Daystrom Institute

In VOY S1E05 "Phage", Neelix's lungs are stolen by the Vidiians, and The Doctor creates a set of holographic lungs operated by the holo emitters installed in sickbay.

The procedure is successful, but due to technical limitations, that places two very heavy restrictions on Neelix:

1. He has to have his movement completely restrained as the computer cannot compensate quickly enough to keep the holo-lungs in alignment with his internal physilogy
2. Like The Doctor, he cannot leave sickbay even if the computer could process fast enough to keep his holographic lungs aligned

Potentially, Neelix could also be transported to the holodeck with his holo-lungs intact, but given its frequent malfunctions, it may not be a wise action unless there's no other alternative. He would also still need to be restrained to keep the lungs in place.

The mobile emitter, though introduced two seasons later in Season 3's "Future's End", might alleviate both of those restrictions and have applications in field medicine and other emergency care.

Being 29th century technology, it may very well be fast and responsive enough to keep the holographic organs aligned with the body's nervous, respiratory, and circulatory systems without requring the patient to be immobilized. Additionally, it would give the patient unrestricted mobility without confining them to a location equipped with holo emitters.

Given that by the time of PIC in 2401 the mobile emitter has been reverse engineered and reproduced, it would be logical to explore its application as an emergency organ transplant given that the procedure was successfully proven by the crew of Voyager.

The stardate is 2903.9. La’An might be preoccupied because of her discovery that her Augment genes are asserting themselves as seen last episode. Kirk’s last appearance was in SNW: “New Life and New Civilizations.”

The USS Griffin has the registry number NCC-1067 and appears to be a Constitution-class based on its configuration and crew complement of 300 (in contrast Enterprise has 203). Griffin disappeared “nine years ago”, which by my reckoning that the current year is 2263, places the disappearance around 2254, the same year as TOS: “The Cage”.

Previously the number NCC-1067-M was assigned to the seed vault ship USS Tikhov (DIS: “Die Trying”) in the 32nd century, and it was said there that the starship’s predecessors dated back to the 23rd century. It is not clear if the 1067 number was reassigned to Tikhov after Griffin’s loss or if this is a continuity error.

Griffin’s commander was CAPT Taggert. In the affectionate parody Galaxy Quest, the captain of the fictional NSEA Protector was Peter Quincy Taggart.

Kirk claims he was a Boy Scout. In ST II, Carol Marcus says, “Jim Kirk was many things, but he was never a Boy Scout.” Kirk refers to his son, David Marcus. ADM William Smillie is the name given in the novelization of ST IV to the Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet in 2293, who was unnamed on-screen.

The masks that the landing party are wearing more modern-looking version of those worn by the landing party in TOS: “The Squire of Gothos”.

La’An’s saying how it seems like everyone took a coffee break echoes stories of the abandoned ship Mary Celeste. Arthur Conan Doyle’s account of the mystery of the deserted ship (“J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement") embellished it with fictional details such as the presence of still-warm cups of coffee and uneaten meals laid out, which have become part of the folklore.

Division 12, which seems to be an X-Files-type branch of Starfleet, was first mentioned by Ortegas in SNW: “Terrarium”. The name seems to be inspired by Majestic-12, the secret government group in charge of covering up UFOs in conspiracy lore.

La’An mentions “the MLK”. The USS *Martin Luther King Starfleet, was first mentioned by Ortegas she was cast adrift by the Gorn. Una Chin-Riley was an Ensign on that ship (SNW: “Strange New Worlds”).

A common belief among parapsychologists is that the presence of negative ions indicates the presence of ghosts. Kirk and Spock both appear to be familiar with this idea. With this, the Mary Celeste echo, Division 12, and the taking of ley lines and ancient astronauts as givens in “New Life” and SNW: “Through the Lens of Time” respectively, I’m pretty certain someone on the writing staff is into paranormal phenomena.

The body bag Spock picks up is labelled LT Ta’Arn, a Vulcan. It’s a bit dark so I can’t make out the serial number.

Kirk says that Carol has been approved for a “dream project”, which could refer leythe Genesileyroject. His noting that she fears for his safety in Starfleet echoes her dialogue in ST II where she tells him that she didn’t want David “chasing through the universe with his father.” LT George Samuel Kirk, Jr., however, is able to balance his Starfleet duties with his wife Aurelian and three sons (TOS: “Operation: Annihilate!”)… at least for now.

Of note in CMDR Rose Harper's file is that she was born in 6 February 2227 and is from Epsilon Delta V. The planet Epsilon Delta IV was featured in the 1979 novel Trek to Madworld by Stephen Goldin. She was valedictorian in her class at Starfleet Academy and served on the USS Exeter (TOS: "The Omega Glory"). There, she survived the Battle of Caprell and took over the ship when the captain and XO had been incapacitated.

While on Griffin Harper noticed crew members exhibiting erratic behaviour and informed medical and CPT Taggert. This included violent outbursts, self-harm and delusions, although the file notes these reports were unsubstantiated (signed by Dr G’Har). Harper then became more paranoid, was relieved of duty by Taggert and confined to quarters. 13 deaths by stabbing and 8 deaths by strangulation followed.

Then there is a notation that she became Acting Captain. 287 persons were transported off the ship, the destination indeterminate ("possible non-inclusive space" says the file, the computer clarifies verbally as open space). Harper took the safeties offline.

La'An's summary largely aligns with this, although the computer says 13 strangulations and 8 stabbings instead despite the production art showing it the other way around.

The rising of an apparent corpse from sickbay beds echoes a similar scene (a hallucination) from TNG: “Night Terrors”. Who Spock sees is his ex-fiancee T’Pring, last seen in SNW: “Charades”.

The name of the party’s shuttle is Alvarez, probably named after Luis Walter Alvarez, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1968. Together with his son Walter, he came up with the Alvarez Hypothesis which sought to explain the extinction of the dinosaurs as resulting from an asteroid impact (SNW: “Valles Marineris”).

T’Pring knows that Griffin was missing? Just how famous is this disappearance? This should have been your first clue, Spock.

T’Pring* knows about the fact that Griffin is missing? How famous is this disappearance?

The *kahs-wanr”). T’Pring also mentions a Vulcan poet, Ka’nina. Hilariously, this is similarly pronounced to an expletive in the Chinese dialect Hokkien (translated as “f**k your mother”), although I suspect the writers may not be aware of this.

Sam says Carol and David are headed to Epsilon V, which is vague enough a reference that it could be anywhere (Epsilon Eridani, Epsilon Hydrae, etc.). I mean, even Epsilon Delta doesn’t make much sense as a system name if you know standard stellar naming conventions, where the second word is the name of the constellation and if the first word is a Greek letter, it indicates a star within that constellation. And that’s before you add a Roman numeral to indicate which planet in that system.

According to the Franz Joseph Constitution-class deck plans, Deck 17 is crew quarters in the secondary hull.

T’Pring, in order to reach Spock’s heart, starts to go for the mid- to lower-right side of his torso. It was established as early as in TOS: “Mudd’s Women” that Spock’s heart is where a human’s liver should be, but the series has not always been consistent about this.

Sam hears his son Peter’s voice - Peter Kirk is the only one of his sons named on screen (“Operation: Annihilate!”).

Ortega’s agony in the transporter is similar to the transporter accident at the beginning of TMP.

Sam says they’ll die in space, “alone… like Kirks are born to do.” Sam does die alone in “Operation: Annihilate!”. In ST V Kirk says that he’s always known he’ll die alone, but Generations has Picard with him as he dies. Prior to ST 2009, starship viewscreens were not actual windows but monitors that displayed the view outside. However, this has changed since the 2009 movie and DIS. Since Sam’s death here contradicts his actual canon death in “Operation: Annihilate!”, it’s our first explicit clue that what’s happening isn’t real.

Pike talks about being “free of his fate”, referring to his knowledge that he will eventually become paralyzed due to exposure to delta rays (TOS: “The Menagerie”), a fate Spock is also aware of.

