Vic
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Volante Design stands ready to help Star Trek fans gear up for missions through time and space, as their Starfleet 2364 jackets for men and women will ship next month. The signature style inspired by Star Trek: The Next Generation's uniforms is transformed into streetwear: recognizable as TNG-inspired, practical and wearable, as well as available in Command Red, Operations Gold and Sciences Blue.
Constructed of heavy-duty denim with rugged reinforced topstitching, each jacket also features an asymmetrical zipper, two snap-closure external pockets, and an internal pocket.
Visit www.volantedesign.us for sizing details and to pre-order the Starfleet 2364 jacket.
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It's that time again, the day when StarTrek.com reveals our annual holiday gift guide. So, if your sensors are on in search of the perfect Trek-themed presents for your loved ones and/or friends, you've come to the right place, as we've scoured the galaxy for sweet deals in the Star Trek Shop, at Amazon.com and all across the Internet.
Here goes, and may they help get your holidays off to a great start...
Star Trek: Discovery: Season One is on Blu-ray and DVD from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution. The four-disc Blu-ray and DVD collections, available to U.S. and Canadian fans, features all 15 first-season episodes of the CBS All Access series, as well as featurettes and other special features that include cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and deleted and extended scenes. Go to Amazon.com to purchase.
Get ready for the holiday season with the Star Trek Trek The Halls Holiday Sweater. This cozy "ugly" sweater is perfect to wear to your office parties, family parties, or hey, just wear it around your house. Get your sweater at the StarTrek.com Shop for $64.99.
Pick up a bottle of James T. Kirk Straight Bourbon or Ten-Forward Vodka as a stocking stuffer for friends and family who've always craved a taste of Trek. Feeling like you need a little something extra? Pick up a bottle of this ultra small batch of James T. Kirk Reserve Straight Bourbon, that comes in a limited edition box with a collectible U.S.S. Enterprise gold stopper. Each of these can be purchased from www.SilverScreenBottling.com.
Serve the perfect Star Trek-themed dinner, maybe it's some Bajoran dish with plentiful hasperat, perhaps a heap of gagh or a bowl of plomeek soup, and ending the meal with I'danian spice pudding and tea, Earl Grey, hot, of course. Well, now all that good eating and drinking can be served on the Star Trek 4-Piece Dinner Set, available now exclusively from ThinkGeek.com for $39.99.
Star Trek: The Art of John Eaves
Star Trek: The Art of John Eaves is written by Joe Nazarro, a veteran author who most recently wrote Star Trek Beyond - the Makeup Artistry of Joel Harlow. The new book represents the most-extensive collection of designs and illustrations created by Eaves for the Star Trek universe. Featuring fascinating pencil sketches and stunning concept art, this visually dynamic book will give fans a unique in-depth look into Eaves’ creative vision and the wealth of his remarkable work at the center of the venerable franchise. You can purchase Star Trek: The Art of John Eaves on Amazon.com for $25.44.
Think you’ve seen every episode of Star Trek: The Original Series and know everything about them? Think again. Star Trek: Lost Scenes, due out in August from Titan Books, is written by Trek experts – and frequent StarTrek.com guest bloggers – David Tilotta and Curt McAloney, and packed with hundreds of carefully curated, never-before-seen color photos. All images have been professionally restored to their original, vibrant colors and are used to chronicle the making of the series, reassemble deleted scenes that were left on the cutting-room floor, and showcase bloopers from the first pilot through the last episode. Pick up your copy from Amazon.com for $25.44.
One of Sulu’s signature moments comes to life as ThinkGeek and The Wand Company demo-ed their joint product, the Star Trek Phaser-Controlled Rock Mood Light. Inspired by the effects seen in the TOS episode “The Enemy Within,” the glowing, colorful product features a hand-painted rock and a replica first-season Type-1 Phaser, which fans can use to recreate Sulu’s Alfa 177 planetary experience, where he fired his phaser to heat a rock to survive the freezing conditions. You can get in the mood for $99.99 from ThinkGeek.com.
Whether you're looking for a tie, set of cufflinks or accessories to show your Trek pride, Cufflinks.com offers fans a subtle way to accessorize your outfit. Prices range from $36 to $127 - head over to Cufflinks.com to checkout your gifting options.
New Zealand Silver Trek Miniatures
3D master sculptor Alejandro Pereira Ezcurra designed the Kirk and Spock miniatures, both available now in a limited worldwide production of only 1,000 casts from New Zealand Mint. Produced from a minimum of 150g pure silver, it stands approx 10cm tall, is finished with an antique polish, and features a unique production number stamped into the base. Head to www.NewZealndMint.com to pick yours up, each available for $550.
For more ideas on what to get the Star Trek fan in your life, head to the StarTrek.com Shop.
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Which Captain do you think would host the best Thanksgiving for their crew? That's the fowl question we posed to StarTrek.com readers for this week's poll. Fans could choose from Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, Georgiou, Lorca and Pike. Thousands of fans stuffed our box, and here are the results...
Sisko (40%)
Janeway (20%)
Picard (19%)
Kirk (10%)
Archer (9%)
Georgiou (1%, 56 votes)
Lorca (1%, 56 votes)
Pike (1%, 53 votes)
Be sure to vote in this week's poll...
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Captains, welcome to the Age of Discovery on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This is a landmark event for Star Trek Online as it marks the first time that the game has run in parallel with a live Trek television show. We are already experiencing fantastic new synergies collaborating closely with CBS and the Star Trek: Discovery writers. Captains will experience this right away in a reimagined Federation starting experience working alongside Cadet Sylvia Tilly (voiced by Discovery's Mary Wiseman) as players set out on epic, multi-release adventures.
In AoD’s maiden voyage, players will journey to iconic locations from Discovery, exploring the depths of the Dilithium Mines of Corvan II, boarding the new experimental Crossfield class starship, the U.S.S. Glenn, and defending Starbase 1 from a fearsome attack by the Klingon House of D’Ghor. Captains will also come face to face with the vicious J'Ula, matriarch of the House of Mo'Kai and sister of T'Kuvma, who will stop at nothing to reunite the Klingon Empire.
This, however, is just the beginning in Age of Discovery. Multiplayer missions, formerly known as “Queues,” have been expanded and rebranded as Task Force Operations (TFO). This change is certainly not in name only. Throughout AoD, we will be introducing exciting new TFOs that advance the narrative, while remastering and recreating others. This kicks off with the all-new TFO, Defense of Starbase 1, followed shortly thereafter by our first Featured Task Force Operation – Battle at the Binary Stars. In this new three-week event, players will have an opportunity to earn exclusive rewards fighting side-by-side with fellow captains in one of the most-important battles in Federation history.
Additionally, Task Force Operations introduce a fresh engagement feature, which offers captains big bonus payouts for supporting other players by joining Random TFOs. This Random TFO feature further ensures that all captains will easily find groups to experience the game’s diverse TFO content. Is there is particular TFO that you have never played or have trouble finding groups for? We've got you covered here as well. Select the Task Force Operation that you want to play and it will be quickly filled by other players seeking out the Random TFO bonuses. Stay tuned, as there is much more in the works for this evolving feature.
We’ve also completely overhauled the Mission Journal. Careful handling has gone into this undertaking, ensuring that our very best stories are presented to players early in the leveling experience. Some episodes have or will be undergoing a remastering process while others have become optional. Another big change here is the removal of level requirements. With the exception of certain pivotal episodes (for training and continuity purposes), players will no longer be level gated in the experience. Captains will also notice that many previously gated Task Force Operations are now unlocked while leveling. This gives newer players greater access to play with friends, get a taste of the end game experience and a huge head start on Reputation Marks.
And speaking of Reputations, this system has been expanded in Age of Discovery as well. All current reputations have been raised to Tier 6. There are fantastic rewards to be found here including, improved reputation traits, damage improvements for reputation weaponry, Fleet Ship Modules, vanity materials, account-wide reputation gear discounts and much more.
In short, building this first installment in Age of Discovery and working with Mary Wiseman has been an amazing experience for our development team. Additionally, we want to thank you for all the great feedback and continued support. While we have many more stories and features planned in the coming months, we are thrilled to be launching Age of Discovery: Part 1. Thank you again, and we look forward to seeing you in game very soon.
