Assorted thoughts and observations as I watched (reposted from the other place):

• Oh, shit, we've got a space-ring!
• Don't you hate it when the god-computer starts lagging?
• Ransom: Hidden art critic.
• Boimler leading an away mission. What could go wrong?
• "Everything that has ever occurred is science stuff."
• "And or dismemberment"
• Was that fucking NOMAD?
• Lancelot the Ferret.
• The update is going to screw it all up, isn't it?
• Yep.
• I love how the artists just go and start painting the fallen freeze-cloud.
• Is this the first time that the Kzinti ensign has talked?
• Blindfolded saber fight!
• "A mountain, or possibly a volcano has appeared." (boom) "Ah, it is a volcano."
• T'Lyn is great.
• Move Along Home
• "He overdosed on Ketracel white"
• "BRADWARD, NO!"
• OH GOD, IT'S A KOALA!"
• Very 2001
• "You never forget your first death."

Observations and thoughts as I watched (initially posted at the other place):

• We begin with "Twovix".

• Holodeck waste material, AKA jizz, poop, and god knows what else.

• Oh, hey, T'Lyn!

• DAT VOYAGER THEME!

• Oh, hey, the probe from the one with the whales!

• Neelix cheese!

• Shit did get freaky.

• Oh shit, they're going to Tuvix Billups and T'ana!

• "Janeway straight-up murdered Tuvix."

• MACROVIRUS.

• The Pike Thing, of course.

• "Back in the 70s"

• "Captain, I caution against socializing with the organism."

• So many VOY deep cuts.

• "Holy shit. Janeway didn't mess around."

• Macrovirus of Borg. And robotic warp salamander of Borg.

• "Water, room temperature."

• This is definitely T'Ana's side of T'Llups.

• Oh god, they tuvixed the Matt the whale! Wait, what about Kimolu? Is he alright? Is he okay?

• A Tuvixy meatball!

• Heh, the real solution to the Tuvix conundrum was just to keep merging until it's a nonsentient blob of meat so there is no murder, so to speak.

• Oh god I just realized that we're going to get so much Tuvixy fanart.

• Bizarre series of Voyager-themed obstacles.

• SHE GOT A PIP

• Beckett Mariner receives the fate worse than death for her: promotion.

• Nothing ever good happens "somewhere in Klingon space"

• RIP Klingon lower-deckers.

And now, episode 2:

• Heh, Romulan lower decks.

• Goodbye, Romulan lower deckers!

• Heh, those 80s workout stuff.

• Oh, cool, Boimler still has his Tom Paris tplate!

• Please tell me Denty has a Memory Alpha page.

• The Nacelle is right there!

• Non-botanicals

• I have just met Moopsy but I would die for it.

• Oddly enough, this is the SECOND time this year that a Jack Quaid character looked at a VERY bright light. Shoutout to my boy Richard Feynman, the one man crazy enough to watch a nuclear test without goggles.

• Okay, I would no longer die for the moopsy.

• Tucker Tubes! Good old Trip got stuff named for him!

• The Ad Astra Per Aspera poster!

• I do feel like Starfleet would have better soundproofing, but then again this is the Cerritos.

• RIP corn guy.

• LIVIK!

• Aww, D'Vana Tendi giving orders.

• Teeth as bread crumbs.

• Heh, the humans really are the worst.

• Hah, he could have just used the viewports.

• Overall, I think I liked this second episode more, even though I loved the VOY fan service.

• Like an authentic midwest American town, the Parnassus Beta colony is having trouble making sure everyone is vaccinated.

So authentic!

Given Archer's test pilot background, I'd like to think he was from Hammondsport, the hometown of Glenn Curtiss.

THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS AS I WATCH:

• NOOO, I DON'T WANT THIS TO END!

• Previously: The various stuff happened.

• Oh, hey, Cayuga captains log.

• Nice of them to have a colony modeled after an Earth town. Saves on budget.

• "SIGNAL LOST." In space, a dropped call can mean only one thing: Invasion.

• Oh, we're doing the Independence Day thing?

• Telling a Starfleet captain to just do reconnaissance is basically telling them to go weapons free.

• Nice little tinge of one of the TOS scores at the end of the cold open. Someone more geekier than I can probably place it.

