#Picard/Crusher Family Unit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stardate2603 · 3 years

Text

The Aldeans (Wesley Crusher x Reader)

Set during the episode "When The Bough Breaks" in season 1

gif belongs to me

You were supposed to be meeting Wesley at your quarters and you were walking in the hallway when it happened. One second you were on the Enterprise, the next you were in an unknown room.

You looked around and relaxed when you saw Wesley. "Wes?" You crossed the room, looking at the group of children. "What's going on?"

"Were you scanned too?" Harry asked.

You shook your head, frowning as you looked at Wesley. "Where are we?"

"Aldea." He told you, taking your hand. "Don't worry." You hugged him for a moment, sighing when you pulled away.

"Wesley, I'm frightened."

"I know you are, Katie." He turned to the blonde girl, "We all are, but we're going to be alright." He took your hand, squeezing it, and you smiled softly. "Everyone knows where we are, and no one is going to hurt you. I promise."

You kneeled to hug them and kissed their heads. "We'll be back on the Enterprise and with our families before you know it." You smiled reassuringly, turning when the door opened.

"Greetings, Wesley Crusher." You eyed the man warily, looking at Alexandra, who hooked her arm around Wesley's leg, his hand on her shoulder protectively. Katie stood behind you, and you took her hand to comfort her.

"The Custodian indicated that you would be the leader."

"The Custodian? Who is the Custodian?" Wesley asked.

You frowned, not liking that the Aldeans had taken a particular interest in Wesley.

"The Custodian is not a person."

"You have been brought to Aldea as our guests. We'll provide anything you need or want." The blonde woman spoke.

"Send us back." You stepped forward, and Wesley grabbed your hand, stopping you from leaving his side. You noticed how the three Aldeans shared a look as if pleased by his display of protectiveness.

"We want to go home." Wesley looked at them.

"Wesley, all of you have been chosen because you are special. Just ask for anything you want, and you shall have it."

Your eyes widened when Alexandra left Wesley's side, approaching the blonde woman to shake her hand. You looked at Wesley, feeling his hold on your hand tighten. You touched his arm, watching Alexandra with concern in your eyes.

"Come with me, and I will show you to your units." The man said.

"Who are these people?" You whispered to Wesley as you reluctantly followed the Aldeans.

"He spoke to the Captain before we were scanned. His name is Radue. And the blonde with Alexandra is Rashella if I remember correctly." He whispered.

"I wasn't scanned. Why am I here?" You eyed the three Aldean's warily, and he took your hand, observing them closely.

"I don't know. But don't worry. I won't let anyone hurt you." His eyes met yours as he spoke, and you smiled faintly.

"Come on. Don't be alarmed. The other children have been assigned to their units." Radue said.

"We need to protect the kids." You said.

He nodded in agreement. "We will." He placed an arm around you, and you followed Radue into a separate room with Katie and Harry.

"Units?" Wesley asked while you observed the Aldeans in the room carefully. A man had his arm on a woman's shoulder as she sat in a chair. You felt fear creep in as you pieced together what this was—an adoption.

"A unit is a group where those of similar talents and interests live together," Radue explained.

"Families." You whispered.

"Yes, you could call it that," Radue said.

Wesley shook his head, "We already have families."

You noticed the couple was particularly excited, and it only added to your anxiety. You kept Harry and Katie close to you and moved them behind you when Radue held a hand out to Harry.

"You have what I believe humans call, a strong motherly instinct," Radue commented. "That bodes well for the future of Aldea."

Your eyes met Wesley, who spoke up, trying to get the attention off of you. "Does Captain Picard know you're doing this?"

"We keep nothing from him." Radue held a hand to Harry, and you kept him behind you.

Harry took your hand, and you frowned when he stepped forward. He sent you a nod, and you looked at Wesley desperately, tears in your eyes as the couple approached Harry.

"We've been waiting for you so long, Harry." The woman said. "We are artists, just like you. We see within you the potential of what you can be."

"I'm not an artist," Harry spoke quietly.

"You will be and a great one." The man said.

"This way, Harry."

You stepped forward to intervene when they led him out, and Wesley stopped you, not wanting you to get hurt. You turned around, burying your head in his shoulder as you cried silently, clenching his uniform in your fists from frustration.

Harry looked at Wesley, who gave him a nod, attempting to reassure him, and Harry nodded back.

"Unit B, three, seven, five." The woman said, the three of them teleporting to their room.

"Katie." Radue put a hand on her shoulder, but Wesley pulled her toward him gently.

An older man left the table; you guessed he was in his sixties at least, approaching the three of you. "I am honored."

"Thank you," Katie said.

"Melian is the foremost musician on Aldea." Radue introduced, placing a hand on the older man's shoulder.

"Music speaks its own language. I know we'll have much to learn from each other." Melian said.

Katie reached for you when he tried to lead her away, and you hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry, Katie. You'll be seeing Wesley and Y/N soon." Melian told her.

You looked at Wesley, who reluctantly nodded. You placed your hands on her cheeks and kissed her head, wrapping your arms around her tightly as you whispered in her ear. "I promise you that you'll be alright. We won't be here for long."

Katie nodded, leaving with Melian.

You stood up, and Wesley took your hand. "What about us? Don't we get a say in this?"

"Wesley, sometimes something happens which you just must accept," Radue told him.

Wesley rolled his eyes.

"You and the other children are now members of this society. That will not change." Radue continued. "It is up to you to make the transition as easy as possible for the others. It is your duty because you are the leader. Help them to accept it."

"What about me? You didn't scan me. So why am I here?" You asked, crossing your arms.

"One day, we hope that the two of you will give birth to a new generation of Aldeans," Radue explained.

You swallowed thickly, looking at Wesley as your attempt to be threatening quickly disappeared.

Wesley looked at you, frowning at the thought of being trapped here long enough for that to happen.

"If we ever do have kids," you stepped forward, "you and no one else will get their stinking, wrinkly -"

Wesley moved you away, looking at you, amused and concerned that your temper would get you in trouble.

"Nothing you or those on the Starship can do can change it. Because, like you, we also have no choice." Radue told you.

"There's always a choice." You said. "And I will die before I have children here."

The door opened, and your eyes widened when Alexandra ran in, giggling as Rashella chased her. "Where have you been, Rashella?"

You smiled at the blonde girl, frowning when Rashella lifted her.

"Zena and Aran are waiting to take Alexandra." Radue continued.

"No," Rashella told him.

"No? I told you that she..."

"No, Radue. They can't have her." She held Alexandra closer, "I will never let her go."

You shared a look with Wesley, both concerned about Alexandra.

"Very well." Radue turned to you, "It's time to take you to your unit."

"No." Wesley took your hand, "She stays with me."

"You will see each other later -" Radue looked to the red-haired woman, "Duana will show you to the Custodian."

You looked at Wesley, knowing that if he went, he could learn more than anyone. "I'll see you later. Be careful."

You kissed his cheek, and he held your hand as you walked away, dropping his arm when you were out of reach.

Your relationship was fairly new, three weeks to be precise. But you had been friends for far longer, and the switch from friends to a dating relationship wasn't so complicated or awkward.

After Duana showed him the Custodian, Wesley was waiting with Duana for Radue to escort you to dinner. He stood up from the table, and you hugged for a moment, reassuring him that you were alright.

"Did you find anything?" You whispered as he pulled the chair beside him out for you.

"A little. I'll tell you later." He whispered after you sat down, pushing your chair in.

You nodded, looking at him as he sat beside you. You ate in silence, mostly pushing the food around.

"You have eaten very little," Duana commented.

"You didn't eat anything," Wesley said.

"We need very little," Radie told him.

"We know you miss your families, but you'll grow accustomed to us. And one day have a family of your own." Duana said. "I promise you'll be happy."

"We were happy before we came," Wesley replied.

You took his hand, and he looked at you, smiling faintly.

"We are offering you more, especially for you. We allowed you to stay together." Duana said.

Wesley sighed, staring at you for a moment before looking at Duana. "Duana, I feel bad for you that you have no children, but I have to tell you that we don't want to be here, and we will not cooperate."

Dinner ended shortly after the conversation died out, and you walked with Wesley to your unit, looking around with a heavy sigh.

"There's only one bed." You commented.

"I can take the floor if it would make you uncomfortable?" He suggested, and you shook your head.

