To clarify, Melumad does the incidental music in Prodigy, but the theme is by Michael Giacchino. He also scored, among many other things, the three Kelvin Timeline films, so he probably brings that “cinematic” feel you’re describing.
Melumad does occasionally integrate part of Giacchino’s Kelvin Timeline themes. For example, I want to say it appears toward the beginning of Prodigy 1x11.
Westlake is great, but so is Nami Melumad (who does the music for Strange New Worlds and Prodigy), so I’m absolutely not behind a call to have her fired, whether that call is meant to be tongue-in-cheek or not.
I agree it’s overused for the average episode of Trek, but if we accept that they’re doing a Section 31 movie, what’s the point of a low-stakes feature film (even a streaming film), especially one centered around Section 31?
Also worth noting that the article describes it as “Big stakes emotionally, big stakes for the characters in our story”, so the “stakes” are referring at least in part to character stakes, not necessarily universe-ending stakes. (Though I admit in practice it will probably be both.)
Great notes, as always.
In addition to the already-cited references, the Beagle could additionally be a sly reference to Archer’s pal Porthos.
Interestingly, Jolene Blalock is credited simply as “Jolene”. EDIT: Mike McMahan says this was at her request. https://bsky.app/profile/mikemcmahan.bsky.social/post/3ld3v4usznc2i
Our T’Pol also had some indirect experience with the concept of katra transference when Archer briefly carried Surak’s katra.
Nice notes, as usual.
V’Ger is the antagonist in TMP
Also it’s in the Lower Decks opening credit sequence this year.
the Cambodian word for “toilet” is bangkon, which is pronounced similarly.
Interesting catch. That didn’t occur to me, ហើយខ្ញុំចេះភាសារខ្មែរ។
Nurse Westlake is named after Chris Westlake
He’s also appeared as far back as the series premiere, though he’s rarely spoken until now, and I don’t think he’s ever said more than a couple of lines.
I guess I could add a similar note to this for every episode this year with a Stardate, but the launch date of the Protostar is Stardate 59749.1, placing this episode just under 100 days before that ship launches under Captain Chakotay.
The Star Trek: New Frontier novel series previously featured Mark McHenry, a Starfleet officer who was a descendant of Apollo and had powers as a result.
Nice notes!
Since you went through the history of Cetacean Ops, it’s worth remembering it was referenced more noticeably albeit less overtly in “The Perfect Mate” when La Forge says “Listen, have you had a chance to see the dolphins yet?”
This may just be a coincidence, but the room with the divided gravity reminded me of the “sweet spot” that Mayweather enjoyed, but since there’s no point where the gravity seems to cut entirely, this may not be an intended allusion. Though they do mention having a problem with the gravity plating, which was mentioned in many episodes of ENT starting with “Unexpected”. (Also a few times on Voyager.)
The tops of the kiosks in the shopping area are shaped like TNG-era comm badges.
“dress Sciences uniform from TNG”
Just to add to this, this is the uniform type primarily seen in seasons 1-2 with the extra line across the top.
“a Command top from DIS Season 2”
Nothing to add on this one; just wanted to say good catch noting the collar on that one! I had to look a few times before I realized which one you meant.
“a torn Monster Maroon from the movie era”
Also an excursion jacket from that era (on the left side).
The grav plate manual is on one of a set of cylindrical record tapes. I feel like these probably appeared in TOS at some point, though I’m not positive. In any case, they definitely exist in real life; cylindrical magnetic tapes were used for decades, and probably still are in some cases. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/1980s-computer-tapes.html
A sign (about 17 minutes in) mentions “astro-medicine ward 4”. A sign with the same text is visible outside of sickbay in TOS, as well as in early promotional photos of Paul Fix as Dr. Piper and Sally Kellerman as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner. You can also see a re-creation at the Star Trek Set Tour in Ticonderoga, NY.
https://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/photography/cast-photos/guest-stars/paulfix_drpiper02.jpg https://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/photography/cast-photos/guest-stars/kellerman_tospb.jpg
There’s a sign that says “Trav…” and is cut off (also 17 minutes in). It’s probably regarding “Travelers” or something and not an allusion to Travis Mayweather. Probably.
