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Prelude to PICARD — Retro Review: “Immortal Coil”

Alex Perry

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January 4, 2020

Prelude to PICARD — Retro Review: “Immortal Coil”

He is perhaps the ultimate human achievement: a sentient artificial life-form — self-aware, self-determining, possessing a mind and body far surpassing that of his makers, and imbued with the potential to evolve beyond the scope of his programming.

Created by one of the most brilliant and eccentric intellects the Federation has ever known, the android Data has always believed he was unique, the one true fulfillment of a dream to create children of the mind.

But is he?

Investigating the mysterious destruction of a new android created by Starfleet, Data and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise uncover startling secrets stretching back to the galaxy’s dim past.

That knowledge is coveted by beings who will stop at nothing to control it, and will force Data to redefine himself as he learns the hidden history of artificial intelligence.

We’re counting down to the January 2020 return of Jean-Luc Picard by revisiting some of the pivotal stories about the beloved Starfleet captain — and his crew — from across the last three decades of Star Trek: The Next Generation published fiction.

Welcome to the next entry in our retro review series Prelude to Picard!

* * * *

Jeffrey Lang’s Star Trek: The Next Generation — Immortal Coil is the best novel about the character of Data published to date. Published in 2002 and set during the middle of the Dominion War, the novel follows the crew of the Enterprise-E as they are drawn into a centuries old conflict between artificial lifeforms after a mysterious accident puts Commander Bruce Maddox, Data’s one time adversary — sometimes colleague — into a coma.

Star Trek: Picard will see the return of Brent Spiner to the role of Data for the first time since the character’s death in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis, and while many of the details about his appearance are being kept under wraps, but the series trailers released to date do suggest that he’ll appear to Jean-Luc Picard in some form or another — whether it be by hologram or in dreams.

We have been led to believe that Data’s story — or at least, his legacy — will be an important subplot for the series, and if so, I hope that it explores the same kinds of themes as Immortal Coil. What does it mean to be an artificial lifeform? Is Data unique? What makes him special?

There has always been a bit of an inconsistency between the portrayal of androids and other artificial life forms between Star Trek in its original incarnation, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. In The Next Generation, Data is presented as a wondrous invention, and his uniqueness forms the basis of many plots for the series. But Kirk and crew encountered many an constructed being in their voyages, like the androids of Exo III, Reyna, Mudd’s women, just to name a few.

Immortal Coil helps to reconcile this inconsistency, weaving together many of the appearances of artificial intelligence throughout Star Trek’s history. Data’s creator Noonian Soong was a protégé of the immortal human Flint (from “Requiem for Methuselah”), who created Rayna and perfected his knowledge of artificial intelligence drawing on learning from other cultures and civilizations, such as the androids of Exo III.

It is those androids who come back to haunt Flint — who now goes by the name Emil Vaslovik — after an expedition by Flint, Soong, and Ira Graves to the planet awakens Ruk’s companions. Faulty androids who were built by a race with a desire to evolve but no way to do so, the androids have been driven insane and consumed by rage.

In their rage, they seek out the latest breakthrough in artificial intelligence — a successful effort by Bruce Maddox, Flint, and Reginald Barclay to build a positronic brain using holographic technology. This new android is sought after by the androids of Exo III as the potential solution to their problems. They attempt to steal it, but Flint is several steps ahead of them; using the opportunity to abscond with the android but make it look like it has been destroyed.

Enter Data and the Enterprise-E crew, tasked with trying to piece all of this together. Along for the ride, the Enterprise’s new chief of security Rhea McAdams, who Data falls in love with thanks to his emotion chip. It is revealed that McAdams is actually the new android, hidden away aboard the Enterprise to conceal her from those who would attempt to use her for their own purposes.

And as if that wasn’t enough cool ideas or concepts, Picard and the Enterprise crew are assisted by representatives of a fellowship or artificial intelligences from across the cosmos, including some familiar and some new faces. There is even a very surprising role for another artificial intelligence from that appeared during the run of The Next Generation.

You might, after reading all this, be feeling like Immortal Coil is an over-stuffed mélange of various different characters an ideas from Star Trek and The Next Generation all clamoring for room to breathe. But surprisingly, it isn’t.

