Who Is the Klingon Voq? I Have a Hypothesis

If you’ve been watching Star Trek Discovery, then you know who Voq is. He’s probably the main Klingon character in this series, a Klingon without a house. But he looks different than the others. He has light skin, while all the others have dark skin.

While I was watching episode 4, it suddenly hit me. I believe I have a very good idea who he may be. This may not be the first time we’ve seen him. Below is a video I made explaining who I think he is and my reasoning behind it. The video contains spoilers, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t watch it. Also, below the video, I say who I think Voq is. Again, that could be a spoiler.

If you haven’t watched the video, but want to know who I think Voq is, well, here it is. In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2 episode “Blood Oath,” we see original series Klingons Kor, Koloth, and Kang return (this time with the forehead ridges). But they’re hunting a humanoid known as The Albino. He is never referred to as a Klingon, but he looks similar to one. You see, I think Voq may be The Albino. Watch the video to find out why I think this.

What do you think? Do you think I’m right? Or are they different people? Let me know in the comments.

Star Trek Discovery Episode Reviews!

Star Trek Discovery has premiered, and I’ve now watched the first two episodes. This has been a controversial series, mainly due to the fact that it’s only available from CBS All Access in the US, CraveTV and Space (broadcast on TV!) in Canada, and Netflix elsewhere. Luckily for me, I can see it on TV and stream it through the Space website.

There have been a lot of people bashing the show, as well. They were saying a lot of things about how it’ll be garbage. Keep in mind that this is before a single episode even aired. The same thing happened before Star Trek: The Next Generation started, and we know how that series went (extremely successful). I’m the kind of person who wants to keep an open mind about the series.

The first two episodes are more like a prologue to the rest of the series. Nothing takes place on the USS Discovery. We have yet to meet most of the cast. It was an interesting start, I’d say. I reviewed the first two episodes, which you can watch below.

Will I continue to watch it? Of course! It is my goal to review every single Star Trek episode and movie. But I already like Star Trek Discovery! And having watched the preview of episode 3, this is looking very interesting indeed.

What did you think of the first two episodes? Do you agree or disagree with my reviews? Let me know in the comments section below.

Where I Impersonate Clint Howard in “The Corbomite Maneuver”

VEDA day 3 brings us a bit of Star Trek. I’ve already reviewed season 1, episode 10 on the blog, but this time, it’s in video format. And I do a terrible impression of Clint Howard’s Commander Balok. He’s a weird alien. Only a 7 year old actor at the time, he was playing an adult alien. Check out my impression, the review, and my nitpicks.

Let me know what you thought of my impression. Terrible, isn’t it? Well, it’s supposed to be!

Star Trek S1E16 – The Galileo Seven

Parts of this episode have always bothered me. But at least this is the first time we get to see the shuttlecraft being used by the Enterprise crew to go somewhere. This is a very Spock-centric episode, and I have some issues about it.

Season 1, Episode 16: The Galileo Seven

Original Air Date: January 5, 1967

Stardate 2821.5

Planet: Taurus II

Featured Alien: Taurus II creatures

Main Cast: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Uhura, Sulu

Main Guest Characters: Lt. Boma (Don Marshall), Commissioner Farris (John Crawford), Lt. Gaetano (Peter Marko), Yeoman Mears (Phyllis Douglas), Lt. Latimer (Rees Vaughn), Lt. Kelowitz (Grant Woods), Creature (Buck Maffei), Transporter Chief (David Ross)

Things I Noticed

Murasaki 312 is a quasar-like formation. Of course, we now know there are no quasars in our galaxy, but they are extremely luminous cores of galaxies. Sure, this could be a black hole, but it sure isn’t a quasar. At least with the digital remaster, they made it look quasar-like.

I find it interesting that they need to transport medicine from one planet to another to handle a plague. They can’t make the drugs on Makus III? But I guess I can understand, since it’s probably a newer colony.

I’m not very fond of the digital remastering of the shuttlecraft. It seems to be even lower quality than TNG. Animation students could do a better job.

And speaking of shuttlecraft, this is the first episode produced that showed a shuttlecraft. “The Menagerie” was filmed later, but aired before this episode.

The instrumentation on the Galileo seems kind of clumsy and inefficient. Latimer had to reach behind himself to press a button to reverse engines.

Kirk said the shuttlecraft is 24 feet long. Not metric!

I can’t stand Commissioner Farris’ constant smug look. It’s the kind of look that makes you want to punch a guy.

