curious.

Star Trek: Fascination

Episode: "Fascination"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 10

Original Air Date: November 28, 1994

via Memory Alpha

It's Bajoran Gratitude Festival time!  Major Kira is presiding and Lwaxanna Troi is on the station to join in the fun.  Several in attendance get headaches, then fall hopelessly in love: Jake with Kira, Bareil with Dax, Dax with Benjamin, Bashir and Kira with each other.  Meanwhile, in a more meaningful B-plot, Keiko and Molly are back home from Keiko's botany field work on Bajor.  The readjustment to married life is less than smooth for the O'Briens.  

"Fascination" is DS9's take on A Midsummer Night's Dream.  It's goofy.  It was Armin Shimerman's least favorite episode.  He teaches Shakespeare.  He found the episode embarrassing.  For others, it was a fun romp, a moment of levity just ahead of a heavy story.  We get development for Odo: he admits his feeling for Kira to Lwaxanna.  Watching the doctor and major all over each other was reflective of their real world relationship.  While Alexander Siddig and Nana Visitor wouldn't be married until 1997, they were already romantically involved by '94.  The O'Brien story is more relevant: two adults weighing family needs against personal needs.  Evidently, it hit close to home for many involved with the production.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Hana Hatae played Molly O'Brien, the young daughter of Keiko and Miles.  Hatae was born in Los Angeles, July 15, 1988.  Molly didn't get a whole lot of material in "Fascination" - she rarely did - but she got to throw up all over her father.  I've been there, Chief.  Between TNG and DS9, Hatae had 12 total appearances.

Hatae only had a modest acting career beyond Star Trek.  She had appearances on Family Matters and Kitchen Nightmares.  The latter was a reality show episode featuring her family's sushi restaurant.  At the time, she was working as a hostess and waitress at the restaurant.  Films include My Suicide, 5th Passenger and The Circuit.  

Squid Perks: Nest Coffee & Bakery

Nest Coffee & Bakery is but a short walk from the Amtrak station in Essex Junction, Vermont - a perfect spot while waiting for your train.  Vermont got quite a lot of snow this past Saturday so, despite our being close to the beginning of the route, our child's train back to college was significantly delayed on Sunday.  Coffee and pastries were very much in order.

I got a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant and also tried my wife's strawberry and cream croissant.  All were lovely.  Service is friendly and expedient.  Unfortunately, the space is a bit cramped.  My guess is that most of the service is to go, though there are a few tables to encourage people to stick around, including one relatively cozy area with a couch.  The three of us grabbed one end of a long table, the other end eventually taken by a pair of young women debating the relative merits of Star Wars and Star Trek - right up our alley!

We'll be back.  I don't usually give much thought to the area around the train station as it's right by a preferably avoided intersection.  But if we're already down there, Nest is definitely worth a stop.  As it was later in the morning, they'd already run out of some of their pastry offerings.  Ham and cheese croissant is always one of my favorites and I'd love to try theirs another time.

Star Trek: Defiant

Episode: "Defiant"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 9

Original Air Date: November 21, 1994

via Memory Alpha

Will Riker comes to visit the station!  Or does he?  When the handsome man asks Major Kira for a tour of the Defiant, he attacks and kidnaps her, then steals the ship.  It's not Will at all.  It's Tom Riker.  Will's transporter-generated clone is with the Maquis now.  Neither the Federation nor the Cardassians are the least bit pleased that the terrorists now hold such a powerful weapon.

While the Tom Riker story is a good one, for me, the real fun of the episode is the ensuing chess match that plays out between Commander Sisko and Gul Dukat as they work together to rein in the Defiant.  Though truly, it's a four-player game involving Sisko, Dukat, Tom and the Obsidian Order, represented in the Cardassian War Room by Korinas (Tricia O'Neil).  Sisko's role is based on Henry Fonda's character in the 1964 movie Fail Safe.  Unfortunately, Star Trek has never brought Tom back again, despite promises to the contrary by Kira.

For the record, their kiss at the end is completely gratuitous.

Acting Notes

via Scandal Wiki

Shannon Cochran plays Kalita, one of Tom's Maquis collaborators.  "Defiant" is her second of four Trek appearances, her second and last as Kalita.  She was born in Savannah, Georgia, August 7, 1958.  Beyond Star Trek, she has made guest appearances on NYPD Blue, Full House and The Office among others.  Films include The Babe, The Ring and Star Trek: Nemesis.

During filming of "Defiant," Cochran met her future husband, Michael Canavan.  Canavan played Tamal, Kalita's Maquis shipmate.  The couple were married in 2003.