As La’An prophecises, David Marcus did indeed die “at the end of a blade”, killed by Kruge in ST III, although not in a dark corner of space but on the Genesis Planet.

Chapel refers to the brief Klingon-Federation War of 2257-2258 in which she served in a medical capacity together with M’Benga (SNW: “Under the Cloak of War”).

The title refers to the Valles Marineris (Mariner Valleys) canyon system on Mars, the largest in the Solar System. It stretches across nearly a quarter of the planet, roughly 3870 km (2400 miles) in length, spans 600 km (370 miles) at its widest and goes down 9.3 km (5.8 miles) at its deepest. The system was named after the 1971 Mariner 9 Mars orbiter.

The stardate is 2491.5, about six months after the events of SNW: “New Life and New Civilizations”. Pike says this is their 15th mission in a row. This is the first mention of Tulaxar in lore.

Pike’s affinity for horses dates back to his first appearance in TOS: “The Cage”, and he was seen riding in SNW: “Strange New Worlds” as well as keeping a saddle in his quarters (SNW: “Those Old Scientists”). Another captain who enjoys riding is TNG’s Jean-Luc Picard. The way Pike is speaking about meds and not being discovered makes me think this is an aid mission to a Prime Directive-protected planet.

Spock and La’An began a relationship in SNW: “A Space Adventure Hour”. Una is concerned that Pike is keeping busy to not think about the loss of his lover Marie Batel (“New Life and New Civilizations”).

These are the first mentions of the K’thonia disaster and the FFakisha conflict. S’Sha (as the Vulcan cadet is named in IMDB) says Uhura is “several years older” than she is, but is not clear by how much. Spock entered the Academy at age 19, and Uhura was 22 in Season 2 (“Those Old Scientists”), so I estimate her age to be about 23-24 now, making it around 2263-ish.

Pelia claims she saw a category 10 interstellar squall from inside a “phone box”, a reference to the Doctor’s space-time machine, the TARDIS, from the long-running British television series Doctor Who which is permanently stuck in the shape of a British police phone box from the 1960s. We saw the TARDIS floating in the background near a scavenger ship in SNW: “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail”.

Ortega’s console is showing Enterprise moving at Warp 6.25 around the storm.

Scotty says they cannot ignite the warp engines without iridium. In TOS: “Bread and Circuses”, the SS Beagle was in need of iridium after suffering unspecified damage.

The shuttlecrSehlat named Curie, presumably after Marie Curie, which follows the convention of naming Enterprise shuttles after scientists like Galileo (TOS: “The Galileo Seven”) or Einstein (TOS: “The Doomsday Machine”). The 24th century successor to Curie was attached to Enterprise-D (TNG: “Parallels”).

65 million years in the past would place the ship in the Cretaceous period, the last hurrah of the dinosaurs, and the period to which the Tyrannosaurus Rex belonged. One might ask where the Voth (VOY: “Distant Origin”) are, but the Doctor hypothesised that they descended from hadrosaurs that survived the extinction of the dinosaurs, which means they evolved after the end of the Cretaceous.

The episode attributes the origin of the Valles Marineris to the crash of a Dol’drm ship, the aliens being an insectoid species. The scar on the planet reminds me of what was left by the Xindi probe (ENT: "The Expanse").

La’An carries Augment genetics as a descendant of Khan Noonien Singh (SNW: “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”).

Like Archer did in ENT: "Damage" to an Illyrian ship and a warp coil during the Xindi war, the Martians steal a critical component from Enterprise in service of their war with the Dol'drms, in this case an antimatter fuel cell.

Spock finds a fifth planet between Mars and Jupiter. One of the theories about the origins of the Asteroid Belt are that it was either a planet that never quite formed or the remains of one. I guess the latter is where Star Trek is laying its hat.

The Chicxulub asteroid, named after the Chicxulub Pueblo community on the Yucatan Peninsular where its namesake crater is located, is believed to be the primary cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs. Pelia says she remembers the evolution of humanity, which is another hint to how old she actually is. While Homo sapiens arose around 300,000 years ago, the genus dates back some 2-3 million years at least.

What the crew describes at the end is a predestination paradox. We hate those (DS9: “Trials and Tribble-lations”).

A Princess of Mars is the first John Carter of Mars novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, describing the adventures of a former Confederate soldier who is astrally transported to a populated Mars in conflict.

Pike says they created the solar storm that sent them back in time as part of the paradox, but it’s not clear how that would have happened, since the explosion that sent them back took place 65 million years in the past and in the Sol system.

In 1976, the American comedy series M*A*S*H, set in the fictional 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, during the Korean War, produced “The Interview”, an in-universe documentary about the characters. Breaking the sitcom format, it was aired in black and white as the last episode of Season 4, consisting mostly of improvised in-character interviews.

“The Interview” is a milestone in television history, copied several times by other series - notably in the SF genre by Babylon 5 with “And Now For a Word” and (partly) “The Illusion of Truth”, as well as Stargate SG-1’s “Heroes” - except those were scripted rather than improvised. M*A*S*H itself repeated the format in Season 7’s “Their Finest Hour”.

A Star Trek fan-made production, Return to Axanar, also used the documentary format. Some licensed novels like The Final Reflection, Spock’s World, The Romulan Way and Strangers From the Sky have also used in-universe texts as part of the storytelling, but this is the first time it’s been used on screen.

Beto makes reference to “investigating the mysteries within ourselves.” In ENT: “Terra Prime”, Archer says, “[T]he most profound discoveries are not necessarily beyond that next star. They're within us, woven into the threads that bind us, all of us, to each other.” In DIS: “Brother”, Burnham describes space, the final frontier as “Above us. Around us. Within us.”

The length of Enterprise as 442.6 metres long is a recent retcon. For decades, the established figure was 289 m, or 947 ft as stated in The Making of Star Trek, but revised upward for the DIS era in production graphics, clearly seen in SNW: “Memento Mori” to the figures we see here. The crew complement of 203 is based on dialogue in TOS: “The Cage”. The dedication plaque states the dimensions as Length: 442 m (1450 ft), Beam: 201 m (659 ft) and Height: 93 m (305 ft), with Weight: 190,000 tonnes (209,439 tons). The caption also establishes the ship’s weaponry as 6 phaser banks and 2 photon torpedo tubes.

The Plain of Blood on Vulcan was first seen in ENT: “The Forge”, an arid expanse that legend holds was flowing with the green blood of battle until Surak cooled it with logic. This is the first time a Vantu blade has been mentioned. Other Vulcan weapons include the lirpa and ahn’woon. This is also the first mention of Kolaran blades.

The back of Uhura’s delta has her name and presumably her Starfleet serial number (and birthdate?). We saw similar name and serial number markings on the backs of deltas in DIS.

This is the first mention of Lutani VII and Kasar, and the stardate of the Kasar attack is 2177.9. The briefing takes place on 2191.4. PADD stands for “Personal Access Display Device” - while first named in TNG, ENT: “Terra Nova” established that the term PADD was used as far back as the 22nd Century.

Jikaru is the Lutani name for “starlight” and the species have lived on the oceanic moon Tychus-B. The transformation Uhura refers to allows it to move through space. Space-borne lifeforms have appeared several times in Star Trek, notably TOS: “The Immunity Syndrome”, TNG: “Tin Man”, TNG: “Galaxy’s Child”, VOY: “The Cloud”, DIS: “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”, LD: “Grounded”, LD: “Upper Decks”, among others I’ve probably missed. The Jikaru sound is reminiscent of whalesongs (which were a plot point in ST IV).

This is the first time where it is stated that practitioners of Surakian meditation gain increased esper sensitivity and makes mind melds more efficient. The term esper to describe psychic powers was first used in TOS: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, where esper ratings were part of Starfleet officer records.

Quadroline was first mentioned in TNG: “First Contact” as a drug used on Malcor III. Hyronalin was first mentioned in TOS: “The Deadly Years” as the accepted treatment for radiation sickness.

