tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44001528157853684472024-03-15T20:11:32.878-05:00TreknobabbleEpisode reviews, round table discussions, interviews, top ten lists, and breaking news related to the Star Trek franchise.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger999125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-5314637836042286972023-07-22T15:08:00.010-05:002023-11-15T13:51:41.532-06:00Strange New Worlds, Season 2: Charades<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMd0HFFmjdlRrP20ybYfJYy4QROoVjzp9nhZvIqJgRuI-ApwOSZxFnZ1fnv9aRLDIlCWkWtoR-aCdR4cEj2F5FVlzrmjOPMkdo_6FLW4jLjOSiQ6ucIigVVSDBXcgH4YoWZY12zr6-ICJYIVUzOx-4U-ur5Q4SOcFtr_igfKPA29M2iO7zAcgasx9njAG/s1600/5.png" width="81" /></a></div><b> Strange New Worlds, Season 2<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Charades_(episode)">"Charades"</a><br />Airdate: July 13, 2023<br />15 of 20 produced<br />15 of 20 aired<br /></b><p></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p>A space anomaly turns Spock into a purely human version of himself. Hijinks of moderate hilarity ensue.<br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf4EMzpTX0Yr_XTwwVzvTMgYTVsjiDn0CkmnbyzIsK071A-Fkwg3w-eVt3Kfw6uKxsdqL9qzmUks6zxfVcUYHP-gDj3-x3O7q2_JwnnqZcqKmi8DfHZ3xQnMoO1nxVDnMivvWqgdkZAzxGGtduAci6HBgRc1jayYoA5b3mkGkVESGFbI_9qrt89KH3i5X7/s1400/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-spock-tpring-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1400" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf4EMzpTX0Yr_XTwwVzvTMgYTVsjiDn0CkmnbyzIsK071A-Fkwg3w-eVt3Kfw6uKxsdqL9qzmUks6zxfVcUYHP-gDj3-x3O7q2_JwnnqZcqKmi8DfHZ3xQnMoO1nxVDnMivvWqgdkZAzxGGtduAci6HBgRc1jayYoA5b3mkGkVESGFbI_9qrt89KH3i5X7/s320/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-spock-tpring-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A Festivus for the rest of us!</span><br /></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> <br /></b></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b> </b><p></p><p><b>Writing</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> So is this a silly episode? You betcha. Do I love it? No, I wouldn't say that. Do I like it? I think I do. For being a silly episode, I think it manages to stay inside the lines. The comic hijinks are restrained enough to not make me actively roll my eyes. It's a matter of subtle gradation, but there's a difference between the comic awkwardness of Pike rapidly trying explain charades as some important human ritual and then being forced to watch them actually do it, which we didn't. This is becoming my refrain, but Spock retconning aside, this feels very much like a TOS episode, both visually and tonally. We have a sparkly noncorporeal being who made a decision that negatively impacts the crew and the crew has to try to convince them to undo it. So while it is certainly a lightweight episode, I think it still is at least closer to something like Rascals which, even though it had an <i>absurd</i> plot, was still effective for the character insights. So the question is now, how effective was this episode on the character interaction front?</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>For me, the conceptual leap is not the hardest one to make. This is solidly within the lines of established Trek tropes. And those tropes are tropes for a reason. Using functional magic to divide a character in the service of learning about them is fine and dandy. The leap I have to make is one of forgetting or ignoring TOS entirely, and treating this as its own entity with different characters who have different histories. This group of people does not become the group of people in "Amok Time." They just don't. Characters would have to forget things, entire emotional makeups would have to change (and not just via growth over ten years), it just doesn't fit. By the end of this episode, Spock has broken up with T'Pring (who he was never supposed to be with in the first place) and is doing the deed with Nurse Chapel. Is it a worthwhile story? Maybe, if a tad soap operatic. Does it fit with TOS? NOOOOOOOOO. There is no amount of mental gymnastics that will make it do so, and I am insulted that the producers of this show keep claiming it does. Stop. Just stop. And the claim that it does fit undercuts future stories, too. Does the Spock of "This Side of Paradise" make sense if he has <i>already </i>been split from his Vulcan half and lived as a human, consummating his apparent love for Nurse Chapel? Nope. Not by any stretch of the imagination. And that ends up being my standard - if you're going to break something, you need to replace it with something better. Is this better than "This Side of Paradise?" Nah.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Strange New Worlds has done a lot of work on Spock's relationship to his Vulcanness, and this works with the previous episodes on this point. I think it is somewhat light, but still not 'bad' on any of these points. The main criticism I have is that this episode seems to be jumping the line on Spock's eventual growth displayed in moments like The Voyage Home. That said, I will congratulate the writers on restraining themselves from Spock telling his mother "I feel fine" at any point. That aside, the work is solid enough. We get an insight to Amanda's views on her Vulcan child and how she balanced her needs with his, and how Spock now feels as adult. That's relatable content. We view our parents one way as kids, and when we are adults, we can reexamine them with what we know now. And as much as it muddles continuity, Amanda feels of a piece with the calm reserve we see later in TOS. And I liked the attempt to thread the needle of what T'Pring's family would have agreed with the betrothal while still harboring such obvious anti-human bias. The husband wants to be closer socially or politically to Sarek, his wife resents that choice and makes sure everyone knows it. That's understandable enough. To the extent it still doesn't make sense, that is also of a piece with TOS. Why would Sarek choose to have a child with a human then resent their humanity? That doesn't make sense either. The bottom line for this half of the story, for me, is that we do get some nice, credible insights to Spock's relationship with his mother, and the comedy was solidly handled. Even the comedy of Spock's humanity made me laugh out loud several times. And I think what keeps this episode from being completely pointless is that his relationship with T'Pring has changed by the end of it, and for an interesting reason. She calls for a break not because of Spock's humanity but because he has not <i>acted</i> like he values T'Pring or their relationship, and she's right. The lady handled herself fine during the mind meld mishegas. She's in it for the long haul, and she can hack the absurdity that comes with all the sparkly beings the Enterprise encounters. Spock may have had a subjectively good reason for not telling her what was happening, but T'Pring was right to take that a meaningful problem, particularly in light of him bringing in all his coworkers on the hijinks. My one unsolvable complaint in this part of the episode is Amanda explaining the ritual to Spock. It wasn't clear from the episode that he had forgotten things that he should have known, only that he has feelings now. The way they wrote the scene was like he literally forgotten basic Vulcan culture knowledge, which is a different thing than I think the episode was otherwise doing.