Another Piece of Trek Kurtzman Ruined

Hi Alex,

With all this talk about Star Trek's television side, I have totally forgotten that there is another part of the Trek universe that Kurtzman and his hacks at Secret Hideout ruined. For decades, dozens of novelist have worked hard to continue the universe on the written page.

In 2021, because of Kurtzman and his dreck, a trilogy of novels called Star Trek: Coda did a hard reset on the novel-side of Star Trek. Everything set post Star Trek: First Contact (2373) has been given the Expanded Universe treatment. (If you don't know what that means, ask a Star Wars fan when happen to their novels when Disney took over and I'm sure they will explain it to you in detail.)

And yes, Peter David fans, that means all of Star Trek: New Frontier is now gone from the timeline. I'm not blaming David Mack, who wrote Coda. I'm blaming Kurtzman. 

It is his mismanagement of the franchise, his disregard for continuity and his utter lack of writing skill that caused this. Secret Hideout could not write the ingredient list to a box of cereal without losing the plot and having somebody burst out into tears at least three time before getting to the end.

They are complete and utter hacks !

Okay, rant over. Have a nice day,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

Ah, frak it ! A Star Trek Pitch

Hi Alex, 

Yesterday, I wrote a letter to Robert Meyer Burnett. It was a plan for resetting Star Trek for the post-Kurtzman era. And key to it was an antagonist/villain I called Captain Black. Long story short, Captain Black has been messing with the timeline. He is stopped and the timeline is fixed. If you want to read the long version, check out...

https://xanthi-rising.blogspot.com/2025/09/how-to-fix-star-trek-in-5-steps.html 

But Captain Black was only a placeholder name/character. So who could Captain Black really be ? Well, I made a top three. So let's get going...

1) Somebody New... This might be the easiest thing to do. Just create a new character for the reset. Somebody from some race we haven't heard of before. Or a member of some old foe cooking up a plan to take over the galaxy yet again.

2) Future Guy.... One of Enterprise's biggest loose ends. I know the novels answered this question. But IMHO that solution was a bit....meh. And Paramount has made it clear that the novels are not canon to the shows. So here's a chance to do it again.

3) The unhinged one and my favorite.....Rassilion

Wait ? That crazy president guy from Doctor Who ? The one played by Timothy Dalton for a bit ? Dude, that's not even the right franchise ! I know, I know, but hear me out....

The last time we saw Rassilion, the 12th Doctor exiled him from Gallifrey. At the time, Gallifrey was located near the end of its universe. There was a fair chance that there was nowhere for Rassilion to go. So it makes sense that he went to another universe. This also provides a nice McGuffin for why he survived The Master's shenanigans in the Timeless Child plot-line. I won't bother you with a recap of that plot, all you need to know is that the (most of) the Time Lords were wiped out AGAIN. 

But more importantly, the Time Lords have a piece of tech called the Hand of Omega. It allows them to remotely manipulate stars. The Hand is a perfect way to explain the Romulan Supernova, which is one of the stupidest things in NuTrek. Remember, the Romulans started out as Vulcans and colonized a new world. The idea that they would not check if all the nearby stars for supernova potential is TOO STUPID FOR WORDS. 

If any of the stars near Romulus were only a few thousand years from kicking the bucket, there would have signs. The colonists would have seen them and not settled the planet. But if it was Rassilion using the Hand to mess with the star, things start to make a lot more sense. Especially since the Romulans use black holes to power their warp drives. And don't use dilithium. 

This also stitches the absolute disaster of a plot that is the Burn a bit. Not only is it a little less far-fetched if there is a puppet master, it makes sense that Rassilion would take out the Romulans first. Since they are the only major power that would not be effected by the next phase of his plan. 

What is Rassilion's end game ? Well, I think he's the one who created the Time Wars. Having fought in the Last Great Time War, he would know exactly how to do it. Which strings to pull. And then the governments do exactly what he wants them to do. They totally outlaw time travel. Leaving him with a total monopoly on time travel and unshackled to play god.

And the beauty is that nobody is every going to suspect him, because everybody thinks he doesn't exist. He's 'just some character from some old TV show'.  

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

How To Fix Star Trek in 5 steps

Hi Rob,

It's been a while since I've written in, so I hope this letter finds you well. I'm not going to beat around the bush and get straight to the point. Kurtzman Trek sucks !! It's either people crying in corridors or dumb, nonsensical set pieces. So, without further ado, here is my action plan to reset Trek and clear the deck for new, good post-Kurtzman shows...

Step 1:  Introduce a villain. Make the current mess of a timeline somebody's fault. An unseen puppet master has been deliberately messing up the timeline. Let's call him....Captain Black, after the Mysterion agent from Captain Scarlet. 

Step 2: Captain Seven and the crew of the Enterprise-G figure this out. One of the stupidest things about Picard Season 1 was that the Federation just let Mars burn. We learn that they did try to put out the fires, but Captain Black sabotaged the attempt. So the Enterprise-G goes back in time and puts a wrench in his plan. The good news is that the fires are extinguished, the bad news is that Captain Black escapes.

Step 3: You now have a major point of divergence in the timeline. And the further you go forward, the bigger the changes get. Like a tsunami as it approaches the coast. But first to address the elephant in the room....why do the incursion here ? Why not prevent the attack on Mars altogether ? 

Because IMHO the only good post-2005 Trek is the stuff Kurtzman didn't work on. Lower Decks was not my cup of tea, but it was well made. Together with Prodigy and Picard Season 3, its the baby we don't want to throw out with the bathwater. 

By doing this way, we're not messing with the Lower Decks and the end of Prodigy. But Mars can now be resettled, maybe even by Romulan refugees, which will influence the timeline and remove Discovery Season 3, 4 and 5. Along with Star Trek: 90210 aka Starfleet Academy. And now we are ready for....

Step 4:  Go over the Picard Season 3 scripts with a fine toothed comb.

