Star Trek: Real Life

Episode: "Real Life"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 22

Original Air Date: April 23, 1997

via Memory Alpha

In his ongoing effort to broaden his own experiences, the Doctor creates a holodeck family for himself: a wife and two children.  Predictably, they are all nauseatingly perfect.  Torres makes a few tweaks to the program in order to provide the EMH - Kenneth to his family - with a more realistic experience.  Shocker, his wife and kids are now quite a lot more resistant to his efforts to control them.  What starts as chaos quickly turns to heartbreak when his daughter Bella suffers a terrible accident.

This is all part of the Doctor's wish to better understand his patients and it's an admirable goal.  The real barrier isn't so much lack of experience as lack of emotional range.  Last episode, I mentioned Kes's exceptional empathy.  Her strength is the Doctor's deficit.  Brilliant as he's constantly reminding everyone he is, he doesn't get people.  Unfortunately, that's a real world problem for too many in the medical profession. 

How does a computer program improve in this area?  As this story demonstrates, confronting pain and loss is important.  Perhaps most important of all for this particular character, admitting his own limits and vulnerability is essential.

The episode is good, but not nearly as good as the Starfleet Academy episode "The Life of the Stars" which referenced it 29 years later.

Acting Notes

via American Dad Wikia

Wendy Schaal played the role of Charlene, the Doctor's holodeck wife.  She was born in Chicago, July 2, 1954.  Her father Richard Schall was also a television actor who later married Valerie Harper, a fact which certainly helped Wendy's own acting career.  Wendy studied at Los Angeles City College.

Films have included Innerspace, The 'Burbs and Small Soldiers.  On television, she's had regular roles on Fantasy Island, Good Grief and It's a Living.  Early in her career, she made guest appearances on such classic shows as Little House on the Prairie, Rhoda and Welcome Back, Kotter among others.  She's had a successful voice acting career, including playing Francine Smith on American Dad! for the past 22 seasons and counting.  

Star Trek: Ties of Blood and Water

Episode: "Ties of Blood and Water"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 19

Original Air Date: April 14, 1997

via Memory Alpha

Major Kira invites Tekeny Ghamor to the station in order to provide intel on the Cardassians.  Back in Season 3's "Second Skin," Kira learned that a Cardassian operative, Iliana, who looked an awful lot like her had been sent undercover to infiltrate the Bajoran resistance.  Ghamor was Iliana's father.  In the midst of confusion and heartbreak, Kira and Ghamor formed a genuine, loving bond.  Ghamor is no fan of the current Cardassian regime and is happy to help bring them down.  To complicate matters for all involved, he's dying.  Meanwhile, Dukat is demanding that Ghamor be extradited.  

Without question, "Second Skin" is one of the very best DS9 episodes and well-deserving of a sequel.  In all honesty, I would have preferred a continuation of the Iliana story but what we got instead is plenty interesting in its own right.  Ghamor's death dredges up Kira's regrets about her own father's passing.  The two tales are linked by the fear of dying alone and, of course, the accompanying remorse of the survivors.  Confronting death and aging has been an important recurring theme with Trek from the beginning - clearly important topics for creator Gene Roddenberry.  

"Ties of Blood and Water" adds rich complexity to the character of Kira Nerys who already had plenty.  She must find forgiveness in her heart for Ghamor regarding his role in the occupation while also coming to terms with the grief she feels in losing him.  Powerful stuff.

Acting Notes

via West Wing Wiki

William Lucking played the role of Furel, one of Kira's comrades during the Resistance.  Furel passed away in his first appearance, "The Darkness and the Light."  In "Ties of Blood and Water," he appears in the flashback to Kira's father's death.  This is the actor's second of three Trek appearances.  

Lucking was born in Vicksburg, Michigan, June 17, 1941.  He graduated from UCLA and the Pasadena Playhouse.  He co-founded the Santa Paula Theater Center in 1986 and served as its artistic director for five years.

Films include The Magnificent Seven Ride!, The Rundown and Erin Brockovich.  On television, Lucking had starring roles on Outlaws and Sons of Anarchy and a recurring role on The A-Team.  Guest credits include M*A*S*H, The Greatest American Hero and The West Wing.

Lucking passed away in 2021.

Star Trek: Darkling

Episode: "Darkling"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 18

Original Air Date: February 19, 1997

via Memory Alpha

In an effort to improve his bedside manner, the Doctor selects famously compassionate historical figures - Byron, Ghandi, Socrates, T'Pau - to incorporate into his programming.  Meanwhile, Kes is falling in love with a trader, Zahir, who offers to take her on grand adventures - away from Voyager.  Unfortunately, the good doctor fails to account for the fact that he would take on his heroes' flaws along with their strengths.  Two separate, competing personalities emerge in a Jekyll and Hyde tale.  The evil one eventually puts both Torres and Kes in grave peril.

Robert Picardo really acts the snot out of this one.  As with Brent Spiner (Data), there is danger in letting Picardo out of the box.  We see a lot of "look at me, I'm meeeeeean" from ol' Bob here.  And I have to admit, I really wanted to watch B'Elanna kick his ass for pawing her.  Perhaps another time...

