Star Trek Flashback: Tomorrow Is Yesterday

In a weird coda at the end of the episode "The Naked Time," Star Trek established that the Enterprise could travel through time (whether the the story warranted it or not). The show delivered on that promise in the episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday."

The Enterprise is accidentally thrown back in time to Earth in the late 1960s. In short order, they're taken to be a UFO, and unintentionally destroy an Air Force plane and abduct its pilot. Now the crew must repair their ship, erase the evidence of their presence, find a way to return the pilot and restore the course of history, and return to their own time.

There are quite a few episodes of the original Star Trek that make you think: "oh, they totally ripped this one off later for The Next Generation." This episode is one such touchstone for later Star Trek. But not for the early seasons of a still-finding its way Next Gen; rather, for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. That movie isn't without its own new elements: a threatened Earth, an environmentalist message, and of course, the whales. But consider everything else.

In both Star Trek IV and "Tomorrow Is Yesterday," our heroes find them transported back in time to the real-world present. They soon encounter a contemporary human who takes quite well to interactions with people from the future. They have to sneak around a military installation. And all of it is done with a decidedly comedic tone. (20th century pilot John Christopher: "I never have believed in little green men." Spock: "Neither have I.")

Star Trek IV has a lot more polish. And "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" has working against it the fact it was made for 1960s television, a time and place where the humor is intentionally crafted with "dopey slide whistle" sensibilities. Is it funny when an Air Force security guard just freezes when he materializes on the transporter pad? When a freshly upgraded Enterprise computer flirts with Captain Kirk? Well, no, not really. But then, this style of comedy has aged more poorly than even the 60-year-old sets have. (Notice all the wrinkles on the screens on the Enterprise bridge.)

But still, there's plenty here that does work well. It's an entertainingly breathless episode, where one problem keeps piling on after another. Most of the characters get good moments: Scotty points out that even once he's repaired the ship, they have nowhere to go; McCoy has a great reaction when Kirk compares him to Spock (that's comedy that does work); Sulu beams down to the Air Force base with Kirk (not sure why it's those two, but whatever). And with the character of John Christopher, the episode handles well that not all people from the past are stupid... but that our heroes will always, eventually, get the upper hand. Plus, I love that in this episode, made in 1967, the writers took their shot, declared that humans would land on the moon by the end of the 1960s, and were proven right.

How the episode gets out of these stacked-up problems feels like nonsense. After conveniently inching back in time again before shooting forward again, the transporter serves as a hand-waving solution to it all (not for the first time; certainly not for the last). It's not clear what's happening when someone is "beamed into themselves." (Is this like overwriting a computer file? Is one person being destroyed and swapped for another?) And I don't understand how that causes time to reset itself midstream. But I guess the sillier tone of the episode allows for sillier solutions.

Other observations:

• The footage of scrambling Air Force jets didn't match the rest of the episode even in 1967. But when they came along and updated all the Enterprise effects shots in the 2000s re-master, it made the grainy stock footage stick out even more.  

• Gotta get that slinky trombone music in when John Christopher spots a female crewmember on the Enterprise.

• On the Air Force base, the photo lab has a silent alarm on the door, but the computer records office doesn't. I'm sure it's just for writing convenience, but it's fun to pretend this is a sign of the times (and a reflection on the value of computers).

• Are the clocks on the Enterprise tied to some outside, observable force in the universe? Or did Spock program them to count backwards when the ship is moving backwards in time?

In a world where Star Trek IV didn't exist, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" might hit a bit better for me. Then again, I imagine that 1980s humor misses with a younger audience in much the same way this 1960s humor misses for me here. But it's still a fun enough episode. I give it a B-.

Enterprise Flashback: Kir'Shara

Another epic three-part Enterprise story arc comes to a close with "Kir'Shara."

Possessed by the spirit of Surak, Archer leads the Vulcan resistance in search of an ancient artifact that could change all Vulcan society. But the planet's leader V'Las is determined to stop them at any cost. Meanwhile, Trip and Soval seek help from the Andorians, and a particularly skeptical Shran.

At a high level, I have similar criticisms about this concluding part three that I had with part two of the trilogy. V'Las grows ever more villainous, to a degree that seems increasingly hard to believe. (You have to wonder if there's any Vulcan version of the 25th amendment, and what the political landscape is like that people as logical as the Vulcans wouldn't use it.) It's never made clear why Archer was chosen by Surak, and things only get more MacGuffiny in the hunt for an artifact whose revelation will magically resolve everything... somehow.

But you either went along with this stuff back in part two or not. And once again, the more personal aspects of the story elevate the storytelling. You can always count on Jeffrey Combs to bring his A game, and it's great to see two long-running guest stars get big scenes together, as he does with with Gary Graham when Shran tortures Soval. It's not the only noble moment for Soval either; he also demonstrates respect for Archer when he tells Trip that he's doing just what the "cap'n" would do, and that it's the right thing.

Archer is experiencing growth too, as he confesses that his experience with Surak has led him to understand why Vulcans suppress their emotions. He's able to walk T'Pol through a minefield of emotions about her mother in a way that she's able to hear. For her part, T'Pol comes to embrace the cause of the Vulcan rebels, and risks her life to aid them.

One element I don't love is how the episode picks up on the story line of the Vulcan stigma about mindmelds. That began as a Star Trek allegory for HIV, and while the storytellers mishandled some of the details, it felt like their hearts were in the right place. But here, we learn that skilled mindmelders can actually cure "Pa'nar syndrome" -- HIV and AIDS. It's quite the rapid wave of quite the magic wand, a simplistic way of backing away from the story line.

It's almost as quick as the dissolution of T'Pol's marriage. I suppose we were told quite directly that she only agreed to marry because of her mother's situation. Still, it seems surprising when a plot complication introduced only a few episodes ago is so unceremoniously resolved. I guess this is the easy Vulcan conflict resolution that I've been feeling the absence of in this trilogy's A story.

Other observations:

• Two decades before a memorable turn on Star Trek: Picard, Todd Stashwick appears here as Vulcan security stooge.

• ...who is revealed in the final scene of the episode to be a Romulan operative! This plays well for longtime Star Trek fans who have watched other series in the franchise, but it doesn't amount to much in the context of Enterprise alone. It makes V'Las, who already seemed irrational, appear weak as well for being so thoroughly manipulated.

Despite a few missteps, "Kir'Shara" is a fun ride. We get fist fights, neck pinches, and lirpas. We get epic space battles. And many of the characters get a chance to do some truly heroic things. So overall, I'll give this episode a B. 

Throw Yourself Into the Pitt

Back in early 2025, there seemed to be no corner of the internet where I wasn't hearing about this amazing new medical drama, The Pitt. Several of my friends joined the steady drumbeat: you have to watch The Pitt! But I had enough of a TV backlog then that I never got around to it. When the season finale ran that April? By May or so, everyone had moved on to something else.

But then 2026 arrived, and The Pitt turned out not to be one of those modern shows that needs like two or three years to produce a season of television. The Pitt was back, and with it that choir loudly singing the praises of the show. This time around, I couldn't resist.

And now? Pass me the hymnal, because I'm joining that choir.

Set in a Pittsburgh hospital that trains new doctors, each season of The Pitt follows one shift on one day at the emergency room. It's not quite operating by the rules of the show 24, with events occurring in real time... but each hour of television is one hour of show time, and story elements continue from episode to episode.

That one hour of television is somehow the shortest one hour on television. Each episode of The Pitt unfurls at breakneck pace, juggling multiple medical crises and mysteries with apparent ease. And the real triumph of the writing is that it also finds time to honor the human element: you very quickly come to care about the hospital workers in the main and supporting cast, and each new case that comes their way features patients and their families who are memorable, often sympathetic, real people in an extraordinary situation.

