Star Trek Continues ”What Ships Are For” - Detailed Analysis & Review

In this episode of Star Trek Continues, we are treated to the return of John De Lancie is a new role. But just because he's not playing Q, doesn't mean he isn't awesome. "What Ships Are For" explores an issue that has been topical in our world in recent years - immigration and refugees.

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd.

 

This is episode 104 of the podcast. (Yes, I’m counting the chat about DC comics from last time)

Today, we’re talking about the Star Trek Continues episode “What Ships are For”.

 

The description on IMDB reads

Kirk struggles with aiding a society whose inhabitants view their isolated world in a very unique way.

 

This teleplay was written by Kipleigh Brown

With story by Vic Mignogna, James Kerwin, and Kipleigh Brown, 

It was directed by Vic Mignogna

 

And it first aired on the 30th of July 2017

 

When I first heard that Star Trek Continues was bringing in the legendary John DeLancie, but that he’d be playing a character that wasn’t Q, my initial reaction was “What a waste of John De Lancie.”

 

My thinking went something like this. The idea of having Q visit Kirk’s Enterprise would be fun. Something that could certainly happen in-universe because Q can travel through time with the click of a finger. But it couldn’t have ever been done in TOS because The Next Generation didn’t exist yet. It’s the similar problem to having Kirk and Spock make references to Archer and T’Pol. While Enterprise took place before TOS, it was created more than 30 years later.

These kinds of references and interactions can only be done by fan productions (or maybe Strange New Worlds).

But as fun as it would be having Q show up in a TOS episode, it’s unlikely a fan production would be able to get John DeLancie.

 

But Star Trek Continues managed to get him. But they didn’t use him for Q. They cast him as another character. Added to the disappointment of him not being Q, was the fact that De Lancie is a very recognisable guy, so seeing him as a different character would be odd to say the least.

 

After watching the episode the first time, I had to back-pedal my thoughts on this because of De Lancie’s great performance. He did a fantastic job with this character, and now it’s hard to imagine this episode without him.

 

The Enterprise is responding to a distress call from an inhabited asteroid with a limited warp capable society.

 

I like that it’s an inhabited asteroid. We always see people living on planets, but I think we need more inhibited moons and asteroids, not only in sci-fi, but in fantasy as well. If I ever write a fantasy book, the world I set it on will be a moon, rather than a planet.

 

And a nice bit of ongoing continuity, we learn that two Federation starships have been dispatched to investigate what happened to the hood. Both have suffered unexplainable damage.

We also learn that Nurse Chapel is already at Starfleet medical, studying to become a doctor. We know that by the time of Star Trek The Motion Picture, Chapen is a doctor. This is the first really big sign that Star Trek Continues is on a trajectory toward that movie, starting to set up some of the big changes that occurred off-screen between season 3 and the movie.

 

You sometimes see nurses who decide to become doctors in both fiction and real life. It can be almost viewed as a promotion, which, I suspect it technically is, if you look at the hierarchy of authority in a hospital. But nursing certainly needn't be seen as a stepping stone to medicine. Nursing is a respected profession of highly intelligent people. And interestingly, my wife works with a nurse who used to be a doctor, but decided she’d rather be a nurse. You don’t often see it go that direction.

 

The other hint of the motion picture you see is the white medical uniform the doctor at Starfleet is wearing. Kirk jokes that you’ll never get him in one of those things.

 

The Hyalini have refused outside contact for centuries. We know little about them.

 

We get a little TOS style womp-womp humour, which I don’t really care for, but it’s very authentic.

 

When the landing party beam down to the asteroid, they are surprised to be seeing everything in black and white.

When I heard that the creative team behind this show were looking for ways to do a black and white episode, I wasn’t convinced. But the conceit they come up with works nicely for me as a science fiction concept, and also allows them to approach a topical issue in a very unique way. So good on ‘em.

 

While they puzzle over what might be affecting their eyes, they are met by Galisti, leader of the inner council, played by De Lanci, and Thaius, their newly appointed ambassador to the Federation.

 

Galisti is surprised that the human visitors look so much like Hyanoid bipeds. He was expecting a tentacle or two.

Thaius is the first to notice that Spock is different from the others. I laughed out loud when she asked with all sincerity,  if he was an Earth female. McCoy managed to get by with a stifled chuckle.

 

She is also fascinated and delighted by Spock’s kindness and gallantry revealed by pure calculated reason.