"It's not like we haven't had a sleepover before." You sat on the bed with a sigh. "They really want kids. And want us to have them." You looked at him when he sat beside you. "I never gave it much thought until we came here. But if I ever have kids, I want them to know their grandparents."

Wesley nodded in agreement, "My mom would kill me if we had kids right now. I haven't even told her we are dating yet. I've been trying to find the courage." He said, making you laugh. He chuckled with you, smiling when you rested your head on his shoulder.

"You should be more concerned about my dad." You giggled. "He likes you, but if you're dating his daughter, you are immediately scrutinized. I thought he was kidding, but when my sister got a boyfriend, he ran out of the house after my dad had a 'chat' with him."

You looped your arm with his right arm, his hand taking yours and intertwining your fingers. "I hate to think about what's going through his head right now. He must be so worried."

Wesley kissed your head. "We'll see them again. For now, try and get some sleep."

The next day was long and tedious. You were given literature to occupy you while Wesley was taught more about the Custodian. You rarely had time together apart from dinner. And you were too bored to sleep that night.

"Y/N? Are you awake?"

You looked at Wesley as he turned around. "Yeah."

"I have an idea."

You sat up and turned to him, "What can I do?"

The next day you gathered the kids and found a table to sit around. You smiled at Alexandra when she reached for you when you entered with Harry and Katie, Wesley handing her over to you.

"I missed you."

"I've missed you too." You kissed her head and joined the table, Wesley smiling at you before starting to explain his plan.

"We start by not talking to them or eating any of the food they give us," He said.

"Why will not eating and talking make them send us home?" Katie asked.

"It's called Passive resistance," Wesley explained.

"A form of rebellion." You added.

"Right." Wesley nodded. "We don't do what they want us to do, and they don't want us."

"Will they get mad at us?" Katie asked.

"They can't hurt us," Wesley reassured.

"But, Wes, I kind of like them," Harry said.

You smiled, "I don't think they're bad people. Just desperate. They have tried to make us as comfortable as they could." You shared a look at Wesley, "They're friendly people, but you don't want to stay here forever, do you?"

Harry shook his head. "No. But I like working with the wood."

"Well, maybe you can talk to your dad about that when we get back home?" You suggested.

Harry looked down, and Wesley turned to him. "Harry, we all have to be in this together, or it's not going to work."

"Okay." The younger boy agreed. "I'll do it."

You smiled at him softly, hugging him to reassure him that it would all be worthwhile in the end.

"What are you all doing here together?" Rashella entered the room, and you moved away when she tried to take Alexandra from you. The young girl held onto you, and Wesley stood in front of you both.

"What is going on here?"

Everyone looked away from her except you and Wesley.

"We're raising our kids." You took Alexandra to the window to look outside, and Wesley suppressed a grin at your attitude.

Rashella lingered for a moment before leaving, and you turned to the group, grinning. "Good job, guys."

You looked at Wesley when he took you aside. "I saw my mom earlier." He whispered. "She's trying to find a way to cure the Aldeans." Your eyes lit up with hope, and you smiled. "She's here with the Captain."

You smiled brightly, hugging him, and he grinned into your shoulder. It was finally happening. They were coming for all of you.

The woman Harry was being looked after by walked in, and you and Wesley looked disinterested as she placed a tray of food down on the table, taking a seat on either side of Alexandra.

"Will you at least eat?" She asked.

She left unanswered, and Wesley stopped Alexandra from picking some fruit from the tray.

"No, Alexandra. We can't eat. I know you're hungry, we all are, but it's our way of telling them we want to go home. Understand?"

She nodded, and you smiled when he kissed her head.

A little while later, the Captain teleported into the room and you stood up, Alexandra in your arms as Wesley greeted him.

"Hi, Captain Picard."

"Hi, Captain." You stood beside Wesley, the other children gathering around you.

"Sir, I knew you would come."

"It's not over yet, Wesley." Picard told him.

"I think I figured out the computer controls, sir. But I'm not sure. It's a different system than ours." Wesley informed.

"Good, Wesley." Picard looked at all of you, "Now..."

"Captain?" Harry spoke up.

"Yes, Harry?"

"If something happens and you have to leave us here, will you tell my dad that I'm sorry I made him angry and...that I miss him?" Harry requested.

"You will tell him that, Harry, and I will tell him how much I admire his son," Picard said.

You placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, and he smiled up at you.

"Come on." Wesley smiled down at you both before following the Captain to the transporter. You placed Alexandra down and stood next to Wesley before you were transported to where Beverly was waiting with the Aldeans.

"What is this?" Radue accused when he saw Picard had returned with the children.

"They want to go home," Picard said.

"No, they're staying," Radue told him.

"You can't make us stay here." You said.

"We gave you everything you could ever want! Why are you so desperate to leave?"

You looked at Alexandra when she took your hand, and you lifted her, standing next to Wesley when he spoke, "It would never be home."

Picard's communicator beeped. "Number one."

"We're in position, sir," Riker informed.

You shared a smile with Wesley, who placed a hand on your back.

"Hold for orders," Picard told Riker.

"The radiation levels on Aldea have been building up over a long period of time. It is similar to what was experienced on Earth in the 21st Century when the ozone layer deteriorated, and the surface of the planet was flooded with ultraviolet radiation." Beverly spoke to Radue.

"The shield that protected your world in one way is weakening it in another. It is the radiation of your own that is destroying you." Picard added.

Radue shook his head, "You are trying to confuse the issue."

"Please, " You stepped forward, "Listen to what they have to say."

Radue looked at you, a small sigh leaving his lips as he looked at Picard, giving him a nod.

"You're all suffering from radiation poisoning. Sterility is only the latest symptom." Beverly said. "If the children remain, they will be affected as well."

"At least they can't make us have kids." You muttered to Wesley, who suppressed a smile.

"Wouldn't be all bad. Radiation aside." He replied.

You rolled your eyes playfully, looking away when Beverly and Picard were raising an eyebrow at you both.

"Later in time obviously." Wesley awkwardly added.

"Stop talking." You shushed him.

"What you're suggesting is impossible. Our scientists would have known." Radue spoke up.

"How could they? Your scientists have forgotten how everything works." Beverly replied.

"No, all lies." Radue turned, but Rashella stepped forward.

"No, wait. Don't send them back yet. What if they're right?" She asked him. "Instead of the children being our hope, we could be condemning them to our fate."

Radue looked at her, "Rashella, they're just protecting their own interests."

"As are we." She said. "But hear them out. The Captain and Dr. Crusher are saying that the very thing which has given us this wonderful world is what has caused this tragedy."

"Finally, some sense." You muttered.

Wesley quietly shushed you.

"That's it, exactly," Picard told Radue. "Your Custodian has controlled you so completely you've even lost the desire to question it."

"Lies, and the discussion is over." Radue tried to send the Captain and the Doctor back to the Enterprise with the device on his arm, but it wouldn't work.

Radue looked at Rashella, who looked at Picard. He tapped his badge, "Commander Riker, "

"Yes, sir?" Riker spoke through the commlink.

"I assume you have control of the computer."

"We've disabled the system temporarily. We found the power source of the shield, and we've centralized it." Riker explained.

"Good," Picard said. "Enterprise, this is Picard. Beam the children up."

You smiled at Wesley, frowning when Harry spoke.

"Wait." He moved to the couple who had taken care of him.

"Enterprise hold."

"Thank you," Harry told them.

"Let me get the dolphin for you to take with you." The man said.

"No, you keep it. I'll make another one." Harry smiled.

The man touched his shoulder gently before Harry walked over to where you stood.

You smiled at him, "Ready, Harry?" He nodded.

"Okay, kids, let's go home," Wesley told them.

You walked a few paces away, placing Alexandra down as you all took your place, prepared to beam up to the Enterprise.

"Beam them up," Picard ordered.

You shared a smile with Wesley before you appeared in the transporter room, and you smiled when you saw your father waiting for you.

You stepped off the transporter and rushed to him, hugging him tightly.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, dad." You looked at Wesley, waving him over. He approached nervously, smiling awkwardly with his hands behind his back. "There's something Wesley needs to tell you."

He looked at you, eyes wide in fright, and you giggled. You looped arms with him, looking at your father. "Wesley and I are...have been dating for three weeks now. And after the last couple of days, I have decided that I don't want to keep secrets from you anymore."

Your father stood straighter, eyeing Wesley, who shifted under his stare. "Very well."

