Laria Herren

Congratulations and welcome to the fleet!

Happy Halloween everyone! Previously, a poll of the week asked what your favorite scary episode of Star Trek is. This week we wanted to envision what a pure horror story would look like in the Star Trek universe. Typically, when an episode tells a horror story it is usually through a monster or strange anomaly haunting the crew. However, horror is not traditionally focused on powerful characters in an advanced military ship. Horror is about the characters being forced to overcome an unknown superior force, be it a masked killer or a ghost haunting their home. One of the most important parts of a horror story is the location. Often these places are secluded, dangerous, or associated with bad history. Haunted mansions, abandoned hospitals or asylums, and isolated places out in the woods are all popular choices. If Star Trek ever produced a standalone horror story, what would be a frightening or secluded setting? Space provides no shortage of hazardous environments that could make for threatening settings for a story. Perhaps a ghost-like anomaly could haunt the two-person crew in the cramped quarters of a relay station or some alien monster of the week could try to drive a group of colonists off of its planet. What location in the Star Trek universe do you think would make the best horror story setting?

In Star Trek most members of the crew interact off duty as well as during their regularly assigned duties. Entire stories can be based around the interactions between the crew when there isn’t a Romulan warbird or an exploding star driving the action. While some members of the crew are simply colleagues or may even dislike each other, others share a much stronger bond. Aboard Deep Space Nine, if you see Doctor Bashir it’s a good bet that Chief O’Brien is nearby. Whether they are storming the Alamo together or playing darts in Quark’s the two are almost inseparable. Meanwhile, aboard the Enterprise D, Captain Picard could always turn to his old friend Guinan for advice. In the 23rd century, Captain Kirk and Commander Spock went through a lot together. They stuck together throughout their historic mission of exploration that saw them encounter all manners of hostile aliens, new civilizations, and even sent them back in time on multiple occasions. These trials forged a strong friendship between the two that went far beyond colleagues or even captain and first officer. This week’s poll asks you to look back at the friendships between characters that developed throughout the franchise and pick your favorite. Let us know which was your favorite friendship below!

Welcome to the fleet and congratulations!

The transporter was originally invented out of necessity. With away teams going to and from alien planets regularly, the team behind Star Trek needed a way to get them to the ship and back again. They had shuttles that could solve this problem. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a feasible option. Landing a shuttle every episode would have been too much for the show’s limited budget. Instead the transporter was born. In the years since the transporter has remained, but small craft of all kinds have gained a more prominent role in the series with new shows. Starfleet has access to more than just the normal shuttles used to ferry landing parties from the ship to a planet. They also have larger runabouts for longer trips, attack fighters for combat, and workbees and other maintenance craft to name a few. The runabout did play a major role in Deep Space Nine, but attack fighters and workbees rarely play a part beyond appearing in the background. Both the Enterprise-D and Voyager featured special auxiliary craft (the captain’s yacht and the aeroshuttle respectively) but neither were ever used. Are the small crafts of Star Trek underutilized? Would you like to see shuttles and fighters used in new and interesting ways, or do you like them the way they are? What do you think of the way Star Trek uses small craft?

Welcome to the fleet!

Congratulations and welcome, ensigns!

Congratulations on graduating and welcome to the fleet!

Welcome to the fleet!

Due to declining ratings for season two of the original Star Trek, it was rumored that NBC was planning to cancel the series. This prompted a letter-writing campaign that kept the show on the air for one more season. While not every Star Trek series was faced with such an early ending, no television show can go on forever. One by one each new Star Trek series told its story, aired its final episode, and the franchise moved on to new things. The staff behind these shows did their best to wrap things up well. However, that doesn’t stop us from asking what they would do with another season on the air. The upcoming Deep Space Nine documentary What We Left Behind hopes to share the original plan for the story of a hypothetical season eight. For the most part it is up to the imaginations of fans to guess how future seasons of Star Trek could have unfolded. We may never know for sure what any particular series would have done if it stayed on the air longer, but it is interesting to envision what could have been nonetheless. We want to know which main Star Trek series you would have most liked to see be given a little more time to tell its stories. The possibilities are endless. Deep Space Nine left the galaxy recovering from an incredibly destructive war with all the possible stories that situation could spawn. Enterprise could have gone on to give us our first real look at the war between the Romulan Star Empire and humanity. Which series do you think had more incredible tales to tell? Which Star Trek series would you want to see have one more season? Tell us what your choice would be below!

