Retro Review – Starfleet Command

[Retro Review] The One With The Whales (1986)

Closing off an accidental trilogy, Kirk and his disgraced crew wrap up chilling out on Vulcan to go back to Earth for a bit of a wrist slapping. While they saunter back home in a stolen Klingon ship, an alien probe pops round for tea and biscuits on Earth. Except, there's neither tea nor biscuits buit a confusing sense of chaos as it sucks everything around it of power and soaks up Earths oceans f...[Read More]

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA September 17, 2024

[Retro Review] The Search For Spock (1984)

The Wrath of Khan was the end of the road, or so many thought. So killing off Spock was a way to close that chapter of their lives and move on to other projects. But of course, the second outing was also a success, but director Nick Meyer had a feeling it would be and put in a caveat. Before his death, Spock mind melded with Dr McCoy and told him to remember...

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA July 16, 2024

[Retro Review] Unification; Next Generation S5E708

Over several era's and realities within the Star Trek Universe, there are very few who can tie them all together. Kirk may have met Picard thanks to the Nexus, and Riker may have joined the crew of the Cerritos, but before those events crossed over there was one landmark event that not only helped to bridge the worlds of the original series and the Next Generation, but would begin a thread that wo...[Read More]

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA June 18, 2024

[Retro Review] What You Leave Behind; DS9 Series Finale

In comparison to it's predecessors, Deep Space Nine is a show that built on it's concept expanding in story, setting and character unlike we'd seen before. In bringing the series to a close, it wasn't just a one and done grand finale. It was the culmination of story threads reaching back from the beginning; from the spiritual state of Bajor and the aliens they heralded as Gods, to the slow creepin...[Read More]

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA May 21, 2024

[Retro Review] The Chase: Next Generation S6E20

Infinite diversity in infinite combinations. That's the mantra of Star Trek fans across the world. Yet when it came to alien life the infinite combinations and diversity often came down to face-paint and prosthetics on noticeably normal people. There's little to separate human and Betazoid aside from dark eyes. Vulcans are human looking with pointed ears. Even the reptilian Cardassians have human ...[Read More]

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA April 16, 2024

[Retro Review] The Vulcan Hello/Battle of the Binary Stars

Over the past few years through Comms, we've looked back at past iterations of Star Trek with rose coloured glasses and a bit of humour. This time round, we're reaching back only seven years for the 'youngest' retro review to date. Since it's debut in 2017, Discovery has launched a whole new world of Star Trek from animated comedies, to sombre reunions with past heroes. Ait all began with Discover...[Read More]

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA March 19, 2024

[Retro Review] The Way of the Warrior (DS9 Season 4)

Whenever you ask a DS9 fan where to start, the answer is rarely from the beginning. The first seasons of the show were good, sometimes great. The foundations were laid for a darker show than the flagship adventures of the Enterprise We had Federation turncoats in the Maquis; an uneasy peace between Bajor and their former oppressors in Cardassia; there was politics and religion crossing over on all...[Read More]

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA February 13, 2024

[Retro Review] Best of Both Worlds

The word 'Legacy' has been storming every corner of fan circles since the closing episode of Star Trek Picard which saw the former captains story with the Borg come full circle in more ways than one. While showrunner Terry Matalas has said there's nothing confirmed with Paramount to his grand plan to continue the stage set by the finale, we're digging into the Comms archive to look back at one of ...[Read More]

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA January 16, 2024

[Retro Review] Tapestry, TNG

In a diplomatic mission gone wrong, Captain Picard is beamed back home to the Enterprise after being shot in the chest and dies. The shot blew out his mechanical heart and as he crosses the celestial border from life to death, he's met with his creator. Or at least someone claiming to be God, his old pal Q. Q explains the situation. The heart, or lack of, killed him. Then he plays back the figh...[Read More]

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA September 19, 2023

Retro Review: The Emisarry

These days Star Trek can, and is, a collection of tales with multiple settings. From secretive science experiments, to unimportant Starships. In the 1990's Star Trek was seen as only one thing: A crew exploring space on the Enterprise. And there was even pushback to there being a different Enterprise and crew in the 80's before the launch of The Next Generation. But producers of the time weren't w...[Read More]

SFCQ2 Comms August 15, 2023

“The Needs Of The Many…” Retro Review: The Wrath of Khan

The first shot of the crew sitting at their regular stations, only for a new face – Saavik – in the big chair before everyone dies isn't quite the shock now as it was in 1982. Mainly as it's all too familiar to us. By now we all know the story. Admiral Kirk comes back to his old command to inspect Spock's class of cadets as they undertake field duty while, far out in the depths of the final front...[Read More]

SFCQ2 Comms June 7, 2021

Retro Review: Way of the Warrior (Comms Highlights)

Whenever you ask a DS9 fan where to start, the answer is rarely from the beginning. The first seasons of the show were good, sometimes great. The foundations were laid for a darker show than the flagship adventures of the Enterprise We had Federation turncoats in the Maquis; an uneasy peace between Bajor and their former oppressors in Cardassia; there was politics and religion crossing over on all...[Read More]

ADM JT Marczynka, DoFA January 27, 2019

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