Squid Mixes: Scofflaw Cocktail

A Scofflaw Cocktail combines rye (or bourbon), dry vermouth, lemon juice, grenadine and orange bitters. I got my recipe from The Joy of Mixology by Gary Regan.  The original was created by Jock, a bartender at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in 1924.  I like whiskey drinks and my wife likes lemon drinks so such cocktails as the Scofflaw are good to have in the repertoire.  The lemon dominates the flavor but there's still some of that whiskey warmth.  I think a little more sugar would be good.  The recipe suggests 1 or 2 dashes of grenadine.  I went with 1.  If I were to do it again, I'd try it with 2.

Regan's book is good for many reasons.  He writes wonderful blurbs for his drinks.  The most interesting takeaway for the Scofflaw is the history of the word itself.  Scofflaw was the winner of a 1923 contest to come up with the best word to describe "a lawless drinker of illegally made or illegally obtained liquor."  The prize was $200.

Squid Flicks: Star Trek VII: Generations

Title: Star Trek Generations

Director: David Carson

Original Release: November 18, 1994

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Kirk or Picard?  For the die-hards, it's the starting point question, the answer placing you in one camp or the other.  Which Enterprise captain is your guy?

What if you didn't have to choose?

For one and only one story in the canon, we get both of them.  

via Memory Alpha

Star Trek Generations begins in Kirk's era.  Kirk, Scotty and Chekov are the guests of honor for the christening of the Enterprise-B.  After the ship is launched out of dry dock, ceremony is usurped by duty when a distress call comes through.  Our man Jim takes over command when the "real" captain loses his nerve.  But then Kirk runs off to deflector control to make adjustments where he gets killed.  Or so it would appear...

Fast forward 78 years.  Picard & Company respond to their own emergency.  The Amargosa Observatory is under attack and the Enterprise-D runs to the rescue.  There, our friends encounter Soran, an El-Aurian scientist who seems harmless enough at first.  But he's in cahoots with the Duras sisters and that's not even the worst of it.  He's trying to direct the path of a mysterious, space-rending energy ribbon so he can get back to the utopian plane the ribbon contains, the very same ribbon that caused all the trouble in Kirk's story.

Generations was the first Star Trek movie I saw in the theater.  I went with my brother-in-law in Minnesota during Thanksgiving break my senior year of college.  I have to admit that before my recent re-watch, I remembered virtually nothing of the story outlined above.  I remembered Kirk's "death."  That's really it.  Nor did I remember Data's adventures with his recently installed emotion chip.  All I remembered clearly is the next bit.

Picard enters the Nexus, the world of the ribbon.  There, he meets Kirk, who apparently didn't die at all.  He just got trapped in the Nexus.  Picard tries to convince the older captain to come back with him to defeat Soran but it's no easy sell.  In the Nexus, all your dreams come true.  Picard experiences having a family: wife, children, the whole deal.  Kirk gets to hang out chopping wood and burning breakfast at his home on earth with the woman he didn't but maybe should have married.  And then suddenly he's at his uncle's horse ranch in Idaho.  The world seemingly becomes whatever you want it to, like a beautiful dream.  But none of it's real.

That bit I remember and it comes in much later in the story than I realized.  I'd forgotten the most important bit, too...

SPOILER!!!

Kirk dies.  For real this time.  Picard succeeds in bringing Kirk back with him and, indeed, they defeat Soran together.  But victory comes at a cost.  Soran kills Kirk.

It's been nearly 30 years.  I've forgotten many of the details from my life 30 years ago.  But in my experience, emotional impressions tend to last and I think it says something that the event which was clearly meant to leave such an impression didn't.  

Some critics complained - and not for the last time - that the film feels too much like a long television episode.  That, in itself, doesn't bother me so much.  Obviously, I like Star Trek episodes.  And I think the Kirk-Picard partnership, gimmicky though it feels in the end, does bring that certain something special that a movie should have.  The real problem for me is that apart from the gimmick, the plot itself was not especially memorable.  

As is true of many great stories, TNG's series ending felt like a new beginning for the characters (see here).  Picard's relationship with his crew had clearly changed.  Perhaps the first movie could have worked better if it did more to build on that new beginning.  I understand wanting to make a film bigger than the show had been in terms of scope.  But don't lose sight of why we've grown to care about these characters.

So where does Generations stack up against the previous films?

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
2. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
3. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
4. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
5. Star Trek VII: Generations
6. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
7. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

For the first six movies, my rankings mirrored the Rotten Tomatoes ratings exactly.  Here, I break.  RT has The Motion Picture slightly above Generations.  In truth, both movies feel disappointing - acceptable but so much less than they could have been.  Fortunately, in both cases, the subsequent film was a considerable improvement.