TREK REVIEW: Prodigy 2-3 & 2-4

2.3 - Who Saves the Saviours? 

2.4 - Temporal Mechanics 101

A solid couple of episodes which kick off the main storyline for the season, as Starfleet's youngest accidentally pervert the flow of history. The time travel rules are either very complicated or very shaky on this show. These episodes occur in the same place in two different time periods, with Gwyn on the planet Solum 52 years before Dal and co. get there, stumbling across Chakotay and his first officer, Adreek-hu. 

It seems that all this criss-crossing in time has tied history up in knots. While they work together and try to maintain the timeline like Starfleet officers should, Dal and his pals end up altering history so that Chakotay and Adreek-hu are successful in their escape from Solum abord the Protostar. This means that the ship never ends up on Tars Lamora, so that the kids never find it in the first place and reach Starfleet. Indeed, the Diviner never goes to Tars Lamora to track the ship down, never buys the orphans to use as labour, and never creates Gwyn in the first place. Even though the events are in the future, changing them has altered the past.

All very well, except that the whole point of Gwyn going to Solum in the present was to stop the devastation it faces in the future. So how does Dal and his friends' accidental alteration of future events cause such a drastic change to the timeline? Surely, if Gwyn had been successful and prevented the war on Solum, the distruption would have been even worse? And if Dal's deduction that they were always meant to be in the future to help Chakotay launch the Protostar is correct, how did things end up going so wrong at all?

It's probably best not to think too much on it, just like it's best not to think too much on how Gwyn is slowly fading from existence, "in superposition between two quantum realities," and doesn't just wink out of existence straight away. For that matter, why are the rest of the kids still there, and not wherever they would have grown up if it weren't for the Diviner? Lawd knows.

There's a lot to enjoy here, from Dal's natural leadership to Ma'jel's softening on the team and helping them try to fix things. Jankon ditching his attempt at politeness and embracing his Tellarite crabbiness, while proving again what an amazing engineer he is, is another highlight. The time travel shenanigans work dramatically, even if they don't quite make sense. The bird puns are dreadful, but in the best way.

However, some parts work less well. Having the ritual to prove Gwyn's true Vau'Nakat-ness be just another big fight is visually fun, but a bit of a let down, and something of a Trek cliché. Dr. Erin MacDonald is a real science advisor and is apparently a big deal, so having her play a future version of herself (a descendant?) is fun, but I found her a bit annoying. And, well, Chakotay is back. I realise we didn't know what a dickhead Robert Beltran was when they were recording this, but no one really liked Chakotay first time round anyway. So a series revolving around tracking him down doesn't exactly grip me.

Overall, this is a fun adventure with some high stakes, with Gwyn's very existence hanging in the balance and some great performances from Brett Gray and Ella Purnell. Plus, we have the mystery of who is speaking to the crew from the future (my initial assumption that it was an evolved future version of Zero was way off, though).

Links and references:

• "We're hurtling through a time hole!" After paraphrasing Doctor Who last week, now Dal's throwing around Red Dwarf references. Janon turning his mechanical hand into a spider-like helper might be a nod to Kryten's similar gambit in "Terrorform," but probably not.
• Ma'jel refers to the Bell Riots from DS9 "Past Tense" (set this year, fact fans) and Cochrane's first warp test in Star Trek: First Contact when explaining causal loops.
• MacDonald's Temporal Mechanics lesson refers to the USS Enterprise and Bounty's slingshot time trips, and Q's temporal trickery.
• The USS Voyager-A has temporal shielding, probably in case they run into any Krenim while they're messing about near the Delta Quadrant.
• Adreek-hu is an Aurelian, a species that first appeared in Star Trek: The Animated Series. Giving Chakotay an eagle as a first officer is a bit on the nose.

 

Cliché count: "I'm a doctor, not an exorcist!" That's two in four episodes.

Best line: "Over here! Look how distracting I am!"

TREK REVIEW: Lower Decks 4-1 & 4-2

All Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes are watched using the traditional Orion method.

