Fans and tie ins have had Trelane and Q related in some ways for a while. It seems to me that this is just adding to what was already had fan speculation.
Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 4x07 - "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass"
I actually think Trelane has more to do than that.
He and his fellow Q-or-whatever are surrogates for the audience of a soap opera. They add considerably to the entertainment for me, especially watching his "proctor" getting sucked in ever-so-reluctantly (she is all of us who have gotten drawn into an episode of Days of Our Lives) and Trelane reacting with us to the "absurd" twists (that ironically actually show Pike getting to the core of things).
It's the kind of meta-ness that could be irritating in a different context -- and one could fairly argue that using Trelane to lampshade how confusing "Juliet!" is likely to be for a more casual audience is pushing it -- but I think it's integrated well with the premise here, and parallels Pike's own journey from bewilderment to irritation to acceptance. And focusing only on Pike would have deprived us of so much genuinely good comedy, c'mon.
I took it as a reference to Peter David's novel Q, Squared where at the end it is indeed revealed that Trelane is Q's son.
Because of their wibbly wobbly timey wimey nature, Trelane could very well be the same Q Jr from Voyager. Just like how Q appeared in Picard 3 after dying at the end of 2.
He isn't.
Why not? They've already shown that they walk through time the way we walk on the ground. There's no limit as long as there is ground.
I've really liked that SNW recontextualised that. Initially we thought that she was pining after a man who had no interest. We can see now that he was carrying unresolved feelings. I think SNW encourages us to see that he was / will be still in love with her in TOS and is hurt. He isn't willing to go there again with her in the Naked Time, hence it's 'too late.' We don't know whether that could change after TOS and when he re-embraces his humanity. We do know that she's the person he's had the strongest feelings for and I think the only person he's ever said he loved in a non drugged up state. Christine seems like the right match for him. She doesn't want the extreme Vulcan T'Pring did or the more human (sexier and more exciting) Sybok version that La'an did.
I think it was a minor thing in TOS. I enjoyed what they did in season 1 and 2 of making it a bigger thing. I liked that Spock trotted along on the path laid out for him with T'Pring and didn't question that she didn't accept him / want him and they didn't make eachother happy until he suddenly experienced that. He fell in love once and it changed his views and priorities and influeced his choices. I think the key problem is that that can only happen once. La'an was a trip to the well too many as it made him a romantic lead. They then focused on the La'an romance non-stop for two seasons. It undoes what came before as it suggests that Spock will leap for anyone who will have him rather than connecting with one person in a unique way. I wish they'd taken a break from romantic Spock and given us friend Spock and commanding Spock. He has been reduced to a romcom lead now and that's the result of the La'an storyline become incessantly. I know this doesn't bother everyone but I would like to see Spock paired with other scene partners. Regardless of whether it's romantic of not, he's been paired with La'an almost exclusively this season. I'd like to see him boucne off others.
I think she's processing ending it. It feels a little bit over the top because it felt like a very casual relationship. Spock has never expressed any feelings about her and again, didn't do so here. It's interesting because this episode told us pretty explicitly that Spock, as he really is, was never the man she wanted. I think that's consistent with her conversation with Una in season 3 where she was a bit horrified at the idea of him leaving his socks and made it clear that she didn't want a relationship with him. We understand a bit better now that she would like a relationship but not with him. The 'Sybok' version of him was nothing like the actual Spock as he told her pretty firmly. It seems that she'd like to retain his commanding style, stoic surface and intelligence but she'd like him to be more exciting, more emotional, more in touch with his feelings, more sexy, bolder etc.... It made me chuckle because it was a bit of romance novel inspired version. She wants him to be stoic and logical on the surface but smouldering with passion and danger just below the surface and his control will break only for her ... A Mills and Boon moment! A Spock that loves science in a lab, is ridiculously intelligent in an academic way, honest but not hugely open, needs a hug, wants to be accepted for himself, wants a best friend etc... isn't what she wants.
She did catch some feelings but this episode seems to be more about her coming to terms with the reality that he was never what she wanted. I would prefer that they closed the circle by having her openly acknowledge that to him by I suppose he inferred this correctly by his reaction and shutting down any idea that he could be that version (which he obviously can't and shouldn't try to be).
Is anyone else thinking that is meant to be the start of linking back to Kirk in season 2? Maybe I'm overreading into his because they haven't mentioned it much this season (just ep 2) although I wouldn't be suprised to see a mention next episode. The traits that she was deeply attracted to in 'Sybok' seem to be traits that Kirk held or at least the alternate universe version. He was braver and more exciting while still being intelligent, a great leader and a strong and kind man. He's a much more passionate person who isn't in love with academia the way Spock is. He's a doer. That seems to be more like Sybok and more like La'an herself. Is she on the pathway to recognise that Kirk (or alt Kirk) is more the one she wants? I'm wondering if her endgame and happy ending is returning to the alternate universe and being re-united with Kirk? It would end her story in a positive way and unite her love stories and exploration of identity. He was the person most willing to accept her as she was.
