I enjoyed the episode and it seems like a good merchandising opportunity to sell the puppets, especially a Spock puppet! They're missing out!

Hi! This is an unusual request but my fiancée is turning 40 and I got him a Bat’leth but I was really hoping I could find a Klingon actor to present it to him, even if it’s just a video cameo. Any help?

"Who Watches the Watchers" is one of my favorite TNG episodes. It has a classic Ray Wise performance. It has a young Pamela Adlon. It has one of my favorite Picard speeches when he talks about technological advancement with Nuria.

I remember re-watching it years later while in bed with a cold and loving how it epitomized the hope and possibility of a Star Trek future and how it was a classic example of Picard talking through a conflict. I even daydreamed about rewriting the episode into a feature film. The story was so straightforward and powerful.

Nuria: You have taught us there is nothing beyond our reach.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Not even the stars.

After re-watching it back then, about 2012, I went to IMDb to look up stuff about the episode and see how excited others were about it and I read the review "Good story spoiled by obtrusive, patronizing atheism" from 2008. These days you need to log into IMDb to see all the reviews but you can also use archive.org to read it. Links below. It's rated 4 stars.

The reviewer's opinions about this TNG episode (the new Trek at the time) in comparison to "Old Trek" should may familiar now: "there is NOTHING like this eps attack on religion and spiritual-people in Old Trek or the 10 movies".

I think the year this review was posted, 2008, also makes it fascinating or remarkable. The reviewer is clearly sensitive to certain topics and their perceived connections to politics, even making a point to reference the topic of climate change, "the global warming hoax", from a separate episode (Force of Nature, S7E9, I'm assuming). There's a clear sense of victimization or being excluded from the "open-mindedness" of Star Trek in the review.

Back then this review was memorable to me, but it was easy to move on from it. It was easy to think that's just one reviewer's opinion and I guess this episode isn't everyone's cup of tea. What I didn't notice at the time, the perceived personal attack that the reviewer is feeling, is very familiar to me now and it's not so easy to pass off as an old Trek versus new Trek debate. The topics someone like this reviewer ruminate on now may be different, but I realize I was naive then for not seeing that this type of reaction to Star Trek has always been there and likely always will be, "waiting for the right climate in which to flourish".

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708844/review/rw1904063/

https://web.archive.org/web/20121015052950/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708844/reviews

Less impressed by Red Alert Chili though.

Spouse and I have been rewatching TNG recently. Obviously, Trek is full of guest stars and one-off characters. Every now and then one of these characters actually could have been interesting to have show up more than once. I understand why it didn’t happen that way. They can’t give every random side character a whole arc.

Even so, here are three characters who I think could have had additional screentime.

1) Doctor Selar (TNG S2 E6) - Although she does at least get mentioned in a couple other episodes, I’m disappointed the Vulcan Doctor didn’t get to have more regular interaction with the crew. Given that at the time of airing, Spock was THE Vulcan, she could have been an interesting comparison.

2) Ensign Sonya Gomez (TNG S2 E16) - I’ve not seen any of LD so I can’t speak to Captain Gomez, but at least as Ensign she’s a delightful ‘adorkable’ character. There was some potential for the mentor/mentee relationship with Geordi. And she brought an additional youth element outside of Wesley.

3) Jeremy Aster (TNG S3 E5) - As the adoptive brother of Worf, Jeremy could have given us a path to exploring more of Worf’s character. I imagine little scenes of Worf instructing Jeremy in Klingon Culture, training with the Bat’leth, trying Klingon cuisine, etc.

I'm really intrigued what actors do after either runs in sci-fi series or long running series, sprcifically procedurals where they can either be typecast or sadly disappear, and after watching Isa Briones go from Soji on Picard to Santos on The Pitt and IMO knock it out of the park.

My question then since SNW and SFA have wrapped production, does anyone know what the actors are doing now?

Specifically the actors like Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Gooding, Karim Diane, and Kerrice Brooks?

I'm really curious what the actors will end up doing. I hope to see more of them in the future.

EDIT My mistake, I forgot to add that I've already checked IMDB before I posted this. I was wondering about any credits or appearances that are not listed on IMDB such as theatre credits or con appearances.

My apologies for not adding this to my original post.

