Random Thoughts On... Similarities Between the Star Trek and Alien Movie Franchises

hen I was re-watching the Alien films, I was reminded of Star Trek a lot more than usual. Yeah, they both take place in the future and in outer space, but they are light years different. Trek’s an optimistic future where humanity’s got their crap together. The Alien franchise is so dour with corporations and the military doing really shady stuff. In fact, it's kinda today! Anyway, this one thought led me down a bit of a rabbit hole, and I ended up finding more similarities between the two franchises. Now, I’m mainly talking about the Trek movies from that time, not the many series. So, excuse me as I go down this weird rabbit hole I’ve created for myself. 

Star Trek: The Motion Picture/Alien

 

While there aren’t too many similarities, they are there:  

• The Plot - both plots are kinda similar. Both movies involved their respective crews going up against unknown life forms that endanger them and others. Of course, you can’t compare a simple Xenomorph to the behemoth of a ship called V’Ger, but they were threats that the crews of the Enterprise and Nostromo had to deal with.One Enterprise member gets taken over by V’Ger while John Hurt’s character (I can’t remember his name) becomes the Alien franchise’s first Xenomorph host. 
• The Effects - One of the things I really noticed about both films is how they were both influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both movies take measures showing how big and vast these ships and space is. They try to show off the coolness and relatability of this tech. They also kind of linger on these effects a little too much. Alien doesn’t do it as much as TMP did. It’s one of the reasons TMP is considered to be a bad movie. 
• The Composer - Jerry Goldsmith composed both films and did a tremendous job on both. I’d say that TMP’s score is more memorable for me since I basically grew up on the TOS movies, but the Alien score is pretty solid. 

Tales from The Trade! - Star Trek: Godshock

During a trip to Nashville back in 2023, I decided to stop by my old comic stomping grounds, The Great Escape, off of Charlette Ave. Even though my comic buying has gone down in the last couple years, I still try to make time for the hobby. Making time to read said comics is another thing altogether. Anyway, I was perusing some of the new stuff, and a recent Star Trek trade popped out to me. The hardcover had a few Trek characters, most notably, Captain Benjamin LaFayette Sisko. You know I had to get this, man!!!

At the end of 2022, IDW started to release a new Star Trek comic that featured a lot of notable characters from the franchise with Captain Sisko being the lead. It even has a sister series called Star Trek: Defiant which features a few other popular characters. Since Trek continuity is pretty busy these days, they had it take place a couple of years after the end of DS9 and before Star Trek: Nemesis. “Godshock” contains the first 6 issues of the series. It’s being written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing who I don’t know too much about. The artwork is being done by a few like Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudakov, Joe Eisma, and Erik Tamayo. So, what happens when someone is killing “gods?”

 

Star Trek: Godshock

Writers: Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing

Artists: Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudakov, Joe Eisma, and Erik Tamayo

Colors: Lee Loughridge

Letters: Clayton Cowles

 

TV Talk - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Well, it’s been a while. It’s been pretty busy over here in the House of Williams. We’ve been preparing for a wedding (September, y’all!), raising a son, and doing a lot of work in general. Writing here isn’t the big priority it once was. Heck, it wasn’t that much of a priority to begin with, but I somehow found time to get something out. I still haven’t finished Discovery or even got past the first episode of Picard Season 2. So, how did I skip all of that and watch all ten episodes of Strange New Worlds? I guess the power of Anson Mount’s hair has no bounds. Also, it was pretty dang good!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds pretty much carries off from where Season 2 of Discovery left it. Folk were so enamored with Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike that CBS made a show around him. One of the best things about Season 2 were Pike and Bearded Spock, so I can’t blame them. It would be a bit of a long wait, but we finally got to see the Enterprise return in all its glory in Spring of 2022. We not only got the return of the original Enterprise crew (Pike, Spock, Number One), but we also got to see younger versions of characters from TOS. I’ll get to them later.

Strange New Worlds (SNW?) takes place about a year after Season 2 of Discovery. Even though he’s reeling from some the events of Discovery Season 2, Pike is tasked by Uncle Phil—I mean, Admiral Robert April, to command the Enterprise again. After the Enterprise saves one of their crew members on a pre-warp world, they start their adventure into the unknown. They face a variety of new worlds as well as some familiar races.

