Okay, just seen the #StarTrek #30DayStarTrekChallenge thingy -
https://mastodon.social/@AndorianSoup/109792740824234718
- and figured there's no harm in joining in a week or so behind everyone else.
Day 1: Favourite TOS Episode.
This was banned in the UK for a while (scenes of disease, madness, and torture, don't you know!?) but I still saw it, possibly on VHS, probably right when Kim Darby could have an effect on my growing body. I was a bit smitten, to be honest. Love the story premise too.
Day 2: Favourite Federation Race
It has to be the #Andorians and that's mostly down to the brilliant depth to the character of #Shran brought by Jeffrey Combs in #Enterprise.
Day 3: Favourite Starship
I'll go with #Discovery because there's something about that sleek design that appeals to me. It's the same reason why I love the NX-01 and post-D #Enterprise designs; the other models are a bit chunky. Discovery's got a lovely aesthetic inside too. Plus, why warp when you can spore?
Day 4: Best Captain
I'm decidedly anti-authoritarian, much more a fan of collaborative working rather than dictatorial, hierarchical leadership, and yet, in #StarTrek the best captain for me was Captain Edward Jellico, and for all the reasons in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09TySF0FN6Y
The fact that he just so happens to be hilarious too and on Mastodon is a bonus: @STDeltaShift
Day 5: Saddest Event
(Doing a day early because we're "socialising" tomorrow)
One word: "No." Quietly. As if an entire lifetime of friendship is exhaled. It's Kirk's reaction to Spock's death in Wrath of Khan that brings tears to my eyes every time.
Day 6: Happiest Event
A very tricky one. There are fun or amusing episodes and events, certainly, but happy? For someone who finds people having babies or getting married tolerable but not terribly enjoyable this has been the toughest one to choose something for, but I'll pick Sisko meeting Kirk at the end of the excellent Trials and Tribble-ations DS9 episode.
Day 7: Favourite TNG Episode
Parallels
Everyone likes multiverse stories - I know I do - and this one gave us a chance to see some subtly different, and wildly different #StarTrek universes, whilst also being a Worf-centred story that didn't bore me to tears (sorry, Worf). A story that spun a Worf and Troi relationship into the mix for a while too, but still mostly memorable for the universe where crazy, homeless man Will Riker somehow commandeered a starship.
Day 8: Favourite Federation Enemy
Xindi-Reptilian
(I know: technically pre-Federation)
Aggressive, powerful and power-seeking, cruel, but with flashes of questioning their mission against Earth, it's mostly the Xindi-Reptilians' fashion sense that warrants this entry in my list. Shiny purple is so in right now, and the practicality of being able to dry up your plates or store your vinyl albums on your shoulders? Genius!
Day 9: Favourite Character
A few candidates across the various series, but I'll go with Garak for reasons that probably don't need explaining to any #StarTrek fan. An intelligence agent, an outcast forced to live among people who hate him, at turns vicious then charming, a storyteller, source of some of the greatest quotes, and, in his own words, a very good tailor too.
Day 10: Most Shocking Moment
I've gone with this small scene from The Motion Picture. A genuinely disturbing minute of the movie that's stuck in the memory since first viewing just from the sound of that scream and the implication of how much pain is being felt. I can't think of another death in the franchise quite so horribly drawn out.
Day 11: Crew Position You'd Want
No, it's not the captaincy, despite the photo. It's something in the science division, preferably a planetary, geological, or biological specialist so I could be among the first on any new planets.
"Why are you drinking in that alien bar?"
"For science!"
and:
"No, stop, Commander! Don't kiss that attractive alien until I've gone first. For science!"
Also, blue's more my colour.
Day 12: Favourite DS9 Episode
I've picked a two-parter with Improbable Cause and The Die Is Cast because it's got a lot of the things I like: some of Garak's secrets revealed, the sneakiness of the Dominion, unusual alliances, great space battles.
Day 13: Favourite Time Travel Episode
Year of Hell
Is it time travel? The timeline does a reset at the end, so it maybe just counts, but perhaps it's just an alternate reality episode instead. Although, the realities are generated from changes to the timeline. Yeah, I'm going to say it counts.
Similar to Equinox and the Enterprise Xindi season, I love these battered vessel, desperate crew, grey area, deadly dangerous sorts of episodes.
Day 14: Favourite First Officer
A role he had only briefly, but red looks good on Data and he was perfect for the position at precisely the time that egomaniac Riker wasn't during Chain of Command. Authoritative, efficient, capable of offering alternative options but not getting moody about what the captain chooses, and he'd been decorated enough and more than served enough time in Starfleet for the assignment by this point.
Day 15: Favourite Trek Book
Thankfully, the challenge doesn't require fiction because other than a few Shatner-written novels many years ago I'd be drawing a blank. I have to go with this original series book covering plots and behind the scenes information from every episode of the original series. I picked this up on my visit to the US back in 2011 and it's a hefty, gorgeously glossy piece of work.
Mark H
Piers Cawley