People are saying 'but if we keep Picard season 3, we're also stuck with Seasons 1 and 2.' Are we ? Pay attention, what do the characters actually say ? The SPECIFIC you are stuck with, the IMPLIED you can jettison. 

For example, Jack says that Jean-Luc told him that Q was dead. People extrapolate from that this means that the whole Confederate/2024 trip is therefore stuck in canon. No, it doesn't. All this means, is that Picard was there when Q kicked the bucket. The circumstances, the time, the place...none of that is locked down by what Jack said.

Another example...we see Raffi aboard the La Sirena. But the "fact" that it used belong to Rios and then by Seven, is not referenced. So is that it's pre-season 3 history in this rewritten timeline ? For all we know, Rios never left Starfleet in this timeline. 

So, study the episodes, takes notes and then get to work... With research and clever writing, I think you can cut Picard Season 3 loose from Seasons 1 and 2.

Step 5:  Deal with Captain Black

So now we have dealt with the post-2385 mess. But what about Strange New Worlds and the first two season of Discovery ? Well, I'm thinking that with the timeline partially repaired, the USS Relativity could show up. 

Future Starfleet has detected the Enterprise-G's shenanigans. And since now-Captain Ducane has worked with Seven before, it made sense to send the Relativity to back the Enterprise-G up. Together, they hunt down Captain Black in the far distant past, where he has been messing with the geology of Boreth. 

That's how the time crystals from Discovery came about. And they are the roots case of Micheal Burnham's history. The two ships stop Captain Black and create a cascade effect that rewrites the 23rd century back to how it was before. Captain Black is thrown in the Relativity's brig and both ships go home. 

And we are left with a nice, clean slate of a future. While keeping the few nuggets of gold and getting rid of all of Kurtzman's dreck. Thoughts ?

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X)

Agents of Shield's Biggest Plothole

 Hi Alex, 

To pass some time on a bored Saturday evening, I decided to write you a letter about an old, but good one. What IMHO is the biggest plot-hole in Marvel's Agents of Shield. During Season 5, the team is zapped forward in time to a post-apocalyptic Earth. 

In the year 2091, most of humanity has been wiped out by some unknown disaster, the Kree are running the place and the environmental conditions are nasty. 

In the end, the Kree are defeated and the remains of humanity are liberated. It is also revealed that the Earth was quaked apart a few days after the team left. Coulson and co travel back to what for them is the present, while the 2091 set about rebuilding Earth. 

Except, here comes the plot-hole....The 2091 folks are frakked on matter what. 

Why ? Well, let's begin with Coulson and co. Now that they know that the disaster is coming, the Shield folks set about preventing the disaster that wrecked Earth. And they succeed. Which means that the version of 2091 they visited now no longer exists. They've been erased for existence.  

But let's say they somehow escape that fate. Through some multiversal shenanigans, their timeline is still out there. And they manage to re-assemble the Earth using Kree technology and Inhuman/Mutant powers. There are two things that will still doom them...

1) The Earth shattered is the Mother-of-all extinction events. The bulk of Earth's flora and fauna are gone forever. But....

2) ...A key piece of Earth's ecosystem isn't ON it. It's in orbit of it. When the Earth was quaked, the planet's gravity field was also shattered. And without that gravity, there is nothing to keep the moon in orbit...

...which means that 2091 Earth is still doomed. Don't believe me ? Go to YouTube and ask what would happen if the Moon disappeared. Long version short, it's not good.

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

So why ?

Hi Alex, 

So I've recently kicked two posts out on my blog to tell what I would do if I had the keys to kingdom of Doctor Who. Long story short, I really mixed Doctor Who and the Marvel Cinematic Universe together using the freshly introduced character of Mephisto. 

But I feel I didn't go into the WHY enough. So here we are. Starting with...

Reheated Nachos ?

This is problem with the current Doctor Who era. There is a LOT of recycling ideas. This is called Reheated Nachos by some fans. The biggest example of this is Gallifrey being destroyed in the Time War, then being restored and then being destroyed AGAIN in the Timeless Child arc. This is just lazy writing and plain stupid. And has angered plenty of NuWho fans.

Also, in my opinion, the Timeless Child arc didn't develop Doctor Who lore. It flattened it, ruined it. The Master 'happened' to find Timeless Child ? Yeah, right. It's more lazy writing. By putting a Big Bad - Mephisto - behind it you are retro-actively removing the 'coincidence/laziness' from these two big plot points. 

What Did Disney Get for Their Money ?

So far, not much....a single one special appearance by one D-list villain (Meep the Beep) and declining ratings. While the people making Doctor Who are not really listening to Disney. Yeah, I'd pull the plug as well. 

Right now, the fact that it is Disney, specifically that is giving the BBC/Bad Wolf a bag of money, is not really adding anything. If it had been a Netflix bag of money, or an Amazon bag of money, nothing major would have been lost. (Meep the Beep is not that impressive.) 

Added to that, a lot of people have turned off from having to 'do homework' to understand to the MCU movies. My impression is that not a lot people watched IronHeart. Introducing Mephisto there was a bad move. 

By making Mephisto a big bad in Doctor Who, you are now properly weaving together Disney and BBC characters. By making it a detective story, you have an excuse for exposition. And thus - if properly written - you DON'T have to do any homework. The characters will fill you in, making it the perfect starting point. 

Really, dude, you want to re-introduce Phil Coulson to the MCU...

Good point. This is another reason why I want Yelena to be the one who hears the whispers of the Fob-watch in Avengers: Doomsday. When she joined the MCU, Coulson was long dead. They never met. Hence, she is the perfect audience stand-in. 

Because - like people who have never heard of Doctor Who (or chose not to watch it) - she has to learn/puzzle together what is going on. And the audience is learning with her. It's a detective story/sub-plot and we're going with the detective and putting it together. Again, no need for homework.

And that's all I have for today,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

Ruining Victor's Day (Part 2)

 Where were we ?

