ā¢ The Orion starship we see in the opening is visually similar to the Orion interceptors seen in āBorderlandā with some distinct differences.
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Notably, this interceptor has a pair of arms extending from the underside of the ship, similar to the Orion starship seen in the TAS episode, āThe Pirates of Orion.ā
ā¢ Starting with Risikās tattoos, we see several examples of the Orion alphabet introduced in āBorderlandā.
ā¢ Among the plunder the Orion lower deckers are sorting is:
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ A Batāleth
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ A number of 24th century Starfleet type-2 phasers
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ A Vulcan harp
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ A 23rd century Starfleet type-2 phaser
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ A Starfleet compression phaser rifle
ā¢ āHey, did you guys see that Maleer got big pieces of metal attached to her head?ā In āBorderlandā we were introduced to the idea that Orion body modification practices do include grafting bits of what appears to be scrap metal to their bodies.
ā¢ The captainās chair aboard the Orion ship is similar in shape to the one seen in āThe Pirates of Orionā.
ā¢ The Mysterious Threat destroys the Orion vessel, just as it did the Klingon Bird-of-Prey, IKS CheāTaā in āTwovixā, and a Romulan ship in āI Have No Bones Yet I Must Fleeā.
ā¢ āI have put my foot in my mouth enough when it comes to Orion stuff.ā Tendi was hurt by Marinerās insistence that all Orions are pirates who love to pillage in āCrisis Pointā, and Mariner again insulted Tendi by suggesting she use her pheromones to influence a dom-jot game they were attempting to hustle in āWeāll Always Have Tom Parisā.
ā¢ Among his possessions on display, Boimler has a USS Cerritos commemorative plate.
ā¢ Tendi, Mariner, and TāLyn take the Yosemite II shuttle on their away mission/girlsā trip. The original Yosemite was destroyed in when Mariner and Boimler were caught in a gravity well and forced to crash land in āWhere Pleasant Fountains Lieā, and the Yosemite II was introduced in āGroundedā.
ā¢ As the shuttle approaches Orion, we see an Orion barge of the type operated by Harrad-Sar in āBoundā.
ā¢ Several of the buildings on the Orion skyline bear the symbol worn by the Orion crew in āThe Pirate of Orionā.
ā¢ āYou grew up in a castle, like frigginā Billups?ā We learned that chief engineer Billups grew up as heir to the throne of the human colony Hysperia, which is populated entirely by āren faire types.ā
ā¢ Tendi confirms that her family is part of the Orion Syndicate, a criminal organization first mentioned in āThe Ascentā.
ā¢ Bārt Tendi is played by Nolan North, whoās portrayed several Trek characters, including:
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Bridge officer of the USS Vengeance - āStar Trek Into Darknessā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ The Half a Rascal - āMuch Ado About Boimlerā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Cerritos transporter chief, Lundy
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Sokel - āwej Dujā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Kāranch - āThe Least Dangerous Gameā
ā¢ The A.B. Chambers is the steamboat that Mark Twain briefly worked on.
ā¢ Boimler and Rutherford both show up dressed as Mark Twain. The real Samuel Clemens encountered the crew of the USS Enterprise D when they travelled back to 1893 in āTimeās Arrowā.
ā¢ Tendi was first referred to as the Mistress of the Winter Constellations in āWeāll Always Have Tom Parisā.
ā¢ The bottle the Slit Throat bartender pours from features an image of the Orion captain from āThe Pirates of Orionā.
ā¢ The stir stick in Madam Gās drink is topped with the symbol worn by the Orion crew in āThe Pirates of Orionā.
ā¢ New Seattle is a colony on Penthara IV, a world the Enterprise D responded to a disaster on in āA Matter of Timeā.
ā¢ The pattern on the privacy screens of the hump dungeon mirror those of the fence in the fantasy Captain Pike experienced of Vina as an Orion āslave girlā in āThe Menagerie, Part IIā.
ā¢ TāLyn observes that the male Orions in the hump dungeon appear to be under the influence of pheromonal chemical manipulation. It was established in āBoundā that Orion culture is actually matriarchal, with women controlling the men via the use of pheromones.
ā¢ āTendiās made it clear that Starfleet made those pheromones up.ā Actually, all Tendi ever said in āWeāll Always Have Tom Parisā is that sheās, ānot even that kind of Orion.ā
ā¢ Coqqor is played by Eric Bauza, whoās portrayed several PRO and LDS characters, including:
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Barniss Frex - āAsylumā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ ScotāEe and SoolāU - āAll the Worldās a Stageā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ Assface and Screwhead - āSkin a Catā
ā¢ Though there has previously not been any canon Chalnoth ships, the design here appears to be based on the ships seen on the cover of DC Comicsā āStar Trek: The Next Generationā #61, published in 1994.