It's challenging to praise the cast, because it's so large and there really isn't a weak link in the bunch. I'll focus on a few to avoid droning on. Noah Wyle anchors the gang as Dr. "Robby," a wonderful blend of competency and humanity. Absolutely everyone who watches the show is going to instantly fall in love with Katherine LaNasa as charge nurse Dana Evans, conductor of this triage symphony. I quickly gravitated toward poor, put-upon Dr. Whitaker, played through all manner of tough situations by Gerran Howell. I appreciated the work of Isa Briones as the prickly Dr. Santos, who I think ably serves up a character with many unlikable traits without actually making the character wholly unlikable. And sling the "nepo baby" accusations all you want at Fiona Dourif (daughter of Brad Dourif) and Taylor Dearden (daughter of Bryan Cranston) -- it doesn't change the fact that they're both excellent in their respective roles of Drs, McKay and King.

Season 1 of The Pitt was a whirlwind ride that built to a frenetic crescendo in its final few episodes. Season 2 wisely took a different path, using its final episodes to dig into the humanity in the main characters. Both approaches worked, and I found both seasons to be top-notch, grade A material. (If I must pick, I'll give the nod to season 1.)

Yes, The Pitt is as good as I'm sure you've heard. It has created a TV backlog of its own for me; I've been so eager to devour it that many other shows have just been piling up. Had I watched the first season last year, I would have put in in the #3 slot of my "Top 10 of 2025" List (ahead of Slow Horses, behind Pluribus). If somehow you've missed it? You've likely got until next January to catch up in time for season 3.

Star Trek Flashback: Arena

Certain episodes of classic Star Trek loom large with the fans. Then there are the rare few that broke out even wider in pop culture. One of those is "Arena."

The Enterprise arrives at a colony to find it wiped out by an alien threat that's still in the area. After a skirmish on the planet, an interstellar chase begins. But that's interrupted when a super-powerful third party steps in to resolve their distastefully violent dispute. Captain Kirk and the reptilian Gorn captain of the enemy ship are transported to an alien landscape to battle it out one-on-one. Kirk seems hopelessly outmatched, unless he can apply reason to his situation... or find empathy for his foe.

There are people who have never watched a full episode of Star Trek who nevertheless know two things about this episode. The first is its location filming at Vasquez Rocks. While numerous episodes of Star Trek and other TV shows have filmed at this picturesque spot less than an hour from Los Angeles, the iconic rock formation featured in this episode has become indelibly linked with Star Trek. (Seriously: "Star Trek Historic Film Site" is a searchable map location.)

The second thing people know about this episode is that Kirk fights a giant lizard. This is a more ignominious claim to fame, thanks to the less than convincing rubber suit. The 2000s remaster of this episode tries to help a little with CG eyelids that blink, but there's no hiding the fact that this suit clearly couldn't move well. And it probably still cost a fortune. So we get a series of fights in which a suited stuntman can't move too fast for fear of hurting William Shatner (who he cannot see), and William Shatner can't dare to play rough for fear of damaging the lizard suit (which cost too much to put at risk). There's no other way to put it: these fights look silly. (So silly, that it was only natural to poke fun at them later.)

It's a shame the cheap looking suit hogs the spotlight, because so much else about this episode seems so expensive. There's extensive location filming -- not just for the titular arena where Kirk and the Gorn fight, but in a lengthy opening sequence where a landing party at the destroyed colony is bombed by an unseen foe. And it had better look good; William Shatner did some of his own stunts in this episode, and famously was so near an explosion when it detonated that he developed tinnitus that he's lived with ever since. Between opening the artillery sequence and the ensuing space chase, this episode is half over before we ever even get to the famous "Kirk and the lizard suit at Vasquez Rocks" material.

The late-onset silliness may also overshadow the solid Star Trek moral at the very end of this episode. The Gorn did not attack without purpose, and our heroes come to realize that they themselves -- not the Gorn -- may actually be in the wrong. Plus, this message in support of empathy and diplomacy comes at the end of a lengthy sequence where Kirk "MacGyvers" (before the term existed, of course) a weapon out of the materials he can kind -- a message supporting "brains over brawn."

And yet -- I wish that more of this episode felt original. We're not even halfway done with the first season, and we've encountered so many aliens with godlike powers that it's hard to keep track. The destruction of outposts and an ensuing space chase were the entire story in "Balance of Terror." So I find it hard to love this episode, no matter how famous it is, when half of it is a rehash and half of what's left is kind of hokey.

Other observations:

• Even with nearly 20 episodes in the can, Star Trek was still finding itself. The ship has "screens" instead of "shields," there's still clearly no concept of the "Federation" as people talk about "Earth outposts," and there's no real consistency between episodes about how fast is dangerously fast for the Enterprise.

• But we do get a vaporized redshirt, expected banter between Spock and McCoy, and a lot of Star Trek characters watching an episode of Star Trek. (Once you notice it, you'll see that characters on Star Trek watch viewscreen clips of themselves and their shipmates more often than you'd expect.) 

• Speaking of "watching Star Trek," Spock gets really weird about it. As he watches footage of Kirk figuring out how to build a weapon from raw materials, he groans "yes, yessssss...." like some kind of villain cheering on his minion.

This iconic episode does have many good moments. But when you're actually watching it, and not remembering it through rose-colored glasses, it has many shortcomings too. Overall, I'd give "Arena" a B-.

21!

You may have noticed that I don't blog as frequently as I used to. Or hey, maybe you're too busy to have noticed.. That's ok -- especially if you're not that into Star Trek, which I acknowledge makes up a fair chunk of what I post these days.

But I do still post often enough that I still consider this a regular thing. And now, it's been a regular thing for a shocking 21 years. That's right -- this blog is of drinking age... and features nearly 6,000 of my posts.

I started it all those years ago mainly as a way of keeping in cyber-touch with friends I'd moved away from after a layoff and cross-country move. This was in a long-ago, mythical time where there wasn't much social media established for doing that. Heimlich Maneuvers was really just a way for me to swap the same talk with people that I would have if we were still getting together in person, having all seen the latest movie or played the latest board game.

I'm still in touch with most of those people. I've met many more along the way. (Though let me raise the glass this blog is now old enough to drink in memory of one no longer with us.)

As long as you pop in here from time to time, actually caring what I might have to say about a new TV show, my latest vacation, or whatever? I'll probably keep coming here to write about it. (Though I suppose by now, there's more than enough material here for AI to mine my tastes and spit out a reasonable facsimile of what I might think about any given thing -- and how I might express those thoughts.)

The value of opinions on the internet are perhaps worth less than ever. But thanks for coming here for mine. 

Enterprise Flashback: Awakening

The epic Vulcan trilogy on Star Trek: Enterprise continues with "Awakening."

Archer and T'Pol find the resistance enclave they've been searching for, where many revelations ensue. The people there are not the terrorists the government claims. The disillusionment that drove T'Pol's mother to join then runs so deep that the two of them now find surprising common ground. But most significantly, Archer now carries the living spirit of the movement's heroic figure, Surak. Meanwhile, Vulcan leader V'Las escalates his campaign against the dissidents, removing anyone who might stand in his way.

This trilogy has such epic storytelling intentions, aiming to show us how Vulcans grew from their Enterprise depiction (hardly as in control emotionally as they claim) to the people we know from later (well... earlier) Star Trek. Surak appears to Archer in multiple visions to discuss the state of the world, relative to the one he was trying to create; this is not unlike the Buddha or Jesus appearing to someone today. (Time scale and everything.) We soon learn of an artifact containing Surak's original writings, an Ark of the Covenant-like Macguffin that seemingly introduces Raiders of the Lost Ark adventure to the tale.

But to me, the thing this episode does best is balancing the epic story with personal stakes. Soval is fired from his ambassador job, completing his transformation from prickly adversary to stalwart ally for the Enterprise crew. T'Pol and her mother finally reach an understanding... only for the latter to die and leave T'Pol in emotional turmoil once more. The character of T'Pau is made to confront her prejudice against humans. It's all strong material, and generally well performed.

Yet also, this episode has common "middle of a trilogy" issues where the story is straining to get from point A to point B. Surak's katra has been in other Vulcans before now landing in Archer. Why does he reveal to Archer where to find his writings when he could have done so with any of those previous hosts? At the end of the episode, Soval reveals the Vulcan plan to spark war with Andoria... though it sure seems like knowledge he had the entire time and could have revealed earlier, except to make for a dramatic cliffhanger.

