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Date: 16 Jul 2020 20:01 Title: Episode 7.18 - Subspace Radio Ivonovic
And so we circle back to the very heart of the matter after a mushroom induced trip to strange new worlds.
Ivonovic's speech, like so many others delivers by dangerousLy radical ideologues starts off reasonably enough until it becomes quickly apparent that it is pure hatred and vitriol dressed up in elegant words.
Terrifc story all around with a great ending that sets us up for a pontenially epic battle between the forces of good and evil.
Author's Response:
You might have noticed some of the quotes at the beginning of some of the Episodes were attributed to an interview with Dr. Kenny Dolphin on Subspace Radio Ivonovic...
I'm really glad you got into his speech. There are a few hopefully chilling speeches to come (especially Emperor Sin IV.) And Ivonovic (pronounced Ivonovitch - he's Serbian) has a huge story arc...
And yes, there is a huge battle between good and evil on a slow fuse - only you might be certain which is which by the time we get there...
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 16 Jul 2020 19:52 Title: Episode 7.17 - In Remembrance of Dr. Ruanthe Perera
No kidding. Just the description is unsettling. Boy, do I not want to come across Mlady on a bad day.
Author's Response:
Or when she's really hungry...
Again - thanks for the reviews!! rbs
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Date: 16 Jul 2020 19:47 Title: Episode 7.15 - Time On Target
So I was half right after all, it is all the mushrooms fault. Granted, I would certainly not have expected, in a hundred years, asymmetrical causality. Is that even a thing? Doesn't matter. Sound cool as hell. I mean the whole concept it mind-bending. Also pretty impressive that it's the crew of what is practically a police cruiser to come up with such an awesome hypothesis. This isn't even a science vessel. Also mindful that that's all it is for now, a hypothesis with little evidence to back it up.
I'll take it though, it's awesome.
Author's Response:
Actually, yes. it is a thing. We've known for decades that actions in the future influence the past at a subatomic level - and I'm liniking in a YouTube video that explains that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7Z_TIw9InA
Similarly, we know it operates as a general rule. The future, the past and what we think of as "now" all exist simultanesouly. If causality is a thing, it has to run both ways. Events in the future shape the past as events in the past shape the future. It sounds more than a little Terminator Judgement Day... But here is another YouTube video explaining the bizarre nature of "now":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idsw99SSwKc
And yeah - Carerra is speculating... Glad you enjoyed this little brain-twister! Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 14 Jul 2020 20:23 Title: Episode 7.14 - Taking His Breath Away
Okay, so not everything is the mushrooms fault. Some grim news here for Tauk. I like how yo are casting against type in this series. Articulate Nausicaans first, and now we've got Ferengi with principles they will not compromise on. What's next? A trustworthy Romulan?
Author's Response:
She turns up in Episode 11... I also have an obnoxious Bolian, a lying Vulcan, a sweet natured cardassian, a cowardly Klingon, a calm, self-possesed Andorian...
Glad you noticed...
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 11 Jul 2020 12:40 Title: Episode 7.13 - A Shared Vision
Not sure what I'm more surprised by here, yet another sudden turn of events as Tauk is experiencing an unexpectedly serious medical episode or the presence of a highly articulate Nausicaan. I guess categorizing all of their people as war-like brutes is likely the kind of racism we should have moved on from. Must keep open mind.
Author's Response:
I did a little careful foreshadowing with Tauk. You might have noticed him coughing in episodes 4 and 5. That vision of him coughing up blood was in Kenny's nightmare at the beginning of this episode.
At some point I may write a short fanfic from a nausicaan POV. I have this fanciful notion that nausicaans are extremely cultured and have a rich literary tradition. But they consider humans (and pretty much every other non-nausicaan) to be just duller than ditchwater, so they use baby talk around us and see no point in sharing their culture with us.
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 11 Jul 2020 12:34 Title: Episode 7.12 - Battle for Pillo
Veni, vini, vici.
