The best Star Trek trial episodes

(Originally posted to RedshirtsAlwaysDie.com)

One common practice of Star Trek over the years has been to take a pause from the weekly exploration of the cosmos to center on the exploration of ourselves, our own rules or laws.

They’ve done this traditionally by holding trials. Sometimes it’s because of something that has happened in the everyday operations onboard the starship; other times it has to do with a new occurrence of the week. Either way, something has happened which has created a conundrum which must be cleared up for our characters’ lives to move on, and in order do clear up said conundrum, we’re treated to a Star Trek trial episode!

I’m sure for some these aren’t always the favorite episodes because we’re largely confined to a courtroom or inquiry panel hearing setting, so there’s far less phaser fire or meeting new and interesting alien species and the like. But for others, like me…I’ve always loved these style episodes of Star Trek! They stray from the “norm”, tend to make you think and usually there is some truly great dialogue between the characters…which sometimes includes an epic speech from the Captain!

For each entry, I’ll include the Star Trek series, season and episode numbers, and I implore you to go check out the episodes. If you have Paramount+, these episodes are all included on the subscription service, because for as detailed as I’ll try my best here to be, I can only do the episode so much justice in print form. These episodes are all well worth a good viewing in your spare time!

August 25, 2023 0

A New Endeavor

So I’m sure if you follow this site, you may have noticed a lack of new content over the last month or so, and there’s a good reason for that.

About a month ago, I decided to try to branch out and see what else might be out there from a writing standpoint. So I headed over to FanSided.com to see how the writers for that site got to do what they do & ostensibly get paid to do so. After looking around on the site for a bit, I found a link to apply to become a contributor, so naturally, I clicked it.

Continue reading →

August 10, 2023 0

Female Starfleet Captains and why Michael Burnham’s the worst

(Originally posted to RedshirtsAlwaysDie.com)

For as interesting as her rise to Captain on Star Trek: Discovery has been, Michael Burnham is the weakest written female Captain in Star Trek history.

In Star Trek’s over 50 year history, we’ve had a number of female Starfleet Captains, and most of them have benefitted from a writing staff who cared deeply to make them strong characters. Even during the 90s, when women like Jeri Ryan were mostly objectified and used as sex symbols to get viewership numbers up, the female Captains were generally treated differently.

Going all the way back to The Next Generation episode, “Yesterday’s Enterprise”, we’re introduced to Rachel Garrett, Captain of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C). As her story goes, she responded to a distress call from a Klingon Outpost at Narendra III, who were under attack by a squadron of Romulan Warbirds during a time when the Federation and the Klingon Empire weren’t exactly as friendly as they later would come to be.

Even after being sucked into a temporal rift which sends her ship 22 years into the future, she understands her place in time and decides to return to her proper time in hopes to better the future. But it’s her call to duty and dedication to the Federation’s morals to attempt to give aid when requested, that her and her crew’s ultimate deaths are viewed as honorable by the Klingons, which sows the seeds for the eventual Khitomer Accords peace treaty between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. We may not have known her for long, but what we do know of her are her extreme heroics in the face of adversity.

August 6, 2023 0