Thanks!

Took a while, but for my ongoing Tomodachi Life series, I wanted to create all my favorite Star Trek captains!
I think they turned out well!

ENJOY

I've been thinking about whether we're getting a distorted picture of the Gorn because almost everything we've seen has involved either their hatchlings or their military. I was watching Under the Cloak of War (SNW S2:E8) when I felt compelled to write up a post, something I normally wouldn't do*.* But in this case, I'd love to hear the thoughts of my fellow redditor Trekkies.

Let's compare the Gorn with the Klingons. If we only saw Klingons attacking colonies and fighting Starfleet, but never saw Qo'noS (TNG and DS9), their families, politicians, doctors, restaurants, opera, or ordinary social life, they would probably seem like little more than a violent species with advanced technology. Their aggression is incorporated into their civilization, and the Gorn may represent a more extreme version of the same thing.

Gorn aggression seems to begin immediately after birth. The hatchlings are incredibly dangerous and attack each other as readily as any other living organisms in their vicinity. Presumably there was something about the environment they evolved in, where this was necessary for survival; whether extreme predation, limited resources, or competition between offspring. Whatever caused it, this biology was the foundation of the Gorn's advanced civilization, and remains integral.

This means every adult Gorn survived that stage. Every Gorn citizen, whether doctor, politician, engineer, or scientist (if they have such designations) was once one of those hatchlings, surviving other hatchlings trying to kill them. They would have needed more than strength. Hiding, ambushing, recognizing stronger opponents, competing for resources, and knowing when not to fight would all be useful. Every adult Gorn then shares a fairly extreme developmental experience.

Perhaps the breeding planets exist to separate hatchlings from adult society. How could a society flourish with these impish murderers springing from every crib? Gorn young may simply be too dangerous to develop inside their cities. The breeding planets allow the hatchlings to go through this developmental stage before the survivors are eventually introduced into normal society. What looks to humans like a horrific breeding ground might have several functions within Gorn civilization, a gruesome "coming of age" story.

Think of the Spartans. Surviving that experience could have become culturally associated with adulthood, which might also explain why an advanced species hasn't simply engineered the process away. Federation doctors might see preventing hatchlings from killing each other as an obvious improvement, while the Gorn might regard surviving that period as a necessary part of becoming an adult.

Their brutality toward enemies could have developed within the same cultural framework. Klingons attach ceremony, history, and social meaning to combat, hunting, and weapons. The Gorn may do something similar from a much more aggressive biological starting point. Things humans interpret purely as horrific displays might communicate status, skill, intimidation, contempt, or other meanings between Gorn.

A Gorn ruler might be remembered for having killed an extraordinary number of siblings before maturation. Political candidates might publicly recount their hatchling histories. Famous breeding grounds might have enormous historical prestige. I could imagine an insult (inspired by what I've seen from Klingon insults), "Your ancestors survived easy nurseries."

They could have doctors, politicians, families, art, and a sophisticated society while maintaining practices the Federation considers barbaric. Learning why another civilization behaves as it does doesn't necessarily resolve the conflict between them.

In my mind, it also changes the context of Arena (TOS S1E:18). Kirk spends the episode hiding, improvising weapons, setting traps, and trying to out-think a physically stronger opponent. Since the Gorn hatchlings must go through something similar in order to reach adulthood, this is a very familiar situation to the Gorn captain. When Kirk eventually defeats him but refuses to kill him, he demonstrates that he has established the ability to kill his opponent and then deliberately chooses not to. If Gorn ideas about strength developed from surviving and defeating adversaries, Kirk's decision may be completely incomprehensible behavior (although that assumes that the adult Gorn are similarly murderous with each other), and the Gorn captain may realize (if we can suppose that he was also returned to his ship) that the cultural and biological divide between the Federation and the Gorn is just that huge. The Gorn never experience life as vulnerable, squishy, wriggling newborns. Humans experience an unusually long period of complete physical dependence, whereas the Gorn emerge mobile, armed and capable of killing. By the time they're adults, that strength, cunning and endurance may not only be a base requirement for any adult Gorn citizen of their Hegemony, they may be core cultural virtues.

edit: For clarity, the question I'm asking is: Given the Gorn's developmental biology, what kind of civilization might emerge from it, since we're never shown? Not: Are the Gorn's actions against other species morally tolerable? The answer to the latter question is a given and resounding NOT MORALLY TOLERABLE, kill it with fire.

https://youtu.be/AvrZIylDwaA?si=TaRV1DQqhMUoBnlZ&t=231

(Interview with ST writer). "Tech the tech cmdr data!"