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I quite liked Amanda in this story, and learning about her was the highlight for me. The way they juxtaposed Amanda's suffering for loving a Vulcan with Chapel's was also well done. Spock coming to realize his mother's pain brought a tear to me eye. With respect to Spock and T'Pring, I did like the emotional territory covered, even if these Vulcan rituals they've invented are eerily similar to the Festivus Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength. Should Spock's motivations be questioned? No, because he shouldn't be seeing her for another ten years of whatever. But within this universe's context, are they valid questions to ask? Absolutely. Do you, a horny half-Vulcan who beds down our daughter outside of <i>Pon Farr </i>(don't get me started), really have enough emotional commitment to her if you are also committed to a Starfleet career? Great question. I thought the basic comedy beats of the Vulcan Mom-zilla berating her family worked. I don't understand how Pike has the time to make Vulcan canapes and serve them over the course of several hours, when last episode he didn't have 5 free minutes to bone his girlfriend, but whatever. I think the "Oh boy, I'm human" jokes went a bit far. Vulcan vegetarianism is a deeply held belief. Did his beliefs and experiences get edited out too, so that he could <i>choose </i>to eat bacon? That doesn't seem consistent with the rest of his behavior within this episode, since he clearly remembers past relationships and starship operations. <br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>The Chapel stuff also largely works, since it basically served to move that story forward. It, too, is a retcon. Chapel was always portrayed as having a one-sided crush on Spock, not a reciprocated but un-acted on attraction. That said, giving Chapel something to do more than pine after him is more interesting to me overall. So the story is lightweight, but by the end of the episode, we've explicitly clarified her feelings out loud and done something to move the status quo of their relationship. So, yeah, this is a story I wasn't eager to tell, but I can tell that the writers do care about it and are not just faffing about. They may have a picture of Spock in their mind that differs from ours and I wish they would just admit that, but I can't deny they have a clear picture or that they are not moving that story forward in a way that is enjoyable to watch. If nothing else, this episode was silly, but the end result was two main characters saying and doing things that clarified or progressed their relationships with important people in their lives. </p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I think we should have learned more about these aliens (I've forgotten their name because it was so dumb. The Kervorkians?). How could they exist in the same solar system as Vulcan, who have had space travel for hundreds of years, without being discovered and interacted with? But the basic idea of a noncorporeal race being officious bureaucrats is a fine one. It precipitated a nice emotional scene for Chapel (misguided though I think it is if the producers persist in the claim this syncs with TOS). But... did they all just hijack a shuttle to go on a dangerous mission of women helping each other? Was Pike asleep at the switch? Is there a chain of command here?<br /></p><p><b>Acting</b></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Ethan Peck is really coming into his own. It's a credit to his Vulcaness that his human bits read so differently. I think he deftly handled the bouncing between Vulcan, fully human, and human pretending to be Vulcan. Given that this is supposed to be about ten years prior to her appearance in TOS, I was ready to criticize the casting for Amanda being too young, but Jane Wyatt was 56 in her appearance in Babel, and Mia Kirshner is 48. People just take better care of themselves these days, I guess. That aside, I really like her. I think she is giving the same "still waters run deep" that Wyatt did, and I think she absolutely has a lovely rapport with Peck.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Yeah, Spock's mom is a beautiful woman. Maybe too many Vulcan summers did a number on Amanda's skin over time in TOS (not that Jane Wyatt isn't a very attractive person in her own right). Her performance really worked for me, and delivered real emotion by the conclusion. Ethan Peck certainly showed his comedy chops with his human scenes, and did everything the script asked of him with aplomb.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Jess Bush's Chapel feels the most distant of the extant characters from her TOS characterization, but I don't entirely care. Bush is fun and has verve and everything, and so far, I have always enjoyed watching her on screen, season premiere berserker episode notwithstanding. She has internal life and depth of feeling, and Bush is just a fun ball of energy on screen. Gia Sandhu was her usual very good self and I enjoyed the just-below-the-surface frustration with her mother that still read as Vulcan. Ellora Patnaik also did a fun Vulcan riff on the imperious mother-in-law. I think she was cribbing from Enterprise's portrayal of Vulcans (of which her character, age-wise, could have been) quite well and it didn't tip into unpleasant farce.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Jess Bush was very good. I have never had a problem with any actor on this show, and she is among the best of them. All three Vulcans were very funny in their scenes. I really liked Michael Benyear's downtrodden Vulcan. I both laughed and empathized when he wanted to try the salty snacks but put them back in the face of his wife's withering disapproval. <br /></p><p><b>Production Values</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> For doing a riff on the 'sparkly being,' I think this actually works really well and fits with your Metatrons and Medusans pretty cleanly. Even for bewing a CGI extravaganza, I didn't mind it. It was supposed to be an unreal place and it looked like it. Beyond that, the episode was nicely spending Paramount's money while they can. The glamour shots of Pike's Vulcan hors d'ouevres looked great.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Like the rest of their sets, the shuttle is absolutely cavernous inside. I've noticed an effect on the ship shot CG that I've grown to dislike - in the service of adding texture, they've gone overboard with the mosaic effect on the hulls. It now reads as, I don't know, rough? Sandpapery? Not elegant and streamlined. The Kervorkians' realm was clearly an LED projection room, but it looked neat, so I'm fine with it. <br /></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> So we are back mining Spock and T'Pring's relationship for comedy, and the result is a pleasant, if insubstantial episode for me. The fact that Spock's status quo with both T'Pring and Chapel changes by the end of the episode keeps it from being completely throwaway. The stuff with the sparkly being felt like it fits in the universe we know, tonally if not literally in places. I was certainly entertained throughout, and that counts for a lot. This is not as good as last week, but I think it stays in the 3 range. </p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I guess I'm not going to punish this episode for not adhering to continuity. That's a global criticism for this series (it's completely left the plot at this point). On its own merits, most of the emotional beats worked, and there are good performances. On the other hand, the pace dragged and it definitely did not feel like 60 minutes worth of plot - there was a lot of scene stretching going on. The story did not feel substantial enough for too many stretches. The previous episode was a thoroughly mediocre 3 for me, and this is not as good. So I'm going to go with a 2 <b>for a total of 5. </b>This needed either a stronger focus on the sci-fi element of the alien civilization, or a deeper exploration of humanness vs Vulcanness, beyond body-swap-style comedy.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-52617267832602119482023-07-19T13:08:00.001-05:002023-07-19T13:08:59.690-05:00Strange New Worlds, Season 2: Among the Lotus Eaters<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieukXBe7MUwZkkLVWwGQhmiDSsUSyciM5iC556yFHnp4F8hleYZhOycEwR5x7xt6UDDkrjyqdsM6oz6hqV4mZWcCqDSs56K3WmqSoAW7nG-i5u0vVWSnJcD_aB-GBzCNKNYTzi0IULsGgZXOqGEYEDdBSKDLfUF8fhSIvFT2j-s8hCYmaC3bnM8_VHS8Cu/s1600/6.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Strange New Worlds, Season 2<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Among_the_Lotus_Eaters_(episode)">"Among the Lotus Eaters"</a><br />Airdate: July 6, 2023<br />14 of 20 produced<br />14 of 20 aired</b><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Pike and crew are called back to Rigel VII, a planet upon which they have experienced violence before, because of apparent cultural contamination.<b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSSiXf968rtsEHLvo-wSDfx6KHDX9yc6IWfxxEdkEQeaBfrW7tlhhZo2FKWhhvd7dJaZanMIA7kT3ZDBfLhO3eMSjspOna_7zsi4cPlUqa99G3Qwpvuyf7goc3BIBTSNfrt5SVlPSxj82n9ynCIhXD8rmu3pGvltaapIttvaIsr3YTt0lR7i0iUG25V8ni/s1280/snw-lotus.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSSiXf968rtsEHLvo-wSDfx6KHDX9yc6IWfxxEdkEQeaBfrW7tlhhZo2FKWhhvd7dJaZanMIA7kT3ZDBfLhO3eMSjspOna_7zsi4cPlUqa99G3Qwpvuyf7goc3BIBTSNfrt5SVlPSxj82n9ynCIhXD8rmu3pGvltaapIttvaIsr3YTt0lR7i0iUG25V8ni/s320/snw-lotus.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Why are the mountains always the same distance away from us?