513 - Lorca, Gamma, and Paradise | Priority One, a Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast

This week, on Episode 513 of Priority One: Noah Hawley speaks out about what happened with his Star Trek project, Michelle Paradise talks about a canon wishlist, Ronald D. Moore shares some history about TNG’s “Redemption” episodes; in Gaming, Star Trek Online is ready to hit the beaches of Risa with this year’s summer event; lastly, Dr. Robert Hurt helps us solve the mystery of Orion's incredible dimming star.

This week’s Community Questions are:

In the same way fans clamor for the DC Snyder-verse and Batfleck, should we rally behind Hawley to see his Star Trek project created?

What canonical stories or characters do you think Discovery could explore well?

Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website!

TREK IT OUT

Edited by Thomas Reynolds

Who Mourns for Hawley?

By Elio Lleo

In a recent interview with Deadline’s Pete Hammond, Noah Hawley addresses his disappointment that his vision for a Star Trek film didn’t come to fruition. When asked about the project he had this to say: 

“In retrospect, what surprised me is not that Emma Watts came in and said ‘are you people crazy? This is an untested crew, this is an original idea, we don’t know if this is going to work or not work.’ It’s that I got as far as I did...it was a really fun movie, and I think it would’ve been a great film. But you can’t control these things, so you move on.”

Image: FX, via Deadline.

Now you might have heard Hawley name-drop Emma Watts. Watts replaced Wyck Godfrey as President of the Paramount Motion Picture Group back in June 2020. That leads us to our first community question this week:

In the same way fans clamor for the DC Snyder-verse and Batfleck, should we rally behind Hawley to see his Star Trek project created?

Let us know in the comment section for this episode at priorityonepodcast.com or by replying to our community question post on our social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Wishing for Season 4

By Elio Lleo

While we’re on the topic of interviews, The Hollywood Reporter Presents Q&A video series featured Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Paradise, and Olatunde Osunsanmi of Star Trek: Discovery. The conversation focused a great deal on Season 3 and repeated a lot of things we’ve already heard. Perhaps the one question asked that deviated from the norm was, what canonical plots or characters are on the writer’s room wish list, to which Michelle Paradise replied:

“at the start of any season...we have these questions about what are the awesome things in canon that we haven’t touched on yet? Or where are the opportunities, like this season with the Guardian of Forever? Having sixty years of history is so much fun, to be able to bring in some of these things. And then, thanks to the time jump, we’re actually a bit ahead of many of those things. We aren’t trying to marry them to our current timeframe, so we can play a little bit more.”

Only Grudge is better at adhering to an NDA. Image: ViacomCBS, via DenOfGeek.

They went on to praise the cast and crew for their incredible work behind the scenes and in front of the camera. When asked about Season 4, Paradise’s answer was incredibly vague, though---sticking to an answer that didn’t give anything away.

That leads us to our next community question this week:

What canonical stories or characters do you think Discovery could explore well?

Re-Lorca-tion Expenses

By Cat Hough

Do you ever find yourself wondering what it would take to get Lorca back into Star Trek? [Nope.-Ed.] Well, wonder no more---the man himself, Jason Isaacs, told comicbook.com the answer. And it’s simple: have a good script.

Contract negotiations, am I right? Image: ViacomCBS, via The Hollywood Reporter.

But is that answer simple? One would hope so...or at least hope the right script is out there. Because Isaacs won’t take just any role. He says that he “[h]ad a fantastic time on Star Trek, I loved all the people, I love being part of that universe, and Prime Lorca, the Prime Universe version of my captain, has yet to be found. But I wouldn't go back just to be in it, I'd go back if you had a great story to tell." Isaacs’ latest on-screen appearance was in Creation Stories, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 16th.

Moore’s “Redemption”

By Rosco McQueen

This week marks 30 years since the cliffhanger episode “Redemption, Part 1” originally went to air. It laid a lot of the foundations for Klingon culture, thanks to writer Ronald D. Moore...but it almost didn’t happen. In an interview this week with The Hollywood Reporter, Moore discusses building the character of Worf over time with episodes like “The Bonding” and “Sins of the Father”, as well as slowly building up the Klingon culture. So much so, that Moore became known as “the Klingon guy.”

But there was a lot of pushback from Gene Roddenberry, who didn’t see Worf as a main character. To Gene, “[TNG] was about Picard. He was the Captain. This was the first time that Next Gen---that Star Trek, really---had ever done a big war story like this. And this was going to be the series’ 100th episode on top of it. So, we had to fight somewhat to get the episode going.”