You smiled at Wesley, who relaxed slightly. "If you hurt her, Mr. Crusher, I will make sure you regret it, are we clear?"

"Yes, Sir." Wesley flinched when your father patted his shoulder.

"You can see each other later, right now, I want to spend time with my daughter."

You kissed Wesley's cheek and walked out the transporter room with your father, smiling at Wesley over your shoulder.

Wesley jumped when his mother appeared behind him, "You and Y/N? I thought it would've happened sooner."

"Yeah, me too," Wesley admitted, and Beverly smiled at her son, knowing he had a crush on you for a while. "Hey, did you know their family spent a year on a space station? Her father did work there just weeks after she was born."

Beverly smiled as she walked out of the transporter room with him, "Sounds like you got to know each other even more while you were down there." She said.

"Oh, and her great-great-great-grandmother was a Betazoid. They all married humans, so the gene eventually died out." He told her.

Beverly smiled at him, knowing she would hear all the new facts he had learned about you for the next couple of hours.

"Promise me something, Wesley."

"Sure, mom, what is it?" He leaned against the console in sickbay, enthusiastic about telling her more information he had learned about you.

"No kids until you're at least twenty-five."

"The way the Aldea inhabitants we're talking, it sounded like we would have to have had a kid before we were twenty." He chuckled, stopping when he saw the look on his mother's face. "But twenty-five is a better number, yeah."

She smiled when he left the sickbay, shaking her head.

"It better be!" She called just before the door closed.

It sounded like you had a more eventful three days than she had in the Enterprise. She remembered hearing you arguing with the Aldeans about their hope of you having kids, causing her to laugh softly as she got back to work.

Later that day, you were in the observation lounge when Wesley found you. He smiled as he joined you on the sofa. "Couldn't sleep either?"

You shook your head, "I just wanted to make sure we were really here." You looked at him with a smile on your lips, "You know I'm going to miss sharing a bed with you."

He chuckled, "Yeah, somehow, I don't think your dad is going to agree to that now he knows we're dating."

You unwrapped the blanket around your shoulder and cuddled into his side. "Well, he isn't here right now." You pointed out. Wesley smiled down at you, kissing your head as he wrapped his arms around you, slouching in his seat a little more.

You would have to sneak back into your living quarters later in the morning, but for now, you and Wesley enjoyed the view of the stars, knowing that you were back where you belonged. On the Enterprise.

#wesley crusher #wesley crusher x reader #wesley crusher imagine #star trek the next generation #start trek the next generation imagine

60 notes · View notes

annaonthemoon79 · 5 years

Link

Chapters: 24/24 Fandom: Star Trek: The Next Generation Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Beverly Crusher/Jean-Luc Picard, Beverly Crusher/Jack Crusher, Jack Crusher/OFC (Multiple), Walker Keel/Abigail Yugen, Jack Cusher/Annisyn Lobo Characters: Beverly Crusher, Jean-Luc Picard, Wesley Crusher, Jack Crusher, Walker Keel, Original Starfleet Character(s), Original Female Human Character(s), Abigail Yugen, Annisyn Lobo, Dalen Quaice, Crew of the Stargazer, Gilaad Ben Zoma Additional Tags: stargazer - Freeform, 2340s, Comfort, starbase 32, Suspense, Mystery, Drama, Family Drama, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Cheating, Family Secrets, Space Opera, Humor, Angst, Pregnancy, Children, Family Dynamics, step-families, blended families - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, USS Stargazer, Family you Choose, Recovery, Adult Children, Marriage, 2350s, Deception, Cheating spouse, Divorce, Second marriage, Stargazer Crew Series: Part 3 of A Tangled Web Summary:

Jack Crusher is left in a coma after performing an EVA that saves the Stargazer. Beverly turns to her best friend for comfort. As Jack lies in a coma, how many secrets and lies from his past will they discover? How will the new family unit emerging cope? Stargazer era.

Part One of A Tangled Web (yes, I know it says 3)

#pPicardNeedsBev #PicardNeedsBev #star trek tng #picard/crusher #fanfic #SStarTrekTNG

1 note · View note

calliecat93 · 3 years

Text

ST: TNG S6 Watchthrough Episodes 18-21

Starship Mine: While at a banquet, the Enterprise gets overtaken/de-powered with the only one still on-board being Picard. The crew is stuck on the surface and gets taken, hostage. So… it was fine. It seems like they really wanted to make a Picard-centric action episode. I guess it worked, but there wasn’t much to get invested in. I like how badass Picard was, but that’s really all it is. No real plot or anything is interesting to keep my interest. There were some fun bits like the entire cold opening, Worf getting himself excused from the banquet and Geordi missing his chance, Data learning small talk, Picard being a horseback lover, and the whole banquet and interaction with Hutchinson feel exactly like what I go through at family gatherings. Also felt like Picard was more… ruthless than normal? I guess the situation kind of explains it, but still. Also , I guess he learned the Vulcan Verve Punch from the Sarek mind-meld… and he does it on the actor who plays a Vulcan character in Voyager. Welp. Honestly there’s not much to say about this one. if you want a nice little romp with Picard vs a group of thieves onboard a powered-down Enterprise that you can just sit back and enjoy, this is the one for you. But that’s about all that I can say about it. 2.5/5.

Lessons: Oh joy, another ‘main charcter gets a romantic interest that isn’t going to last the epiode’ plot. Okay nothing against romantic plots and maybe this is my demisexuality talking, but do we have to do this plot ALLthe time when we know it’s not gonna last?! Romance ain’t the only relationshipt hat exists, just saying. Anyways, this time we have Picard form a relationship with a scientist/pianist named Nella. So… to my surprise, they actually follow-up on The Inner Light. Picard’s been shown with the flute he got in that episode before this (A Fistful of Datas for example), but this is the first time they bring the episode up as a plot point. It would be hard for Picard to pursue a relationship again after that and I’m glad that they adressed it. Despite what I said in the first three sentences, I kinda liked Picard and Nella. Maybe I’m just a sucker who gets easily swayed by music and just want Picard to be happy, but it’s mutual, there’s no stupid/forced stuff, and actually explores Picard’s feelings and worries on how it would affect his ability as a captain. IDK, there’s just something to it that makes it feel more genuine that any of the other live interest episodes. In the end, the relationship doesn’t last, but it’s because of the two’s careers. Not Nella turning out to be evil or being killed (which it looked like they were gonna do but they psyched us out, Thank God), not Picard being creepy or entitled, or anything like that. It ends on perfectly amicible terms with both being perfectly understanding. It was just nice. Rushed, but I’m used to that at this point and I am a romantic at heart (well… depeding on how it’s doen and the pairing anyways). Again I’m tired of these plots but I wll give it props when they get it right, and they got it right. 3.5/5.

The Chase: Picard’s old mentor is onboard… too bad he dies roughly 15 minutes in. Picard decides to complete his mentor’s work by any means necessary. Thus, the chase is on. I’m gonna be honest, I zoned out on this one until the ending. The crew discovers some kind of program and needs the missing fragments, but the Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans also get interested. Tensions happen. So what does the program reveal once they get it pieced together? Apparently humanoid species all come from the same species and this was all a test to unite them all. Okay… I know nothing about evolution or genetics… but it seems like a stretch to buy this explanation. But again, I don’t understand those fields so who am I to judge? I also don’t like how it ends with aside from at least one Romulan, all the species disregard the message completely. I guess it is realistic that they wouldn’t become buddy-buddy just because of this, but it kind of makes the whole thing feel like it was all for nothing. Also, feels like they packed way too much into one episode. This would have worked great in a more ongoing plot spanning multiple episodes, something that TNG doesn’t really do. I liked seeing more of Picard’s archeologist side though and the strain between him and his mentor. He outright throws away his Starfleet obligations, which in the past he’d remain a stickler for no matter the reason, aside to complete his work. It was fine, but I just didn’t feel all that invested. 2.5/5.