Then there's the character of V'Las, leader of the Vulcan government, who just seems cartoonishly villainous. Why is V'Las so bent on war with Andoria? Why does he actually think that bombing the Syrrannite faction is necessary for him to get to that? (I guess Vulcan doesn't have a T'Streisand effect.) How did a guy this irrational become the leader of a people who pride themselves on logic?

(I will admit: in the real world, a certain Cheeto-haired would-be Mussolini is doing his level best to illustrate that this sort of behavior is far more realistic than you might think. But as the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction... which means that fiction has to "hang together" better.)

Other observations:

• Apparently, most Vulcans regard katras as they do time travel... which we've been told again and again (and again and again and again), is regarded as impossible by Vulcan orthodoxy.

• There's a fun exchange between Soval and Trip, when the former confesses his deep affinity for humans. "You did a pretty good job of hiding it." "Thank you."  

The villain of this story seems to be evil just for evil's sake. But I still find the rest of the episode fairly compelling. I give "Awakening" a B.

The Growth of Shrinking

When I blog about TV shows, it usually goes one of two ways: I dive in to an episode-by-episode recap of the entire show, or I post about it once and move on. It's very rare that I circle back to a show just finishing up a new season. But I feel compelled to do that about the just-finished third season of Shrinking.

Shrinking is a comedy-drama hybrid about therapist Jimmy Laird, who is struggling with grief after the sudden death of his wife. But with the help of his co-workers, his neighbors, a long-time friend, and a patient with whom he takes a very hands-on approach, he begins to pull things together for himself and his teenage daughter.

I admit, the description of the premise certainly doesn't sound funny. But the cocktail that is Shrinking is a delicately balanced one, with all the ingredients in just the right proportions. And if you're a TV fan who somehow hasn't tried Shrinking, perhaps it would help to know that one of the show's creators is Bill Lawrence, the guy behind Scrubs, Ted Lasso, Cougar Town, and most recently, Rooster.

When I first blogged about season one of the show, pretty much the only less-than-positive things I had to say about it were that the show took a few episodes to really get going, and that star Jason Segel wasn't as strong as the rest of the cast. Today, with season three just finished, neither of those things are true. The show knows exactly what it is. And more than perhaps any other cast member, Jason Segel has come to embody the show's unique blend of bittersweetness.

I wanted to mention the series again because season three was the best yet for the show. Every single one of the 11 episodes made me laugh out loud in moments and made me cry in others. Despite stiff competition from other things I'm watching right now, there was no other show I looked forward to more. Every single cast member -- Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell, Christa Miller, and Ted McGinley -- was superb. Harrison Ford was doing the best work of his career. (Yes. I said it, and I meant it.) The parade of guest stars was extraordinary: Cobie Smulders, Brett Goldstein, Damon Wayans Jr., Lily Rabe, Wendie Malick, Michael J. Fox, Jeff Daniels, Candice Bergen... on and on and on.

And the show wound its way to a satisfying conclusion. Because yes, this was written as a series finale. Creator Bill Lawrence has stated that the show always had a three-year story plan, and this was it. He's now also agreed to make a season four. Is this going to be like the weird ninth season of the original Scrubs, or more like the new revival season I'm hearing good things about from fans? I guess we'll find out. But for now, the three seasons we have stand perfectly on their own.

Season three of Shrinking is the best TV I've seen so far this year. Eight months from now, if it no longer stands atop the heap, it will have been a truly extraordinary year of television indeed. Season three is a perfect A. If you've never watched Shrinking, I'd make it #1 on my list of recommendations for you. 

Star Trek Flashback: The Squire of Gothos

Almost 40 years on from the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it's hard to imagine that when that series first launched, it was uncertain whether it would last, and its was actively hated by a small but vocal group of Star Trek fandom. (Look at Star Trek: Starfleet Academy today, and you'll see times haven't really changed.) While The Next Generation did indeed get time to grow (and wow, did it flourish), I have to admit the haters might have had a point about many of the very early episodes, which often blatantly ripped off story lines from classic Star Trek episodes. When the very first episode needed to be padded from a regular one-hour installment into a special two-hour premiere, Gene Roddenberry did so by adding Q, a character lifted directly from a classic Star Trek episode, "The Squire of Gothos."

Passing through an empty region of space, the Enterprise comes upon an entire planet seemingly out of nowhere. Its lone inhabitant, Trelane, is an eccentric alien with powerful, almost magical abilities -- and an unchecked desired to see the Enterprise crew perform for his amusement. Can our heroes figure out a way to neutralize or overcome Trelane's abilities? Or will Kirk be sentenced to death by Trelane in a show trial?

It's shocking just how closely the Q story line of "Encounter at Farpoint" follows the essential plot elements of "The Squire of Gothos," from the archaic speech and cosplay to the casual chauvinism to the mock court proceedings. It's little wonder that fans have been supposing that "Trelane was a Q" pretty much since Next Gen day one, a connection finally made official by Strange New Worlds in its most recent season. The story is only different at the margins, with the revelation of "Gothos" removed (that this powerful alien is actually a child) and the motives of the trial being added for "Farpoint" (all of humanity is being judged, not just the captain).

It seems certain that The Next Generation's rehash would never have gotten the traction it did without the performance of actor John de Lancie as Q. But I think that just goes to show how unthinkable the idea of a "sequel episode" was in late 1960s television. Trelane absolutely could have returned, because it's not like William Campbell gives a bad performance. Is he over the top? Absolutely. Is he petulant and obnoxious? You bet. Also, is he exactly what the script calls for? Of course. He's the reason why this episode was memorable in the first place, to be ripped off some 20 years later. There's a reason classic Star Trek would cast Campbell again as guest star in season two in another, also highly-memorable role.

The fact that we have both a 1960s and 1980s take on essentially the same story really highlights all the 1960s elements of "The Squire of Gothos," To illustrate to the 60s audience how commonplace space travel is in Star Trek's imagined future, it's happening as literally everyone on the bridge is drinking coffee. When actors are "frozen" by Trelane's power, there's no visual effect or even a locked-off single frame of film; they just have to hold still -- poorly. The leaps in logic our heroes make as they reason the limits of Trelane's power seem wild, dictated by episode run time more than reasonable extrapolation. The cartoonish sound effects that result when Kirk shoots out Trelane's "magic mirror" are actually laugh-out-loud silly. So are the efforts to enact a sprawling chase through a forest on the limited set the show is able to present. (All the money went, understandably, to the castle gate and interior.)

But the episode has its charms. Its great when Spock uses precise language to tell Trelane, to his face, how distasteful he is. It's fun to watch Kirk slowly discover the right way to handle Trelane (as the bratty child he's ultimately revealed to be). Scotty actually gets to be shown as a miracle worker in this episode, beaming up the first landing party despite interference (rather than exclaiming that some repair will take four times longer than it will).

Other observations:

• The episode makes a point of placing two characters, DeSalle and Jaeger, and then calling upon (respectively) their French and German ancestry. But the episode can't get everyone on the same page about referring to the later as "YAY-ger" or "JAY-ger."

• McCoy just dives on in, eating and drinking everything on Trelane's table. Sure, he "covers" a minute later when he shares the observation that none of it had any taste. But I love the "if I'm gonna be stuck here, I might as well try to get drunk" vibe.

• One moment, Trelane is said not to be aware of any Earth history in the past thousand years. The next, he's referencing Alexander Hamilton. (Though Trelane's "take turns shooting" rules of pistol dueling don't look anything like any other duel I've seen in pop culture.)

• A few moments have aged like milk, such as the moment when Trelane meets Uhura, or when Kirk talks about the boyish prank of dipping girls' pigtails into inkwells.

I might think more highly of this episode if the Star Trek of my childhood hadn't gone on to make so much more of the same concepts. On its own, I feel like "The Squire of Gothos" is a C+. 

