Empire Day

Star Wars: RebelsIn the capitol of Lothal, Kanan and the rest of the Ghost crew prepare to spoil the Empire Day parade, celebrating the anniversary of the formation of the Empire from the ashes of the Republic. But Ezra is distant and distracted: Empire Day is his birthday, and the day he lost his family. When the fighting starts, Ezra joins his teammates to help, and he even stumbles upon a Rodian that both the Empire and the Rebels are looking for: his old family friend, Tseebo. Fitted with a cerebral implant as part of his job in the Empire’s information division, Tseebo can access troop and ship movements, blueprints for vehicles still on the drawing board, and other information vital to the Rebels. And when his implant is disconnected and he regains his personality, he claims to know what happened to Ezra’s parents…

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Henry Gilroy
directed by Steven G. Lee
music by Kevin Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Alton Kastle / Stormtrooper Commander), David Oyelowo (Agent Kallus), David Shaughnessy (Commandant Aresko/ Stormtrooper / Taskmaster Grint), Dee Bradley Baker (Ephraim Bridger / Old Jho), Brent Spiner (Gall Trayvis), David Acord (Lead TIE Fighter Pilot / Pilot #2), Kath Soucie (Minister Maketh Tua / Mira Bridger), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor), Peter MacNicol (Tseebo)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Vision Of Hope

Star Wars: RebelsEzra experiences a powerful premonition while honing his Jedi skills between missions, a vision in which he sees Rebel sympathizer Senator Gall Trayvis on the run alongside the crew of the Ghost. Kanan warns Ezra that this Force vision lacks context, but when Trayvis’ next pirate broadcast makes it clear that he is coming to Lothal, Ezra has to know more. Contacting one of his fellow students from the Stormtrooper cadet academy, Ezra learns that a major Imperial operation is planned at the time of Trayvis’ arrival, and convinces Hera and the others to put everything on the line to save the man they know as the voice of the Rebellion. But when Trayvis finds himself in as much danger as his rescuers, will he stick to his ideals?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Henry Gilroy
directed by Steven G. Lee
music by Kevin Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Alton Kastle / Stormtrooper Commander), David Oyelowo (Agent Kallus), Brent Spiner (Gall Trayvis), Kath Soucie (Minister Maketh Tua), David Acord (Protocol Droid #2), Matthew Wood (Stormtrooper), Bryton James (Zare Leonis)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Call To Action

Star Wars: RebelsWith Gall Trayvis revealed as an Imperial collaborator, Kanan decides to borrow a strategy from the playbook of Ezra’s parents, and launch a Rebel pirate broadcast to inform everyone on Lothal and in nearby systems of the truth of Imperial rule. But rather than constructing a crude transmitter in a building, Kanan wants to hijack the Empire’s own communications array – the biggest transmitter on the planet. His move, however, is anticipated by the latest Imperial arrival to Lothal: Grand Moff Tarkin, governor of the outer rim worlds. With a ruthless attitude toward those who have repeatedly failed to capture Kanan and his crew, and cold, calculated strategic thinking, Tarkin allows Kanan to take the transmitter – and then destroys it himself, capturing Kanan in the process.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Greg Weisman and Simon Kinberg
directed by Steward Lee
music by Kevin Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Alton Kastle / Stormtrooper #1), David Oyelowo (Agent Kallus), David Shaughnessy (Commandant Aresko / Taskmaster Grint), Brent Spiner (Gall Trayvis), Stephen Stanton (Grand Moff Tarkin), Kath Soucie (Minister Maketh Tua), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor)

Notes: This episode is effectively the beginning of a three-part season finale, and introduces Tarkin to the Rebels storyline. It also sees the exit of incompetent Imperial officers Aresko and Grint, beheaded (offscreen) by the Inquisitor in one of the darkest plot developments of the series to date.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Remembrance

Star Trek: PicardStardate not given: A rising AI specialist, Dahj, is celebrating her acceptance as a research fellow at the Daystrom Institute on Earth, when a group of armed and armored men beam into her apartment. Her boyfriend is murdered, and somehow she survives the encounter, calling on self-defense skills in which she has never trained, overcoming all of her opponents. She has a momentary vision of a man’s face before she flees, and sets out to find him.