</span><br /></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b> </b><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Writing</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I'm going to start with praise, and not faint praise, either. This episode succeeded in a way that much of Season One of this show manifestly failed - it balanced continuing character stories and an alien of the week story really well in terms of screen time. Setting aside whether Rigel VII makes a lick of sense (we'll get there), we spent enough time there to get a feel for the place and to understand the conflicts of the native characters. We did get a character B story with Pike and Batel, but <i>it was actually reflected thematically in the A narrative,</i> as opposed to just being Mad-Libbed into the script. The whole episode was relatively brisk and entertaining, with the possible exception of Ortegas' extended freakout in her quarters, which probably could have been cut in half. So, long story short: in composition, this actually felt like a Star Trek episode from the golden age of the franchise. This is not praise I hand out lightly.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> The feeling of 'classic TOS' was my initial and strongest takeaway as well. This just <i>felt</i> like a standard TOS episode. The captain and two officers beam down and run into trouble on the planet, with the Captain eventually awesome-ing his way out of it. Everyone is ultimately a nice, professional person, and displays the practice of Federation values, here the Prime Directive generally, and prioritizing personal autonomy and authenticity specifically. Kirk has rescued countless civilizations that sand the edges off of people in the name of their safety, so this really does fit. The only thing missing was a computer at the center of it being foiled by a verbal paradox. I liked the stuff with Batel, too. I like how it unfolded, and I liked where it ends up. I think other series would chicken out of having them work through this problem, resting on the "a captain's life is a lonely one" trope, al a Janeway, and I'm actually invested enough to see how these two work out, or don't.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> OK, now to execution. Rigel VII makes not a whole lot of sense. Losing memories is a perfectly cromulent sci-fi trope, of course. But if everyone besides those in a particular castle or wearing particular helmets keeps losing their memories, and this has been going on for thousands of years, how could this society possible function? The old man eventually remembers having a family and a son. But how could he have had the family and son in the first place? How would they ever have been a family unit? Maaaybe you could imagine a society in which all children are raised in common, and no one knows who they've impregnated. Which is actually a fascinating sci-fi idea. But that's not what's on the page. Really, no one would realize the helmet thing and people wouldn't all just be wearing these helmets? No one with a helmet would give one to a lover or friend among the field slaves? And this is of course setting aside the fact that no one mentioned the whole losing memories and crashing the ship thing in "The Cage." I enjoyed the idea of a leftover away team member changing society, but this was really not well explored (and also ill fits the memory loss society). Basically, they should have cut a theme and more fully explored one or the other.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> Yeah, I think they should have clarified the memory thing was only a smaller number of years old, maybe the asteroid impact could have been the catalyst for the first trip, or the ruling class could have been using tech to capitalize on it. I also have the same reservations I had waaay back in Conundrum about how you forget your name and relationships, but not how to do your job. I understand there is some biological basis for how we store habits and instincts etc. but it was still too neat. But then, it always is, because this is a TV show, not a neurology seminar. I liked the manifestation of it on the Enterprise. They probably spent a little too much time up there at the cost of the Rigel story, but it built well, and, like in Conundrum, it was nice to see some durable parts of characters we like manifest themselves to save the day.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> The B story of Pike and Batel was enjoyable. I do sort of wonder what the command structure is here, such that a first officer can't deal with minor crap. Does no one have an away message in the 23rd century? Anyway, I cared about their breakup and their resolution, and thought it was effectively mirrored in the A plot. The Ortegas C plot.... meh. There wasn't enough there to really dig into her desire to do more than fly the ship. And did she end up being happy with flying the ship? It was just kind of muddy, an opportunity for a funny actress to say snarky things.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I agree it didn't get quite the development it needed, since it's a weird message to say "actually, it's fine you're only one trait as long as you are awesome enough at it" but no one did or said anything wildly out of character, so it was pleasant enough to watch, if not a revelation. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Acting</b><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>Can we just have a show about Melani Scorfano's Captain Batel on a different ship? Because she's got acting ability to spare, and having a different crew would make continuity sooooo much easier.Anyway, her chemistry with Anson Mount worked well and I believed their relationship scenes.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> For having so few scenes, she really has given the character a lot of internal life. I will register a small objection that starship captain and JAG prosecutor seem like wholly exclusive career tracks, but I've handwaved worse ones over the years. If nothing else, she really succeeds in making her character more than a receptacle for Pike's feelings. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>None of the Rigellians looked like the hulking troglodyte of The Cage. Reed Birney was really good as Luq, and I wish we had learned more about him. Less effective for me was David Hyunh as Zac. He just read really whiny, and not someone who would be respected by a society of warrior badasses.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> Agreed on all counts here. I will say, I think La'an, M'Benga and Pike collectively did not some really nice work on the planet. They did a good job of acting like professionals who know and trust each other making difficult calls under the circumstances, and to a large extent, helps the admittedly underwritten plot move well enough to keep my interest.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Production Values</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>This is the first episode in which location shots are very clearly being done in a "Volume" projected space, a la Obi-Wan or Mandalorian. And while the projected environment looked pretty good, the integration with the foreground did not. Everything was very clearly on one plane, in a soundstage. Which of course is not dissimilar from old Trek episodes, but it was notable for a show like this which has heretofore worn its budget on its sleeve.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I kind of think that effect was intentional. A snowy foreground with a few rocks plus a distant violet backdrop is bog standard TOS set dressing. There was something about the way it felt like a bunch of actors on an empty foreground space that felt like it was consciously riffing TOS in a way that pretty much worked for me.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Conclusion</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> This is a solid 3 for me. Its inconsistencies hold it back from going higher, but "not hating this" is a huge step up for me. It was a self contained hour of Star Trek in which a problem was introduced, the problem affected likable characters in a concrete way, and then the problem was resolved. Did the problem make perfect sense? Nah. But I was entertained, and engaged enough to (ironically) actually remember the episode after its conclusion. Two episodes in a row! If they keep this up, I'm going to have to revisit my default curmudgeonly stance.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I think you could recast the away team with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, and this episode would fit pretty seamlessly into the original TOS run, and since I like TOS, that's a compliment. I will always enjoy good character work more than anything, and I will accept narrative shortcuts if it facilitates the good character work, which it does here. I like giving episodes like this a 3 because this is what I want average television to feel like. It's characters I care about doing stuff for an hour and then it's done. Having a run of these will make more ambitious episodes land because there's a backbone of a bunch of other episodes for me to care about when the characters do face bigger stakes. So this is a hearty 3 from me <b>for a total of 6.