On September 8th, 1966 the original series of Star Trek premiered on NBC. Despite being intended as a later episode in the series, the episode “The Man Trap” was chosen to be the premiere episode for its horror-like plot. As the anniversary of Star Trek’s US premiere approaches, we reflected on how much the franchise has grown over the past fifty-one (a few days away from fifty-two) years. Star Trek has expanded to include a handful of television series, fourteen movies, and countless other spin-off works. The franchise has many fans across the world, presumably including the members of this group. Each of us got our love of Star Trek from somewhere, and we all have our own reasons for liking it so much. Why anyone is a fan of a particular series is a matter of personal feelings and how they look at the series. We want to hear from you about why you love Star Trek. Given how personal the answer to that question will be for everyone, this week’s poll is going to be a bit different. There are no answer choices. There is only the question. What is Star Trek to you? Let us know what the series means to you and why you love it below!

The looks of many visual elements in Star Trek have changed over the years. One of the most prominent and famous changes is the design of the Klingon species. At first, Klingons were barely distinguishable from humans. This stayed the same throughout the first series but first changed in the original Star Trek movie. This was when the original change was made and Klingons got their trademark forehead ridges. The look of the Klingons remained mostly the same from that point until the movie Into Darkness. This movie changed the look of Klingons but retained the basic design scheme. The next change came with Discovery, where the Klingon species went through a major redesign. That brings the current count of Klingon makeup designs to four. These sudden changes in the appearance of a major species did not go unnoticed. A few episodes even tried to explain where these sudden forehead ridges came from. The question of visual continuity is a complex one. Each series of Star Trek has made changes and introduced its own visual style, but for the most part major elements of Star Trek remain relatively visually similar. Special effects and prosthetic makeup have improved since Star Trek first aired. Some people might argue that these innovation should be used, while others would prefer that the vision of Star Trek’s original creators be preserved. This poll of the week asks you what you think. Do you care about the visual continuity of the Klingons? Let us know what your take on the issue is!

So often, Starfleet officers are asked to do the impossible. Life in Starfleet is full of daunting challenges that would push anyone to their limits. At any moment a temporal rift or a surprise attack by the Borg could test the worth of the crew of a Starfleet ship. You could fill a book with strange encounters and difficult missions just by following the career of a single ship. Across the entire organization of Starfleet the impossible happens every day. While these herculean tasks often test the entire ship, they can also be the responsibility of a single officer. There is perhaps no greater example of this trend than Scotty. Every other week he was being asked to pull the Enterprise from the jaws of defeat to victory. Scotty truly earned his reputation as a miracle worker through the countless times he saved the day at the last minute with his technical skill and unbelievable luck. This week’s poll presents several scenarios that would challenge the best of the best and asks you to choose which you would find to be the biggest trial. The challenges included cover a variety of different specialties from the nightmares of catering for a galactic diplomatic reception to packing the punch of a Galaxy-class into a vessel that's well over a century old. Which do you think is the most difficult to handle? Let us know your thoughts below!

Congratulations and welcome to the fleet!

When a new Star Trek series is on the horizon, the question of what the show will look like is always at the forefront of speculation. Will the show borrow visuals from previous shows or carve a new direction for itself? Recently the divergent design aesthetics between The Original Series and Discovery have been a topic of great debate among fans. Changes to sets, props, costumes, and makeup have given Discovery its own unique visual style rather than embracing the visuals of the Kirk era. With seven television series and more than a dozen movies, there is no shortage of design aesthetics as the various directors and artists have taken the direction of the show’s visuals in new and interesting directions. Everyone is bound to have their personal favorite look for the show. Today's poll asks you which design aesthetic you liked the most. Is the original still the best, or do you prefer the new changes made by Discovery? Let us know what your favorite Star Trek design aesthetic is in this week's poll!

Congratulations on completing training, and welcome to the fleet!

Welcome to the fleet, Ensign!