The story works, the way it weaves together elements of the canon is innovative, and overall the story is a lot of fun. It opens as a whodunit murder mystery and expands from there to add new perspective to Data but also flesh out some Original Series episodes too.

And through it all, Data shines the loudest. Lang is one of the few authors who successfully integrates Data’s new emotion chip into the storytelling, providing the character with the opportunity to explore feelings he never previously had. Data deals with grief, feeling lost about his place in the universe, romance, wonder, anger, and joy, and Lang takes us through a journey of the character experiencing all of it.

But, while emoting, the character is still very much Data. By the time Nemesis rolled around, the decision had been made to ditch the emotion chip idea entirely. It seems the writers were too afraid of it making the character something different. But Jeffrey Lang proves you can both tell a great Data story and make it an emotional journey for the character. Data needs to grow in order to remain fresh, and Immortal Coil provides a breath of fresh air for the character.

And even though this is a Data story, there are some great scenes between Data and his captain that echo back to their conversation about dealing with emotion in Stellar Cartography in Star Trek: Generations. Picard is, in many ways, a mentor for Data along his emotional journey. It is clear that Picard cares very much for Data and his well-being, and it appears some of those ideas are going to be picked up in Star Trek: Picard.

Given this series is about focusing on the elements of these books that might hold some resonance for Star Trek: Picard, I won’t dwell on the many Original Series elements that Immortal Coil deftly deploys. But the return of Flint, who is a fascinating character in his own right, is a welcome one.

Overall, Immortal Coil provides an emotional journey for Data that was sorely lacking from his post-Generations appearances on screen, that has valuable things to say about artificial intelligence, emotion, and companionship. Data can be a tough character to nail, or to have something fresh to say about, and Jeffrey Lang accomplishes that in the midst of spinning a fun adventure.

Here’s hoping Star Trek: Picard does the same.

STAR TREK: PICARD Video Roundup: New Commercials & SHORT TREK Trailer for “Children of Mars”

TrekCore Staff

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January 4, 2020

178

STAR TREK: PICARD Video Roundup: New Commercials & SHORT TREK Trailer for “Children of Mars”

We’re just a few weeks away now from the arrival of Star Trek: Picard after nearly a year and a half of waiting, but thanks to a few new videos released over the last week, we have some more imagery to obsess over as we count down the final days to January 23.

First up: a new trailer for “Children of Mars,” the final Short Trek release of the season, which is the first entry in the short-form series to tie into Star Trek: Picard.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B61BkZClLES/

In addition to what looks like a yellow-painted Discovery-type shuttlecraft serving as a 24th Century school bus, this tale – centering around a pair of schoolmates during some sort of tragic event — arrives on CBS All Access (and the various Canadian viewing sources) on January 9.

(At this time, there’s still no word if or when it will become available outside of North America.)

A pair of new Star Trek: Picard commercials have also beamed down over this past week, though not officially released online by CBS as of this writing. Thanks to a fan YouTube account, these new promos captured from television broadcasts include a few new images, including our first good look at the new Starfleet combadge design in action, worn by actor Tamlyn Tomita, who is portraying a Vulcan (or Romulan?) officer.

We also see brief glimpses of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Dahj (Isa Briones) traveling with a young girl in medieval costume — some online discussion speculates this may be the daughter of Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), heard shouting in October’s NYCC trailer — as well as additional looks at Dr. Jurati (Alison Pill) and Romulan swordsman Elnor (Evan Evagora).

There’s also a quick flash of Data (Brent Spiner), in what seems to be a near-Nemesis appearance, which is a significant improvement on his presentation first seen in the mid-summer San Diego Comic Con trailer (which we’ve heard was urgently put together for the SDCC deadline).

Data development: SDCC trailer (left) vs. January 2020 (color corrected)

Finally, two web promos featuring Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Narek (Harry Treadaway) have also appeared over recent days, counting down the remaining weeks before launch.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6bJn-qlz7j/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B605k_CAEvz/

Share your thoughts on these new videos in the comments below — and watch for our review and analysis of “Children of Mars” this Thursday.

Prelude to PICARD — Retro Review: “Section 31 – Rogue”

Alex Perry

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December 27, 2019

65

Prelude to PICARD — Retro Review: “Section 31 – Rogue”

NO LAW. NO CONSCIENCE. NO STOPPING THEM.