Kes will be leaving the show soon.  I'll leave discussion of the particulars until the moment arrives but "Darkling" makes me wonder how far ahead of time the creative staff was at least aware of the possibility.  The writers painted themselves into a corner from the beginning with Kes's expected life span and in this episode, she suggests to Janeway for the first time that she may not want to spend the rest of her short life on Voyager.  And just as importantly, Janeway responds quite reasonably.  After all, Kes isn't Starfleet or Maquis.  She's along for the journey by choice and she's certainly earning her keep as the doctor's assistant.  There's no reason she shouldn't be free to go whenever she pleases.

Fortunately, not just yet.  At this point, I would say Tuvok has overtaken both the Doctor and Kes as the most interesting character but Kes is still comfortably Top 3.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

David Lee Smith (Zahir) was born in Birmingham, Alabama, September 8, 1963.  Films include The Man from Earth, Mysterious Skin and A Walk to Remember.  Television work includes Savannah, The Naked Truth and CSI: Miami.  

Star Trek: Coda

Episode: "Coda"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 15

Original Air Date: January 29, 1997

via Memory Alpha

On the way back to the ship from an away mission, Janeway and Chakotay get caught in a time loop.  Or is Janeway dying?  Or both?  Eventually, an ethereal entity disguised as her own deceased father strives to lure our captain into the afterlife and away from her Voyager crew.

Honestly, the story for "Coda" is kind of all over the place.  The time loop idea is ultimately meaningless, part of a near-death hallucination.  In fact, did any of what Janeway experienced "really happen"?

And yet there is something meaningful weaved in through it all.  Star Trek has never been shy about exploring death, and not simply the obvious loss aspect either.  Is there an afterlife?  The franchise has, in fact, offered several different answers to that question.  "Coda" suggests the involvement of a higher intelligence.  What is "god" if not a higher intelligence?  Again, this is all well-tread territory for Trek and it won't be the last time for such questions.

"Coda" manages to offer an interesting angle: how does the person dying cope with the fact that she will no longer be a part of other people's lives?  In effect, how does she mourn herself?  For nearly three seasons worth of television, Janeway's primary drive has been getting her crew back to the Alpha Quadrant.  If she dies, she can't help them any more.  She can watch in a ghost state but she can't impact.  She will play no role in their successes or their failures.  Ever-growing loneliness is inevitable.  The only alternative is acceptance and she's not ready for that.

As is so often the case with Voyager, the basic premise is good while elements of the execution fall flat.  First, an obvious narrative oversight: Janeway never catches on to the fact that the one time Kes was able to sense her presence was when Kes physically passed through the Janeway ghost.  Why didn't the captain think to try that again?  The movie Ghost had come out in 1990.  In Ghost, that trick worked - with Whoopi Goldberg's character, no less!  A narrative question has a narrative answer: that wasn't the point of this story.  Whatever.  The inconsistency distracted me.  

Then the funeral speeches from the crew - so moving and so... staged.  It's sweet.  None of it feels organic.  It feels like a school play.  "Okay, it's your turn to emote now..."  DS9 is always effortless.  Voyager rarely is.  I know I just need to move past the differences but it's hard when the gap is evident.  Better actors + better writing = superior narrative flow.  Every time.

But the death stuff is interesting.

Acting Notes

The guest star cannot be blamed for "weak acting."  They brought in a heavyweight for "Coda."

via Blue Bloods Wiki

Len Cariou ("ghost" of Vice Admiral Janeway) was born in Saint Boniface, Manitoba, September 30, 1939.  He started both acting and directing while he was still in high school.  He graduated from St. Paul's College in Winnipeg.  

After several years at the Guthrie in Minneapolis, Cariou made his Broadway debut in 1968.  He received Tony nominations for his lead performances in Applause opposite Lauren Bacall and A Little Night Music opposite Elizabeth Taylor.  The Tony win finally came in 1979 when he debuted the title role in Sweeney Todd, opposite Angela Lansbury.  Films include The Four Seasons, Prisoners and the Best Picture Oscar winner Spotlight.  He's done well on television, too.  He was in the principal cast of Blue Bloods for 14 seasons.  He has had recurring roles in Murder, She Wrote, Brotherhood and Damages.  

Star Trek: Alter Ego

Episode: "Alter Ego"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 14

Original Air Date: January 15, 1997

via Memory Alpha

Ensign Harry Kim is in love with Marayna, a holodeck character in Neelix's luau program.  He's got it bad.  It's interfering with his work.  He goes to Tuvok for guidance on emotional control.  The Lieutenant goes to the holodeck to check out Marayna.  She ends up falling for Tuvok instead.  Perhaps there is more to Marayna than originally suspected.