Andre Emerson
Executive Producer
Star Trek Online
Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game that allows players to explore the Star Trek universe from within. Players can forge their own destiny as Captain of a Federation starship, champion the Empire through the far reaches of the galaxy as a Klingon Warrior, rebuild the Romulan legacy as the commander of a Romulan Republic Warbird or carry out daring missions on behalf of the Dominion as a Jem’Hadar soldier. Captains can also explore iconic locations from the Star Trek universe, make contact with new alien species and battle alongside other players in customizable starships. Star Trek Online is currently available on PC, PlayStation4 and Xbox One.
To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com.
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Captain Saru; we love the sound of that, and it'll be a reality in February, 2019, when IDW Publishing releases Star Trek: Discovery: Captain Saru, a special one-shot comic book featuring the talents of writers Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson and artists Angel Hernandez and Paul Shipper. Hernandez handles the inside art, while Shipper has created the cover... which StarTrek.com is pleased to share an exclusive first look at today.
Captain Saru is an all-new Discovery adventure that ties directly into season one of the CBS All Access show. In it, soon after the events on Qo'noS, the Discovery receives an urgent distress call from someone from Tilly’s past. It’s up to Saru to lead the crew against this amazing alien threat in his first mission as acting captain.
Star Trek: Discovery: Captain Saru will run 48 pages.
For additional details, contact your local comic book retailer or visit www.comicshoplocator.com to find a store near you. And keep an eye on StarTrek.com for additional details about the IDW's upcoming Star Trek adventures, as well as exclusive first looks at covers and preview pages.
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The final frontier is not for the faint of heart. The dangers inherent in exploring strange new worlds are not limited to hostile alien species and uncharted planets. Radiation, unknown pathogens – not to mention phaser burns and blasts – these are just a few of the medical risks to which Starfleet crewmembers are exposed on a near-constant basis across the entire Star Trek franchise. Fortunately for our intrepid starship crews, their health has been left in the hands of the best experts available: the ship’s Chief Medical Officer. From series to series, each doctor has taken a unique approach to treating those under their care, including often non-compliant commanding officers and the occasional injured alien, all while upholding their own Hippocratic Prime Directive: First Do No Harm.
Naturally, Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley) of Star Trek: The Original Series set the standard for future CMOs, despite the fact that he did not attend Starfleet Academy. Though he frequently demonstrated a certain abrasiveness in his demeanor, he is often referred to by fans as the soul of the TOS trio. His no-nonsense, sometimes gruff bedside manner belied a deep compassion for all those around him – a common trait among his successors on the subsequent series. Indeed, in a post-scarcity future, what other reason could there be for pursuing a career in medicine, if not to help and heal others? However, his compassion was well tempered with a pragmatic streak.
Mistrustful of technology and realistic about his own abilities, Dr. McCoy was quick with an honest take on the odds of success when attempting unpracticed medical procedures and unstudied alien physiology. Luckily for those onboard the Enterprise, his endeavors were successful more often than not, perhaps in part by his deep respect for all life and his willingness to get his hands dirty. Though still in contact with Starfleet Command, the TOS crew was often at odds with the uncharted regions of space in which they found themselves… And who better to patch them up after a skirmish than an old country doctor who shares their captain’s disregard for convention?
If Dr. McCoy is the archetypal father of medicine in the Federation, then Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) is surely the mother. With a warm and nurturing personality, it’s easy to relegate Dr. Crusher to a purely maternal figure, but that would be doing her a disservice. She is a patient advocate and her ethics are sacrosanct, possibly even more so than her contemporaries. Unafraid to stand her ground – even when those in command disagree with her moral viewpoint – she repeatedly demonstrates an extraordinary bravery, placing the rights and well-being of her patients above her devotion to science, and even Starfleet. Dr. Crusher, as the first woman CMO, gave the Star Trek: The Next Generation writers a voice to a counter balance to Captain Picard’s philosophical musings, while blending Dr. McCoy’s compassion with gentility and a more modern approach to medical treatment.
And then there’s Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig). In keeping with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s exploration of character’s internal motivation and personal journeys, Dr. Bashir is perhaps the first real departure from TOS-style character development. Fresh out of Starfleet Medical, he is young, ambitious, and optimistic to the point of bordering on naïvete, as well as a brilliant physician and surgeon. He is, however, not without flaws -- despite the best efforts of his parents to ensure his professional success by illegal genetic augmentation. His brilliance comes with a price: arrogance. This unlikely trait is rooted in that common thread among Starfleet doctors, compassion and a desire to preserve life. Like his predecessors, Dr. Bashir holds all life sacred, even that of the Federation’s enemies. His earnest drive to save all those he encounters sometimes blinds him to the reality of the situations in which he finds himself; he assumes that if he can not cure someone, then it is not possible at all. Even so, he usually refuses to believe that any case is hopeless. By juxtaposing his optimism with his presumption, Dr. Bashir is given a complexity and depth of character that make him more relatable to the audience. Like so many of us, his good intentions sometimes get the best of him. As such, he is able to reflect the internal conflicts that exist in day-to-day life, not just the realm of science-fiction.
Alternatively, what could be more science-fiction than an artificial intelligence? Star Trek: Voyager’s Emergency Medical Holographic program, also known as the EMH or simply the Doctor (Robert Picardo), is a highly sophisticated, adaptable simulation of a medical professional, but a simulation nonetheless. Programmed with a veritable encyclopedia of alien and human medicine, the Doctor has plenty of practical knowledge – maybe more than any of his biological counterparts, in fact – but he does not have the benefit of a personal history, a fact which impedes his early attempts to treat and even exist among Voyager’s crew. However, though he was meant as only a supplement to the ship’s medical team, being lost in the Delta Quadrant and isolated from outside aid and unable to resupply regularly, the Doctor soon finds that his adaptive programming can be an advantage.
In fact, despite being a computer program, he seems to have an almost innate aptitude for innovation, combining known medical treatments with new techniques of his own devising. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all, and a need to provide care for patients with extremely limited resources is certainly going to require some creative thinking. While sometimes used as comic relief by Voyager’s writers, the Doctor displays a beautiful capacity for personal growth and imagination, two traits that served him well as the ship’s only real source of medical care.
Star Trek: Enterprise offered viewers their first alien CMO, Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley). A Denobulan physician assigned to the Enterprise by the Interspecies Medical Exchange, Dr. Phlox is open-minded and non-judgmental, which, when combined with the soothing cadence of his speech patterns, makes for an excellent bedside manner. Like Dr. McCoy, he does not shy away from the reality of difficult situations. He is able to be professionally detached when needed, but this peaceful alien doctor is hardly uncaring. He is also an expert pharmacologist and though his menagerie in sickbay may be unorthodox, his broad knowledge and unconventional methods allow him to provide exemplary care for the Enterprise crew.
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Regrettably, Star Trek: Discovery’s Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) died before we really had the opportunity to see how he measured up compared to his predecessors in terms of his personal medical philosophies and practices. Of course, anything is possible in the world of Star Trek; maybe we will yet have the chance to see him saving lives in deep space.
Since its inception, Star Trek has portrayed a vision of what the future of humanity could be if we only embraced that most lofty of ideals, compassion – and nowhere is this trait displayed more clearly than in the CMOs. From the progenitor of Starfleet medics, Dr. McCoy, each character has orbited a common theme: respect for life and the desire to heal. While each doctor has different strengths that inform the way they approach medicine, their shared perspective when it comes to relieving the suffering of others both anchors them and elevates them. Bravery, determination, inventiveness – these are the true tools of Starfleet CMOs and they represent the best that humanity can be.
Vean Chevalier is a trained psychologist and biologist who currently works as a zookeeper and specializes in observable behavior. She has been an avid Trekkie for more than 30 years.
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If at first you don’t succeed, die, die again. Sam Vartholomeos debuted as Ensign Connor Danby in the very first Star Trek: Discovery episode, “The Vulcan Hello,” and fans seemed to take immediately to the young, personable, brave bridge crew member with a bright future ahead of him. And, wham, he perished in the next episode, “Battle at the Binary Stars,” forcefully establishing that viewers should expect the unexpected when it comes to Discovery. Then, true to the notion that no one ever really dies in sci-fi, and especially Star Trek, Vartholomeos returned as his character’s ruthless, ambitious Mirror Universe counterpart, Captain Danby, in “Despite Yourself.” That resurrection was short-lived, however, as Michael Burnham killed him during a brutal, mamo-a-mano fight in a turbolift.