The unlucky day of Friday the 13th is almost upon us, and that has brought to mind the subject of bad luck. There are many ways people say you can find misfortune. A black cat crossing your path is a popular sign of bad luck. It’s said that breaking a mirror will bring you seven years of misfortune. Walking underneath a ladder or opening an umbrella indoors are both considered unlucky actions, not to mention just plain unsafe things to do. If you want a real example of bad luck, you need only look at some of the fates that befall Starfleet officers. You could fall out into space through a hull breach. Some unlucky souls have been infected with rare alien viruses that are uncomfortable at best and downright horrifying at worst. Time travel or transit through different dimensions could strand someone in any number of unusual realities. There is also always the looming threat of everyday risks from combat with hostile aliens to transporter accidents. There’s no shortage of misfortune that can happen to a member of Starfleet, especially if said officer isn’t named and is wearing a red shirt. However, fate seems happy to pile the misfortune on to some main characters more than others. It would be bad enough to be abducted, be tormented by a clown, or constantly fail to get a well-deserved promotion. All three, and more? It might seem like the universe just has it out for you. Some Star Trek main characters have even been killed, only to find out that not even death can end their streak of bad luck. This week’s poll asks you which character you think always seemed to be dealt the worst hand by fate. Who do you think was the unluckiest main character in Star Trek?

Sometimes a change in scenery can be a welcome bit of variety in a life so often controlled by routines. Life on a Starfleet ship is certainly a life with many routines and schedules. While ships often have shore leave, even this takes place at a nearby port of call. Sometimes a Starfleet officer just needs to take extended leave and get away from everything. Even the most dedicated of officers like Jean-Luc Picard needed to take a vacation every once in a while. Luckily when it’s time to plan a trip the galaxy offers no shortage of potential destinations. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to an ideal vacation. One person might prefer a quiet, uneventful trip while another might find a short stay in the crowded metropolis of the Klingon First City much more enjoyable. Planets like Risa are incredibly popular destinations, but they aren’t for everyone. There are those who would pick touring historic battlefields or museums over a trip to the beach every time. If your character had to take extended shore leave, where would they go?

Congratulations on graduating, and welcome to the fleet!

All dressed up and ready for the awards ceremony!

Welcome to the fleet!

Starfleet has a wide range of vessel classes at their disposal. There are large, top-of-the-line ships like Galaxy-class and Sovereign-class vessels. The Intrepid-class is a lighter long-range explorer. When going into battle a Prometheus-class or Defiant-class ship would be a welcome addition to any fleet. If you are on a scientific mission to investigate some strange phenomena you’d want to bring a Horizon-class, and an Olympic-class flying hospital is the go-to ship for a medical emergency. The Starfleet ship class lineup can adapt to a wide range of situations, but it won’t stay the same forever. Technology is always improving both for the Federation and other states. What was the newest technology available a decade before could already be surpassed by new technology. As the current ship classes go the way of the Miranda-class or Constitution-class new ship classes will need to take their place. If Starfleet came to you and put you in charge of designing the newest addition to Starfleet’s vessel classes what kind of ship would you bring back to them? Perhaps you think there’s a shortage of ships built to defend the Federation. Others could favor smaller ships as opposed to building larger and larger explorers that outclass the current flagships. If given the chance to design a new class of starship, what kind of ship would you design?

Welcome to the fleet Harry!

Every series of Star Trek has taken the same basic premise and put its own unique spin on it. The show follows a crew of Starfleet officers as they carry out Starfleet’s mission of exploration, scientific discovery, and defense of the United Federation of Planets. There is a captain, a first officer, a senior staff made up of the senior officers of each department, and oftentimes a ship named Enterprise. Each new entry into the Star Trek franchise usually tries to do something new from the same starting point. Deep Space Nine placed its crew on a space station out on the frontier as opposed to the Federation flagship. Voyager cut the ship off from all support and left it to fend for itself. Enterprise gave us a look at the earliest days of Starfleet. Despite these changes there is still a great deal of similarity in the basic structure between shows. Every series is unique and tells its own stories, but they all branch off from the same general starting point. However, there’s nothing to say that every Star Trek series has to follow the usual Starfleet crew on their adventures. There are several alternative perspectives that a new series could explore, both inside and outside the United Federation of Planets. If a new Star Trek series decided to depart from the familiar setting of a Starfleet ship or starbase what would you be most excited to see?