Dolphin and T'Lon in that tactical unit didn't take any prisoners. Literally. And I have to agree with Guth, that was some outstanding piloting, putting your ship within, what in space might as well be a hair's length of two massive cruisers and blow them apart at point blank range.
Flawless strategy.
Now I'm quite curious what prompted this sudden attack, which by the way, I didn't see coming at all.
Once more, I shall blame the mushroom until I am convinced otherwise.
Author's Response:
Oh the mushroom is definitely involved...
I had been signalling Dolphin's ability as a pilot. In Ep.2 Irons mentions that he is considered the best pilot in Star Fleet and in Ep.6 Gamor makes a remark about his rating as a test pilot with Utopia Planeta. I had to pay that off at some point.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Guth rhymes with Booth. I named him after the American theoretical physicist Alan Guth.
Thanks! rbs
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Date: 07 Jul 2020 20:39 Title: Episode 7.11 - Case Closed
He just pulls the sword out of his chest? This guy is one tough customer. Also, looks like Mlady is done feeding for the week. Also, WTF just happend?
Whatever the cause, I blame the mushroom.
Author's Response:
Lots of reveals at the end of this episode - including why David is so tough and smart and such a good dancer all in one giant body. And why Carrera is off the charts brilliant. And many of the other Hunter's superheroes. With the exceptions of Mlady, Kenny, Gaia, Tauk, T'Lon, Tali Shae, Jazz and the three trills...
And a reveal on TGM that will hopefully make your neo-cortex hurt...
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 07 Jul 2020 20:33 Title: Episode 7.10 - A Bad Feeling
Now we've got space mushrooms, too? Great Scott, these things are everywhere.
I'm starting to get a bad feeling about .... never mind.
Author's Response:
Well.. I did feel the episode needed to earn its name.
The bad feeling thing is a bit of a nod to Star Wars.
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 07 Jul 2020 20:25 Title: Episode 7.9 - Mushroom Dreams
Gotta say, you do surrealism quite well in another creepy nightmare paragraph. In the soundtrack of my mind I was hearing "White Rabbit" through much of this scene.
I wonder what the mushroom, if that's indeed what is attempting to communicate here, is trying to say. My guess is, "get the hell off me, people!"
Author's Response:
Thanks for the kind words! White Rabbit definitely fits the material.
Ah that mysterious mushroom...
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 05 Jul 2020 21:45 Title: Episode 7.7 - They're Playing Our Song
So there's a bit of T'Lok left after all. Nice.
I have to say I appreciate how you juxtapose these somber chapters with the oddity of the mushroom extravaganza.
Author's Response:
I'm glad you like the intercutting. The best of Trek both in tv and movies involved great intercutting between A and B stories. With a major cast as large as this one, I'm really running C and D stories as well. Something I can do in writing that would be much harder to pull off in a time constrained tv series.
Thanks again for revieing and for the kind words! rbs
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Date: 05 Jul 2020 21:38 Title: Episode 7.8 - One Mushroom to Rule Them All
Oh look, it's the Lord of the Mushrooms.
All this talk about mushrooms, and now just one mega 'room is starting to freak me out a bit. Could something sinister be going on here?
Author's Response:
There is definitely more going on with our million ton, bioluminescent agaricoid friend than meets the eye. Out of more than 100 characters I created for this series, TGM is easiily the most mysterious. Although Emory Ivonovic and Emperor Sin IV will give it a run for its money..
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 05 Jul 2020 21:32 Title: Episode 7.5 - Temple on Mt. Seleya
Aw, that was nice. Still, somehow I had thought that maybe T'Lok would get resurrected but I suppose that would have been a little too convenient. Sometimes, dead is dead, even in Trek and with superheroes. Although usually not as permanently reliable for the latter.
Author's Response:
There are a few options in between death and life that are fun to explore and more possible with vulcan spirituality. Dead but not gone...
