Yeah, the episode goes out of its way to establish that both families are very well-intentioned.

somehow, there doesn’t appear to be a legal system with a metal sphere gavel and the social worker from Mrs Doubtfire presiding just yet

The adoptive and biological parents couldn’t decide on which planet’s law should apply, and mutually agreed to Sisko as a mediator. Which seems questionable, but at least they addressed it, I suppose.

And yeah, there are no winners here, but all other things being equal, it probably should be policy to return children to their birth families.

I like that Martha feels a bit more clued in than Rose/Donna from the get go.

RTD really did the Earthbound continuity better than anyone (really, I don’t think anyone else even tried). One oddity in this episode is Martha commenting on the alien incursions of the past couple of years, and yet Morgenstern later spouts off that Mr. Saxon was right in his belief in extraterrestrials.

The straw bit is a funny joke, and is probably peak dark humour in this episode.

I like that stupid straw a lot - the episode strikes a pretty good balance of madcap insanity. Anne Reid plays the plasmavore with a good energy, as well.

Martha’s an enjoyable character, but it’s a real shame she gets bogged down by the unrequited love arc. It works well enough in this episode - the Doctor’s behaviour throughout the adventure could easily be mistaken for flirting, and how can you not fall in love with David Tennant just a little bit? But it’s a shame it didn’t end here.

Stray thought: small universe syndrome aside, I sort of wish Clive’s girlfriend Annalise had been Nerys instead.

I think it’s pretty common knowledge, but “Judoon platoon upon the moon” was written into the script specifically because it would be hard for David Tennant to say with an English accent.

Ah, I gotcha.

Honestly, I think it’s a reasonable call. Sidewalks are often very narrow and poorly-maintained, and keeping them to designated pathways, which are wider and designed for higher-speed bikes and the like, is a good call.

That said, there aren’t nearly enough of those pathways.

He’s been playing the long game.

I won’t be able to sit and watch this one until tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a while.

The article doesn’t mention protecting pedestrians a single time, so I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that it’s the goal.

It’s in a weird spot - they picked it up for a second season very early on, but then cancelled it. So we’re in this weird position of knowing there’s another season coming, but also that it will be the last one.

The cast and showrunners of Starfleet Academy.

There are dozens of us!

Considering the previous, rejected pitch was made by writers from the 90s-2000s era, I wouldn’t get my hopes up on a lot of continuity, if any.

We’re all one step closer to the Rick Berman action figure that we’re really clamouring for.

(yes, even “Sleep no more”)

We’ll get there eventually in the retrospectives, but yeah, I think “Sleep No More” is fine. Not a home run, but fine.

I’m not buying much of RTD’s version to be honest.

He’s a real bulllshitter, and seems too diplomatic to tell a gritty tell-all. But these excerpts seem true to be, even if they’re incomplete.

I do have questions about whether these writers were paid for their “fully written” scripts - I assume they must have been, which is odd.

Larry Nemecek has a bit more info on his own website.

We had a brilliant story set during the Great Fire of London, written by the powerhouse team of Laurence Clark and Jack Thorne, and we should have had the budget to do it properly, with the flames and panic and everything.

Honestly sounds pretty great.

And we had a brutal horror story, written by the brilliant Lydia Adetunji, set on a NASA-type space station, all about trypophobia – look it up, it’ll make you shiver!

This one, too.

There was a really lovely episode set on a council estate in the middle of Manchester. That would have been the ultimate place to bring the Doctor; I would have just loved to see that. It was written by Sharma Angel-Walfall, who’s lived that life. It was like Doctor Who meets the film Rocks.

This would probably be fine? Not too exciting to read about, but then I’ve never seen “Rocks.”

I wonder if these scripts will ever see the light of day in one format or another.

See, this is why you’ll never be an executive.

It’s a wide field, but it’s not a deep field.

I have no idea what the situation is, but I’m glad they’re (a) still planning to air the second season, and (b) are willing to promote it.

It was picked up very early for Season 2, which has yet to air, and then cancelled.

Blame the black hole’s time dilation.