Favorites - 15 Favorite Black Characters in Sci-Fi

The science fiction genre has given us a crapton of characters to follow and root for. When it comes Black folk, it gets a little tough. You may see one or even two of us running around or being a side piece somewhere. Even when you see one of us playing a character, they’re sometimes playing an alien. Just guess why you won’t see someone like Guinan, Worf, and Tuvok from Star Trek or Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy. I could make a case for Teal’C from Stargate: SG-1 since he is technically human, but I’ll leave him off this one. It gives me a chance to look for other characters outside of these big sci-fi franchises.

So, here are my favorite black characters in the genre. One limitation I gave myself was that I wouldn’t include any superheroes on this list, so no Storm or John Stewart. I actually made a list similar to this years ago, and I wanted to look in other places where there are some cool characters. I might break that rule for a couple, but I’ll only go so far. As usual, it’s a bit of a random list, but I’ll put my favorites up top. You only can guess who’ll be first.

Weird Trek Episodes - Patterns of Force aka "Why did you use Nazi Germany for your system, you Idiot?

Next up for the month is a return to the OG series for Star Trek. Current events got me wondering about this episode. No, I’m not saying that America is looking like Nazi Germany, okay? With everything going on, I thought I might revisit this one. I needed to break the pattern of “Look at Social Media and be Disappointed by People.” I don’t know what I can add to the conversation other that “F###, f###, f###, and S###,” so I’ll just like and comment a couple of things. Besides, everyone else is saying good things, and for that, I’m glad.

“Patterns of Force” came from the show’s second season. It’s not their best season, but it did have some pretty good episodes. We start out with the Enterprise heading to the planet Ekos to pick up history observer John Gill. I’d make a Johnny Gill reference, but I’ll hold off for now. After they wonder why a rocket was shot from the planet, Kirk and Spock beam down in disguise. Ekos’s technology is similar to 20^th century Earth. What our heroes find is that it’s too similar to 20^th century Earth because they find soldiers dressed up as Nazis.

Weird Star Trek Episodes - Schisms aka "Alien Abductions Galore!"

Well, it’s Star Wars day, and I’m talking about a TNG episode… yeah, I’m that guy. Honestly, I would’ve done a post on the 7th season on Clone Wars (it just ended today), but I’ll wait on that. I might as well start off Sci-fi Month with my favorite sci-fi franchise. Tonight, it’s Star Trek’s version of an alien abduction episode… yeah, Trek’s done those, but this is a little different. It’s from the sixth season of the show.

The episode starts off with life on the Enterprise-D drumming along. Riker’s a bit restless, and it doesn’t help that Data has decided to host a poetry session in 10-Forward. “Ode to Spot” is definitely a classic. Also, Geordi is also making modifications to the sensor array. Things start to feel off on the ship when other members start to feel restless and a little paranoid. Riker, Geordi, Worf, and others feel like something’s off. Even Data’s been screwed with, and all this comes as they find a weird anomaly in Cargo Bay 4.

You know it's bad because Riker has issues when the hair is razzled.

Weird Star Trek Episodes - The Icarus Factor aka "Daddy Issues With a Dose of THE EVOLUTION OF THE MARTIAL ARTS!"

"Whoever wins this round of American Gladiators will run through The Eliminator!"

Next up for the month, I thought I’d revisit the Star Trek universe to see what fighting goes on over there. Yeah, the Federation may be a utopia where humanity has ascended into greatness or whatever that juice Picard was drinking during TNG’s first season. Oh yeah, that reminds me… someone’s coming back to TV this week! That’ll be exciting, but let me get this out of the way first.

“The Icarus Factor” was a Season 2 episode from TNG. Things were admittedly better in this season, but the show wasn’t there yet. Some changes occurred like Geordi and Worf getting promotions, Riker getting that awesome beard, and the ship getting a new doctor that barely any fans like. Dr. Pulaski was… ‘aight, but I see why folk hate her. She took some getting used to. This episode also introduces a couple of things: Anbo-jitsu (THE ULTIMATE EVOLUTION IN THE MARTIAL ARTS… and yeah, I’m putting that in caps), and Klingon painsticks.