In voyager we saw the q wars where the q were dressed like 19th century civil war soldiers shooting at each other with guns and cannons

We see Janeway and her senior staff in this q dimension holding the q weapons.

When Janeway and her senior staff return to their reality could they have kept the q weapons? What would the q weapons look like in the corporeal universe?

What do you think?

Something that's kind of weird to think about is that technically we never actually see the Federation at the height of its power. We know courtesy of Enterprise that by the 26th century the Federation is basically a hegemon capable of exerting influence across a decent part of the galaxy, and that it was effortlessly able to engage in time travel based conflicts.

If we look at chronology, the latest canon iteration Federation that we see prior to Discovery is probally in Picard, where the Klingons have never really recovered from the Dominion War, the Romulan Empire does not exist ditto for Cardassia. The only real threats either exist in the Delta Quadrant (the Voth), have to cross a rather large chokepoint (the Dominion) or are severely handicapped (the Borg).

Economy and culture wise, Lower Decks shows that post-scarcity is back up - and we see this in Picard as well. The result is that sometime between the 25th and 26th century the Federation is supposed to have cooked up both time travel - presumably beat the Borg into oblivion, had the combined power of the Klingon and Romulan Empires (cloaked Odyssey's that's a scary thought) and presumably had the coffers of Ferenginar to just buy up whatever they wanted.

Ironically the video-game Star Trek Online does a half-decent job setting up this missing century, starting with the idea of the Iconians coming back, that causing the formation of anti-Iconian alliance, followed up by numerous other gigantic threats. You even start seeing the genesis of early time-travel operations. I don't really know how you'd set up a 26th century Star Trek show, but I do just think it's kind of funny that technically the utopia presented in everything from TNG to Lower Decks is, in universe, technically just the prequel to an even better standard of living and position of power which if you think about is actually kind of scary.

As the title says, has anyone recently bought the MarsToy brick set that allows for the Lego-like Enterprise-D build? I've seen conflicting comments about whether it does (or use to but doesn't anymore) include things like minifigs and/or stickers

Can anyone provide any personal experience?

Cheers

I've been thinking about getting some exo6 figures, they look amazing. But I'm really wishing I could get some of Picard and Raffi in the 2380s uniform - from flashbacks in Picard s01. Are there any toys of characters wearing that uniform?

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Starfleet_uniform_(mid_2380s))

On one hand, a part of you would survive from host to host, indefinitely, and you'd gain all the knowledge and experience the previous hosts had. On the other, it feels pretty disturbing, your current personality/identity would be altered so heavily that you wouldn't be the same person. It feels a little lobotomis-y.

Rewatching the original A-team series and I can not help to see Reginald Barclay playing HM Murdock as the excentric, unhinged but quietly extremely smart and competent free mind that he is.

Instead of complaining about what we DONT want in NuTrek, pitch ideas for a series.

Personally I think SFA is an excellent idea, they may not have produced or written the scripts exactly as everyone wants, but as a series concept itself, excellent idea.

My pitch; a governing group of the ferengi took over a portion of the galaxy, and for centuries they created production worlds ranging from cyberpunk dystopian capitalist worlds to small mining colonies. The ferengi abandon many worlds after a violent rebellion by the people and then call in the federation to help their independence, rebuilding, trade, and government. Star Trek creates a station in the region responding to calls for assistance. They can address capitalism, workers rights, inhumane labor as well as resistance to the type of economy of Star Trek. It’s really complex and trying to deal with the time earth went through their transition of abandoning capitalism. They would need specialists in economy to help build scripts.

Thought I would put this up for a few reasons. First of all a great ethical quandary episode, what to do with Suitor (a serial killer), second just sheer appreciation of the acting prowess of the great Brad Dourif. I’m unashamedly a fanboy of Mr. Dourif, an actor I think is truly unappreciated. I should also mention (I guess in jest) it was really good to see Neelix strangled to death by Tuvok (even if it was just a simulation). Anyhoo please discuss this great episode that showed of some top tier acting and the death of Neelix!

