Star Trek Prodigy - Season Two

I am in awe of this show. A rag tag bunch of misfits giving us all the story and power of Star Trek. A show supposedly for kids but it made this adult cry, laugh and feel hopeful for a better future. 

Again the last 2 episodes of the season, just like season 1, are all that Star Trek is about. 

I hope there is a season 3 but if it has to end it certainly went out on top. Although I don't think I am actually ready to say goodbye to my new favorite family: Dal, Gwyn, Rok, Zero, Murf, Maj'El and Jankom.

It was a joy to hear some familiar voices on the show and see them in all their animated glory :) We tried not to look things up on IMDB or read the cast credits so we could be surprised when certain people showed up. It was also the reason for us binging the show as best as we could before SDCC. We didn't want to be spoiled but ... in the end we were spoiled with riches ... due to an amazing show and story ;)

I will most definitely be watching the show again and if you haven't found it yet or started it, I highly recommend you rectify that. I don't believe you will be let down at all. Go along for the ride and enjoy the rag tag family of misfits in all their Star Trek glory.

4 paws and a Murf ;)

Star Trek: Lower Decks Seasons 1-3

As I wrote in my review of Strange New Worlds, I am so glad we had watched two episodes of this series before the crossover episode. It definitely helped us enjoy the crossover much more as we had background that would have been missing otherwise. I know that sounds obvious but really it made a huge difference with us liking the episode and not liking it.

So honestly, I did not like season one at all overall. It was a little too off kilter for me. The humor is not my favorite and it was hard to get into the silliness of it all.

Luckily, the next 2 seasons were better. They seemed better put together and flowed much better. There was story and things carried over into other episode and everything just worked better and I was able to get into it. I am glad. I know so many friends who rave about this series and I was sad I wasn't feeling it. 

Although I do have to say, if you have never watched any Star Trek, there is sooooo much you will miss in this series and sometimes it does make a difference to liking/understanding an episode and not. I asked Brainwise maybe the most questions during this series than any of the others... that is a lot of questions! I just don't recall past shows like he does, so he definitely enjoys the show much more than I do.

I do refuse to miss out though. I love how all these series fit together in so many different ways. So clever and so difficult and I appreciate it.

2 paws - season one

3 paws - season two and three

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4

 

Sonequa Martin-Green is glorious in her role as Michael Burnham. She is fierce, strong, independent, brilliant, courageous, confident, loyal and one of my favorites in the Star Trek universe. 

Right behind Sonequa is Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly. She is my spirit Star Trek character. I adore her. She is exactly who I would be if I were in the Star Trek universe. She is a great friend, brilliant scientist, incredible team member and I definitely want to be friends with her.

Over the four seasons we were treated to a roller coaster of emotions. We laughed, we cried, oh how we cried, we yelled, we were annoyed, we swooned, we cheered and we loved almost every second of all four seasons. There were a few wobbles but not enough that I can remember them specifically now to write about them. 

This show is a definite for the Star Trek aficionados and even those that aren't. There are quite a few episodes that lead to deep discussions between Brainwise and myself. You will definitely be entertained by almost all the episodes and if you are a Doug Jones fan, you definitely need to watch him portray Saru. We love him and we knew he was in this series, we just did not know how much he was in this series and we were thrilled. He was spectacular and perfectly cast for this role.

I could go on and on about each member of this cast and how wonderful they are: Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, Emily Coutts, Jason Isaacs, Tig Notaro, and the amazing Michelle Yeoh. Just go and watch and enjoy it all.

4 paws

Star Trek: Picard Season Three

 Speechless once again.

All my favorites from Next Generation (well almost all) in one place but once again. My heart is happy.

What an excellent story!! It allowed each character to have their moment on their own and together in various ways. I just loved seeing everyone again and in some ways it is like no time has passed at all. Just a little more gray and maybe a slight be slower to run :) I'll take it and I am grateful this was created and that everyone was part of it.

Obviously this season had even more tie ins to previous iterations and I am sure I missed a lot of information but it certainly didn't detract at all for my love and admiration of this show, characters, and actors. My sobbing during the season and at the final episode is a testament to that. The space these people hold in my heart is immense and special. I am forever grateful for knowing them.

Please go and watch and enjoy the pure love that is on your screen, both from the characters and from the actors. Like Strange New Worlds and the love they have for their characters, Picard season 3 is the same. The care that there is for the characters and their stories is impeccable. 