The man whose face she sees is hardly an unknown: retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard is being interviewed on the anniversary of his attempt to evacuate the population of Romulus before its sun went supernova. When a surprise attack on Mars by rogue synthetic life forms caused Starfleet to abandon the massive rescue attempt, Picard felt that the Federation was no longer living up to its ideals and resigned his Starfleet commission in protest. In the years since, he has retreated to his family’s vineyards in France, a quiet existence that is disturbed a little by an intrusive interviewer, and disturbed more when Dahj shows up unannounced. She has never met Picard, but somehow knows he will be able to help her. When hints begin to point toward Dahj being a sentient synthetic life form, and possibly even a true descendant of Data, Picard grows more protective of her. But a second attempt on Dahj’s life proves to be deadlier than the first – she is destroyed before Picard’s eyes, but not before her assassins are unmasked as Romulans.

Picard goes to visit Dr. Agnes Jurati, one of the Federation’s foremost experts on synthetic life forms and a protege of cyberneticist Bruce Maddox, even though her research is now entirely theoretical since actual development of synthetics has been banned in the wake of the Mars attack. Jurati has B4 – the last known Soong-type android – in storage, disassembled – and theorizes that someone like Dahj would have to have been created by, or from, Data…and she also reveals that synthetics were previously produced in twinned pairs. Picard decides he must find Dajh’s twin before she suffers the same fate.

Order DVDsteleplay by Akiva Goldsman and James Duff
story by Akiva Goldsman & Michael Chabon
and Kirsten Beyer & Alex Kurtzman and James Duff
directed by Hanelle L. Culpepper
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dahj / Dr. Soji Asha), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Orla Brady (Laris), David Carzell (Dahj’s Boyfriend), Merrin Dungey (Interviewer), Jamie McShane (Zhaban), Sumalee Montano (Dahj’s Mother), Maya Eshet (Index), Douglas Tait (Tellarite)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Picking up plot threads from both Star Trek: Nemesis (the death of Data) and the 2009 J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie (the supernova destruction of Romulus, which drove Nero to go back in time to change events), the first episode of Star Trek: Picard also references episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, including The Measure Of A Man (the only prior appearance of Bruce Maddox) and The Offspring (Data’s first attempt to create a daughter). In Picard’s imagined encounters with Data, the android wears both an original Next Generation uniform and the somewhat less colorful uniforms worn in Nemesis. The synthetics’ attack on Mars was shown in the Short Treks episode Children Of Mars.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Et In Arcadia Ego – Part 1

Star Trek: Picard2399: Using the knowledge of Borg transwarp conduits that Soji gained while working aboard the Artifact, La Sirena reaches Soji’s home planet in mere minutes, while the Romulan fleet going there to destroy the planet lags about a day behind at mere warp speeds. Narek, following in a Romulan fighter, tries to take down La Sirena, but the crews of both ships are caught off guard by the arrival of a Borg cube: the Artifact is now fully functional again thanks to Seven of Nine. All three ships are immediately attacked by bio-organic automated defense systems around the planet and forced to land. The Borg ship suffers severe damage as a result, but both Elnor and Seven survive. Picard and the others from La Sirena walk to the home settlement of the synths, finding a lone human there: Altan Soong, son of Data’s creator, Noonian Soong, and former secret collaborator of Bruce Maddox. It is Soong who created Dahj and Soji, and has created an entire community of other synthetic twins, one of which has learned how to mind meld, and does so with Jurati. But this reveals that the Admonition is an offer of help from a union of synthetics beyond the Federation’s home galaxy – an offer of help that also means the eradication of organic life. Worse yet, knowing that a fleet of over 200 Romulan ships draws near, the synths decide to accept that offer and send out a distress signal.

Order DVDsteleplay by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman
story by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman & Akiva Goldsman
directed by Akiva Goldsman
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Brent Spiner (Altan Inigo Soong), Peyton List (Narissa), Brian DeRozan (Romulan Officer), Matt Perfetuo (Rune), Mike Perfetuo (Codex), Jade Ramsey (Arcana), Nikita Ramsey (Saga), Zachary James Rukavina (XB/Nameless), and Spot II

Star Trek: PicardNotes: The episode’s namesake is a 1638 painting by Nicolas Poussin, now held in the Louvre, and is generally understood to mean that even in a utopia or other ideal place, death still exists. The clothes worn by some of the synthetic life forms created by Soong and Maddox are strongly reminiscent of fashions from 1960s Star Trek, including the barely-there outfits worn by such past synthetic life forms as Rayna (Requiem For Methuselah, 1969) and Andrea (What Are Little Girls Made Of?, 1966), suggesting a connection between those androids and the work of the Soong family (and suggesting that classic series costume designer William Ware Theiss Star Trek: Picardcasts a vast shadow across the entire franchise). It is worth noting, in light of the Romulans’ aversion to artificial life (and their apparent contact with sympathetic members of Starfleet), that every developer of artificial life in Star Trek lore, from Dr. Roger Korby to Flint to Noonian Soong, has worked on their creations in seclusion. Alluded to in previous episodes but never named, Picard’s terminal brain-related ailment is hinted to be the irumodic syndrome detected by Dr. Crusher in All Good Things… (1994), though the third season contradicts this by saying that Picard never developed that condition in this timeline.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Et In Arcadia Ego – Part 2