M’Benga chooses his words carefully when he doesn’t answer if Starfleet has ordered him to kill and says killing people is not a function of his “current job”, given his past as a covert ops wetworks specialist called “The Ghost”. Protocol 12 is a combat drug he developed that gave its user increased strength, endurance and pain resistance, but with side effects. He was present at the Battle of ChaKana which took place on J’Gal during the Klingon War (SNW: “The Broken Circle”) as well as the final Battle of J’Gal (SNW: “Under the Cloak of War”). M’Benga is also cagey about scrubbing sickbay’s surveillance logs (SNW: “The Elysian Kingdom”).

Uhura’s story of the death of her parents and older brother in a shuttle accident was first told in SNW: “Children of the Comet”. Her grandmother, who used to be in Starfleet, steered her toward Starfleet Academy. The USS Cayuga (NCC-1557) was a Constitution-class ship commanded by CAPT Marie Batel which was destroyed by the Gorn over Parnassus Beta in SNW: “Hegemony”. The stardate as stated in that episode and here was 2344.2.

Pike’s love of horseriding was fist established in TOS: “The Cage” and we saw him on horseback in SNW: “Strange New Worlds”.

Christine’s reference to how Vulcans abandoned “these kinds of psionics” centuries ago may be a reference to psionic resonator weapons like the Stone of Gol (TNG: “Gambit, Part II”).

Ortegas yells, “¡Quítame eso de la cara!”, Spanish for “Get that out of my face!”

Spock’s mission to mind meld with the Jikaru in space echoes what he will do years later with V’Ger (TMP). Spock will also meld with alien species like the Horta (TOS: “The Devil in the Dark”) and with humpback whales (ST VI).

Galileo is the most iconic of Enterprise’s shuttles, prominently featured in TOS: “The Galileo Seven”. I think this the first time we’ve seen one (there were a few) named on screen in SNW.

Anti-grav stretchers or gurneys were used several times in TNG, DS9 and LD to ferry wounded personnel to sickbay. Spock was also in a Vulcan healing coma in TOS: “A Private Little War”.

The birthday party is for a Bolian officer. Pike’s cooking for his crew was first seen in “Children of the Comet”, and we get a glimpse of Batel among the party as well.

Like SNW: “A Space Adventure Hour”, this episode does not have the standard opening titles but serves its credits at the end of the episode.

Annotations for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x06: “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail”:

A sehlat is a Vulcan animal akin to a large furry bear with pronounced saber-tooth tiger-like fangs. Spock’s childhood pet sehlat, I-Chaya, was first mentioned in TOS: “Journey to Babel” and subsequently seen and named in TAS: “Yesteryear”. A non-cartoon version of a wild sehlat was seen in ENT: “The Forge”.

We see the Bellerophon-class USS Farragut (NCC-1647). At this point in his career (2261), Kirk is her first officer, having served on it since he last left Startfleet Academy in 2255. 4 years prior, in 2257, Farragut lost her captain to a dikironium vampire (TOS: “Obsession”) at Tycho IV. Also see my post on making sense of Kirk’s early career history.

Farragut is doing a survey of Helicon Gamma, an unihabited M-class planet. M-class, or Minshara-class planets (as per ENT: “Strange New World”) are capable of sustaining humanoid life.

Farragut is currently under the command of Captain V’Rel, a female Vulcan officer. Kirk’s frustration at her risk-averse nature and his stating that “risk is why we’re here,” echoes his speech in TOS: “Return to Tomorrow” when he insists that “risk is our business.” Kirk’s desire to rewrite the book is also consistent with his character, who has always tended to change the rules (ST II).

Kirk says, "Starfleet could have sent a probe, but instead they sent us because some things you need to see for yourself to truly understand," which is a paraphrase of Archer's remark to T'Pol in ENT: "Civilization", "Starfleet could've sent a probe out here to make maps and take pictures, but they didn't. They sent us so we could explore with our own senses."

John Logie Baird (1888-1946) was a Scottish inventor, best known for demonstrating the first television system in 1926 and going on to invent colour television. Doctor Who fans will remember him being portrayed in the 2023 special “The Giggle”.

Speaking of, at approximately 11:33, to our right and along the same plane as the top of the bridge dome, the TARDIS can be seen among the scavenger’s tentacles.

This is the first time we’ve heard of Asaasllich, Destroyer of Worlds, or the Astrovore, but a lot of this - centuries old scavenger ship, comms interference, unable to get through the hull, gravitational beams destroying planets, consuming resources, large enough to swallow starships whole - reminds me very much of TOS: “The Doomsday Machine”.

Ortegas claims the Klingons call it Chach-Ka, “The Annihilator”. The Klingon word chach means emergency or auxiliary and qa’ means spirit, so I’m not sure if those are the right words or what the Klingon name should be.

We see a toppled 3-D chess set, similar to those on which Kirk and Spock would have regular games in future. This is the first time in SNW where Kirk has been addressed as “Captain Kirk” (excepting alternate timeline versions). As Spock enters the wrecked room, we see a picture of Starbase One on the wall.

Scotty refers to the scavenger as “Nessie”, the popular nickname for the Scottish cryptid known as the Loch Ness Monster. Kirk tells him to come up with some “miracles”, foreshadowing Scotty’s future reputation as a “miracle worker”.

The scene where Scotty is struggling in a wrecked Jeffries tube also reminds me of a similar scene in “Doomsday Machine”. Scotty’s time estimate looks ahead to a time when he always multiples his repair estimates by a factor of 4 to maintain his miracle worker rep (ST III, TNG: “Relics”).

Aldentium (first mention) is used by a few species in propulsion systems. This is also the first mention of Sullivan’s Planet and its pre-warp (and thus Prime Directive-protected) population of 100 million.

Scotty better get used to Kirk just ignoring his protestations and getting on with it, or else it’s going to be a really long 32 years. This is Kirk’s command style - which is less consultative than Picard and Pike’s process.

Another “Doomsday Machine” reference. The procedure to replace a CO that Chapel refers to is covered by Starfleet Regulation 104, Section C.

The scavengers use ion particles in their weapons, which rip through flesh and bone like bullets.

The clock Pelia tosses is the iconic and once ubiquitous Kit-Cat Clock, first made in 1932. She hands M’Benga what is supposed to be an Atari Video Computer System (also known as an Atari 2600), one of the first video game consoles made, released in 1977.

The use of wired (as opposed to wireless) communications to insulate them from jamming is similar to the reboot Battlestar Galactica universe, where intership communications were hard wired to prevent them from being hacked by the Cylons.

Kirk’s mother is named Winona (first named in ST 2009). The story about the dog with the car crops up in Bruce Feirstein’s book Nice Guys Sleep Alone, where it’s used as a metaphor for someone who keeps pursuing a paramour but once they’ve “got” them, they don’t know what to do with them.

As Kirk’s crew come together, the first of the core group of people he will grow to rely on for the rest of his career, the music echoes James Horner’s rousingly nautical soundtrack from ST II.

Pike suggests baryon particles to give the scavenger indigestion (shades of souring the milk ala TNG: “Galaxy’s Child”), and La’An says they have to access the waste system of the warp drive. In TNG: “Starship Mine” it was established that operating warp drives led to a build up of baryons that needed to be occasionally purged from starships by means of a “baryon sweep”.

Pelia used to be a roadie for The Grateful Dead, who stand among the greatest rock groups in history.

While Uhura is usually pictured at her communications station, she has taken the navigation and helm stations on a few occasions, notably in TOS: “The Man Trap” and TOS: “Balance of Terror”. She temporarily took over Spock’s station in TOS: “The Galileo Seven”.

Kirk once told Scotty to “discard the warp nacelles if you have to” in TOS: “The Apple”, but this is the first time we’ve seen a starship do this on-screen.

Una’s trick of using a depressurising section of the ship as a makeshift reaction thruster was also used in TNG: “Cause and Effect” - Riker ordered the shuttle bay to depressurise so as to avoid Enterprise-D colliding with Bozeman. That being said, Una only uses a single airlock rather than an entire shuttlebay, which seems implausibly small when shifting something of Enterprise’s mass.