"Alter Ego" is a great Tuvok episode.  I'm finding there are a lot of those.  Tuvok provides more in-depth exploration of Vulcan culture and philosophy than Spock ever did.  Kim's questions and especially Marayna's challenges reveal much of Tuvok's own thinking, even bringing new and unexpected self-awareness.   "Alter Ego" also introduces kal-toh, a complicated and beautiful Vulcan strategy game.  

via Memory Alpha

Solution via Memory Alpha

The story is a meaningful continuation of a couple TNG holodeck threads.  Falling in love with a holodeck character hearkens back to "11001001," NextGen's best Season 1 offering.  Such a character taking over the ship is an expansion of Moriarty's efforts in "Ship in a Bottle."

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Sandra Nelson (Maryana) was born in Madison, Wisconsin, December 29, 1964.  "Alter Ego" is her first of two Trek appearances.  She played Phyllis Summers for two years on The Young and the Restless.  Films include Life as a House, De-Lovely and The Wolf of Wall Street.  Other television guest roles include ER, Monk and NCIS.  

Star Trek: The Q and the Grey

Episode: "The Q and the Grey"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 11

Original Air Date: November 27, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Q appears uninvited in Captain Janeway's quarters, intent on seducing her.  In time, we learn not all is right in the Q Continuum and our old friend sees having a child with our dear captain as the solution to all of the problems.  But wait, there's more.  Evidently, our Q (John de Lancie) already has a Q mate (Suzie Plakson) and she's none too happy about this plan.  Of course, neither is our captain.  To make the Continuum Civil War understandable for "Kathy." as he calls her, Q creates an American Civil War-scape illusion, thus the episode's title, a play on The Blue and the Gray, a 1981 Civil War mini-series.

As previously discussed, I don't share the same reflexive affection for Q as many fans do and his Lothario impression here does little to improve my opinion.  That said, "The Q and the Gray" is fun in its way.  And Kate Mulgrew looks in her element in period dress.

My favorite part of the episode is near the end when the Qs finally mate with each other and Janeway... doesn't exactly avert her glance, though the "show" is certainly underwhelming.  Our dear Kathy has a bit of voyeur in her - or at least a healthy curiosity about how Qs get it on.  Perhaps a bit of both?  Either way, it's funny.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Harve Presnell played the role of Colonel Q, commander of the opposing forces in the Continuum Civil War.  Presnell was born in Modesto, California, September 14, 1933.  He was a child prodigy musician, scoring his first professional opera role at age 16.  He got a bachelor's in vocal performance at USC.

After a few years working as a professional baritone, he was discovered by Meredith Wilson while the latter was working on a new musical, The Unsinkable Molly Brown.  Wilson created the role of Leadville Johnny with Presnell in mind.  Presnell played the part on both stage and screen, where he won a Golden Globe.  Other films include Paint Your Wagon, Saving Private Ryan and Fargo.  On television, he had a principal role on Andy Barker, P.I.  Guest appearances include The Pretender, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Dawson's Creek.

Presnell passed away in 2009 from pancreatic cancer.

Squid Flicks: Oscar Shorts 2026

Our child is home for spring break.  This past weekend, we went to see all of the Oscar-nominated shorts at Vermont International Film Festival's screening room in Burlington.  This is something we used to do every year.  We started with the animated shorts, figuring those were likely to be the most child-friendly, then added the other categories in later years.  It was great to renew the tradition.

My favorites are shaded in red.  The ultimate winners are in bold.  

Live Action Short Films

The Singers - 4 stars out of 5

A Friend of Dorothy - 4

Butcher's Stain - 3

Two People Exchanging Saliva - 3

Jane Austen's Period Drama - 5

Without a doubt, this was the strongest of the three categories.  I could understand and even defend any of the five of them winning.  A shared victory is only fitting.

Dorothy is a wonderful story of intergenerational platonic love.  Elderly Dorothy encourages young and handsome JJ in dramatic pursuits.  It hit all of the right emotional buttons for me, even if it was a bit predictable.

via Wikipedia

Jane Austen's PD is a delight and the only one of these 15 that my wife and I had seen before.  An Austen-esque heroine must explain her menstruation to a young suitor.  It's hilarious.  Every line of dialogue is an absolute zinger.  Everyone should watch it.  Forever.  I think it's a real shame it didn't win.  The Academy nearly always favors drama over comedy which is absurd.

Best Documentary Short Film

Perfectly a Strangeness - 3

The Devil Is Busy - 4

Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud - 3

All the Empty Rooms - 4

Children No More: "Were and Are Gone" - 3

I fully expected Armed Only with a Camera to win.  Brent Renaud was a documentarian who died in the field and I figured his peers would honor one of their own.  

All the Empty Rooms is about school shootings, a topic virtually guaranteed to inspire a profound emotional reaction from me.  Interestingly, the middle three in my list above all address gun violence in America in one way or another.  

Best Animated Short Film

The Three Sisters - 3

Forevergreen - 3

The Girl Who Cried Pearls - 3

Butterfly - 3

Retirement Plan - 3

This year's batch was good, not great.  In my experience, the Oscar usually goes to the most visually-impressive film in this category rather than the best story.  I understand Pearls as the choice here, a hyper-realistic marionette play.  I found the character figures a bit creepy, otherwise it might have been my favorite, too.

via Wikipedia

Retirement Plan's artwork is dead simple but the story of a man anticipating finding deeper meaning later in life resonated with me.