 

She notes that in all her excitement at meeting aliens, she didn’t see anything other than his ears. “How often we look but forget to see.” This is an important line, not only because of what it says, but because of who says it. As we’ll see at the end of the episode.

 

We also learn that Galisti and Thaius are married. Galisti says “How fortunate I am to call my friend, my wife.”

And I totally get behind that. I believe that romantic love is best born out of friendship.That’s why I don’t understand this whole “friend zone” thing that “the kids” talk about these days.

 

Kirk struggles to find the words to ask the aliens about the lack of colour. How do you describe colour to someone who has no concept of it?

It would be a bit like describing colour to a blind person. There is simply no common frame of reference.

 

Gaisti and Thaius don’t really know what Kirk is getting at, but they assure him the way their world looks is the same as it has always been.

 

They launch right into an explanation of their situation. Their isolation was never meant to end now. Hundreds of years ago, they united in a goal of becoming worthy to one day join the galactic community (clearly they knew, or believed, that alien life existed). They wanted to become a utopian society, somewhat like what Earth has become.

 

Spock explains the black-and-white as the property of an unusual form of radiation from their sun, which impairs the cone cells in humanoid eyes.

So far, this is just a strange quirk of this world. And Star Trek is all about discovering strange new worlds. But this will come into play in an important thematic way later in the episode.

 

I love the establishing shot we see of the town. Feels reminiscent of the planet where Pike fought the warrior on Rigel in The Cage. I wonder where they shot it. Might even just be stock footage.

 

When Kirk is introduced to Thaius’s most promising student, Sekara, Kirk goes all … Kirk. When he meets an attractive woman, he can’t help but flirt with her.

 

Things get awkward when Tomiat, one of the council, points a gun to his head and yells that Galisti shouldn’t have brought the aliens here. They are all ruined. His perspective seems to be that making contact with aliens, before they themselves are perfect, will destroy them.

I can kind of understand why a group of people would want to perfect themselves before joining the larger community, but this guy’s ideas seem odd and extreme. Evidently, the others of his people do not share the extremity of his view. He refers to himself as a “true believer”.

But a believer in what? Their plan to perfect themselves? What leads him to take the mental jump from “This would be a good strategy” to “if it doesn’t go as we planned, we’re doomed”? It seems a bit of an absurd leap. I don’t know what he’s basing it on.

 

Spock brings things to a peaceful end with a well-placed neck pinch.

 

That’s when Galisti explains that Sekara had a disease. She’ll be dead before the year is out. This is why they broke their isolation with the distress signal. They don’t know what it is, only what it isn’t. These people seem to have medical knowledge at least in line with ours.

 

McCoy is confident the disease is related to the same radiation that makes everything look black and white. Not sure how he concludes this.

 

He wants to bring Sekara on board the Enterprise to examine her in sickbay, but Kirk sees a potential issue. On the Enterprise, she’ll be shielded from the radiation. Spock isn’t certain whether she’ll see colour or not, but if she does, it could be traumatic. I can totally get that.

Kirk tries to prepare her for what she might see. He does a good job of it. He warns her that it will be unusual, it might frighten her, but it will be safe. She accepts this.

 

When she arrives in the transporter room, we get the reveal that her skin and hair colouring are not what you’d expect from a human. Greenish skin and purple hair. Cleverly concealed by the black-and-white nature of her asteroid home.

 

She still sees in black and white for a moment. But then it happens. And as you can imagine, it’s pretty overwhelming.She goes into a panic attack. She asks “is it alive?”

Again, Kirk does a good job of calming and reassuring her.

 

This was nicely done.

 

It's taken millennia for the radiotoxins to induce acute radiation syndrome. Mccoy has started sekaras treatment

 

Now that she’s gotten used to it, Sekara has a real sense of wonder about colour. It’s like nothing she’s ever experienced before. I like how something that is so mundane to us is so awe-inspiring to her.

 

The Hyalinans do have limited space travel, but they don’t have shields that can block the radiation. That’s why they still don’t see colour when they travel through space, but Sekara can when on board the Enterprise.

 

Anyway, treating them for the illness is only a bandaid. It will continue and re-occur as they are exposed to the radiation. But Spock has a daring idea. The spectral signature of the Hyalinus sun can be altered using a modified stellar probe.

 

This is something I’d approach with caution. You’re talking about fundamentally changing the nature of their sun. What un-expected side-effects could that have? What damage could they cause if they do it wrong?

But, with lives on the line, they’re right to try. They just wanna make sure they do it properly

 

Sulu is going to accompany Spock down to the surface to see how the radiation has permeated the food chain. For once, he gets to use his botany for the story.