 Last time, we ended with Coulson about to go Time Lord... (Long story, you might want to read Part 1) ...which is exactly what happens. Coulson regenerates into...a young Martin Freeman ? Yes, that would be my plan. The regeneration saves Coulson's life. But....wouldn't people have noticed Everett Ross being a Time Lord ?

No, because the Humans aren't used to turning into Time Lords. So Coulson is out cold. It is at this point that the Sisterhood of Karn arrives and uses a piece of technology called a Chameleon Arch on him. The Arch turns a Time Lord into a Human and stores the 'extra' bit inside an old-fashioned fob-watch. 

When the Doctor used the Arch, he didn't remember who he used to be and became a Human called John Smith. So Coulson becomes Everett Ross. As for how much of Ross' memories are real...? A lot. 

He became younger because Time Lord cells are much denser then Human ones. And there is only so much mass and energy to go around. So he really did enlist in the Air Force, married his (now ex-)wife and served in the CIA.

Why do it like this ?

There are lots of issues with the MCU. But IMHO one of the biggest problems is that it has lost it's heart. Putting Coulson back into the MCU is a big step towards giving the universe its heart back. And I think Freeman can pull it off. (Besides, he's already in the MCU.) Plus, this gives 'Ross' a whole new arc. It's a way to stir things up, big time. And if they do want to bring Clark Gregg back, he can portray his Life Model Decoy from Agents of Shield. It's a way to have your cake and eat it to. Time to move on to....

Avengers: Doomsday

For most of this movie, Ross is still Ross. He thinks the fob-watch belonged to his grandfather. But something is already brewing....with Yelena Belova. Back in Black Widow, all the ladies of the Red Room were exposed to anti-mind control gas. But the important thing is that Yelena was the FIRST person to be exposed. And the residue of this gas caused the fob-watch to start to whispering to her. 

At the end of the movie, Ross is horribly injured and near-death. Yelena has finally found the fob-watch and is racing to get the watch to Ross. And on this cliffhanger, the movie ends...

Avengers: Secret Wars

Yelena reaches Ross in time and opens the fob-watch. The transformation heals Coulson's wounds. His character development for this movie is dealing with having both Coulson's and Ross' memories. What could possibly make things even worse is the presence of Coulson 1.0 in the form of his LMD. Like a multi-doctor story, except different. 

Coulson 2.0's knowledge of Mephisto then becomes the spark that help the heroes to come up with a plan to defeat Victor von Doom. 

The Future

I don't know how many movies Martin Freeman has left on his contract. But when his contract runs out, Coulson regenerates again. Also, I figure that having a Time Lord added to the mix would get the attention of the Time Variance Authority. Maybe opening the door to a season 3 of Loki ? Other then that, who knows ? *Touches nose* Who knows ? 

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302) 

Mephisto All Along (Part 1)

Or...The Plot that  I think Disney and Bad Wolf should write. But won't have the balls to, because...(copyright) lawyers. 

Okay, the Whoniverse is Earth (Dimension) 5556. Marvel had the Doctor Who comic right from 1979 until 1999. So it is part of the comics that form the basis of the MCU. With that technical detail out of the way, where did I get this idea...

Recently I watched two ScreenCrush videos about IronHeart. The first was about who (else) made a deal with Mephisto, while the second was about possible future plots created by the show. And that was when a possible road map sprang into my head.  

Basically, this is what I would do if Doctor Who went forward. As for what the deal is with the red text...I wrote a version 1.0, but then had some addition ideas. So now you're reading version 1.1. Is it any good ? Well, I hope you will read it and decide for yourself. So enough preamble and on to...

The Plot

Our plot starts in the days of ancient days of Gallifrey. Here, Mephisto make a deal with two of the planet's Founding Fathers...Rassilon and Omega. But he does not succeed making in making a deal with Tecteun, who is too busy with her Timeless Child experiments. 

This deal is why (as stated in the episode The Five Doctors)  the official history say that Rassilon was a great leader, while the myths say he was terrible tyrant. The myths are true, because the Mephisto's influence was corrupting Rassilon (and many of the ancients Gallifreyan/Time Lords, who were a pretty evil bunch).

And then Tecteun succeeds. She adds Regeneration to the mix. Now, when you make a deal with Mephisto, you're stuck with him for life and the afterlife. Humans only have ONE life. So the deal sticks. 

But in the End of Time (Part 1) the Tenth Doctor talks about regeneration to Wilfred Mott. And he says it's like dying. Everything he was dies and some new man saunters away. My take would be that because both the personality and the body that made the deal is lost, the deal doesn't stick. Humans are stuck with the deal forever, Time Lords are stuck for one Incarnation. They regenerate, the deal expires.

Which Omega figures out. More important, he starts broadcasting his theory far and wide. To all his people, who then start using this loophole to get out of their deals. Mephisto's control of Gallifrey is crumbling. 

In revenge, Mephisto makes Omega lose his marbles and manipulates the last few people he still has control over exile Omega into an alternate dimension...which is the place that The Rani was trying to liberate him from in the Reality War.

After the last of Mephisto's influence is gone, Rassilon then white-washes the history book to make it seem like he brought Gallifrey out of it's dark ages. And to score PR-points, he starts a campaign against evil. He destroys Earth 5556's copy of the DarkHold, he wipes out the local version of the Symbiotes, gets rid of the vampires, fights the Racnoss, etc, etc.

All of this turns around Gallifrey's image. And Mephisto sees this happening. Between losing the planet and them suddenly being know as ancient, powerful good guys, he is pissed. But then he finds the perfect person to make a deal with. The person who will let him wipe out the Time Lords. DAVROS. 

He gave Davros the knowledge to create the Daleks. And the downside, the cost for Davros of this deal is pretty obvious. The missing half of his body, the wheelchair, the mutations and the blindness. The whole Last Great Time War was Mephisto trying to get rid of the Time Lords. Except, it didn't work. Yes, they suffered a great deal. Yes, they went through the Hell of war. 

