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CommaToes posted:I've heard of streamlined watchthroughs of TNG and DS9 where you skip over the unnecessary tripe, but is there a way to watch Voyager that tells the general story while skipping all of the atrocious episodes and only keeping in some of them? It's a season seven episode, so it might spoil some things, but Shattered?
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May 27, 2017 06:49
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Nah. The Cage is a fine episode, but I would say that Where No Man Has Gone Before is the best of the three pilots.
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Jun 10, 2017 02:46
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Tsaedje posted:Is that the "ho ho ho, pressuring a prisoner into sex in exchange for helping them escape is totally ok and actually funny" episode? With Lilith no less, if I remember correctly.
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Jun 11, 2017 00:53
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Sad King Billy posted:The Pakleds also appear in that Klingon interactive movie, Gowron has to interrogate one. That's taking it a step too far, in my opinion. It'd be like saying that Kirk doesn't deserve a command of his own due to his error in judgment during the first Enterprise/Reliant engagement. Riker made a huge mistake, but mistakes happen. He's entitled to them.
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Jun 15, 2017 18:07
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I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who feels that way about Jellico. He's a good guy personally, but I don't think he did enough to earn the trust and respect of his crew. Riker absolutely should have adapted to a change in command faster, but without much warning, Jellico just came in and started changing things. It's no wonder the crew was shaken by the sudden changes.
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Jun 15, 2017 22:14
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I have a theory for why it took so long for Sulu to receive a promotion. In Search For Spock, after they steal the Enterprise, Kirk tells them "I intend to recommend you all for promotion, in whatever fleet we end up serving". My theory is that he followed through with that sometime after they finally made it back home. But because the promotion was tied up in illegal activities (stealing the Enterprise and blowing it up), the promotion was put on hold until Starfleet Command greenlit it and allowed Sulu to become a captain.
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Jun 22, 2017 05:29
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I think science fiction has been more realistic about the possible dangers of some technology, while culture at large has been unwilling or unable to face those dangers. HAL 9000, M-5, Asimov, Blade Runner, and BSG have all warned about some of the inherent dangers of automation and robotics, but those have been largely unheeded. It's not that development of new technology like autonomous cars shouldn't happen, but we should be careful and not expect that technology to "save us". If we want a better world, we have to make that better world for ourselves.
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Jun 24, 2017 21:26
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VitalSigns posted:I showed it to my bf the other night for the first time and he called it for Valeris immediately. The warden was in on it to some degree. Chang probably told him to expect high-profile Federation prisoners, and to make sure that they were conveniently "killed while trying to escape". That way, they got rid of Kirk and Bones, who were troublesome because they were figuring out what was really happening.
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Jun 30, 2017 07:11
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VitalSigns posted:Yeah sure the weird part was he was ready to reveal the conspiracy and the identity of a top conspirator in front of a couple dozen witnesses, even though he murdered the changeling so there would be "no witnesses". Unless all the prison guards already knew but then like how many people were in on this thing True. It might be that the warden figured that prison officials on Rura Penthe wouldn't have the influence or give enough of a drat to spill the beans. They don't care about intergalactic conspiracies; their job was to just off Kirk and Bones so that the boss, Chang, would be happy.
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Jun 30, 2017 16:39
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The_Doctor posted:Living in the Mirror Universe must be exhausting, just constantly watching your back all the time because everyone is an arsehole, and having to be good at your job. Everyone must triple lock their doors at night, check every nook and cranny before just collapsing on the sofa. There was a comic that addressed this issue. I think it was one set in the Wrath of Khan/Search For Spock era, where Mirror Universe versions of Kirk, Saavik, etc come into our universe and steal the Enterprise. One of the characters talked about how he admired the Prime universe crew because where they had camaraderie and friendship, he just had to look behind his back all the time.
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Jul 1, 2017 16:15
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The Ultimate Computer/2001: A Space Odyssey
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Jul 5, 2017 02:10
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WampaLord posted:Really? I'm shocked. Was he just worried the audience would lose all sympathy for him or something? Agreed; I was going to say the same thing and you beat me to it. One of the things that makes this episode work so well is that Worf doesn't help the Romulan. I also like the way Picard handles the situation. He makes it clear that he'd be personally disappointed with Worf if he didn't donate the blood, but he doesn't order his to violate his personal code of ethics.