 

Spock took some scans while he was down there. The tricorder doesn’t rely on cone cells to detect colour. His can show there are multiple skin pigmentations on the planet. Sekara has greenish skin with purple hair, while many of the others have orange skin with black hair.

 

I’m suprised at how shocked and dismayed the crew look. Earth has a number of different skin tones. This needn’t be a surprise. But given the history of Earth, I guess the Hyalians might be in for a shock, and it could lead to treating people differently.

 

Spock and McKenna conclude, in what I think is a bit of a leap, that Sekara and the other minority that share her pigmentation, are aliens. Not native to Hylinus.

 

McCoy points out there could be other explanations, but Spock has apparently gathered enough data to know there are other differences. These people are unquestionable a race not currently native to Hyalinus.

 

And that’s a very interesting development.

Uhura and Palmer are searching for any other habitable bodies nearby.

 

They have to decide whether to confront Sekara about her origins. McKenna suggests not doing so yet. They don’t know who she is, or even whether she knows herself.

 

Kirk surmises that a species as isolationist as the Hyilini would never allow aliens to live on their world, but given their inability to distinguish colour, they probably don’t know.

Sekara was born on Hyalinus and orphaned at a young age.

Her intense awkwardness in trying to answer when Kirk invites her in, suggests she may be as smitten with him as he is with her.

 

She asks an interesting question. “What is the purpose of colour?” Is that something you’ve ever wondered? Probably not, as it’s just such a normal part of our existence.

Kirk suggests that it provides variety, vibrance, beauty.

 Like poetry for the eyes.

 

This episode makes me wonder. We feel like our perception of vision is complete, but so did Sekara. What if there is something …. Other. Something additional that we can’t perceive that another species might. What could that be? I can’t even imagine it. It’s so outside our realm of experience. 

 

It also reminds me of the Terry Pratchet book, The Colour of Magic. In that book, there is another colour called Octartine. While the book tries to describe it using a combination of other colours, we can’t actually conceive of what a colour unknown to us would look like. Because as humans, we’ve already given names to all the colours that our eyes can perceive.

There is nothing more alien than that which you cannot perceive, or conceive of.

 

And then Kirk gets really creepy. At least, that’s how it comes across. I’m not suggesting his advances are unwanted by Sekara. But it seems a little premature. But that’s Kirk. At least, how he was portrayed in TOS.

Palmer has found radio waves coming from another asteroid in the belt.

2 small shuttlepods approach. Unarmed and barely spaceworthy.

The Hyalini lock weapon platforms on the shuttles. The council won’t respond to Kirk’s hails.

He makes the decision to intervene. He destroys the platform after it gets off a missing shot.

 

The Enterprise is now involved in this conflict. A potential prime directive issue.

 

Now the council wants to talk. They demand an explanation for the destruction of their platform.

 

Sekara describes the people on those shuttles as Abicians. They’ve been trying to sneak onto Hyalinus to escape the consequences of their own savagery for decades. They lie and conceal their identities so that they can benefit from the peace and prosperity that we’ve worked to achieve. One which they have not earned themselves.

 

Kirk asks if they are criminals or refugees. Is it a crime to want to live peacefully?

 

Sekara makes the point, that I think is fair, that Kirk doesn’t know enough about the situation to stand in judgement.

Her parents were murdered by abicians.

 

Kirk concedes this. It’s all too easy to criticise the policies of another until you lose someone those policies could have saved.

 

Now, Kirk says something that I think is very wise. “Please tell me, Sekara. I want to understand.”

 

Their world is in turmoil. Territories perpetually at war. Technological innovation fueled solely by the desire to build better, more lethal weapons. They have squandered their natural resources and polluted their world in the process. 

Her parents were part of a diplomatic envoy sent to help. To show the abicians a better way to live. Their ship returned to Hyalinus on auto-pilot and all 18 people on board were killed.

Sekara was 10 years old.

 

Kirk admits that those people who killed her parents were barbarians. But that doesn’t mean they all are, does it?

 

And I think that’s the crux of the matter. The biggest issue with what the Hylians are doing is judging all members of a species based on the actions of their leaders.

The reality is, the people on those shuttles probably disagree with the violent ways of their leaders. They only want to get away from the killing. As Kirk says, to be able to live in peace.

 

Sekara says “you assume they think like us. They do not. They do not respect our laws. They do not value knowledge or honesty and they do not question their conscience before turning to violence.