</b><br /></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-29634706144305469372023-07-07T09:00:00.025-05:002023-09-20T01:52:43.630-05:00Strange New Worlds, Season 2: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow<div style="text-align: center;"></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGSkne9y0Sz8fnkoBJTyIPD5SY95DCUiFivOlObjcjobYfGYLr1QqXwsGcZq30DdoxKlD3pF6O7wdcQyXU__ny4v4XzoT5nSv89NcFJ4oLpugLTN6f3G-cRBOLX7VZRLVcrM_0oSl4BNp4ihahIM2SwdjwvT7H4Qm3OZtK7gwK7N7tismEQrn3nqxjHbOB/s1600/9.png" width="81" /></a></div><b> Strange New Worlds, Season 2<br />"<a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Strange_New_Worlds">Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow</a>"<br />Airdate: June 29, 2023<br />13 of 20 produced<br />13 of 20 aired</b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">La'an has her day interrupted by the appearance of a temporal agent, who whisks her away to an alternate time line in which Kirk commands the Enterprise, then back to a 21st century past in which they must restore history. </p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilxIwEOKlU_WpNScCWv3ZHmq-SPhfwEsQP-4j6udGNlukBBTxJlDNM8QQyw6E-T-8u1Cmyouw4_MwC55aTE3W7tMmTN4VPgFjwDdQE_JRAescLj-Kdt3rvL_4YVenxOirXsQv8PNIvOTd9s0lTSWqrqpeQHx9PIWEV_egtQNreeSA9TJJiBvU7tYx-Vkuu/s2560/SNW_203_MG_0314_0218_RT-scaled.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1707" data-original-width="2560" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilxIwEOKlU_WpNScCWv3ZHmq-SPhfwEsQP-4j6udGNlukBBTxJlDNM8QQyw6E-T-8u1Cmyouw4_MwC55aTE3W7tMmTN4VPgFjwDdQE_JRAescLj-Kdt3rvL_4YVenxOirXsQv8PNIvOTd9s0lTSWqrqpeQHx9PIWEV_egtQNreeSA9TJJiBvU7tYx-Vkuu/s320/SNW_203_MG_0314_0218_RT-scaled.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sweet, skinny pants are back in!</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> <span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Writing</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>So the hurdle for this episode is two-fold. First, we have covered so much of this ground before. Starfleet officers as fish out of water on modern Earth. Relitigating everything about the Eugenics Wars. Distant forces manipulating the timeline. Second is the naked fan service and attending continuity issues. This episode could have easily been a bland retread of a bland episode of Enterprise. Instead, a light and confident hand at the till kept this puppy moving a nice, brisk pace from start to finish. On the plot side, I like that there is no preamble. The teaser is largely devoted to establishing La'an's state of mind, which it does, and then throws us practically<i> in media res</i> into the time travel plot. I found this an order of magnitude more effective that similar scenes with Daniels' appearances on Enterprise since there was no vague speechifying, and even casual viewers are easily able to clock what is going on from the agent's clothes, injury and cryptic (and blessedly brief) final words. La'an clocks it just as quickly, so we all feel smart. Even stuff like Kirk (a tad quickly, sure) coming around to saving La'an's universe over his own because Sam is still alive there works and they had the actual conversation. It's also nice that Kirk defends his world for its accomplishments, and sure there aren't sunsets, but there are at least hot dogs. It's a nice layered implication that alt-Kirk's is inferior to ours, sure, but it's not some hellhole. I'm happy whenever they minimize the number of hellholes in my Star Trek.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I went into this episode ready to hate it, for reasons that should be clear to any reader of this blog. But... I loved it. About the only issues I have with how things unfolded are the ones you mention, with some plot developments being a bit on the quick side. But they are bolstered by effective acting and good, economical writing. So I was fine with alt-Kirk coming around to La'an's timeline, and them falling for each other. I very much agree that this was more effective than ENT's time travel yarns (with the possible exception of "Carbon Creek") and it is because they anchored the timey-wimey plot bits to an effective piece of emotional exposition and development for the La'an character. I still think it's a bad and dumb idea to make her related to Khan (as it is bad and dumb to have every story beat tied to something fans already know). But darn it if she didn't win me over, and this is a credit to both writing and acting.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> What really makes the episode work for me though is that it is fun, and I don't think it is dumb fun. Occasionally silly fun, yes, but not dumb. The episode book ends with La'an experiencing and ultimately acknowledging her isolation. It means all the shoplifting and hot dogs serves that character growth rather than just being a fun exercise for the writers. I believe that Kirk is charming and if anyone could puncture my protective PTSD shell, it's James Tiberius Kirk pouring on the charm. This episode is not piggybacking off of decades of friendship the way Voyage Home did, but this felt a lot closer to that than pretty much any post-Voyager Trek time travel outing. The shoplifting scene was predictable but nicely executed. Even the Pelia stuff came off without a hitch. She loaded Chekov's gun in the teaser, fired it in Act II and retired from the screen. She wasn't even a magic elf who had all the answers. Again, I think I can build a case that at each decision point, the correct decision was made by the writing team. A lesser team would have given into the temptation to have Pelia tag along for further hijinks and witty asides and they wisely leave her in Vermont. Their interactions were so brief that I'm not even sitting here wondering why she didn't recognize La'an on sight in the premiere. It was that good. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>The dovetailing of Pelia's off-hand remark with the time travel plot was clever. Do I think they had enough time to do all the searching of academic departments they said? No, not really. Do I care? No, not really. ONLY the watch really irked me - the physics seem really shaky (especially since fusion reactors do not emit any appreciable radiation, and radiation at the level to influence a watch at thousands of feet would almost certainly sicken people). The episode played like a deftly written fish out of water time travel story a la Star Trek IV combined with a (gasp) ethical quandary time travel story a la Yesterday's Enterprise. I agree that the comedy beats served character, and the emotional beats, although perhaps attenuated by coming only 13 episodes into the series, functioned pretty darned well.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>On the fan service front, again I just get a sense of a
firm but flexible hand on everything. The choice to make it an
alternate Kirk resolves any potential continuity issues before they can
occur. Our Kirk is safe from this story, even if it were bad. The fan
service was more homage than beating one over the head. We know Kirk
likes chess from TOS and there's that scene from A Piece of the Action
where he hustles the gangsters. Put two and two together, you get
alt-Kirk hustling people at chess. A less confident writer would have
given this Kirk glasses to pawn or something. The Temporal Cold War
stuff was all handled quite nicely, by oblique reference only. Even the
throwaway line about how the temporal brinksmanship delayed the Eugenics
Wars by thirty years made me laugh out loud. With the proviso that NO
ONE EVER DO ANY FOLLOW UP ON THAT LINE OF ANY KIND, I absolutely loved
it. It, again, was a perfectly lightweight way to reconcile what TOS
tells us about the Eugenics Wars and the fact that I lived through 1996
without there being any. Like the joke in Trials and Tribbleations about
Klingon forehead ridges, it was a nice joke-y nod to a real-life
continuity problem THAT AGAIN REQUIRES NO FOLLOW UP DO YOU HEAR ME
WRITERS' ROOM?</p><b>Matthew: </b>This episode basically
comes out and explicitly declares that everything going forward is an
alternate time line, which as you know I am resolutely in favor of. So
I'm going with it. Nothing in this show or any other Kurtzman Trek will
ever be, or, in my opinion, ever was, related to TOS-ENT. This episode
told me so. This is an alternate time line in which temporal cold
warring has moved Khan from the 1990s into the mid 21st century.