Frame of Mind: Riker is losing it. He’s playing the lead in a play by Crusher essentially about being driven insane when he starts having headaches and different responses than usual. It gets chalked up to the play… when after it, he suddenly wakes up in a confined space with an alien psychiatrist. Just like in the play… except the psychiatrist tells him that his entire life, his Starfleet career, everything that Riker remembered was all a delusion. Yeah… this is one of those episodes. We have what is essentially a psychological thriller with Riker unable to tell what’s real and what’s not. Even as the audience we know that Riker’s not crazy and something is going on, you can still feel the confusion and horror that Riker is feeling and how he’s utterly losing it. Just when something looks real, the reality shifts again and he’s convinced that he’s delusional. Is he hallucinating? What is the reality and what is the delusion? I love these kinds of mental/psychological episodes. Poor Riker didn’t deserve any of this, but damn it was effectively done. I’m not gonna give away the ending, though needless to say Riker gets back to sanity but I don’t wanna give away the big twist to how he gets there. Really enjoyed this one~ 4/5.

#st watchthrough

0 notes

phantom-le6 · 3 years

Text

Episode Review - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 7 (5 of 6)

At last, we’re up to the penultimate round of episodes for both the seventh season and the entirety of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and this round is book-ended by the final series appearances of two characters that were recurring guest-stars at this point.

Episode 20: Journey’s End

Plot (as given by me):

While at Starbase 310 for a meeting with Admiral Nechayev, the Enterprise is visited by Wesley Crusher, who is on vacation from Starfleet Academy. Wesley is sullen, moody and rude, having an incident with Geordi La Forge in Engineering and then snapping at his mother when she reprimands him. Meanwhile, Nechayev informs Picard that a Demilitarised Zone has now been established between the Federation and Cardassian space; neither side can claim any worlds within the zone for themselves or put outposts on those worlds. Unfortunately, a number of Federation colonies are now on the Cardassian side of the zone and vice versa. Among the Federation colonies is a group of Native Americans, who abandoned Earth 200 years ago to find a world that they could call their own, and only found such a world 20 years ago. Picard’s orders are to convince the colonists to re-settle on the Federation side of the zone, and to remove the colonists by force if necessary.

Picard’s initial negotiations with the tribal elder of the colony, Anthwara, meet with little success, and he welcomes the colonists to visit the Enterprise in hopes of getting to better understand them. The reception event results in Wesley meeting a shaman known as Lakanta, who claims he foresaw Wesley’s arrival in a vision quest and offers to help him find answers to his questions. The next day, Anthwara reveals that after discussing Picard’s family history, he has done further research and come to a conclusion as wo why Picard was selected for the mission. Back in the 17th century, many Native American tribes in the Pueblo region of what would become the United States united to drive out the Spanish. A decade after, the Spanish returned and exacting a brutal revenge against the tribes, and one of the soldiers was an ancestor of Picard’s. Anthwara believe from this that Picard is there to atone for his ancestor’s actions and will not drive them out.

Picard does not agree with Anthwara’s conclusion, but remains concerned about the potential historical parallel that could be drawn. The situation worsens as a group of Cardassians led by Gul Evek arrives prematurely to survey the planet. With a final reprieve denied by Starfleet command, Picard orders Lt. Worf to prepare to remove the colonists from the planet against their will. Meanwhile Wesley is at the colony with Lakanta, who helps Wesley undertake a vision quest. Wesley receives a vision of his late father telling him to choose his own path. Walking outside, Wesley learns what Worf is doing and reveals what is going on to the colonists, magnifying the tensions between them and the Starfleet officers.

Back on the Enterprise, Picard reprimands Wesley for his behaviour, only for Wesley to say he is resigning from the academy. His mother insists that Wesley explain this; it turns out that Wesley had begun to feel Starfleet wasn’t for him, and had begun to feel depressed. This was due to the conflict between his not wanting to be at the Academy and his desire not to let down his mother, friends and mentors who had all assumed Wesley would be a Starfleet officer. The vision Wesley experienced was simply the final confirmation and the colony incident provided a further catalyst. Finally revealing to Wesley the insights made long ago by the Traveller, Beverly comes around to the idea that Wesley is probably making the right decision for himself.

The situation at the colony worsens when the colonists take Cardassian soldiers hostage and order the Starfleet away team to leave. As Picard and Evek try to respond from on board the Enterprise, one of the Cardassian soldiers tries to fight his way free, sparking a massive firefight. Wesley, in shock and horror, yells out and tries to stop it, but then everything around him freezes. Lakanta then appears, revealing himself to have been the Traveller in disguise all along. He explains that Wesley, in his desperation to stop the conflict, has pulled himself out of everyone else’s time-frame, marking the start of another kind of exploration. Wesley is willing to come but worried about the fight. However, the Traveller says Wesley must have faith that those he is friends with can solve the dispute themselves. Sure enough, as the other time-frame is rejoined, Picard convinces Evek to just beam his troops out rather than sending more troops in. It is then decided that the colonists will give up their status as Federation citizens and risk living under Cardassian jurisdiction to retain their homeworld. Wesley remains at the colony to begin his studies into his newfound abilities with the Traveller, bidding farewell to his mother and Picard before beaming down.

Review:

This episode is the third of three episodes split over the last three seasons of TNG (not counting the alternate realities in ‘Parallels’) where Wesley Crusher is brought back as a guest character, and it’s also his farewell performance for the series. Apparently, episode writer Ronald D. Moore wrote the episode to resolve an aspect of Wesley that didn’t make sense. Back in season 1, it was revealed through the first appearance of the Traveller that Wesley was a kind of scientific prodigy, much in the same way Mozart was a musical prodigy. However, rather than developing Wesley in a pure scientist kind of way, the show had directed him down the path of becoming just another Star Fleet officer, in line with the then-prevalent Trek mentality that if you’re human and a regular Trek character, you have to want to be in Star Fleet. In this sense, the episode was good because it finally stood up to that ridiculous status quo said ‘you know what, it’s ok to be human in the Trek universe and not want to be in Star Fleet. Not everyone was meant to boldly go where no one has gone before’.

That being said, nothing in previous Wesley episodes had really helped to set this up. The last anyone saw Wesley was in season 5, when he was involved in the crash cover-up at the academy in ‘The First Duty’, which came in somewhere around the mid-season point. That means we’ve gone two years between the two times seeing Wesley and we get a very different Wesley with no idea why. To my mind, this episode would have worked better if Wesley had had two or three more guest appearances in-between to set up the idea that he might not want to be in Star Fleet after all. That, or they should have made this episode a two-part special to ease the audience into understanding Wesley’s situation more, perhaps working in more discussions with other characters about why he wanted to leave the Academy.

Expanding the episode could also have helped the story with the Native American colonists. The main reason for that side of the episode was to not only add to the why of the Maquis, who were being introduced through both Next Generation and DS9 to set up Voyager, but also to provide background for a major Voyager character. The fact that Voyager was going to have a first officer who was Native American meant the culture had to be shown as alive and kicking in the 24th century, and this episode gives us that. However, the episode got a lot of flak for being a bit stereotypical in how they showed the culture, and I suspect part of that was down to the show being so short and not giving full airtime to that side of things. With a two-part episode, that aspect of things could have been avoided.

Some people have also suggested it was somehow strange for Picard to feel guilty over his ancestor’s actions; he doesn’t. He clearly states that’s Anthwara’s view and not his own, but he does still have concerns, which he had already voiced earlier to Admiral Nechayev before he even knew he had an ancestor involved in the sad and unnecessary acts of barbarism committed against the Native Americans. Such moral concerns are hardly out of character for Picard; the way he stands up for Data and Lal in ‘The Offspring’, the way he’s the first to question the morality of Admiral Satie’s inquisition in ‘The Drumhead’ show Picard has his moral limits and wants to avoid doing the morally questionable or downright wrong thing wherever possible. There’s nothing out of character in this; people just have a tendency to misconstrue what they’re watching for no good reason. For me, this episode is worth about 6 out of 10.

Episode 21: Firstborn

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Worf is concerned that his son Alexander is not pursuing his Klingon heritage and has no desire to become a Klingon warrior. Captain Picard recommends that Worf should expose Alexander to more of his heritage at the Kot'baval festival at Maranga IV. When the Enterprise stops at Maranga IV as part of a routine mission, Worf takes Alexander to the festival and this appears to help Alexander become interested in the Klingon way of life. When the two of them are suddenly attacked by a trio of Klingon warriors, another Klingon arrives and helps them fight off the trio. He introduces himself as K'mtar, a gin'tak or adviser to the House of Mogh who has come to protect Worf. K'mtar joins Worf and Alexander as they return to the Enterprise while the crew investigates the attack.