Star Trek: Discovery: Season One arrives today on Blu-ray and DVD, and this conversation with Vartholomeos – conducted in August at Star Trek Las Vegas – closes out our series of cast interviews building up to the Blu-ray’s release. Here’s what easygoing actor had to say his time on Discovery…
You were at STLV last year, but were in and out in order to be on a panel. This time around, you’re meeting the fans, doing the photo shoots, signing autographs. What has the full-on convention experience been like?
Actually getting to meet everyone is really special because everyone has a story that they want to tell. Being here the whole time is nice, to, because you don't have to rush anyone, and they don't feel rushed. So, you get to be a little personal with them. I just took a little break, and I was walking around, and people were stopping me. I had no idea that Connor resonated with so many people, because he was there for just a hot second. But, people loved the fight. They absolutely loved the fight. I did, too, so I'm happy they did. But it's just so surreal, man, and humbling at the same time.
Did you know as soon as you signed on that Danby would be dead by episode two?I was in L.A. for a screen test in another show, and I made it a trip. I was there for about 10 days, maybe two weeks. I went, and I met all the writers. They sat me down, and they were like, "Oh, you know, we're so happy to have you, and Connor is going to be great. Too bad he dies." And I said, "What?" I said, "Excuse me?" I knew he was a recurring character, but I didn't know he died. I remember getting a script and Connor literally had one line in the entire first episode, and getting the second script after that trip, and him being all over the place. That was great. I think they wanted Connor to be a little more significant character in the episodes, and I think they accomplished that, because people are coming up to me, saying, "We saw you here last year. We thought he'd be a great character. We loved you in the episodes, and then bam! Episode two, you're dead." People are like, "We were so happy to have you back and see you in the Mirror Universe, and then boom! You were torn from us… again." I keep telling people third time's the charm. We'll see. You're never really dead in Star Trek.
Exactly, dead is never dead. But how odd was it die again, the second time as Mirror Connor… Captain Danby?
How can I put this? They're tricky, these writers. In all great shows, they make you fall in love with these people, and then they tear them away from you. That's what they did with Connor, successfully. There were rumors during the pilot, because obviously people knew I was dying, and the crew was coming up to me and saying, "Oh, you know, Mirror Universe, you never know." I was like, "Yeah, yeah, OK." Rumors in this industry are just that, rumors.
Until they’re not…I didn't really keep my hopes up. Once I saw that the Mirror Universe was confirmed, I was like, “Oh, is this actually happening?” Then, yeah, it was. I got a call from my agent, and he said, “They're bringing you back.” I said, "That's pretty cool." I thought it would just be that, Mirror Universe Connor, Evil Ensign Connor. I walked into Gersha Phillips’ wardrobe department and I saw black everywhere. “What's going on here?” Then I saw the rendering of my uniform, and it's all these plates and gold. I'm like, "Is this what a Mirror ensign looks like?" They're like, "No, you're a captain." I just had this moment of... “What? I'm a what? How did he go from ensign to captain in the Mirror Universe?” It was pretty crazy.
What was it like to put on that uniform?It was cool and… stiff. That's what I'll say. I had the gloves and everything. One thing I'll say about Gersha Phillips, she makes it really easy to get into character with those costumes. I think everyone on this show can agree with that, because you get into the Starfleet uniform, and you feel like you're part of Starfleet. You get into a Mirror Universe uniform, and you're like, "I want to kill someone." You have your knife, your phaser, and all these things that no one in Starfleet would carry on them in the ship, and you just feel like a badass, man. You have these badges, and Mario, our prop master was explaining, “This one mean 50-plus kills, and this is for strangling someone. This is for drowning someone.” I said, "OK, Captain Connor is a badass dude." You're just immediately in that position of “I'm going to kill you.”
Take us through staging that great fight sequence with Sonequa Martin-Green…
There was a lot of action in that scene. It was what, a full 45 seconds, and everything in a confined space. That took a whole day. I think I was there for about maybe 10 days for that episode. I got in, and Sonequa was still shooting her stuff. I met with Hubert Boorder, our fight coordinator, and he walked me through everything. I learned it with my stunt double, actually, and that was it. We worked on it one day, and he would send me videos of what we rehearsed, and I would watch that and rehearse it in my room. I got in for rehearsal with Sonequa just one day, I think during a lunch break. I remember it being a very short period of time. A few days later, we were like, “All right, let's do this,” and we got in there. People were asking, "Did they chop it in half? Did they open it up?" No, that was on the actual set. There were two doors, so they got those two shots, and they got an aerial shot from above for that crazy zero-gravity moment. Then, Tony, our camera operator, came in with us to get through that left hook and any dialogue that we had inside. That was special, because in that confined space, that space became 10 times smaller. And so that's when the infamous kick to the... what do you want to call it?
Shall we go with… groin?
Just because it was a confined space, and we had moved everything, and we had rehearsed it with me being this far away from you and you being that far away from me. Then, all of a sudden, we're closer. So, Sonequa got me. We took a break, and she was like, "I'm so sorry." I said, “It's OK. It will be fine." Just hearing Jonathan Frakes go insane with enthusiasm, that was really special. The whole scene, it was a physical and emotional roller coaster for me, because it was my sayonara to everyone.
Star Trek: Discovery on Blu-ray
Star Trek: Discovery: Season One is available today on Blu-ray and DVD from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution. The four-disc Blu-ray and DVD collections, available to U.S. and Canadian fans, features all 15 first-season episodes of the CBS All Access series, as well as featurettes and other special features that will include cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and deleted and extended scenes.Fans in the U.S. and Canada can order it on Amazon.com now.
Star Trek: Discovery's second season will premiere on Thursday, January 17, 2019, in the U.S. and Canada, and in the rest of the world on Friday, January 18, 2019.
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The Enterprise is burning, brought down by the united forces of the Klingons and Decepticons. Captain Kirk and Optimus Prime have a plan to strike back, but can they bring their scattered Starfleet crew and Autobots together before Megatron wipes them out? The no-holds-barred Saturday morning mash-up -- featuring Trek characters from The Animated Series -- continues with Star Trek vs. Transformers #2, due out tomorrow from IDW Publishing. And StarTrek.com has a look at the cover and preview pages - check them out below:
Star Trek vs. Transformers #2 (of 4) is written by John Barber (Optimus Prime, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Transformers: Bumblebee Movie Prequel) and Trek veteran Mike Johnson, with Philip Murphy on both art and cover duties. Fans also should be on the lookout for a B cover by Marcelo Ferreira, as well as another variant cover by Eisner Award-winning artist Derek Charm.
The comic runs 32 pages and costs $3.99.
For additional details, contact your local comic book retailer or visit www.comicshoplocator.com to find a store near you. And keep an eye on StarTrek.com for additional details about the IDW's upcoming Star Trek adventures, as well as exclusive First Looks at covers and preview pages.
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Hello, StarTrek.com readers:
Long before Captain Kirk beamed down to his first Class M planet, the recently retired Kepler space telescope discovered over 2,000 exoplanets. On my newest Planetary Post, I pay tribute to this spectacular NASA success, using words from its namesake, Johannes Kepler.
To learn more about the Planetary Society, go to planetary.org. And just tell them The Doctor sent you!
Robert Picardo
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It was far from a close shave. StarTrek.com, for our latest weekly poll, asked... In honor of "Movember," which character had the best facial hair? Readers could choose from Ash Tyler, Benjamin Sisko, Dr. Culber, Dr. McCoy, Mirror Spock, William Riker, Worf and Young Spock. Thousands of fans voted, and here are the results:
William Riker (49%)
Mirror Spock (20%)
Benjamin Sisko (14%)
Worf (9%)
Dr. McCoy (4%)
Ash Tyler (2%)
Young Spock (1%, 75 votes)
Dr. Culber (1%, 68 votes)
Be sure to vote in this week's poll...