They are the self-appointed protectors of the Federation. Amoral, shrouded in secrecy, answerable to no one, Section 31 is the mysterious covert operations division of Starfleet, a rogue shadow group committed to safeguarding the Federation at any cost.

Six months before their ultimate battle against the Borg for the fate of Earth, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise face a very different kind of crisis.

A world in turmoil becomes the focal point of conspiracies and betrayal as an unexpected reunion brings with it startling revelations.

Old friends become bitter enemies and one young officer reaches a crossroad when he’s forced to choose between the greater good of the Federation and the ideals for which it stands.

We’re counting down to the January 2020 return of Jean-Luc Picard by revisiting some of the pivotal stories about the beloved Starfleet captain from across the last three decades of Star Trek: The Next Generation published fiction.

Welcome to the next entry in our retro review series Prelude to Picard!

* * * *

Published in 2001, and set six months before the events of Star Trek: First Contact, Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin’s Section 31 — Rogue is second in a series of four Section 31 series of novels published that year, which illustrated the first time Kirk, Picard, and Janeway each encountered the shadowy intelligence organization. By the time of this novel, Picard’s crew have moved onto their Sovereign-class home, getting used to life aboard the Enterprise-E.

Rogue is best described as a political thriller, in which the Enterprise is dispatched to explore the disappearance of a Federation starship in orbit of a planet that is currently in the middle of a referendum: to decide whether to align themselves with the Federation or the Romulan Empire.

Along for the ride is Admiral Marta Batanides, one of Jean-Luc Picard’s former Academy classmates, who we met aboard Starbase Earheart during the Q-assisted flashback episode “Tapestry.” Aboard the disappeared starship the USS Slayton was the third member of their Academy trio, Command Cortin Zweller.

The Enterprise discovers that the Slayton was destroyed by the Romulans, who are trying to keep under wraps their discovery of a subspace singularity near the disputed planet – Chairos IV – that could provide them with a new limitless power source.

On the planet, the Romulans are manipulating freedom fighters who oppose the ruling regime of the planet to stoke anti-Federation sentiment. And helping them is Commander Zweller, who is actually an agent of Section 31, who has made a deal with the Romulan Tal’Shiar to let control of Chiaros IV fall to the Romulans in exchange for valuable intelligence on Romulan spies active within the Federation.

Trapped in the middle of these political machinations are Picard, and the young Lt. Hawk — the Enterprise-E helmsman who later died at the hands of the Borg — who Section 31 tries to recruit. Picard finds his mission at odds with that of Zweller and Section 31, as the Romulans try to double cross both parties to achieve their ends.

Rogue is a great book for Picard speeches about morality. Section 31 is a great foil for Picard’s “the duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth” ethos, and it’s a shame that we did not get any on screen interaction between the two.

And even though a major character of the book is Lt. Hawk, his subplot also reflects back upon Picard. Hawk is torn by the offer presented by Section 31 to join their organization, and his moral compass and loyalty to Picard.

Ultimately, the latter wins out, and he brings the organization’s existence to the captain’s attention. As he does so, he explains that it was Picard’s example that he ultimately ended up following – including massaging the rules by not immediately reporting it to his commanding officer.

The most interesting relationship in the book, though, is that between Picard, Batanides, and Zweller. The trio were inseparable in their Academy days, as shown in “Tapestry,” and it was their rowdy behavior in a bar with a trio of Nausicaans that led Picard to make one of the biggest mistakes of his life that resulted in him being implanted with an artificial heart.

Time has not been kind to their relationship, though. Duty has taken each character in a different direction; Picard as captain of the Federation flagship, Batanides an admiral in Starfleet Intelligence, and Zweller a senior science officer and covert Section 31 agent.

For anyone who has reconnected with people from their past with whom they were close, the novel does a good job of replicating how awkward that can be. At once you want to fall back into old habits, but you’re also keenly aware of the time that has passed since your relationship used to be that way. I wonder if we’ll feel something similar about the return of beloved characters from The Next Generation in Star Trek: Picard.