Glad you enjoyed this scene - Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 04 Jul 2020 23:54 Title: Episode 7.6 - Trying Their Patents
Okay, something tells me you know exactly how many times the word "mushroom" appeared in this chapter.
I was going go comment on something else but now that's really all I can think of. Mushroom.
Author's Response:
Well, mushroom does kind of dominate Episode 7 - hence the name... I borrowed a writing technique from Douglas Adams and James Thurber - when you have something absurd, really lean into it. Hopefully it didn't overshadow the reveal on Dr. Carrera as that will become an important story point in later episodes.
Thanks again! rbs
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Date: 04 Jul 2020 13:35 Title: Episode 7.4 - Night Life in Porte Abello
Very nice and vivid world-building in this chapter. Pillo sounds like a fascinating and truly alien world very different to most places we've seen on the screen. Well done.
Author's Response:
These scenes on Pillo were among the first I envisioned when I was just idly day dreaming what eventually became this series. I went on this journey in no small part so I could describe Porte Abello and its inhabitants. So in a way, the entire Star Trek Hunter series started with a mushroom trip...
Thanks again for the kind words! rbs
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Date: 02 Jul 2020 12:02 Title: Episode 7.3 - Case Assignment
A court case were people experience premonitions? Well, that certainly sounds like a fascinating setup, particularly since some of the involve parties already think they have "seen" the outcome.
This could get complicated. Looking forward to it.
Author's Response:
Thanks again for reading and reviewing!
Hopefully the courtroom scenes will be a nice counterpart to Episode 2 - an orderly, completely civil procedure - but every bit as nuts in its own way.
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 02 Jul 2020 11:53 Title: Episode 7.1 - Nightmares
One hell of a creepy nightmare. Nicely done.
And now we've got a katra situation? Are we about to get some sort of Vulcan resurrection? That would be a pleasant turn of events for a change considering all the grief these guys have been through recently.
Author's Response:
Thanks again for the kind words... Hopefully the resolution will be emotionally satisfying (although not entirely a resolution...) That was the fun of writing a Pon Farr story - It allowed me to play the sex/romance story from gentle to erotic to comic to pathetic. And now to a denouement.. I was gratified when you observed that T'Lon was taking T'Lok's death well. That was exactly the illusion I wanted to create.
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 28 Jun 2020 23:56 Title: Episode 6.11 - Disclosure
Love. That's the missing ingredient. I think you may have just solved the fears of all those futurists who are concerned about an advanced AI wiping out humanity. Just add love.
Although, on second thought, what happens when an AI gets jealous or even worse ... inconsolably love sick? Nothing good I bet.
Nice ending to this crazy, eventful episode.
Author's Response:
Okay - I wish I had thought of that as a plot device... A love sick starship. That would be an absolute scream.
That said, Malloriah Uhr will definitely return.
Thanks again for the kind words - glad you liked Episode 6! Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 28 Jun 2020 23:48 Title: Episode 6.10 - The Ghost of T'Lon
I have to admit you have an impressing ability to pivot on a dime.
I certainly didn't expect this chapter to end where it did considering how it started. Let's ignore for a moment my first impression about what was happening in the Medical Bay, now it turns out Mlady is a ... vampire?
Well, you certainly know how to keep a reader on edge.
Author's Response:
Mlady is a little more than a vampire... she's actually quite a bit creepier than that. There's more about her in Episode 7 - The Great Mushroom.
Thanks again for the kind words! rbs
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Date: 28 Jun 2020 23:40 Title: Episode 6.9 - The Naked Truth
OMG, this is the Naked Now. Except, on steroids.
As for the things I feared that could go wrong? Well, I didn't expect exactly this to go wrong.
And now an even greater threat looms. Nice.
Author's Response:
Really glad you got a kick out of this scene - kind of mingled humor and horror.
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 28 Jun 2020 23:35 Title: Episode 6.8 - The Plan to Capture BK2
I remember that rifle from the DS9 episode. That was a pretty nasty weapon.