• If you ever feel like you are useless in life, just remember that there is a "skip intro" button during a "Space, the Final Frontier" monologue.

• Is the "Gorn Protocol" a hand-cannon with with a diamond?

• She flies the ship!

• I'd like to imagine there is a deleted scene where they glue every piece of junk they have onto the shuttle.

• If they're going to do a "is someone still alive in the wreckage" storyline, they probably should have flip-flopped Batel and Chapel's spots, given that we obviously know she's going to live.

• They keep giving Jenna Mitchell lines! FREE MITCHELL! Give that actreess a cast credit, cowards!

• Ah, a good old fashioned beam into the sky.

• Oh, look, a Gornzooky!

• And... vaporized.

• More Gornzookies!

• Oh my god, it's young Scotty. Hopefully this means Keenser is there. I always loved Keenser and his ability to sit on things he isn't supposed to.

• Doesn't seem like Keenser is there :(

• Of course Scotty would engineer a way to save people. He truly is a miracle worker.

• Smashing a piece of space debris is a very... brilliant idea.

• Pelia continuing to harass Una for her poor academics in engineering.

• Why do I get the feeling that whatever plan Spock has to put the rockets on the hull will also allow him to check for survivors?

• Wow, imagine that, Chapel is alive! Imagine that! Whoever would have thought! (Seriously they should have flip-flopped her and Batel if they were going to do this)

• USE THE MORSE, CHRISTINE!

• Oh, now she grabs the spacesuit. Although I guess she didn't need it yet.

• WARNING: GORNZOOKY

• COMMAND CODE INVALID'

• That looks like a bigger Gorn. An adult? Or at least like a teenager.

• So incredibly Alien.

• "GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM, YOU BITCH!"

• Oh shit, she's been impregnated with gornzookies. A very zombie movie trope.

• "There'll be time later." Before or after you get engaged to Dr. Korby?

• "We need to abort some Gornzookies."

• Yeah, Scotty would be a shitty student despite being brilliant.

• OH FUCK THE GORN KIDNAPPED THEM

• TO BE CONTINUED?!?!!?! Okay, who wants to drive to Hollywood and personally beat up some billionaires? I want this strike over NOW and I want a conclusion WITHIN A YEAR, A YEAR AND A HALF MAX!

James is Sam Kirk’s brother, who was introduced in the episode “Where No Man has Gone Before”.

Deep cut. Love how they continue to flesh out these obscure characters from Trek canon!

We see lieutenant Mitchell in the captain’s chair, I believe for the first time.

Kind of hoping they promote Rong Fu to a regular simply so that she is no longer the only bridge crew person who isn't.

IKS par’Machstreet Boys

This is canon now.

One thing that I loved is that the fact that that is so WEIRD is actually one of the major parts of the plot. I know other places like Buffy have done similar, but I feel like poking fun at the tropes of musical theater kind of enhances it for some people like me (I don't HATE musicals, but I don't love them either.)

I kind of thought playing the TOS theme was like meant to be the music played after the final curtain as the actors take their bows and people start leaving the theater.

Thoughts/Observation as I watch:

• Where will this stand in the long history of Star Trek gimmick episodes? After all, this is the franchise that gave us "Trials and Tribble-ations", "Take Me Out To The Holosuite", "In a Mirror, Darkly", the OG "Lower Decks", and most recently... "Those Old Scientists". Holy shit, that was just two episodes ago and in between we got the darkest Star Trek thing in years!

• Uhura having to be the operator sounds like the most stressful thing to do that doesn't involve imminent danger.

• "Even if it's not fully necessary." That basically sums up every contrivance to get Kirk on board.

• KORBY ALERT

• Ah, spatial distortions, the cause and solution to everything.

• The facial acting as they enter musical-land is priceless.

• Acapella theme song!

• "So... that happened."

• "Quantum uncertainty field". That's some Hitchiker Guide type stuff.

• Ah, they brought back the Gilbert and Sullivan stuff.

• I like how they are hanging a lampshade on just how BIZARRE it is that people sing out their biggest secrets and deepest feelings in musicals.

• Good save, La'An.

• "Surprisingly beautiful baritone"

• It could have been worse for the crew. Imagine if Uhura had broadcast opera into it, then they'd ALWAYS be singing.