I don’t know why they’d assume the Galileo would land on Taurus II. Either it was a wild guess or they thought they’d be drawn into the centre of Murasaki 312. And how would they know about the planets? The systems are unexplored.

Lt. Boma and Lt. Gaetano are bordering on insubordination when speaking to Spock. They’re ready to blame him for everything.

20th century gauges on the shuttlecraft! We have some old technology.

Spock was getting a little emotional while giving orders. Or was he just being forceful?

Spock was questioning himself a lot. This is a Spock I’m not used to seeing. He should be more intelligent than this, as he should know logic isn’t everything. At least he’s more like that in the movies.

What is space normal speed? I would assume it’s impulse and not warp.

When Galileo lifted off, Taurus II’s CG looked extremely amateurish. I’m not impressed with the CG in this episode.

So, this was Spock’s first command. Even though he is a Lt. Commander, he’s never been in command before? He’s second in command of the Enterprise!

Rescued at the very last second! How probably is that? Of course, it was done for the drama.

My Impressions

As I mentioned before, I wasn’t very impressed by this episode. The main failing here has to do with Spock. His inability to reason that less intelligent life forms do not behave logically baffled me. Spock should know better! He should know that living and working with humans for so long. Nimoy’s acting was over the top with this one. Usually, he does well as Spock, but I felt this episode’s acting was atypical of him. Not good. Not to mention his logic was too simplistic.

John Crawford does a pretty good job of being a very arrogant and incredibly irritating Commissioner Farris. I could not stand him! William Shatner was good as Kirk, while the others were pretty typical, including Scotty and McCoy. Though why were they needed for an astrophysical survey is beyond me.

As you could see with my nitpicks, there were things that annoyed me about this episode. It was never one of my favourites when I was a kid, either. Whoever was in charge of the digital remastering of this episode didn’t do a very good job. The shuttlecraft looked awful. I normally like the remastering, but not in this case.

The theme of this episode is okay, but I don’t like how it was handled by Spock. He really should’ve been more intelligent than that.

Verdict

★★1/2

Your Voice

What did you think of this episode? Did you enjoy it? Or did you find it to be unsatisfying, like I did? Let me know in the comments section below.

Star Trek S1E15 – Shore Leave

This was a very unusual episode. Did you know most of the dialogue was ad libbed? Gene Roddenberry had to rewrite the script of this episode after the network complained it was too surreal. He rewrote it on the fly while it was being filmed. Roddenberry had been told to go on vacation before this episode, and it turns out this episode is about a vacation.

Season 1, Episode 15: Shore Leave

Original Air Date: December 29, 1966

Stardate 3025.3

Planet: Shore Leave Planet in the Omicron Delta region (no official name)

Featured Alien: The Caretaker

Main Cast: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu

Main Guest Characters: Alice (Marcia Brown), Yeoman Tonia Barrows (Emily Banks), The Caretaker (Oliver McGowan),  Esteban Rodriguez (Perry Lopez),  Lt. Angela Martine (Barbara Baldavin),  Finnegan (Bruce Mars),  Ruth (Shirley Bonne),  The Warrior (Sebastian Tom)

Things I Noticed

The planet has no animal life, yet it has flowers. Don’t they require a polinator? But then, this isn’t Earth. Nor is anything real.

This is an unusual episode, featuring figments of the crew’s imagination come to life. This is more fantasy than sci-fi, it seems. It is very difficult to nitpick things, as many of the things that happen really can’t be nitpicked.

Lt. Martine is back, and this time, she seems to have completely gotten over her fiance’s death. Well, that was fast!

Finnegan seems like a stereotypical Irish man combined with a leprechaun.

The old style antenna seems a bit old-fashioned for an advanced world like this.

Why would Kirk run after Sulu, and then take a moment to appreciate a flower? Priorities, Captain?

Kirk seems to be affected by what’s going on the most, or he’s extremely weak-willed. I just can’t seem to resist Ruth, and it takes a lot to snap him out of it.

McCoy is getting pretty close to Yeoman Barrows. Earlier, she massaged Kirk’s back, and he didn’t like it.

Finnegan says he’s still 20 years old, but he looks like he’s in his 30s. Shouldn’t this be from Kirk’s memory?

Before Finnegan flipped him, Kirk’s uniform was intact. After the flip, it was ripped. There was no reason it would have ripped. But you know, no Kirk fight is complete without a ripped uniform.