As we zoom in on the hull markings, we see a United States flag, a delta with what appears to be an United Nations logo inside, and the registry number XCV-100. One of the first spaceships named Enterprise, also prior to Earth Starfleet’s formation, had the registry number XCV-330 (TMP, ENT: “First Flight”).

Prior to First Contact with the Vulcans means prior to 2063 (STFC). Pelia narrows it down to just after World War III ended in 2053. Other ships launched around that time included Cochrane’s Phoenix in 2063 and the UESPA probe Friendship 1 (VOY: “Friendship One”) in 2067. Friendship 1 had the same delta with the UN logo.

Aldebaran whiskey is the “it’s green” liquor that Scotty imbibes with Picard in TNG: “Relics” (and possibly the same one he drinks in TOS: “By Any Other Name”).

Pike’s optimism is laudable - in the end, what Star Trek teaches us is whether we turn into monsters or not can’t be blamed on circumstance, it’s a choice (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon"). The same choice faced Captains Janeway and Ransom in the Delta Quadrant (VOY: “Equinox”), and both chose differently. Kirk’s lesson that we’re not that different from the enemy would serve him well in situations where he can anticipate the enemy’s moves (TOS: “Balance of Terror”), reactions (“A Taste of Armageddon”) or when he reaches out with empathy instead of destruction (TOS: “Arena”).

Ensign Gamble identifies himself as a “junior medical officer”, not a nurse, but the two may be equivalent. The stardate is 2184.4, and it has been six months since he was assigned to Enterprise. Since Gamble came on board to sub for Chapel while she was away on her three-month fellowship with Korby, this places the episode six months after SNW: “Hegemony, Part 2” or three months after SNW: “Wedding Bell Blues”.

Gamble mentions Korby’s work on “molecular memory and corporeal transference”, and that “man’s fascination with resurrection and reincarnation might be based on forgotten technology” foreshadows the android technology Korby will discover on Exo III (TOS: “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”).

Chapel asks how much “tarazine” is lethal. I’m not sure if she meant “thorazine”, which is a real world antipsychotic. Chapel jokes about “command function” being in the “left lobe [of the brain]”. The frontal lobe is where higher executive functions are regulated, and the left hemisphere controls speech, comprehension, math and writing.

Vadia IX was first mentioned in “Wedding” as where Korby and Chapel conducted a dig, and Trelane’s remarks imply it was the ancient homeworld of the Q.

According to the star chart, Vadia is in the same sector as Majalis (SNW: “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”) and a sector away from Eminiar (TOS: “A Taste of Armageddon”) and Cait (home system of the Caitians), and about 100 ly away from Gorn space. It is under the jurisdiction of the M’Kroon, who have their first mention here.

Beto Ortegas first appeared in “Wedding”, but was mentioned prior to that in the SNW novel Toward the Night by James Swallow. As I noted previously, Beto is usually a nickname in Spanish for names that end in -berto, and we find out here his actual first name is Humberto.

“We’re gonna need a bigger landing party,” is a reference to the famous line, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” from the 1975 movie Jaws.

Polaris is also known as the North Star, the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor (or the Little Dipper), but we are unaware if it has any planets, let alone twelve. This is the first mention of Praetorian. La’An says, “Fascinating,” which is a phrase Spock often uses - Chapel seems to notice this.

“Ancient astronauts” is a reference to a dubious (not to mention racist) yet popular hypothesis in real-world ufology, where it is posited that aliens with advanced technology visited Earth in the past and left traces of their visits, including objects like the Pyramids or Stonehenge which proponents of this theory argue could not have been built by primitive man without help. In the Star Trek universe, however, aliens have visited more primitive cultures and either influenced them and/or been mistaken for deities. We have TOS: “Who Mourns for Adonais” where aliens are taken to be gods by the ancient Greeks and TOS: “Return to Tomorrow” where Sargon suggests humans are the descendants of Aretans. In TNG: “The Chase” (and DIS Season 5), much humanoid life throughout the galaxy is said to be seeded by the Progenitors. In TNG: “Who Watches the Watchers?”, Picard is mistaken for a god by the Mintakans.

“El Cucuy”, or Coco (meaning “skull”) is a mythical Spanish boogeyman, a monster who spirits naughty children away and eats them. The Ortegas family is from Colombia (SNW: “Among the Lotus Eaters”).

I’m not sure why the Universal Translator doesn’t pick up on N’Jal’s speech here and nobody seems to question it. Was N’Jal’s earlier speech translated or was he speaking Federation Standard, and if the latter, why doesn’t he speak it here? Uhura says her intepretation is the “closest translation”, so perhaps the UT somehow doesn’t want to be imprecise?

La’An translates the Chinese text as “Here stands the beholder sentry of eternal bridges.”The Chinese text reads, in traditional Chinese script, “這裡矗立著永恆之穚的旁觀者哨兵,” which I would translate (from Mandarin) as “Here stands the eternal bridge’s sentry.”

Korby’s challenge to Spock, that the latter does not believe that the science exists to prevent consciousness from fading after death is ironic considering the Vulcan (or at least the Syrannite sect) belief in the existence of katras and Spock’s future experience with that (ENT: “Kir’Shara”, ST III).

Rukiya was M’Benga’s terminally ill daughter which he placed in the care of a non-corporeal life form (SNW: “The Elysian Kingdom”). Gamble’s remark about the entity that emerged possibly just being something bearing Rukiya’s appearance and that it ate her echoes my own doubts about the ending of that episode. Thank you!

Scotty sends the orb “nowhere”. The idea of using the transporter to dematerialize but not rematerialize threats was first mooted by a crazed Chekov in TOS: “Day of the Dove” in reference to leaving a party of Klingons dematerialized. In TOS: “Wolf in the Fold” they beamed Redjac’s host body away, dispersing its components into space, but here they decide to keep the Vezda in the transporter buffer like M’Benga did to Rukiya to keep her alive (SNW: “Ghosts of Ilyria”).

What exactly the Vezda life forms are is not made explicit, but the fact that they are ancient, malign, non-corporeal entites draws parallels with beings like the pah-wraiths from DS9 (also, N’Jal says “Mika-tah Vezda-pah”, as does Batel when she sees Gamble). Also, what the connection between the Gorn and the Vezda (or indeed if there is a further connection with the Q) is as yet unexplored. And why there was Chinese on the console.

The containment orbs (although not for prison purposes) for ancient non-corporeal forms also remind me of the Aretan orbs in TOS: “Return to Tomorrow”.

And as the episode ends we finally have the now late Gamble’s first name: Dana.

The title alludes to old time radio plays, and modern reproductions such as the “Thrilling Adventure Hour”, which ran as a podcast and staged performances in Los Angeles from 2005 to 2015. It is also an episode where the cast play different characters, like SNW: “The Elysian Kingdom”.

The first music cue is from TOS, and of course the lighting, costuming and props all evoke the style of TOS and 1960s science fiction. The wave-form on the large screen reminds me of the Control wave from the title sequence of The Outer Limits.

“Maxwell Saint” is sitting in a very typical James Kirk pose in the chair and speaks in a parody of William Shatner’s acting and diction. “Lee Woods” mentions the war - Ortegas served in the Klingon War. Zipnop of the Triathic Agonyan Empire has very visible wire rods holding up their “eyes”. The face also reminds me of the aliens in the 1957 movie Invasion of the Saucer Men.

The title sequence has been altered to resemble TOS’s opening narration and titles. For what it’s worth, 84 months is 7 years, alluding to the 7 seasons given TNG, DS9 and VOY. The USS Adventure has a registry number of 20-1. The title The Last Frontier riffs off Trek’s “final frontier” line.

We’ve seen holographic battle simulators in DIS: “Lethe”, and Enterprise had a recreation or rec room in TAS: “The Practical Joker” , so the concept of a holodeck predates TNG by quite a bit, although the model first seen in TNG: “Encounter at Farpoint” was supposed to be the latest model and both Riker and Wesley seemed impressed by it. The screen in the briefing room displays the “Holodeck Program Power Distribution”. In VOY: “Parallax” it was said that holodecks run off holodeck reactors which are incompatible with standard power systems on the rest of the ship.