Star Trek: Warlord

Episode: "Warlord"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 10

Original Air Date: November 20, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Our heroes rescue three injured beings from a ship moments before it explodes.  They seem grateful - at first.  One of them is possessed by a malevolent entity who takes mental possession of Kes just before his current host dies.  Possessed Kes and her two new friends steal a shuttle and return to their own world, intent on overthrowing its current ruler.

"Warlord" is a good Kes episode.  Jennifer Lien gets to show off some range as Tieran, the entity possessing her, is quite ruthless in pursuing his ambitions.  We nearly get an on-screen same-sex kiss between Kes and Nori, Tieran's wife, before they're rudely interrupted.  More importantly to the long term, Kes breaks up with Neelix.  At first, it seems like she's only doing it because she's possessed.  That would definitely have been disappointing as Neelix is undeniably a controlling, possessive boyfriend and Kes's desire for breathing room is completely understandable.  But, in fact, this is it.  They never will get back together after this episode.

Unfortunately, we're running out of time with Kes.  Jennifer Lien left the show near the beginning of Season 4.  I'll discuss the particulars when we get to that point.  But having the benefit of knowing what's coming, I'm inclined to appreciate the character all the more while we still have her.  With "Warlord," we see Kes finally coming into her own.  She can be more than Neelix's adoring girlfriend or The Doctor's eager assistant or everyone's empathetic pal.  Just as she's finally being given room to grow, we must prepare to say goodbye.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Leigh J. McCloskey (Tieran) was born in Los Angeles, June 21, 1955.  "Warlord" is his first of two Trek appearances.

McCloskey is unusual for the people I have featured in this space in that he is likely more accomplished as a visual artist than as an actor.  His ongoing work The Heiroglyph of the Human Soul is a hand-painted library installation in his own home.

That said, the screen resume is nothing to sneeze at.  He found particular success in soap operas: 248 appearances on Santa Barbara, 46 on Dallas and 32 on The Young and the Restless.  Films include Inferno and Just One of the Guys.

Squid Flicks: A Master Builder

Title: A Master Builder

Director: Jonathan Demme

Original Release Date: November 11, 2013

My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Halvard Solness, an accomplished architect, is dying.  His doctor pays a visit, as do his former rival, that rival's son/Halvard's assistant and the assistant's fiancée/Halvard's bookkeeper and mistress.  Follow all that?  It's not even the most twisted part of the story.  Halvard is also visited by a young woman, Hilde, who remembers Halvard from her childhood.  Though she's not seen Halvard in 10 years, she's clearly in love with him.  The screenplay is Wallace Shawn's adaptation of Ibsen's play The Master Builder.

Halvard (Shawn) is a terrible person.  His wife Aline is fully aware of his philandering as he makes minimal effort to conceal it.  He destroyed his rival professionally and is deliberately holding his own protégé back.  The fact that he once made advances on 12-year-old Hilde would be disgusting in any context.  All that aside...

It's an absorbing story even with a thoroughly detestable protagonist and the fact there's very little action.  The entire film is shot in the one house - maybe three rooms? - which helps support the stage-play-on-screen feel.  The acting is strong.  Shawn is always good.  Julie Hagerty hits all the right buttons as Aline and Andre Gregory plays the former rival, Knut, in a My Dinner with Andre reunion.  Honestly, it feels a bit like the earlier film - more characters but nonetheless a complete narrative told in conversation.

Lisa Joyce steals the show as Hilde - a bright ray of sunshine, yet clearly on the edge of madness.  She more than holds her own in her scenes with both Shawn and Hagerty.  

Overall, it's okay.  The basic elements are strong and I certainly admire the simplicity.  But I don't see myself ever watching it again.

Star Trek: Let He Who Is Without Sin

Episode: "Let He Who Is Without Sin"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 7

Original Air Date: November 11, 1996

via Explaining Errors in Star Trek Wiki

Dax, Worf, Leeta, Bashir and Quark are off to Risa for a vacation.  Actually, it was supposed to be a romantic getaway for the newly involved Dax and Worf but the others tagged along for their own reasons.  Worf gets distracted by a radical fundamentalist group who take exception to Risa's decadence.  It seems he'd rather spend his time with them than with Dax.  

Dax.  Terry Ferrell.  One of the most statuesque women on 1990s television.  Oh, and she's smart and witty, too.  And she's in love with you.  Seriously?  You'd rather hang with the political wackos?

So I've finally come to a DS9 episode I don't like very much.  It's too bad because the idea had potential.  The writers wanted a show about sex but then the network made them tone it down.  Even so, there was plenty of space for something meaningful here.  Worf and Dax have different expectations of each other and of their new relationship.  That's a real world problem.  Frankly, a lot of couples don't survive it or they're miserable for years or both.  Without question, it's an issue worthy of narrative attention.  