The tiger has a chain around its neck. Obviously for safety reasons, but why would it appear on this world?

It makes me wonder why humans aren’t ready to understand The Caretaker’s people or where they come from.

Again, they leave at warp 1. Is this standard for leaving a system? I guess it would make sense, taking a lower speed in system.

My Impressions

This was an amusing episode. It was sometimes difficult to take it seriously, as most of the things were quite absurd. But then, a lot of the crew of the Enterprise thought it was absurd. But the acting was also kind of absurd. Shatner wasn’t very good. DeForest Kelley didn’t do very well, either. Actually, there was a bit of overacting. But it makes sense since learning that most of the dialogue was ad libbed.

So, the acting wasn’t that great in this episode. I didn’t think the story was the best, either. It was amusing, kind of weird, but unimportant. It could’ve been removed from the series and no one would have cared. It affected nothing, really.  It wasn’t terrible, though. Just fluff.

One thing this episode did show is how irresponsible some of the crew can be! Kirk fights Finnegan, Kirk stops searching for Sulu because of a flower, Martine changing into a princess dress, Sulu shooting a gun, and more. Maybe their minds were affected by this world? I don’t know.

Verdict

★★★

Your Voice

What did you think of this episode? Was it fluff? Did you enjoy it? Let me know in the comments section below.

Week in Review – June 26, 2017

Ups and downs would define the past week. What’s positive? Feeling good about some of the things I’m doing for my YouTube channels, and I feel optimistic. What’s negative? Well, things I’d prefer to keep private, although one experience was quite interesting. But how about the blog and other things? Let’s find out.

Reading

I had a dream I was reading. Okay, I’m going to read tonight. I’ll push myself to do it!

Writing

I haven’t felt the desire this past week. Too much going on, and I have way too much on my mind.

Videos

Four videos in the past week! Three were uploaded to my main channel, including a fascinating tag about male booktubers. The other was uploaded to my science channel, which I’m getting back into doing. I have another video to upload soon.

Patreon

As I work more on the science channel, I’ll be doing a lot more on the Patreon page.

Languages

A bit of French done, but not much.

The Blog

Starting catching up on comments. I’ll be doing more to get that done this week. I plan on doing 2 months’ worth of monthly reviews. I still haven’t done May’s. I’ll do it this week before the end of the week.

Studying

Nothing.

The Next Week’s Goals

I have a big video to do this week, and that’s a Q&A for my 1 year anniversary on Booktube. But it’s going to be live streamed! It’ll be done via my phone, so I’ll be trying out mobile streaming for the first time ever. I’m curious about how it’ll do.

I also want to do a lot more Star Trek stuff on YouTube and watching. I need to get the videos caught up. I’ll also start up a Star Trek blog for my reviews and videos.

How was your week?

Star Trek S1E14 – Balance of Terror

Did you know the Romulans appeared in The Original Series before the Klingons did? Well, this is the first episode starring the Romulans, and quite possibly one of the most important episodes in all of Star Trek. This is one of the classics.

Season 1, Episode 14: Balance of Terror

Original Air Date: December 15, 1966

Stardate 1709.2

Planet: None

Featured Alien: Romulans

Main Cast: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Rand, Uhura, Sulu

Main Guest Characters: Romulan Commander (Mark Lenard), Lt. Robert Tomlinson (Stephen Mines), Lt. Angela Martine (Barbara Baldavin), Lt. Stiles (Paul Comi), Centurion (John Warburton), Decius (Lawrence Montaigne)

Things I Noticed

When Lt. Martine and Lt. Tomlinson were getting married, Rand appeared. While the previous episode was her last filmed episode, this one was filmed before that.

This is the first time the Romulans appear in Star Trek. It’s also the first time we see one of the major enemies of the Federation.

The display of the Neutral Zone and Romulus looked pretty cheap.

When Kirk addressed the ship about approaching the Neutral Zone, everyone looked up, as if looking at the speakers.

Spock spoke of the Romulan War, and it was interesting to note that he mentioned that they used “primitive atomic weapons” and there was no ship to ship visual communication. Of course, since Enterprise has been aired, we know they used phaser and photon torpedoes at that time and the visual communication wasn’t a technical limitation on Starfleet’s part.

Lt. Stiles seems far too free to voice his opinions. The way he acts is insubordination.

Commander Hansen of Outpost 4 said they’re a mile deep inside an iron asteroid. Not metric!

First time we see a Romulan ship cloaking.