Spock took dance lessons from La’An in SNW: “Wedding Bell Blues” and is continuing them in lieu of his morning calisthenics routine. Much like Picard enjoyed Dixon Hill stories from the 1930s, La’An enjoys Amelia Moon mysteries from the 1960s. Using transporter buffer patterns to create holographic avatars is similar to what happened in DS9: “Our Man Bashir”.

La’An’s request for a mystery that is challenging to solve is at least less foolhardy than Geordie’s request for an adversary capable of defeating Data (TNG: “Elementary, Dear Data”). The grid pattern of this 23rd Century holodeck is the same as those in 24th Century holodecks. La’An even gives the standard “run program” command.

Spock alluded to his ancestor being Conan Doyle (or as some speculated, Sherlock Holmes) in ST VI when he quoted the aphorism that “when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” This confirms it. In the real world, none of Doyle’s children had offspring, so Spock can’t be a direct descendant.

La’An - I mean, Amelia Moon switches into an American accent when speaking to Uhura - I mean, Joni Gloss. The voice-over narration alludes to that in classic noir films and hard-boiled detective stories.

Amelia refers to Gloss, a Hollywood agent, as “William Morris” - the William Morris Agency represented some of the biggest names in Hollywood history.

Max Factor does have a Ruby Red shade, but it was released in 2015 and inspired by Marilyn Monroe.

The Sunny Lupino character, with allusions to an ex-husband and relationships with the studio, not to mention the red hair, has characteristics of comedienne Lucille Ball, her ex-husband Desi Arnaz, and Desilu Studios’ involvement with the production of Star Trek. Her reference to Alfred (Hitchcock) putting her in Crows (1963’s The Birds) also references Tippi Hedren, who Hitchcock discovered and gave her first leading role. Hedren didn’t win an Oscar for that, however. Her name also echoes film star Ida Lupino.

Woods’ remark, “I’m an actor, not a doctor,” is an inversion of Dr McCoy’s catchphrase, “I’m a doctor, not a…”

Having a lead detective’s partner be a “bumbling idiot” is akin to the stereotype of Watson being bumbling next to Holmes, thanks to Nigel Bruce’s portrayal of him in the Basil Rathbone films. In the stories, however, Watson was not at all bumbling, but merely appeared less intelligent because he served as an audience surrogate for Holmes to explain his amazing deductions.

The NPCs notice Spock’s uniform, much like Trixie did when Picard walked into the Dixon Hill simulation in TNG: “The Big Goodbye”.

Ortegas’ suspension for insubordination was in SNW: “Shuttle to Kenfori”.

Omnidirectional holodiodes are a primary component of holodecks, first mentioned in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual but never on-screen until now.

Jess Bush uses her natural Australian accent as Adelaide Shaw (Adelaide is a city in South Australia). Hedda Gabler is an 1891 play by Henrik Ibsen. The West End refers to London’s theatre district.

The lack of safeties and the inability to end the program is a long-honoured Trek trope that has finally made its way to SNW.

“You know what’s not realistic? A lady first officer.” Roddenberry always claimed that the reason Number One (Majel Barrett) had to be replaced was because the network didn’t want a woman in a command position. It may be truer that they didn’t want Roddenberry’s mistress to be one of the leads of the new show.

“Mick Bowie” may be a real character in this world, or Saint just mocking McBeau with a portmanteau of Mick Jagger and David Bowie.

Gloss’s very meta description of what Bellows wanted to do with The Last Frontier is what Roddenberry wanted to do with Star Trek.

Scotty’s suggestion provides an explanation why holodecks have their own dedicated power sources and processors. Pike’s Enterprise having a crew of 203 was first mentioned in TOS: “The Cage”.

The end credits are printed in the style of TOS (as is the music), but instead of still photographs we have bloopers, including “space acting” (what the actors call the moving from side to side as if the ship is being shaken about) and Saint trying to get in the chair using the Riker Maneuver.

Given the plot, the title probably alludes to the Korean zombie movie “Train to Busan”. Also, actor Ken Foree played Peter Washington, the lead character in 1978’s Dawn of the Dead.

The stardate is 2449.1, and Enterprise is on a routine scanning mission. Pike, for once, refers to the ship as Enterprise and not “the Enterprise”. This is actually the correct naval nomenclature, since you wouldn’t use “the” before a proper name; for example, “Hello, this is the John Doe.”

There’s a big hunk of text on screen which these old eyes can barely make out. We get the scientific name of chimera blossom, or chimera weed, chimeralca oleracea (the second word just means “herb” or “vegetable” in Latin - brassica oleracea is cabbage). The science report is dated 2257 and talks about chimera as sparsely distributed throughout the galaxy, a source of omega-15 fatty acids and antioxidants and its use as a medicinal herb in many areas near the “Klingon region”. It is also used to treat hypotension and “diaphorous ceti syndrome”. It has the highest level of “vitamin alpha 15” among green leafy vegetation, chock-full of other vitamins and minerals (including iron vulcanate) and plays a role in "vision healthy mucus membranes" and protection from lung and oral cavity cancer.

Ortegas says it’s been a long time since she flew into disputed Klingon territory, alluding to her service during the Klingon War (SNW: “Those Old Scientists”, “Under the Cloak of War”).

Pike mentions a mission hvulcanateenga were on in Zeta Borealis. Zeta Coronae Borealis is a double star system about 520 ly away from Sol. M’Benga blamed his nausea on Vedalan cigars. The Vedalans (TAS: “The Jihad”) are a felinoid species and the oldest spacefaring race known.

M’Benga translates the Klingon warning as “Go Back Or Die”. The text is not in the usual pIqaD script used in transcribing Marc Okrand’s tlhIngan Hol but one that was created by Geoffrey Mandel for his fan-made USS Enterprise Officer’s Manual in 1980 and is meant to be a one-for-one substitution for English. Since this particular alphabet has no “c” equivalent, the warning actually reads “GO BAOOK OR DIE” and the words under that are (taking “oo” as “c”) “By Order of the Klingon High Council”. My very basic Hol would translate "Go Back or Die" as yiHeD ghap bIHegh.

I missed this last time, but this season’s title sequence includes shots of a Klingon D7-type cruiser, a shuttlecraft and Starbase One.

There is no animal life on Kenfori. The last planet I recall from Star Trek that had no animal life was Omicron Ceti III (TOS: “This Side of Paradise”), but that was because the planet was being bathed in Berthold rays, which disintegrate animal tissue with prolonged exposure.

M’Benga has three ex-wives, four if you count an annulment. His enjoyment of fishing was revealed in SNW: “Spock Amok”.

M’Benga points out that certain poisons have medicinal value. To be fair, the opposite position is truer. As the Swiss doctor Paracelcus (said to be the father of pharmacology) opined in 1538, “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.”

The Klingon ship approaching the planet is a D7-type, probably a K’t’inga class since it appears to have an aft torpedo launcher. One was last seen in SNW: “Subspace Rhapsody”. I say D7-type because K’t’inga-classes - first named in Roddenberry’s TMP novelisation, are technically anachronistic in SNW, since they are supposed to be more advanced than the D7s we see during TOS (which only have a forward torpedo launcher). But Temporal War shenanigans, etc. etc.

Pike says the Klingons are hunting them like Skral rabbits. The River Skral is a river on Qo’noS (first mentioned in DS9: “The Way of the Warrior”), and features in Klingon mythology as well. Closed captioning identifies the female Klingon commander as Bytha.

Spock says Vulcans can regulate pain via meditation. In TOS: “Operation: Annihilate!” Spock fights through the pain of being infected by a Denevan parasite by chanting the mantra: “I am a Vulcan. I am a Vulcan. There is no pain.”

Christine slaps Spock to snap him out of the meld. In TOS: “A Private Little War” Spock instructs her to hit him to awaken him fully from a healing trance - Scotty stops her, not knowing, but M’Benga finishes the job. The new nurse (first appearing in SNW: “Wedding Bell Blues”) is credited as Ensign Gamble, but I don’t think his name has been mentioned yet on screen.