Weird Star Trek Episodes - Impulse aka "Twilight of the Dead(?)!"

Well, Halloween is upon us, and the usual “Look at Somewhat Scary Things” has started. Let’s face it, “Look at Somewhat Scary Things” has been a thing this year if you look at the state of the world. Anyway, I’m not here to talk about what Lafreeze, the Orange Lantern is doing today. I wanted to find and look at some horror-themed Star Trek episodes. There aren’t many unfortunately. If I hadn’t talked about Enterprise’s “Resurrection” a few years back, that would be a contender. I then remembered that Star Trek tried to do zombies at some point, so I set out to watch that.

"Impulse" is the 5^th episode from Season 3 of Star Trek: Enterprise. This is where the show started to take a turn for the better with its season-long Xindi arc. At this point, Earth gets attacked by a new race called the Xindi. Starfleet sends the Enterprise into the Delphic Expanse, the region of space where the Xindi live. It also a region that has weird space anomalies, and this is something that the Vulcans have experienced. They lost a couple of ships in there and what they saw through ship logs was pretty disturbing.

Weird Star Trek Episodes - Endgame aka "All Good Things... Version 2.0"

Young Janeway: Are our uniforms going to look that bad?

Old Janeway: Well... yes. If there's one bad thing "All Good Things..." brought into existence, it's this crappy uniform!

All this talk about the Game of Thrones final episode has got me thinking about other final episodes. Last episodes tend to range from “what the heck was that crap” to “that was pretty good.” Even some of the best shows end up having a bad ending. I’ve never watched Dexter, but that’s one that gets thrown around a lot. Sci-fi franchises have also felt this. For every “All Good Things…,” you’ll get a “These are the Voyages….” This stuff just tends to be random. Then, there are the ones that just “whelm” you. They’re not good nor or are they bad. In Star Trek’s case: it’s one thing: “Endgame.”

No, this doesn’t involve Captain Janeway flinging Mjolnir at the Borg Queen because that would be too cool. “Endgame” was the series finale for Star Trek: Voyager and it aired May 21, 2001. At this point, I was catching up with the show through reruns on UPN. We only had the station for about a year, so I didn’t start watching VOY properly until the end of the sixth season. We even got a few surprises in the finale like Alice Krige reprising her role as the Borg Queen. I know I liked this back when I first saw it, but why did have a whelming feeling when I saw this a couple of years ago?

Trek Novels - Star Trek: The Captain's Table Book 4 - Fire Ship

“Today’s post is the start at a look at an anthology series that was released throughout 1998 called 'The Captain’s Table.' The basic premise is that there is a special bar called The Captain’s Table and captains of all sorts come and relax for a bit. Six books looked at the different captains at that time… I’m going to try to look each book during the next few months…” 

So... I really got behind on this one. I think I started reading it sometime last year, but other stuff got in the way. Next, I lost track of the dang thing. When I finally got around to finishing it, let's just say that  it took longer than I thought it would take. So, Game of Thrones has come to an end. While I’ve only seen one episode and bits and pieces, I’ve enjoyed all the furor that’s been said about the last season. It’s even making me want to revisit something that’s related to the book I’m talking about today. I’ll probably talk about that later this week, though. I’m still not that interested in seeing more  GOT especially since I have a lot of other things I want to see.

I haven’t read too many Voyager novels. While I do have a couple, I haven’t gotten to them yet. Today’s pick is Fire Ship from The Captain’s Table collection. As you can tell by the cover, it’s all about Captain Kathryn Janeway, someone who’s not exactly one of my favorite characters. I think I know why it took so long to get to this one. The book is written by Diane Carey, who I almost got mistaken for Diane Duane, another Trek novelist. Carey’s done quite a few Trek novels, and some were even novelizations of episodes. It’s not stated when it takes place, but I looked online and it says that it takes place right before the episodes, “Year of Hell.”

