Spocktail Party Feb 25th – Tickets now available

February 11, 2016 / startrekeire / Leave a comment

We are hosting a ‘Spocktail Party’ in memory of Leonard Nimoy who passed away on February 27th 2015. There will be a distinctive Spock theme to the evening. We will be playing some of our favourite Spock episodes of Star Trek (The Original Series ‘Amok Time’ and the Next Generation two parter ‘Unification’, while drinking Spocktails and cocktails from Quarks Bar, plus a Star Trek themed raffle and more.. Space is limited so please book your tickets asap. Strictly over 18.

Pre-book your ticket here.

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Bryan Fuller’s Star Trek Experience

February 10, 2016 / startrekeire / 1 Comment

With the news that Bryan Fuller has been named as the showrunner for the new Star Trek TV series coming to CBS All Access, here is a reminder summary of the episodes of Star Trek that Bryan Fuller has been involved in. Perhaps this will give some insight into the style of episodes we can expect and into Fuller’s knowledge of the Star Trek universe. Let us know what you think of these episodes in the comments!

Please note: episode synopsis are from http://www.wikipedia.com and http://www.IMDB.com and collated here for convenience.

Deep Space Nine – 2 episodes

deep_space_nine_crew

-Empok Nor (1997) … (story)

Scavenging an abandoned Cardassian space station identical to DS9 for equipment, O’Brien’s team discovers that the station may not be completely abandoned.

-The Darkness and the Light (1997) … (story)

A mysterious assassin begins wiping out all the members of Kira’s old resistance cell.

Star Trek Voyager – 22 episodes

voyager

-Friendship One (2001) … (written by)

For the first time in six years Voyager gets a mission from Starfleet Command. Retreive the 21st century probe Friendship One from a nearby planet.

– Workforce: Part 2 (2001) … (story)

– Workforce: Part 1 (2001) … (written by)

Upon returning from a mission, Chakotay, Kim and Neelix find Voyager abandoned and the Doctor the only crew member aboard. The entire crew have been kidnapped, their memories erased and they are now working in an alien industrial complex. Chakotay and Neelix infiltrate the complex and have to make Captain Janeway remember.

– Flesh and Blood: Part 2 (2000) … (story)

Free from their pursuers, the leader of the holograms decides to continue the crusade against the organics in order to liberate all holograms, everywhere. The Doctor finally realises what he had done and comes up with a plan to redeem himself.

– Flesh and Blood (2000) … (story) / (teleplay)

The Hirogen species sends Voyager a distress call when their holographic prey become too cunning and cannot be defeated.

– The Haunting of Deck Twelve (2000) … (teleplay)

Neelix becomes very agitated as Voyager begins a full shutdown prior to entering a peculiar astronomical nebula. Left in charge of calming the recently rescued Borg children, Neelix encourages the young ones around a 24th century “campfire” for stories. Neelix recounts a story from Voyager’s recent past that is strangely reminiscent of the current situation.

– Fury (2000) … (teleplay)

Kes returns to Voyager – older, angry, and more powerful than ever. She literally tears through the ship. Using her abilities in combination with Voyager’s warp core, Kes travels back in time to Voyager’s first year in the Delta Quadrant. Her agenda is to kidnap her younger self and return her to the Ocampa, even if it means turning her former friends over to the Vidiians. The only one to suspect anything is Tuvok, who is experiencing intermittent visions and memories of the future.

– Spirit Folk (2000) … (written by)

A revisit to the holographic town of Fair Haven proves dangerous for Paris and Kim as members of the program begin to see Voyager crew members change elements of the program before their eyes. The members of the program fear the voyager crew and think of them as bad spirits set to kill the town of Fair Haven.

– One Small Step (1999) … (teleplay)

Voyager encounters a graviton ellipse, a phenomenon that emerges from subspace on rare occasions. The anomaly engulfed a manned vessel during a Mars mission in 2032 and Chakotay is determined to retrieve the debris from inside the ellipse. Chakotay, Paris and Seven take the Delta Flyer in, but when an asteroid strikes, Chakotay, obsessed with retrieving the module, disobeys Janeway’s order to leave. The collision renders the Flyer flightless as the ellipse prepares to return to subspace.