4.1 - "Twovix"

Now, with a title like that, it could only be a winner. Lower Decks storms back with a cracking episode that acts as a love letter to Star Trek: Voyager, particularly the most out-there, unexpected and idiotic parts of its seven-year journey.

So, as well as having a "Tuvix" situation when several crewmembers end up merged into composite beings by the transporter, we have a macrovirus infestation, a holodeck malfunction (made worse by the ship having holoemitters installed throughout, something they gave up trying on Voyager itself), hyper-evolved newt people (sadly only as models) and even Neelix's stinky cheese.

Given that fans are still debating the ethics of Janeway's decision to split Tuvix back into Tuvok and Neelix over his own wishes, it's refreshing to have Captain Freeman announce that Janeway straight-up murdered the guy, and sensibly go to Starfleet for some support in the matter. Of course, things get out of hand from there, helpfully having all the merged characters stuffed into an unviable mess (although as for Tendy's insistance it was non-sentient - was that just a handy assumption to make the decision easier?) Either way, the blob couldn't very well carry on as it was, and a little unlikely pseudoscience, and some good work between Tendi and T'Lyn saved the day.

Meanwhile, the madness on Voyager, which gets increasingly out-of-hand, is a lot of fun, not only for all the callbacks but just the overall ridiculous thrill of it all. There's a fast-and-loose approach to continuity (with even Mariner pointing put that the evil clown guy shouldn't be in the holodeck's logs since he was never a hologram to begin with), but it's all in service to the jokes. There's a real sense of the series loingly poking fun at the franchise's past, which is what it's always been best at. Focusing on Voyager makes for a tighter story than just wildly grabbing at the whole back catalogue.

I particularly like the addition of T'Lyn, who provides a new dynamic to the team. After being introduced in season two, it seemed clear she was going to transfer over to Starfleet and the Cerritos, only to disappear until the closing moments of season three. She makes a great foil for Tendi, and it'll good to see how she does on the Cerritos (although, given it's Gabriel "Valencia" Ruiz voicing her, maybe the USS West Covina would be more appropriate).

Links and observations: 

Boimler and Mariner briefly discuss "that Pike thing we aren't supposed to talk about," placing the Strange New Worlds crossover before the season.

The USS Voyager is here installed as a museum ship, after several years being of prep after arriving home in 2378. We're still in the early 2380s, probably crossing into the timeframe Star Trek: Prodigy, which was set starting in 2383. At the end of the first season, the Voyager-A was nearly ready to launch, and it makes sense Starfleet would try to time the events together. By the time of Star Trek: Picard, in 2401, the original Voyager has been moved from Earth to the Fleet Musuem, and the Voyager-B is active.

4.2 - "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee"

After that storming opener, the second episode was going to have a tough time impressing, and it's fair to say it doesn't hit the same heights. Nonetheless, there's a lot to love about this episode, and in the absence of a ton of callbacks, it has to work harder for both jokes and adventure.

It's full of sci-fi cliches, though, from the alien zoo holding humans as exhibits (which has been used as recently as the first season of The Orville, and as far back as the original Trek pilot "The Cage," and doubtless much, much earlier) and the cutesy alien that turns out to be a blood-thirsty monster (which we've seen on Doctor Who, Farscape, Futurama, to name but a few. Even Mike and Angelo had the fuzzballs.) 

Still, it works, giving us a fun adventure in service of the characters' development. Having Mariner face up to her self-sabotage is a much-overdue step for her, and it's interesting that it's shepherded by Ransom, giving us a glimpse of how such a dudebro managed to make commander in the first place. It appears he's actually got a real insight into his crew's personalities.

Meanwhile, there's some lovely stuff with Rutherford once again making things difficult for himself rather than taking the simple route, all because he wants to stay best buds with Tendi (and when the hell are they going to get together?) At the same time, Boimler has a horrible time trying to find new quarters, showing that the much-deserved promotion the team have all now received comes with its own challenges. (Of course, we discover that Boimler is being an idiot and never considered that the quarters next to the collector lights would have a dimmer switch. Or think of, I don't know, replicating some curtains maybe.)