TV Talk - Star Trek: Discovery Season 2

Well, it’s that time of the year where I get to gush (?) a bit on sci-fi related stuff. I don’t know where a bounty hunter looking for a rouge Jedi fits on that list, but I can fit it on there, dang it! Before I get to the thing that may have wrecked my wrist, I think it’s time for some more Star Trek.

If I remember correctly, Star Trek: Discovery didn’t start out well. While I liked the first season, I’ll admit that it had some pretty big problems. While you’d think I’d itch and moan about its canonicity (is that a word?), the fact that the suits looked different was the least of its issues. At the end of Season 1, we got an inkling of something cool: the original USS Enterprise (Constellation-class, by the way). Yeah, it was updated a bit, but my baby looked good! During the break, we got more behind-the-scene stuff coming out. Honestly, I mostly blocked most of it out, but the whole thing about the writers was pretty messed up. When it started to air on All Access, I was in for it all especially since they took no breaks this time.

Now this is what I call a remix!

The biggest news that came out of the break was that we’d be seeing some old characters return. It was revealed that Anson Mount would be playing Captain Christopher Pike and that he would be a major part of the series. I had only seen Mount on Inhumans, so I didn’t know what to expect. We also found out that Spock would be around and he would be played by Ethan Peck, the grandson of actor Gregory Peck. I think everyone was worried about this one since we got another one in the iconic role. We also got an inkling that things could start to look more familiar. Did they succeed in making a better season?

So, where has Burnham gotten herself this time?

Season 2 starts off right after the end of Season 1. Since the USS Enterprise is somehow damaged, Capt. Christopher Pike is given temporary control of the USS Discovery. His mission is to investigate seven time anomalies that have recently sprung up across the galaxy. He also reveals to Michael Burnham that her adoptive brother, Spock, has gone on leave for some reason. It gets revealed (pretty early so it really ain’t a spoiler) that Spock is somehow connected to these anomalies and something called “The Red Angel.” We then get a season that searches for answers, displays fan service, makes explosions, tells some dang good stories, gives us an awesome captain in Pike, sticks to the freakin’ landing in the end, and does annoy me in some places. This is a second season Trek, after all.

Favorites - Favorite Star Trek Episodes Involving Time Travel

Well, this didn’t take long to put together. As I said in my last list, Star Trek made time travel into a fine art. All of the series (even Discovery) have conducted in some time travel. While most of the episodes tend to be good, some of them tend to be the best the franchise ever produced. Trek has pretty much run the gamut with these stories, so finding 15 of them would be hard to do. I was going to try and rank them, but that ain’t happening. I will put my favorite up top though. If I leave one off, just know that it’s just my opinion.

1. TNG’s “All Good Things…”

I might as well start the list off with one of the best last episodes ever. It’s also a good time travel episode. In the episode, Captain Picard is somehow being transported between the past, present, and future. While the past sequence should be familiar to fans of the first season, the future is something else. It is the future, after all. I won’t spoil anything here but he does find out who caused it and why it’s happening. It ties into someone he met during the first season. It’s truly one of the best.

2. Star Trek: DS9’s “Trials and Tribble-lations”

It’s the meeting of two crews, sort of. The episode takes place during the fifth season of the show. In it, Someone uses an orb of the Prophets to send The USS Defiant to the 23rd century during TOS’s “The Trouble With Tribbles.” In order to find out who is behind it and keep the timeline safe, the crew has to integrate itself into the crew of the 23rd century. They literally go all out on this. The scenes where the DS9 crew interacts with the TOS crew are pretty cool and still hold up now. It’s an episode that honors both eras of Trek.

3. Star Trek’s “City on the Edge of Forever”

This is considered to be one of the best episodes from franchise and it’s easy to see why. In the episode, the Enterprise finds the Guardian of Forever, a sentient time portal. When a crazed McCoy goes back in time and changes history, Kirk and Spock must go back and set things right. Things get a little complicated when they find out what they need to do, though. It’s an episode that has both Kirk and Spock at their best. It also has a nice but tragic romance. It’s definitely one of the best from the series and the franchise as a whole.