Enterprise Flashback: The Forge

Under new showrunner Manny Coto, the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise finally embraced the series' promise as a Star Trek prequel with a three-part episode that pulled together bits of franchise lore into an eclectic buffet plate of fun. For its next trick? Another three-parter, this time focused on the Vulcans. It begins with "The Forge."

A bombing at the human embassy on Vulcan leads to accusations against a desert-dwelling faction with disfavored views of the historic Vulcan leader, Surak. When T'Pol learns that her mother is a part of this outcast sect -- and is now missing -- she and Archer set out into some of the most hostile terrain on Vulcan for answers. Meanwhile, the rest of the Enterprise crew find an unexpected ally in their perennial adversary, Soval, who himself doubts his government's evidence in the bombing investigation.

It's all but impossible to remember today, but there was a time where the legacy of Star Trek was carried only by the occasional film starring the original cast, and a series of licensed novels written by a parade of authors. Those novels remained popular with fans even after The Next Generation and other spin-off series arrived, with certain authors being especially beloved. Among those was husband-and-wife team Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, who were tapped for the writing staff of Enterprise in season four, and whose first credited episode was "The Forge."

I read more than my share of those Star Trek novels back in the day, and remember them as being BY the most ardent of Star Trek fans, FOR the most ardent of Star Trek fans. So it seems like a perfect fit to have the Reeves-Stevens at the keyboard for this tale of "how Vulcans became Vulcans," featuring a mind meld, two different characters who first appeared in the original series, a new look at Vulcan consciousness enduring beyond death, and more. You want to see colossal statues wielding Vulcan ritual weapons? The first live-action appearance of a sehlat, an oft-mentioned Vulcan animal? Multiple homages to Spock's beloved story arc of Star Trek II and III? It's all here.

Maybe you're more of a then-modern Trekker than a fan of the original series. Don't worry, you're covered too. Actor Robert Foxworth, who guest-starred so effectively in a multi-part Deep Space Nine story about isolationists seizing control of government, returns here to do it again in Vulcan makeup. Much like the just-finished Augments story arc, there's a wealth of ways for a longtime Star Trek fan to get into this new story.

But if you're an Enterprise fan, first and foremost? I'm not sure this episode is nearly as fun. It kicks off with -- uh... 20-some-year-old SPOILER here -- the unceremonious death of Admiral Forrest, killed in the bombing on Vulcan. The episode tries to give him a dignified final scene with Ambassador Soval, but I really struggle getting over the fact that actor Vaughn Armstrong's recurring character sat out for the entirety of season three, only to finally be brought back here for a couple minutes before being killed off-screen. Even though Soval "mourns" his death (by Vulcan standards, at least), it feels like a writing trick -- cruel, cheap, or both.

It's at least a better episode for the regular characters. Trip is really the one to finally crack Soval's icy shell. Reed actually shows marginal skill (at last) during the investigation of the bombing. Phlox is able to expose the fraud in the official findings. And while I don't love Archer's behavior through most of the episode (antagonizing Soval; being rather chauvinist toward T'Pol), he seems on a path to learn something by the end of this episode, now that he's carrying the katra of Surak.

Other observations:

• Phlox's weirdly stationary approach to basketball seems appropriate to the character, though I'm not sure how it's so effective.

• I'm actually with Archer when it comes to the idea of a sehlat as a pet. "Porthos doesn't try to eat me when I'm late with his dinner."

I'm really not down with the treatment of Forrest to get this story rolling. But once it is, that story shows promise. I give "The Forge" a B.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace

Andy Weir's book Project Hail Mary was one of my favorite reads of the last several years. Ever since the film version was announced, I've been waiting for it with equal parts enthusiasm and nervousness. They couldn't possibly mess it up, right? But were they going to mess it up?

When the movie finally arrived, I was out of town for a ski-trip-turned-board-game-trip. Fortunately, since I'd already read the book, I didn't need to worry about anything being spoiled for me. But I did start to get a bit worried about the rapturous response from audiences. There was no corner of social media where I wouldn't encounter someone raving about how good the movie was. ("Two thumbs down! If you know, you know!") Was the experience going to be totally overhyped for me by the time I finally did see it?

Well, maybe a little. But generally -- nope, the movie actually does manage to capture most of what made the book so enjoyable.

That book/movie, if you're unfamiliar, is the story of Ryland Grace, who wakes up aboard a spaceship that's traveled to another star. As his memories of how he got there slowly return, he tries to learn why this star is immune to a contagion that's gradually killing our own sun and threatening all life on Earth. What the movie campaign eagerly spoils (that talk of the book avoided) is that Grace has an unlikely ally on his mission -- an alien creature named Rocky from another star similarly affected. The two first learn to communicate, and then forge a deep friendship as they work together to save their planets.

It's tempting to become mired in what Project Hail Mary loses in transition from page to screen. To forge a potential blockbuster with broad appeal (something the filmmakers achieved!), they definitely sand down the sharp edges of all the science talk -- that's just not cinematic enough. To bring down the run time, most of the "slow progress" moments of the book are transformed into montages or sudden "eureka!" moments. (Not that the movie is "short," clocking in at 2 hours, 36 minutes.) But if you want all of that, the book still exists. Indeed, the movie has made me seriously consider going back to it soon.

And I mean that as nothing but a compliment. Because I really didn't receive the movie as some "pale shadow of the book," but rather as a potent reminder of everything I loved about the book. When you step back and think about it, the degree of difficulty here was impossibly high.

Few movies rely so much on the performance of a single actor. And not since Tom Hanks and Cast Away have so many people appreciated the ability of such a single actor to develop chemistry with the least likely of screen partners. The filmmakers' decision to realize Rocky through puppetry instead of CG was crucial. Their much-discussed choice to keep the voice performance of the lead puppeteer (rather than stunt cast a new voice-over) was alchemy. And Ryan Gosling is that good here. He's carrying the movie so well that you almost don't feel like he is carrying the movie; Project Hail Mary feels like a two-hander that just happens to have an unusual second character.

And before I move away from character and casting, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that Sandra Hüller is also very strong as Eva Stratt, head of Earth's planet-saving efforts. Hüller's performance actually made me appreciate the character more than the book, as she shades the bureaucratic martinet with just enough humanity and dry humor to make an important turn in the story hit harder.

The last time this particular screen writer, Drew Goddard, adapted an Andy Weir book, the result was The Martian. That was an excellent movie... which laughably won the Golden Globe for "Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy" simply because science fiction wasn't (probably still isn't) respected enough to compete in the Drama category. But Goddard's work here on Project Hail Mary, along with the direction by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, really does feel more legitimately comedic. This adaptation may have had to jettison some of the hard science, but it clung tightly to the elements of humor.

Finally, a few notes in praise of the filmmaking. Lord and Miller chose to do this movie using practical effects and in-camera effects as much as possible, and it's absolutely the right decision. In just the post-production time since the movie was filmed, the rise of AI slop has made most of us more savvy than ever to the artificial look of unreal images. And while talented Hollywood effects artists can, of course, achieve visuals much better than said slop, there's still at least a subconscious level on which most viewers reject something they know is completely digital. I already mentioned the decision to render Rocky through puppetry and not computers, but it goes beyond that. The "make it work somehow" ethos of the physical approach dovetails perfectly with the message of the story.

I also appreciated the music. The score by Daniel Pemberton shifted nimbly to support both humor and drama, and some notable "needle drops" certainly paid off well. (I might even say the one we get by The Beatles could be in the running for the most perfectly curated and placed Beatles track used in any movie.)

So... "thumbs down?" (If you know, you know.) Yeah. I'll give Project Hail Mary an A-, probably shaving a bit only for my total enjoyment of the source material.

Redder Late Than Never?

Months ago, when my friends and I locked in a spring break getaway to Steamboat Springs, I might have imagined a few ski days in fresh mountain snow. But by the time the trip arrived, Colorado (and much of the west) was ending a near-record year of low snowfall since recording began -- with snowpack actually at the record low. The daytime temperature ranged between 65 and 80 degrees for the entire week. Over the course of that week, the ski resort went from over 100 open runs to just over 40, with the only way down to the base being to hop back on the gondola.