But as we saw in The Day of the Doctor, they survived. Thanks to the Doctor and Clara, with an assist by UNIT and the Zygons, they found hope. So he has to try again. His new plan...placing the Timeless Child files some place where he knew The Master would find them. And this time, it did the trick.

How to weave all of this into new episodes ? 

Originally, my plan was for a single page of the DarkHold to be the McGuffin that starts the plot. But that was slightly off, so....The Doctor is trying to figure out the identity of The Boss. The Boss not only employs Beep the Meep, they also own the Time Hotel. 

My plan is for Mephisto to be The Boss. So, why did M send Anita Benn to help the Doctor in The Reality War ? Well, he wasn't being kind. He didn't want Omega to tell the Doctor the truth about Gallifrey's ancient times. 

Following a trail of clues, the 16th doctor - played by Billie Piper - finds a single page of the DarkHold in the Gallifreyan archives. Which make the Doctor decide that she needs a companion....

Who I think the companion should be....

This whole thing is so unhinged already that I figure it's a case of Go Big or Go Home. So my pitch....Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson.

How would that come about ?:

The Doctor recognizes the page of the DarkHold and realizes that they will need an expert of Earth 616. (We learn that the Doctor has watched all of Agents of Shield and Agent Carter.) But the Doc also realizes they can't just pluck some random person from that universe. Fortunately, there is another option...

In the two parter Dark Water/Death in Heaven, Missy aka The Master tried to turn all of Earth's dead people into Cybermen. As part of that scheme, she used a piece of a supercomputer called the Matrix. A supercomputer designed to store the minds of dead people. 

That Matrix hard-drive was confiscated by UNIT and is still sitting in the Black Archives. So the Doctor snatches Coulson from the end of his life. Events from the Agents of Shield episode The End are not altered, nor are Seasons 6 and 7 of Agents of Shields. 

The only thing that is altered is that it was only Coulson's body that died. Everything else is safely in the Matrix. The Doctor grows Coulson a new body, one that lines up with Clark Gregg's current age - the body being older due to having to work with Earth limited technology - and they are off to the races...

The New Bit

Following more clues, 16 and Coulson eventually find their way to the planet of Karn. Home to the Sisterhood of Karn. The sisters are a religious order who guard an eternal flame and the secrets of Regeneration. The Sisterhood survived the Master actions and we learn that they have another page from the DarkHold.

Back in the days of ancient Gallifrey, the Time Lords removed two pages from the DarkHold as part of the study to figure out how to destroy it. One for themselves and one for the Sisters. The Time Lord page is the one the Doctor found in the archives. The Sisters used their knowledge to create a Mephisto detector with the DarkHold page as its power source.

The Sisters can't kill Mephisto, but they've figured out how to exile him from their universe. This is why he has taken on the alias of the Boss. He needs henchmen to his work. And he uses the Time Hotel to get around. Because if he used magic to move around, the Mephisto detector would go off and the Sisters would exile him.

The Conclusion

The Doctor sacrifies herself to use Regeneration energy to destroy the Time Lord page - exposing it to regeneration energy is how the ancient Time Lords destroyed the book back in the day - and becomes the 17th Doctor. 

This gives Coulson an opening. Using a spell her got from the Sisters, he goes back to Earth 616 and drags Mephisto along. This kills Coulson and leaves Mephisto locked out of Earth 5556 (again). But the Sisters have one last trick up their sleeve.

The Time Lords have a piece of technology called a Chameleon Arch, which can turn a Time Lord into a human. But the Sisters have figured out how to do the reverse. So Coulson regenerates into....and that's all we have time for today. To be continued...   

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302) 

From 2029 to 2039

 Hi Alex,

A while back, I took a stab at writing a re-imagining of Space: 1999. Because 1999 has come and gone, I changed the year to 2029. I managed to get the pilot done. But something was just...off. So when I tried to write episode two, I ended up grinding to a halt. 

A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I needed to start from scratch. I left the one episode of 2029 up on Fanfiction.net and set writing version 2.0. Since we're (slowly) coming up on 2029, I decided to push the date back to 2039. 

And that's all I have for today.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)  

My guess for Skeleton Crew finale.

Hi Alex,

So I've been watching Star Wars: Skeleton Crew for the past seven weeks. And I want to take a stab at predicting some stuff for the finale. So, without further ado...

First of all, I don't believe that Tak Rennod is dead for a second. I think the message from the supervisor that we heard in Episode 7 was an old recording made by the original overseer of At Attin. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Rennod used voice distortion on his logs. That way, anyway who listened to his logs wouldn't recognize his voice if they met him in the flesh. I think he killed the supervisor who was running At Attin when he arrived and has been running the show ever since. Which raises the question, why ? Well, that's my Segway to talk about...

...Inflation. The reason At Attin credits are valuable because they are made from a rare metal. Rare being the key word. But if you take all those credits and inject them into the galactic economy, the metal is no longer rare. And the worth of those credits plummets. Truly infinite treasure is worthless treasure. And I think Rennod figured that out. That's why he took over instead of coming back. 

Rennod also knows better then anybody what makes pirates tick. If he went back into the galaxy, his fellow pirates would never believe the truth. They would simply think that's he hoarding the treasure for himself. And the whole thing would end in blood. That's why he took over as supervisor. 

And when he tells Jod this, or Jod figures this out....Jod's plan is going to burst like a popped balloon. Which will force him to team up with the kids and the parents to defend At Attin.

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

About Paramount TV shutting down

Hi Alex,

How are things on the island ? They certainly can't be worse they are in Hollywood. This place is burning down at warp speed. But this was not on my mind three days ago. I was just clicking through YouTube and ran into OverlordDVD's/Doomcock's channel. And what was the latest rumor buzzing around now ? (Which I took with a grain of salt, as these things are supposed to be.) That the Paramount/Skydance brass wanted to have an emergency meeting with Alex Kurtzman before Sunday (18 August). Yeah, right. File that under 'I'll believe it when I see it.'