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Jul 6, 2017 16:05
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Jeb! Repetition posted:This creep and Troi keep staring at each other forebodingly I've always thought that there was something about this actor that reminded me of Paul Ryan. Am I the only one (probably so)?
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Jul 7, 2017 07:27
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I'll be honest: even if Jadzia wasn't the most fleshed-out character, I liked her more than Ezri. With Jadzia I felt like her character had the gravity of someone who had lived several lifetimes. Then Ezri comes along and she's like a little girl playing dress-up in her mother's clothes. It's not that Nicole DeBoer did a bad job with the character at all; Ezri was just too "Golly...I'm just a girl trying to figure things out" for me after seasons of Jadzia being a confident, self-possessed woman.
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Jul 13, 2017 15:33
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The Star Trek sub on Reddit has been tearing itself apart over Discovery. Things seem more level-headed here. I have a feeling that Discovery is going to either be hailed as the next great Star Trek show, or end up on one of those 'Worst Decisions Ever Made In Television' lists. It already seems to be polarizing fans.
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Jul 16, 2017 03:01
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Xibanya posted:Yeah I think it would be better both from a scientific and storytelling POV if Romulans and Vulcans were the same species but with hugely different cultures. I thought that kinda was what they were. Romulans split off form Vulcans hundreds of thousands of years ago and stayed with their war-like ways, while Vulcans subscribed to Surak's philosophy of non-violence and suppression of emotion.
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Jul 19, 2017 17:33
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vermin posted:I've ragged on Federation life before but I think it's pretty much this. Since we're stuck in the middle of a capitalist world and we have to work for reasons we don't understand for people who don't care about us to survive and improve our circumstances, we can't properly wrap our heads around what kind of world they live in. I have really mixed feelings about this view. One of the most consistent themes of TOS was that paradise was not something that humans were meant to experience. That's why there were so many "paradise" planets that turned out not to be so great: in Kirk's words, 'man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is'. Then TNG, and to a lesser degree, DS9, brought utopianism into the equation, and it just didn't make much sense. There's no money and no reason to work, yet Federation citizens, like Mr. Sisko, continue to happily perform their jobs for no reason other than the fact that "they want to". I don't know; it just seems too rosy and optimistic to me. I think TOS was more realistic in its depiction of human nature than more recent Star Trek shows.
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Jul 21, 2017 16:26
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The Bloop posted:99% of real (non-chain) restaurants are opened as a labor of love and not primarily as a way to make a living since there is a 99% chance of failure. True, but if there's a 99% chance of failure, what keeps it going without that profit motive? In other words: it can't just be a labor of love that motivates people to open privately-owned restaurants, because they'd all go broke that way. At some point, they have to make money to justify, at least in part, their involvement in the restaurant industry and to earn back what they've invested. One of the reasons I'm not sure TNG society works is that it sometimes seems too easy. There's no money and no requirement to get a job, which sounds great. But where's the personal risk? What's the point of doing anything at all if there's no risk or reward involved? There's the "good feeling of a job well done", but how long would that continue to sustain someone if they got bored? I'm not explaining myself well, but my unpopular opinion is that TOS is more realistic than TNG - at least in that respect.
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Jul 21, 2017 16:58
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shadok posted:Recent studies and pilot projects testing Universal Basic Income show that as well as acting as a direct economic stimulus to the community, it tends to increase entrepreneurship while improving quality of life. I think you can probably measure how likely you think a Trek technology post-scarcity world would be a social utopia by your modern political outlook. A European socialist is likely to see something like TNG utopia, while an American Republican will picture Planet of the Welfare Queens. I'm not anywhere close to a Republican or a "gently caress you, got mine" Libertarian. But at the same time, I just think that the idea that UBI is going to be a fix-all for society is naive. I'm skeptical that it's going to produce the "perfect" society of TNG, and I'm suspicious of a "perfect" society anyway. To answer Mike The TV, yes, it would be great to have the time to pursue whatever hobby I wanted...for a while. Eventually, I think it'd be a bit like breaks between semesters of school: for a day or two, it's great not to have to worry about school work. But then boredom sets in, because life slows down so much that you lose motivation to do all the things you wanted to catch up on while in class. A lot of people in Star Trek society would probably pursue their favorite hobby, but wouldn't many more just stagnate, since there was no reason to do anything?
