Stardate 6047.1: Captain Carter and the Farragut receive secret sealed orders to proceed at once to the planet Cestus III, the site of a Federation outpost attacked by the Gorn. A Federation science station near the planet, which escaped the Gorn’s wrath before, is sending a distress signal; before warping in to help, Carter and his crew receive a classified briefing which explains the original Gorn attack. The science station is studying a recently discovered wormhole which allows travel not only through space, but through time as well – a strategic hotspot for anyone wishing to simply slip into the past and attack their enemies. The Farragut arrives just in time to see the Gorn fire a weapon into the wormhole, which has unintended consequences: both ships are surrounded by “bubbles” of time which are temporarily warding off massive changes to history. But when the bubbles dissipate, the Farragut will cease to exist as a result of those changes. A woman from the past appears, with a personal connection to Chief Engineer Smithfield, but Smithfield’s ancestor may have to be sent back in time to meet her doom to set history straight. Is this really her fate?
written by Michael Struck and Jack Trevino
adapted from a story by Michael Struck
directed by Michael Struck
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael
Farragut theme by HetoreynVoice Cast: John Broughton (Captain John T. Carter), Michael Bednar (Commander Robert Tacket), Holly Bednar (Lt. Commander Michelle Smithfield), Paul R. Sieber (Lt. Prescott), Tonya Bacon (Lt. Moretti), Amy McDonough (Dr. Holley), Bob McDonough (Galway)
Special Guest Voices: Chris Doohan, Hetoreyn, Jason LeBlanc, Chase Masterson, Vic Mognogna, Ralph M. Miller, Lou Scheimer
Notes: Scotty pays the Farragut a visit, voiced by Chris Doohan, the son of the late James Doohan, while the Romulan commander is voiced by Lou Scheimer, producer of the original Filmation Star Trek animated series, who did an uncredited turn as the voice of the same Romulan in the animated episode The Practical Joker in 1974.
Review: Another winner of an animated episode from the Farragut team and Neo F/X, The Needs Of The Many seems a little bit familiar – playing off of the same “restore history by sending this person back in time to their death” premise as Yesterday’s Enterprise, among others – but it’s interesting to see it play out in animation. Clocking in at almost the same running time as a standard live-action Star Trek episode, and dealing with more mature themes (and yet somehow not being heavy-handed with it), Needs would be a good show as either live action or a cartoon. (more…)
Stardate 6050.5: The Farragut is dispatched to the vicinity of an enormous gas giant, the last known location of the Federation starship U.S.S. Azrael, which was initially sent to study it. The Azrael is discovered intact, but it fires torpedoes at the Farragut with surgical precision: the ship’s ability to move and fight are damaged, but that’s all. Smithfield and her engineering crew begin repairs, while Captain Carter quizzes Prescott about the service record of the Azrael’s Captain Glenn, under whom Prescott served on a training mission. Tacket and Carter find an interesting mention in the log entries transmitted to Starfleet from the Azrael before the ship fell silent: alien devices are surrounding the gas planet and gradually sapping it of its energy. They may also be behind the behavior of the Azrael’s captain and crew…but how can Carter stop the same from happening to his own ship?
Stardate 4901.2: Investigating dilithium readings on an otherwise unremarkable planet, Captain Carter and geologist Dr. Bishop find indications of vast mineral wealth both promising and dangerous – not only is starship-powering dilithium abundant, but so is tricobalt, an ingredient for destructive weaponry. And it turns out that the planet’s mineral riches haven’t gone unnoticed by the Klingons…a fact that almost escapes Carter as he and Bishop – who were an item earlier in their Starfleet careers – enjoy a romantic moment. Not only are the Klingons killing the mood, but they might kill a Starfleet captain as well.
Stardate 4847.3: Farragut arrives in the Solon system, home to a society where scholarship and the study of history have attained a level of importance beyond anything in the Federation. The Solonai are now making diplomatic overtures toward the Federation, and Captain Carter and his crew have the honor of making first contact – despite Science Officer Tacket’s misgivings about unusual background radiation near the planet. When they go to beam down, though, Carter and his small landing party find themselves not on an alien world, but on Earth, specifically Pennsylvania, 1776, on the eve of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River. Their attempts to stay out of history’s way are thwarted when a member of the landing party is shot by a revolutionary’s musket; now, contrary to staying out of history’s way, Carter now has an audience with General Washington himself, and worries that anything he says could alter history. In orbit, Tacket and Chief Engineer Smithfield grow increasingly suspicious of the Solonai’s lack of concern about their missing landing party…and their lack of knowledge of how to get them back.
Stardate 4625.1: Captain John Carter assumes command of the Constitution Class starship U.S.S. Farragut after a tragic incident forces her previous captain into retirement. His hand-picked choices for his chief engineer and first officer are also aboard, though he’s a little bit put off by the by-the-books demeanor of the security chief he’s inherited. The Farragut is ordered to investigate the disappearance of another Federation vessel and a survey team headed by the headstrong Commodore Broughton – and what Captain Carter and his crew find waiting for them is a party of Klingons, led by Commander Kruge and guarding a secret weapon. Focusing the energy of an entire planet on its targets, the Klingons’ new weapon could threaten any world in the Federation on a planetary scale. With the Farragut searching for survivors from the destroyed ship elsewhere, it’s up to Carter and his crew to put the Klingons out of commission.