 

This sounds like something she’s been taught, rather than something she knows factually about these people from experience.

As Kirk says, have you ever met an abician?

She admits her answer is no, but says they’ve managed to keep them off their world.

This is the moment Kirk chooses to reveal the truth.

There are hundreds of thousands of Abicians on Hyalinus. They look just like hyalians, unless you can see colour.

You are abician. Your parents were abician.

That must be an even greater shock for her to accept than the introduction of colour into her world. And Kirk didn’t do much to prepare her for that shock. But what could he do? In the end, he had to just come out and say it.

 

Can you imagine discovering you’re a different species to what you thought you were. That you are actually the thing that you have always distrusted?

 

Sekara now has to face the reality that not all abicians are the way she has pre-judged them to be.

 

Spock and Sulu have found that the food chain has been affected by the radiation at almost every level, but there is no permanent mutation, which means after they’ve put their plan into action, future Hylanini should be healthy and free of the disease.

 

Kirk is trying to reason with the council. 

Galisti asks if his people must meet some arbitrary moral standard set by Starfleet in order to receive help.

Kirk assures him that is not the case. And that’s good. Our compassion for people shouldn’t be limited by our agreeing or disagreeing with them on moral issues.

 

Kirk is trying to understand why the Hyalini see a few people who are desperate for a better life as such a threat.

 

Galisti gets to the crux of it. “Granting entrance to some is an invitation for all. They would overrun our world.”

They have limited resources. They’re struggling to feed their own people.

This is a legitimate concern.

 

Kirk isn’t suggesting that they open their borders to everyone, but he says they’re defensive system is excessive.

 

This was a very topical issue at the time this episode was made, especially in America, but also here in Australia.

 

But it reminds me of the jewish people fleeing Nazi germany. They went from country to country in boats that were falling apart. But nobody would take them in. So they’d have to head back out into open sea, where they faced the very real risk that their boats might just sink.

 

And I wonder, how can people be so heartless?

I’m more conservative than the average Star Trek fan, but I don’t have a problem with immigration - especially if the people are refugees. 

I believe in compassion.

 

Kirk is trying to be reasonable here and see both sides of the issue. He is taking the Hyaliani’s position seriously.

But it’s difficult to reach any sort of logical compromise when Galisti refers to Abicians as “vulgar, selfish and violent. A scourge .”

 

This is a very interesting conversation between the characters. They both say some interesting things. Galisti has quantifiable proof that violent crime went up when they suspected Abicians of being on their world, and down again after they started using their weapon, but again, they’re pre-judging all based on the actions of some.

 

Galisti has valid concerns for the safety of his people, as their leader.

But I really like Kirk’s response to that.

“Safety and compassion are not mutually exclusive. Conscience requires balance.”

And that’s what missing on Hylainus. Balance.

 

Then Galisti points out the hypocrisy of the Prime Directive, in the way it is sometimes applied in Star Trek. “And you stand here before me, lecturing me about ‘compassion’ about ‘balance” You condemn the many for the crimes of none. Who do you think you are?

 

And I’m sorry to have to say it, Kirk, but he’s got a point here. Not necessarily against Kirk specifically, but certainly against the Federation itself. I’m not saying the Hyalnini are right in the way they’re viewing and treating their neighbours, but the Federation is definitely not morally perfect, as much as they’d like to think they are.

 

Kirk is concerned about what will happen once they cure the Hyalini of their disease and their colour blindness. They’ll be able to see the abicians all around them. He doesn’t necessarily think they’ll resort to violence and killing, but he’s worried they’ll round them all up and send them home, washing their hands of what happens to them.

 

McKenna recongises that this is deeply personal for Kirk. He’s not just angry, he’s afraid. Afraid of what might happen to Sekara. He cares for her. 

Given the few minutes he’s spent with her, I think it’s probably more accurate to say he has the hots for her, but this is based on 60s episodic television. So I guess we have to suspect a little disbelief for the sake of truncated story-telling.

 

Kirk sees that for all their piety, the hyaliani have no problem turning their backs on desperate people.

They have no compassion.

 

And piety without compassion leads to some dark places.

 

They take help, but they won’t give it. Kirk wonders if they deserve his help at all?

But as a man of compassion himself, as a man of duty to his principles, does that make a difference? Do you only help those who deserve it? Or is this a case where Kirk has to exercise some costly grace?

 

Because if he doesn’t as McKenna points out, he’ll be no better. He’ll be turning his back on desperate people with nowhere else to go? Some of whom may not agree with the prejudice of their leaders.