When Una is briefing the senior staff, we see pictures of the NX-01 (ENT) and Phoenix (First Contact) displayed at the end of the room. Una says that La’an should get what Ortegas is going through, as indeed she should, given her own history with the Gorn (SNW: “Memento Mori”).

Basically, the Chimera Blossom (and now we know why it was named that) allows for hybridisation of different species. In the research facility’s case it hybridised the humans and Klingons with the all-consuming moss, and now M’Beng intends to use it to hybridise Marie’s human genome with the Gorn DNA inside her.

Viridium is a material that can be tracked across star systems. Spock used a viridium patch to track Kirk to Rura Penthe in ST VI. M’Benga was offered a drink by a R’ongovian (SNW: “Spock Amok”) during Spock and Christine’s wedding (“Wedding Bell Blues”), so that’s when he ingested the viridium-spiked olive.

Bytha identifies herself as the daughter of Dak’Rah, and the Champion of House Ra’Ul. Ambassador Rah appeared in “Under the Cloak of War”, where M’Beng killed him - whether it was in self-defence or not is ambiguous.

Ortegas has a ritual of kissing her fist and then knocking on the console for luck. I don’t believe I’ve noticed her do it before.

Bytha says her father was a traitor. As related in “Cloak”, Dak’Rah defected to the Federation following the Klingon War and became an ambassador. Because of this, his House underwent discommendation, which is the equivalent of being excommunicated from Klingon society (TNG: “Sins of the Father”).

Una trying to inform the Klingons that they are on a rescue mission echoes Saavik’s Kobayashi Maru test in ST II, where she gave orders to do the same. Una’s reluctance to raise shields echoes Kirk’s similar reluctance when faced with the USS Reliant in the same movie.

M’Benga finally confesses that he murdered Dak’Rah.

Sto-vo-kor is the Klingon Valhalla, where honourable Klingons who die in battle go after death.

Another quote from ST II, this time from Ortegas: “Klingons don’t take prisoners.” Una’s reference to a warrant officer confirms there are indeed enlisted personnel within Starfleet at this time, as WOs stand in a gap between enlisted and commissioned ranks.

The title is named after the eponymous 1966 Laura Nyro song which was more famously covered by The 5th Dimension in 1969. It has lent its name to various other media, including a movie, an episode of Gilmore Girls, as well as an episode of Cheers. It’s sung from the point of view of a woman wanting her boyfriend to marry her. 

The Stardate is 2251.7, three months after the events of SNW: “Hegemony, Part II”. The Federation Day Centennial being 3 days away places the Earth year as 2261. Various non-canon sources give different dates for Federation Day, ranging from an unused newspaper clipping from Generations giving the date as October 11 to May 8 in Geoffrey Mandel’s Star Charts. 

The music being played as we move through a Starbase One biodome (SNW: “Strange New Worlds”) is “Hacker De Tu Piel” by Lavanda Son, a Venezuelan tropical salsa band. 

Chapel has returned from her three month fellowship and brings along with her Dr Roger Korby (her future fiancé as per TOS: “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”). Korby was played in the TOS episode by Michael Strong. In that episode, Spock referred to Korby as the Pasteur of archeological medicine, whose translation of old Orion records revolutionised immunization techniques. Of course, in the original, there is no hint that Korby and Spock had met before. In any case, if the timeline in the original still holds, Korby will disappear on Exo III within the year. Cillian O’Sullivan, who plays him in SNW, has an Irish accent which Strong did not display.

As Spock digests the information that Korby is Chapel’s date, the background music echoes the “fight music” from TOS: “Amok Time”, indicating his jealousy.

Ortegas’s personnel file seen in SNW: “Among the Lotus Eaters” seemed to mention only one sibling, Fabiola (a feminine name). Here her brother is named “Beto”, which a nickname for Spanish names that end in “-berto”.

Pike does have an impressive array of medals (Memory Alpha lists 17), and in 2256 was ranked among the most decorated captains in Starfleet (DIS: “Choose Your Pain”). Batel makes a crack about Pike’s hair products, a rather meta joke considering the Internet memes about his hair.

The closed captioning says “Tilarian Star Gems”, but it could be “Talarian”, a race first seen in TNG: “Suddenly Human”. The Talarian Republic encompasses at least two Alpha Quadrant star systems in the 24th Century.

The second act resets to the same opening narration of the first act (similar to TNG: “Cause and Effect”), but then takes it into different events - the celebration of Spock and Chapel’s wedding instead of the Federation Day Centennial. 

One of the items on the wedding checklist is for a wedding licence and Pike’s approval, giving us a clue as to the legal requirements for a wedding for Starfleet personnel. 

Kal-if-fee refers to part of the traditional Vulcan wedding ceremony (the kun-ut-kal-if-fee), specifically where the bride opts for a ritual challenge where two males fight for the right to mate with her (“Amok Time”).

Korby says he’s checked himself for phase variances to see if he’s in an alternate dimension. As we learned from TNG: “Parallels”, each parallel universe (and its inhabitants) has its own quantum signature. Spock refers to an improbability field that once made the crew sing (SNW: “Subspace Rhapsody”). 

The entity says, “Greetings and many felicitations”. In TOS: “The Squire of Gothos”, Trelane’s first message to Enterprise is “Greetings and Felicitations”. His snapping of fingers is also reminiscent of Trelane and Q. The possible relationship between Trelane and the Q has been the result of much fan speculation and made explicit in some licensed fiction (the late and much lamented Peter David’s Q-Squared being the best example). 

Scotty’s claim that he’s not much of a drinker is belied by his conduct during TOS, especially when he literally drinks the alien Tomar under the table in TOS: “By Any Other Name”. 

Korby’s remark about “wishing us all into a cornfield” is a reference to the classic Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life”, where Bill Mumy (who would later star in DS9: “The Siege of AR-558”) plays a malevolent child with immense reality-altering powers who banishes people who defy him to “the cornfield”, where they are never seen again. 

Spock quotes from Pablo Naruda’s Love Sonnet XI as part of his vows (and I believe it was also quoted earlier when he was speaking with Korby). 

While no names are mentioned, I think it’s pretty clear it is Trelane (he even lets loose with a “Tally Ho!”), and his father, appropriately enough is voiced by John de Lancie, namely Q. Why Spock doesn’t remember this when “The Squire of Gothos” comes around is now an open question. Trelane also mentions an unnamed “old home world” Korby was digging around in and that he is 8,020 years old.  

The song that closes out the celebrations is, of course, “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” by 80s pop duo Wham!. And it appears that Ortegas was more affected by her encounter with the Gorn than we thought although whether it’s PTSD (like Keyla Detmer in DIS) or something more sinister remains to be seen.

We discovered that the Gorn used light for ship-to-ship communications in SNW: “Memento Mori”, and in that episode they used it to fool one Gorn ship into firing on another. 

The first mention of wolkite, a rare mineral which apparently contains “subspace gauge bosons”. Gauge bosons are an elementary subatomic particle that acts as a messenger particle that carries forces for fermions (don’t ask me to explain further - I’m a lawyer, dammit, not a particle physicist), which apparently can be tracked with sensors. Let’s roll with it.

Inertial dampeners create subspace fields which protect crewmembers from the worst effects of acceleration and deceleration, especially when moving at faster than light speeds (VOY: “Tattoo”). This tells us that ships at warp speeds experience intertial effects, and that subspace fields affect inertial mass, both which run counter to claims that *Star Trek* warp drives run on the same principles as Alcubierre drives.

There is a slight blurring effect on the bridge as *Enterprise* moves to warp, reminiscent of the “wormhole effect” in *TMP* and when *Bounty* goes into time warp in *ST IV*. 

Chapel says that without certain shots, Batel’s tissues might turn necrotic in the statsis field. Why exactly this would be the case, if a stasis field is designed to suspend all cellular growth, is not explained - unless it only prevents growth and not decay. Epinephrine is another name for adrenaline, and can be used to prevent cardiac arrest and anaphylactic shock, among others. Batel is allergic to cryoserum and hence can’t be put into stasis. So stasis isn’t just some kind of force field but also involves cryogenic suspension as well? I have so many questions…

Joseph (M’Benga) isn’t around because he was part of the landing party kidnapped by the Gorn at the end of SNW: “Hegemony”.