With Worf's approval, K'mtar tries to train Alexander in the ways of the Klingon warrior, but this proves ineffective. K'mtar recommends that Worf send Alexander to a Klingon military academy, which would be harsh on Alexander but effective. Worf balks at the idea, and K'mtar threatens to invoke Klingon law to take custody of Alexander from Worf. When K'mtar pressures Alexander to join the academy, the boy refuses.

The Enterprise crew examine one of the daggers used during the attack on Worf and Alexander. It bears markings of the Duras sisters. Commander Riker gets intelligence from Quark at Deep Space Nine that helps the Enterprise crew locate the Duras sisters and accuses them of the assassination attempt. The sisters deny any involvement. When Worf presents the dagger, they recognize one marking as belonging to Lursa's son, despite the fact she has only just learned she has become pregnant.

Worf then finds K'mtar about to kill a sleeping Alexander, and immobilizes him. K'mtar is forced to reveal that he is really Alexander from several decades in the future, having travelled back in time to prepare his younger self for an assassination attempt on his father. He had arranged the attack on Maranga IV to trigger a desire to protect Worf and had hoped to direct the young Alexander to take the warrior's path so as to prevent Worf's assassination later. Worf tells K'mtar that he could only die happy knowing that Alexander followed the course he wanted to take in life. With Worf's resolve and newfound appreciation for his son's interests, K'mtar is satisfied and returns to his own time.

Review:

With the previous episode to this having revisited the seventh season’s theme of family through Dr Crusher’s son, this episode does much the same through Worf and his son, and like ‘Journey’s End’, we’re getting a final TNG appearance for a guest character. Alexander’s next appearances after this occur in Deep Space Nine’s sixth season when he’s older, though considering the lack of years between the two, I often feel Deep Space Nine over-ages the character. However, that’s not a reflection on this episode itself, which still retains some DS9 crossover thanks to a guest-appearance in one scene by Quark.

The episode is kind of interesting as it tries to look into the idea of a son not wanting to follow the path their parent wants or expects of them, but there’s a problem with that in this instance, or more accurately two. The first is that Alexander’s view point isn’t quite given the same level of weight or screen-time in the episode that it should. A story like this works better if the child is older or has someone of an older age to argue their case, but in this episode, you’ve got Alexander on one side, the guest Klingon on the other and Worf arguing mostly in favour of the guest Klingon’s point of view until he sees that carrying on could drive his son away. The second issue is we’ve just seen Wesley Crusher do much the same thing; turn down doing what a parent expects to follow his own path.

Because of these flaws, the episode feels mostly like filler, with a bit of extra credit for being a subtle reminder about the Duras sisters ahead of their impending appearances in the first of the TNG movies. Overall, I’d give this episode about 5 out of 10.

Episode 22: Bloodlines

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The episode begins with Bok (a former Ferengi DaiMon whose son was killed in a battle with the USS Stargazer, then commanded by Picard) announcing his intention to kill Picard's son in revenge.

Picard, who is not aware of having a son, eventually locates Jason Vigo, the son of a woman named Miranda Vigo, with whom Picard had had a past relationship. The results of a DNA test confirm that Jason is indeed Picard's son, but Picard's attempts to bond with Jason prove difficult, and he is dismayed to discover that Jason has a criminal record, having been convicted of petty theft and trespassing. Meanwhile, Bok beams to the Enterprise twice (using subspace transport technology) to repeat his threats, and Jason suffers attacks from an unknown disease.

Finally, Bok beams Jason off the Enterprise and onto his own ship. La Forge determines that the transport is occurring via a small transport platform, and that research into subspace transporter technology was abandoned by the Federation because of its extreme unreliability and high energy requirements.

Picard then beams to Bok's ship using the same subspace transporter method that Bok used, where he confronts Bok and three other Ferengi and reveals that Dr Crusher has discovered that Jason Vigo is not, in fact, Picard's son. Bok had re-sequenced Jason's DNA so that Picard would know how it felt to lose a son, but Bok's technique was flawed, and the deception was exposed and gave Jason a disease that would normally be inherited, but which neither his mother nor Picard has.

Realizing that there was no profit to be earned from Bok's revenge scheme, the three other Ferengi then disarm Bok and release Jason. After gladly hearing the news that Jason's condition is responding well to Dr Crusher's treatment, Picard invites him to stay on the Enterprise a few more days. However, Jason decides to return to his life on Camor V to "straighten things out." In the transporter room, after Jason suggests he look him up should he ever be in the area, Picard finally bonds with his 'son' by presenting him with a Gorlan prayer stick, a rare artifact that Picard had traded a valuable bottle of Saurian brandy to obtain. Jason is touched by Picard's generosity.

Review:

So, this is our third ‘family’ episode of the round, and again it’s dealing with the son of a main character. It also brings back Bok, apparently at Patrick Stewart’s request. It seems he wanted to revisit the idea of an antagonist that had it out for Picard personally, and from that arose this idea that Bok would try to find someone he could pass off as Picard’s son so he could exact a ‘like-for-like’ revenge on Picard. It’s not the worst idea imaginable, and it’s a change to get a Ferengi you can take seriously at a time when Deep Space Nine was gradually turning every Ferengi other than Quark and, in time, Nog into pure comic relief. However, I think Picard could have done with a better antagonist and an actual son instead of a fake one. Then again, that would spoil an aspect of the impending TNG film that was about to go into production, and part of me wonders if having Picard deal with a pseudo-son wasn’t part of the set-up for that film. All in all, though, I’d only give this episode 6 out of 10.

Episode 23: Emergence

Plot (as given by me):

Following a holodeck malfunction where the Orient Express almost runs over Captain Picard and Lt. Commander Data while the latter is rehearsing a scene from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the Enterprise begins to experience more and more malfunctions. These are traced to a series of circuit nodes appearing throughout the ship, with the holodeck serving as a point of convergence. The nature of the malfunctions leads Data to theorise the Enterprise has begun to develop an intelligence of its own. When the crew go to the holodeck to investigate, Data finds the holodeck is running a program comprised of elements from several programs that would normally be independent of each other. It soon transpires that the holodeck is acting as a kind of analogue for events occurring aboard the Enterprise, and a number of the characters are actually representations of parts of the ship.

It soon turns out that the Enterprise is trying to create a new life form of some kind, but it is unable to sustain it because it needs to feed it vertion particles. These normally occur in white dwarf stars in small amounts; the first star the Enterprise tries to feed on fails, and its desire to reach the next star of the same kind risks compromising life support before the ship can reach it. By interacting with the holodeck characters, Data, Worf and Troi manage to re-direct the ship to a nebula, where the Enterprise uses a modified photon torpedo to create a large supply of particles within the nebula. This gives the new life form enough energy to leave the ship, and the Enterprise returns to normal mechanical operation immediately afterwards.

Review:

This episode was apparently done as an attempt to do one last holodeck episode before TNG ended, and the writer thought it would be a good idea to just make it a sort of mash-up of a lot of holodeck programs set around the idea of the ship developing sentience. The latter idea sounds cool in theory, but played out as it is with the holodeck mash-up taking centre stage, it just comes across as a horrible weirdness for its own sake episode, and it was bad enough seeing that with ‘Masks’ in the last round. We didn’t need a repeat, and I think in hindsight they should have left this episode or ‘Masks’ out to make ‘Journey’s End’ a two-part farewell to Wesley. For me, this episode only scores 3 out of 10.

Episode 24: Pre-emptive Strike

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise is en route to a briefing concerning the current situation along the border of the Cardassian-Federation demilitarized zone. Meanwhile, newly promoted Lieutenant Ro Laren arrives in Ten-Forward to attend a welcome back party after recently graduating from Starfleet Advanced Tactical Training class.

The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a Cardassian warship under attack by the Maquis, a paramilitary organization of Federation citizens who have taken up arms against the Cardassians. The Enterprise fires a spread of photon torpedoes between the Cardassian and Maquis ships, causing the latter to break off their attack and withdraw. Later the Enterprise rendezvous with Vice Admiral Alynna Nechayev's ship and she expresses Starfleet's concern about the Maquis, who are jeopardizing the Federation-Cardassian peace treaty. She advises Picard that Starfleet has decided to infiltrate the Maquis using Ro Laren.

Ro finds her way to a bar where she is contacted by members of the Maquis. After verifying her cover story, they quickly accept her into their ranks. She forms a bond with Macias, whom Ro obviously sees as a father figure. Alarmed by this news that the Cardassians are arming their citizens with biogenic weapons, the Maquis plan a preemptive strike, however, Macias points out they are critically short of medical supplies. Ro offers to steal the needed supplies from the Enterprise, which she manages with some covert help from the crew.