But the writers couldn't make the pivot once they couldn't have the full-on sleaze fest they wanted.  My guess is they all had plenty of experience with lusting after scantily clad women but not so much successfully working through difficult relationship issues.  Yup, I'm being judgmental and catty.  So be it.  And Worf's childhood trauma tale about a soccer game to explain it all away?  What a load of garbage!

And the Leeta-Bashir story is downright vomit-inducing.  They're that cute college couple who can't keep their hands off each other and desperately need the rest of the world to know it.  There is one good long-term benefit from that thread: Leeta proclaims her love for Rom.  The Rom story just keeps getting better.

Mind you, I'm not exactly complaining about the beautiful women.  Beyond Farrell and Chase Masterson (Leeta), the screen is graced by Zora DeHorter and Blair Volk (Quark's Risian companions) and former Miss America, Vanessa Williams.

The episode title comes from the Book of John, chapter 8, verse 7: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Williams played the role of Arandis, a former lover of Curzon Dax and the current chief facilitator of the Temtibi Lagoon on Risa.  Williams was born in The Bronx, March 18, 1963.  She went to Syracuse for college.

Vanessa Williams rose to fame when she was crowned Miss America 1984, the first African-American to win the competition.  Sadly, she had to resign when Penthouse published unauthorized nudes.  Let's be clear: other people took advantage of her fame and she suffered the consequences.  In 2016, Williams received a public apology for the scandal at that year's Miss America pageant.

Back in the '80s, Williams certainly made the best of the situation, turning to the music and acting industries, finding great success in both.  Overall, she has released nine studio albums, one live album and four compilations.  She's had four top ten singles including a #1: "Save the Best for Last."  Her Broadway acting credits include Kiss of the Spider Woman, Into the Woods and The Trip to Bountiful.  Television work includes principal roles on both Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.  Films include Soul Food, My Brother and Eraser.  Awards include seven NAACP Image Awards, four Satellite Awards, 11 Grammy nominations, 3 Emmy nominations and a Tony nomination.

As if that weren't enough, she has also published two books: You Have No Idea, a memoir co-authored with her mother, Helen Williams, and a children's book entitled Bubble Kisses.

Squid Flicks: Wake Up Dead Man

Title: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Director: Rian Johnson

Original Release: September 6, 2025

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Super sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is back.  A priest of a small town Upstate New York parish (Josh Brolin) has been murdered and his newly arrived assistant pastor (Josh O'Connor) is the prime suspect.  Meanwhile, the massive inheritance - preserved in a single precious gem - has gone missing.  Blanc is on the case.

I haven't written about the Knives Out series yet, of which Wake Up Dead Man is the third in the series, all written and directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig.  The franchise is based on classic mystery and mystery-comedy films.  The original installment, released in 2019, was a massive hit: $312.9 million at the box office, nearly eight times its production budget.  Netflix bought the exclusive rights to two sequels for $400 million.

All three movies are loads of fun.  The original is probably my favorite and, for me, this third one is an improvement on the second, Glass Onion.  Craig's James Bond charm transfers easily to Blanc.  Wake Up Dead Man boasts a wonderful supporting cast, combining established A-listers like Brolin and Glenn Close with talented but less famous actors like Cailee Spaeny and Daryl McCormack.  O'Connor holds his own with the bigger names.  I particularly appreciated Mila Kunis in a notably unsexy role as the local chief of police.  

The church itself was stunning.  Exteriors were shot at the Church of the Holy Innocents in High Beach, Epping Forest, England.  I was a little disappointed to learn that the interior, the real treat, was a soundstage built for the movie.  It's easy to spot the Moby Dick homage: a pulpit built to look like a ship.  

Johnson and Craig have each said they'll keep making Knives Out movies as long as they're both still involved.  We're definitely up for more at our house.

Star Trek: Sacred Ground

Episode: "Sacred Ground"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 7

Original Air Date: October 30, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Granted shore leave on the Nechani homeworld, a few of the crew indulge in a guided tour of religious sites.  Curious Kes wanders into a cavern where she gets too close to what sure looks like a glowing sacred shrine.  It zaps her.  She is dying.  She and Neelix are beamed directly to sick bay on Voyager.  While the Doctor searches for medical solutions, Janeway and Company press the Nechani for answers.  The Nechani are plenty friendly and apologetic but unfortunately, they don't know how to help Kes either.  Perhaps the monks can help...

"Sacred Ground" starts off on the wrong foot for me.  Sadly, this sort of thing happens in the real world all the time: well-meaning but stupid travelers wander somewhere they're not supposed to, experience terrible mishap, then demand the locals fix it.  Let's not mince words, either.  It's typically white travelers treating the non-white world as their playground, shocked when they have to pay the price for ignoring very sensible warnings from the locals.  At best, it's obnoxious.  At worst, it's colonialist.  As such, I have little sympathy for the Voyager crew in their initial reaction to the predicament.  Sorry, but Kes should have known better.  Her stupidity or, more kindly, naïveté is not the Nechani's fault.