4 paws and a tail

Star Trek: Picard Season Two

Not as good as season one but still an excellent show.

Brainwise and I both believe this season could have been done in 5 episodes but they made it last 10.

Agnes as Queen was incredible and I completely understand and support what she did. I feel that I might have done the same if I were in her character.

Elnor is lovely but there may be a few too many mentions of him and it is part of the reason 10 episodes seemed too long for this season.

Picard's childhood and Maman was just a bit... ok a lot... overdone. Again this could have been 2 episodes max and it would have covered what was needed but instead it did run over the whole 10 episodes.

I wouldn't tell you not to watch but just be aware that this season may slow down just a bit too much. BUT you need it to cover some very important information that comes from season 1 and appears in season 3.

I would say that the guest star character is not my favorite but it ended up working out and my annoyance was for not.

3 paws

Star Trek: Picard Season One

 

I am huge Patrick Stewart fan and an even bigger Patrick Stewart as Jean Luc Picard fan. He is just pure perfection as himself and as Jean Luc. 

I loved this season. I heard many who had issues but I had none. I for one absolutely LOVED every cast member, I though they were perfectly cast and Alison Pill was so incredible (and could possibly be me  if I were in the show LOL). She has one scene that we replayed just because it was perfect and hilarious and soooooo me. 

We also repeated a Rios scene because it was absolute perfection and verrrrry unexpected ;)

There were soooooooo many tears though. Wow, that was truly unexpected. I don't think I realized how much I missed the characters or how much they have impacted my life and this is only the first season!!!

I loved the mystery of the season and I loved the discussions it led to between Brainwise and myself, including could the Romulans actually be right???

I give nothing away and I tell you, just sit down with a box of tissues and jump right in. Patrick Stewart brings it all along with the rest of the cast and we are off on an adventure of a lifetime, or two. I always appreciate the bigger questions that Star Trek asks as this season didn't hold back. There were times I thought I knew what I believed but by the end of the episode I was looking at it all a whole different way. Not many shows can do that after how many iterations. 

To that point, the show opens discussing death and I don't think of Star Trek as being about death. I always viewed it as being about exploration and finding life and helping other beings live their lives. But this season showed me what perhaps I didn't want to see or failed to realize and I am grateful for it. Life is not forever and you should get out and explore as much as you can in the time you have.

There were also tons of tie ins to Star Trek history and again I had to ask Brainwise quite a few questions but I would have been fine if I chose to not ask and just keep watching. Some things were answered as we went along, some things were not necessary in the end and other things helped me better appreciate the story.

We are already going to start Season 2 but I wanted to be sure to get this written before we did that. I am very curious where we are going next but I am definitely along for the ride. I wonder who we might run into this time around :)

4 paws

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2

Brilliant and every single possible synonym!!!!

I am practically speechless from this season.

AND the musical episode... who ever in their right mind thought there would be a musical Star Trek episode??? Not me!! BUT it may be one of my favorite episodes of any show ever that I have seen. It was perfection from start to finish, including the opening credits and closing credits... in fact make sure you always watch and listen to them for all the episodes ... they tie in more often than you would expect.

I adore each casting in this show and I am grateful for the love and care each actor has for their character. These are big character shoes to fill and they all do it wonderfully. I can't even call out one of over any other. They all bring their A games every time and it looks like they all get along in real life.

I will also just place a name here which to me is proof of how amazing this show is: Carol Kane!

I am also glad we happened to watch 2 episodes of Lower Decks before we launched into this second season. As there is an episode with a cross over... yup you heard me.. a crossover with an animated show. Again, the brilliance this took to pull this off was outstanding... err out of this world ;) I was grateful to understand the incoming characters by watching the 2 episodes, I am pretty sure I would not have enjoyed it as much without the background.

I do love all the mentions of other parts of Star Trek but I do have to ask Brainwise quite a few questions to keep up with it at times. I just don't have the mental capacity to recall my Star Trek watching history and catch all the tidbits but Brainwise is like a Star Trek Encyclopedia at times :) and I mean that in the most loving way. Also you don't necessarily miss anything if you don't know the history, it just adds a layer if you do know it.

I have to say if you aren't watching this show... get off your butts and then hold on to them while you watch one of the best series out there.