Yes to all of this! The behaviour of La'an and T'Pring felt like a noticeable contrast in this episode just as it was in season 2 episode 5. You've captured it perfectly. Not only did La'an dream up and fall for this idealised version, she asked Spock at the end if he would or could become this version (I know she didn't quite use those words but that's what she seemed to be hopefully asking). That's a quite powerful way of rejecting the full him even if she didn't mean to hurt him. The clear contrast is Christine flying to interdimensional space and pleading with the Kirkovians to bring back to whole, part Vulcan and part human Spock. She says that she's connected to both parts even if the human only part could understand her feelings better. We see her say she loves both parts and him just as he is in TOS.
I hope they were intending us to see this because the contrast felt very noticeable for me. I was disappointed to see that no reviewers commented on this or even La'an's realisation that she didn't want Spock as he was. It was largely just summarised as sad. I think it is sad and the goodbye is a bit sad, but it's mostly sad because she's accepting that she won't have her idealised Spock, not because she's losing the actual Spock. As she said, she doesn't regret that breakup.
I agree with you that Spock and Chapel can't be resolved in one line in season 5. The build up was enormous and the heartbreak and impact on Spock has been huge. It's hard to know because the relationship has been quite dormant this season. They had a lovely scene in episode 2 which showed them still understanding each other better than anyone else has (and a contrast with La'an this season who struggled to get him or be there for him). Jess Bush said that Spock and Christine weren't over (said after season 5 was finished) so I assume there is more to come. Paramount also pushed the Spock Christine idea this season with an official summary and quite a few teasers produced showing their moments from earlier seasons. This obviously hasn't paid off yet but I'm assuming that they did it because of feedback from season 3 and they realised that this relationship had some popularity and it reduced viewership to remove it. I'm assuming therefore that they'll react to that feedback in season 5 and we'll see more of them again.
It did. Something is going to happen to her but she's got to be around for season 5 so it can't be death (yet). I do think she might be taken to Kirk's universe. If so, they're going to have to lay some more groundwork about him being the man she wants / her happy ending.
I think her realisation that actual Spock wasn't what she wanted was also layered. SHe misses the idea of the relationship and the hope of Spock becoming the man she wants, but not actual Spock himself. Spock's lack of emotion or response is also interesting. I've seen reviewers say that he didn't understand but I don't think that's right. He understands the pain of a breakup because he lost Christine. He was heartbroken because she wouldn't be his partner and being her friend wasn't the equivalent. He understood the loss and obviously missed her so he gets it. I think he didn't 'get it' here because he saw their relationship as primarily a friendship so having her as a friend served (mostly) the same purpose for him. I think the relationship was largely casual for him or at least his feelings didn't run deep. He didn't have much reaction to either breakup so he's clearly not beside himself.
Well, Q's illegitimate son. Trelane's (apparent) father was another Q, while his mother was an unspecified sort of higher being. I don't think it's likely that Trelane is supposed to be q from Voyager, but Trelane being half-Q seems like a fine fanwank for how q could be the first Q that was ever born and not... however the original Qs came about. It's less awkward than fitting Amanda Rodgers into that bit of lore.
Source?
It's all vague hints, nothing to say it's not Q jr. John De Lancie voiced his father, Occam's razor says...
It's been a very long time so I could be misremembering, but I'm sure at the very end Q acknowledges that Trelane is his son, rendering all the other stuff misdirection.
I think he can be and I hope he is. It's a nice reference back to a great character. I loved Q Jnr. It really helped that he was played by John De Lancie's son - the similarities were clear. It enriches the Voyager episode to think that he jumped away from a while, played with humans and jumped back to get an earful from Aunt Kathy before mending his ways.
I'll be honest, I really wished they would've left it alone. I'm so burned out on nostalgia that it is to the point that it is hard to enjoy what a lot of modern Trek offers. It is what it is. I wasn't offended by it. I was bored by it, which to me is far worse.
Any links to Q are so dumb to me.
It is what many of the current writers probably grew up on. "Q, Squared" by Peter David linked them in an official licensed publication thirty-plus years ago.
INTERVIEW — Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman on STRANGE NEW WORLDS’ New Set, That “Wedding Bell Blues” Character, and More!
We chat with STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman about that “Wedding Bell Blues” character, the show’s new science lab, and more!
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Checks out. I will grant that I'm less familiar with the Trek novels and only recalled comic art indicating a shared plane of existence, like divine councils in mythologies.
INTERVIEW — Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman on STRANGE NEW WORLDS’ New Set, That “Wedding Bell Blues” Character, and More!
We chat with STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman about that “Wedding Bell Blues” character, the show’s new science lab, and more!
That was just them leaving it to the imagination. I congratulate them for that. Trek doesn't do it often.
How else can we pass the Trekkie quiz?
"No. Yes. Maybe?"INTERVIEW — Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman on STRANGE NEW WORLDS’ New Set, That “Wedding Bell Blues” Character, and More!
We chat with STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman about that “Wedding Bell Blues” character, the show’s new science lab, and more!
It's a very clear no.
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