Fortunately, I felt better by the time the real point of the story became clear.  "Sacred Ground" is all about getting over yourself and accepting the fact that not all understanding comes from rational thought.  The episode gets mixed reviews, some saying it's among Voyager's worst.  Others are more charitable.  Despite my early annoyance, I'm inclined towards the latter.

At first, Janeway is all confidence and swagger: no problem, I'll knock out whatever silly tasks they have for me right after I finish my ninth cup of coffee.  But when doing that doesn't get her what she wants, she has to reconsider her own approach.  She must accept that science can't solve everything.  The answer she seeks is in the spiritual world.  She must take a leap of faith.

Yes, there's ultimately a scientific answer but that's not the deeper message here.  I'll admit to being science-first myself but we all know there are plenty of questions in the universe that have yet to be answered by empirical evidence and never will be.  Furthermore, humility often offers a path forward which the arrogant never find.

One more thing: frequent visitors may have noticed that I am always on the look out for connections between Star Trek and Star Wars.  Janeway's initial encounter with her guide was quite similar to Luke's introduction to Yoda, even involving fussing over a light fixture.  Of course, the trope of mistaking a sage - or even God - for an annoying commoner predates both franchises by thousands of years.  Grimm's fairy tales, for instance, offer numerous examples.  

Worth noting, Janeway's default attitude towards someone she did not at first consider worthy of her time did little to endear me to the story in its early stages.

LEGO

Our family Christmas present this year was LEGO's new USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D set along with the free accompanying Shuttlecraft set.  The big set is 3600 pieces and it took us several days.  In total, the two sets include ten NextGen characters - eleven if you count Data's cat, Spot.

Riker's trombone marks the first time the instrument has been included in any LEGO set.

The Enterprise-D crew

Data and Spot

The completed project

Ensign Ro and her shuttlecraft

An away mission to a planet with giant birds

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Becky Ann Baker played the role of Janeway's guide.  Baker was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky, February 17, 1953.  She graduated from Western Kentucky University.

For the more fortunate of my generation at least, Becky Ann Baker is probably best remembered as Jean Weir, mother to Lindsay and Sam, on Freaks and Geeks.  I say fortunate because despite only running for 18 episodes, F&G is considered by quite a lot of us to be one of the best shows in the history of television.  Seriously, do yourself a favor and go watch it now.  Imagine John Hughes movies, only better.  In the United States, it's available on several streaming services, including kanopy which you may be able to access for free through your local library.  Binge it all.  You'll thank me later.

Fortunately, several of the people involved, including producer Judd Apatow and actors Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Seth Rogan and Jason Segel went on to great success after the show was cancelled.  Getting back to Baker...

After F&G, Baker had a recurring role on Girls (also produced by Apatow) which earned her an Emmy nomination.  Guest appearances include L.A. Law, Frasier and Sex and the City.  Films include In & Out, Nights in Rodanthe and Hope Springs.

Star Trek: ...Nor the Battle to the Strong

Episode: "...Nor the Battle to the Strong"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 4

Original Air Date: October 21, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Jake Sisco tags along with Dr. Bashir to a medical conference, hoping to find an interesting story to write about.  Instead, the story finds him.  During the return journey, they receive a distress call from Ajilon Prime where a Federation colony is under attack by the Klingons.  Reluctantly, in light of the danger he would be putting Jake in, Bashir heads down to help the medical staff.  In what feels more like a M*A*S*H battalion aid station episode than Star Trek, Jake gets far more material than he bargained for.

Was it not just a couple episodes ago that I wrote about DS9's frankness regarding the horrors of war?  "...Nor the Battle to the Strong" is the roughest, most intimate example.  The writers drew heavily from literary classics: Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, Erich Maria Remarch's All Quiet on the Western Front and, most extensively, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.  The episode title comes from Ecclesiastes 9:11.

It's worth nothing that at this late stage of the series, Jake Sisko, who because of child labor limitations has had by far the least material among the principals, is the central character for two of of the best episodes so far: this one and "The Visitor."  While Tony Todd did most of the heavy lifting in the earlier story, it's all on 18-year old Cedric Lofton this time.  It represents a major step forward for the character, too.  Most Jake stories - even "The Visitor" - had been framed within the context of his relationship with his father.  This time, he's a young man out on his own - a very young man.  

18.  In 2026, we still send 18-year-olds to the battlefield as professional soldiers.  All of the fear, confusion and guilt we watch Jake endure would be perfectly understandable for someone twice his age, particularly for one with zero previous military or medical training.  I and most of the people who are likely to read this have only ever experienced or even considered war from a great distance and thank goodness for that.  I expect the same is true for most Star Trek fans.  

Though other stories have had hints, no Trek episode has ever come anywhere near war with comparable personal intensity either before or, honestly, since.  Yes, there has been death, pain, injury and recovery.  But nothing like this.  It was a one-shot deal and for my money, they did it right.