Star Trek: Picard2399: The synthetics have taken Picard prisoner as they build a beacon that will summon a league of powerful synthetics from beyond the galaxy. Agnes Jurati has been granted amnesty by Alton Soong and his creations, but is aware that Soong is trying to manipulate her. Narek slips into the Borg cube to retrieve grenades so he can ground the synths’ small defensive fleet, but is followed by Elnor. Narek surrenders himself to Raffi and Rios, offering to help them return to the synths’ settlement and destroy the beacon…but Elnor doesn’t trust his fellow Romulan to live up to his word. While they put that plan in motion, Jurati helps Picard escape, and they make their way back to La Sirena and take off, while Picard desperately tries to think of a plan to stall the Romulan fleet in the hope – but with absolutely no certainty – that Starfleet is on its way to protect the synths and fend of the Romulans. Even if Starfleet does arrive, whatever emerges from the portal generated by the beacon may be more powerful than both fleets…and Picard’s condition is worsening, limiting his ability to play a key role in preventing an all-out war.

Order DVDsteleplay by Michael Chabon
story by Michael Chabon & Akiva Goldsman
directed by Akiva Goldsman
music by Jeff Russo
Blue Skies performed by Isa Briones

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Brent Spiner (Altan Inigo Soong), Peyton List (Narissa), Tamlyn Tomita (Commodore Oh), Kay Bess (La Sirena Computer), Brian DeRozan (Romulan Officer), Matt Perfetuo (Rune), Mike Perfetuo (Codex), Jade Ramsey (Arcana), Nikita Ramsey (Saga)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Fly Me To The Moon

Star Trek: PicardThe Borg Queen tries to summon a contemporary human whose body she can assimilate. Jurati shoots the Queen with a period firearm from the Picard estate, but then makes the mistake of allowing the Queen to slip into her mind. The watcher transports Picard back to her base of operations, an unassuming 21st century apartment, and introduces herself as Tallinn, a bit of a letdown to Picard since other than her ears, she looks just like Laris. She is a Supervisor, charged with safeguarding one critical person in Earth’s history, in this case Picard’s ancestor, astronaut Renee Picard, who is slated to be aboard the first crewed mission to Europa. That flight, to a moon of Jupiter conisdered a promising candidate for harboring life, will change history, and together, Tallinn and Picard discover that Q is pulling the strings, trying to get Renee dropped from the mission roster. Q is also meddling in the affairs of geneticist Adam Soong, whose funding has been cut due to fears that his research borders on eugenics, and that he is trying to weaponize genetic manipulation; this makes Soong vulnerable to blackmail, as he is also trying to cure his daughter, Kore, of a genetic condition he hasn’t been able to isolate. Meddling is an understatement when it comes to describing Seven and Raffi’s rescue of Rios from ICE. Meddling barely even begins to describe Picard’s plan to infiltrate an invitation-only gala event for the Europa mission’s crew to ensure Renee’s safety. The plan hinges on Jurati’s skills…but Jurati has a passenger in her mind whose help will come at a cost.

Order DVDswritten by Cindy Appel
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Orla Brady (Tallinn), Isa Briones (Kore Soong), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Brent Spiner (Adam Soong), John de Lancie (Q), Annie Wersching (Borg Queen), Penelope Mitchell (Renee Picard), Lea Thompson (Dr. Diane Werner), Leif Gantvoort (ICE Officer #1), Jackie Geary (Mona), Ivo Nandi (LeClerc), Kay Bess (La Sirena Computer), Oscar Camacho (Pedro), Michelle Haro (Guard #1), Shaw Jones (Guard #2), Daniel Mooney (Young Man), Zach Sowers (Security Guard #1), Kareem Stroud (Security Guard #2)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Tailinn’s transporter “vault” technology is the same kind previously seen in use by Gary Seven (Assignment: Earth, 1968), and Picard is aware of Kirk’s crew’s interaction with him. This is but the first time that the writers of Star Trek: Picard associate the interval of seventeen seconds with fatherhood. After directing the previous two episodes, veteran cinematic time traveler Lea Thompson gets an on-screen cameo as the chairperson ot the committee ending Soong’s funding.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Two Of One