It is also fun, in anticipation of the release of Star Trek: Picard, to see Picard facing off against the Romulans. Rogue nicely balances action, adventure, with political intrigue, questions of galactic importance, and some fun cameos from Tal’Shiar Director Koval and Senator Pardek. The Romulans remain an eminently interesting race, who are due for additional exploration. The trailers for Picard make me hopeful we’re going to get some.

Rogue does a good job of exploring the implications of an organization like Section 31 operating in Starfleet – about a decade before such stories had largely worn out their welcome – but smartly avoids too much sinister mustache twirling. This book reminds you that, before the premise of Section 31 was worn through and rendered pretty lifeless, it was a fascinating addition to the Star Trek canon.

Picard as a character often works best when he holds the moral high ground but is being undermined by those around him. Extra points if he has a personal connection to those people. Section 31 — Rogue easily serves up a great tale where one of Picard’s oldest friends is pitched against him, and he is forced to come to grips with the Federation’s dark side.

Win a Captain Picard-Themed STAR TREK Prize Pack!

TrekCore Staff

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December 23, 2019

12

We’re just a few weeks away from the arrival of Star Trek: Picard, and to celebrate the return of the two-time USS Enterprise captain, we’ve got another chance for a few lucky TrekCore readers to score some Jean-Luc Picard prizes!

This contest has ended and winners have been notified.

Two of our readers will win a four-piece Picard-themed prize pack, starting with the six-disc Star Trek Picard Movie & TV Collection released this fall — which combines the ‘feature-length’ edits of “The Best of Both Worlds” and “Chain of Command” and the four Next Generation feature films — along with an exclusive TNG comic book from IDW Publishing.

In addition, each prize pack will include one of Captain Picard’s former postings, straight from Eaglemoss’ XL Starships Collection: our entrant from Twitter will receive the XL-sized USS Enterprise-D, and our Facebook winner will receive the Sovereign-class Enterprise-E.

Finally, each of the sets include the two new Star Trek: Picard pins featured at San Diego Comic Con this summer — the Picard family crest, and a Starfleet Command visitors’ badge — produced by licensee FanSets.

* * * *

For your chance to win one of these two Picard-themed prize packs, all you have to do is join us on social media and answer the following question:

We already know several Next Generation regulars will be back in the new series — including Will Riker, Deanna Troi, and Data so far — but there’s a long list of guest stars from the seven seasons (and four feature films!) that would be great to catch up with once more after all these years… but we want to know who YOU want to see!

You can send us your entry response in one of two ways: follow us on Twitter and tweet @TrekCore your answer using the hashtag #PicardPrizes…

@TrekCore I want #StarTrekPicard to bring back… #PicardPrizes

…or you can follow us on Facebook and then submit your response as a comment on this post.

You have until midnight (Eastern time) on Friday, December 27 to get your entry in — we’ll reach out to the winners after the contest closes to arrange for fulfillment.

Good luck to all!

This contest is available to TrekCore readers in the United States only.
The comments section of this article will not be considered for contest entries.

Sunday Roundup: Inside the Latest SHORT TREKS, STAR TREK PICARD Premiere Events, and a New Look for Hugh

TrekCore Staff

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December 22, 2019

6

Sunday Roundup: Inside the Latest SHORT TREKS, STAR TREK PICARD Premiere Events, and a New Look for Hugh

We expect it to be a quiet week for Star Trek developments as we head into the holidays, but before we deck the halls and hang our exploding Veridian star ornaments on the tree, it’s time for a quick roundup of franchise news before we say goodbye to 2019.

First up, following the debut of December’s new animated Short Treks “The Girl Who Made the Stars” and “Ephraim and Dot,” a pair of video features on each entry arrived this week, interviewing directors Olatunde Osunsanmi, Michael Giacchino, visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman, and some other creative minds behind the first non-live-action Trek storytelling to beam down since the 1970s.

The last Short Trek episode currently scheduled, “Children of Mars,” serves as a lead-up to Star Trek: Picard and will debut on CBS All Access on January 9.

* * * *

While Star Trek: Picard won’t beam to home viewers until January 23 (CBS All Access) and January 24 (Amazon Prime Video) for fans to see the return of the former Enterprise captain, two big premiere events for the upcoming series have been announced as the series rolls out around the world.