Food Notes

There isn't much levity in "...Nor the Battle to the Strong" but we do get a little in the beginning of Act One as Quark makes an attempt at creating a decaffeinated raktajino:

Acting Notes

via Criminal Minds Wiki

Andrew Kavovit played the role of Kirby, an orderly at the battlefield hospital.  Kavovit was born in the Bronx, July 19, 1971.  He was only 25 himself and a young-looking 25 at that.  The script called for an actor not much older than Jake, a more worldly-wise mirror for our naïve hero.  

Kavovit was a genuine soap opera star, playing Paul Ryan on As the World Turns from 1986-91, winning a Daytime Emmy in 1990.  He also had a principal role on The Magnificent Seven TV series.  Guest appearances include Full House, My So-Called Life and Married... with Children.

Star Trek: Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places

Episode: "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 3

Original Air Date: October 14, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Grilka, Quark's Klingon ex-wife, arrives on the station.  Quark wants to sleep with her.  Worf is deeply impressed by her, too, but alas his family dishonor puts him out of the running.  Instead, he agrees to help Quark woo her.  Meanwhile, Miles and Kira, the live-in surrogate mother of his child, are growing too close for comfort.

Star Trek can get pretty heavy.  Every once in a while, we need a story that's just flat out funny.  L4piAtWP delivers.  The story is a Cyrano de Bergerac send up.  The exploration of Klingon mating rituals alone is worth the price of admission.  And the Cyrano character (Worf) gets the girl.  But it's a different girl from the one he initially had in mind.  Dax seduces him, the beginning of an important DS9 romance.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

On top of everything else, we get the return of an original series guest star: Joseph Ruskin.  This time, he is Tumek, Grilka's advisor, his second appearance in the role.  In TOS's "The Gamesters of Treskelion," he was Galt.  Overall, Ruskin had six different Trek roles over four different series and a movie.

Ruskin was born Joseph Richard Schlafman in Haverhill, Massachusetts, April 14, 1924.  He served in the Navy before studying at Carnegie Mellon.  Other television appearances include Mission: Impossible, The Twilight Zone and Hogan's Heroes.  Films include The Magnificent Seven, Prizzi's Honor and Indecent Proposal.  

Raskin was on the board of the Screen Actors Guild for 23 years.  He passed away in 2013.  

Star Trek: False Profits

Episode: "False Profits"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 5

Original Air Date: October 2, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Our friends stumble upon a pair of Ferengi who have taken over the economy of a primitive planet.  We've met these guys before.  In NextGen's "The Price," Arridor and Kol were lost in an unstable wormhole to the Delta Quadrant.  Apparently, they found a nice spot to make the best of things.  And here again is the same wormhole.  Could it be a quick route home for Voyager?

The idea for "False Profits" is fantastic.  It provides an interesting test of the Prime Directive, too.  How does non-interference jive with the colonialist enterprises of other warp-capable civilizations?  We want our heroes to be the good guys here but are they bending their own rules to do so?  Probably.  So be it.

The entire Ferengi narrative concept had come a long way since "The Price," seven years and 266 episodes ago.  When first introduced in TNG, the plan was for the Ferengi to become Starfleet's primary antagonist, a pretty clear message from the producers: free enterprise (pun intended) is the real enemy.  Hell, I can get on board with that.  The older I get, the more convinced I become that capitalism is total bullshit.

But it didn't work out.  They came across as silly.  No subtlety at all - just greed.  The Klingons and Romulans had always been portrayed as respectable enemies.  There was nothing admirable about the Ferengi.

But then we got to know a few of them in Deep Space Nine.  Quark is a swindler, to be sure, but a swindler with dimension and vulnerability.  Nog is obnoxious but we get to watch him grow into decency and perspective.  Then there's Rom, the Ferengi with a heart of gold.

Unfortunately, "False Profits" feels like a slide back.  No more charm.  They're just greedy little gremlins again.  

The best part of the story comes at the very end when the wormhole shortcut is snatched away from the Voyager crew.  In just a few seconds, we watch a wordless drama play out on Captain Janeway's face: devastation, then recovering only partway to resignation but enough to gain her composure and lead on.  Beautifully done.

Acting Notes

via TRON Wiki

Dan Shor reprised his role as Arridor from "The Price" whereas Kol was recast - J.R. Quinonez originally, Leslie Jordan in "False Profits."  Shor was born in Brooklyn, November 16, 1956.  He studied at the City College of New York and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.  His films include Wise Blood, Strange Behavior and Tron.  He will always be best remembered by my generation as Billy the Kid in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

via Be Excellent to Each Other

Star Trek: Apocalypse Rising

Episode: "Apocalypse Rising"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 1

September 30, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Season 4 ended with a cliffhanger: Odo believes Gowron, Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, is a Changeling.  As Season 5 begins, Sisko leads O'Brien, Odo and Worf on an undercover mission - all disguised as Klingons - to expose Gowron in hopes of preventing war.  

"Apocalypse Rising" is fun for many reasons.  The basic political intrigue story is excellent with plenty of insight into Klingon warrior culture provided.  Michael Dorn was delighted to watch his colleagues suffer through the Klingon makeup process (though Rene Auberjonois claimed he preferred it to the Odo makeup).  Perhaps most importantly for the long term, the story introduces Martok, yet another stellar recurring character who will bring plenty of value to the operation over the next three seasons.