Returning to the Enterprise for a debriefing, Ro tells Captain Picard of the Maquis strategy and Picard plots to manipulate the militants' paranoia in order to set a trap for them, hopefully eliminating, or at least crippling, their organization. Although Ro is troubled by this, she returns to the planet and is able to convince the Maquis leadership to plan an attack on the convoy supposedly carrying the components for the biogenic weapon, so the Federation fleet can attack from a nearby nebula. However, disguised Cardassian militiamen attack the community which the Maquis cell is part of, and Macias is killed. As he dies, he tells Ro his death is not important since other Maquis like her will step forward to carry on the fight in his place.

Shortly thereafter a very unsettled Ro meets with Picard because she's having second thoughts about the mission, asking him to call it off, saying that the Maquis cell she belongs to isn't all that militant and may not even rise to the bait of the decoy convoy. Picard decides to send Commander Riker disguised as a Bajoran back to the Maquis with her to keep an eye on her and assure nothing interferes with the mission.

The day for the operation against the convoy arrives and as the Maquis fighters close in on it, Ro decides she can't go through with the operation. She fires a low intensity particle beam into the nebula, exposing the Federation attack force, and the Maquis ships break off their attack, frustrating the Starfleet plan. With great regret, Ro asks Riker to apologize on her behalf to Picard. Riker bids her a heartfelt farewell, and Ro is beamed aboard a Maquis vessel. Back on the Enterprise, Riker files his report with Picard in the captain's ready room, adding that Ro seemed very sure of her decision, seeming that her only regret was that she had let Picard down. Riker leaves as the episode ends on Picard's face, frozen in anger at Ro's betrayal.

Review:

Apparently when ‘Rascals’ has aired the previous season, in which Ro was reverted to being a child during a transporter accident, some fans theorised Ro may have remained a child based on the episode’s final scene. This episode eliminates that idea while also providing Ro with a farewell performance of her own. It’s a great performance at that, while also serving to expand on the introduction of the Maquis made not long before this in Deep Space Nine’s second season. The incorporation of Gul Evek and Admiral Nechayev from ‘Journey’s End’ further adds to the sense of continuity in the episode, but mostly, you’re in this episode to watch Ro go down the path that’s right for her.

It’s more satisfying and better put together than what we saw for Wesley in ‘Journey’s End’, and it also has a bit of grey area to it in that you’re left unsure if the position of the show’s main characters is right or not. Coming not all that long after the attempted forced relocation of Native Americans in ‘Journey’s End’ and the introduction of the Maquis in their self-titled two-part episode on Deep Space Nine, the Cardassian DMZ is looking like an area where the Federation has actually messed up. As a result, the moral righteousness of Starfleet, and thus of Picard and his crew, is no longer absolute. That’s refreshing and exciting, but also a bit worrying. Still, not a huge issue for the TNG crew, but obviously one that would have been impacting their DS9 counterparts, and something Voyager would be embracing to some degree. The episode doesn’t put a foot wrong, and so I’m inclined to give it top marks; 10 out of 10.

0 notes

servetolive · 7 years

Text

Dude. Star Trek TNG WWII AU, Starring:

Jean-Luc Picard, cigar smoking Free French Intelligence Officer working under British Gen. Montgomery's command, survived the trenches in the Great War.

William T. Riker, tough-talking first sergeant of a tank company in the 2nd Armored after CO was killed; demoted once for insubordination (even though he was right)

Geordi LaForge, a Tuskegee Airman and ace pilot, often submits reworked schematics for better fighter jets; doesn't care that they're rejected

Reginald Barclay, German/French/Italian speaking clerk; has never fired his weapon

Beverly Crusher, CO of a company of female WAAC nurses captured by the Japanese in SE Asia. Keeps morale high in dire situations; hides the fact that she received word that her husband is missing and her son has entered action

Deanna Troi, MI6 spy of Greek origin; works with Dutch resistance, charms her way into German officer's circles with her good looks and ability to read men

Wesley Crusher, son of CPT Crusher, bright eyed and bushy tailed West Point graduate newly assigned to the battled hardened 3rd ID in Italy; dying to get a piece of the action, keeps getting pawned off as an assistant (read: valet) to the unit XO

Data, courageous, quiet, efficient commanding officer of a paratrooper company in the 82nd Airborne; reads Hemingway during downtime, kills mercifully and writes to his mother about the horrors of war. Bullets seem to "evade" him. Once thought of becoming a rabbi.

Lore, Data's unhinged brother, corporal in the 1st Rangers in Italy, counts his kills, wounded 4 times and still in action, shoots POWs, collects "trophies." Always volunteers for point man. Mocks the enemy by wearing a Star of David emblazoned on the back of his jacket.

B4, the oldest brother, simple minded private/medic in Big Red One, found cowering under a pile of corpses behind a steel obstacle during the landing at Normandy; considered his outfit's lucky charm. Never gets wounded, bad dyslexia. Cries for his brothers every night

Lal, Data's daughter, OSS (pre-CIA) Naval intelligence officer working vigorously to crack the ENIGMA code and save her family. Never needs sleep.

Oh shit, forgot

Ro Laren, fearsome Belarusian partisan. Lost her entire family to the Nazis, slaughters them face to face in the mountains of Eastern Europe via guerilla warfare

Bruce Maddox, Nazi doctor under the tutelage of Mengele; shares his fascination with twins (yeah i went there)

Miles O'Brien, colour sergeant in the Royal Marines, survived the evacuation at Dunkirk. Hides his trauma behind a cheery facade.

#did i miss anyone #someone do this for ds9 #star trek tng #star trek au #wwii #war movie tropes

46 notes · View notes

startrekreviews · 6 years

Text

TNG Novel #38: Dragon’s Honor

TNG #38: Dragon’s Honor by Kij Johnson and Greg Cox Book Jacket’s Summary: “Isolated for centuries, the exotic Dragon Empire is finally ready to join the United Federation of Planets. But first the emperor's son must marry the only daughter of his oldest enemy, bringing an end to decades of civil war. Without the wedding, there can be no peace – and no treaty with the Federation. As honored guests of the Dragon Empire, Captain Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise must ensure that the royal wedding occurs on schedule, despite the Empire's complicated and difficult codes of honor. And Dr.Beverly Crusher finds her loyalties torn when she wins the confidence of the unusually reluctant bride-to-be. More than just a treaty is at stake, for a vicious race of alien conquerors will stop at nothing, from assassination to invasion, to keep the Empire out of the Federation. Picard must use all his skills to save the Empire... and preserve the Dragon's honor. ” Yeaka’s Notes: The bookjacket has a fairly comprehensive summary (although Beverly’s loyalties are never actually torn and that entire scene is only a page or two); Picard and crew meet with “aliens” (who are in fact Terran immigrants that have somewhat recreated ancient China) to sign their world into the Federation, despite them being a wildly misogynistic society. Fair warning—the women are treated like property in this book, and though it’s self-aware and not condoning it, Beverly and Deanna are made to go along with that, and there are scantily clad, female sexual servants all over the place. Meanwhile, an aggressive, throwaway, lizard-like race is coming to conquer the planet, which Picard can’t defend unless the Emperor signs the Federation treaty. He seems disinclined to do so despite the promise that he will at his son’s wedding—a pre-arranged ceremony meant to halt their on-going civil wars. This does make one wonder why the Federation wants to accept this world, given the usual policies of only accepting stable worlds that practice social equality. Belief has to be perpetually suspended for parts of this story. At least all of the characters are around: Geordi and Data in charge of the ship, Picard trailing a useless figurehead, Riker teaching stubborn bachelors poker, Worf on guard duty, Beverly playing mother-of-the-bridge, and Deanna dodging sexual harassment from said figurehead. There are two ongoing mysteries—the identity of an assassin and some mystique around the wedding, one of which is actually pretty obvious from the beginning and the other of which is decently hidden. Though parts of this mess are predictable and certain comic-relief scenes drag on, the ending has a surprise and some amusement. There are also several references to the season seven Riker/Deanna/Worf dynamics. Long story short, this is a decent read for the next gen crew, particularly if you ever wanted a slightly off ancient China in space, but be prepared for some heavy sexism, utterly shallow and unlikable aliens, and plenty of pent up frustration. Noteworthy moments: (below cut)