The world premiere of Picard will take place in Los Angeles on January 13, at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood — the same venue where Star Trek: Discovery had its own big event back in 2017 — and like that last premiere celebration, you can expect to see plenty of live coverage from our team who will be on site for the big night.

Amazon’s Prime Video will be hosting their own big premiere for the series in London on January 15, as announced on the streaming service’s Instagram this week in conjunction with a new contest for UK residents to win tickets to the event next month.

80 winners — who must be local residents — will each in a pair of tickets to attend the premiere at Leicester Square in London; the full entry rules can be found here.

* * * *

Finally, breaking through TVLine this morning, we’ve got our first clear look at the return of Jonathan del Arco as former Borg drone Hugh, last seen in 1993’s “Descent, Part II.”

While we got a glimpse of Hugh in action back in October’s Star Trek: Picard trailer from New York Comic Con, this new photo is the best view of his de-assimilated appearance to date.

Clearly visible is the scarring from where his well-known holographic eye implants were removed, with what looks to be an artificial eye implanted in its place, along with vestigial mechanical implants similar to Seven of Nine’s own remaining Borg tech.

January will be a big month for Star Trek — so we hope all of our readers have a wonderful holiday week, a happy New Year, and hang on for the ride as 2020 begins!

Prelude to PICARD — Retro Review: “Seven of Nine”

Alex Perry

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December 21, 2019

4

Prelude to PICARD — Retro Review: “Seven of Nine”

Once she was Annika Hansen, an innocent child assimilated by the fearsome, all-conquering Borg. Now she is Seven of Nine, a unique mixture of human biology and Borg technology.

Cut off from the collective that has been her only reality for most of her existence, and forced to join the crew of the Starship Voyager, she must come to grips with her surprising new environment — and her own lost individuality.

Seven of Nine has already captured the imagination of fans all over the world. Now the most sensational new character of the twenty-fourth century stars in her first full-length novel.

Resistance is futile.

We’re counting down to the January 2020 return of Jean-Luc Picard by revisiting some of the pivotal stories about the beloved Starfleet captain from across the last three decades of Star Trek published fiction — and those joining him when we return to the 24th Century.

Welcome to the next entry in our retro review series Prelude to Picard!

* * * *

Star Trek: Picard may be primarily about the character of Jean-Luc Picard, but he is not the only beloved character making a return appearance in the new show.

Fans were surprised, and delighted, when Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine showed up in the Picard trailer that premiered at San Diego Comic Con. “What the hell are you doing here, Picard?” she asked, sounding very different from the last time we saw her at the end of Star Trek: Voyager.

Seven of Nine is a fascinating character; a Borg drone rescued from the Collective by Captain Janeway and the crew of the USS Voyager on their journey through the Delta Quadrant. Through four seasons of Voyager, Seven struggled with reconciling her history with the Borg where her individuality was repressed, and her burgeoning humanity.

From her cold and standoffish demeanor in her early appearances, by the end of Voyager’s run, Seven had began to embark in romantic relationships.

Star Trek: Voyager — Seven of Nine, by Christie Golden, was released in September 1998, just as Voyager’s fifth season was premiering in the United States. The first book that featured the character, Seven of Nine is a good character study that holds up very well given the character had only had one season of development by the point Golden was writing this book, with three more still to go.

Set late in Voyager’s fourth season, the book involves an encounter between the Voyager crew and the Lhiaarian Empire, who occupy a large portion of space that Voyager must pass through. While attempting to navigate the Empire’s space, Voyager takes on board a group of refugees from a race called the Skedans.

Unbeknownst to the Voyager crew, the Skedans are a race of powerful telepaths with a grudge against the Lhiarrian Empire. Formerly a member, their world was assimilated by the Borg with no attempt at defense from the Lhiarrians and no aid in the aftermath.

The Skedans are using Voyager, without their knowledge, to get to the Lhiarrian homeworld and detonate some kind of weapon.

The only member of the crew with the ability to interfere with the Skedans’ plans however, is Seven of Nine, who knows about their telepathic prowess and ability to manipulate minds. In order to neutralize her, the Skedans force her to relive the memories of many of the people that she assimilated during her time as a Borg drone, including members of the Skedan race.

Seven must learn to overcome her guilt about her actions as a Borg, with a little help from her childhood persona Annika Hansen, in order to help the crew as they are drawn deeper into a revenge mission with interstellar ramifications.