4. Star Trek: First Contact

This was the 8th movie from the franchise and the second one involving the TNG crew. In the movie, the Borg try to take over Earth by going back into the year 2063. The Enterprise-E follows them and does what it can to stop them. Not only does the crew have to stop the Borg, they need to help Earth achieve first contact with aliens. It’s part “Borg Shoot ‘Em Up” mixed with running into “great” men from history. It revamps the Borg in good ways and bad (The Borg Queen is okay). The crew itself and the folk from the past also make it a good watch.

TV Talk - Star Trek: Discovery Season 1

Sarek: So, what do you think?

Michael: Well, you're not half-bad.

Sarek: I am not talking about my new body. I am talking about the show.

Michael: Well... it's not too bad.

You know, I thought I was done. I thought that we had probably seen the last of new Star Trek on TV. Since then, there have been constant re-watches of Trek on TV and online. Thankfully, I was glad to be somewhat wrong. Considering how this show has been viewed, I'm not sure for everyone else feels that way, though. In 2015, it was announced that we would be getting another Star Trek TV series. We found out that it would be set in the regular Trek universe (the Prime Timeline) and that Nicholas Meyer (the director of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) would be involved. Bryan Fuller, a pretty popular producer, was also the showrunner.

As time went on, we started to get more news about the show. We found out that the show would revolve around a Lt. Commander. We also found things may look more different than we thought. It didn't exactly sound good since it seemed like the show could be another reboot. Also add the fact that it would be exclusive to a new streaming service called CBS All-Access in the US while the rest of the world would get it on Netflix. Then, add the fact that stuff was going on with the higher-ups with the show. For example, Bryan Fuller stepped down (or was let go?) from being the showrunner.

Finally, we saw footage... cue the rage and love. I think the phrase "millions of voices screamed out in terror" could fit but it really wasn't that bad. It seemed that opinions were all over the place. I was just waiting to see it. Anyway, the show premiered on CBS (only the first two episodes) and CBS All-Access on September 24th, 2017. We got 15 episodes spread out between September 2017 and February 2018. I actually waited until the first seven episodes were out before I joined another streaming service.

Star Trek: Discovery takes place a decade before Captain Kirk's five-year mission began. It revolves around Michael Burnham, a female commander who was raised on Vulcan by Sarek after her parents were killed by Klingons. Her actions ignite a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Without spoiling too much, Burnham is invited by Captain Gabriel Lorca of the USS Discovery to join his ship and help win the war. The series goes down a rabbit hole full of twists, turns, reinterpretations of existing material, and Harry Mudd.

Trek Novels - Star Trek: The Captain's Table Book 3 - The Mist

“Today’s post is the start at a look at an anthology series that was released throughout 1998 called 'The Captain’s Table.' The basic premise is that there is a special bar called The Captain’s Table and captains of all sorts come and relax for a bit. Six books looked at the different captains at that time… I’m going to try to look each book during the next few months…”

1 Year, a few months, and some days later…

So, I really lapsed on this one. If there’s anyone out there who was wondering about my opinion on the rest of the books, I’m sorry. This little series got away from me. I guess I needed a break from Trek books since I hadn’t read many for a while. After reading this one, I can kind of see why I needed that break.

Today’s book is the third one from the series and it features Captain Benjamin Sisko. I guess I needed to get another fictional hero in for Black History Month and Sisko perfectly fits that position. It was written by husband/wife duo Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Smith was one of the writers who came up with the concept of this extradimensional bar. While Sisko’s time in the bar took place sometime during Season 6, his story took place a few months before the Cardassians joined the Dominion. So, what would make a former Cardassian space station disappear into another dimension?

Star Trek: The Captain’s Table – The Mist
Writers: Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch

BRIEF BLURB: Captain Sisko is forced to take a break from the Dominion War by Dr. Bashir. He heads to Bajor and finds the Captain’s Table. There, he tells a story about how his crew encountered a legendary species called The Mist.

Random Thoughts #47 - "2017... Need I Say More?"

Wow, it looks like both franchises have another thing in common: ticking off longtime fans.