Everything that proceeds from this point is non-prime-Trek. And you know
what? <i>That allows me to actually enjoy it. </i>I have no faith of
course that future episodes will be this good. Too much water has passed
under that bridge. But I have now started to form a reservoir of...
good will. It's weird. Don't push me on it. <div><br /></div><div>I want to address a larger criticism of Kurtzman Trek here, if only to demonstrate how this episode surmounts it. Picard Season 2 was essentially the same story. But what did they do with it there? They stretched it out to 10 episodes, crammed it with every possible reference they could think of (and got most of them wrong), made everyone hyperviolent and profane, strained for ham-fisted social commentary without nuance, and then forgot what story they were telling halfway through and tried to put everything through a blender in the last episode or two. This, with a very similar premise, is the opposite of that. They tied this story to one character's emotional journey, held it to one episode, made very light references that were not necessary to understanding or enjoying the plot, and used a restrained level of violence and humor. It's astonishing how simply avoiding the obvious mistakes of Kurtzman's awful season-long Storytelling Barf Bags can clear the air and just allow us to enjoy something. <p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Acting</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>Once again, the acting is the highlight of the episode. Chong and Wesley have chemistry for days. We praised Chong's performance last week and she earned another round of accolades from me. She deftly handled quickly realizing what was going on and acting confidently in character with that realization. I absolutely bought her growing attraction to Kirk. I bought her vulnerability in reaching out at the end of the episode. She really knocked this one out of the park.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I absolutely loved Christine Chong here - this delivers on all the promise she has shown in prior episodes. She has really good comic timing as the reserved "straight man." Her acting alone turned a car chase (which was so execrably bad in Picard Season 2) into an amusing character study. She was believably vulnerable, she delivered the sense of fatalism and duty that the episode had built up by its end, and the romance worked. A+.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I liked but largely reserved judgment on Paul Wesley in his appearance as Kirk last season, but here I will be more effusive. He has surpassed Chris Pine for me in nailing the right balance of charm and confidence of Shatner's performance. Shatner's hammier moments and general mocking of nerd culture have eclipsed his general, actually very good performances in the popular imagination, but I couldn't help but see the thread between Wesley's iteration and the suave confidence of Shatner's. While being it's own performance, they really feel connected. I absolutely would have kissed him too, La'an. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>Yup. Second best Kirk with a bullet (so to speak). I kind of wish he had been given just three or four more lines of debate over which time line to preserve, because what he did give us was great. And yes, he has the Kirk charm. It was really evident in the hot dog and chess scenes.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>This is as much about the writing as the acting, and it could go south at anytime, but two episodes down, and I.....like....Pelia. I like Pelia. There. I said it. Accent work aside, Kane is a delight who was clearly having a ball talking about robbing the Louvre, and she played the two different versions just different enough to make sense. Carol Kane is pretty much always going to be the sauce and not the steak in a story. She's too much to stay on for too long, but if they keep using her so precisely, I may ultimately be able to let the accent go. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>Indeed, this was way better than her previous outing, and I very much agree on the "small doses" prescription.<b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Production Values</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>The obvious episode that springs to mind by way of comparison is Enterprise's Carpenter Street, and it just blows it out of the water. Downtown Toronto looked great, and it was clear this wasn't some back lot. They apparently wanted to go to NYC but couldn't afford it and chose to film in Toronto as Toronto rather than as a disguised NYC, and that was really smart. It makes Earth bigger and it meant they didn't have to do unnecessary work to disguise their location. The bridge explosion was well achieved, and again for being an action episode, there was a surprising minimum of graphic violence. The gun shots were the worst, but most of those were at a pretty far distance. My only real complaint is the needle drop when Kirk starts driving. I know it's probably supposed to be some nod to Star Trek 2009, and honestly if were just what was playing in the car, I could have bought it, but I can't stand any more modern rock as the background music. It just pulls me out. That said, I was again expecting a mini-Fast and Furious sequence, and it was actually a pretty light hand at some aggressive but not ridiculous driving.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>Absolutely agreed on the Toronto location shooting. Was their hotel room a little luxurious for some pick-up chess in the park? Sure. But everything else was cinematically on point, from locations to establishing aerial shots to costumes and tech - and I don't think they overdid the car chase. I was kind of sold enough on the plot and the chemistry to forgive it. Instead of filling in for creativity (as I believe it did in the Abrams modern music interludes) it actually enhanced the scene for me.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>And this is a production note if ever there was one: La'an left the loaded gun in little Khan's room. That's not quite as bad as the coffee cup in Game of Thrones, but it most certainly a goof.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>That thought definitely occurred to me. Presumably it will be removed by his caretakers. AND they didn't feel the need to shoehorn in yet another Brent Spiner appearance.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Conclusion</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>For the sharp intake of breath I took when I realized we were doing another time travel to modern Earth, and with Kirk no less, this episode, like last week, really exceeded my expectations. The episode lacks the flab of the Daniels/Temporal Cold War stuff of Enterprise. The humor is used with a light confident hand with the set up and pay off of the Pelia stuff. And the chemistry between the episode's leads is undeniable. Even for taking another swing at the Eugenics Wars era, it focused most of its attention on La'an rather than the temporal mishegas. Everything just goes down so smoothly that I don't really pause to think about any logic problems or even the fact that we have been down this road so many times before until after the episode is over. And even to the extent I do find it to be a tad repetitive, the end of the episode was apparently something of a breakthrough on La'an acknowledging her loneliness, and I'll take all kinds of wacky adventures that resonate in a character's emotional arc. I think only the fact that we keep going back to the same well of Khan and the early 21st century is what holds this back. I want some new stories from these apparently capable writers. So, it's not perfect, but it is very good, and a well deserved four from me. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> Hold onto your butts, folks. I think this is a 5. I agree it is not perfect, but it swept me away in an emotional story, it had intellectual elements I enjoyed, and it effectively cordoned off Kurtzman Trek from the Star Trek that I grew up with, that I love, and that I could not stand the desecration of by the last 6 years of awful, world-breaking storytelling. It was clever, smart, and full of heart. And it actually <i>felt like Star Trek</i> - which this series has done on occasion in fits and starts before this, but had always dragged me out of the feeling by crapping on continuity. Now, when La'an argues for the Federation utopia, I can almost see it along with her. Will the show retreat back into dumb action schlock and gratuitous violence? Probably, given the setup for a Gorn War. But let's not get honked off in advance, and just step back and appreciate that for one brief shining moment, a new Star Trek episode was actually really, really good. What's that feeling I used to have? You know, the opposite of loathing? <b>Anyway, that makes our total a 9. </b><br /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-64773917537508974082023-07-06T09:00:00.017-05:002023-07-24T15:54:07.708-05:00Strange New Worlds, Season 2: Ad Astra Per Aspera<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhDb5LBjwHillc1B4LoaRqoThsgbZorGydMEg7AggN-FvldlBL7OHhW2v0HHilpawe_oEmuP1ZBfbTTMw_UwMkgn2CZqTld0xWfPGPlIUuYKRnj0FZ8sOk6l08ftBvcXsl1rVK9XO47ewyYYs9S6oTM1MpR2JTnlD7MCiCSfHuw9uUbnTlVndMdO6EUX3/s1600/7.