Evidently, the Paramount people didn't like the Klingon War storyline and encouraged the DS9 creatives to get back to the Dominion War they preferred.  "Apocalypse Rising" provides the transition from one to the other.

There's a wonderful exchange between Kira and Bashir in which she blames him for her surrogate pregnancy with the O'Brien's baby.  It's an in-joke, you see.  Nana Visitor was, in fact, pregnant with Alexander Seddig's child.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

John German (J.G.) Hertzler (Martok) was born in Savannah, Georgia, March 18, 1950.  He was an Air Force brat and therefore moved a lot as a child: Missouri, Texas, Morocco and mostly the Washington, DC area.  He went to Bucknell as an undergrad where he played football and discovered theater.  Later he got a Master's at the University of Maryland in set design.  He worked for the Nixon Administration for a time in the National Environmental Policy Act.

Hertzler has extensive stage credentials in DC, San Francisco and New York.  Early films include The Redeemer: Son of Satan and And Justice for All.  Television guest appearances include Quantum Leap, Six Feet Under and Roswell.  He was a regular on the early '90s Zorro series.  

Hertzler will likely always be best remembered as Martok, who, in one guise or another, accounts for 26 of his Trek appearances.  In total, he made appearances as twelve different characters over four different series.  He has also written two Star Trek novels: The Left Hand of Destiny, Books One and Two.  

The environmental cause has proven to be a lifelong passion.  Largely on the strength of a pro-environment platform, Hertzler won election to the town council in Ulysses, New York.  In 2016, he endorsed Bernie Sanders for President.  In 2018, Hertzler ran for Congress but ultimately withdrew before the election.

Star Trek: The Swarm

Episode: "The Swarm"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 4

Original Air Date: September 25, 1996

via Memory Alpha

The Doctor is losing his memory.  Most alarming, he's forgetting his medical programming but he's also forgetting his more personal experiences on Voyager.  Fortunately, there's a diagnostic program for the EMH on the holodeck, including a holographic Lewis Zimmerman, the man who created the Doctor in his own image.  Meanwhile, Captain Janeway and her crew must find their way through the territory of beings who don't take kindly to the intrusion.

"The Swarm" is pretty solid, the second Voyager writing credit for Michael Sussman who penned the excellent "Meld" for Season 2.  Obviously, it's a meaningful vehicle for the Doctor.  We learn he's developed a love for opera, performing La Boheme on the holodeck.  We get to know his creator better.  We are reminded of his considerable growth since the beginning of the series.  It is also a great story for Kes, the ultimate hero of the tale.  She cares for her holographic friend deeply and she's a strong advocate for his rights and well-being throughout.  The episode was written as an Alzheimer's allegory and Kes was excellent in the caretaker role.

I'm likely to get a bit wistful regarding Kes throughout Season 3...

The ethical dilemma of whether or not to travel though another society's air space is meaningful.  As Tuvok points out, doing so is a violation of Starfleet directives.  Neither for the first time nor the last, Janeway plays the "we're a long way from Starfleet right now" card, prioritizing the long-term well-being of her ship and crew.  The dilemma presents a genuinely interesting long-term question regarding Voyager's entire premise.  Does the crew's situation exempt them from Starfleet regulations?  A purist would say no.  But goodness knows, Star Trek would be a lot less fun if the captain(s) never bent or broke the rules, right?  That's kinda the point of it all.  Weigh all of the strong arguments, then make the call.  The Starfleet brass always seem to forgive them in the end.

A note for Mulgrew: a few times in the episode, we see a slanted smile.  It happens enough that one imagines it was a conscious choice.  Unfortunately, whatever the intent, it lands as patronizing and even aloof, particularly in a tense situation.  Hopefully, the directors/producers told her it wasn't working.  I'll keep an eye out for it in future episodes. 

Acting Notes

via Scrubs Wiki

Carole Davis played the role of Giusseppina Pentangelli, a fictitious 22nd century soprano, Mimì to the Doctor's Rodolfo in the holographic opera.  Davis doesn't get much screen time - a shame because she's a lot of fun, really playing the "diva" energy to the hilt.  I can't find any indication one way or the other as to whether they used her actual singing voice in the episode.  (They did use Picardo's.) Davis is a singer, even had a dance hit with "Serious Money" in the '80s.  However, I don't know if she has classical training.  It would seem a shame not to cast the real deal for such a small part but we've all seen stranger.

Davis was born in London, February 17, 1958.  After a successful modeling career, she hit the big screen in 1982 with Piranha II: The Spawning.  She also made appearances in The Flamingo Kid and Mannequin.  Other television credits include The A-Team, Sex and the City and Angel.  

Davis was pals with Prince and even has co-writing credit on one of his songs: "Slow Love."  She's an accomplished writer as well, boasting articles for The Jewish Journal, American Dog Magazine and Newsvine.