In both episodes, we've also seen a mysterious alien ship make unprovoked attacks on first a Klingon ship, and then a Romulan Warbird, wiping them out. This new background arc is intriguing, and I'm left wondering if this is a new threat or, more likely, something unexpected from the past. (I swear the ship looks like one from one of the Trek games, but I can't put my finger on it.) We shall have to wait and see.

Links and observations 

The Romulan Warbird is oriented to be taller than it is wide, which was the Andrew Probert's original design for The Next Generation before he was told to tweak it.

While this episode doesn't depend on callbacks, there are several, teh funniest being Ransom and Shaxs exercising in the same leotards that Troi and Crusher wear on TNG. 

There are also plenty of recognisable aliens in the Menage, incuding an Aldebaran serpent (which Q turned into on TNG "Hide and Q"), a glommer from TAS "More Tribbles, More Troubles," the space dog from TOS "The Enemy Within," a Hanonian land-eel from VOY "Basics" (a very long way from home) and a Ceti eel from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

It's not only Trek getting referenced. The episode title is a reference to I Have No Mouth, Yet I Must Scream, a truly disqueting and justly famous sci-fi horror story by Harlan Ellison. 

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-7 - "Dominion"

 SPOILERS from the outset.

"Dominion" is a mix of the excellent and the irritating, that comes together to make an overall strong episode, albeit one that stops at a frustrating point. 

On the plus side, this episode features some of the best cast performances so far this season. Brent Spiner is as good as ever, flitting between Data and Lore, while Levar Burton gives easily his best ever performance as Geordi. It's a good indication of how he's matured as an actor over the years, with his scene as the grief-stricken and desperate Geordi as he speaks to the android by far the best work he's done in the role. Both Stewart and McFadden are also on top form this episode, particularly in their quiet yet intense scenes together, discussing the lengths to which they are prepared to go in their mission.

Ed Speeler and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut continue to show excellent chemistry, although their scene in the turbolift is a bit weird. Not only does Sydney have a very specific flirting routine, and Jack doing something slightly different puts her off, when he does touch her hand at the right moment this freaks her out. Sure, we know he's reading her mind, but surely from her perspective he's just doing something perfectly normal that she wanted him to do anyway? Christ, I'm glad I'm not dating this woman. Fortunately, their later scenes during the Changeling assault show that they make an excellent team, and this sequence actually makes Jack's sudden, newfound telepathy work as a plot point.

This is really Vadic's episode, though. Amanda Plummer, allowed to do more than chew the scenery, is absolutely phenomenal, with Vadic coming into her own as a powerful and almost justified villain. The flashbacks to her torture at the hands of a Federation scientist make for a potent and disturbing origin story, and one that is all too believable. I suspect many Trek purists will balk at this darker side to the supposedly utopian Federation, just as they balked at the dirty secrets and warfare of Deep Space Nine. I prefer this take, though, for reminding us that there is always the temptation to break the moral code when you think the ends justify the means. I love how Picard keeps trying to point out that the Federation gave the Changelings the cure to the disease that almost wiped them out, while Vadic points out that not only did they create the disease in the first place, once it came to light, even the public face of the UFP voted not to give it to them. It was only Odo and his comrades on DS9 who saved the Changelings, and then the Federation continued to experiment on their enemies.

Of course, Vadic conveniently forgets that the Dominion was also happy to commit genocide against the Cardassians, and that it had used biological warfare numerous times in the Gamma Quadrant. Her mission is not truly justified - not least because many innocents will surely die if she completes it - but it is entirely undersandable. Once she takes the Titan, it's hard not to feel a surge of triumph on her behalf.

Unfortunately, to get us to this point, the plot has to take some ridiculous and contrived turns. The forcefield battle and trap on the Titan is brilliant, but it's hard to see how Vadic could fall for it, especially as she was surely unaware that Lore was hiding in there to help her escape. Why, indeed, did Picard and Geordi leave the new android plugged in at all, knowing that Lore was in there and threatening to assert dominance? Sadly, all too often, to get a plot to function supposedly intelligent characters have to do very stupid things.