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Strange New Worlds, Season 2<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ad_Astra_per_Aspera_(episode)">"Ad Astra Per Aspera"</a><br />Airdate: June 22, 2023<br />12 of 20 produced<br />12 of 20 aired<br /></b><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Captain Pike tracks down legal representation for his first officer's trial for lying on her Starfleet application about her genetically engineered status. <b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBT0i3mgmuBHJI5P9OPTWV3GuV2ab5W4JcS4a9IO1MfSGXz6psYWnkBscLWBx3suUPnqb2Lh6Pr3t4jLKayf5Ebw2mCbtnJUZgt2qjoFpmPXDNr6r96FOX7K4_RAWA11tdZ8Zu1x7mZvUiYzFAmrKnf2Di0AuSH8kGS0ZaMUWhYH7GFUupXqCWpnzgn8S/s1280/snw-ad-astra.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBT0i3mgmuBHJI5P9OPTWV3GuV2ab5W4JcS4a9IO1MfSGXz6psYWnkBscLWBx3suUPnqb2Lh6Pr3t4jLKayf5Ebw2mCbtnJUZgt2qjoFpmPXDNr6r96FOX7K4_RAWA11tdZ8Zu1x7mZvUiYzFAmrKnf2Di0AuSH8kGS0ZaMUWhYH7GFUupXqCWpnzgn8S/s320/snw-ad-astra.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Surely this trial will set a precedent that will ring through the ages.</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> <span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Writing</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>Strange New Worlds is a pretty good show. It has charming actors being generally nice, whizzing around the universe in their spaceship helping people. So why am I so irritated by it? I've put my finger upon the two main reasons. First and perhaps foremost, its prequel nature leads to its constantly retelling and undermining already existing Trek stories. Second, its abbreviated nature lends a certain rushed or unfinished quality to the world. This episode, which I will state at the outset <i>is pretty good, </i>suffers from both ailments. Here, we have the hoary old courtroom episode, which has been done many times. But this time, we are revisiting a legal issue already explored: genetic engineering and membership in Starfleet/The Federation. DS9's "Dr. Bashir, I Presume?" already explored this question, doing a better job of it in my opinion, and is set more than a hundred years later in continuity. So did the events of this episode have no effect whatsoever? It becomes hard to care about the events in front of us, then, which is a problem of many, many prequels.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> So this is becoming my macro position on Strange New Worlds: I agree with Matt's critiques but don't entirely care. I've maintained that more fundamental than my issues with whatever tone or continuity changes made to modern Trek, Discovery and Picard simply weren't good shows, even if they weren't otherwise clashing with canon, and that's the bigger problem. Enterprise was much more faithful, but also boring, and even after a pretty great season 4, the show still lands "below average" for me. Essentially, Strange New Worlds is so enjoyable to watch that I am willing to extend a fair amount of latitude. To borrow the courtroom drama saw, "I'll allow it." More broadly, I feel like the problems, particularly with prequel/continuity fall into a 'conception' not 'execution' problem. They made a choice that I would not have made, but they've made it, and I'm trying to judge it for itself rather than against the show I wish they had made (post TNG/DS9/VOY but delete Nemesis, if you're wondering). If the conception problem is that big a deal, I just won't watch. If it's one thing nuTrek has beaten me out of, it's being a completist for Star Trek. This is a long way of saying, I get Matt's point, but golly if I'm not just delighted while I'm watching the show. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>So let me explain what I mean by "unfinished" or "rushed."<b> </b>The Illyrians here do not feel real, in the way that, say Captain Kirk, or Julian Bashir, or The Doctor, or Data feel "real" in their courtroom dramas.<b> </b>The series has done nothing to establish why the Illyrians engage in this modification beyond saying it's a "ritual" or a "tradition." They have also done nothing to establish why someone might reasonably be worried about such modifications, which makes the Federation position seem simply bigoted - which doesn't fit with its portrayal in other "Prime Timeline" media. Why did the Federation grant membership to a colony in which basically 50% of adults would be "illegal" Illyrian? Who can't pass? Why can't they pass? Does everyone get a "glowing immune system," (which sounds utterly useless) or do some kids get a third arm or twelve fingers or an extra eyeball? Or, you know - super strength? Impervious skin? Something actually useful? Why would anyone choose an augmentation that would not allow them to "pass?" Does the glowing immune system provide any advantages, and if so, why couldn't Una's broken leg just heal? I feel like I'm asking obvious questions, all of which should have been answered by more careful storytelling. They rushed this. There should have been a prior episode demonstrating their plight and also demonstrating good faith objections or concerns about their genetic practices.<b> </b>Without doing so, the Illyrians just feel like "generic group who are victims of discrimination." This blunts the ability to tell a good sci-fi story, and it makes the Federation feel one-dimensionally villainous, which I am not a fan of at all.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>I agree again. The major problem is that I don't really have a sense of the Illyrians just living a normal day for them or why or how their genetic modifications are important to that. It's a lot of tell not showing. We got a couple of seasons of Data being an android and everyone's friend before we called his personhood into question so there were some more stakes, not just on the emotional front. It almost felt like the Illyrians were the 'alien of the week' rather than some more durable part of the universe. The episode still largely works for me for reasons I'll get to below, but this element is definitely a hurdle the episode had to overcome. Another episode spent on regular unleaded Illyria and not the will o' the wisp Illyrian colony really could have paid dividends. One last critique, and it's admittedly petty, I want to know why they were named Illyrians. I assume it's just that the name sounds cool, but it's also a real place on Earth, now the modern Balkans, so every time I hear the name it just keeps summoning late Roman history. Not a problem, really, just a question.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>OK, now that I've griped, there are things that work well here. The character interactions between our main crew are all charming and effective. Pike's scenes trying to convince the lawyer to join the case were well done. The crew's testimony as to Una's character felt earned based on prior episodes and mostly worked (perhaps not as well as testimonials to character in other trial episodes, but still pretty good). Captain Batel's jousting with Pike was really excellent, and he should have more interactions with people who are equal in rank to him. The courtroom debates had competent and at times eloquent dialogue (though I wish they had allowed the prosecution to build a better case than "Remember when Khan existed that one time?") All in all, it was a fine character outing, and Una herself benefited quite a bit, when describing her planet's social divisions. I just wish the larger plot ideas had been present with greater effect and that we had been shown the struggle more than we were told about it. I also felt like pretending Una asked Pike for asylum (which I am pretty sure did not happen) was kind of a cheap way out. The case is open and shut in terms of the statute, and I would have preferred an episode dealing with convincing legislators to repeal an immoral law to one dealing with courtrooms injecting themselves into matters better suited to legislatures (too soon, Star Trek...).