ā¢ The starship boneyard that Tendi and DāErika used to play in as children contains a Federation exploration vessel of the same design as the USS Raven, which Seven of Nineās parents used to study the Borg and get assimilated. Ship type was first seen in āThe Ravenā.
ā¢ Coqqor devours Rutherford and Boimlerās bonsai tree. In āAllegianceā the Chalnoth Esoqq was unable to eat the food disks provided to Picard and the others by their captors, but did strongly imply that he could subsist on the Mizarian prisoner.
ā¢ āI may not be a pirate, but Iāve rerouted my share of EPS conduits.ā Tendi demonstrated her shipjacking abilities in āHear All, Trust Nothingā.
ā¢ āA report without the subjectās consent would be unethical.ā Vulcans monitor other species without their consent all the time, such as in āStar Trek: First Contactā, āThe Andorian Incidentā, and āCarbon Creekā.
ā¢ Boimler and Rutherford end the episode on the holodeck, both dressed as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The works of Mozart have been featured in:
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ āWhere No One Has Gone Beforeā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ āThe Ensigns of Commandā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ āSarekā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ āA Matter of Timeā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ āA Fistful of Datasā
Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¢ āCogenitorā
āA report without the subjectās consent would be unethical.ā Vulcans monitor other species without their consent all the time, such as in āStar Trek: First Contactā, āThe Andorian Incidentā, and āCarbon Creekā.
While TāLyn might just have made it up on Tendiās behalf, the most recent of those incidents occurred in 2151 (The Andorian Incident). Perhaps Vulcans have modified their code of ethics in the 200+ years since then.
Excellent work as always, I didnāt put it together that Coqqor was a Chalnoth or that we had seen his species before!
I was immediately excited to see a Chalnoth show up. I thought LDS could have some fun with a species that is, at least according to āAllegianceā, completely lawless trying to do science.
The bit about the Chalnoth not trusting Starfleet scans because theyāre too nuanced and through I thought was good, but the rest of the b-plot after that didnāt really work for me. Maybe if Coqqor had actually engaged in the Mark Twain conflict resolution strategy. That would have been fun.
Fortunately the a-plot was really strong on this one.
Agreed all around. Would have loved it if he found the Twain exercise to be subversive and twisted.
Yeah, I donāt want to rewrite the episode too much, because thatās not what Iām here for, but what Rutherford and Boimler showed up on the bridge, still struggling to get their Twain cosplay off? The episode already had Rutherford decrying how complicated vests are. They get called to the bridge, and theyāre still half in costume when they interrupt Freemanās negotiations with Coqqor and he demands an explanation. They stumble over one another trying to provide context for who Twain is, and that they were in an argument, but by both engaging with the character they were able to sort out their differences. The camera pulls in tight on Coqqorās face as his eyes narrow, and after a pause he says, āShow me.ā
Freemanās willing to entertain anything at this point but isnāt convinced. However, Coqqor really gets into the character. After some coaching from Boimler and Rutherford, Freeman is able to reach an agreement with Coqqor, and in addition to scanning access, they agree to a cultural exchange. They give Coqqor the Cerritosā library of Twain writings, including a printing of āA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurās Courtā thatās been in Boimlerās family for generations, but heās willing to part with for the sake galactic diplomacy. Coqqor then immediately eats the book.
Though there has previously not been any canon Chalnoth ships, the design here appears to be based on the ships seen on the cover of DC Comicsā āStar Trek: The Next Generationā #61, published in 1994.
This is really fun, I donāt think TV Trek should stress about ābeta canonā but in instances when it can be used itās nice
There is a handful of ships weāve seen on LDS that were previously only in video games or, concept art, or now in a comic, and I really like that the crew behind the show has all these deep cut references, in addition to making their own inclusions.
With all the āPirates of Orionā references in this one, they really missed the boat not having at least someone pronounce Orion the insane way they do in that episode.
It really bumped me when I was scrubbing through āThe Pirates of Orionā to confirm something for this post, and they started saying āOrEEahn,ā which I had completely forgotten. Went go back to āJourney to Babelā to make sure they didnāt pronounce it that way in there, too.
Is it just me, or did Tendiās mouth look off in this episode?
Kinda? They was certainly a few scenes early in where something about her animation seemed odd.
It was the nightclub scene that got me. Something felt off, but I couldnāt put my finger on it, then she did the bad girl pose and her mouth just looked wrong.
The alert klaxon on the Orion ship in the cold open sounded suspiciously distinctive. Have we heard that before somewhereā¦?