April says the Federation is still recovering from the Klingon War (2256-2257), which occured in DIS Season 1, some 2-3 years prior. Chapel and M’Benga served in that war (SNW: “Under the Cloak of War”). 

As we learned in“Hegemony”, Pelia was one of Scotty’s engineering instructors at the Academy. Scotty better get used to working under time pressures, considering what he’s going to face in the years to come (at least, until he starts padding estimates).

La’an was the sole survivor, as a child, of her colony ship SS *Puget Sound* which was captured by the Gorn. The person she sees in her dream is Manu, her brother, who sacrificed himself for her during that time. He discovered the Gorn’s use of light as communication, and passed that knowledge on to La’an (“Memento Mori”). 

Scotty says “bawheid!” which is a Scottish invective meaning a stupid person (originally a person with a round face/head). *Stardiver* was Scotty’s previous assigment which was attacked by the Gorn (“Hegemony”). 

I will not, for the moment, debate the plausibility of the Gorn relying entirely on instrumentation and not visuals for their ships.

Una says that the radiation in the binary star system is so intense that they can only use impulse and shields won’t protect them. This reminds me of the conditions in the Mutara Nebula in *ST II*, where the static discharge and gas rendered visual and shields useless (*Enterprise*’s warp drive was out, anyway). 

Debulking surgery is a type of surgery used to reduce the size of cancerous tumours, commonly used in cases of ovarian cancer. 

Some Illyrians still use genetic engineering among their community, which is against Federation laws (SNW: “Ghosts of Illyria”, “Ad Astra Per Aspera”), hence the use of Una’s blood being against regulations. 

The screen at Una and Uhura’s briefing first shows the Finibus system which featured in “Memento Mori”, and then the Galdonterre system which was mentioned in DS9: “Blood Oath” as a place where the Albino hid from Kang, Kor and Koloth. Both  are in the Beta Quadrant. The larger scale map also shows systems where CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) events have occured, stellar events which trigger Gorn attacks.

X-class flares are the largest category of solar flares, which can cause radio blackouts and trigger radiation storms in the upper atmosphere. Supra-arcade downflows are sunward-traveling plasma voids seen during solar flares, which appear as voids because they are less dense than surrounding plasma. 

“A couple of litres” of Una’s blood seems like a lot - a human body typically holds about 5 litres of blood, so 2 litres is like 40% of your volume, which would send you into severe hypovolemic shock. Maybe they meant pints.

Valeo Beta V was where SNW: “Not All Those Who Wander” took place, where the USS *Peregrine* crashed after a Gorn hatchling outbreak on board. 

Pike’s strategy is similar to how Picard defeated the Borg in TNG: “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”, by sending a command to put them to sleep. While it works for now, Pike’s concern about whether they’ve just kicked the can down the road foreshadows Kirk’s future encounter with the Gorn about six years later in TOS: “Arena” (which has to be quite extensively retconned given the events in SNW). 

“I’m Erica Ortegas, I fly the ship,” was the mantra that kept Ortegas focused while a memory sapping field was affecting everyone during the events of SNW: “Among the Lotus Eaters”.

Pike reluctantly starts to recites the Lord’s Prayer, saying to his father, “You win.” Pike’s father was a science teacher who also taught comparative religion, who died some time previous (SNW: “Those Old Scientists”) and with whom he had a contentious relationship.

EDIT: Accidentally duplicated post. Please see https://startrek.website/post/25896181 for all responses.

EDIT: The Harry Kim thing is more of a joke. This is less a question about Harry Kim and more about Nog.

Something about Nog's literacy history brings up a ton of weird questions in-universe.

1. How are the Ferengi able to be a functional space-faring species and business empire without at least a little emphasis on literacy?

Even for as class-based a society as the Ferengi, lower level workers have to have at least a little literacy to read instrument panels, repair ships, make sure they're carrying the right package, etcetera.

I think a key example here is Rom, who starts out a relatively typical exploited Ferengi - how would he read manuals to repair a holosuite without literacy.

I see two explanations. One, perhaps by "reading", they're referring to reading of a lengua franca like Federation standard - Nog has learned and is capable of reading the Ferengi language, but not another. When dealing with other languages, the general expectation is either a universal translator is used or they pick it up as they go.

Alternatively, it could be that it is expected in Ferengi culture that reading is just something you pick up on the job rather than in a concerted educational effort.

2. How did Nog manage to "catch up" fast enough to attain the educational level needed for a Starfleet officer?

Of course, it is said and implied that after the school closes, Keiko teaches Jake and Nog one-on-one. Some education definitely happened off-screen.

Still, Starfleet seems to have educational requirements. In LD:"Something Borrowed, Something Green", Tendi mentions how she wouldn't have gotten into the Academy without having gone to high school, suggesting Nog needs the equivalent of a high school education to train to be a Starfleet officer.

It sounds a little ridiculous to go from being unable to read to a full high school education in less than three years, though that could be a bigger stretch than I'm making it out to be.

I'd say the simplest explanation is probably that again, Nog was more educated than we might interpreting being "unable to read" to mean.

It might be possible Ferengi also have higher-than-human-average neuroplasticity and simply adapt easier - this might even aid in the on the job theory.

So what are your ten cents? Also, it's been a while - glad to be back on Daystrom.

EDIT: Accidentally duplicated post. Please see https://startrek.website/post/25896182 for all responses and put future responses there. Also, I have more theorizing there.

Someone please make this scene make sense. What do they think "auto" is short for?

In “The Ultimate Computer”, the duotronic M-5 computer was deemed a failure which sent its creator Richard Daystrom into a nervous breakdown. Not only did Daystrom experience psychological distress (probably the most polite way to describe it), but was responsible for a machine that killed upwards of 53 people.

Why would a person responsible for the invention of a computer that unintentionally killed (unintentionally as in, not ordered to do so) get their name enshrined? Is there anything to explain why such a troubled person that ended up killing others in a quest to eliminate the risk of human death, would inspire anyone to name an organization after them?

EDIT: I need to add some complicating facts to this. “Chose Your Pain” (DIS season 1 episode 5) gives Daystrom Institute a founding date of 2256, which is before TOS. So based on comments, likely the duotronic computer is why the name was picked.

So last week for my birthday, I went to Universal Studios for Fan Fest Nights. You can read all about it here.

I had a question that I wonder if it could be answered: how long would a trip from Earth to Vulcan be? The walking attraction Red Alert starts off at Spaceport Los Angeles which advertises shuttles to various places, one of them being Vulcan. According to NASA, Vulcan is 16.5 light years away. Can the length of this trip be calculated? I couldn’t find much information on Type 14 shuttlecraft featured in Picard season 3. Memory Alpha simply says they can go high warp speed.

I found this website that does warp speed calculations but I don’t know if it is accurate.

In LD S3 E8 "Crisis Point: Paradoxus", the holographic version of Dr. T'Ana was able to recognize they were in late 20th century Earth, seemingly by a single sniff.

I am assuming this is a reflection of T'Ana's actually ability rather than mere cinematic indulgence, for two reasons:

• We do see T'Ana has enhanced olfactory senses in S2 E10 "First First Contact", as it implies she is able to track Tendi by scent, as well as in S4 E5 "Empathalogical Fallacies" when she hunts the Betazoids.
• Considering that Crisis Point was built off private logs, while the plot points may be ridiculous, crew abilities and limitations tend to be mostly accurate. We see this in the original Crisis Point, for instance, when Rutherford has to do the magic transport instead of Billups - simulated Cerritos crew members won't do what the real them would thing is impossible.

Anyhow, it makes me wonder if Starfleet Academy has some sort of sensory training courses for species with certain stronger senses. For instance, T'Ana might have had the option to take a course working with smell samples that they are likely to encounter in their Starfleet Career with other species that have enhanced senses.