In the New York Comic Con trailer for Star Trek: Picard, Seven says that she “helps people who have no one else to help them.” We don’t have a great sense yet about who she is referring to, but she may be referring to former Borg drones like herself — since we know that Hugh also appears to no longer be a member of the Borg Collective.

Her attentiveness and sense of responsibility to those who the Borg have wronged is on stark display in Seven of Nine. Ultimately, Seven is partially responsible for the Skedans succeeding at their mission, and forcing the Emperor of the Lhiaarian people — who was indirectly responsible for the destruction of the planet and the near extinction of the race — to experience the pain and suffering of an entire race, rendering him a vegetable.

In order to get there, she also reconciles herself with the memories and personalities of people embedded within her from her time as a Borg drone. Though the memories have only surfaced because the Skedans are using them to distract her, this is a first step for Seven in getting comfortable with both her human and Borg halves – which appears to culminate in the very human persona seen in the Picard trailers.

Seven of Nine is a fun book, and Chirstie Golden is second only to Kirsten Beyer in having a confident command of the Voyager characterization and voices. For the book to work so well given we knew only a little about the character as a whole is a huge credit to Golden.

Head to Ten Forward for a New STAR TREK: PICARD Trailer

TrekCore Staff

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December 20, 2019

102

Head to Ten Forward for a New STAR TREK: PICARD Trailer

We’re just over one month away from the arrival of Star Trek: Picard next January, and in a new preview trailer released on social media this morning, we’ve got the first round of additional footage from the upcoming show since New York Comic Con in October.

Arriving on CBS All Access’ Facebook page today, this new 30-second preview spot for Star Trek: Picard opens with the former captain himself (Patrick Stewart) back in the forward section of the Enterprise-D’s tenth deck, in a likely dream sequence with a red planet outside Ten Forward’s windows is destroyed before his eyes.

“I was haunted by my past,” says the former Starfleet officer, “but now I have a mission. I would do what needs to be done.”

Along with this flashback to the Galaxy-class home of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the new commercial also features a close look at the updated 2019-era Borg drone makeup, and another glimpse of Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) in his Star Trek: Nemesis-era uniform.

We’ve also got revised visual effects for the previously-seen Borg cube — now with a traditional green forcefield barrier, rather than blue — and another moment from Picard’s reunion with Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

Another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment included Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) about to undergo a Vulcan mind meld, a trio of Starfleet-branded ships attacking an orbiting facility, and a closer look at the black-clad soldier who tries to take her down while she searches for Jean-Luc Picard.

We’re sure to see even more from the upcoming series over the next few weeks, as we inch ever-closer to the world premiere in Los Angeles on January 13 — followed by the London premiere on January 15 — and the ultimate streaming debut of Star Trek: Picard on January 23 (CBS All Access, USA) and 24 (Prime Video, globally).

BOOK REVIEW: Discovery — “Dead Endless”

Alex Perry

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December 18, 2019

2

The U.S.S. Discovery’s specialty is using its spore-based hub drive to jump great distances faster than any warp-faring vessel in Starfleet.

To do this, Lieutenant Paul Stamets navigates the ship through the recently revealed mycelial network, a subspace domain Discovery can briefly transit but in which it cannot remain.

After responding to a startling distress call originating from within the network, the Discovery crew find themselves trapped in an inescapable realm where they will surely perish unless their missing mycelial fuel is found or restored.

Is the seemingly human man found alone and alive inside the network the Starfleet officer he claims to be, or an impostor created by alien intruders who hope to extract themselves from the mycelial plane at the expense of all lives aboard Discovery?

The show itself won’t be back on screens until sometime in 2020, but this year ends with one more literary Star Trek: Discovery tale, author Dave Galanter’s new Culber-Stamets tale, Dead Endless.

Another great addition to the series, this novel is set at an indeterminate point in the late first or early second season of the show, and — for the first time in this novel series’ run — the story is actually set aboard the USS Discovery, featuring the crew of the ship working together to solve a crisis — with a huge twist.

…and because that twist is so fundamental to the conceit of the book, this review will contain SPOILERS going forward.