But then, the day after, I saw a video by Call Me Chato about Paramount TV shutting down. And he told us denizens of the internet about the huge lights they use in TV studios and the huge power bill that comes with them. And then I had a light-bulb moment, which was fitting. Just don't ask if it was a bit fitting or a small one. (Okay, I'll stop making light-bulb puns now.) This is just me thinking out loud, but...

Ponder Me This

The mainstream media made it clear that Paramount/CBS is salvage Paramount TV's most popular shows by moving them over to CBS. But those shows are not enough to fill all of TV's sound stages. And with Paramount needing to cut costs, are they are going to pay the utility bills (power, gas, internet, etc) and staffing costs for a studio that is 90 percent just props gathering dust ?

Or do you move the surviving shows to a CBS lot ? If that's the plan, shutting down this week makes total sense, because it allows Paramount to give the utility companies notice to cut everything off on 1 September. And it gives you two weeks to do the move. And so we end up back at Doomcock's rumor.... (Just remember your salt, folks.)

My Theory

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is supposed to start filming on 2 September. Wee problem, in order to make a TV, you need sets. I wouldn't be surprised if construction of said sets was scheduled to start on Monday 19 August. But because of Operation Big Move, the sound stages that where those sets were supposed to be build are now essentially, well....reassigned-slash-gone. And they are going to have to break that news to Kurtzman. 

Now, I could be right, I could be wrong. This whole thing could be a giant nothing burger. But at least I got a blog entry out of it. 

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

How to use ST: Prodigy to clean the timeline (Season 3 idea)

Before I get started....I was planning to send this letter to Robert Meyer Burnett by means of his website. Alas, GoDaddy is being a pain and blocking said site. So here we go...

Hello Rob,

With Prodigy Season 2 now out in the world and Skydance buying Paramount, the future of Trek in now flux. But one thing that remains constant are rumors that folks in the upper echelons think that Trek has gotten way to complicated. Messy timelines, multiple realities, etc. Since I don't trust Kurtzman to write a grocery list, I thought I would take stab at how to clean up the mess he's created. I figure that even people think my plan is stupid, it would get the conversation started. Spoiler warning, folks, here we go...

In Season 1 we learn that the USS Protostar went through a wormhole that send them from 2383 to 2435 in an alternate universe. The show's baddies, the Vau N'akat, weaponize the ship and plan to send it back to wipe out Starfleet. But Chakotay beats them to the punch and send the ship back on autopilot, wrecking their plan. So the baddies send a hundred ships to find it. Let put a pin in that. It's really important. 

Season 2 see our heroes trying to save Chakotay from 2435 Solum. Needless to say, it doesn't go according to plan. These leads to shenanigans as our heroes work to get the timeline back on track. In the end, they succeed and the Protostar ends up where she needs to be. Starfleet then makes peaceful first contact with Solum. Which brings us back to our pin...

The Protostar is not thing needed for the puzzle of Season 1 to work. Those one hundred ships still need to go after the Protostar in order for things to work out. Fortunately, because those one hundred ships are from an alternate universe, they are not affected by current day Solum getting its happy ever after. So how does this turn into a reset for the Trek universe ?

Because there are 98 Evil Vau N'akat (and their ships) out there that we haven't seen yet. They're scattered through time and space and affecting history all over the place. That's one whopping loose end that still needs to be dealt with. 

My season 3 would start with an alien called Dave attacking the USS Prodigy - the new ride our heroes got at the end of season 2 - because he thinks Gwyn is one of the 98. It's turns out some of the 98 did something that doomed his world. And now Dave wants revenge for his lost people. Which is cruelly ironic, since that is the same mission the 98 were on.

Our heroes now have to deal with Dave, the 98 and their influence on the timeline. This gives the writers a McGuffin which lets them decided what parts of canon they want to keep and which they want to dump. Because the 98 can be anywhere and affecting anything the plot requires them to. 

(Want to get rid of Discovery ? Have the 98 mess with Klingon history. Clean up the mess that was Picard season 1 and 2 ? Put one those Vau N'akat in the right time, place and job and you're off to the races.)

Even if you don't want to change things, maybe you can make the story better by world building and adding pieces. And yeah, I can hear people complaining "That makes it more Doctor Who then Star Trek". So ? Lean into it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Dave turned out to be alternate version of a certain wheelchair bound, Dalek creating, mad scientist. Stop being so crossover-phobic.

Anyway, Rob, that's all I have. Thoughts ?

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers

Star Trek: Forgotten Frontier

The Road to Get Here...

A while back, I wrote a letter to Robert Meyer Burnett, which he was kind enough to read/reply to on his YouTube channel. Before then, I was part of two Play-by-E-mail RolePlaying Games...First Star Trek: Pathfinder and then Star Trek: Freedom. But by the time of writing that letter, I was seriously considering starting a game of my own.

 

So what was that letter about ? It was a short demonstration of how easy it was to write something better then the brain dead Drek that Kurtzman and Co have been putting out. The letter was a short entry featuring my RPG character, a lovely Romulan lady called Yenna Chor'dan. After his reply, I decided to throw caution to the wind and start that RPG. 

 

I was planning to write a follow-up letter, but something is up with PostGeekSingularity.com. Maybe it's me, maybe it's on their end, but I can't get onto the site. So I needed to creative, and here we are. Time to move on to...

 

Shameless Self-Promotion

 

Back when I started my RPG, I wrote a blog about it and send it out on Twitter. Along with an ad

made by my second-in-command, Benjamin. One wee problem, nobody pays attention to either my blog or Twitter. So the plan was to cross my fingers and hope that RMB wouldn't tear me a new one for trying to using his channel for (shameless self-)promotion. Alas, the site didn't work...

Which brings us full circle. Besides Benjamin making the ad, I also asked my brilliant friend Richard

Clogston to write us a theme song. The result is now up on YouTube. So, what was I doing while Ben and Rick were doing this ? I was whipping up a wiki to serve as the game's website. I know zip about about coding, so that is the best I could do. (Well, that and it's free.) So, what is Forgotten Frontier about ? Well...

