Star Trek

Annotations up at https://startrek.website/post/282663.

This was a very TOS episode yet in terms of feel.

The dialogue could easily have come from the mouths of the TOS cast, and the situation on the planet reminiscent of officers violating the Prime Directive like in TOS: “The Omega Glory” or “Bread and Circuses”. Even Mount's delivery when on the planet was Shatner-esque.

I can readily imagine Kirk, McCoy and a random redshirt or Chekov on the planet in Pike, M’Benga and La’An’s place, and Sulu pulling it together like Ortegas.

Wow, these SNW writers really bring it each week, don't they? Not to say every episode is perfect but I've found every single one to be very entertaining and exactly what I want out of Star Trek in 2023. The combination of standalone stories mixed with underlying character development and arcs is perfect.

As for this week, the idea of encountering a planet that could make you forget everything was weirdly creepy, if not a bit implausible. Even if this wasn't her showcase episode, I grinned at Ortega's "I AM THE PILOT!" moment. Also enjoyed the away team being out of sorts on the planet which I thought was well done and not an action overdose like the season opener.

Memory loss is one of the scariest things in the known universe. This is a horror episode to me.

Ok, at the risk of sounding like a filthy casual, it's only now when I'm digging into Memory Alpha that I realized we're finally getting visualization of what Pike was so miserable about in TOS the Cage. I was like, why does Rigel VII sound so familiar...

This is the kind of retcon I live for!!

That’s probably one of my favorite episodes of the series as a viewing experience, it was pretty entertaining. I don’t think I quite track…the message, though? In the span of about three minutes we get explicitly told that for Pike and Ortegas the memory loss could be revealing experience that identified the core of the self, while for their friend on the planet it was an obscuring experience that robbed him of things he didn’t know were important. You can explain away the difference with plot logic pretty easily, but thematically it’s a bit weird to juxtapose them right next to each other

Was the high pitched ringing sound really necessary, especially for that long each time? That almost physically hurt and it scared the fsck out of my cat.

Thoughts as I watch:

• So, I'm wondering: is Cayuga a reference to Rod Serling? He named his production company that in reference to the lake in New York.

• Relationships suck when you are a Starfleet captain who knows your destiny to one day be in a beepie chair.

• Rigel 7, a deep cut!

• We have gone (ZERO) days without some sort of Starfleet prime directive problem.

• Finally, some Ortegas action!

• "THE HAT IS SUPREME." I'm going to have to use that in conversation.

• Oh man, at least she keeps the hat.

• "Subdermal universal translators" are the new translation microbes

• Oh boy, they have starfleet tech.

• Ah, we've got a good old-fashioned "Federation citizen takes over a world" episode!

• "This is a cage." Heh.

• Forgetting is a scary side effect for a planet.

• I get that they were only on there for like four hours, but shouldn't they have noticed stuff like this their last visit? Or maybe... THEY LOST

• "Welcome to Memento/50 First Dates Planet"

• Can still remember how to fight!

• So I'm guessing Spock is probably one of the more resistant to all of this due to his Vulcan-ness.

• Man, La'An is having a REALLY bad pair of weeks.

• Captain Pike even without his memories is still Captain Pike. Makes sense.

• Okay, I guess Spock isn't immune.

• Glad to see the Connie class had GPS.

• I gotta admit, I feel like Pelia would be good in this episode given just how many memories she has to lose and how many skills she has.

• SHE FLIES THE SHIP

• The ship's computer is great this week.

• Damn, that is some tough silverware, standing up to phaser blasts.

• Is it just me or is that a fresco or whatever of Alexander the Great... Zac-ized?

• Okay, that logic doesn't quite seem sound, but whatever.

• So, uhm, be careful about telling her about the Beepy-chair, Chris.

This episode should have started in media res, with the away team already on planet and having lost their memories. Once we got the explainer as to what was happening, then we could return to the Enterprise to show the growing crisis there, and finally wrap everything up as the episode already did.

At the start of the episode, when Ortegas was getting ready for the away mission, I thought this episode would have the scene from the start of the season 2 trailer where she (gleefully) pilots a shuttle down to a planet.

At least we know she will eventually get to go on an away mission!

I've been waiting for the crew explore a new planet. Hoping there's more of these episodes than less

A very TOS episode that I thoroughly enjoyed!

Can we let La'an have a few happy moments in this season? That woman must be riddled with PTSD by now.

It was great to finally get Pike back! Has he ever told his girlfriend that he's almost certainly going to be disabled? What a pickle he's in. I think if I were in his shoes I would have let the relationship end. The guilt must be driving him insane.

I feel like they might be messing around with the timelines so that they can save Pike from his horrendous fate and just say it's an alternate timeline compared to TOS. Normally I'd be against that, but it's Pike and I love him so much that I almost want them to do it.

Enjoyed this very much, the tone was very creepy. Reminded me of the psychological horror episodes only TNG really did.

I mean its a little far fetched a simple helmet protects the kmal yet the enterprise hull let it through no problems (until pack modulates the shield), but wont let that get in the way of a good story.

It's a common trope that the away teams really shouldn't be landing in these planets without any idea what's down there without an alien style hazmat suit and here we go, another example :) I GUESS they get a pass because they were here before and the effects didn't happen because they were not here long enough

also really strange they don't confirm that people were dead? Or try and go back and get their bodies which might have equipment/ com badges /might even be alien (Spock was there and he bleeds green), maybe starfleet shouldn't be so careless about what they leave behind...

• Still somewhat annoyed that there is no seat belt on the shuttle, even if it is to maintain continuity with TOS. M'Benga looked like he was going to bang his head and get a concussion when they were landing.

• La'an: They won't see us coming.
  Zac: We totally saw you from the other side of the planet a hemisphere away.

• What was Zac trying to accomplish? He lured them there with the Starfleet Delta, but he was not going to hitch a ride home. He expected whatever ship that comes to inspect to... forget and go away, or suffer some disastrous result when the crew become unable to function? Why not just stay low and be king if he wasn't planning to leave?

I don't understand that dude, needling the dude with no memory who was beating on him, then acting all surprised when that same dude puts a gun on him. Like, what was he trying to do? It seemed like he was trying to get Pike to kill him, but then he wasn't. Wtf?

Outside of Pike and Batel's relationship, are there any points in this episode that look to connect to anything else in the currently ongoing plotline in SNW? I didn't really notice anything, it seems like this might be the most standalone episode.

I wrote this as I was watching:

• Since when have Batel and Pike have a history? Was she in season 1?
• I wish they had a tone warning at the beginning of the episode, also I thought the tones went for a little too long each time.
• Lol this is the anti-Spock world. "Your emotions are your truth." Maybe Spock should have been on the planet surface as well.
• Did Spock forget how to read?
• Did the Enterprise not feel the effects in the previous mission? Did they forget to record it or make personal logs?

I've only managed to see this episode once, but something I didn't understand was Spock's decision to try and hide in the debris field. At this point they believed the planet was the source of the problem, but it seemed mostly a guess that the debris field might shield them.

Wouldn't the most logical action have been to get as far away from the planet as reasonably possible until the effects appeared to subside? I know Una made a point that they had crew down there, but it's not as if they can't return more cautiously and with a clearer understanding of what's happening. You're also helpless to help your landing party if you're completely incapacitated yourself.

Have I missed something important?