While Dead Endless is, as the back cover copy of the book implies, about the Discovery crew working to free themselves from the mycelial network, this is not our Discovery crew. They are the Discovery crew from a similar – but not identical – parallel universe to ‘prime timeline’ Star Trek.

There is only one human character from ‘our’ universe in Dead Endless, Doctor Hugh Culber. Indeed, despite being secondary on the cover of the book to Lt. Paul Stamets, this story is more of a Hugh Culber novel than it is a Stamets novel… because the Stamets of this book is from an alternate universe.

Trapped in the mycelial network following his death at the hands of Ash Tyler Discovery Season 1, Culber stumbles across this parallel Discovery that was pulled into the mycelial network responding to a distress call.

In this universe, Michael Burnham is the captain of the USS Discovery. The war with the Klingons never happened, the Battle of the Binary Stars is known only as the Standoff at the Binary Stars — and in this universe, the Discovery and the USS Glenn are in service of the Federation working to solve a major medical crisis.

And Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber never started a relationship. As a result, when Stamets stumbles across Culber in the mycelial network, he doesn’t know him. But quickly, the chemistry between the two characters asserts itself and Stamets is head over heels in love with Culber.

Through Dead Endless we get more insight into Culber’s torments in the mycelial network. Losing himself and his identity, pursued by the Jah’Sepp, this is Culber at his lowest. He has only one source of help, a surprising and welcome reappearance by the tardigrade known as ‘Ripper’ from early in Discovery’s run.

Except the tardigrade here isn’t named Ripper; it’s Ephraim, in a well-timed parallel to last week’s Short Trek. Culber only exists because Stamets uses Ephraim’s DNA to alter his genetic makeup made Culber’s resurrection possible, and so he feels responsible for Culber.

And, sensing little respite for Culber in the mycelial plane, Ephraim introduces him to the alternate Stamets and Discovery to provide Culber with some measure of relief while he waits for ‘our’ Discovery to rescue him.

The story is not as complicated as it seems, though, and flows very nicely. Despite not being our universe’s Discovery, it’s a joy to get a story about this crew interacting with each other. As we saw in the back half of Discovery’s second season, when the bridge crew are allowed the opportunity to flourish they have great chemistry together.

It’s also an interesting opportunity to see some what ifs – Burnham as captain of Discovery, Saru as first officer. It’s nice to see more of the USS Glenn, and Stamets’s counterpart Justin Straal.

But ultimately, this story is about the relationship between Stamets and Culber, including both the Stamets of our universe — despite not appearing in the book — and the Stamets of this close parallel universe.

For that Stamets, he sees what he’s been missing. For Culber, he gets the opportunity to rekindle a relationship he worried was lost to him, though it’s understandably a strange and conflicted experience to begin a romance with a man who is so much like — and yet not — your partner. The book handles how difficult that must be well, and does not shy away from the many complicated feelings that love and relationships can often engender.

If there’s one criticism of the novel, it’s that it adds further complication to the marital status of Stamets and Culber. Star Trek: Discovery has a frustrating penchant for failing to provide important character details. At several points in Dead Endless, Culber refers to the Stamets of his universe as his husband. If so, that’s pretty big news!

There is very little on screen evidence that the two are married, and if it really is the intent of the writers’ room that the two characters are married, it would be nice if they said it out loud on the screen. A character’s middle name, for example, is the perfect fodder for revelations in licensed tie-in fiction. The marital status of two main characters is not.

The serialized nature of Discovery makes it difficult to find the gaps in which novels can live and breathe. Unlike the novels being released while The Next Generation or the other shows were on, it was easy to fit stories in between the episodes.

Dead Endless is a creative solution to giving us some good action aboard Discovery that doesn’t mess with the show’s continuity, fleshes out the journey of one of our characters who was off screen for a while, and adds depth to some of the character relationships in the process.

Dead Endless keeps the Discovery novel streak alive, extending to six the number of books that provide an enjoyable read that deepens the reader’s appreciation for the show and its characters.

I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.

Novel #4:
"The Way to the Stars"

Novel #5:
"The Enterprise War"

Novel #6:
"Dead Endless"

Quentin Tarantino “Steering Away” from STAR TREK Film

TrekCore Staff

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December 16, 2019

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For the last two years we’ve been hearing things about a possible Star Trek film project from famed Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino — and as recently as May 2019 he was still calling it out as a possible next project — but now, it seems the situation may be fizzling out after recent comments from the filmmaker himself.