Some fought harder than others. Image: ViacomCBS, via DenOfGeek.

Executive Producer Rick Berman and the late TNG showrunner Michael Piller helped run interference with Roddenberry, and thankfully “Redemption” made it to air.  If it hadn’t, there would have been no Klingon Civil War, or characters like the Duras sisters and the half-Romulan, half-human Sela---who continues to vex us in Star Trek Online to this day.  

Quick News Roundup

Here are a few headlines that we didn’t discuss but might interest you.

• Wilson Cruz chatted with Yahoo about the importance of representation–not just in Star Trek, but in television and film in general. He shared his own story about breaking down barriers and forging his own path in the industry throughout the 90’s and early 00’s. The article isn’t all about Trek, but it’s an important conversation.

See and be seen. Image: Michael Gibson/ViacomCBS, via Yahoo!

ASTROMETRICS REPORT

By Dr. Robert Hurt

For this week’s Astrometrics Report, we examine a solution to a dark mystery of astrophysics. Here I’m talking literally about the darkening of one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Even the most casual backyard astronomer can point out the constellation Orion in the fall and winter skies. The bright red star forming Orion’s upper left shoulder is known as Betelgeuse (“BEE-tel juice” or “BEH-tel juice”, if you want an alternate but equally valid pronunciation).

Astronomy on the Easy difficulty setting. Image: N. Risinger/ESO.

Whatever your phonetic preference, it is the 10th brightest star in the entire sky---so imagine everyone’s excitement back in late 2019, when this stellar beacon began to get unexpectedly darker. This was not subtle: by early 2020, it had dipped to about a third of its usual brightness, almost fading into the background of the Orion constellation. This was a big deal for a red giant star, which is about 18 times more massive than our Sun and 760 times larger in physical size. That makes it 3.5 times larger than the Earth’s orbit---which is big enough to gobble up Mars and the entire asteroid belt, falling just short of Jupiter’s orbit.

So what could make such a huge, massive star go dark? That question prompted a lot of speculation because of another aspect of red giant stars. They are the last evolutionary stop for huge stars, before they explode as supernovae. Stars a bit more massive than our Sun will reach a point where nuclear fusion has produced a much wider variety of elements than our Sun ever will. This ultimately leaves a growing iron core that becomes so dense that gravity will overwhelm it, causing it to collapse to form a vastly-denser neutron star or black hole. In that instant the outer layers of the star will cascade into this sudden void, heat up, and rebound with an incredible release of energy that---for a brief period---match or exceed the energy output of all the other stars in the galaxy combined.

Betelgeuse is on the short list of candidate stars that could make this next big boom in this galaxy. And that would certainly be exciting! At a distance of about 600 ly, such an event would be so bright as to be visible in the daytime sky for weeks. But relax: it is more than distant enough to keep us safe from getting cooked in the process. So, was this rapid dimming the precursor to the astronomical show of a lifetime? As you might guess from the lack of sensational headlines, the star returned to its regular brightness. No boom.

But the question remained: what had happened to our favorite red giant star? In a recent paper, astronomers have announced a resolution to this mystery...and the culprit is dust that came from Betelgeuse itself. The evidence was presented in a series of high-resolution images of the star, showing what seemed to be a smoky veil passing in front of its disc before moving on.

Image: ESO.

That evidence alone is an incredible telescopic achievement. Because even though Betelgeuse is over a hundred times farther away than our near neighbor Alpha Centauri, its incredible size makes it only one of only a handful of stars of which we’ve been able to resolve surface features. Those images, along with infrared light measurements that did not show any decrease in brightness, helped seal the deal for dust being the dimming agent. Fundamental changes to the structure of the star (or even Michael Bay-style alien megastructures swarming around it) would affect all wavelengths of light, while dust blocks mainly visible light but becomes largely transparent in the infrared.

In the recent study, astronomers have proposed that the turbulent star had ejected a bubble of gas, cooling slightly in the process. That allowed the gas to condense into particles of dust that, while orbiting around the star, passed in front of it for a few months---causing all of the fuss. While that may not be as dramatic as an explosion to put Hollywood blockbusters to shame, it’s still a pretty amazing result. This illuminates one of the many ways stars are responsible for forging so many of the elements of the universe that make up planets and people. This dust ejection is one way these elemental building blocks are blown out into the galaxy, to become the source material for new stars, planets, and maybe even lifeforms in the distant future.

STAR TREK GAMING NEWS

Edited by Thomas Reynolds

Gamma Recruits, Prepare for Battle...Again!