The episode gives us both questions and answers, predictable moments and surprises, and it's satisfying that this season isn't simply a folow-up to The Next Generation, but to the entire TNG-era. Tim Russ making an appearance as Tuvok (or not, as it turned out to be) was a nice touch and a genuine surprise, and I understand from his tweets post-broadcast that he'll be back again, so hopefully real Tuvok will appear before the series is done. The mysterious, swirling face is heavily implied to not be a Changeling itself, and the list of possible villains is getting slimmer. (You just know it has to be someone we've met before. My money is on Sela, as she has unfinished and it would give Denise Crosby a chance to return to the fold, but frankly it's a wild guess.) Somehow less interesting is the truth about Jack's nature, and Picard's in relation to him, as it all feels a little too contrived. Still, it looks like we'll be getting answers to these questions shortly, and not before time.

Random Thoughts:

Setting much of the episode in the debris field of the Chin'toka system is a nice touch, showing more of the fallout of the Dominion War.

Interesting that the Vulcans still have warships, though. We know from Lower Decks that they retain their own fleet, but a warship doesn't seem like their style post-Enterprise era.

Seemingly forgotten is that Lal is also within the new android, along with Data, Lore and the dormant personalities of Altan Soong and B-4. Unless, of course, this is being deliberately overlooked for a surprise development later.

Dr. Crusher is still talking like Wesley is dead, and not actually having a great time travelling time and space.

The mysterious face who likes to give orders is now named Serious Beef, thanks to a comment I made on the Star Trek Shitposting FB group being picked up. Whoever they turn out to be, I shall always think of them as Serious Beef.

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek: Picard - No Man's Land

 

 

Whetting the appetite for Picard's imminent second season, No Man's Land is a rare foray by Trek into the medium of the full-cast audio drama. Given that other franchises, most notably Doctor Who, have created huge and successful lines in audio, and that Trek audiobooks (as in readings of prose rather than actual audioplays) are an established product, it's odd that there have been so few of these over the years.

Given how well it works, No Man's Land could very well kick off a whole new direction for Trek fiction. Picard and Discovery writer, and Pocket Books author Kirsten Beyer joins with comics writer Mike Johnson to work in this new medium. At just over an hour-and-a-half long, it's nicely paced, and a good deal happens, with plenty of audio-only action and tension. First and foremost, though, this is a personal drama, focusing on character relationships, primarily the two leads. Michelle Hurd and Jeri Ryan star as Raffi Musiker and Seven of Nine respectively, picking up their screen roles and building on them. Much of this is to do with their tenuous new romance, teased at the end of the last episode of Picard's first season.

While it was good to see a same-sex romance on Trek, especially between two older women (a rarity on television still), it did seem to come out of nowhere, especially as Raffi and Seven hadn't interacted all that much on screen before then. No Man's Land redresses the balance, exploring their feelings for each other and convincingly portraying the two women as nervously falling for each other. It's no whirlwind affair; both Raffi and Seven are damaged by their previous experiences and are cautious in making new connections. Much of Raffi's personal background was hinted at on screen, and explored in more detail in the Picard novel The Last Best Hope. Seven's post-Voyager life, on the other hand, remains quite mysterious, and while the audio sketches in some details, there's plenty of room left for the TV series to explore more without worrying about contradiction.

The lack of visuals really hammers home just how different Ryan's performance is to her Voyager days. She simply doesn't sound the same after twenty-plus years, and the older, more human but even more guarded Seven is a distinctly different, yet recognisable, version of the character. Aside from exploring her reluctant attitude to relationships, the story delves into her history with the Fenris Rangers, the still virtually unknown power that has taken over some of the Romulan Empire's former sphere of influence. While they remain quite mysterious after this, the impression we get is of a loose alliance of various life forms trying to keep some sort of order in a dangerous region of space.