So for me, there was no skiing. But we checked out the new scenario at the great local escape room, The Crooked Key, enjoyed some great food and drink, and played lots and lots of board games. I hope to talk about some of those in the days and weeks ahead.

I'll start with a game that may have just been rescued from a crack it fell through several years ago. I brought The Red Cathedral back from a Gen Con some time ago, whereupon my group played it once and then completely lost track of it amid new releases and persistent favorites. But it was a great choice to take on this trip -- a crunchier game in a small box -- and I got to revisit it more than once on the trip.

Players take on the role of builders working to construct Saint Basil's Cathedral under the watchful eye of the tsar. A pattern of cards outlines the base, towers, and spires of the cathedral, with players sometimes using their turn to take ownership of a card -- and responsibility to provide the materials to build it.

Eight actions are arrayed in a circle around a central board. On most of your turns, you will select one of these actions by choosing one of five dice. Move the chosen die clockwise by the number of pips it shows, and the place you land will determine the action you take. But also, the number of dice on the space you land determines the strength of the action. So the game often asks you to weigh getting the thing you want most right now against changing your plans to take advantage of a dice cluster that's just emerged. These clusters don't last long, you see; after each action, the player re-rolls all the dice on the space they used, scrambling the options for the next player.

There are other wrinkles in the mix, such as bonus actions you can take on the different spaces, and extra resources you can collect if you've paid in advance to get a bonus for moving a die of a specific color. The most significant wrinkle is the limited number of "ornamentations" you can build during the game -- on any completed section of the cathedral. The more jewels you earn and set into an ornamentation, the more points it's worth immediately, pushing you to take the time to earn all the jewels you can. But where the ornamentations are placed figures large in endgame scoring, pushing you to move as quickly as you can.

At endgame, each tower of the cathedral is assigned a point value, 2 points for each of its completed sections, plus 1 point for each "ornamentation" that players have built there during the game. Those same sections and ornamentations each provide one point of "control" for the player who built them, with the player who did the most scoring the tower's full value, the second most getting half, and the third getting half of that. So a well-placed ornamentation can swing the ownership of a valuable tower your way.

After replaying The Red Cathedral a couple of times, I couldn't quite understand how it had slipped off our radar years ago. This game seems right at the center of what my group enjoys. The rules set is right about our speed, the play time a compact "hour or less" for experienced gamers, and the number of decisions it asks of you throughout satisfying. I guess I must have brought something else really good back from that particular Gen Con years ago.

I give The Red Cathedral a B+. I suspect that this time around, it may remain in the mix a while. 

Starfleet Academy: Rubincon

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy concluded its first season with an episode meant to make you ask, "is there a typo in the episode's title?" Let's talk about "Rubincon."

Nus Braka captures Captain Ake, then proceeds to put her and the Federation on trial -- with Anisha Mir serving as judge. Meanwhile, Jett Reno and the cadets race to disable the weapons Nus Braka has used to mine the Federation border.

I noted about the previous episode that the short 10-episode season of Starfleet Academy didn't seem like enough time to show us how the characters had grown as close as the story required. That "not enough time" issue hangs over this finale too, as more time was also needed to show Caleb Mir's growing relationship to Starfleet. This entire episode builds to a poignant Caleb monologue, where he must convince his mother not only that Starfleet isn't the force for evil she's known it to be, but that it was key in making him the man he's become. Because Sandro Rosta delivers the speech well (and Tatiana Maslany is the one reacting to it), the moment does work. Yet, to borrow the legal parlance of this episode, I feel like it assumes facts not in evidence from the season as a whole.

And on the subject of that trial -- I find myself very divided about it. There's a long tradition of great Star Trek legal episodes, in which characters deliver lofty speeches and score moral points. I get why Starfleet Academy wants to take a run at that. But then... this isn't actually anything like a real trial. Nus Braka wouldn't conduct one, of course; he'd do exactly what he does here and stage an opportunity to grandstand. But it's so "not a trial" that Captain Ake doesn't even bother to put up any kind of defense. She has arguments, but doesn't even raise them until the "verdict" has been delivered and Caleb has arrived on scene. So to the extent this episode "promises" a trial at all, I feel like it doesn't deliver -- and that left me feeling a little unsatisfied.

But I felt the rest of the episode offered enough pleasures to make up for that. Give me "Captain Jett Reno" all day, every day. I never imagined we'd get to see Tig Notaro in the captain's chair -- never mind so much, and all while never taking off the teacher's hat. I thought all of Reno's material in this episode was well written, and perfectly delivered by Notaro. There's just a solid link there, with the writers knowing how to write for her, and performer in turn making the words fit perfectly.

I thought the "degree of difficulty" for Anisha Mir was higher this episode, more worthy of what Tatiana Maslany can do. Specifically, most of her key scenes in this episode were reactive. She had to listen to Nus Braka and Nahla Ake trade barbs, listen to her son's impassioned plea... all of her most important moments of the episode had no dialogue. But I still felt a whirl of emotion emanating from her character. And I appreciated that she was not so easily won over; there were no magic words Ake could say that would do it. 

I gotta say, I don't understand why or how the Doctor, of all people, would suddenly understand the way to stabilize a dangerous particle that has stumped scientists for centuries. But work past the conceit, and I liked how it set up Sam to save the day. I also liked how it set up Genesis to be the one to help Sam reconcile her feelings about the two different lives she's led. (Though again, I would have wished for more episodes to showcase more of her differences since returning from her home planet.)

I could have wished for more of the characters to figure more centrally in the plot. (Jay-Den, Darem, and Lura Thok didn't get much to do.) But at least we know they'll have another chance next season; this wasn't the final Starfleet Academy episode, period. I'd say "Rubincon" landed around a B... but overall, I found season one of this show to be engaging. I'll be ready for more whenever season two arrives.

Enterprise Flashback: The Augments

Star Trek: Enterprise concluded the first three-episode arc of its fourth season with "The Augments."

As the Augments escalate their attacks, Arik Soong realizes the extent of Malik's depravity and commits to working against him. Can Soong get back to Enterprise and convince Archer of his intentions? And can they actually stop these genetically enhanced foes before they strike a Klingon world and provoke an all-out war?

I talked a little in my last review about how this Augment story line was a classic three-act story arc for Arik Soong. There's not much left to say there. There's not much to say generally, in fact. This last hour basically puts the pedal to the floor on big action with big stakes. It does briefly poke at one moral quandary -- whether it's right for Soong to further alter the DNA of the Augment embryos to reduce their aggression, changing their nature. It's interesting to put a kind of "born this way" argument in the mouth of Malik, who is 100% villain at this point. But the audience isn't made to think about it too deeply. With the commercials taken out, we're in the final act of a two-hour action movie here.

But there are still a few quiet moments. Soong tries one last time to appeal to Malik, who has become utterly disillusioned with his "father." Trip and T'Pol talk about her recent marriage, and the star-crossed nature of a human/Vulcan relationship. Mostly though, we get a wide variety of action.

It starts immediately with the daring rescue of Archer from space. (The CG isn't great, but the idea of this action set piece certainly is.) Along the way, Malik puts Archer in a classic hero's dilemma -- to catch the baddie or save the innocent -- when he dumps a Denobulan ship into a gas giant. There's cloak and dagger, as Persis smuggles Soong off the Augment ship, and Enterprise bluffs a Klingon ship into allowing them passage through Klingon space. Malik and Persis get into a climactic knife fight (in perhaps the fourth or fifth moment you're made to think, "oh, now Malik has gone full pyscho"). Enterprise gets into a scrape with a Klingon ship and uses its grappler of all things to escape.

The episode pays plenty of fun homage to franchise history. The talk of whether Khan's lost ship is fact or myth is a fun argument, as are explicit "rhymes" in the story, like a burned Malik crawling around the wreckage of his defeated ship to set a self-destruct. But the episode also name-checks Insurrection's Briar Patch, and concludes with a playful nod to Soong's new interest in cybernetics, which he imagines will yield results "in a generation or two."