<b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> For all the reasons Matt articulated, I was prepared going in to at least be disappointed in the episode, but the character work is not just what saves it, but, for me, elevates it. Because the characters in the room were visibly experiencing something important, I went along for the ride. The character and relationship work was showing rather than telling. Moments like Ortegas and Una doing a scavenger hunt last season really pay off here since I buy the relationships and the stakes for our characters. It wasn't just musical cues, I legitimately bought everyone's relationship and stakes for this one. On the law side, this was actually one of the better procedural episodes. Una got a lawyer with a law degree, and not just any available Starfleet officer. That lawyer had not slept with any material witness. Batel did sleep with Pike, and in the real world that would be a HUGE conflict of interests that she would at least have to disclose, and I can hear you saying 'But this isn't 21st century US law blah blah" but even just using simple logic, it would call into doubt the credibility of a system where such obvious conflicts of interests were allowed unexamined. Beyond that, this even had a minimum of "I read a John Grisham novel once" dialogue and procedure. The closest was April's entire testimony being stricken because her lawyer pointed out an obvious hypocritical application of the rules. Not only was the lawyer right to puncture Starfleet's own faith in its adherence to the rules, she didn't step out of line in either tone or content. The judge seems to have stricken the testimony because now everyone was upset, which is not a reason. Beyond that bum note, this was better than a lot of TV law, and maybe that also helped my general feeling of good will. As for the asylum technicality, again, I kind of respect it as a piece of inspired lawyering, rather than mere trickery. Sometimes a judge wants to rule for you and you just need to give them a reason. I buy that the judges didn't want to punish Una personally because everyone likes her but 'rules are rules, etc." So she gave them a rule that lets everyone go home. Beyond the legal minutiae, the closing argument was actually quite moving for me because I think it sits nicely with the other impassioned speeches about justice we get in courtroom episodes. More than locating a technicality, I found it to be appeal to all the law at once, and not just the section you think has been transgressed. A ruthlessly logical application of the law often leads to illogical, unjust results. It's the job of a fair and just system to be able to see the big picture. Especially as I sit here having my rights stripped away from me by pompous blowhards who pretend they are just 'calling balls and strikes,' I found the reminder that justice is not found in arithmetic applications of statutes to be quite moving. Yes, she broke a rule. But if the rule is bad, or at least unnuanced, that's is properly the problem of lawyers, not the individual. I do think the episode could have better developed the basis for the Federation's fears, not just Khan, but the events of Enterprise. I wasn't a fan of bringing the Augments back, but it's at least a recent more credible example of why the Federation views them as a threat. But overall, having gone in expected some two-dimensional preaching, I found myself pretty affected.<br /><b><br />Acting</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I have no reservations about any performances here. To a person, the main crew (sans Carol Kane?) was excellent. Anson Mount didn't get a big speech scene (to my surprise) but was still effective behind the scenes. Christine Chong is really a very good actor, and gives her character a barely restrained temper which really works. I even liked the comic relief scene of Lt. Ortegas and Dr. M'Benga watching Spock from afar. A very strong outing from the starring cast.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> This is the highlight, and I acknowledge that for me, it is carrying a lot of water for a script that needed another pass and another episode in lead up. It just never got treacly or forced. All of these people have been on screen enough to make me care about them, and I know I keep banging this drum, but Una and Ortegas having a fun day at the office is just the gift that keeps on giving. Romijn in particularly did fantastic work acting like she knew the backstory even if the writers didn't put it on screen. It's a tough job to evoke that kind of discrimination without feeling like a homily, and she really sold it. I agree the supporting story wasn't fully developed, but I bought her recounting of her life. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>The guest cast was similarly excellent. Nicky Guadagni cut a fine figure (strikingly reminiscent of Norah Satie) as the judge. Adrian Holmes really nailed Robert April (I kind of wonder why they didn't make the show about him and go earlier, thus sidestepping continuity issues, but I digress). And of course Yetide Badaki was excellent as the lawyer.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> Badaki should get an Emmy for this episode. She was amazing. She gave the character layers and an internal life. I like how she portrayed an active anger at Starfleet while still trying to appeal to its better nature. She just instantly painted a complete picture of this character, and her work in the closing argument was great. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Production Values</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I stipulate to the quality of sets here, and was pleased that none were the sort of nondescript caverns that some of the ship sets have strayed into. I think one thing that stood out here was costumes. The dress unis looked nice, up to and including the higher ranked stuff. And Counselor Ketoul's outfits were on point.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>They did a nice job recreating the shiny, bejeweled outfits of TOS without making them look cheap or silly. Ketoul's outfits delighted me as well. They were unusual enough to not look like they just bought them, but the lines and color blocking made them look professional. This is easily a franchise-wide high for me when it comes to Trek civilian wear. If I were her, I would have walked off set in that blue and silver number under my coat and if they caught me, just launched into an impassioned speech about justice until they let me keep it. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>It was kind of low key, but the colony world Pike visited had a really nice look to it, as did the law office set. Only the floating chair seemed pointless, in amongst so many tasteful and nice to look at designs.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> It managed to look like a modern city with enough differences to look different, but not just a generic gray field of skyscrapers. The design team is really hitting it out of the park this week. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Conclusion</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>My lack of involvement with the Illyrians, due to knowing practically nothing about them besides their one trait (they are genetic augments), prevents me from really engaging with this episode intellectually. But the performances and visuals were undeniably very good. Yet again, a story told on SNW retells an already existing tale, and kind of undercuts it. I'm at a 3 on this. It's fine. But the larger problems with the series (elucidated above) are holding it back.<b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> So, like I said, I get all of Matt's complaints, and he is not wrong, but while watching the episode I was generally and increasingly delighted. The legal maneuvering felt pretty grounded and the character work soared. If this were on the back of a great episode set on Illyria where I saw rather than just heard about their cultural practices, this might be an easy 5. However, this episode pleasantly surprised by managing a pretty solid variation on what could have easily been a bland homily on discrimination. If nothing else, it reaffirms that SNW is populated by nice nerds who care about doing a good job, and I have been loudly demanding that since 2009. I am happy to have it. This last thought didn't fit anywhere else in the review, so I'll say it here. I'm also glad this plot line has been resolved so quickly. Sure, it needed that one more episode of backstory, but if we aren't doing that, this plot line is now happily closed. I wasn't a huge fan of it when it started, and I was genuinely worried we would spend more than the first two episodes of a ten episode season on it. Instead, it is wrapped up, and on a pretty above average note for me. I honestly did not expect to like the resolution of this story when Una got arrested at the end of season 1, but I'm happy it's done and done pretty well at that, at least for me. <b>This gets a 4 for me, for a total of 7.</b><br /></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-50759953476077047492023-07-02T18:08:00.009-05:002023-07-03T12:27:45.833-05:00Strange New Worlds, Season 2: The Broken Circle<div style="text-align: center;"></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimHgcmAQR-EQbgwjoCNmZPXbhosqMkcbjwK9CTDg_TCGH5fAZfRZUMgrIS4DPT1jAUVFzyUioBaL65keYq-Pv9QpZOXOHeYfdH0crha5chGOyAcqBQsqKQpNOSTur14Raw08PIdJXPq_tehl8TMHuGFFEsE_256HYMbnAujRXb62fTrPkZn1gxrrSRHk4d/s1600/5.png" width="81" /></a></div><b> Strange New Worlds, Season 1<br />"<a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Broken_Circle_(episode)">The Broken Circle</a>"<br />Airdate: June 15, 2023<br />11 of 20 produced<br />11 of 20 aired<br /></b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Captain Pike leaves the Enterprise in Spock's hands while he tries to find help for Una's upcoming court martial. While in command, Spock receives a distress call from La'an warning of a dangerous situation near the Klingon border.</p><p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHDPkzXOQI__Q-G7ZQTmBHBPezzKBjqTtNvlcaxHgk_5U_xEjaNghcP-vgoD_vj5GNwbZoiJHcfCbydrikLJ14XLYyq7kuZSY5KRR-VK3Tg-t3y_s7dF8YbrmMMHqUkgQRCPZDTSZ29tJ28zxBhiCb7GeDCpNxGZIOPewPT3BvuvvOyJKEG8aNpZoGB5fb/s1799/201-planet-group.