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Star Trek has been the host to many love affairs, marriages and relationships. Kirk shared too many to mention, Spock too few, and Scotty a singular love of the U.S.S. Enterprise (and a good scotch). We saw Picard fall for Vash, Riker and Troi spend years winding their way to marriage, Keiko and O’Brien experience and their ups and downs, and Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres figure it out in the Delta Quadrant. But no relationship was quite as feisty, passionate and unique as that of Commander Worf and Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax. Immediately attracted to each other, Jadzia used her hard-earned knowledge of the Klingon ways to break down the implacable Worf, and soon they were embarking upon an ever-growing relationship that led to the seventh episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s penultimate season, “You Are Cordially Invited...”
The episode launched with a traditional Captain’s Log:
“Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 51247.5. It's been a week since our return to Deep Space 9, but the mood of celebration continues. We're still at war, and the station has been designated headquarters for the Ninth Fleet. That, plus our strategic position guarding the wormhole, makes DS9 one of the most tempting targets in the entire Quadrant. But for now at least, the war seems very far away."
As the Federation returned to DS9, life aboard the station attempted to regain some semblance of normality. Sisko was pleased to be back, working once again with Major Kira and General Martok, freshly appointed as the Supreme Commander of the Ninth Fleet (and all the paperwork that comes with it).
Meanwhile, Commanders Worf and Jadzia Dax continued to prepare for their long-awaited wedding. Dax agreed to undergo the traditional evaluation by the mistress of the house she was due to join. General Martok’s wife, Sirella, made it clear, much to Jadzia’s surprise, that she fell far short of her expectations and would fail to find favor with the matriarch. Worf attempted to intercede, asking Martok to help, but the General refused, instead agreeing to take part in the Kal'Hyah, a Klingon bachelor party. Filled with blood-letting, ceremony, torture and fasting, the “party” is far from the rousing, raucous event O’Brien, Bashir, Sisko and Alexander anticipated.
Dax is having her own trials to contend with as Sirella continued to make it clear that she believed there was no place within the House of Martok for someone like Jadzia. Dax continued to grit her teeth and endure, telling the story of the Second Dynasty and how one of Sirella’s ancestors was in fact the emperor’s concubine. Sirella was less than impressed at that revelation.
Later, Dax threw her own pre-wedding party, a noisy, debauched event with fire-eaters, drinking and dancing. Sirella arrived, ordering Dax to leave the party and come with her to take the Bre'Nan ritual. Jadzia refused, and after a brief scuffle with Sirella, the party continued until the early hours. Half-asleep, Dax is angry when Worf asked that she go and apologize to Sirella, and sadly agreed with the matriarch – if Jadzia had such low regard for Klingon tradition, perhaps the wedding was a bad idea.
Martok tracked down Worf to the Defiant, brooding in his quarters, and tries to convince him to reconsider his decision to cancel the wedding. While Worf and Dax were clearly from very different worlds, with vastly different opinions and views on life, they complemented each other perfectly. Honor and glory are nothing without someone to share it with.
Sisko finds Dax in a furious mood, angrily rearranging her quarters. She is annoyed that Dax is required to grovel to Sirella, given her long service and her former role as Federation ambassador to the Klingons. Sisko reminds her that it was Dax, not Jadzia, who accomplished those things, and urges her to reconsider and apologize. Jadzia realizes he is right.
The ceremony went ahead, as Worf and Dax united and vowed to stand together against all enemies who might oppose them.
Of course, we know that their time together was to be short-lived. Jadzia, the 8th host of the 356-year-old Dax symbiont, would lose her life at the conclusion of the sixth season in “Tears of the Prophets,” and this colorful, exciting marriage would come to an abrupt end. Still, we should be grateful that we were able to celebrate Worf and Dax in this way. Perhaps Lady Sirella, her peace made with Jadzia and officiating their wedding as Mistress of the House of Martok, said it best.
"To this very day, no one can oppose the beating of two Klingon hearts... Not even me."
Mark Newbold has been an avid Trek fan since the 1970's, when TOS was shown on UK TV, but it was the original cast movie series and TNG era that sealed the deal. Mark is a writer for Star Trek: The Official Magazine, is editor-in-Chief of Star Trek: The Neutral Zone and was a stage host at Destination Star Trek Germany in 2018. At heart, he's a Niner. Follow him on Twitter.
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The Klingons and Decepticons are laying siege to a remote Federation dilithium mine, and the only thing holding them back is the shaky alliance of Captain Kirk and Optimus Prime. But what dark secret is buried beneath the ground… and can this uneasy partnership withstand the revelations? Find out on November 28, when IDW Publishing unleashes Star Trek vs. Transformers #3. And, in the meantime, check out StarTrek.com's exclusive First Look at the cover.
Star Trek vs. Transformers #3 is written by John Barber & Mike Johnson, with Philip Murphy delivering the art and A cover, and Gavin Fullerton serving up the B cover. The mash-up for the ages will run 32 pages and cost $3.99.
For additional details, contact your local comic book retailer or visit www.comicshoplocator.com to find a store near you. And keep an eye on StarTrek.com for additional details about the IDW's upcoming Star Trek adventures, as well as exclusive First Looks at covers and preview pages.
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The Battle at the Binary Stars is one of the most-important historic battles between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Every cadet studies it at Starfleet Academy, though it has been purely in a historical context until now. The threat of temporally-displaced rogue Klingon starships, led by the legendary J’Ula, has brought a need for understanding 23rd century battle tactics to the attention of Alliance admiralties.
The Battle at the Binary Stars is the first Featured Task Force Operation in Star Trek Online. Five Alliance captains will be able to take on the roles of Federation ships at the battle, in a new holodeck simulation crafted specifically for the Alliance’s mutual understanding and betterment.
During this simulation, your ship will take on the appearance of a Federation ship from the Discovery era, although you will retain your powers, bridge officers, and trays – it is only a visual change. What can you learn from one of the most disastrous battles in Federation history, and can your tactics turn the tide of the battle?
This event will last for three weeks starting in November for PC players, and on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in early 2019. All players level 10 and above will be able to participate. Completing it 14 times during this period will unlock your own, personal Beacon of Kahless.
The Beacon of Kahless is an item that summons your own personal Beacon. The Beacon will appear, giving off a light that blinds your enemies, completely eliminating their accuracy for several seconds. A group of Klingon ships will also warp into the system, answering the Beacon’s call and coming to your aid. As the light fades enemies will reset their threat assessment (players in Threatening Stance retain aggro). This Beacon is an account unlock, and may be claimed on other characters on your account.
Good luck, Captains!
Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game that allows players to explore the Star Trek universe from within. Players can forge their own destiny as Captain of a Federation starship, champion the Empire through the far reaches of the galaxy as a Klingon Warrior, rebuild the Romulan legacy as the commander of a Romulan Republic Warbird or carry out daring missions on behalf of the Dominion as a Jem’Hadar soldier. Captains can also explore iconic locations from the Star Trek universe, make contact with new alien species and battle alongside other players in customizable starships. Star Trek Online is currently available on PC, PlayStation4 and Xbox One.
To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com.
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Aldis Hodge is fast emerging as one of Hollywood’s busiest actors. Hot on the heels of an acclaimed run on the series Underground, he’s soon to be seen in the new series City on a Hill, as well as in the feature films What Men Want and Magic Camp. As in-demand as he is, he leapt at the chance when invited to star as the main character – actually, the only flesh and blood character – in the Star Trek: Short Treks installment, "Calypso.” Written by Michael Chabon and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, “Calypso” will debut tonight on CBS All Access. StarTrek.com recently chatted with Hodge, a longtime Trek fan who excitedly gave us a look into his experience making “Calypso.”
How familiar were you with Star Trek before “Calypso” came your way?
I was familiar. I had seen Discovery, the first season. As far as Star Trek, I grew up watching Star Trek with my mom. I was a fan of the movies, the recent movies that they have out. I grew up watching the old-school show. Worf was my favorite character. So, I'm pretty familiar. I wouldn't say I'm a super-hardcore, seasoned Trekkie. I don't know everything about everything about the universe, but I know enough.
What did you think when they came to you with a short Star Trek story?
It's awesome, man. I like the idea of dropping a little something-something for the fans to have in the waiting time between seasons. When it came to me, one of the producers, Akiva (Goldsman), who I'd worked with before on Underground, he reached out to me and said, "Look, man, I'm doing something. We're starting up something new. It's kind of different. I'll let you know more as it goes on, but is this something you'd be interested in?" I said, "Hell yes! It's Star Trek, man. I don't care. Make me an alien. Do something. I'm with it."