A lot of elements in play here which means a lot of things that could go wrong, including over 4,000 people suddenly ... uh ... feeling very funny?
Author's Response:
Yep - that's where I got the idea. I changed it a little - the DS9 version was essentially a displacement phaser. Mine was somewhat more primative. I would think that replicators would be coded to make it impossible for someone to use them to obtain any kind of weapon. DS9 created an out for this - Dax had to have a certain security clearance. I thought that was a bit too easy.
I'm gratified that you saw the DS0 debacle coming from the discussion among Shran and Mallory. I really do appreciate your comments - Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 28 Jun 2020 23:28 Title: Episode 6.7 - Hunter Courting
Fully functioning, eh?
Okay, so this story is going into a direction I didn't quite expect.
Oh, and I was pointing out privacy issues earlier. Considering there are telepaths running around, and AI systems which can be anywhere and see everything, I suppose true privacy is a thing of the past.
Author's Response:
Yeah - privacy is already a thing of the past. Depending on when you got your first cell phone, the U.S. government probably has a complete record of every call you have ever made and every person you have ever texted. Courtesy of the Patriot Act.
Fortunately, the deepest, darkest secrets of the human soul are stultifyingly boring to betazoids and profoundly annoying to vulcans...
Glad you got a kick out of Mallory and Hunter's riff on Data and Picard. Thanks again for your reviews!! rbs
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Date: 28 Jun 2020 23:23 Title: Episode 6.6 - The Best Pilots
Shran doesn't take no guff.
Hmm, why does he need a pilot, I wonder.
Author's Response:
I kind of designed Lynhart Shran after the actor Judd Herst - warm, friendly, likeable, kind of a funny old guy.. and a cold-hearted gun for hire.
Judd Herst with antennae and an andorian service revolver...
Thanks again for reading!! rbs
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Date: 28 Jun 2020 23:19 Title: Episode 6.5 - Tolon's Ephiphany
One thing a little creepy here is how much information the team seems to have access to about pretty much anyone visiting a Federation starbase. I guess privacy laws work a little different in the future.
I've noticed you keep referring to the planet Raisa. Not sure if this is an alt spelling for Risa or a different planet altogether.
Author's Response:
Well... we kind of already live in that fishbowl.. But the Hunter's crew have this detailed information courtesy of Julain Bashir and Section 31...
Yeah - I should probably have looked up Risa on Memory Alpha. I misspelled it. I'll have to go back and correct that...
Thanks!! rbs
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Date: 28 Jun 2020 23:14 Title: Episode 6.4 - Interrogating Ivonovic
So the Romulans are working with the Cardassians. Or rather, using them.
Could this be phase two of the ill-fated Tal Shiar/Obsidian Order alliance? And if so, how does Ivonovic fit into any of this.
A lot of questions in this fascinating mystery.
Author's Response:
Glad you're enjoying the mystery! There is a lot more with Emory Ivonovic to come.. And Remma (the romulan) will reappear along with Lemark.
Thanks again for reading - and for reviewing! rbs
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Date: 23 Jun 2020 22:58 Title: Episode 6.3 - Gossip
This entire conversation and theme on hybrids and purity is very much in the best tradition of Trek and reminds me a great deal of the conversations we unfortunately still having to this day about racial purity and interracial relationships.
As for the rampant hormonal outbreak on the Hunter, on the other hand, would probably never make it onto a Trek TV show, at least not quite this blatantly. Maybe HBO. Then again, we did get to see the Enterprise crew fall all over themselves in the Naked Now.
Author's Response:
Considering the Odogasms and Kiragasms DS9 got away with, along with the first passionate female/female kiss on network TV and all the hanky-panky with Warf and Dax in the wings, I think I can defend my T rating...
I'm kind of stealing a plot device from a DS9 episode... None the worse for wear.
Glad you enjoyed all the talk about hybrids and purity - while I wrote this episode nearly a year ago, it is evidently far too resonent today.
Thanks again for the kind words!! rbs