– Alice (1999) … (teleplay)

The crew discovers a space age junkyard near their course. Desperate for supplies Voyager finds an eager trader. After an exhaustive search of the ship and the junkyard a list of items developed for trade. Avid pilot Tom Paris notices a “race car” among the assemblage. Paris convinces Chakotay to acquire it to have an extra “away” ship. Paris begins cleaning and repairing and slowly becomes obsessed with this very unique space vessel.

– Barge of the Dead (1999) … (story) / (teleplay)

When her shuttle crosses paths with an ion storm, B’Elanna Torres is severely injured and slips into a coma. She envisions Klingons killing her crew mates and her, and then finds herself on the Barge of the Dead traveling to Gre’thor, the Klingon version of hell. Just before the dream ends her Mother appears on board with the rest of the damned souls. When she regains consciousness in sickbay she experiences a crisis of faith. Despite the support of the friends B’Elanna is convinced that her Mother is dead and suffering dishonor because her daughter never embraced her Klingon heritage.

– Relativity (1999) … (teleplay)

When Voyager is destroyed, Captain Braxton of the 29th Century Timeship Relativity contacts Seven of Nine to travel back in time and discover who planted the ‘temporal disruptor.’ However, she must do this without being discovered by the past Janeway.

– Juggernaut (1999) … (story) / (teleplay)

Voyager responds to a distress call of a heavily-damaged Malon freighter. Torres, Neelix, Chakotay, and the only 2 surviving Malon have 6 hours to stop a theta-radiation fallout which will destroy everything within a 3 light-year radius. The away-team must clear radiation section-by-section to reach the control room, and along the way they deal with unstable airlocks and the Vihaar, a Malon boogeyman who is more malicious than mythical.

– Course: Oblivion (1999) … (story) / (teleplay)

A slight respite seems to be in order but some mysterious force is affecting the very fabric of Voyager itself. To solve the mystery this crew must retrace their steps to see what went wrong.

– Dark Frontier: Part 1 (1999) … (story editor)

Members of the Voyager crew train on the holodeck for a raid on a Borg ship. Should they be successful, they will steal the Borg trans-warp coil in hopes of integrating the technology into Voyager’s systems. The Borg seem to be one step ahead when the Borg Queen communicates with Seven of Nine.

– Gravity (1999) … (story) / (teleplay)

A Voyager shuttle manned by Lt. Cmdr. Tuvok, Ensign Paris and The Doctor is pulled into a subspace gravity well and crashes on a Class “D” planet existing within it. With the shuttle too damaged to fly, the away team befriends Noss (guest star Lori Petty,) alien woman who crashed on the planet several seasons before them. As weeks pass, the survivors grow close. Noss learns English and teaches Tuvok and Paris how to survive the other aliens and hunt for food. Noss finds herself in love with Tuvok, and frustrated that he will not allow his emotions to love her back. Through a series of flashbacks, we see a young, rebellious Tuvok who was in love and fought against traditional Vulcan teachings. Back on Voyager, only hours have passed since the ship lost contact with the shuttle. Janeway and the crew must find a way to rescue their shipmates before a local alien ship closes the phenomenon permanently.

– Bride of Chaotica! (1999) … (story) / (teleplay)

During an episode of The Adventures of Captain Proton on the holodeck (a recurring Voyager homage to movie serial adventures), Ensign Tom Paris and Ens. Harry Kim are forced to leave the program running when spatial distortions trap the ship and disrupt their control over the computer. While the command staff of Voyager seek to discover a way to free the ship from the spatial distortions, extra-dimensional aliens who exist in a photonic state cross over from their own dimension through a distortion located in the holodeck. There, they are detected and attacked by Chaotica, who believes them to be from the fifth dimension, and whose holographic (photonic) weaponry – though harmless to humans – is deadly to the aliens.

– Drone (1998) … (story) / (teleplay)

Voyager is investigating the birth of a nebula. Unfortunately, after an away mission shuttle is caught in the blast, a transporter accident during the team evacuation causes the Doctor’s mobile emitter to be infected with Seven’s nanoprobes. The mobile emitter starts assimilating a science lab, and creates a new drone built upon the emitter’s twenty-ninth century technology.