Introduce us to Craft and what he's going through in “Calypso.”
Craft. He’s just coming off fighting in a war for a number of years. He's floating in space. Something happened to him. He was attacked. He's almost at a point of death when he is located and saved by the U.S.S. Discovery. He's brought on board, but he doesn't understand what's going on, where he is, how he is. He just wants to get back to what he knows, his reality. Through this experience he realizes that he's the only one on the ship, and the ship itself, the AI has evolved so much to a point where there actually is a very specific personality there that he corresponds with. This AI on the ship is telling him all about this history that has transpired. Now, granted, we are 1000 years in the future from the universe we know, from the Star Trek: Discovery universe.
So, some of what Craft is going through may speak to where Discovery is about to go to. But, his only agenda is to get back home. His interaction with this ship AI, he realizes that this is the first source of human, or humane, interaction he's had in a number of years, the first interaction that's made him feel comfortable. He has to figure out what that means to him. He finally goes with his own gut feelings and emotions, battling between “How do I deal with this, and leave this?” vs. “I want to get back to my family. Where do I go? Do I stay? Where do I find myself?”
There’s a 2001: A Space Odyssey/HAL and David vibe to this short, from the sound of it…
This is such a very different take on a Star Trek story, stories in space even that I've seen. This is its own thing, man, because I know for just Star Trek in general, it's very new. Where it could go is insane because we don't know. There are so many unanswered questions that it poses that it's going to change how people think of things when they get back to watching Discovery. When they think about the ship, when they think about the crew members and what they're going through, I think it's going to change the questions they ask. So, I can't really compare it to anything at this point.
How did the shoot go, particularly the acting solo part of it?
It was actually pretty cool, a very comfortable set. We shot up in Toronto, so our director, who was also one of the producers, his name's Olatunde Osunsanmi. Olatunde, great guy, he has great vision. He definitely knows what he's doing. I had a great time working with him. But there's definitely a sense of responsibility to the audience because I am just by myself. I hope that this thing is good and people enjoy it. I don't want to let the Star Trek audience down. But Olatunde, he never made me feel like that, nor did the crew, man. Everybody felt like this was well shot, well played, and well chosen. I was happy to be a part of it.
How impressed were you by the Discovery sets?
It is insane. They built a city within a soundstage. It's awesome. I was running around like a little kid. Man, you go in there, you're like, "Oh, this is the real ship. This is the bridge, and I'm in the Captain's chair! Let me get my picture!" It was fantastic. They did a really great job with the sets, and I was surprised to see how much of it was actually built versus being green screened. There's a lot of that that's practical. It's just really there, and you press buttons, things light up. For me, it was awesome. As a kid growing up, watching that stuff, you're like, "I'm actually here.”
If the opportunity arose for you to play Craft again, how open to it would you be?
Absolutely. No question, I'm in there. I'm there. We’ve got to figure out what the war was. Now, I have no answer to this, but I want to know, and I want to know from the fans, after they see it, what do they think the war was? Who was the war with? Because we're familiar with the war the Klingons have with them right now. Who could this war have been with? Did that Klingon War extend? Do they dominate the universe for a millennium? Who was Craft fighting with? That's what I want to know.
"Calypso" continues the rollout of Star Trek: Short Treks, four standalone stories building toward the early 2019 return of Star Trek: Discovery. Each short will run approximately 10-15 minutes and will be an opportunity for fans to dive deeper into key themes and characters – including Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Saru (Doug Jones), Harry Mudd (Rainn Wilson, who directs his segment as well) and Hodge's new "Calypso" character, Craft -- that fit into Discovery and the expanding Star Trek universe.
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Star Trek: Discovery: Season One will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD on November 13 from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution, and to whet your appetite, StarTrek.com is pleased to share an exclusive clip from one of the extra features, “The Voyage of Season 1.” In it, Discovery co-executive producer Jordon Nardino discusses Sarek's backstory and the "impossible choice" the Vulcan had to make between Michael Burnham and Spock.
Upon their release next week, the four-disc Star Trek: Discovery: Season One Blu-ray and DVD collections will be available to U.S. and Canadian fans. They will feature all 15 first-season episodes of the series, as well as featurettes and other special features that will include cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and deleted and extended scenes.
Fans in the U.S. and Canada can pre-order on Amazon.com now or pre-order the steel book at BestBuy.com.Star Trek: Discovery's second season will premiere on Thursday, January 17, 2019, in the U.S. and Canada, and in the rest of the world on Friday, January 18, 2019.
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Gabriel Lorca was full of surprises in season one of Star Trek: Discovery, and Jason Isaacs played the character to perfection. Lorca was so un-Starfleet for a good reason: he hailed from the Mirror Universe. Isaacs, with complementary assists from the show’s writers, producers and directors, created a compelling, complex and dark figure, dropping sly hints along the way to Lorca’s true identity and intentions. The character became the guy you loved to hate, and the one we hated to see go, even though his comeuppance proved fitting.
StarTrek.com met up with Isaacs in August, at Star Trek Las Vegas, to chat about his season on Star Trek: Discovery. As always, he was exuberant, revealing and passionate. Here’s what Isaacs had to say in this, the latest in our series of StarTrek.com interviews building toward the November 13 release of Star Trek: Discovery: Season One on Blu-ray and DVD...
You seemed quite at home on stage during your STLV panel, which you did without a moderator. What was that experience like for you, to talk on stage for the first time to Star Trek fans?
Most people's biggest terror before death is public speaking, and I share that with most actors because ordinary people aren't used to having a script, so going script-free is terrifying for actors. But when you got a home crowd like this, and they start laughing and clapping at everything you say, it has a dizzying effect. I used to entertain at children's parties when I was in drama school to get my equity card.
Stop there. You entertained at birthday parties?(Laughs). Yes, and the worst person was always the birthday boy or girl that had too much sugar, and they felt like they were kings of the universe.
OK, back to your STLV panel...I had a kind of strange narcissistic blackout onstage because there was so much love coming from the audience, and they were so receptive. For about an hour, I felt like I was the Star Trek version of Richard Pryor. But it's a great place to be because they get it. The people sitting out there understand the things that it took me some time to understand, which is what Star Trek means out in the world beyond it being a great story and entertaining. There’s such social significance and political significance in it, and it's doing things with value as much as stories ever can. There'll never be a room where people understand that more than there was yesterday.
What was the fan question that resonated most with you?
Oh… They all asked smart questions. I'm pretty good on my feet, so I was comfortable chatting, and probably making cheap gags about most things. Then, someone asked me what has surprised me most doing Star Trek, and I hadn't expected that question. I only really think when I talk, as my friends and family will tell you. So, as I blabbered on, I realized that I’d gone into it looking forward to being part of a fabulous sci-fi yarn, and it had slowly dawned on me that it was a series born out of the civil rights movement and Cold War, and that our season of Discovery was genuinely but subtlety addressing the increased racism and tribalism and divisiveness of the political world, and the debate around immigration and assimilation that's happening, certainly in Europe and in America. The whole message of a diversity and inclusion, all these things that might seem like they have no place in entertainment, are a huge part of the Star Trek legacy. I hadn't realized that stuff. We paid lip service to it in some of the press early on, because I read it and I regurgitated it. And then I experienced it.
You had a remarkable arc as Lorca in season one…
It was f--king awesome. All actors ever want is to have a secret to play, and I had the biggest secret ever. I had a huge hidden agenda, and acting is all about the things you're holding back from the camera and not the things you're doing. There’s nothing worse than saying what you mean because then there's nothing to play, and there wasn't a single moment until right at the end where you got to see what was really going on for Lorca was apparent. And only when people watch it a second time, as many people I’ve met here have, do they fully understand what I was getting to do.
How much in the way of bread crumbs where you purposefully dropping for people?
It’s like when people watch The Sixth Sense a second time, they go, "Of course they were all dead. How was I so dumb?" It's all there from the beginning. It's there in some of the more obvious physical things, like the eyes narrowing. Actually, that's not obvious because who knows what happens when you go through a tear in the universe. But just the things that I don't remember. The fact that I'm clearly in breach of every part of Starfleet's ethical universe, and I'm pushing Stamets to jump. And, with Burnham, there's no reason at all why I should have singled out this woman and brought her to the ship, and given her a pass, and got her out of jail. All of the interaction with Jayne (Brook), with the Admiral. They’re not just breadcrumbs; I left huge baguettes.