Forgotten Frontier

Set in 2376, the game tells the story of the tramp freighter SS Nothing. Named after he home-port of Nothing, Arizona, she is a home for those who have no other place to go to. Traveling through the Sol System, she finds adventure in the places Starfleet has forgotten about. 

 

(The first story arc will be set inside the Sol system, but if our intrepid crew beats the odds and survive it, they will set out for other solar systems.)  

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers (aka Captain Yenna Chor'dan)

NCIS and CBS' bonehead moves

Hi Alex,

Time to dust this sucker off. So, here we go....

Okay, the Paramount sale/merger has become a total mess. So, I'm not touching that one right now. Except that I figure that, somehow, Paramount/CBS will find SOME way to mess it up even further. That said, moving on to...

NCIS Mistakes

Okay, let's start with the obvious....NCIS: Origins....this show sounds the Enterprise of the NCIS franchise. It's the prequel that nobody wants. Especially since it's the reason NCIS: Hawaii and CSI: Vegas both got axed. Hawaii for the budget and Vegas for the studio space. 

The next mistake I predict CBS will make is the resolution of the Season 21 cliffhanger. Katrina Law's character Jessica Knight accepted leadership of a REACT team, leading to trouble between her and Brian Dietzen's Dr Jimmy Palmer. Looking at the top three of best-paid actors on the show....we have Sean Murray, then Dietzen and finally Rocky Carroll.

Writing out Sean Murray would anger the long-time fans and damage the franchise's ratings big time. So, how do they cut the budget ? Simple, Jess and Jimmy make up and both leave the show. This allows them to cut Dietzen's paycheck from the budget. It also leaves them with an opening to throw the Hawaii fans a bone...

Put Yasmine Al-Bustami's Lucy Tara on Parker's team. (Have her girlfriend Kate transfer to the Washington DC FBI office. Make her a mentioned/recurring character.) Why Lucy and not Tennant ? Simple, for Tara, this transfer would be a promotion, for Tennant it would be a demotion. And Vanessa Lachey was the lead of Hawaii, meaning you'd have to pay her lead money. Plus, it would be a way to score points with the LGBTQ community.

As for who would replace Dietzen....well, I don't think it was a coincidence that Season 3 hinted that Commander Chase was a student of Ducky Mallard. And since she is on the third year of her contract, Seana Kofoed will be a lot cheaper then Dietzen, who is up to year twelve...

And then there is NCIS: Tony and Ziva. Combined with upcoming firings and 500 million budget cuts, this whole thing smells of desperation. What does CBS need to do for the NCIS franchise to pull the wagon properly ? (Since Trek has totally gone down the drain.) Well, IMHO...

Vance

Oops....almost forgot, what WILL they do with Vanessa Lachey ? Well, number three on the list is Rocky Carroll / Leon Vance who has been around since Season 5. Even if you do pay her 'lead money', Vanessa Lachey is going to be a LOT cheaper then Rocky Carroll. 

So by bringing these three ladies over from Hawaii, they can cut NCIS' budget a lot, while spinning it as trying to mend fences with the Hawaii fans.

How to Fix NCIS

1. Cancel NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Tony and Ziva ASAP. Nobody wants the prequel and the premise for Tony and Ziva show doesn't sound like it's a set up for multiple season gig anyway. 
2. Rule 45...Clean up your messes....In this case, the leftover plot lines from Los Angeles and Hawaii. These need to be dealt with. So number three...
3. Bring back Linda Hunt. One of the things that ruined the later season of LA was the replacement of Hetty Lange by (retired) Admiral Filler Killjoy. Yes, I know that wasn't his real name, but that summarizes my feelings about the character. Which brings me to...
4. ...Other characters from cancelled shows. Right now, it's like these places - and all the people in them - go poof as soon as the last episode airs. Have folks from LA, New Orleans and Hawaii do appearances and cameos. And make sure that plenty of those cameos are on...
5. NCIS: Sydney. Right now, that show is getting a lot of hate. It needs cameos, more money and more episodes. Go all in on that show.
   

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Why I think AITSE should go on strike

Hi Alex,

As is common knowledge, last year saw two strikes - WGA and SAG-AFRA - do numbers on Hollywood and the American film industry as a whole. And 2024 has a potential strike bubbling away in background.

I know that these strikes were hard on people. And that sucked. Nor do I think that should be swept under the rug. But...

I still think that IATSE should strike. Why ? Because while the 2023 strikes have created some certainties for the future, our world is a rapidly changing place. Especially in the field of Artificial Intelligence. 

And then there is the matter of the Bob Igers of the world, with their giant egos. Yes, the strikes forced them to bend the knee to the unions. But give them a successful box office years in 2024 and 2025 and by the time the next negotiations roll around, they will be just as selfish and arrogant as they were last year. Even more so if they are possession of next-level AI programs that will allow Hollywood to replace people with software like you and I change socks. (And I have a LOT of socks.)

Not only would any agreement resulting from the IATSE strike add certainties and safeguards against AI (and people getting sacked), the strike itself would result in productions getting shut-down (or at least experiencing major issues). Does that mean more hard times ? Yes. Does that suck ? Absolutely, totally, two-hundred percent. If I could think of another way, would I be for that ? Yes.

But I can't think of one. Not without things being much worse during the next negotiations. Or to summarize, If IATSE doesn't strike..."The bill comes due." (Karl Mordo, Dr Strange)

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Looking for Trekkies (up for breaking the mold)

Greetings Trekkies,

After having been a member of several Star Trek RPGs, I have decided to start one of my own. Of course, it kind of helps to have other members / players. The problem is that Trek RPGs are a dime a dozen, so what makes mine different... 

One thing that seems to be an iron rule, is that Trek RPGs is that the HAVE to be about Starfleet. Because apparently nobody else in the Federation is capable of boldly going... So that is the first rule Forgotten Frontiers threw out the window. 