The plot concerns the Rangers bringing Seven back into service to help them track down a figure from her past, who, inexplicably, appears on galactic records going back centuries. A brutal Romulan warlord, one of many vying for power in the region, is stopping at nothing to discover his secret, and the Rangers are trying to prevent him gaining more power and destabilising the quadrant further. We're introduced to some fun characters in the Rangers' employ, including Deet, who comes across as quite a Star Wars-style character with his peculiar voice and language. The authors generally resist the urge to have characters over-describe what they're seeing – a common mistake in audio – which pleasantly leaves the alien characters' appearances up to the listeners imagination.

In spite of a strong performance by the remaining cast, this is solidly Seven and Raffi's story, and the plot exists to service the emotional storyline as the two women work out what it is they want from life and each other. If there's a complaint, it's that the music is sometimes intrusive, but largely the sound design works well and helps make the production recognisably Star Trek. While it's not essential listening, it's an enjoyable and satisfying story that is, fundamentally, about love.

TREK REVIEWS on Television Heaven

 The new "Best of..." feature at Television Heaven continues with two reviews of classic Trek episodes (that's classic episodes of Trek, not episodes of Classic Trek). 

"Distant Origin," my favourite Trek episode ever, is up as the Best of Star Trek: Voyager, while the heartbreaking "The Visitor" is the Best of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

While you're there, you'll find the Best of Red Dwarf, the Best of Doctor Who and, from John Winterson Richards, the Best of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There'll be more to come soon.

TREK REVIEWS: Television Heaven series reviews

I've four new reviews up on Television Heaven covering the breadth of Star Trek for your reading pleasure.The cute and underrated kids' spin-off Star Trek: The Animated Series, the flawed but watchable Star Trek: Voyager, the equally flawed Enterprise (but my do I have a soft spot for it), and bringing us right up to date, a review of Star Trek: Picard S1 as a whole, to sit alongside my episode reviews on the blog.

While we're at it, John Winterson Richard and Peter Henshuls have covered the ever popular Star Trek: The Next Generation, the connoisseur's choice, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and along with site runner Laurence Marcus, they've gone back to the beginning with a look at the original Star Trek.

More Picard speculation

TrekMovie.com has a full breakdown of the trailer here along with some speculation on what it all means.

Reflecting on all this, with more time to go over the details, it seems pretty clear that the Borg are a contemporary presence, rather than appearing only in flashback. This is reinforced by the fact that Hugh has been confirmed to be appearing. (He might be the Borg being operated on - not necessarily dissected - in the trailer, but it's not very clear).

It makes sense for there to be a link between Picard, Seven and Hugh, as they are the only recurring characters in the franchise to have escaped from the Borg. There are potentially, however, a lot more, especially considering that Voyager introduced a whole movement of drones who achieved individuality, and then ended with the destruction of a Borg transwarp hub and the Borg Queen. This was the last time we saw the Borg onscreen, except for the Enterprise episode "Regeneration," but that was set over 200 years earlier and featured Borg from Star Trek: First Contact (in either respect, from before the events of VGR: "Endgame).

We don't know the extent of the damage to the Borg following Voyager. The novel line and Star Trek: Online have explored the aftermath in completely different ways. Although the Queen died, she's died numerous times before and seems to simply be replaced by another, although the nature of her destruction in "Endgame" may have put paid to this.

In any case, there's nothing in the trailer to suggest that there are any Borg still active. The cube is being cut up and explored, and the Borg alcoves look like they might be in a Romulan facility. That said, I loved this detail, which suggests ate least some drones are being activated:

That's about sixteen years, by the way, so given the current understanding that Picard is set around 2397 to 2399, it's actually before the destruction of Romulus. Nonetheless, I'm wondering if the Romulans are trying to use Borg technology to set themselves ahead of the rest of the Alpha/Beta Quadrant powers, given that their power base in the area must be at rock bottom after their system was destroyed.

Interestingly, the IDW comic series Star Trek: Countdown, which until now has been the closest thing to a canonical look at the post-TNG period, revealed that Nero had enhanced the Narada with Borg tech, explaining how a mining ship could be so terrifyingly lethal. This had consequences in the Titan comic follow-up, but all this is outside of screen continuity and in another reality, so probably doesn't have much bearing here.