But mostly in hindsight, at least for the fans.
True, and I did that at every opportunity I had. I had discussions with the writers. There was a lot of communication back and forth, because sometimes I read the script and I’d go, "Why would mirror Lorca do this?" The writers are on the set all the time, and it was enormously good fun working things out. We’d get to, "Let's not do that. Let's do this instead." And you’d do that just to engender loyalty in the crew, because he was planting seeds, particularly with Burnham, so that she’d trust him blind, because in the end he's got a fully worked-out plan in his head, and he was going to need her to take leaps of faith where they got to the Terran Universe. So, he earned her trust by doing what sometimes seemed like un-Mirror Lorca things.
How did you enjoy working with this group? Rumor is you were the weekend barbecue guy until pretty much everyone went vegan…
It mostly came from Sonequa. She did the extraordinary thing of helping us bond very early on and continually. We had game nights. We'd have them at my house, and we had just a place where the hierarchy of the film set was entirely forgotten. We became like a traveling theater troupe. We just knew each other, knew each other’s partners. We got each other's jokes, and it was a continuum inside and outside work. Plus, you're working on roughly the same set every day. It's not like you're traveling to different locations.
We're all in the same place, eating in the same place, playing table tennis, basketball, and playing music with each other. It makes a big difference. It might seem slightly pretentious, but acting is a lot about trusting and relying on other people, and helping other people, wanting the other people be the best they can possibly be, doing the most off-camera for them that you can. We became as close as you can. It’s that terrible cliché, but we became a family.
And wasn’t much of that family on set to watch you die? How tough was it to say goodbye?
Yes, I had to come in and do the fall into the big pit, which I insisted on doing. The (stunt team) thought I shouldn't do it. I'm falling onto a mat. “Right, I can handle it.” I jump out of planes and stuff; I can do this. And I really wanted to do my last shot. I came and all of the cast, and the ones who weren't working as well, had come in and they were waving, "Find Prime Lorca" banners, and chanting "Find Prime Lorca." And I was a mess. I adore them all. I always knew that this was the storyline. It was a storyline we discussed before I took the job. I wanted to know fully what my secret agenda would be, so I could play it properly. It felt like a fully satisfying, perfectly structured thing to do, but on that last day I felt terrible regret as I looked at them.
That wasn’t because I wouldn't get to be Lorca anymore, but because I looked at the younger actors who haven't done that much, who I admire so much, who are so talented, and I wanted to see them flower. I've seen them do great stuff, but I want to see all the characters, the ones that the audience have barely seen anything of yet, do their stuff. I want to see them show their full glory. We’ve got some Juilliard students. We've got people who've been around a while, and not had a chance, and they're all going to get a chance to show the audience what they're capable of -- and they're capable of a lot.
You just mentioned Prime Lorca…He’s out there. I’m just saying.
Star Trek: Discovery on Blu-ray
Star Trek: Discovery: Season One will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD on November 13 from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution. The four-disc Blu-ray and DVD collections, available to U.S. and Canadian fans, will feature all 15 first-season episodes of the CBS All Access series, as well as featurettes and other special features that will include cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and deleted and extended scenes.Fans in the U.S. and Canada can pre-order on Amazon.com now.
Star Trek: Discovery's second season will premiere on Thursday, January 17, 2019, in the U.S. and Canada, and in the rest of the world on Friday, January 18, 2019.
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You’re serving the perfect Star Trek-themed dinner, say Luhvian quail or some Bajoran dish with plentiful hasperat, perhaps a heap of gagh or a bowl of plomeek soup, and ending the meal with I'danian spice pudding and tea, Earl Grey, hot, of course. Well, if you’re really doing it right, all that good eating and drinking will be served on the Star Trek 4-Piece Dinner Set, available now exclusively from ThinkGeek/GameStop.
The ceramic pieces -- dinner plate, dessert plate, bowl, and mug -- feature the insignia seen on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Voyager and the Next Generation feature films.
The Star Trek 4-Piece Dinner Set is priced at $39.99; visit ThinkGeek.com to purchase.
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John Archibald Wheeler (American theoretical physicist, 1911-2008) said: “Space tells matter how to move. Matter tells space how to curve.” What does that mean?
Since Spock isn't here to explain, allow me to try...
Any mass exerts gravity on any other mass, so the strength of the gravitational force is proportional to the two masses interacting, as well as inversely proportional to the distance between them. Therefore, if you have a bigger mass, you have a greater gravitational force. But if the masses are further apart from each other, the force gets weaker. This property is exactly like the electric and the magnetic force (except that gravity does not repel). That’s one aspect of this story. Another aspect, also predicted by Albert Einstein, and we're sure Spock would concur, is that mass and gravity influence space itself. That means that if you have a mass sitting in space, this mass will curve space such that it makes a dimple. The larger the mass the larger (and deeper) the dimple will be. In this sense matter tells space how to curve. If another mass comes along, this second mass can not travel past the first mass in a straight line but has to follow the curvature of space created by the first mass. In this sense space tells matter how to move.
Figure 1: One mass (Earth) makes a dimple in space, another smaller mass (satellite) moves along the outlines of the dimple. And if, like the satellite, it does not have enough velocity to escape the dimple it will stay within and keep orbiting. Credit: LIGO/Caltech
In 1915, Einstein said that if electromagnetic radiation (i.e. light) is generated by moving charges or changing magnetic fields, then gravitational radiation should be generated by moving masses. Sounds pretty logical, right? It took us a hundred years to prove him right.
Let’s imagine we have two masses, for example two neutron stars in a binary system orbiting each other as mentioned in the previous blog. They are both massive objects, making big dimples (properly called gravitational wells) in space. As they move, their dimples move with them, and that is what creates the waves.
Figure 2: Two massive bodies orbiting each other creating gravitational waves (see the URL for an animation of this at the bottom). Credit: R. Hurt/Caltech-JPL/EPA
As these two objects orbit each other (or more properly their common center of mass), they spiral in, and in doing so they lose energy, which is carried away from the system in form of gravitational waves. But as the objects come closer to each other the gravitational force between them becomes stronger, increasing the amplitude of the wave. As the objects finally merge, there is a final large wave, and then… nothing. Because once the objects have merged, there is only one resulting object remaining, which is not moving, so there are no more waves. These three stages of this process are called “inspiral,” “merger,’ and “ringdown.” The merger is often referred to as the “chirp” because if you hook up a speaker to the detector you can hear the final wave.
Figure 3: The process of two massive objects spiraling in and merging into one resulting object. The strain measures the amplitude of the resulting gravitational wave. Credit: LIGO/Caltech.
As the gravitational waves travel through space, they lose energy along the way, which is why they are very small by the time they arrive here. And that is a good thing, because Earth would otherwise be squeezed a lot, which would be rather unfortunate for us. However, this is inconvenient for the researchers, as it is very difficult to measure a wave with a really small amplitude. The book Ripples in Spacetime by my colleague Govert Schilling tells the compelling story of the trials and tribulations of the research teams in coming up with a way to detect these gravitational waves. In 2015 they detected the first gravitational waves, for which they received the Nobel Prize in physics in 2016.
Figure 4: Detection of the first gravitational waves in 2015. Credit: LIGO/Caltech
So, how do you detect these gravitational waves? You use an interferometer with very long arms.
Light travels in waves much like water. When you have two waves, they can interfere with each other constructively (the two waves add resulting in a bigger wave), or destructively (the two waves cancel each other out resulting in no wave), or something in between. The important bit for our purposes is the fact that the only way you get no wave is when they interfere perfectly destructively. An interferometer is a device that splits a beam of light into two beams, and then lets these two beams interfere with each other. If the lengths of the two light paths are precisely the same, the two light waves will interfere destructively and the detector will see no light. The research team set up two light paths 4 kilometers long at right angles to each other, bouncing the light beams off mirrors to increase the length of the path even further to increase precision. The idea here is this: If a gravitational wave comes along and squeezes Earth just a tiny little bit, the two arms will no longer have the exact same length, and the detector will see some light, since the two waves no longer interfere perfectly destructively. You might argue that a heavy truck going past the research facility might do the same thing. That is very true, which is why they built two facilities far away from each other, one in Hanford (Washington State) and one in Livingston (Louisiana). If they both detect the same event at the same time, it’s real! Several other facilities are already under construction or planned (Belgium, Italy, India, Japan).