Star Trek: PicardPicard and his crew try to stay inconspicuous and keep eyes on Renee, while Jurati finds herself in a constant negotiation for control of her own mind and body with the Borg Queen. Picard is startled to see another familiar face at the gala, one who knows at least something about who he really is: Adam Soong. Soong tries to give him a warning, and then tries to turn the tables on Picard, but before things can go any further, Jurati provides a distraction, the endorphin bump from which allows the Queen to take over completely. Picard finds Renee and tries to give her a pep talk designed to keep her from backing out of the Europa mission, unaware that Soong is there to force that decision by targeting Renee for a hit-and-run “accident”. Picard pushes her out of the way and he becomes the victim of the hit-and-run instead. Rios calls on Dr. Ramirez, whose clinic he was admitted to earlier, to try to save Picard’s life, but even with his vital signs stabilized, he remains in a coma with an unusually high amount of brain activity. Tallinn thinks she can gain access to his subconscious and bring him out of it, but while Picard’s crew is occupied with his immediate fate, Renee is not protected – and Jurati, with the Borg Queen now fully in control, is at large in Los Angeles.

Order DVDswritten by Cindy Appel & Jane Maggs
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Orla Brady (Tallinn), Isa Briones (Kore Soong), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Brent Spiner (Adam Soong), John de Lancie (Q), Annie Wersching (Borg Queen), Penelope Mitchell (Renee Picard), Sol Rodriguez (Dr. Teresa Ramirez), Alexandre Chen (Cute Waiter), Ren Hanami (Director Lee), Michelle Haro (Guard #1), Shaw Jones (Guard #2), Richard Leacock (Commander Musa), Zach Sowers (Security Guard #1), Kareem Stroud (Security Guard #2)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: The OV-165 shuttle identified by Renee Picard can also be seen in the opening credits of every episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. The song “Shadows Of The Night”, made famous by Pat Benatar’s 1982 recording, actually dated back to being written for the soundtrack of the 1980 Tim Curry film Times Square, though the song was left out of the movie and thus dropped from the soundtrack. Other artists recorded the song before Benatar’s version, which made it to #3 and won her a Grammy Award. Amusingly, either Jurati/the Queen selected a song that was already on the band’s setlist, or the band was unusually well-prepared in the event of an impromptu performance of “Shadows Of The Night”. Alison Pill did do her own singing, which appears on the season two soundtrack.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Mercy

Star Trek: PicardIn FBI custody, Picard and Guinan begin to suspect that Agent Wells, their captor, may be acting without authorization. But whether he’s unhinged or not, Wells is also aware that Picard and a group of other uninvited guests were present at the Europa mission gala. Wells has Guinan taken to another room while he interrogates Picard. Guinan gets a visitor as well – Q finally appears, annoyed to find her on Earth in this time period. Raffi and Seven find Jurati, but everything points toward the Borg Queen being in complete control, until Jurati passes up an opportunity to kill Raffi. Having exposed Dr. Ramirez and her son to the truth, Rios finds that he can’t control anything on his ship, thanks to Borg encryption forced into his system by Jurati before she left. A message left for her by Q tells Kore everything about her past and her father’s history of genetic experimentation – and Q offers her the ability to step into the outside world. Picard turns the tables on Wells, asking why it’s so important for him to prove the existence of aliens in 2024, and the results dredged up from Wells’ childhood memories prove fascinating. Jurati, needing advanced electronic components to give her the ability to assimilate, finds an appropriately unethical ally in Adam Soong.

Order DVDswritten by Cindy Appel & Kirsten Beyer
directed by Joe Menendez
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Orla Brady (Tallinn), Isa Briones (Kore Soong), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Brent Spiner (Adam Soong), John de Lancie (Q), Sol Rodriguez (Dr. Teresa Ramirez), Ito Aghayere (Guinan), Jay Karnes (Agent Wells), Kay Bess (La Sirena Computer), Jackson Garner (Young Wells), Steve Gutierrez (Ricardo), Nanrisa Lee (FBI Agent), Charles Maceo (Merc One), Eduardo Roman (Vulcan #1), Chuti Tiu (Vulcan #2), Oscar Torre (Bartender), Cyrus Zoghi (Red Bearded Guy)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Seven’s memories of being assimilated at a young age were explored in more detail in numerous episodes of Star Trek: Voyager (The Raven, 1997; Dark Frontier Part I and Part II, 1999). Voyager fans who had spent the week since Monsters speculating that Jay Karnes’ Picard and Voyager characters were related were in for a letdown, but Agent Wells’ flashbacks to meeting Vulcans at a young age may (or, just as easily since they apparently had a ship with working transporters, may not) have had some connection to the Vulcans left behind on Earth to live in Carbon Creek (2002).

LogBook entry by Earl Green