First look at the Romulans. As we know, they look like Vulcans, and are in fact descendents of Vulcans.

The recording of the code that Spock tries to decode sounds almost like it has a pinball machine’s bells.

We learn castrodinium is the hardest substance known. I don’t think it’s ever mentioned again.

They’re approaching a comet, which has a tail, but how? They aren’t in a star system. They’re in interstellar space.

When they were firing phasers, the phaser control room had to manually fire them. This is so much like 20th century warships. But the control for phasers should be on the bridge, no need for people to operate them from another room. Also, it seems more like photon torpedoes being fired, not phasers. Oops. The Enterprise even shook a bit when the phasers fired. And they exploded by the Romulan Bird of Prey. Not phasers!

The phaser circuits are under Spock’s science station. I thought they could operate the phasers from the phaser control room. Either poorly designed, or the writers weren’t thinking how illogical this was.

The Romulan weapon can travel faster than the speed of light. So why is the Enterprise fleeing in the exact path of the weapon? Why not move perpendicular to the weapon’s path?

Rand embraced Kirk when the Romulan weapon was about to hit the Enterprise. Seems kind of inappropriate.

I never understood why the Romulans didn’t have warp capabilities. They wouldn’t be able to leave their own system.

Why can Rand just enter Kirk’s quarters without asking for his permission?

McCoy said there’s a possibility of 3 million Earth-type planets in the galaxy. I think he underestimated.

Surprising that of all people to make such a simple mistake, it would be Spock. You’d think he’d know where all the buttons were on his console.

Not sure why a nuclear warhead would cause so much damage on the Enterprise, especially with its shields. In The Next Generation, a nuclear weapon wouldn’t even bother a Federation starship.

Lt. Stiles blatant bigotry against Spock should have resulted in a reprimand.

When McCoy told Kirk that Tomlinson died, he called him “boy.”

My Impressions

Despite the long list of nitpicks (and some more general observations), this was an incredibly solid episode. We were treated to what makes Kirk such a capable Captain. Lots of battle tactics, bluffing, and trying to anticipate the other’s next move. The tension was three, and it was very well done.

The acting was quite good. This was Mark Lenard’s first appearance in a Star Trek episode, though he’s better-known as Spock’s father, Sarek. Outstanding acting by Lenard, though I think he’s better-suited as a Vulcan. William Shatner had one of his strongest performances in this episode, and I was equally impressed by Leonard Nimoy. Watching this episode was a treat.

For such an important episode, introducing the Romulans to us, we have a very compelling story and great tension. I’d rank this as one of my favourite episodes from The Original Series. I wish the Romulans would’ve appeared more often in this series.

Verdict

★★★★★

Your Voice

What did you think of this episode? Do you think it’s one of the best episodes of The Original Series? Let me know in the comments section below.

Week in Review – June 11, 2017

We’re back from Japan, and I have a 3 week review to do now! There are some things I missed out on doing at the end of the month, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Reading

Reading? What reading? Still at 79% in Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. I always say I’m going to read when I fly, but end up watching movies. I did read 2 pages, though.

Writing

Can’t write when on a trip.

Videos

I posted a whopping 2 videos in the last 3 weeks. But I also recorded several while on our trip. Expect all of them in a next couple weeks. They’re about my trip, but I’ll also make some other regular videos. Both of these videos were on my main channel.

Patreon

Going to work more on this over the next couple weeks as I get back into the swing of things.

Languages

I used Japanese. Is that good enough?

The Blog

I expect everything to return to normal by July. I’ve also decided to start a blog dedicated to my Star Trek reviews. It’ll have the text and video reviews, as well as any other Star Trek stuff.

Studying

Nothing.

The Next Week’s Goals

Lots of videos to edit and upload. I also plan on doing the Month in Review for May, which I never got around to doing because I wasn’t in the country and had limited computer access. So many things to do.

How was your week (or last 3 weeks)?

Week in Review – May 21, 2017

The past week has been very, very interesting. Especially yesterday. But more on that later, because I do have a video to show you. That’ll come tomorrow. So, let’s check what happened.

Reading

Still at 79% in Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. I didn’t actually read anything.

Writing

Nothing much. I haven’t advanced.

Videos

I recorded and posted a total of 3 videos. On my main channel, I posted 2 videos, and neither one is my usual video. But they are about some very interesting things. Definitely check them out. On my science channel, I actually posted something! Very important question for you.

Patreon

Nothing yet. I’ve been going through some things about making my Patreon page look good. I’ll be implementing them this week.