Other observations:

• There's fun makeup on Archer after he's beamed out of the vacuum of space. 

• The sequencing of action seems off to me in the middle of this episode. When Enterprise disguises itself as a Klingon ship, then encounters the Augments first, I found myself asking "what was the point of that? The Augments are going to treat any other ship as hostile." It's only later, when Enterprise encounters an actual Klingon ship in its territory, that the point of the ruse is made crystal clear.

• Enterprise's determination not to use its characters at all is so frustrating sometimes. Even Uhura got to say "hailing frequencies open" on the regular. At one moment in this episode, when Mayweather is issued an order, he doesn't even get a line of dialogue to acknowledge it.

• By this point, even Reed is aware of his own shooting accuracy. When Enterprise has to shoot down the Augments' weapon before it hits the Klingon planet, Reed fires three torpedoes. (And only hits on the third shot.)

• Malik is so tough, you have to shoot a "Death Becomes Her" style hole in him to finally take him out. 

• Even though Enterprise saves the Klingon colony, Klingons are always itching for a fight. Why wouldn't they still use this incident as provocation for war?

There's something about the conclusion here that feels awfully tidy. Maybe it's just that an entire 20+ episode season of Xindi stuff has conditioned me not to expect wrap ups to come so quickly. Still, even if it's tidy, the episode is fun. I give "The Augments" a B.

Starfleet Academy: 300th Night

I'm a bit late getting to my thoughts about last week's episode of Starfleet Academy, in part because it was a clear "part one" in need of a "part two" for full context. Ah... but if I wait to actually watch part two before I write about part one, I'll lose the purity of my current uncertainty about it. So here we go, my "still processing" thoughts about "300th Night."

As a year at the Academy winds down and cadets are bound for Betazed for the dedication of the Federation's new government seat, Caleb (with help from Sam) is finally able to retrieve coded messages from his mother, Anisha. But with her calling for a meeting outside Federation space -- whose borders are about to be closed due to a credible threat from Nus Braka -- the only way Caleb can get there is to steal a shuttlecraft. And Caleb's Academy friends aren't about to let him go it alone. As they proceed to their rendezous, Chancellor Ake takes a skeleton crew on a rescue mission. But all of them may end up on the wrong side of the border when Nus Braka springs his trap.

I think the biggest area of uncertainty for me in this story is simply that it doesn't feel like we've gotten enough Starfleet Academy yet for it to fully land. I understand that 10-episode seasons are all Star Trek in the streaming age can give us now; gone are the 20+ episode seasons of the last generation. And I'll be the first to admit that quantity over quality wasn't always a trade that worked in favor of some of those past series.

But the issue is, this episode asks us to believe in friendships that have built up over a year at school -- and it simply doesn't feel like even a fraction of that time has gone by. Sure, they've been telling us about the passage of time all season, giving us a mid-semester break, and saying very explicitly here that it's been 300 days that our cadets have been at school. But there just haven't been enough episodes to show, not tell, this passage of time. Not enough episodes that feel like they unfold over a course of weeks or months. Not enough episodes, period. So when Sam, Genesis, and (a more reluctant) Darem all throw in to help Caleb on his "mission to Mom," it's much more the performances and chemistry of the actors that sell their loyalty than the situation or script itself. 

Still... if you just get on board, the ensuing adventure is quite fun. They travel to an alien world that is rendered for the audience in rather elaborate and effective detail. And little time is wasted in finding Mom, bringing Tatiana Maslany back onto our screens. Of course, having seen Orphan Black, I'll pretty much always think that every movie or TV show she appears in is underusing her considerable talents, but she still elevates the story as she gradually realizes how her son her changed -- particularly in the past year.

It's kind of wild to me that another episode omits Lura Thok. (Is she not a main character on this show?) And I'll admit -- until we saw Darem "glitter barf" again, I wasn't entirely sure whether the first time really happened, or it was just Sam's perspective on what happened. But despite those couple of goofy choices, I found this episode overall to be a pretty rousing action-adventure.

But, like I said at the top... also an incomplete one. I'd call it a solid B. In the season one finale, I'm hoping for an episode that uses all the characters effectively in some way, like the premiere did. I'm expecting a big scene between Holly Hunter and Tatiana Maslany, and I hope it stuns me. I'm sure I'll get a big Paul Giamatti performance. But also -- with the show already set for a second season, I don't have to pin all my hopes on just the next episode to satisfy. 

Enterprise Flashback: Cold Station 12

When last we left the Enterprise crew, they'd been bested by a group of genetically engineered "Augments," aided by the devious Arik Soong. Fans tuning in for the conclusion were surprised, however: "Cold Station 12" turned out to be a continuation.

Soong and the Augments set their sights on a biological research station where genetically enhanced embyros are kept in storage. Enterprise may have help in stopping them, if Archer can get through to Udar, a "defective" Augment with limited gifts. But there's also a personal stake in the confrontation -- Phlox's longtime friend Dr. Lucas works on the station and is directly in harm's way.

With the decision having been made to tell this story over three episodes, it shouldn't be surprising that it essentially follows a three-act structure. What's perhaps more surprising is that this middle "act" suggests that the main character of the story is Arik Soong. At least, he's the character with the conventional story arc. Part one positioned him as a villain and the "smartest person in the room." Now in part two, he learns he's neither of those things; Malik is plotting deeds more clever and dastardly than Soong could conceive or condone. This episode sets the stage for Soong to turn against his "children" in the final act. 

I get it, Brent Spiner is Star Trek royalty, and they wanted to give him a juicy part to play. But that does come at the expense of other characters. I think the story line that suffers most is that of Udar, the non-augmented Augment. We don't get any sense of why he would be loyal to the siblings who teased and abandoned him. That in turn makes it less impressive when Archer talks him into turning good. (All it takes is some info on biological relatives he's never known?) Worse still, Udar doesn't really do much once he decides to help our heroes... before getting coldly executed by Malik. I suppose this is the skeleton of a story arc. There just isn't enough meat on the bones to be convincing.

Maybe that time could have been claimed by taking out some of the dull scheming between Malik and Persis. This is "sexposition" before Game of Thrones caused the zeitgeist to coin the term. But it can only be so sexy on network TV, and it doesn't do nearly as much to reveal Malik's psychopathy as his actions elsewhere in the episode. (Most of his plans go straight to "then we kill a bunch of people," which Soong has to regularly redirect.) 

But there are plenty of nice moments sprinkled throughout. There's talk about the consequences of banning genetically research -- which, given the time this episode was made, was probably intended as a proxy for stem cell research. Genetic manipulation might have saved Archer's father from a disease... that sounds a lot like a proxy for dementia. But the issue isn't painted as clearly black and white. Because human society's technological reach exceeded its moral grasp, we're told over 30 million people died in the Eugenics War.

Elsewhere in the episode -- when we finally get to meet Phlox's oft-talked-about friend Dr. Lucas, it's delightful to find that he's played by veteran character actor Richard Riehle. (You've seen him in many places. But for better or worse, he's probably best known as the "Jump to Conclusions Mat" guy from Office Space.) Not only does the episode benefit from latent affection we probably have for this actor, but John Billingsley does what he does so well as Phlox, making us feel for Lucas through the strong feelings he expresses. When Phlox's life is threatened, we TV viewers of course know that he isn't going to die... but we don't have to believe he will for Lucas' reaction to land.

The episode ends with a literal ticking clock: a countdown until every lethal pathogen stored on the station is released to kill all our heroes left aboard. It's mystifying why Archer is the one sent up a ladder to stop it (right after having caught the beating of his life from Malik). But it's a fun cliff to hang from until next week.

Other observations:

• Even the Augments' underwear has tastefully ripped holes in it. Although they're clearly not wearing it under their actual clothes, or we'd see it through the, you know, tastefully ripped holes.

• The FX shot of stored embryos inside Cold Station 12 is an unusually unconvincing visual effect for the series.