– Living Witness (1998) … (teleplay)

When The Doctor’s back-up module is found, his program is brought on-line for the first time in seven hundred years. In the future, Kyrian Museum of Heritage teaches a history that writes Voyager as playing a detrimental role in beginning their Great War with the Vaskans. The Doctor is the only living witness and sets the record straight, but the new “facts” give way to old tensions from the formerly warring races and the museum curator and The Doctor find themselves amidst violence and destruction instead of the peace and understanding they hoped for.

– Retrospect (1998) … (teleplay)

Voyager’s Doctor helps Seven of Nine interpret repressed memories, leading to an accusation of assault against an alien arms dealer.

– Mortal Coil (1997) … (written by)

Neelix experiences a crisis of faith when, after being dead for nearly nineteen hours, Seven of Nine revives him using her Borg technology. On awakening, Neelix has no memory of experiencing the Talaxian afterlife and begins to doubt everything his culture believes about the post-thanatic experience and their spiritual place in the universe. His crisis is played out with the help of Chakotay’s vision quest.

– The Raven (1997) … (story) / (teleplay)

Janeway is trying to gain passage through a region of space owned by a cautious and xenophobic race of aliens. Negotiations are disrupted when Seven of Nine believes that she is being contacted by the Borg and forcefully leaves Voyager to rejoin the collective and heads into the alien territory.

Please note: episode synopsis are from http://www.wikipedia.com and http://www.IMDB.com and collated here for convenience.

Spocktail Party Thursday 25th February

February 5, 2016February 5, 2016 / startrekeire / Leave a comment

Hi all,

Our next event is a ‘Spocktail Party’ in memory of the legend that was Leonard Nimoy, who died on February 27th 2015.

Exact details to follow but the event will be similar to our previous ones. It will be on the evening of Thursday 25th February in the Workmans Club on Wellington Quay in Dublin, www.theworkmansclub.com Please let everyone who may be interested know about it! Thanks! Live Long and Prosper!

Vote Spock your #1 2016 Irish Elections Vote Spock your #1 ! (T’Pol #2) It would be highly illogical not to.

Star Trek V: Family, God and all that shite

February 1, 2016 / startrekeire / Leave a comment

By Gary M. Reynolds

I recall the first time I watched this film. It was a dreary afternoon sometime around 1992 or 1993. I had spotted it in the terrestrial telly listings and thought, “Wow, this one is never on!” Much to my young frustration, on that day I was brought down the town with my mam and sister to do some shopping.

I pestered the hell out of my mother to give me the house key. I desperately needed to get home to watch and tape it. With mere minutes to spare, she gave in and handed me the keys. I bolted home as fast as I could.
At only 7 or 8-years-old, I was, of course, already an avid trekkie, and had by this stage taped from BBC and RTÉ a few of the films so I had a blank VHS put to one side to tape this and add to my growing collection.

I think there’s some old Coronation Street on there too

It was time to see this elusive film.
Afterwards, I frankly didn’t think much of it.
Recently, however, I felt that it deserves another look. So time to sit down and find all those things that went over my innocent, youthful head and grasp the greatness of Trekdom that surely follows. I’m sure the Shat knew what he was doing.

Opening the film like Omar Sharif’s entrance in Lawrence of Arabia, Sybok, televangelist of the space ways, is revealed to a lonely settler on the desolate planet of peace, Nimbus III. From here, Vulcan’s holy healer goes on to charm Bedouin-esque aliens of the dunes and the patrons of the saloon/cantina. High Noon at Mos Eisley. Laurence Luckinbell plays this part magnificently, I must say. Such a different Vulcan to anything else that came before or since. Some may gripe that he was too over the top but he’s playing a faith healer in outer space, for crying out loud! How else could one possibly play it?!

Oh, but the glorious return of Jerry Goldsmith does so bring a smile to my face. Although his main theme from Motion Picture was adapted for The Next Generation 2 years previously, this was his first Trek film score in a decade. As someone who grew up with Star Trek in the 90s, Goldsmith was the sound of Star Trek. 5 movie scores and the title themes to TNG and Voyager.

