Untitled Star Trek Project

When a Voyager crewmember is killed in a Kazon attack, and his colleagues are forced to sit through the most butt-clenchingly clichéd eulogy in television history, a few of them declare that it’s time to forge an alliance with the Kazon, which seems unwise. What seems even more unwise is Janeway’s decision to ignore everything that history has taught us about white people, as she forges an alliance with the Trabe, who talk nicely and know which knife and fork to use. It all turns out pretty much how you would expect.

Well, everyone hates Genesis obviously, but why? It’s silly, of course, it doesn’t attempt to get the science right, and everyone recovers beautifully during the last ad break. But that’s just Star Trek, isn’t it? Isn’t it?

In the Neutral Zone, the USS Protostar faces off against the USS Dauntless, unable to leave and unable to contact them to explain their friendly intentions. And so they stop for a moment and tell each other sad, funny and beautiful stories from their pasts. Meanwhile, on the Dauntless, we hear a different story, a story of war and revenge, and a plot whose aim is the destruction of the Federation itself.

This week, Enterprise Chief Engineer Charles Tucker III is pregnant, and Nathan and Joe expect to be embarrassed and offended by the result. Instead, they are delighted to find themselves merely bored. (In fact, Nathan thinks the first half of the episode is rather sweet and charming, but he’s an incurable romantic where lizard people are concerned.)

In one episode’s time, Star Trek: Picard will become, for the first time, a television event, but for now, we’ve got some plot to wrap up, some sad farewells to make and a new relationship to start. And a point, however muted, about living an extraordinary life.