In this week’s meeting of the Jeri Ryan Appreciation Society, we watch the most aggressively average Star Trek episode the Randomiser can find, only to discover that there’s still a lot of fun to be had — hilariously sluggish action scenes, a shockingly low-effort Intransigent Alien Race, and some wonderfully subtle and nuanced performances from Ethan Phillips, Tim Russ and Jeri Ryan.
After seven years of thorny space problems and some of the most ingenious space solutions in Starfleet history, what do we have left to learn? Something about tachyon scans and anti-time, inevitably, but also something about the enduring power of love and friendship. Let’s see what’s in here.
Previously, on Star Trek: Discovery: it’s the distant future, the Federation is broken, and isolationism runs rampant. Then, of course, lots of things happen, we make new connections, and find a new purpose. And now, the very noisy conclusion. Explosions! Gunfights! Space battles! There’s plenty of action, but do we find ourselves missing the days when Star Trek was a lot of people talking urgently in rooms?
This week, we discuss one of Star Trek’s most sacred texts — a forty-five minute Ben Sisko soliloquy, in which he saves the galaxy in a trolley problem of Garak’s devising, killing in the process a Romulan Senator, an obnoxious blue guy and at least one really hot Romulan bodyguard. Is this a great episode, a truly great episode, or something else altogether?
Picard and Soji arrive on the planet Nepenthe, where their confusion and self-doubt
are assuaged by the planet’s atmophere, by the love of trustworthy old friends,
and by some really good wood-fired pizza. Meanwhile, Agnes vomits two or three times,
a beloved secondary character is horribly murdered, and a pretty young Romulan
is trapped on a Borg cube with little hope of escape. On balance, we think it’s a win.
An inexplicable terrorist attack on Mars claims tens of thousands of lives. But how to react to it? Do we succumb to panic and fear? Or do we forget our differences and re-commit to our shared values?
The crew of Enterprise encounter the Vissians, a genial and technologically advanced species who enslave three percent of their population and force them to have sex with married couples who wish to conceive their horrible latex-faced children. Surprisingly, we’re generally fine with this. Apart from Trip, who is a good person.
First broadcast on Monday, 21 June 1993
and Monday, 20 September 1993
After their critically acclaimed attack on Earth on Stardate 44001.4, the Borg are back with a terrifying new plan — to pad out the the running time of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Series 6 finale and Series 7 opener. Meanwhile, Deanna is amused by Data’s porn consumption, Nathan is impressed by Beverly’s approach to command, and Joe is distracted by the memory of much more enjoyable Star Trek episodes.
A young woman wearing fabulous boots materialises on the Enterprise, renders the crew unconscious, and then removes Spock’s brain. And soon we discover — to our horror — that everyone else involved in making this episode has had their brain removed as well.
Star Trek welcomes a whole new generation into its ranks, as Dal, Rok-Tahk, Zero, Pog, Murf and their prisoner Gwyn become the new crew of the USS Protostar. Their first mission: to accidentally set course for a black hole, to learn to work together as a crew, and to come to appreciate the value of good advice. And, of course, to boldly go where no one has gone before.
