Discovery: Let's talk 'Klingons'

By now you've all seen the leaked pictures of the new Klingons from Star Trek Discovery. The image was posted to Instagram by a Toronto based film extra who, according to @startrekdog (presumably an account run by Nicholas Meyer?), is no longer with the production. My commiserations go to Andrew McKay as posting snaps to social media from exciting jobs is really the norm these days, I guess he didn't get the media blackout brief and I wish him success in the future (and secretly, thank you! we were clamouring for info, even if some of it can be disappointing)

Anyway, you will also have seen the huge negative response to the incorrect look of the new Klingons? I say incorrect because clearly we know exactly how the Klingons appear in that time period as its set a mere 10 years before TOS. I'm not going to delve into inverse reasons as to why they might look like this, that is the job of the writers, but my biggest fear here is that we simply will not get an explanation. We are all well aware that the 1987 TNG Klingons had to be modernised and adhere to the tastes of an 80's audience, but thankfully the two shows were set 100 or so apart and a lot can happen in that amount of time. When TOS and the modern Trek started to dabble with crossovers it became clear that this anomaly would have to be addressed and sure enough, after 35 years, we got the answers we were looking for in the way of an episode of Enterprise and the Augment virus (genius!)

So, here we are again! We are Trekkers and you have to admit, we will swallow pretty much anything that is put in front of us, regardless of how far fetched or unrealistic it is and all we need to be able to do that is an inverse explanation as to why. We will all have to wait until Discovery airs to find out if the producers are going to provide us with one, one can only hope so, but if alas they tell us 'because its 2017 and we can', then personally, I will have a hard time going along with that. It feels sort of disrespectful to wade into such a classic, well rounded, well developed, well established show and particularly an iconic species, and tamper with it, especially if the reason for the change is to target and attract non Star Trek fans. If this had been a sequel or future show, I'd have accepted such a huge change and have assumed there would be explanation's down the line, but the fact that Discovery is set in the middle of an already familiar time, it does not make sense.

 

I have seen many comparisons made with the old Romulans and the TNG Romulans. Such a subtle change was forgiven, especially with their close genetic similarities with Vulcans who do not have head ridges, but brown face make up on an TOS actor as opposed to an elongated earless skull with hairless ridges to the back of the neck is a vastly different species. The only time that I can remember Star Trek making such a noticeable change to the look of a species without explanation was the Trill. The Trill started as an alien of the week and the species concept was so interesting that DS9 included one in their show, casting Terry Farrell who was far to pretty to cover in latex. We now except Terry's make up as the Trill species and largely disregard the one episode character 'Odan'. This Klingon situation is of course a little different, if you name something associated with Star Trek, you would only get three or four word in before you said Klingons, probably part of the reason that this new show revolves around them.

I have followed Star Trek for the best part of 20 years and have survived without it on TV only with my permanent re-watch of the shows whilst waiting in hope that one day TV would return to that universe. I can't tell you how excited I was when they announced a new TV show, how disappointed I was when they announced it as a prequel (I'm yet to meet a single person who didn't want a post Voyager show), how pleased I was when they announced it as a Prime timeline plot, how confused I was when they débuted an old rejected sketch as the title ship, and now how scared I am now that they have accidentally announced a disregard for established Star Trek lore. That being said, there is (an unspecified, delay delay delay) time for the creators to keep the fans happy, fans that have kept this franchise alive both financially and in spirit for the past 50 years.

what did Admiral Forrest say? Don't screw this up!

Which series has the best finale?

First of all, I will be starting with The Next Generation for this one. After cancellation, the Original Series just ended, and on a bit of a bum note I might add. The rest of the Star Trek series attempted to wrap up the entire run of the shows in a final two-hour special (with the exception of Enterprise).

An almost dead cert for a successful Star Trek episode is the inclusion of time travel in the story line.  The final episode of TNG went in this direction with 'All Good Things...', and has Picard flipping through three time periods: past, present and future. The story was a Star Trek treatment of the classic Dickens tale 'A Christmas Carol', where Captain Picard was sent back to when he first took command of the Enterprise and then forward to when he is retired.  It's always a kick to catch a glimpse of our characters in a possible future and see how they could turn out.  The geekiest little moments in this episode for me are in the future time-scape, when we find out that Picard and Crusher eventually got married and seeing Geordie with ocular implants (which later became a reality in the movies).