By Rosco McQueen

As of this moment, we are all dead.  We go into battle to reclaim our lives. This we do gladly, for we are Jem’Hadar. Remember, Victory is life!

Seriously guys, have you considered unionizing? Image: Cryptic Studios.

For the glory of the Founders, Star Trek Online’s recruitment revamp continues with the Gamma Recruit event, active until July 22.  If you create a new Jem’Hadar character you’ll gain access to special bonuses awarded through gameplay, which also unlock rewards across your whole account. This is the third time players have been able to create a Gamma Recruit since the unveiling of the Victory is Life expansion in 2018, with Cryptic adding some new goals and altering a few to include all reputation marks.

Summertime and the Livin’s Easy…

By Cat Hough

The one time my Gorn can wear his Speedo and not get arrested. Image: Cryptic Studios.

Cryptic announced more details today about the upcoming Lohlunat Festival, running concurrently on all platforms from July 1st to July 31st. The blog post announced that the event ship will be an all new Risian Luxury Cruiser Vessel [T6] with details and ship stats to be released in a separate post. All of the old favorites from previous years will be returning, including powerboard races, the biathlon, horga’hn hunting, scavenging with Sovak and, of course, the galaxy-famous dance party. Participating in any of the events will grant progress towards the Risian Luxury Cruiser Vessel!

...spoiler? Image: Cryptic Studios.

There’s a new baseball uniform for the Jupiter Station Stem Bolts in the Event Store and two new T-shirts to collect. You can get a DISCO shirt, or the famous Chu Chu dance shirt (woo!). There’s also a new impulsive floater, powerboard and vanity shield in the Stem Bolts colors.

But what about the third chu? Image: Cryptic Studios.

Also making waves [ugh---Ed.] is the Tsunami Generator. This Universal Kit Module replicates a wave that rolls out from the player, smashing into everything in front of it before crashing apart. The force of the wave knocks down creatures and injures them, and has a chance to temporarily disable electronic devices, such as turrets and drones. And the new kit frame, Risian Vulcanology, provides rebreather functionality to protect you from toxic gas, and its heat sink controls grant complete immunity to fire!

Don’t forget this year’s new pets: The pastel-colored Transcendent Caracal (Vanity Pet) and Transcendent Tribble. Petting the tribble will “grant a constant, passive small chance to resist and throw off any effect that would control you, as you refuse to be limited or constrained. If you're on a team with multiple people petting this tribble, the chances stack based on the number of people involved. This tribble is unafraid of Klingons or other species that have treated Tribbles negatively in the past.”

Because again, it's important to be highly visible. Image: Cryptic Studios.

Something in the Air Tonight…

By Cat Hough

Hey, surprise! There’s a new bundle. The New Genesis Bundle will be available on PC for 7500 Zen starting on June 24th, and is on sale for the first week. This bundle features two new T6 ships: the Malachowski-class, an updated Clarke Multi-Mission Command Cruiser, and the long awaited Oberth-class, otherwise known as the Grissom Light Science Vessel. (Please note: these two ships will also be available as separate purchases outside the New Genesis Bundle.)

Image: a most beautiful dream, via Cryptic Studios.

The bundle will also include a number of additional account-wide items, such as the Genesis Ground Vanity Device*, Wrath of Khan outfits and a Type II Phaser Compression Pistol (C. 2285). Finally, two Experimental Starship Upgrade Tokens and two Fleet Ship Modules boost your purchasing value further. This ship bundle will also be available to players on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 at a later date.

Oh and this too. Image: Cryptic Studios.

*This is a different device than the one given to Foundry authors. It has similar animation and FX, but does not include the Spock-In-The-Box that appears when the Foundry thank you gift is activated.

To GOOOOOOAAAALLLL Where No One Has Gone Before

By Rosco McQueen

Image: Scopely.

In celebration of the European Football Championship, the folks at Scopely shared a guide on how to play soccer/football/whatever in Star Trek Fleet Command. It’s not a minigame as such, more a suggestion from the developers on how it could be done. Put together teams of ships with your friends and alliances to get an Envoy “ball” across your imaginary goal lines in space.

It’s Priority One Armada’s 8th Anniversary!

All during the month of June, we are giving away various prizes and will have events for Armada members every Saturday with even more prizes! This Saturday, June 26th, is our final event: the Risian Triathlon. Plus, you should definitely trek out the Livestream with yours truly this week as we feature our new intro video produced by Anthony! This is a great time to join Priority One Armada with more than 5 billion in EC in prizes being given away this month.