• As the Augments flee in a shuttle, Enterprise fires some torpedoes and misses. Reed's not at the trigger. So... maybe it's not that Reed sucks as his job? Maybe it's the ship?

I wish this episode budgeted its run time a little better. But there's still enough I like about "Cold Station 12" to give it a B.

Enterprise Flashback: Borderland

After a season-long story arc, a season opening two-parter, and an epilogue to wrap it all up, the time had finally come for Star Trek: Enterprise to "get back to normal." But it had been so long, what even was normal for the show anymore? Star Trek fans would find out with "Borderland."

A group of "Augments" -- genetically-enhanced humans -- is stirring up trouble at the edge of the Klingon Empire and Orion Syndicate territory. Their actions threaten to destabilize the region and incite war. But how can these super-powerful beings be stopped? For that, Enterprise must turn to the unethical scientist who raised the Augments as children, Dr. Arik Soong.

The very first episode of Enterprise set the stage for an intriguing series: humans were stepping onto the interstellar stage for the first time. They were closely monitored by skeptical Vulcans, but they deftly managed their first encounter with the Klingons. Set aside the gobbledygook of the Temporal Cold War, and the prurient titillation of the decon chamber, and you could see the promise being offered by a "Star Trek prequel series." How did we get from there to the more distant future fans knew?

In my eyes, Enterprise stopped being about that almost immediately. Instead of charting a course for the future as we knew it, the show became a less interesting repetition of previous Star Trek series. The only real nod to it being a prequel was that everything was less polished -- the technology was less evolved, and the characters less intelligent. There are many theories about why the series steadily lost viewers. I offer this one: who wants to watch "Star Trek, but everything and everyone is dumber?"

Writer Manny Coto might not have been thinking in exactly those terms -- but when he was put in charge of the series for season four, he clearly had the same sense that Enterprise wasn't fulfilling its prequel promise. He had a vision for what the show should be like: constantly mining the franchise's rich history of hundreds of episodes for intriguing and underexplored ideas, and developing them in "mini-arcs" of two- and three-part episodes. More simply: let's dump out the Star Trek toy box and start playing.

"Borderland" is the first episode of this new format. And while I won't claim that it's instantly a top five episode of the series, I think it does immediately feel like "what the show should have been like all along." I understand, they were trying to attract new fans to Star Trek. So maybe the show never could have been this from the beginning. I'm certainly not the person who can imagine what it's like to watch this episode without knowing who Klingons or Orions are, grasping what Augments are and how they relate to one of the most beloved Star Trek movies, or understanding that Arik Soong is supposed to be the great-(times-several)-grandfather of the creator of a fan favorite android. Is "Borderland" asking a Marvel Cinematic Universe level of "required reading" to be enjoyable?

Maybe. But I've done the reading.

I'm perfectly situated to pick up everything this episode is putting down. I already know that Brent Spiner is at his best when getting to cut loose and play any character other than Data, so I'm here for his take on the villainous narcissist Arik Soong. He's so irreverent, he even makes fun of some of the deficiencies of Star Trek: Enterprise -- what a non-character Reed is, how you can just go to the Trip/T'Pol relationship for a cheap thrill, how whatever is happening with the Augments seems far more Enterprise than anything happening aboard Enterprise.

Well... on that last point, I maybe don't quite agree. A lot of screen time this episode is given to squabbling among the Augments, which amounts to a lot of plotting and backstabbing (and so much villain monologuing) between characters we don't know. The actors in these roles are all cast for their looks. (And to be clear, I mean their model-like appearance, not for a match to the character names that are meant to imply a lineage with Khan.) Alec Newman, who plays Malik, is arguably the most recognizable -- at least, if you remember that there was a Dune TV mini-series in between the version David Lynch disowned and the modern Denis Villeneuve take. But Brent Spiner is in no danger of having to share a spotlight with any other actors in this story; the Augments can all just look good in their so-tastefully ripped outfits.

They can also kick some ass. With Wrath of Khan being the memorable "Augment" story in Star Trek, and with the conflict there being more psychological than physical, it's easy to forget that these guys are basically supposed to be Superman without the flying and laser eyes. So it's great fun watching two Augments take down the entire crew of a Klingon ship. Or watching Malik threaten Archer in slow detail because he knows that no one is fast enough to stop him. These Augments may not be the most charismatic villains in Star Trek, but they do feel menacing.

Along the way, there's a side trip into an Orion slave den -- a setting that holds an outsized position in classic Trek lore. It's entertaining to see professional wrestler The Big Show manhandle T'Pol, and even more entertaining to watch the big action set piece that follows. There are great moments of T'Pol getting even with her captors, Archer outsmarting Soong with a set of magnetic handcuffs, and more. I keep saying it: this kind of action stuff is what Enterprise is best at.

Other observation:

• J.G. Hertzler appears too briefly at the start of this episode as a Klingon. At first, I thought it was weird to cast such a fan favorite Trek actor in such a minor role. Then I decided that actually, who better than Hertzler to help kick off this new, past-honoring incarnation of the series? 

• Star Trek has a long history of luxuriating in "spacedock launch" sequences set to triumphant music. It's a bit weird how late the music begins in this one.

• T'Pol now sports Starfleet pips and an Enterprise arm patch. Of course, there's no way they're going to switch her to one of those jumpsuit uniforms.

• In the brig scene where Archer confronts Soong, I found the editing to be distracting. Most of the cuts are on "the other side of the glass" from the person speaking, so most of the dialogue in the scene is oddly processed and muffled.

I don't know that there's any kind of moral to "Borderland." And not every part of it works. But it is a lot of fun. It's a well-planted flag to mark this new (final) era of the series. I give it a B.

Starfleet Academy: The Life of the Stars

It's been a long time since I was involved in theater and acting. But even though you lose the "kid" over time, you never really lose the "theater kid." So you might think I was the prime audience for the latest episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, "The Life of the Stars." But as it turned out, it was the series' first real miss for me.

After a long recovery period, Tarima Sadal returns... but not to the War College; she has been transferred to Starfleet Academy. Her arrival does nothing to help mend a group of cadets still deeply shaken and fractured by recent experiences. So Chancellor Ake brings a new teacher in to help them confront their feelings: Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly is coming to teach them theater. But soon into the course, Sam collapses from the cumulative effects of a malfunction she's been hiding from everyone. Her only hope is for the Doctor and Ake to take her back to her homeworld... and more, for the Doctor to ultimately face the reason he's been so cold to her.

Simply put, I have a lot of issues with the episode. But most file under the heading: "you can't expect genuine participation under duress." That starts right out of the gate, when we're told Tarima has been transferred from the War College to Starfleet Academy against her will. It sure doesn't feel like it should work that way; if you enlist in the Coast Guard, they can't just transfer you into the Army instead without your approval.

There's a saying that describes art -- often: film, television, and theater in particular -- as an "empathy machine," and I believe that's true. But I don't think it follows that being forced to do theater against your will is just the thing to surface and process buried emotions. It certainly shouldn't help more than a skilled therapist could -- even though the episode tries to hang a lantern on that with a throwaway line saying therapy hasn't helped.

Even if you could accept the supposition that "everybody should do theater!" (too drama nerdy even for me), you then have to get over so many other hurdles. This show is set just shy of 1200 years in our future. Yes, there are plays in the real world that are that old and still performed today -- but not many. (Notably, Shakespeare isn't even half that old.) It's a big ask to think that a bunch of eager cadets (and one reluctant drifter) are going to connect deeply with, of all plays, Thornton Wilder’s "Our Town."

And even if you could accept that, how is Sylvia Tilly the right character to take them on that journey? Sure, Mary Wiseman is a trained stage performer, but I don't recall Tilly expressing any aptitude for theater (or even any interest in it) in five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. And in any case, how can you bring Tilly onto the show about young cadets and not once have her address with them the fact that "I was a cadet like you not so long ago, and here's how I grew?" I liked the character of Tilly more than many, but I didn't feel this was a good way of having her cameo on another Star Trek series.