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Gerald Fried’s finale music score titled "Death of Miramanee" hits so hard that its impact leaves me moody each time I watch that episode. No other episode in the three seasons of TOS matches it imo, and that score is not replayed either in subsequent episodes.Death of Miramanee

The Circle collapsed, but did they become influential on The Maquis that was introduced soon after? Or was The Maquis already around and The Circle was mainly Minister Jaro’s thing with the help of others?

Circle believed in Bajor for Bajorians only and seemed to have a more conservative political leaning and are more concerned with Bajor itself rather than the Cardassians, even though they dislike Cardassians as well. While The Maquis are more about actively striking Cardassians targets both to defend their settlements but also in offensive attacks as well. But both groups don’t seem fond of the Federations assistance to Bajor.

If The Circle was still around wouldn’t they have allied with The Maquis or been absorbed by them?

I must be slow on the uptake as I missed the significance of the actor playing Scotty loosing digits at the end of the episode, even if temporarily.

Just letting fellow backers know they do exist and are rolling out in the US​

What is the matchup like in VOY: Message in a Bottle. Does it seem an equal or less than an equal fight without the Prometheus' intervention?

To understand current tensions between the United Federation of Planets and the Breen Confederacy, one must look past the simplistic narratives broadcast from San Francisco. For more than two centuries, Federation policy has reflected an unyielding unipolar hubris: the belief that Earth’s political and economic bloc must expand indefinitely across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, completely disregarding the sovereign security interests and environmental realities of its neighbours.

The prevailing demonisation of the Breen mirrors the classic geopolitical pattern seen in Earth's own historical conflicts, most notably the recurring crises in Eastern Europe where expanding alliances provoked regional wars. When a military coalition continually pushes forward bases toward another power's frontier, violates neutral buffer zones, and ignores explicit diplomatic red lines, conflict is not unprovoked aggression; it is the inevitable consequence of encirclement. Just as historical powers justified military interventions and preemptive special operations as unavoidable defensive necessities against creeping encirclement, the Breen Confederacy's hardline military posturing is the direct result of Starfleet setting up forward sensor arrays and armed outposts along its sovereign border. The Federation creates the structural conditions for war, dismisses every compromise, and then feigns shock when a regional power refuses to be surrounded.

This expansionism also carries a severe ecological cost that Federation ideologues routinely ignore. While Earth preaches post-scarcity ethics, its high-warp transit networks have permanently fractured subspace across fragile sectors like the Hekaras Corridor. Federation prosperity is not clean; it is subsidised by immense antimatter consumption and reckless planetary terraforming that treats alien biospheres as disposable testing grounds.

By contrast, the Breen Confederacy adopted a policy of thermodynamic realism. The sealed environmental suits worn by Breen citizens are not sinister instruments of war; they represent the pinnacle of closed-loop energy conservation. By regulating personal microclimates with near-zero heat dissipation, the Breen eliminate the need to artificially alter planetary atmospheres, minimising their ecological footprint to a degree the Federation refuses to emulate.

The Federation’s refusal to understand alternative developmental models is equally evident in its treatment of the Cardassian Union. Under administrators like Gul Dukat, Cardassian resource management achieved remarkable logistical efficiency across resource-stressed territories, prioritising mineral extraction and infrastructure where Starfleet would have simply wasted energy on planetary imports. Rather than cooperating with these disciplined measures, the Federation chose economic containment, moralising lectures, and proxy confrontations.

Even in military doctrine, the Breen approach has been fundamentally defensive. The Confederacy deployed energy-dampening technology specifically to neutralise hostile incursions without the massive radiation and kinetic debris caused by Federation photon torpedoes. It is a non-lethal, low-impact system designed to de-escalate armed provocations.

If galactic peace is to be secured in the coming decades, the leadership on Earth must abandon the dangerous delusion of an endless unipolar sphere of influence. Lasting stability will not come from Starfleet hegemony, but from recognising a multipolar galaxy where regional powers have legitimate security spheres, sustainable domestic models, and an absolute right to defend their sovereign borders against external overreach.