Then we have Data and/or B-4. Again, Countdown had Data as captain of the Enterprise-E after Picard's promotion to admiral, seemingly using B-4's body. This doesn't appear tenable with what we're seeing here, though. Brent Spiner's comments suggest that Data isn't fully restored, and a lot of fans have wondered if we're seeing a holodeck recreation. However, surely a holographic recreation of an AI could easily be considered an actual AI, especially if they're using Data's memories. To use a Doctor Who quote, "Different casing, same software."

A thread that was sadly not fully explored in Voyager, because it really got started just before the series ended, was the rights of holographic beings. There's no confirmation of Robert Picardo appearing as the Doctor, or indeed other versions of the EMH, but given his friendship with Seven and the AI theme that appears to be running through the trailer, I'd be unsurprised if he shows up.

So the remaining big question is Dahj, the young woman who comes to Picard for help. Based on nothing more than a hunch, I'm still convinced she's Lal, or at the very least, another android based off Soong's work. I realise she's bleeding in the trailer, but we don't know how sophisticated her appearance is now. In fact, given the research into the Borg, there's obviously a resurgence in the concept of integrating flesh and machine. Perhaps a restored Lal is a step ahead in the evolution of AI? Lal is Hindi for "beloved," although I haven't been able to find if "dahj" means anything.

Regardless of her identity, it looks like AI and cybernetic enhancement is a major theme of the series. The showrunners are obviously not worried about bringing back past characters and elements to use in Picard, and there's a lot of material from the TNG-era series for them to draw on. 

TREK REVIEW: Star Trek: Renegades

This had so much promise. Such a pity. One of the big fan productions, with higher than average productions values and several stars of the franchise appearing both as new and established characters.Unfortunately, it's really not terribly good.

The set-up is promising: it's 2388, a year after the destruction of Romulus and ten years since the starship Voyager returned to Earth. A disturbing new threat has emerged in the quadrant, but Starfleet are reluctant to to anything about it, hiding behind the Prime Directive. Whole planets are vanishing the space around them collapsing in on itself. A newly contacted alien species, based on the planet Syphon, is behind the events. Some in Starfleet suspect a conspiracy within their ranks is what is keeping the Federation from investigating this threat. In such circumstances, it's down to rebels and renegades to defend the Earth and its allies.

Renegades has been much touted as a darker, grimmer version of Trek, and it certainly delivers on that promise. We meet the central protagonist, Lexxa Singh, in a particularly brutal prison, having been left hanging out to dry by the Federation. The villainous Borada and his Syphon buddies are vicious brutes. Much is made of Starfleet's dirty tricks department, Section 31, and there are heavy hints of some nasty secrets in the Federation's past, although it's not entirely clear how much of this is true and how much is fabricated by its own enemies. There are some surprisingly violent moments that come with little warning. It's a murkier side of the Star Trek universe.

On the whole, I'm OK with that. I've spoken out against the tendency of recent movies to make grimdark adaptations of properties, but sometimes it's worthwhile having a look at the darker side of a world and seeing how far the fiction will stretch. I wouldn't want every episode of Trek to be like this, but occasionally exploring the seedier, dirtier side of a universe is worth doing. It's not entirely original, of course; perhaps it's a sign of the cynicism of our age that we can't quite believe in a utopia like the Federation anymore, and have to imagine conspiracies and dirty secrets behind the facade. At the end of the day, not everyone can be living a good, happy life in this or any universe, and these kinds of productions reflect that reality.