• Shaxs would suggest blowing it up by ejecting the warp core.

• Gratuitous zero-gee is gratuitous.

• Oh god, singing Klingons.

• Yeah, the Klingons would also like the "let's just blow it up" plan.

• Wait were those extras twins?

• Apparently the improbability field also affects the lighting of the bar.

• Isn't K'tinga the later type of Klingon ship? Ah, screw it, musical rules.

• "I don't love rules but I think you're about to break a big one."

• This totally is going into Temporal Investigations Kirk file.

• CAROL MARCUS REFERENCE

• Oh shit, David Marcus reference!

• "I'm the Ex" standing as if X in a math question is a good bit of workplay.

• Kind of surprised it took this long to give Celia Rose Gooding a full-on solo.

• Grammy-Award winning singer!

• A grand finale. How meta!

• Boy Band Klingons was not on my bingo card.

• Lol, playing the TOS theme as a curtain-closer

• "You sang about lying to me."

• "Sorry, Earworm."

• All-and-all, it was a good enough gimmick episode. But it was no "Take Me Out To The Holosuite." ("DEATH TO THE OPPOSITION!")

Oh, c'mon, why do you have to do Frakes so dirty like that?

”But flipping it open’s the best part.” Pike is objectively correct.

Okay, that part is true.

2x07: Wacky crossover with the comedy cartoon!

2x08: WAR IS HELL, NOBODY IS INNOCENT, MORALITY IS GREY, FORGIVENESS IS QUESTIONABLE, AND THE FRIENDLY DOCTOR MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE DELIBERATELY KILLED A GUY IN COLD BLOOD

2x09: Musical!

Find you a show that can do both.

Random thoughts as I watch (cross-posted from the old place):

• Wow, first that outburst, and then Spock jams too much. Truly in his wild child phase.

• BTW, was that a Denobulan?

• Pelia totally worried that this whole utopia thing just a passing trend. And hilariously having to prove (?) she isn't a thief.

• They really are taking advantage of Babs O's Jiu-Jitsu training this year, aren't they?

• Captain James T. Kirk, the greatest menace of Temporal Investigations!

• Oh boy, alternate timeline where the Federation doesn't exist time!

• "Maple leaves, politeness, poutine."

• Clever distraction.

• I wonder if 3D chess is a thing in the United Earth Fleet timeline, because Kirk is good at the 2D in it.

• Okay, I guess they do have 3D Chess.

• I generally try not to be like this... but goddamn I'd like to thank them for having Christina Chong in various states of tight clothing and undress.

• Good thing the time travel guy went to the ship Sam Kirk was on.

• Oh man, I was looking forward to driving across Lake Ontario to Toronto (presumably from Rochester or Buffalo or something, right?), which totally would be a logical economic and engineering choice, I'm sure!

• Mildly annoyed that Kirk doesn't drive to Beastie Boys.

• James Discreet Kirk

• Soongs gonna break in even to the timelines and series they aren't in.

• Jim Discretion Kirk

• OH FUCK ROMULANS

• We have gone (zero) days without Romulans trying to screw up the timeline.

• Probably the first time that DuckDuckGo has been mentioned in Star Trek.

• Yeah, Pythagoras is the worst, Pelia.

• Oh, so this is a predestination paradox where they make her become an engineer and as a result she is there to inspire La'An to go look for her later.

• KHAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! KHAAAAANNNNNNNNN! (Or at least the institute for him)

• To be fair, this is like the third face that Captain Kirk has had.

• We have gone (ZERO) days without a time-travelling Romulan that had to ditch the ears.

• We have gone (ZERO) days without (a) Captain Kirk dying. We're three-for-three on Kirk actor deaths, folks!

• KHAAAAAAAAAANNNN! KHAAAAAAANNNN! KHAAAAAAANNNNNN!

• THEY CAME UP WITH AN EXPLANATION WHY THE EUGENICS WARS DIDN'T HAPPEN IN THE 90'S! THE MAD LADS DID IT!

• Face to face with great-great-great-great grandpa Baby Genetics-Hitler.

• Oh, great, temporal investigations. No wonder they hate Kirk so much, even his alternate versions screw stuff around.

• Good ep. Way better than it sounded when I first heard about it.

Yes, I just have one question: was it a long road getting from there to here?