Speaking today with Consequence of Sound, the director flat-out tells the interviewer that he’s “steering away” from the long-gestinting Star Trek project after the recent release of his film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, looking instead towards doing a “smaller” film as the last entry in his now-famous “ten films and done” plan.

So, what’s next? Are you really going to stick to the 10 films?

TARANTINO: Yeah, that’s the idea.

Is ‘Star Trek’ going to be part of that?

TARANTINO: I think I’m steering away from ‘Star Trek’, but I haven’t had an official conversation with those guys yet. In a strange way, it seems like this movie, Hollywood, would be my last. So, I’ve kind of taken the pressure off myself to make that last big voilà kind of statement.

…

Is there a genre you’ve been starving for?

TARANTINO: No, I know nothing! I’ll tell you in a second, not what it’s going to be, but why I don’t know. But one of the things that it has done is that it has made me feel like I’ve made my big statement on Hollywood and that there is the accumulation of a career, accumulation of my interest, accumulation of the filmography.

If the idea that all the films are a boxcar and it’s all one train, they’re all telling one story. Well, this is the climax, so I can actually see now my 10th movie probably being a little smaller.

Like an epilogue…

TARANTINO: Yeah, yeah, like the epilogue, you know, an author’s note. And look, I might come up with a really big idea. But right now, the idea of a smaller audience almost all the way around is appealing to me.

While ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish just last week referred publicly to “two Star Trek films” being in the works — which seemed to refer to Tarantino’s project, as well as the recently-revealed Noah Hawley film — these new comments seems to indicate that Tarantino no longer has interest in helming an entry in the Trek film franchise.

DEC 16 7:30 PM ET UPDATE: Despite the comments above, Tarantino went on to tell Deadline this afternoon that “nothing is official” and that he “[hasn’t] completely decided” on whether or not he’s giving up on his Star Trek project. So… we’ll see.

This may not be the final nail in the coffin for the “R”-rated Tarantino Trek project — as the director says he hasn’t yet had “an official conversation with those guys,” likely referring to Paramount Pictures — but it’s certainly not a good sign for the film which, let’s be honest, was always going to be a long-shot in terms of actually making it into production.

What are your thoughts on Tarantino’s comments? Are you still hoping he’s going to pull through with his take on Star Trek, or are you glad things may be turning south for the project? Let us know in the comments below!

STAR TREK: PICARD Nabs $20 Million Tax Credit for Season 2, Showrunner Michael Chabon to Transition Out in 2020

TrekCore Staff

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December 16, 2019

53

STAR TREK: PICARD Nabs $20 Million Tax Credit for Season 2, Showrunner Michael Chabon to Transition Out in 2020

As we exclusively first reported back in October, the production team behind the upcoming series Star Trek: Picard were already hard at work at preparing for the expected second season of the show, and today it seems that the gears are already turning to prepare for filming.

While not officially announced by CBS Television Studios yet — that’s something don’t expect to see until after the January 23 debut of the Picard series, based upon past renewal announcements — newly-released figures from the California Film Commission reported by The hollywood Reporter today show that the predicted sophomore season of Star Trek: Picard has already been granted over $20 Million in tax credits to return to the state in 2020, a nearly 25% increase over the $15.6 Million awarded to the production for Season 1.

We’ll let you know when CBS makes its official announcement, but until then trade reports like The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline have taken this financial news as CBS’s decision to ‘make it so’ for another year of Picard.

In addition to this financial news, we also learned last week that Star Trek: Picard showrunner Michael Chabon — who of course has had a longstanding, celebrated career as a novelist prior to joining the franchise — will be transitioning away from the series sometime in 2020.

Signing a deal with CBS Television Studios to adapt his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay into a limited series for the studio, Chabon will continue to remain showrunner of Picard into at least the early part of Season 2 — as we’ve known for some time that scripting is already underway — until the time comes for him to move to this new project, so his influence is likely to be felt for much of the second wave of Picard episodes.

We’ll continue to bring you all the latest news on Star Trek: Picard — including the official announcement of a Season 2 renewal, when it comes — so keep your sensors locked to TrekCore!