4 paws and a tail (or is that contrail)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season One

 

I have already written about the first episode of this series awhile ago but now we were able to watch the whole first season on You Tube. Maybe not the best way to watch any series but it did the trick and we were able to enjoy this amazing series overall.

Anson Mount seems like he was born to play a Star Trek Captain. He is perfection to me and I really enjoy his take on Captain Chris Pike. He is engaging, funny, deep, thoughtful, strong, soft, and a great Dad figure to everyone. 

Every actor was perfect for their casting and I am in love with all of them. I would love to be friends with them all, especially Uhura portrayed by Celia Rose Gooding. She is effortless and beautiful and an amazing homage to Nichele Nichols' Uhura but also all her own woman.

I love the humor that is imbedded in the stories, I do wonder if some of it was ad libbed or if it was all actually scripted. Each episode gave each character a front row seat but each character was a part of their story. Even what seemed an oddly paced episode 8: "The Elysian Kingdom", it turned out to be one of our favorite episodes.

As with all Star Trek there is always deeper meaning and ways to connect their stories to either our own lives, the world around us or the universe at large. I always feel that Star Trek stories come from deep history for each writer and it is akin to storytelling in olden times. Stories you would tell around the campfire and would be passed down through every generation. 

It is true that Brainwise might have caught a few more things than me due to his deep history of Star Trek knowledge but it didn't detract from me loving this series. He would fill in the information and sometimes it would trigger a memory for me of watching the original series or a name would ruminate and remind me of something I had seen. 

The filming/cinematography of this series is beyond incredible. You feel like you are in the stories and the lighting at times just adds so much depth to the story in front of you. I love that we laughed as much as we cried and rejoiced as much as we were heart-broken.

I remember being so blown away by that first episode, and yes we watched it again and it held up, that I was so happy that the next 9 episodes were just as good. It is not a spoiler to say that it is nice to know who won't die, since they have to be around for The Original Series episodes :) That allowed us to dig in deep to the stories and see the growth and laying out of the history for all the stories to come.

4 paws and a tail

Star Trek - Strange New Worlds - episode 1

 Dangrdafne review:

EVERY HUMAN on this planet should watch this first episode right now!!!! This is the story we all need right now. This is the direction we need to go. Where is the Federation when you need them? On Paramount+ apparently. WOW!!!!

The writers of Star Trek are of another realm of brilliance. I do not know how they do it but they never fail to amaze me. This first episode is beyond incredible. I laughed, I cried, I yelled, I sighed.

Anson Mount is spectacular and each crew member is perfectly chosen and I am in love with all of them. I seriously am floored by how quickly I was enamored with each character. But then I am a Trekkie at heart.

The cinematography is out of this world and I could see that even from watching the episode on our TV via YouTube! I can only imagine how incredible it would be in its original format.

4 paws and a tail and a whole Enterprise filled with cats!! Like Tribbles but better 😉

SDCC last minute reminders

Print out all your confirmations: SDCC Merchandise pre-order, Exclusives Lottery wins, tickets to parties, anything that you think you can get on your phone, don't trust it and print it. Some places only accept the print out too.

Make sure you have binoculars, sunscreen, swimsuit, a few pairs of shoes, extra socks and underwear, and business cards if you are handing them out this year. If you are cosplaying make sure you have all the parts for your costume. And most of all, YOUR BADGE!

I was trying to go from memory for packing and I decided that I shouldn't trust that, so I pulled out my travel folder and found a fun checklist from Crazy for Comic Con's 2012 post!! It was perfect, it helped me remember to get the binoculars out and into my carry on. I love to use them when in our hotel room, if we are lucky enough to get a view.

Another fun thing that someone did and I "stole" :) was creating a secret Facebook group with your friends so that you can safely post where you are and when so a potential meet up could happen at any time. Instead of trying to text everyone or Tweet out your info publicly, I though this was a great idea. So I created one for my group of friends and I am hopeful it will work for us. *Crosses fingers and toes for good service in the center*

I also highly recommend using the My Sched that is offered by CCI. If your friends all use it and you are connected by social media then you can see your friend's schedules and see if anything overlaps. My hubby and I even use it for each other!!

Last but not least, have fun, be nice, sleep well and remember we are all here for the same reason... the love of comics and all that entails.

-Dangrdafne

Official Star Trek Poster Magazine Ad

Comic book ad for the Official Star Trek Poster Magazine. This scan is from MEN OF WAR #1 (DC Comics | Aug, 1977).