Over in the other plot line, we watched the Doctor amplify his already brusque behavior toward Sam with a parade of coldness designed to make us ask, "what's up with him?" Of course, we have to see a character be one way for it to matter when we see their conversion to being a different way. But the hole the writers dug for the Doctor here and throughout this season was so deep (he won't even hold her hand when she asks for comfort?) that I don't think there was a way to climb back out of it.

"Real Life" was one of the most pivotal Doctor episodes of Star Trek: Voyager -- and when I reviewed it, I called it clearly the best episode of the series to that point. But to undermine the Doctor's character growth there by saying that after that, he retreated from any meaningful relationships for centuries? It's a weird choice, and doesn't feel consistent with subsequent episodes of Voyager. I felt his decision to parent Sam had the same core flaw as the episode's other story line: how much can you commit to something that you're doing (mostly) against your will?

Though I found the storytelling to be quite a mess, I did at least enjoy a lot of the acting throughout the episode. Robert Picardo gave the Doctor's big confessional speech everything he had. Kerrice Brooks really gave us new shades of Sam; the situation actually felt serious simply because she wasn't the usual, bubbly personality she's been in previous episodes. And speaking of bubbly, I do love seeing Mary Wiseman again, especially in her interactions with Tig Notaro. Also, props to Zoë Steiner, who did great with one of acting's underestimated challenges: believably acting drunk.

Still, the good performances didn't really save this for me from being clearly the weakest Starfleet Academy episode we've gotten. (Not to mention one of the weaker episodes of "modern Star Trek" generally.) I give "The Life of the Stars" a C.

The Lowdown on the Lowdown

I haven't formally made a list of my favorite actors, but if I did, I think Ethan Hawke might be on it. It's not necessarily that I think he's one of the strongest actors -- he's not a performer who leaps to mind when you're thinking about either breadth of roles or depth of chameleon-like abilities. But I really like his tastes.

Hawke has starred in some of my favorite movies of all time: Gattaca and the acclaimed Before trilogy. And usually, even when I'm not as over the moon about one of his movies, I find something interesting about it -- from the examination of faith that was First Reformed, to the little-known science fiction film Predestination, to the inverted vampire story that was Daybreakers. When he decides to make a horror movie, it's something a bit outside the norm for the time, like Sinister. When he decides to do Marvel, he picks Moon Knight -- one of the more interesting of the franchise's television shows. Basically: I'm usually picking up what Ethan Hawke is putting down.

That long preamble brings me to Hawke's most recent television project, The Lowdown. He stars as Lee Raybon, self-dubbed "truth-storian" who runs a rare book store and writes for a small local newspaper in Tulsa. A classic "man who knows too much" scenario unfolds when he writes an article about a recent suicide, rousing the ire of his subject's brother -- who is running for governor. Has Lee stumbled onto a secret conspiracy? Will proving it get him out of trouble? Can he find proof?

I'd heard good things about The Lowdown when it ran last year -- but even with my stated interest in whatever seems to interest Ethan Hawke, I didn't get around to the show right away. It arrived when there was a lot of competition for TV time, and I hadn't really received personal recommendations from friends steering me toward it. But I have finally caught up with it... and I think I'd put it in that category of Hawke projects I'm "not over the moon for, though I do find something interesting about."

You could make the argument that whatever niche The Lowdown is serving is already served by the TV series Fargo; both shows tend to center on "regular people getting caught up in extraordinary events." But  Fargo's showrunner, Noah Hawley, now has his hands full with Alien: Earth. And more crucially, most seasons of Fargo are period pieces. The Lowdown is set in modern day, making the main character's almost anachronistic work in newspapers and old books a key element in his crusader complex.

Still, if you do want to go with "The Lowdown is like a season of Fargo starring Ethan Hawke," that works too. Especially because its interesting cast also includes Keith David, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tim Blake Nelson, Kyle MacLachlan, and Graham Greene. The overall story doesn't always feel airtight or edge-of-the-seat compelling... but the characters are always fascinating. (And perhaps never more so than when Peter Dinklage swings in to guest star in one episode.)

Besides Fargo, I could say The Lowdown is "kinda like" Justified, or maybe even Better Call Saul. Articles on the internet have compared it to True Detective, Peaky Blinders, and many others. The bottom line here, I think, is that there are probably many paths into this show. Once there, you'll probably find a show you don't like quite as much as the thing that led you there... yet you'll like enough to scratch the itch of the original thing you loved. In that spirit, I'll give The Lowdown a B.

Starfleet Academy: Ko'Zeine

I think one of the early strengths of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has been variety of interesting characters in the cast, ready-made to shuffle into different combinations for new storytelling. That's exactly what happens in "Ko'Zeine."

It's spring break, and the cadets are leaving on a variety of vacations. Jay-Den's plans with Kyle are disrupted when Jay-Den witnesses the abduction of Darem, and gives chase through a dimensional portal. It turns out this is all part of pre-wedding tradition; Darem's arranged marriage is at hand, and Jay-Den is to serve as his "ko'zeine." Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, Caleb has received dispensation to remain at the Academy under the watch of Jett Reno. But his own relaxation plans are thwarted when Genesis returns and goads him into escalating hijinks for her own secret ends.

I don't feel like there are any "major problems" with this episode... yet all throughout, I felt like little things about it felt just a bit off. Given the title of the episode, I'll dub the Darem/Jay-Den storyline the "A story," and start there. After a previous episode spelled out so clearly for us that Darem has issues with impossible-to-please parents, it feels a little off to now learn that Darem was already destined to be royalty-by-marriage. It's not that it doesn't track, exactly. (Impossible-to-please people are impossible to please.) It's just weird that no hint of this came up earlier.

The weirder behavior comes from the significant others in the story. Kyle is not at all put out by Jay-Den bailing on their Ibiza vacation. Jay-Den doesn't ever really show any impulse to reach out and let Kyle know he's alright. Darem's bride Kaira absolutely must have Darem at her side right now... until one speech from Jay-Den makes her decide that actually, it'll be just fine if she rules alone. And all of this transpires in a story that doesn't follow-up on the interesting tidbits we've already been given about Khionians: what's with the changing forms, why do they just look like humans on their own homeworld, are there more forms than "human" and "spacewalk-proof", are there any societal norms about any of that, and so on.

Over in the "B story," does it seem plausible that Caleb could have survived on his own for so long if he can be this easily manipulated? Has Genesis shown any indication that she's so sensitive to criticism that her "big dark secret" is hacking her records to remove any? Would it really be Jett Reno and not the Doctor watching over the Academy during spring break? And is a big reason this episode doesn't hit as well as the others because there's so little Nahla Ake (and Holly Hunter) in it?

What I do like is the writers resisting the obvious love triangle between Caleb, Genesis, and the off-screen Tarima. On the typical teen show, Genesis absolutely would have taken this opportunity to "take Caleb away" from a romantic rival; instead, Genesis pushes hard for Caleb to express his feelings to her. (It's less clear, though, if the writers are resisting a love triangle between Jay-Den, Kyle, and Darem... in part because Kyle hasn't been developed enough yet to be around to stay.) I liked the reinforcement of character growth for both Jay-Den (who keeps getting better at public speaking) and Darem (who, as Jay-Den points out, is really discovering himself at Starfleet Academy).

As a side note, in online circles, some credited this episode as the one that "revealed" Jay-Den Kraag is gay. I felt this was pretty clear in earlier episodes from his flirtation with Kyle, but since this is the moment many are commenting on it, I'll offer a commentary of my own. I really like the idea of Star Trek giving us LGBT characters in places you "wouldn't expect." It's interesting to show us that even a strong, warrior culture like the Klingons has gay men. But it's playing a bit into historically negative cliches to have Jay-Den be softer and more sensitive, and be an outcast from his family. And while we're on the subject, it's also playing into cliche for the show's other (half-)Klingon LGBT character, Lura Thok, to be coded as "butch lesbian." Fortunately, both characters have already been written as more than their respective cliches; I just wish they weren't starting from those positions.

"Ko'Zeine" wasn't a bad episode by any stretch. But I think it was the weakest so far of the series. I give it a B-.