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Jul 21, 2017 19:22
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MikeJF posted:UBI plus, you know, replicators and transporters is a lot more of a magic bullet though Is it, though? Are 23rd and 24th century humans good because of the technology they use, or because they've put in the work it takes to become more enlightened?
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Jul 21, 2017 20:04
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Never mind; I've pretty much made my point. Carry on. I'm glad that Discovery is sticking to a more TOS-like design with its tricorder and communicator. I still don't have super high hopes that CBS will do a good job with it, but I'm reserving judgment until I see what they do. F_Shit_Fitzgerald fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Jul 22, 2017 |
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Jul 22, 2017 05:53
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Sorry...I just don't completely buy that Nichols is misremembering or lying. To have had an African-American officer on 1960s television was a major deal. I can believe that MLK Jr. felt that her role on the show was important enough to give her a call, even if some details have been slightly embellished over the years.
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Jul 22, 2017 23:52
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Mental Hospitality posted:Random Trek film post. I've been rewatching the films (1-10), and The Final Frontier was not...as bad as I remembered? I'd certainly rank it above Insurrection and Nemesis, probably Generations too. Maybe it's just because of some personal things in my life but the vision with McCoy and his father's terminal illness was really powerful. The music for the film was also quite lovely. It's goofy, and definitely qualifies as the worst TOS-era movie. But the Final Frontier isn't quite as bad as it's made out to be. The themes are pretty ambitious: finding God, the path to enlightenment. The main problem is that the movie weaves a story together but doesn't connect it coherently. Whereas The Wrath of Khan's disparate themes came together into a multi-layered story, The Final Frontier is disjointed and poorly written. You're right, though: the Bones' father scene is probably the best one in the film. Even bad movies can sometimes have a lot of hidden depth.
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Jul 25, 2017 05:07
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The Prime Directive itself isn't the problem. The problem is the interpretation of it. In Kirk's time, captains were apparently given more latitude to use their own judgment in applying the Directive on a case by case basis. That's how Kirk was allowed to arm Tyree's people. It was an imperfect solution to a bad situation. By Picard's time, the Directive was interpreted so ridiculously strictly that it led to incidents like Homeward, when Picard and his crew were prepared to allow a pre-warp civilization to die for the preservation of a rule. It was moral cowardice masquerading as concern for cultural contamination.
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Jul 26, 2017 17:15
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"Seek out new life and new civilizations" But if we don't find that life to be sufficiently individualistic, we'll wipe them out while justifying it by comparing them to mosquitoes and zombies.
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Jul 27, 2017 21:23
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I wonder whether an explanation for the ease with which Picard was "restored" had to do with the fact that he was Borg for only a short time. Annika (and probably Hugh also) had been Borg for most of her life, so it wasn't so easy to just take out the implants and call it a day.
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Jul 27, 2017 22:43
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I've always loved the scene where Faux-Picard bursts out into song in Ten Forward. I think the writers were going for a creepy "this isn't the Picard we know" feel, but it always struck me as hilarious to see the normally pretty private Picard joyfully order drinks for everyone. I also like the "what the hell?" look Worf and Geordi give each other.
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Jul 28, 2017 05:39
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The 'no religion' rule is absolutely insane. In the original series episode "Bread And Circuses", Kirk referred to Jesus obliquely when they figured out the meaning of the "son worshipers". Didn't Kirk also say in response to someone that "the one [god] we have is quite sufficient"? This sounds like all the politically correct nonsense of season one TNG coming back.
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Jul 28, 2017 22:19
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Farmer Crack-rear end posted:I want to see the alternate timeline where atheism was considered politically correct in 1987.