Ch1/p16 Unable to do anything else for the mission, Geordi suggests in the briefing he work on fireworks for the political wedding; noting that the alien culture will likely be highly sexist, Worf snorts derisively, Picard thinks on “the growing affection between Worf and Counselor Troi”

Ch2/p26 Picard thinks on how beautiful Beverly looks in her robes; Riker seems tight when he hears Worf is helping Deanna come down in her robes, Picard contemplates the “slowly simmering romantic triangle between Will, Worf, and Deanna”; when Deanna steps on her robes and can’t straighten up, Worf lifts her before Riker can help, Deanna comments “the more I try to navigate in this thing [...] the more I appreciate nude weddings”

Ch3/p38 When Beverly and Troi are faced with sexism, Riker feels bad but recalls TNG: “Angel One”

The emperor wants Data and Deanna as presents

Ch6/p89 Riker attends a bachelor party

p122 During a brawl, Riker remembers training with his father

Ch7/p135 Deanna in command with just Geordi of the senior officers

p143 Beverly reminds herself she can’t judge others’ romantic tastes after falling for “an intelligent slug” and “the family ghost”

Ch8/p145 Worf’s disappointed no other Klingons have joined Starfleet

p165 Geordi makes a light show that’s met with poor reviews

Ch10/p177 Beverly tries to lightly explain sex to a teenage girl about to be married off

p187 Dr. Selar treats unconscious guards

p195 When Deanna offers to entertain a gross ruler in order to stop future assassination attempts, Picard thinks he better not tell Riker or Worf of this

Ch12/p223 When unlikely trouble occurs, Picard considers if it could be Q

#novels #tng #yeakas #new aliens #jean-luc picard #william riker #deanna troi #beverly crusher #worf #data #geordi la forge #dragon's honor #kij johnson #greg cox

1 note · View note

rosalie-starfall · 1 year

Text

Chapter 2 is well underway!

I'm hoping to have it posted sometime over the weekend! I have a lot of feelings!

#PIcard/Crusher #P/C #Picard/Crusher Family Unit #If You Asked Me Too #fic updates that no one probably cares about abut I have a lot of feelings and I need to express myself!

10 notes · View notes

withbrutality-blog · 7 years

Text

Picard’s Dilemma

Chapter One

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is self-conscious about his crew's feelings towards him during the night shift.

(One-Shot)

Captain Picard sat in his ready room looking out of the window at the black galaxy passing by. The stars gleamed bright though they seemed so far away, and an occasional moon or planet of the Sephorta Lax system appeared. The quiet hum of the galaxy-class starship – his beloved Enterprise – relaxed him like a warm blanket and a cup of his favorite tea. He allowed a small smile to flit across his lips before he stood up and paced over to the replicator.

“Earl Grey. Hot,” he commanded in a monotonous voice. A tea cup atop a saucer instantly appeared in the replicator compartment with hot steam floating up from the amber-colored liquid inside. He carefully took the cup and saucer and took his place back in his desk chair, taking small sips of the tea so as not to burn his tongue.

Suddenly a howling laugh made its way through the door leading to the Bridge, causing the Captain to jump with surprise.

“Night crew must be joking around again,” he said aloud to himself. He wondered what they were going on about but thought better than to go and find out. People seemed to change in his presence.

They stopped laughing when he came around.

Even Commander Riker, a man who trusted Picard with his life and wasn't afraid to have a good time, toned his personality down when Picard was present.

At first Jean-Luc didn't notice – everyone had a job to do on the ship and mucking about was not part of those orders – but eventually he became curious about it. As the ship's crew came closer together – like a family unit – sometimes he felt left out of the fold, try as they might have to convince him in small ways that he wasn't.

Jean-Luc knew he wasn't the most personable creature on the ship or very easy to get along with initially (all the ensigns and new recruits, save Wesley Crusher, were afraid of him), but he had no clue how to change that – how to let his team know he liked and cared about them all! The only one aboard the Enterprise who knew these feelings and hopes was Counselor Deanna Troi, who was an empath.

Of course she knows, he thought to himself before taking the last sip of his tea. He set the small tea cup and its saucer on top of his desk and rested his head against the chair as he stared at the ceiling. Sometimes it felt like Beverly understood him...but other times it felt like they were miles away – just colleagues working and living together to complete whatever tasks were at hand.

The Captain sighed and closed his eyes. He wanted badly to improve his relationship with his crew – no – his friends, but he knew it would be a difficult road.

Before he dozed off, he smiled as he recalled something Guinan had said about speaking things into existence. They were chatting together in Ten Forward over coffee, with Picard confiding in her about a difficult task Starfleet had assigned to the Enterprise.

“Captain Picard, just think of how you want this mission to go and say whatever the desired result is aloud. It'll work, I'm telling you!” she'd implored with much enthusiasm.

Jean-Luc thought of all his friends on-board the ship – how he wanted to open up to them and have them feel more comfortable around him. Then he thought of how he wanted to change within and took a moment to meditate on it.

“Make it so,” he whispered as he drifted off to sleep.

Author’s Note Just a one-shot showing Captain Picard's desire to be nice(r). I wrote it on a whim and probably won't continue this story unless I end up doing a Picard one-shot collection. Honest feedback/comments are appreciated! And yes, the 'Sephorta Lax system' is entirely made up!

#star trek #star trek tng #the next generation #jean-luc picard #captain jean-luc picard #captain picard #tng fanfic #tng fanfiction #tng fan fiction #star trek fanfic #star trek fanfiction #star trek fan fiction #fanfic #fanfiction #fan fiction #one-shot

1 note · View note

aion-rsa · 4 years

Text

Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 4 Review: Moist Vessel

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Star Trek: Lower Decks review contains spoilers.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 4

When Star Trek: The Next Generation boldly explored the idea of having families onboard the USS Enterprise the series didn’t really know how that was going to play out, other than the fact that Wesley Crusher was going to randomly save the ship every couple of weeks. But, other than Captain Kirk’s son David Marcus in The Wrath of Khan and The Search For Spock, the Trek franchise has rarely explored what it’s like when adult children work alongside their parents in Starfleet. But in “Moist Vessel,” that’s exactly what happens, and the result is the first episode of Lower Decks that feels fully independent from the rest of Trek canon.

Like Ensign Ro or Tom Paris before her, we know that Ensign Beckett Mariner has a history of getting demoted for insubordination. In “Moist Vessel,” we get to see how that actually plays out. As she says at the very end of the episode to Boilmler, “I’m pretty good at getting demoted.” Right now still early in its first season, Lower Decks isn’t’ shying away from its interest in how slackers behave in an egalitarian future in which there are almost no barriers for anyone to do whatever they want with their life. What Lower Decks suggests, particularly in “Moist Vessel,” is that in a quasi-utopian future, hell is still other people. And the greatest crime people commit in the near-perfect 24th century is that they can be endlessly boring.

TNG had a field day with this on a few occasions. In “Starship Mine,” everyone wants to avoid a pedantic trivial officer named Commander Hutchinson. In “The Perfect Mate,” Picard even tried to mock himself by calling himself “dull,” and noting that he liked to fall asleep while reading. Even Lt. Barclay’s slightly trivial tendencies would visibly irritate the senior staff of the Enterprise. With “Moist Vessel” this concept is flipped. As Mariner has been maintaining since the first episode, maybe everyone on the senior staff is uncool and the people having the most fun in Starfleet are those who are unambitious.

When Mariner’s mom — Captain Freeman — decides to promote her daughter as punishment, the rest of the episode is spent with Mariner in total hell as a result of this reverse-nepotism. In TNG, we always kind of assumed everybody loved going to see Riker play jazz on his trombone in Ten Forward, but what if Riker had busted out an acoustic guitar instead? “Moist Vessel” teases us with this possibility when Captain Freeman mentions that Commander Ransom is going to do just that. Even the beloved TNG games of poker are mocked here, because Mariner notices, correctly, that nobody ever seems to take any risks. The reason she’s not higher in rank is that she recognizes that on some level, more responsibility makes people more boring.