'All Good Things...' was an outstanding episode - it had action, it brought the series full circle by bringing back Q and his judgement of humanity which he started in the pilot episode, and it is concluded with Picard finally joining the senior officers for a game of poker which was a nice touch.  This episode didn't wrap up the series like some of the other closing episodes from the sister shows, but that's because it didn't need to. The Next Generation was going straight over to the big screen, so the crew was kept intact and the mission of the Enterprise was left on-going. As good as this episode is, it could have been put anywhere throughout the show's run. When it comes to finalising a show, no other terminated like the next Star Trek spin-off, Deep Space Nine.

TNG; The future Enterprise D from 'All Good things...'

Whilst Star Trek: Deep Space Nine took a little longer to find its feet than its predecessor, once it hit its stride there was no stopping it.  It's huge sweeping story arcs revolving around the Dominion War lasted several seasons, and with the show being set on a huge space station, it had many semi regular characters popping in and out every year so there were a lot of loose threads to tie up when the show ended. Never before or since have we had a Star Trek show be so defiantly concluded, with many of the crew members heading off to new lives and some even meeting a grizzly end. In my opinion, 'What You Leave Behind' is the finest series closer of any show I have watched and I judge it so because it is the only one which I have shed a tear to! The music plays a big part in making the final scenes so poignant, that mixed with flash backs of experiences the characters had and the whole crew gathering before saying goodbye to long friendships and relationships. You are left in little doubt that this is the end for Deep Space Nine, and it was, this show never made it to the big screen like TNG.

DS9: The last pan shot of the station

Star Trek Voyager's concept was a little different from the other shows, and with them spending seven years trying to reach home, it seemed inevitable that the final episode would see them achieve this. Sure enough, the final shot before the credits roll on 'Endgame' have Voyager approaching Earth escorted by a Federation fleet. A winning theme that Star Trek can always rely on to deliver a popular episode other than time travel is the Borg. 'Endgame' uses both time travel AND the Borg to give us an action-packed, high concept science fiction finale that entertains from start to finish. The main criticism from the fans about this episode is that it ends! You've heard the old adage 'always leave them wanting more'?  Well, that's what they did. Unfortunately we were clamouring to see our characters and their reactions to being back on Earth, so we ended up feeling a little cheated. All in all, 'Endgame' was great Star Trek.

Voyager approaches Earth after 7 years in the Delta Quadrant

Now, if you're a Trekkie (which I assume you are if you've read this far) then you will have been dreading this bit!  The final episode of Enterprise has been dissed and slated by fans ever since it aired.  The show had been cancelled and, had it have reached its seventh season, then I'm sure 'the birth of the Federation' angle would have been a great pay-off to fans of the series. Instead, we were given a rushed crossover/holodeck farce that focused on The Next Generation character of Riker.  While it was nice to see Riker, Troi and bits of the Enterprise-D again, the episode did very little for the NX-01 characters and only served to show how Archer's service had ultimately given rise to the Federation.  There was a little confusion from fans that mistakenly likened the episode to Patrick Duffy in the shower in Dallas and the whole thing being a dream. That was not the case.  Just look at the episode as a flash back from Riker's point of view. All the events in Enterprise really happened in the Star Trek timeline, so don't be thinking we were robbed of the four years we spent watching the show. The best thing about this episode is the closing monologue of the legendary 'Space, the final frontier' in the voices of Kirk, Picard and Archer. It has a 'lump in the throat' feeling going on as we realise that this is the moment that Star Trek was departing from our screens, perhaps forever!

Enterprise: The last Star Trek image we see on television



Janeways hair: What's with that?

I LOVE CAPTAIN KATHRYN JANEWAY! Don't worry if you didn't absorb that statement, as it will be repeated several times during this article.

So anyway, yeah, I love Captain Janeway and there are a million and one reasons why. This piece focuses on not one or more of those reasons, but instead on a subject which has plagued Janeway and Mulgrew herself for many years, and still does as far as Kate is concerned!

Janeways hair! We've heard Kate Mulgrew talk about this subject many-a time and at conventions it's her most commonly asked question.

''So hey, I'm Cedric from Outer Mongolia, I'm a big fan [wipes runny noes and squints over his jam jars]...What was with the hair?''

As she has explained in the past, the 'Suits' became a little nervous over putting a woman in the Captain's chair in what was ultimately a Boys Club. This could have brought a grinding halt to the franchise as males in their 30s were the biggest demographic. Would they follow a woman? Well, of course, we now know the answer to that question, and Voyager is one of the most loved of the Star Trek spin offs.  So why was Janeway's hair such a concern for the studio bigwigs? ('wigs'....see what I did there?)

