Submitted by Michael Freeman
“Here is my summary write-up from my STA episode on Sunday. As you know, I frame my recaps as if it was done by Wil Wheaton in his Ready Room Style of Episode Recaps.“
Welcome to The Ready Room Hosted by me Wil Wheaton. This week we will Recap last week’s episode of Star Trek: Short Treks.
Short Treks Episode 2 – The End of Paradise – Recap
Wil Wheaton: Hey Nerds! This week we had a Short Treks Episode called The End of Paradise. These Short Treks are not full Episodes but tell a nice Trek story. This week we had a flashback to earlier in Season 3, back when the crew of the USS Turneville was just released from a mental health hospital in Chicago. Control Room Engage!
Wil Wheaton: Chief Engineer of the USS Turneville Cmdr. Max Powers received a message from his Sister Maxine asking for help in fixing up an old theatre that they inherited from their Uncle Viggo Watts. Maxine’s lead engineer Mary Green suffered an accident 3 days before their grand reopening and now Maxine is asking Max for a favor in helping to finish the restoration since he is on Earth. Being good friends, Chief Science Officer, Dolf Nye, and Andorian Chief of Security Cuellas Zarath join Max in getting the job done.
Max, needing to get the job done, brings along a Starfleet Tricorder. Maxine greets the trio and explains that she needs Max to make sure the old theater that was built in 1890 is restored and ready for a performance. The last time the Paradise Theater was active was in 1974 and then closed. The Trio decided to look first where Mary Green suffered her accident and discovered there was a .004 Phase variance in Space-Time where Mary slipped off the scaffolding. The Tricorder needed to get closer for a better reading.
Noting this was odd the Trio looked to do research about The Paradise Theater and other incidents where such variances have occurred on Earth throughout history. Zarath found that during the 1930s the Theater was used as a Speakeasy during prohibition called the Sound and Light Club. There were several police reports about women going missing after they entered the theater. With this information, Zarath decided to check the Theater basement and found a secret room that was decorated with unknown religious symbols and an open floor.
On the floor was also a nighttime sky with stars depicted. A hidden projector came to life and showed what seemed to be a movie of what seemed to be men in masks with no eyes or mouths moving about a room and staring back at Zarath. The projection then stopped. Zarath left the room to go see the others.
Max finds out that there have been several instances where a Space-Time variance has occurred on earth and was corrected by using Transporter Pattern Enhancers to help correct the variance. These Space-Time variances were caused by aliens who came to earth during the 1860s to the 1890s.
Dolf Nye decided to inspect the Variance with a closer Tricorder scan, he found a different dimension overlaying the Theater and could see in the Tricorder undefined images within that dimension. Dolf Nye was then suddenly lifted up into the air being drawn into the other dimension. Zarath raced up to the main floor where Dolf was working and put together a makeshift lasso and rescued Dolf Nye.
The Trio urged Maxine to cancel the grand opening due to the area being unsafe. Maxine agreed and canceled, but an elderly man who worked with Maxine disagreed and wanted the show to open on the agreed-upon day. The Trio with Maxine held firm and was able to convince the man it was for the best. The next day it was decided to close the other dimension with the Transporter Pattern Enhancers, the Movie Theater screen opened and tentacles projected out from the screen into the auditorium and into the lobby where the Trio was working causing havoc and destruction. While Zarath distracted the tentacles and fast action from Max and Dolf they were able to use the equipment to close the dimension. The tentacles dissolved into some type of viscous fluid covering the theater. Maxine thanked her brother and friends for their help. The next day the Trio enjoyed drinks prepared by Zarath in the basement bar.
Wil Wheaton: Pretty creepy and a very wild short episode.