However, as with the most recent official Trek production, Star Trek Into Darkness, the attempt to make Renegades darker and more uncompromising is ham-fisted. As with STID, this is a poorly written script, with a plot whose twists and revelations make little narrative sense, and with poorly judged attempts at gritty reality. I can forgive the cringeworthy Syphon aliens, with their endless bleating on about the honour of the kill and macho posturing; Star Trek's been obsessed with that crap since it began to invent a culture for the Klingons back in the beginnings of TNG, and this just feels like more of the same. (Although, with both of these examples, it's clear that the writers have never once met anyone from any of the real warrior cultures that exist on Earth or bothered to investigate what such people might be like.) There's much worse examples than that, with continual posturing by the main characters, and needless moments of gratuitous unpleasantness. Oh, great, now the aliens are casually making rape threats to the women; even filtered through po-faced Trek language I'm not keen on shit like that.

It's certainly impressive that so many actors from official Trek productions have joined this cast. Most significant are Walter Koenig returning as Chekov (a longtime supporter of unofficial and fan projects), and Tim Russ as Tuvok. Both characters are well into their second century, with Chekov a prominent Starfleet Admiral, and Tuvok heading Section 31, which is a little harder to swallow. They share a fair part of their screentime, and this helps sell the significance of the plot: two recognisable characters discussing the importance of the unfolding events. Added to this we have Richard Herd returning as occasional Voyager guest character Admiral Paris, Manu Intiraymi as former Borg drone Icheb, and a star turn by Robert Picardo as Dr Zimmerman, creator of the EMH. Another returning cast member is Gary Graham, previously the Vulcan ambassador Soval in Enterprise, here playing a humanoid renegade named Ragnar.

Having so many characters from disparate parts of Star Trek come together has a risk of developing "small universe syndrome," but with a fan production like this is helped add authenticity, and makes it all feel like part of one, big narrative. Unfortunately, guesting on Star Trek does not mean an actor is actually any good at their job. Graham, in particular, should have stuck to playing Vulcans, as he seems incapable of convincingly expressing any human emotions. Admittedly, the dialogue he's given is pretty poor, but still. Many of the new faces in the cast are as bad, or even worse; there are several scenes in this film that, with the combination of poor acting and risible dialogue, are borderline unwatchable. A great deal of time is given to the crew of the Icarus, the eponymous renegades, several of whom are not capable of holding a scene together. Edward Furlong, best known for his childhood role as John Connor is Terminator 2, is the ship's technician, Fixer, and his acting skills haven't improved much over the years. There's worse acting in the film, but I expect better from the bigger names.

The best of the renegades is the aforementioned Lexxa Singh, the captain of the Icarus, and seemingly part of Khan Noonien Singh's extended family of superhuman augments. Adrienne Wilkinson is really very good in the role, a strong-willed, dangerous but principled character, and she makes a lot of the scenes watchable. Making her an augment doesn't add much to the storyline, but does give her a handy set of superpowers. In fact, the Icarus crew are essentially a superteam, boasting many powered-up individuals. Ragnar is a shapeshifter, while Icheb has had his Borg technology weaponised against his will. There's a mutant Betazoid who has no telepathic ability but displays psychokinesis, a war-damaged Bajoran and a recalcitrant Breen. It's a team that would work well in comics, a sort of Trek version of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Also very comicbook-esque is the boosting of the cast with numerous sexy alien females of various species, something I'm honest enough to admit made the film more enjoyable for me. (I don't think the Breen was a sexy female, but who can say under all that kit.)

Where the film really succeeds is in its visuals. It's well directed by Tim Russ, and has numerous pros working on the visual effects and design. The space sequences are gorgeous, both for the starships and the various planets seen. The CGI planetscapes occasionally look a little cartoonish, but since this is a consistent style, it doesn't detract from the overall effect. I particularly liked the surface of Syphon, a desolate realm that appeared inspired by the sets of Alien and its follow-ups. The make-up is also excellent, and while some have been critical of the villainous Borada and his followers, I think they worked well visually. Combining reptilian and simian looks, their design is intimidating, and while the prosthetics are a little rubbery and static, I actually don't mind that effect. It's kind of classic.

Ultimately, though, the fun ideas and impressive visuals aren't enough to save the film from the poor scripting and performances. The climax clearly sets up the possibility of sequels, and it's been well enough received by fans to make this likely, but there's a great deal of room for improvement between now and episode two.