The problem with trying to make comic characters look like their screen counterparts is in those panels when Spock looks nothing like Zachary Quinto (or either of the other options, for that matter).

One of the stories in this collection has the creepiest attempt at capturing the Kelvinverse actors yet, and that was pretty hard to get through. The stories in this volume were all pretty good, though, so I can try to look past it. Playing with the Mirror Universe within the Kelvinverse was a fun idea in particular.

This weekend, I read some Star Trek comics, did some cool stuff in Kerbal Space Program, and bought a new tin of my favorite chocolate mint tea. It’s exactly what I needed to let my mind relax for a bit.

There’s something inherently fanservice-y about spinoff comics, especially comics that are interested in reimagining beloved stories for a reboot. Not all fanservice is bad, though. I think the art is getting better, I appreciate those riffs, and if it’s not the best Star Trek, it’s fun to spend time with Star Trek.

This continues to be better than I expected. I’m just not likely to watch TOS anytime soon, so it’s interesting to see these takes on old stories, even if the off-model Chris Pine and company art bugs me. There’s also finally some branching into original stories, which is interesting.

Okay, also: In the ranking of Khans, Cumberbatch is way down at the bottom, and Montalbán should be clearly at the top, but this Lower Decks!Khan is at least a close second… and might even be my favorite?

Every once in a while I surprise myself with how well I can read music, despite all I’ve forgotten since long ago piano lessons. Getting the musical jokes in Ryan North’s Lower Decks comic is the most delightful this has ever been, though.

This felt more consistent than the second season. The in-jokes and continuity nods continued to be great, especially the Deep Space Nine episode and its riffs on that series’s opening credits.

I love so much that this is a Star Trek show about loving Star Trek (even its dumb bits).

This is mostly because I grew up in Northern Kentucky, but my favorite Lower Decks throwaway joke so far is the idea of an adopted Orion growing up in Cincinnati.

The finale was a perfect summary of everything I love about this show, but I had some trouble getting into the earlier episodes.

This is such a fun show. I am not as well-versed in Star Trek as I’d like, so I’m sure I’m missing some of the jokes, but there are still so, so many of them. It’s bizarre, it’s a loving homage, and it’s really good.

Whenever we visit my in-laws, it’s a tradition to put any kids who are present to bed and then gather around one of the big TVs to watch something together. Sometimes it’s something that one family is watching and introducing to another, sometimes it’s something that we’re all watching and are at the same place in the season, and every once in a while it’s something new.

When we drove down to visit in January, I took advantage of that third possibility to get everyone to try Star Trek: Lower Decks, which I’ve wanted to watch for a while but never had the chance to. It’s vaguely been on my radar for its entire run, but I don’t watch a lot of TV and the only TV I watch is with my spouse, and I just was never sure that it was going to make it onto our screens. My spouse is not entirely Star Trek-averse—she was a big fan of Zachary Quinto as Spock in the Abrams movies—but we have different preferred nerddoms and I’m not even as Star Trek literate as I’d like, so even though the show sounded interesting, it just didn’t seem feasible.

Adding “Star Trek: Lower Decks” to my running list of “things I sample on YouTube that I wish I had time to really commit to instead.” (Other entries include the Keyforge unique deck game and solo campaigns of the Starforged TTRPG).

Leandro Palacios from the Beyond the Walls ministry out of the Toronto Community of Christ congregation gave me a heads up yesterday that they would be using a clip from the most recent sermon I gave for them as part of today’s service. I forgot about this until well after the service, but I visited the recording later in the afternoon to see what clip they’d used and to see what else I could catch from the service. Before fast forwarding to my cameo, I actually ended up watching most of John’s homily, which I thought was excellent.

The Kobayashi Maru scenario is one of the best things to come out of Star Trek, and this is one of the best takes on it I’ve read.

Joost versus the Romulans: A Star Trek/Eurovision crossover with lots of shoulder pads.

TNG episode where Picard realizes that all voice interactions with the Enterprise’s computer are being sent to servers in Cupertino to be processed there; and that Future!Apple employees listen in on some for quality control.

I didn’t learn to swear until I was in my 30s, so I have a lingering suspicion that I wind up sounding like Captain Kirk in Star Trek IV.

Resolved, that watching a clip of the first Enterprise vs. Reliant fight from Wrath of Khan shall be accepted as a legitimate reason for staying up too late.

I know some people have strong feelings about split infinitives, but if it’s good enough for Kirk and Picard, it’s good enough for me.