Set in the year 2376, Forgotten Frontiers tells the story of the SS Nothing and her crew. With the hero-ship being a civilian vessel, this game will ignore a lot of the restrictions that are baked into Starfleet-centric RPGs. 

Launching from Earth, Nothing will show that there are still plenty of adventures, dangers and miracles left in Sector 001, even if Starfleet has gotten jaded to them. 

Are you up to restoring a sense wonder to the Federation ? Then you need Nothing and Nothing needs you ! 

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Captain Yenna Chor'dan)

NCIS: Redux -- aka "I told you so !"

Hi Alex,

This letter is kind of weird. In one way, it's me coming full circle and yet its also things moving forward. Back in February 2023, I made a case about how NCIS was showing that CBS was in trouble. 

I could recap the whole thing, or I could just put in the link. Yeah, I'm going for the link. It's less work. So here it is...

NCIS Showing That CBS is in Trouble

Okay, I'll put in a bit of recap. I took a good, hard look at the NCIS-verse* and how CBS was trimming the fat off it. (*The NCIS-verse consists of JAG, the NCIS franchise, Scorpion and the Lenkov-verse shows.) In the months since, stuff has happened so, let's move on to...

The Current Mess

NCIS: Los Angeles is gone and so is Magnum PI. In fact, Magnum PI was sort of gone for quite a while. The show was recorded during the first half of 2023. But the WGA and SAG-AFRA strikes happened, so the network sat on the finished episodes for months. This was all them trying to keep the 'new' content going for a while. Which brings us to the next issue, namely...

NCIS: Sydney...a show with only eight episodes. I've heard people complain about NCIS: Sydney's characters. But IMHO the real problem with Sydney is not the characters, it's that the whole thing feels like less like a season and more like a production block that was quickly shoved out the door to plug the hole (in the programming) left by the strikes. 

The folks at CBS didn't even bother to give the show it's own theme song. Instead, they simply remixed the original show's theme. Combined with the lack of cameos, the production design and the low number of the episodes, it makes NCIS: Sydney feel cheap. Which is a shame, because the characters have potential.

It's not actors fault that CBS is broke and the people running it are such misers. Also don't blame the Sydney folks for the cancellation of LA. CBS contracts run 7 years. In order to given LA a season 15, CBS would have had to renegotiate. Had they done so, they would NOT have green-lit just season 15, LA would have been locked in until season 21. Which is my transition to the other shows...

NCIS

...Starting with the mother show. Season 21 was sort of a given. Because there is no need to renegotiate. The current seven-year block doesn't end until Season 21's final episode. It's Season 22 where things get sticky. Can CBS afford to keep the show going until Season 28 ? 

Especially if the rumors about Paramount's upcoming merger/sale with/to Universal are true. And then there is the option of Paramount/CBS wanting to buy Alex Kurtzman out. The money for that would have to come from some place. And even if the rumors are all a bunch of hogwash, making seven seasons of television is not cheap. Unless you frak them over like they did with Sydney. 

Finally, there is the tragic loss of David McCallum. No matter what changed, Ducky gave the show that magical sparkle. (I would have loved to see Ducky interact with Rosie on Sydney - two ME's swapping notes - something that will now never come to pass.) With loss of McCallum, NCIS is facing hard(er) times. Now, time to talk about...

NCIS: Hawaii

Season 1 and 2 are in the bag, with Season 3 on the way. The thing is...the best case scenario for Hawaii is a repeat of what happened to New Orleans. Meaning the show gets seven seasons and then CBS pulls the plug. The worst case scenario is season 3 and then...poof ! 

As for LL Cool J coming over for Season 3, IMHO that's a good thing. I'm hoping that Sam Hanna joining the fun will bring over LA fans who have not been watching Hawaii. And LA season 14 left some plots unresolved. Maybe Sam's presence will allow for these threads to be brought over and tied up. 

Oh, and Steve McGarrett still owns Sam a steak dinner. And maybe that will open the door to other cameos...

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Ding, that's two !

Maybe I'm seeing things that aren't there, but I get the feeling the MCU and Whoniverse might be connected. So far, all I had to go on was fact that the MCU has Celestials and the 60th will see the Doc facing off again the Celestial Toymaker. But a quick use of Google reveals that the Star Beast started life as a comic. A comic written by.....Marvel UK. 

Yep, Beep the Meep is a Marvel character. So, what more (possible) links are hiding in the wings ? Keep your eyes open...

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Connecting the MCU to Dr Who....

 ...Is the answer hiding to plain sight ?

A while back, there were a couple articles floating around explaining the (possible) connection between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Whoniverse...

Screen rant's Article (22 July 2022)

We've got this Covered's Article (23 November 2022) 

However....in the months since these came out, we learned that Neil Patrick Harris will be playing the Toymaker in the 60th anniversary specials. But here's the thing.....the character is actually called the Celestial Toymaker. Combine this with the fact that before the Time War, the Time Lords could travel between universes as easily as you and I can change socks. 

And Ego was making babies with any species he could. So, why not some lovely Time Lord/Lady ? If the Toymaker is actually a Time Lord-Celestial hybrid (and Starlord's half-brother) it would explain a thing or two. 

The Time Lord half of his DNA could give him the capacity of regeneration, explaining why the Toymaker looks different now. And the Celestial half would make him more powerful then the base model Time Lord.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Kang the Conqueror's Earth 5556 counterpart that turned the Division into a bunch of universe destroying, power hungry schmucks. Not openly, of course, but pulling strings from the shadows....

Anyway, those are my thoughts,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash) 

The Darkness in Picard S3...

 ....That Nobody Is Talking About

The Borg have been defeated for once and for all ! Yay ! Long live the Federation. But....at what price did this victory come ? Yes, the Borg Collective is evil. Yes, they were planning to wipe out Earth and needed to be stopped. And the queen was an insane (insert whatever curse you think is best here). Picard and crew did what needed to be done. It's not them I'm doubting, but I think the situation is nowhere as black-and-white as it appears at first glance. 