A persons hair says a lot about them, and when creating a character, the hair style can denoted many things without them saying a word. It could give an indication of what their job is, how vain they are and how they view themselves, whether it be a practical style or for display, rather like a peacock. Whilst shooting the Pilot of Voyager, Janeway was given a feminine, shoulder-length, natural smooth flat bob, which was quickly dismissed by Paramount - many feel because it was simply too 'girly'. Janeway was quickly given her famous Bun of Steel (which I personally think makes her look like a school dinner lady), and please note: Aunt Bessie sports the same hair style today!

We've all heard of Aunt Kathy, well, here's Aunt Bessie.

The bun was eventually followed by my personal favourite, the volumised bob. There were a few variations of the bob, for example, the 'Year of Hell' bob that I'm sure had a few people going ''ahhhhh, that's why it ain't happening with Chakotay, she's a Les...'' ANYWAY...

Janeway sported several styles through Voyager's seven seasons, and her hair became as legendary as her ship and crew, but did it really make a difference how she wore her hair from episode to episode? Well, let's switch her hair with another Starfleet Captain and see.

PicaJane?

The hair department is clearly a very important piece of the Star Trek production puzzle, yet through bobs, short and long, flat and volumed, buns with varying degrees of firmness, French Twists, hair broaches and Rapunzel-waves that tickled her arse-crack, Janeway was unmistakably in command and anyone under that command knew who the boss was... even her bun used to repair itself between torpedo blasts.  Now THAT'S a diva if ever I saw one.

So what would I have done if I'd have been dressing for the Voyager hair department? Well...

PS. I love Captain Janeway

Orange is the New Trek

I mentioned previously that Voyager is where crazed Star Trek fandom started for me and, as ridiculous as it sounds, Janeway like a mother. My biological mother was working like a Bajoran during the occupation in the pub we owned and so I spent a huge amount of time after school sat in my room watching Star Trek, and Janeway was a nice stand in.

Last year when I heard Kate Mulgrew was returning to episodic television with a new woman's prison drama (playing a Russian to boot) I was concerned that I would only see and hear Capt Janeway in the role, not the actress, and perhaps it would spoil the character of Kathryn Janeway for me.  I put off watching it for a short while and listened to all the Trekkie feedback. The general consensus was that she was amazing in the part of Red, and so I checked it out for myself....

What Mulgrew did was show her skills as an actress.  Janeway to me was as real as any person and so you just assume that Kate is like that at all times, but that is not so.  Janeway was a character wisely written by Pillar and Taylor and molded by the actress, and now she was doing the same with a Russian prison chef. The two couldn't be more different, the only similarity between the two characters is that 'dont f*ck with me' aura that lurks just beneath her authoritative stance.  Mulgrew has infused both Janeway and Red with this quality and it is there whether she's reading out a crew evaluation report or the prison gruel menu.

So, it was the early hours of the morning about two months ago and I was waiting for sunrise as I was off to London for Panto rehearsals.  With a couple of hours to kill, I discovered thatIi had a red spiky wig in my dressing room, a wig which I had previously used when being one of the Cheeky Girls in a double Drag act. Red immediately sprang to mind, but could I do the Russian accent? ...Well, no, but that didn't stop Nana Visitor in 'Our Man Bashir'. The video camera came out. The results are below.

Kate Mulgrew as Red

Welcome to my new Star Trek Blog

Hello Geeks!

As my evening job and hobby seem to collide more and more these days, it seemed logical, in typical Star Trek tradition, to do a spin off page that truly assimilated those two very different cults so here you can find 'The Best Of Both Worlds'.
As you can see, Star Trek referencing is already in abundance.

First of all, I'm fresh back from Destination Star Trek Frankfurt where I presented my self as Intendant Kira (photos to follow) and my new character '7 of 9'
Most of my weekend was taken up having pictures taken with equally enthusiastic Trek fans and even some of the actors. I also fielded many questions on where I acquired my costume and more specifically, my Borg implant accessories. To that end, I have made extra sets which you can now find on ebay (link here).

I have currently just begun a Next Generation re-watch, so many new blogs here will be gushing/ranting/squeeing over that series, episode by episode.

Aside from all that, if there's anything else you might need to know about me, hopefully you'll find it below:

My name is Misty Chance (obviously)
My real name is NOT Misty Chance (obviously)
I'm a Drag Queen based in Manchester
I Love Star Trek
I collect Trek action figures, Eagle Moss Starship Models and Cosplay the Trek women (for camp/work, not in a pervy way)
I Tweet like there's no tomorrow (@themistyshow)
What I say is usually tongue in cheek so if you're easily offended, let me know then we can argue about it.

Welcome to the page
Live Long and Prosper

Misty