And that phrase “nowhere else to go” sparks an idea in Kirk.

 

Sekara is feeling desperate. She’s considering destroying the probe that will save Hyilinus. Because of what will happen next. People will turn on each other. They won’t see neighbours and friends, they’ll see the brutes and thieves they’ve heard about.

 

She asks Kirk to help find another way to help her sun. One that won’t change the way they see.

But there is no other way. The two are inextricably linked.

Kirk talks her down.

 

She feels so powerless. Terrified of the people she’ll return to.

Their eyes will change but their hearts may not.

Then again - her heart has changed. She is the one person who can change the hearts of their leaders.

Galisti and his wife love her very much. She is the proof that Abicians are not all just savages.

 

It’s time to carry out the mission. Kirk warns Galisti that there are abicians living among them. If he repairs their sun, they will be able to see them. 

 

Despite their attitude toward the abicians, the hyalini have accomplished much to be proud of. They have achieved a peace and unity in a short time, that it took earth Milennia to achieve. 

All fueled by the hope that they will one day achieve readiness to join the galactic community.

But how will they know when they are ready?

The problem is, there is no one answer. An undefined finish line means they never have to finish. Your people will never have to leave the comfort and safety of what they have now. 

 

And if you’ll permit me, just briefly, to get spiritual, this reminds me of how some people approach God. They feel they need to be perfect first. But of course, that’s impossible. I believe that God says, come as you are.

 

Then we get an explanation for the episodes’ title. An old saying. “A ship in the harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are for.

Do you serve the hope, or have you twisted it to serve you?

After making an impassioned speech, Kirk reveals they launched the probe twenty minutes ago.

 

Thaius tells Galisti their world is about to change forever, and reassure him her love for him will never ever change.

Why would it? He must wonder, until he starts to see colour.

I like how, even though the two races have different skin colour, this was never about colour. They didn’t even know the difference. It was about fear and prejudice regarding the abician’s character. 

But their blindness has given them the proof that they were wong. That they need to re-think their attitude toward abicians.

There is the possibility that going into the future, some kind of skin-colour-related prejudice may arise, but maybe, just maybe, this experience has taught them the lessons to avoid that.

 

Galisti marvels at this wonder called colour.

But then he looks at his wife.

She is abician.

She’s wanted to tell her for a long time, but she was afraid he’d reject her.

“I’m still me, I’m still the same person,” she insists.

But Galaisti pulls away from her.

 

“This changes nothing,” he says. 

It seems Galisti is still clinging to his attitude. He can’t accept the woman he loves.

Kirk has fixed the sun but the asteroid is still bathed in radiation. It needs to be cleared.

 

Galisti asks Kirk to proceed, but he can’t. He says the Enterprise has been called away on an urgent mission and won’t have the time.

 

But then the surprise. It turns out the Abicians have the technology to fix your sun.

 

“But why would they help us?” Galaisti asks. Why indeed.

Because they now have something the abicians need. Medicine. Enough for both worlds.

Turns out the abicians are suffering the same disease, but they’ve had it much longer. It’s no wonder their world has fallen into chaos.

 

These worlds can save each other, but they’re going to have to put the past behind them and move on.

 

Giving half of the solution each to two warring parties, so they are forced to work together, is a very Star Trek way to resolve a plot.

 

It’s very easy to judge Galisti at this moment. He’s been given the proof. Why doesn’t he see Kirk’s point. He’s still being a jerk - which he is.

But changing your attitude and beliefs is not an easy thing to do. If we’re fair, we can’t expect Galisti to change his entire outlook in thirty seconds, but you can see that it is starting, as Thaius and Sekara say “there is no them anymore, only us.”

 

This is an emotional journey for Galisti. One that will take time, but I have confidence that he will change.

He has to.

If he doesn’t, his world will die.

This was a powerfully written and performed episode.

Another example of why Star Trek Continues deserves to be viewed in the same light as official Star Trek.

 

Only two episodes remain - the two part finale that bridges the gap between TOS and The Motion Picture.

But before we go there, next time we’re going to take a brief detour.

We’re going to talk about an episode of another Star Trek fan show.

Star Trek New Voyages “The Holiest Thing”

I like to include this one when I do a re-watch of Star Trek Continues, because, like continues, it delves into the history of Star Trek and fleshes out a gap that exists between TOS and the movies.

This episode will introduce us to a much younger Dr. Carol Marcus.

 

Until then,

Live long and prosper

Make it so.