Figure 5: Schematic of an interferometer. Credit: LIGO/Caltech.
Figure 6a: Picture of an American facility in Washington. Credit: LIGO/Caltech.
Figure 6b: Picture of an American facility in Louisiana. Credit: LIGO/Caltech.
Figure 7: Current and planned gravitational wave detection facilities. Credit: LIGO/Caltech.
The first detection of gravitational wave in 2015 came from a merger of two black holes (see the URL for an animation of this at the bottom). Since they have a lot of mass, the waves were stronger and more easily detected. If we look at the GW “baseball card” in Figure 8, we see that the resulting black hole has less mass than the sum of the two original black holes. The difference is the energy carried off by the gravitational waves, so we can see that these waves carry a lot of energy indeed.
Figure 8: The first gravitational wave detection in numbers. Credit: LIGO/Caltech.
Since 2015 several other gravitational waves have been detected. This research will continue. And as always, Einstein was right.
Here are a few links if you’d like to know more about this topic.
An animation of binary bodies emitting gravitational waves:
https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/gravitational-waves
Animations of merging binary black holes:
https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/LA/video/ligo20160211v10
https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/ligo20160211v3
A very understandable book (no math) on the subject of gravitational waves:
Ripples in Spacetime, by Govert Schilling
https://www.amazon.com/Ripples-Spacetime-Einstein-Gravitational-Astronomy/dp/0674971663/
Inge Heyer
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What is the scariest Trek episode? That's the question StarTrek.com asked last week for a Halloween-centric poll. Fans could pick from the following treats: "Empok Nor," Frame of Mind," "Impulse," Night Terrors," "The Enemy Within," "The Haunting of Deck Twelve," "The Thaw" and "Wolf in the Fold." Thousands of fans voted, and here are the results:
"Empok Nor" (23%)
"Night Terrors" (21%)
"The Haunting of Deck Twelve" (14%)
"Frame of Mind" (12%)
"The Enemy Within" (11%)
"Wolf in the Fold" (8%)
"The Thaw" (6%)
"Impulse" (4%)
And how many votes did your choice scare up?
Be sure to vote in this week's poll...
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Fifty-two years ago today, on Thursday, November 3, 1966, the ninth episode of Star Trek’s ground-breaking first season debuted on NBC. While The Monkees were at number one in the hit parade with “Last Train To Clarksville” (and influencing the Trek upper brass to bring in a Davy Jones lookalike in season two in the form of Walter Koenig), Trek fans were watching “Dagger of the Mind,” which took the U.S.S. Enterprise to the Tantalus Penal Colony on the world of Tantalus V.
After initially failing to transport down supplies to the colony due to the security force field still being in place, a consignment of cargo traveled in the opposite direction to the Enterprise marked for delivery to the Central Bureau of Penology in Stockholm. As Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Berkley left the transporter room the cargo opened, revealing a stowaway who knocked out the assistant transporter operator before leaving the room.
On the bridge, the command crew were contacted by the colony, learning that an inmate was missing from the colony and may well have hidden in the cargo that was beamed up, a missing patient who was potentially a violent case. That suspicion was borne out as the stowaway got hold of a phaser and headed for the bridge, asking for asylum and revealing that his name is Simon Van Gelder. Spock used a Vulcan nerve pinch to incapacitate him and he was taken to sickbay. Suspicious, McCoy asked Kirk to investigate further, and soon after the captain beamed down to the colony along with Enterprise psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Noel.
Meeting Dr. Adams, they were introduced to the oddly emotionless Lethe and the experimental neural neutralizer. Adams claimed that van Gelder had tested the device on himself, causing his agitation and that the machine was harmless at low frequencies. Noel accepted his explanation, but Kirk was still suspicious.
Back on the Enterprise, Van Gelder was increasingly frantic, writhing in pain when trying to explain to Spock about the neural neutralizer. A mind-meld revealed that the machine emptied the mind of all thoughts, replacing it with only loneliness. Spock assembled a security team, but the force field was once again up and enveloping Tantalus V.
On the planet and unaware of the revelations, Kirk decided to try the machine. Noel implanted harmless tweaks to his short-term memory until Adams seized control of the device and increased the intensity, convincing Kirk of his love for Noel. The two were confined to quarters. Fighting off the urges implanted in his head, Kirk ordered Noel to crawl through the air ducts and disable the security force field. The doctor found the power control room for the entire colony and deactivates the field long enough for Kirk to escape the machine and for Spock to beam down a security detail and take the colony.
Adams was killed by the machine, but not for the obvious reasons. Near enough to the machine to be exposed to its effects, he died "without even a tormentor for company." Dr. Van Gelder resumed his responsibilities after being cured, dismantling the neural neutralizer. Back aboard the Enterprise, McCoy remarked that, "It's hard to believe that a man could die of loneliness." To which Kirk replied, "Not when you've sat in that room."
The eleventh episode produced and the ninth screened during the show’s first season, “Dagger of the Mind” is notable for a number of reasons. Becoming ubiquitous in the world of Star Trek during the following half century, the episode marked the very first appearance of the Vulcan mind meld. Sixteen years later the meld would become a key element in the final scenes of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, as Spock transferred his memories/katra to a prone Dr. McCoy.
The name of the emotionless Lethe would also be used decades later as the title of the sixth episode of Star Trek: Discovery’s first season, the name referring to Greek mythology and the River of Forgetfulness. The role of Dr. Helen Noel was originally written for Grace Lee Whitney and the character of Janice Rand, but the decision was made to not have Kirk become too emotionally involved with a crew member. Instead, a psychologist was introduced, a forebear of Deanna Troi 21 years later.
The title of the episode is one of the first nods to the takes of the Bard, coming from Macbeth Act 2 Scene 1, a tradition which would continue through TOS and on into the era of Star Trek: The Next Generation and beyond. “Dagger of the Mind” was also the title of the fourth episode of the second season of Columbo, the legendary detective series which guest starred a number of Trek alumni over the years, including Leonard Nimoy in “A Stitch in Crime” in 1973, Ricardo Montalban in "A Matter of Honor" (another shared episode title) in 1976 and William Shatner in "Fade in to Murder" also in ’76 and "Butterfly in Shades of Grey" (almost) in ‘94. Theodore Bikel, Clive Revill, Laurence Luckinbill, Julie Newmar and Dean Stockwell would also feature.
He may have come to a sticky end, but Dr. Adams gave one of the most-positive statements in all of Star Trek when he said, "May we never find space so vast, planets so cold, heart and mind so empty that, that we cannot fill them with love and warmth." Regrettable – for him – that he couldn’t follow the wisdom of his own words, and fortunate for the crew of the Enterprise that they did.
Mark Newbold has been an avid Trek fan since the 1970's, when TOS was shown on UK TV, but it was the original cast movie series and TNG era that sealed the deal. Mark is a writer for Star Trek The Official Magazine, is editor-in-Chief of Star Trek: The Neutral Zone and was a stage host at Destination Star Trek Germany in 2018. At heart, he's a Niner. Follow him on Twitter.
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Star Trek Fleet Command, a new multiplayer real-time strategy and role-play game that brings an entire galaxy of characters and ships to life for the ultimate Star Trek gaming experience, will launch worldwide on November 29 as a free download on the App Store and Google Play. The game, from interactive entertainment company and mobile games publisher Scopely, and CBS Interactive, centers on the Trek universe as presented in the 2009, 2013 and 2016 feature films.
Star Trek Fleet Command represents the first free-roaming multiplayer Star Trek experience to combine role-playing game style progression and real-time battles with enemy ships, all on mobile devices. A fast-paced strategy experience, the game brings players unparalleled access to the Star Trek universe along with an epic narrative that unfolds as they travel to the furthest corners of the galaxy.Players in Star Trek Fleet Command can customize their gameplay experience as narrative paths branch and diverge depending on which of the hundreds of available missions they choose to complete and how they approach interactions with other deep-space denizens. Fans will have the opportunity to meet and build dream teams made up of their favorite characters, among them Captain Kirk, Spock and Uhura, and factions such as the Federation, Klingons and Romulans to fight alongside and determine their place in the cosmos. With each faction offering unique officers, ships and technologies to progress and utilize as strategic assets, the level of personalization offered in Star Trek Fleet Command is about as limitless as the universe.