Let's talk about a man called Fred....Fred is just a random guy living on random planet in the Delta Quadrant. Then one day the Borg roll up to ruin everybody's day by assimilating them. Including Fred. He loses his family, he loses his friends, he his loses his mind. And then the neurolytic pathogen ruins the collective. Let us look at the possibilities for Fred.

1. If he's really unlucky, he dies a horrible death and then gets eaten by Queen. Only to be briefly revived as a mindless cyber zombie when Picard and co visit. He is then put out of his misery when the Borg ship explodes.
2. The Pathogen simply kills him.
   
3. He gets stuck in regeneration mode, like the Cube seen in Let Sleeping Borg Lie. And then...
1. Because of people's fear of the Collective, nobody rescues him...ever.
2. Somebody comes across his Cube and he is given the 'Icheb Treatment / aka dissected alive for his implants".
3. Even if he get rescued by somebody who doesn't Icheb him, where's he going to go ? As I said above...friends, family, gone. And what about his homeworld ? Even if the Collective didn't total it, who knows how long Fred has been in the Hive Mind. Is his world still there ? Has it been taken over by somebody else ?....

Which takes us away from Fred and back to the bigger picture. As established by Voyager, Borg Space is big. And like any other nation, the Borg have neighbors. Neighbors who are going to figure out that the Collective is falling apart. And try to conquer their space, either by colonization or warfare. 

A situation that is going to lead to the death of innocents drones like Fred. Bloody wars between these states. Yes, the Federation has won, but the Delta Quadrant is burning. And let's not forget there is also the fact that everybody who was taken over, now probably has PTSD. Not mention the elephant in the room...

Where did this pathogen come from ? Neurolytic Pathogens don't exactly grow on trees. And even if it could be made in the Sickbay of the USS Voyager, I doubt The Doctor would allow it. Yes, he was part of the developing of the nanite weapon they used against Species 8472. But that was with the galaxy at stake. And Voyager's goal was not genocide. In fact, this was a major source of tension between Janeway and the Borg.

The only other option is that Admiral Janeway brought it with her from 2404 to 2378. But it doesn't answer the question of how she got it. Replicators don't make lifeforms. Somebody had to grow it. Somebody rather ruthless. Somebody know for attempting genocide by virus....

Basically, the whole thing screams Section 31. And where they failed when they tried to wipe out the Founders, this time they succeeded.

That's all I....No wait, it was.   But after sleeping on it for a night, it's not anymore. (Short) RANT ALARM !! 

What about the Borg splinter states ? The Borg Cooperative from the Voyager episode Unity and the Unimatrix Zero, whose former members were liberated. Are they gone as well ? Will Section 31 use the pathogen to wipe the Cooperative out to prevent the rise of new Collective !? Will Starfleet just stand for that ?

Moving on.....I know that some people consider Prodigy and Lower Decks non-canon. But based on the upcoming SNW / Lower Deck crossover, the folks running the show(s) think differently. Which brings us to "Let Sleeping Borg Lie". 

The USS Protostar crew managed to get out. But they had the luck of having a Medusan along for the ride. So how many of these dormant Borg ships are out there, waiting to ruin somebody's day ? These ships are basically landmines, ready to restart the Collective if whoever boards them messes up. 

In short, it's a huge frakking, bloody mess. And it's the Federation's fault. They needed to get back to the Delta Quadrant and get to cleaning it up. Or as Commander Adama would put it...

"You cannot play God, then wash you hands of the things you've created. Sooner or later, you can't hide from the things you've done anymore."

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

How I would fix NuTrek - Part 2

Step 4: Clarity and expansion

Part 1 ended with Star Trek: Legacy preparing for and resetting the timeline. But now comes the question of what exactly is and is not canon. To answer this question, I would take a page from Charles Dickens' book by expanding to three shows, essentially having the Trek of the Past, Trek of the Present and Trek of the Future. 

Trek of the Future

With it's setting in the early 25th century (aboard the Enterprise-G), Star Trek Legacy would take on the role of Trek of Future. It is here that we discover - feel free to moan at the pun - that 32rd century seen in Star Trek Discovery no longer comes to pass. Also, occasional references to past episodes would suggest that the 24th century shows - TNG, DS9, Voyager, Prodigy and Lower Decks - are all still within canon. This torch would then be picked up by...

Trek of the Present

...Star Trek: Equinox Starting in 2380, this show would tell the story of the black sheep of the fleet, the USS Equinox. Launched in 2374, this Nova-class starship was build as the replacement for Rudolf Ransom's command. 

But when Voyager send word of Ransom's horrific misdeeds in Delta Quadrant back home, she became the ship that nobody wants to be assigned to. After a rotating door of temporary captains for years, the main character is put in command of the vessel.

Why the Equinox ?  Because the Equinox comes with a built-in larger story arc (that can play out in the background). Namely the crews search for redemption. Furthermore, being a small vessel provides the crew with unique challenges not faced by larger vessels such as Voyager and Enterprise. 

Or as Publilius Syrus once put it "Anyone can hold the Helm if the Sea is Calm." But if Equinox wants to survive - especially in combat situations - she has be smarter then the average bear.

Why this time period ?  Because it is much closer to the other 24th century shows. And therefore, much easier to tie-in to them. Maybe the Equinox was part of the clean-up post the Texas-class Incident from Lower Decks ? And somebody would have to pick up the pieces after the Protostar Disaster of 2384. 

Furthermore, Star Trek Picard only showed us bits and pieces of what happened between Nemesis and Season 1. Equinox could add to this the story of this time period and - dare I say it - where necessary and possible, retcon the hot messes that were Picard Season 1 and 2.

Finally, if the show manages to beat the odds and achieve the traditional seven seasons, the end point would be in 2387. This would allow the final season show the Hobus Supernova and its direct aftermath. Oh, and once the show is past the setting of Prodigy and Lower Decks, who knows...maybe some of the characters from those shows could be salvaged/transferred to life action. You never know.

Next time, Trek of the Past and some concluding thoughts.

To be continued....