Languages

A little bit of French. I want to work on Japanese, though.

The Blog

Not a whole lot going on this past week, but I’ve been making some more progress on The Star Trek Project. I’m trying to watch a lot more.

Studying

Nothing.

The Next Week’s Goals

In a bit over a week, we’re going to be traveling to Japan for a couple weeks. There will be no updates beyond next Monday for a while. So, until then, things will be as normal, though I want to do as much as I can in terms of recording videos, watching Star Trek, and maybe even a swim in the pool.

How was your week?

Star Trek S1E13 – The Conscience of the King

Shakespeare seems to be a common theme in Star Trek, especially The Original Series and The Next Generation. William Shatner did train as a classic Shakespearean actor after all. Well, here is an episode where Shakespeare is on stage, literally.

Season 1, Episode 13: The Conscience of the King

Original Air Date: December 8, 1966

Stardate 2817.6

Planet: Planet Q, Benecia

Featured Alien: None

Main Cast: Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Rand, McCoy

Main Guest Characters: Anton Karidian / Kodos (Arnold Moss), Lenore Karidian (Barbara Anderson), Lt. Kevin Thomas Riley (Bruce Hyde), Dr. Thomas Leighton (William Sargent), Martha Leighton (Natalie Norwick), Lt. Leslie (Eddie Paskey)

Things I Noticed

I find it difficult to believe that there is famine on an Earth/Federation colony at this time. It may be possible, but I’d think it’s highly unlikely.

Odd that Dr. Leighton has half of his face covered by a black fabric. I’m sure cosmetic surgery is so advanced at that time that his original appearance could be restored, including a prosthetic eye that would function normally. Again, I understand this is due to the fact that this episode was made more than 50 years ago.

When Kirk called up information about Kodos and Anton Karidian, the computer made a lot of mechanical clicks. Weird.

Kirk is unusually smooth with Lenore Karidian. But then, this was just an act, I think.

As Kirk was walking on the bridge, it sounded like he was walking on a wood floor. I’m pretty sure it was, being a cheap set.

When Spock said his father’s race (the Vulcans) didn’t drink alcohol, McCoy said now he knows why they were conquered. Since when were the Vulcans conquered? This just confused me.

McCoy refered to Lenore as a creature. A bit of sexism here?

First time we see the observation deck above the shuttle bay. There are windows, too!

I think this is the first time Kirk kisses a woman! In previous episodes, he’s resisted because as a Captain, he’s pretty much married to his ship.

This is the second and final time Riley appears in a Star Trek episode.

The return of the 20th century spray bottle! This time to poison Riley’s milk. And of course, the ugly gelatin food appears again.

They used tape film for recorded audio. That’s not even used today.

McCoy inadvertently let Riley know about Kodos. It seemed rather careless. He was right behind him!

The acting company’s set is made of wood. Maybe they wanted authenticity. Or it’s just the material the Star Trek set designers had to use.

Kirk and Spock compare paper printouts of the Kodos’ and Karidian’s voice prints side-by-side. They actually used their eyes to compare the voice prints! That is an incredibly inefficient way to do it. Use the computer!

Who in their right mind would continue to quote Shakespeare after they’ve killed their father? But then, she did seem crazy.

Leaving Benecia at warp 1. Warp 1 again. Slow!

My Impressions

Way back when I used to watch Star Trek as a teenager, I was never impressed by this episode. I wanted Klingons and Romulans. Not Shakespeare. But after watching this episode as a 40 year old, I have a completely different feeling about it. I like Shakespeare. But that’s not why I like this episode.

I felt that the acting was pretty good in general. Sure, there was overacting by Shatner a bit (the scene with Lenore in the observation deck was a bit over the top) and some extreme overacting by Barbara Anderson as Lenore Karidian, but it was otherwise well done.

One thing I don’t get is why Kirk didn’t just confide in Spock and McCoy that he suspected Karidian of being Kodos. But I guess it’s possible that he didn’t want them to be subjected to disciplinary action if the transport of the Karidian Company was completely against protocol, and that Kirk was just on a wild goose chase.

The story had a decent amount of suspense. Is Karidian actually Kodos? Would Riley be killed? I thought that was done pretty well. Overall, I enjoyed this episode.

Verdict

★★★★

Your Voice

What did you think of this episode? Was Anderson’s portrayal of Lenore over the top? Did you think Karidian regretted what he had done? Let me know in the comments section below.