To learn more about Star Trek Fleet Command, follow @StarTrekFleet on Twitter and @StarTrekFleetCommand on Instagram and Facebook.
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A new voyage of discovery is about to begin, Captains, and Star Trek Online is proud to share it with you. Interact with Cadet Sylvia Tilly, face off against the sinister Ju’la, and take your first steps into a new era when Star Trek Online: Age of Discovery launches on November 13th. You’ll be able to bring your reputations to a new tier, compete in random Task Force Operations, and experience the beginnings of a fresh story that will have ramifications for all of Star Trek Online. The Age of Discovery is coming... very soon.
Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game that allows players to explore the Star Trek universe from within. Players can forge their own destiny as Captain of a Federation starship, champion the Empire through the far reaches of the galaxy as a Klingon Warrior, rebuild the Romulan legacy as the commander of a Romulan Republic Warbird or carry out daring missions on behalf of the Dominion as a Jem’Hadar soldier. Captains can also explore iconic locations from the Star Trek universe, make contact with new alien species and battle alongside other players in customizable starships. Star Trek Online is currently available on PC, PlayStation4 and Xbox One.To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com.
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The New Zealand Mint has just lifted the curtain on its third Star Trek silver miniature: Commander Spock. Crafted by renowned 3D master sculptor Alejandro Pereira Ezcurra, it depicts Spock in a typical Vulcan pose, flashing the iconic “Live Long and Prosper” hand gesture. Made from a minimum of 150g pure silver, the miniature stands approximately 10cm tall and is finished with an antique polish.
The action figure comes on a quality stand which features a metal plate confirming the name, series number, unique production number and New Zealand Mint authentication. Further, the miniature is encased in black velvet inside a high-quality Star Trek-branded case, making it a desirable collectible.
Only 1,000 of the metal action figures will be available worldwide. Visit the New Zealand Mint to purchase the product.
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The more things change, the more they remain the same. Halloween is back, with the new movie making a killing at the box office. If fact, it's been #1 for two straight weeks. Pretty much everyone knows the Trek connection: Michael Myers' Halloween mask WAS Shatner's face. We at StarTrek.com love this story and we share it every Halloween -- just in case someone hasn't heard it yet. And since it's as timely as ever, here goes:
Urban legends are sometimes true. For example, it had been rumored for decades that the mask the killer Michael Myers wore in the Halloween films was in fact based on William Shatner's face. Not just Shatner's face, but a Captain Kirk death mask created for Star Trek. And the anecdote is very, very true.
Rick Sternbach, who worked as illustrator/designer on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Nemesis -- posted the following on his Facebook page a few years back:
"There are a number of historical threads through various production people over the years that validate that; I've got one of those threads here (I've told this story once or twice before). I was hired as an illustrator on Halloween 2 in 1981, working for production designer J. Michael Riva. In a supply cabinet at Pumpkin Pie Productions, we had one mask left from the original Halloween, and no idea where to get any others for the sequel. It appeared that we'd need to go check out some of the toys stores and such, but I noticed that there was some wording molded into the neck area. There was a model number, and 'Don Post Studios.' I made a call, read off the model number, and the word came back 'It's our Captain Kirk mask.' I asked if we could buy a number of them, and was told 'We'll give you a box, just give us credit.' With that, I turned the official dealings over to the higher-ups. Brush with greatness."
As if that weren't enough to confirm that Shatner/Kirk's mug indeed became that of the masked serial killer, here's an old video we found of Shatner himself discussing it -- and even revealing that he went trick or treating with his daughters one Halloween wearing a Michael Myers mask.
Terrifying, right?
Thankful for Trek on Thanksgiving
in Starfleet Command Database
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How does one compile the many reasons we have to be thankful for Star Trek into one article? For over half a century, Star Trek has not only excited and enthralled us with tales from the 22nd, 23rd and 24th centuries, but it’s shown us much about the human condition and a pathway to a brighter, more hopeful tomorrow. Where other sci-fi presented a grim, dystopian future – all too easy in these days of uncertainty, and certainly so during the Cold War era of the 1960’s – Gene Roddenberry gave us an optimistic vision. Earth and the struggles of humanity to co-exist upon it were the macrocosm, while the fictional Star Trek galaxy developed to show us our hopes and ideals on a grand galactic stage. As a parable for life, and a means of presenting the everyday battles we face in an attractive sci-fi setting, we should be thankful.
Star Trek influenced the technological world around us. As the decades rolled by, Treknology previously seen only on our TV screens became commonplace in everyday life. Kirk’s communicator inspired the flip phone, just as the Portable Auxiliary Data Display (PADD) - upon which we were so used to watching information distilled through a familiar LCARS interface (Library Computer Access/Retrieval System) - became the Smart Phone. Hyposprays, tablet computers, tractor beams, tricorders, replicators, cloaking devices… would we have such advanced voice-activated interfaces on computers, Siri or Alexa, for example, without the inspiration of Star Trek and Majel Barret’s iconic ships computer voice?
Here’s an interesting thing to be thankful for; Binge watching. Think about it, with more than 742 episodes of televised Star Trek TV and 13 movies (that’s currently 560 hours of film and TV, including the first two Short Treks), new fans can dig in to the franchise and be assured of hour after hour after hour of fresh viewing. Deep Space Nine has enjoyed an upturn in its fortunes thanks to Netflix and its innate bingeability (officially now a new word), while fans can choose to tuck into the Kirk era movies, The Next Generation quadrilogy or the Kelvin Timeline entries. New fans to the franchise are often daunted by the sheer volume of past episodes they need to watch, but there’s no requirement and no rush to watch them. Whether it's on CBS All Access, Netflix or another streaming service, pick a Trek, grab a bowl of popcorn, hit play and before too long you’ll be wondering where the weekend went.
We can be thankful to Star Trek for opening our eyes to the wonders of science. Real-world legend Dr. Stephen Hawking joined The Next Generation in the sixth-season episode “Descent, Part I,” playing poker at the same table as historical giants Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Lieutenant Commander Data and winning by bluffing Einstein. Theoretical science also appeared in season six in "Relics," where a solar system-spanning Dyson Sphere was encountered by the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, holding within it a star, and on the outside of it the crashed Federation transport the Jenolan, containing the long-lost engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott. Indeed, a watch through The Next Generation and the series that preceded and followed will unfold a universe of science that has inspired fans to follow their on-screen heroes into the sciences and helped shape the future of 21st century Earth.
Many of us enjoy occasional trips to weekend conventions, traveling to far-flung locations to enjoy actors and others from our favorite shows as they spin yarns and entertain crowds on stage. You can thank Star Trek for that. While there were certainly plenty of sci-fi conventions before the rise of the Star Trek mega-cons in the early 70’s, the letter writing campaign aimed at NBC with a view of saving the show emboldened the fanbase to dream big, and as the 60’s shifted into the 70’s, Star Trek conventions became commonplace as ever-expending crowds attended to meet their heroes and soak up the atmosphere. There are other major franchises and similarly huge events, but nothing replicates the excitement and warmth of a Star Trek convention running at maximum warp.
Perhaps the most-rewarding thing we can thank Star Trek for is friendship. Every series has focused on special relationships, from the three-way dance of McCoy, Spock and Kirk to the evolving relationship between Burnham and Tilly and the nurturing friendship between Seven of Nine and the Doctor. Conventions are often the location for rekindling friendships amongst fans, and occasionally where the best ones are made. The technology influenced by Trek that makes social media work is another avenue upon which to nurture these friendships. Star Trek has a rich pasture of topics to chew over and a near endless supply of amazing moments to savor.
Thanksgiving is the ultimate shared experience, so hug those closest to you and be sure to say “Thank you, Star Trek.”
Mark Newbold has been an avid Trek fan since the 1970's, when TOS was shown on UK TV, but it was the original cast movie series and TNG era that sealed the deal. Mark is a writer for Star Trek: The Official Magazine, is editor-in-Chief of Star Trek: The Neutral Zone and was a stage host at Destination Star Trek Germany in 2018. At heart, he's a Niner. Follow him on Twitter.
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