When Chad whips out the corn dogs at the end, the gesture and sound effect (snikt) resemble Wolverine from the X-Men expanding his claws.
This is the first time we’ve learned about the making of bloodwine, and seemingly the first confirmation that it’s made from actual blood of some sort of worms (or worm-like plants?) grown in the ground.
The band near the beginning features an accordionist playing the same style of concertina Ron Taylor’s Klingon chef played in DS9: “Playing God”.
K’Ellara’s “boob window” design was featured on Lursa and B’Etor starting in TNG: “Redemption”.
They mention Martok fighting in a bar in the Ketha lowlands. Martok said this was where his family was from in DS9: “Once More Unto the Breach”. We later saw the Ketha Province in Star Trek Into Darkness.
“Experience bij!” is a reference to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive VCR Board Game. Whenever Robert O’Reilly’s (non-Gowron) Klingon said a player would “experience bij” this meant they had to draw a card, usually resulting in something bad happening to them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjAvGNn20Y8
As mentioned above, Fek’lhr was a Klingon “devil” seen in TNG: “Devil’s Due”. There are legends of Klingons killing their gods (DS9: “Homefront”), so it’s possible Kahless killing Fek’lhr is in reference to that.
Councilor Enaj, named only in the subtitles, is Jane spelled backwards.
I guess I’m saying the obvious here, but Boimler’s transfer was to the Titan starting in LD: “No Small Parts” and lasting through LD: “Kayshon, His Eyes Open”.
Consistent with earlier episodes of Lower Decks, Klingon blood is pink as it was in Star Trek VI and I believe some of Discovery. Otherwise Klingon blood is generally red.
“I can see Kahless! The first one! The original one!” Presumably in contrast with the clone from TNG: “Rightful Heir”.
Mary Chieffo is credited in this episode. She played L’Rell on Star Trek: Discovery. I’m not great at recognizing her voice, but she presumably played K’Ellara or Enaj, though maybe I’m just typecasting her and she played food critic Madame Gonald. Screen Rant says she was K’Ellara. https://screenrant.com/star-trek-lower-decks-mary-chieffo-discovery-klingon-comeback/
In any case, one of the female Klingons was played by Dulcé Sloan of The Daily Show. She teased this in an interview last February. https://people.com/dulce-sloan-on-new-book-exclusive-8557416
EDIT: https://trekmovie.com/2024/11/07/recap-review-star-trek-lower-decks-serves-up-a-delicious-cold-dish-in-a-farewell-to-farms/ also says that Chieffo was K’Ellara. It also says that Sloan was Gonald. Since Sloan said she played a Klingon, I assume she was playing Enaj as well.
I’d probably just start the PIC era in 2399. We only see the 2380’s in a handful of flashbacks. Prodigy definitely has some PIC connections, but it’s far more a continuation of Voyager, and it starts like a year after season 5 of Lower Decks.
Grain of salt since I can’t remember where I heard this, but my understanding is that TOS-ENT and the first ten movies is generally a single combined license, but all of the new shows need to be licensed individually, I’m not sure if the Abrams films are licensed as a package or individually, but they’re separate from the other films.
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Fun fact: The TNG episode of the same name was originally intended to star Patrick McGoohan as Ira Graves.
Not only do you not need to catch up with Disco, but the end of season 2 of Disco doesn’t dovetail to the beginning of Strange New Worlds super-well when you watch them back-to-back; if anything, they feel like they lightly contradict each other.
Though if I were to recommend a single episode it would be “Through the Valley of Shadows” from season 2, which is probably the only “important” episode as far as Strange New Worlds goes, though the key stuff gets recapped in SNW.
The Short Treks episode Q&A gets some references in the series too, though if you don’t watch it you likely won’t realize you missed anything.
They’ve retracted the comment.
“The premiere date for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S3 was given to one of our members in error and is incorrect. Apologies for the inconvenience caused. We share your excitement and can’t wait for the 3rd season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to premiere.”
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN67nU54jJap8YLNTbSPBZg/community?lb=UgkxyY8OW7LJKPTqVl1gc46zFVOUZHBfFFZz
Though it could still be accurate and they’re just doing damage control. Maybe we’ll find out for First Contact Day?