How might SNW explain the physiology of the Klingons that have ridged foreheads versus the smooth foreheads that come from the failed augment experiment in ENT? A refresher: during the run of ENT, Klingons attempted to replicate the experiment of Human Augments. It ends up failing, which results in the physiology of the population changing, thus giving a in-universe explanation for why the makeup in TOS varies from how they appear TMP and onward.

How might SNW address this bit of lore? TOS takes place during 2265-2269. SNW first episode “Strange New Worlds” is 2259, six years prior. We already know Klingons with ridged foreheads exist thanks to DIS. We even see some during “The Broken Circle”. Might one possible way of explaining the change be a shift in the military and/or political factions of the Empire that lead to more of the smooth foreheads Klingons dominating?

In Prodigy, Nova Squadron has been revived by the mid-2380s.

This feels like a very terrible idea for a multitude of reasons. Besides the initial incident, I would think Starfleet would hesitate against elite cadet groups even further after both the attempted Red Squad coup and the USS Valiant incident.

Also, I have two takeaways from the LD Nova Fleet incident. One, Locarno feeling the need to “revive” Nova Squadron suggests that it didn’t still exist in 2381, meaning the revival must have been relatively close to 2384. Second, I feel like the coming back of a former “elite” cadet to bite them would further make Starfleet wary of establishing an elite cadet group again.

Overall, it just seems every time the Academy does this, they just produce a group of arrogant cadets very susceptible to manipulation and/or recklessness. Even 2384 squadron seems this way - we see their elitist attitude towards the former Protostar crew matching that of Red Squad and such.

So why did they do it again?

Perhaps Nova Squadron is a long-held academy tradition, and despite the initial fallout of the 2368 incident, that’s overshadowed by its long history of outstanding cadets, a legacy the academy didn’t want to suddenly erase.

Still, I feel like they could have turned Nova Squadron into an honors society that recognizes students without the special treatment rather than resurrect what seems to be the original format.

Honestly, I hope (big emphasis on hope) the new SFA show elaborates on this and overall fleshes out the Academy as an institution, at least before, as I predict will happen, our “cadets” will be starship officers in all but name by the end of the season and will barely get a proper academy experience.

I kind of wish we had an academy show either early 24th century (lost era Monster Maroon) or a chill (post-PIC) 25th or 26th century setting that just followed a normal group of cadets without weird stuff like an early commissioning.

Edit: When I say "Center Right" I also mean relative to Ferengi society.

A small addition to my post, Gender and Sexual Orientation in FERENGI society from a few months back.

I caught this frame in the background of LD S4 E6 Parth's Ferengi Heart Place, depicting an unclothed Ferengi woman.

This provides an interesting insight into the Ferengi social/political landscape of the Nagus Rom era. It suggests a center right that is fine with women traveling in public to some extent (maybe with limits, like it can only be with husband or father or out of necessity), but not them being clothed. This doesn't seem to be that common, as most Ferengi women we see in this episode (including on the television in Boimler's apartment) are clothed, but it seems to be a position that exists.

Honestly, I'd be interested in a novel (perhaps written from the perspective of an autobiography) or something about how Nagus Rom and Leeta survived leading Ferenginar the first few years and adjusted to such a different role from his engineering days. We could learn a lot about the Ferengi political system.

If you haven’t watched all of Picard, “All Good Things…” (TNG season 7 episode 25) and “Endgame” (VOY season 7 episode 25), please be advised there are major spoilers.

This may come down to a personal interpretation: did the events of “All Good Things…” ever exist? There is one reason I ask this: the false positive diagnosis of irumodic syndrome. The way I see it, the events of that episode are rendered non-existent.

Jean-Luc assumes prior to his death in season 1 of Picard that his illness was irumodic syndrome. However, it is never specified in that season that he has the illness. In season 3 Jack Crusher is diagnosed with it and assumed inherited. However by the end we learn it was a condition related to his time as Locutus of Borg.

In VOY, the future timeline with Admiral Janeway appears to be connected to the anti-timeline future from “All Good Things…”. The Admiral wearing the same uniform and badge. However the big difference is that the present day Prime Voyager is aided by future technology. We do not see the influence of Admiral Janeway get reversed, only the events of her future.

So did the events of “All Good Things…” actually occur or did the temporal incursion being fixed rendered it non-existent? After all, Q was testing Jean-Luc. Only Jean-Luc had memory of what happened. Sub-question: did Jean-Luc actually have a correctly diagnosed irumodic syndrome in the anti-timeline future?

So, this may be a frequently discussed topic, and I'm sorry if so. But I was watching S1 of SNW and there was a scene where an early "shields up" saved the ship from serious damage. And now that I think of it, I just can't come up with a good reason why shields aren't up all the time, with a few obvious caveats.

1. Yes, shields must be down to transport, this seems like the most obvious reason to have them down. But we see plenty of episodes where shields are brought down momentarily for a transport. Why not do that always?
2. One reason brought up frequently is that raising shields could be taken as an act of aggression. But if you arrive with shields already up, then you're not doing anything aggressive, you just arrived that way, so I don't think this makes much sense in a world where most Starfleet ships just keep their shields up.
3. I don't know for certain, but it seems possible that shields may not be usable at warp. I don't remember any specific episode where that happened, but it seems possible. But even then, a ship could just be programmed to bring them up as it drops out of warp.
4. I guess it could be possible that the power usage of the shields is too much for the day-to-day use. But again, it seems like a lot of missions clearly begin with "dropping out of warp into an unfamiliar area" and those are the times where your shields should just be up by default.

Of course, I know the answer is that "shields up" is great dramatic dialogue, but I guess I wondered if there are any more satisfying answers than that?

In ENT episode “Divergence” parts go flying off the ship during warp 5. What would happen to something at that speed without the protection of the field? Would it stay in high speed motion until interacted upon by something else (meteoroids/dust/gravitational fields)? Or would it disintegrate under this kind of speed?

Did Syrran’s teachings change the accepted spiritual and philosophical ideology of mainstream Vulcan society? ENT had the unique position of being a prequel to TOS. It at first presented mind-melds as a deviant act that was socially unacceptable. Moving into the 23rd century of TOS and the movies (I’m going on recall right now), the deviance seemed to have gone away. However the dangers of mind-melds held true even by the time of VOY. When ENT reached the three parter of “The Forge”, “Awakening” and “Kir’Shara”, the story specifically focused on katras.

It feels like the direction ENT was pointed, the people in charge of the big lore wanted to flip what we knew about Vulcan society. One of the major conflicts over the course of the series was the Earth-Vulcan relationship. Of course this was rooted in the Federation arch.

To clarify my question: did the rebellious teachings of a cult (T’Pol specifically calls the Syrrannites a “violent cult”), become the accepted beliefs over a century?

What is Las Vegas, Nevada like in the 24th century?

It seems to be implied that Vegas still exists (not just some legendary destination of the past like Vics) and is still associated with gambling - Chakotay's hallucination of Tom Paris in VOY:"The Fight" mentions Vegas along with Mars and Orion III when mentioning the odds in a fight.

I think the fact that this is a hallucination of Tom in Chakotay's mind, combined with the fact that it was mentioned with contemporarily active places, heavily suggests that Vegas is alive and still has some form of active gambling.

However, I would imagine that a lot would still change for Vegas. Modern-day Vegas has Nellis AFB in it and Creech nearby, so it would have probably been a major target during World War III and as a result been heavily damaged. For urban planning, this probably gave a largely blank slate during redevelopment, so in many ways, Earth probably ended up becoming a typical 24th century city or town with vastly improved public transportation.

It's also important to consider the potential impact of drought - has Vegas significantly downscaled as a result of its water issues, or did they get that sorted out in time and Vegas is still a moderately large Earth city in the 24th century?

Also, what does gambling look like in a post-scarcity society? What are the laws on the books for United Earth? I'm imagining people mostly do it for the thrill, like how Jadzia plays Tongo.

What's different in star trek schools compared to real life schools on earth

What do they learn in star trek schools