Well, it's the last post of the year. I could say "good riddance" to 2017, but that would be a lie. Yeah, it wasn't perfect, but there was good in this year. Right now, I'm on break from work. I've been catching on some things I haven't done yet, resting, contemplating life, and freezing. Yeah, the South is definitely getting hit with winter! So, join me in another edition of Random Thoughts.

Random Thoughts On... Star Trek: New Frontier Books One through Four

Well, I’m to my last post for the Sci-Fi Month... and it’s June 1st. At least I have an excuse with the trip and my time at the Renaissance Festival. As usual, it’s been cool getting back to doing regular posts. There were a couple of things I couldn’t get to, though.  Since I’ve touched on all the current Trek shows and movies, I think my last post should look at a lesser known crew: the crew of the USS Excalibur.

Some time ago, I talked about the first book to Peter David’s Star Trek: New Frontier series. For those who don’t know, Peter David and John J. Ordver put together a concept about a crew that wasn’t tied to what was going on in the movies and TV. At that time, DS9 and Voyager were on. You also had the TNG movies. David took a few unused characters from TNG and mingled them in with new characters of his own. David has had written them in novel form and even comic book form. From what I can tell, it’s actually still continuing. The latest book (an eBook) was released in 2015.

I don’t remember where I first heard about the series. It may have been on Two True Freaks but I’m not sure. All I know is when I read the first book, I really got hooked into checking them all out. Unfortunately, I haven’t done much of that reading. I stopped after reading the fifth book in 2014… sorry, Pete. I did lose a little interest since I was trying to find them all. Since there’s already so much stuff to see and read, they got literally put in the closet to make for more book space. I want to get back on this horse eventually, so I just want to talk about the first four books in the series.

Random Thoughts #45 - Thoughts on Star Trek: Discovery

So, after much delay (literally), we’ve finally seen a glimpse of the newest Star Trek show, Star Trek: Discovery. I thought I’d give some thoughts on it. I gotta say that I wasn’t that excited about the show. Heck, I didn’t even know if the show would even be produced. All the behind-the-scenes rumors about the show definitely didn’t paint a good picture. Then, add the fact that Bryan Fuller, a pretty popular showrunner and Trek alumni, left the show. Top it all off with the show being exclusive to CBS’s new streaming service and you have something that may not work.

After seeing the trailer, I’m still unsure about this series. I can say that it all looks pretty cinematic from the planet scenes to the stuff on the ship (don’t remember what it’s called). I can’t say too much about the whole cast, but Sonequa Martin-Green looks fine as the first officer. I wonder if she’s half-Vulcan or has a Vulcan background. That part with Sarek was kind of interesting. I like that the series is going down another path by focusing on someone other than the captain. We also got a nice look at Doug Jones’s alien character. He looked pretty good.

Now, there are the things I’m worried about. It’s supposed to be set 10 years before TOS but things look too different. The ships and uniforms look pretty different. It’s supposed to be set in the Prime (the original) universe, but it looks like it could take place in the reboot’s universe. There’s also the look of the Klingons. They almost look like a new species but I will say it's kind of cool. This is only a teaser, so we don’t have the whole story behind the changes. Hopefully, the production team cares enough to explain some of the changes.

There’s also the fact that most Star Trek doesn’t have a glowing record when it comes to first seasons. Outside of TOS, Season One tends to be not a great time. Hopefully, the writing, the action, and the acting is on point. We ain’t so forgiving on shows these days. Then, there’s the whole streaming thing. I’ve heard that All Access is $5.99 a month which isn’t that bad. Still, it seems like overkill for CBS make us pay to see it. What’s worse is that outside the US, the show’s being streamed on Netflix. What the heck happened there?

In the end, I will check out the pilot of the show. It’s airing on CBS in the Fall, so I and many others will get a taste of it. I have no expectations right now. Until we see more, I think we all should go into this show with that mindset. Well, that’s all I got for now. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and chill folks... chill.

Oh yeah, to those complaining about the diversity: have you seen Star Trek? I know it's mostly trolls, but it is grating.