Now we get a new Enterprise! Sort of. It’s still the Constitution class. Oh, and the Excelsior we pass by on the way to this new NCC 1701-A? Oh never mind about that, it’s not like this new class of ship which has already sailed an under a functioning crew for the past year could possibly be in working order. No no no, we’ll use the near-retirement crew of a vessel that failed it’s shakedown cruise. In it’s time of need, all Starfleet ever needs is the experience of Kirk and family.
For this film, family is what it’s all about.
Sitting at that campfire is the family of the show. Three brothers, each with their own issues concerning their relatives.
Even McCoy knows it. At the campfire he says that after all the time in space they have, once shore leave comes up, they spend it together. “Other people have families”, he says. “Not us” Kirk retorts. The loss of family, his older brother during TOS “Operation – Annihilate”, as well as his son in The Search for Spock (1984), is quietly, subtly felt here. The real show is in the observation lounge aboard the Enterprise. Sybok wishes Kirk to share his pain. “I need my pain!” he says, the culmination of a gloriously Shatnerian speech akin to those he made on the Original Series.

Star Trek V – We Are Our Pain

Spock’s issues have been noted throughout the history of the franchise, primarily concerning his father, are again shown through a vision in the observation lounge.
But now he must face his exploitative, black sheep of a brother. Spock most certainly sides with his brothers in arms rather than his own blood, much to the sorrow of Sybok. The late Mr. Nimoy knows the character so damned well, and keeps Spock’s own torment just below the surface, as he recoils from Sybok’s embrace on Nimbus III, when he is ordered to shoot in the shuttle bay, and again in that observation lounge aboard the Enterprise. When Sybok finds the truth about God on Sha’Ka’Ree, he redeems himself and these Vulcan brothers finally reconcile. And when Sybok dies, Spock utters his name with the most subtle of quivers. He mourns his brothers loss.

Brothers once more

However , even as a kid, McCoy’s vision was the scene that stuck in my head the most. For anyone who has lost a loved one, there are still things you want to say if you could only see them one last time. Bones is furious that Sybok would make him relive, not only the death of his father, but that he was the one who turned off the life support systems. And to then have a cure found shortly afterwards. What Sybok does for Bones is both terrible and terrific. McCoy is somewhat of a god-fearing man. He has brought up religious moments a number of times and when confronted with this he has that spiritual moment of calm, if only for a while.

Despite the troubled emotions, be they under the skin or boiling over like plomeek soup, there is some wonderful moments of humour. Be it of Bones getting stressed out as he watches Jim climb El Kapitan, the light-hearted farce of Sulu and Chekov trying to avoid returning to the ship, or the slapstick of Scotty‘s jailbreak, there’s some wonderful fun in the film.

Not in front of the Klingons

But then we come to the trouble most trekkies have. What does God need with a starship?
Most will bemoan this whole climax, that it’s ridiculous. Have ye not watched Star Trek?! This is exactly the kind of thing the Original series did! The have met so many deities and god-like beings in that show! And what did they do? They fought against them. They questioned the authority these creatures gave themselves.
You dare question the Almighty?! YES! That’s what we’re here for. And this is what Star Trek continued to do into Next Generation with the judgements of Q and on DS9 with the will of the Prophets.
The issue I have with this as a crescendo for the film, is that it reminds me how much Star Trek belongs on television, so much more so than it does in cinemas. Like with Insurrection (1998), The Final Frontier suffers from the same thing; it’s an episode plot stretched out for a film. The trouble with Final Frontier was the lack of funding The special effects had lost ILM to Indiana Jones, and boy does it show. Shots are re-used from other films and the blue screen and stop-motion work just doesn’t hold up against what had been done before. Once they meet God, the outdoor desert becomes a very, very obvious soundstage. This third act suffers so much because of this and shows that if it were TV, it may have passed, but not to a theatrical audience.
I recall coming away from this as a kid thinking, “Yeah, it was alright, I guess.” Over twenty years later, and now that I have looked through it properly, I still feel the same, but at least I can see the good that is there.
It’s flawed, it’s pacing is odd, the plot doesn’t really get going until nearly an hour in, and there’s little in the way of overall tension building.
But damn it Jim, it’s still some real Star Trek.