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Jul 28, 2017 22:47
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Data should have asked Fajo how Daphne was doing. (Sorry. I couldn't resist)
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Aug 2, 2017 23:57
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Drink-Mix Man posted:In retrospect, the emotion chip was dramatically the weakest possible way for this character to reach that turning point. A lifelong journey of self-discovery and reaching for the improbable culminates in... somebody just gives it to him out of the blue. Lame. This is honestly why I have a slight problem with the way in which The Doctor was handled (spoiled below just in case) I like his character; he was one of the most interesting people on Voyager. The issue is that The Doctor never had to put too much work into his personal growth. For him, it was always just a matter of adding some new algorithms to his program so that he could sing, travel outside sickbay, daydream, etc. When you're a program with features that can be added at will, the journey of self-discovery means less than someone who has to earn that same experience through blood, sweat and tears.
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Aug 3, 2017 06:46
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Big Mean Jerk posted:
Everyone criticizes Spock's Brain, but I legitimately like it. That episode is funnier, in my eyes, than Trouble With Tribbles. Shatner's weird speech patterns make it priceless. "She took it! What have you done with Spock's brain?"
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Aug 4, 2017 23:06
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Spock's Brain just started on BBC America 
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I think TOS experienced the opposite of that trajectory. It started off with a very strong first season that had only a handful of clunkers (The Alternative Factor, Miri). It didn't really start getting consistently bad until the third season (or, depending on your perspective, late season two). There were mostly bad or poorly written episodes in that season with a smattering of really good ones (The Enterprise Incident, All Our Yesterdays).
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Aug 11, 2017 04:33
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What I love the most about these scenes (other than how bad-rear end it is that Data single-handedly took over the entire ship) is how promptly these security features were forgotten. Data is able to close off access to the bridge and the main computer so completely that even Picard isn't able to do anything but stand there getting annoyed in Engineering. Then comes Voyager, and suddenly Janeway doesn't have the ability to close off access to the bridge and prevent the Kazon (of all races) from capturing the ship? Granted, Data had special abilities that facilitated what he was doing, but it's shocking how dumb and inept Starfleet security tends to be - at least in the 24th century (of course, in the 23rd, Kirk allowed Khan to read the Enterprise's tech manual so that he would learn exactly how to take over that ship).
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Aug 11, 2017 16:38
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Nebakenezzer posted:, I can't help but wonder if TOS was pretty good compared to other 60s programs. It was. TOS gets a bad rap these days because it's judged it from a 2017 perspective, and not a 1966 perspective. TOS is much better than many fans make it out to be.
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Aug 11, 2017 20:40
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To me, Jono is always going to be Dr. Quinn's son...just like Dr. Timicin will always be Charles Emerson Winchester III.
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Aug 12, 2017 05:17
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The 'shut your mouth as in stop talking' scenes is one of my favorites of the entire series. It's pretty bad-rear end, but I think Riker has enough respect for Picard that he'd never have said that if any doubt was in his mind that something was up.
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Aug 18, 2017 05:13
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Orv posted:The TNG episode where the Enterprise kids get kidnapped, one of the kids is scared about having to do more calculus. Jesus christ kid, you're like, nine, what kind of accelerated program are you on? This is one thing I dislike about TNG. There's a sense, at least in the early episodes, that they start drilling advanced math and science into kids' heads from a very young age. There are probably some benefits to that, but they don't let kids be kids. Your average nine year old doesn't need to be concerned with integration and derivatives, but cartoons, recess, and long division.
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Aug 22, 2017 20:50
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I just consider the first digit of stardates from TOS to be the year of the mission. It works until you factor in TAS and Star Trek Continues stardates, and it's a lot better than a lot of half-assed Traknobabble.
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Aug 26, 2017 01:52
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Honestly? LeVar Burton is a cool guy, and I have absolutely nothing against him at all. How could you dislike the Reading Rainbow guy? But I've never particularly liked Geordi. His personality never sat well with me. Season one, eager young lieutenant Geordi is much better, in my opinion, than nerdy Geordi of the later seasons.
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Aug 26, 2017 05:34
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