Trek Novels - Star Trek: The Captain's Table - Dujonian's Hoard

Well, it’s the end… or the beginning of the year and I’ve decided to finally talk about this novel. I don’t know exactly why I took so long with reading this one. I guess it’s because there’s so much out there to do… or it could be I’m lazy. It could also be the book itself but I’ll get to that down below.  For those who don’t remember, I started a look at this small anthology series called The Captain’s Table. It revolves around a weird bar that captains can only enter. Last time, it was Captain Kirk and Captain Sulu. Today, it’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s turn to spin a tale.

Dujonian’s Hoard is written by Michael Jan Friedman. Friedman is no stranger to Trek. Not only had he written some Trek novels, he also wrote comics for the franchise with DC back in the 90’s. I’ve talked about some of the stuff he’s written here. As for when Picard’s visit and story takes place, I can’t tell. No stardates are given. Since events about Season Seven are mentioned, it has to take place after the show and before Star Trek Generations. Either way, it really doesn’t matter too much since the Enterprise actually doesn’t play a role here.

Star Trek: The Captain’s Table – Dujonian’s Hoard

Author: Michael Jan Friedman

BRIEF BLURB: During a conference on Madigoor IV, Captain Picard and a friend visit The Captain’s Table. At the bar, Picard tells some of the patrons a story about a recent undercover mission he took to find a former officer who was looking for a treasure.

25 Favorite Star Trek Characters

Now that I’ve gone through my favorite antagonists of Star Trek, it’s finally time to quickly talk about some of my favorite characters from the franchise. I’m sort of going all out on this one. I decided 25 was a nice number considering we’re in Star Trek’s 50^th anniversary. Of course, I’ll be listing my favorites from the main casts of all shows. I’ll also include some recurring characters that I thought were pretty cool. I won’t be including villains though. I already went through that.

25. Kes - Yes, Kes made it to the list. I did like her over some of the other characters on the show especially Neelix. I will say that her species kind of sucks in the evolutionary hierarchy. A 9-year life span? What’s up with that? Anyway, I liked her for a couple of reasons. She had a nice personality that made her easy to talk to anyone on the crew. I also liked that she had telepathic abilities and that she wasn’t always in control of them. It sucks that she got let go from the show. To me, her character had more potential on the show than a couple others.

24. Deanna Troi - Yeah, I got her on the list too. Even though Counsoler Troi’s role on the Enterprise-D was a little useless at times, I did like her. There were some episodes that revolved around her that I thought were nice. The one where she was surgically altered to be a Romulan (“Face of the Enemy”) was pretty cool. I also liked her rapport and relationship with Will Riker.

23. Jonathan Archer - While Archer was my least favorite captain, he did have some moments to shine for me. By the way, Archer was captain the NX-01 Enterprise. Most of those moments were in the third season during the Xindi arc. He also had some standout moments during the fourth season. Besides, it’s Dr. Sam Beckett in the role. That’ll automatically get me to like the guy somewhat!

22. Martok - Martok was a Klingon commander on DS9. While we got introduced to him in the fourth season, we didn’t get to really know him until the fifth season and afterwards. If there was a Klingon I would say was legitimately cool, it would be Martok. He even beats Worf in that aspect. He was probably also one of the more likable Klingons since he wasn’t too uptight in honor.

Favorite Star Trek Villains Part 2

Hey, all. Here is the rest of the list. As you can probably tell below, there's a reason I split this thing into two parts.

7. The Romulans

The Romulans have been major villains for the franchise since the beginning. They are descended from Vulcans who left the planet long ago to forge a different path. Instead of logic, their prime motive is maintaining their own set of order through any means. They definitely like to spark up trouble especially when it involves the Federation and its allies. Their technology is on even on par with Stafleet’s.

There have been some standout moments involving the Romulans. There was Kirk’s encounter with  a cloaked Romulan ship in “Balance of Terror.” We had the Romulans trying to interrupt the creation of the Federation on Star Trek: Enterprise. Then, there’s all the stuff they did on TNG with the Federation’s relationship with the Klingons. The most standout moment for the Romulans would have to be from the rebooted movies series where a group of them travels back in time and wreck some serious havoc on Starfleet and Vulcan. What Worf said about them is true: “They are without honor.”