As someone who recognizes my past self in Mariner, I think this is generally true. When you’re in your twenties (which we assume Mariner is) having more responsibility feels like it will make you pathetic, and the greatest rub to being uncool is that you’ll never know it happened. Because Lower Decks is mostly a show that sticks with the POV of the Lower Deckers, this episode lets us really feel Mariner’s viewpoint. When she lays back in her bunk at the end of the episode, having gotten rid of her extra responsibility, you can relate to her bliss. I mean, anyone who has ever quit a job because they could will feel what she feels in this scene. And yet, the episode doesn’t really let her off the hook either.

This is actually the first episode that lets us have some sympathy for Captain Freeman. She might not be the greatest captain in Starfleet, but she does know what she’s doing, and contrary to what her daughter thinks of her, she is legit cool. And part of the reason we know that is because Freeman doesn’t even pretend like all the bullshit she has to put up with is good. She’s aware that Captain Durango is boring, and tells Mariner that the fact he’s boring isn’t the point. Later, she makes it very clear that she too dreads the various crew functions in which Ransom plays his acoustic guitar and one crew member does a one-person-show called “The United Federation of Characters.” Freeman’s attitude toward all of this is something Mariner doesn’t understand yet: Part of being an adult is knowing something sucks, but putting up with it anyway.

Freeman doesn’t have to convince herself that uncool things are cool to be the Captain, which proves there’s a fallacy in Mariner’s viewpoint. Obviously we’re gonna side with the slacker because it’s kind of her show, but when Mariner and her mom work together to save the USS Cerritos, it feels like a smart step for the show. Yes, these characters might tend to fall back into sitcom dimensions, but there is a glimmer of development happening, too.

If there’s any flaw this episode has, it’s that some of that super-absurd stuff that Freeman has to put up with is only mentioned and not depicted. Personally, I would have loved to have heard one of Ransom’s awful self-written songs. And, as painful as I’m sure it was meant to be, just WHAT WAS the “United Federation of Characters?” With “Moist Vessel,” we got the best character piece of the series yet, but let’s hope some of those jokes about shipboard entertainment come back in future episodes.

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 4 Review: Moist Vessel appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3gyYy2X

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

0 notes

biofunmy · 5 years

Text

How ‘Star Trek’ Pushed Cory Booker to Make It So

NEWARK — In the month before officially becoming a presidential candidate, Senator Cory Booker spent his nights rewatching all 172 episodes of “Star Trek: Voyager.”

This is not a coincidence.

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek,” was an idealist. His vision for the future, as conveyed in the franchise’s many iterations, was a progressive utopia where racism and poverty were mostly eradicated in favor of a thirst for learning.

From there, you can draw a straight line to Mr. Booker’s 2020 presidential campaign which he has tried to define in terms of relentless optimism and an upbeat appeal to healing the nation’s divisions. Mr. Booker, 50, has been obsessed with “Star Trek” since a young age. His father, Cary Booker, one of the first black executives at IBM, introduced him to the original series after it had already gone off the air.

At his home in Newark recently, Mr. Booker gleefully displayed some of his memorabilia, including a set of “Star Trek” PEZ dispensers and the “Star Trek Encyclopedia” from his bookcase. There is more in his Senate office. Take it from a Trekkie: That’s not casual fandom. Recently, Mr. Booker attended San Diego Comic-Con, and a picture of him beaming while flashing the Vulcan salute went viral. His girlfriend, the actress Rosario Dawson, also adores the franchise.

Mr. Booker discussed his fandom, the political leanings of certain Star Trek captains and how the show has influenced his politics. The conversation has been condensed and edited.

We only have a handful of subscribers from the Klingon home world, so we’re going to have to keep most of this in English.

[Laughter] O.K.

What did your father see in Trek?

It was hope.

“Star Trek” was more than just an escape. It was a portal to say the future is going to be different. It’s incredibly hopeful and a belief that we’re going to get beyond a lot of these lines. We’re going to unite as humanity. It’ll be a place where your virtue guides you, the highest of human aspirations. I think there’s something about that he found really powerful.

Do you think you took it in differently as a person of color?

I took it in through that lens because I really believe that was the lens that compelled my father. My dad loved UFOs. When that television series “Project Blue Book” came out, that was another thing. He was fascinated by the universe and excited about it.

This idea that we as humans, where we are right now, are literally just not even at the foothills yet of the mountains of discovery that are out there. He was a man of infinite hope. “Star Trek” gave him that. It showed him that we are going to overcome so much of the stuff that rips at humanity now.

This I’ve never talked about. I had — they’re not dolls, they’re action figures. I had every “Star Trek” action figure you can imagine.

You collected them?

You say collected them. Adults collect. Kids play. So for me, I played with them. My brother and I, as little kids, created whole universes of “Star Trek” on our own. This isn’t fan fiction. This is two young kids whose father was really excited about “Star Trek.” I still remember, I had multiple Spock and Kirk action figures, and I would dress them differently so they would be different characters. This is me as a young, young kid. First grade, second grade. My brother and I would create worlds, forts and spaceships.

Your campaign, in many ways, is Gene Roddenberry’s ideal vision. It’s very optimistic. I look at the world we live in today. And it’s hard for me to see how we end up in the utopia Roddenberry envisioned hundreds of years from now. Do you find yourself struggling with that?

My parents were unflinching in telling my brother and I about the ugliness in the world. We would hear really rough stories of racism and bigotry. It’s almost as if my parents wanted my brother and I to have no illusions about how cruel the world could be. Yet, it was always told with an antidote to that, which was how good and virtuous the world is as well. Growing up with a story of, “This house you’re living in, people tried to stop you from being in this incredible home because of the color of your skin. But guess what? There were do-gooders that came and foiled that attempt.”

You’ve said several times that you take after Picard.

He’s my favorite captain by far.

Why are you so drawn to him over the other captains?

Besides his great haircut, I do love how profoundly intellectual he is and how reasoned and thoughtful. I was just rewatching the episode with him and Wesley Crusher, basically the one where Wesley is leaving and they get trapped and Picard is injured [Season 4’s “Final Mission]. He is incredibly affectionate toward him in a very restrained, British way. You could still see that he is still a nurturing leader. There’s something about his style that I’ve just found compelling.

Is there a character in “Star Trek” that reminds you of Trump?

[Pause] Wow. I mean, the first thing that popped in my mind, which I’d have to think about — just the Ferengi in general.

Quark? [The Ferengi bartender, mostly seen on the show “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” Ferengis are known for the relentless pursuit of profit over all else.]

I would definitely not say Quark because there was something about him — he showed some decency and kindness in many episodes.

When you ask me about Trump, what comes more to mind, is just this idea that he is a throwback to a lot of the things that my father would say our species has got to evolve out of.

I’m going to read you a quote from Ted Cruz from when he ran for president in 2015. “I think it is quite likely that Kirk is a Republican and Picard is a Democrat.” Do you agree?

Kirk is from Iowa. It’s so hard for me to answer that question because in the same way, if you look back 50 years ago, blacks were Republicans. So I’m trying to think if you want to look at the classical ideas of the party. I really think where the Republican Party has jolted, that it is now the party of Trump, I definitely do not think either of them would be that.

Your father passed away in 2013. If he was here right now, what’s the one episode you would watch with him?

There’s an episode of “The Next Generation,” [a show] he wasn’t as crazy about as I was. But one of my favorite episodes is a strange one because it’s not really a typical “Star Trek” episode. Season 5, Episode 25, “The Inner Light.” This really spoke to me. When I watched this, I was so one-dimensional in my life and so driven on this pathway. This came out before I became a professional.

Over the years, it spoke to me more and more. I was living this intense life: captain of a city [Mr. Booker was mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013] and didn’t have a family life. “The Inner Light” is this moment where Picard gets some ship that sends a beam out and, literally, Picard is transported to another world and lives 40 years. He has a beautiful family and struggles and learns an instrument. It’s just this amazing whole life. And then he wakes up on the bridge. And he has lost all of that.

The reason why the probe was doing it was because a civilization was ending and they wanted people to not lose that civilization. He didn’t lose 40 years of his life, but he lived an entire lifetime.

The episode really broke me up. For my dad, who lived this incredible life, in the end, he fell into dementia. I think he started to lose perspective on the achievements of his life. In many ways, I was taught by him that we think life is about the big battle. The big election. The big win. But really, I think what my dad taught me — but I felt like he was losing perspective in the end — was that really, life is about the small moments. The every day acts of human kindness.

There’s something beautiful about that episode that just talked about a life well lived.

Sahred From Source link Arts

from WordPress http://bit.ly/2MWYzU4 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes