Shore Leave #12: Year of the Oracle

Shore Leave is the non-Trek culture arm of the Deep Space Spines website, posted every other Tuesday and made possible by donations to the site’s Patreon.


This past week, I’ve been on vacation from work, and it’s given me the time to accrue plenty of material to make up for last fortnight’s no-show.

#051: The Children of Hamlin (TNG #3)

This week, when the Enterprise answers a distress call, the attackers, a race called the Choraii, turn out to be the culprits behind one of the Federation’s worst massacres on record. They pick up an ambassador and his mysterious attaché, who can communicate with the Choraii via the almighty yazz flute. Now the crew has to carefully navigate the music of the spheres, and if they don’t C♯, they’ll B♭. Meanwhile, a band of farmers is on hand to complain about technology and flight delays. Is the group that shuns technology also too good for vowels? Which side of the sickbay bed did Dr. Crusher wake up on? How much of a bonus does an author get for including a saucer separation in their book? It’s The Children of Hamlin, the book that happens when a Jethro Tull album and a bottle of Mr. Bubble love each other very much.

#050: Memory Prime (TOS #42)

This week, Spock is honored to host a delegation of scientists who are in the neighborhood for the Nobel/Z.Magnees Prize ceremonies. It’s not long, however, before he subsequently gets framed for their attempted murder. To clear his friend’s name, Kirk will have to work on the sly to avoid ninja Vulcans and a commodore who never met an insubordination charge she didn’t like. What’s with all the robots? How freaky is Pathfinder porn? It’s the book that still couldn’t manage to make Mira Romaine interesting.

No Shore Leave this fortnight, as I did not experience anything new or noteworthy in the past two weeks, and lately it’s been all I can do to keep up with the regular reviews. I’ve just been bingeing the crap out of Mad Men (mentioned briefly in this edition—just made it to season 6). I should have some stuff by the next one, so it will return on its next scheduled appearance, October 9.

#049: The Peacekeepers (TNG #2)

This week, when Geordi and Data poke around a derelict station, they wind up with a one-way ticket to a zero-G peace resort halfway across the galaxy. But even though the guy running the joint destroyed the entire nuclear arsenal of the planet below fifty years ago, discord continues to flourish. Meanwhile, Picard browbeats everyone in sight for answers, but Riker and Tasha end up taking the same joyride not much later. Could Geordi pretty much do Troi’s job? How is Worf’s first day of improv classes? Will Ensign Carpelli hole up in his quarters and cry it out with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s after his duty shift is over? It’s the book that dares to ask, “What about the Prime Directive?”

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