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1799" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHDPkzXOQI__Q-G7ZQTmBHBPezzKBjqTtNvlcaxHgk_5U_xEjaNghcP-vgoD_vj5GNwbZoiJHcfCbydrikLJ14XLYyq7kuZSY5KRR-VK3Tg-t3y_s7dF8YbrmMMHqUkgQRCPZDTSZ29tJ28zxBhiCb7GeDCpNxGZIOPewPT3BvuvvOyJKEG8aNpZoGB5fb/s320/201-planet-group.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Welcome to Planet Brown, where we mine Brown in accordance with the Brown Mush Treaty of 2243."</span></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"> <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a> <p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Writing</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>The framing of this episode is fine. We know from TOS that weird and flatly unrealistic sharing schemas for border colonies with the Klingons are a thing, so that's fine. I mean, wouldn't it make more sense to outsource the mining and split the proceeds rather than literally trade personnel and equipment every thirty days? Anyway, the core idea of people who profit from war stirring up conflict to advance their interests in fine, but the episode obviously fails when Chapel and M'Benga go into Berserker Mode. An orthodox Trek episode would have them treat the Klingons and use the contact as a moment to find common ground, appeal to their honor, and get their help in revealing the plot.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I had a hard time paying attention to the particulars of this plot. I wasn't really clear what La'an (god, I am sick of typing names with apostrophes in them) was doing there or why she needed help, and I just sort of mentally checked out. I do not think this is a knock on me, the viewer. I can pay attention to any alien of the week story you want to throw my way, as long as you clearly spell out stakes and motivations. There's a treaty... and miners or something.... things have to be secret... runaway orphans or something? ZZZZZZZZZ. It is interesting to me that you are eliding the whole beginning of the show, in which Pike decides to leave and go somewhere else. Now, I am glad they didn't feel the need to split the episode between two stories (I'm looking in your direction, every other Kurtzman Trek ever...), but it felt really artificial and abrupt to set up that story and then just have the characters leave.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>In terms of a premiere, I do think this episode is trying to set the table a little, with moderate success. It gets La'an back on board, but like most times they get an above the titles actor off the ship, they come back a little too quickly to make the leaving make sense in the first place. We get another Enterprise theft and another "Young Spock in command" story, and this runs into the classic problems of the prequel in that we've seen it before and it colors 'later' episodes like Galileo Seven in odd ways. Spock seems to do fine in command making the right decisions at the right time throughout, while maintaining the respect and cooperation of his crew, so him being a bit too uptight to manage people later rings a discordant note. Sending Pike off to get Una a lawyer will pay off next week, and while, yes, it is very convenient, I will say this is how you do serialized storytelling right. It was just enough conversation to not ignore the status quo from last season, but it doesn't get in the way of what this episode is about.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I had a serious problem with Spock committing mutiny in order to hijack the ship, here. Why? Because it was already done in a significantly better episode with significantly higher stakes, "The Menagerie." Is it a classic Trek trope? Sure, you betcha. But, again, it contradicts and undercuts future character developments that this creative team swears up and down happen in the same universe. If they would just bite the bullet and declare this an offshoot, it would blunt my criticism significantly. But, to date, this series has now effectively sucked the narrative wind out of the sails of four classic TOS episodes: Galileo Seven, Amok Time, Arena, and now The Menagerie. Spock had not commanded the ship, because he wasn't first officer, prior to Galileo Seven. Spock and T'Pring didn't date like horny twenty-somethings between age 7 and Amok Time. No humans had ever seen the Gorn prior to Cestus III. Spock didn't mutiny that other time and was forgiven for it. If we're going to ding "These Are The Voyages" for altering the characterization of established, well-told, and complete stories, we have to do so here, as well - until and unless they place this outside of regular continuity.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> In the plus column, I thought Pelia clocking the deception immediately but being up for it was an economical piece of character and storytelling, one that I really enjoyed. It establishes Pelia's personality and priorities quickly and hangs a lantern on how obvious it is to fake a warp core breach, something that happens with startling regularity on ships named Enterprise. It contributes to a sensation that balances the, admittedly, significant plot problems in this episode. I <i>enjoyed</i> watching it, action sequences on the Klingon ship aside. The core is here in a way that both Picard and Discovery faltered on. The characters are basically nice, happy people. Even the severely traumatized ones are more 'taciturn' than 'psychotic.' The scenes on the planet were a pretty big misfire, but the scenes on the Enterprise all hum with a confident brightness that I'm momentarily annoyed, but not despondent, over the overall effect.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>The action sequence of this episode contained two of my very least favorite tropes in sci-fi television - giving characters temporary superpowers (Why not do it again? Like every single time a dangerous situation pops up?); and strobing lights (which is a production issue). I hated every second of Chapel and M'Benga plowing through Klingons, and I also really did not get the stakes here, yet again. They need to hide their presence from the Klingon Empire. Ooooooh...kay..... but did no one really notice the huge starship picking up the frozen popsicle humans from the big exploding ship in the sky? Like I said, I just mentally checked out.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Acting</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I love Carol Kane. She's a gem. Loved her in the Addams Family. Loved her in unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. She is clearly having a blast and that matters. The accent is, however, an incomprehensible decision. Apparently, she tried it for a lark in the table read and they let her keep it. Nonsense all around. It sounds like a mix between Grandmama from Addams Family and Simka, her character from Taxi. That said, I really liked her. I liked watching her see through the obvious ruse and I think she at least has the potential to be a fun foil La'an and Una particularly, but the rest of the cast in their more self-serious moments. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> The accent was terrible, and just adds to the reasons we all have to watch TV with subtitles these days. I reserve judgment on the character. I enjoyed the repartee, as you did, but I'm not going to invest, when they might just Hemmer us again. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> The rest of the cast was good, if not particularly stretched by the material this week. I will say, especially having just finished Enterprise, everyone has a clear characterization that sparkles on screen even if they are not the focus. I know who these people are and I am delighted to see all of them in a way that I never really got to with Enterprise.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> I would say Ethan Peck was the standout here, as he is in many episodes. Which is a shame, because the writers seem absolutely intent upon making this the sex crazed violent Spock of the Abrams movies. Peck can absolutely do the scenes of restraint and inner turmoil. But the writers seem to want explosive temper and outer turmoil, instead.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Production Values</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>Whatever soul-crushing budget slashing the bean counters at Paramount are doing hasn't reached this show yet (still angry about Prodigy, btw) and the effects work by and large is pretty good. The asteroid scene was a little crowded, but that makes sense in context, and I could still tell what was happening in a way I could never in Disco. The planet was several nice big sets, and hallelujah the correct Klingon make up is back. This feels somewhere between TNG and Undiscovered Country, and that is fine with me.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>The Klingons looked good. I have seen wags online trying to claim that "they just gave them hair, the Disco Klingons were just shaving their heads in a time of war," which is absolute horseshit. STD's Klingons looked like Xenomorphs. These Klingons look like TNG Klingons with an increased clothing budget. The planet set and ship interiors didn't do it for me. They were mushy and brown and strobey.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>I have trashed the story elements of the M'Benga and Chapel as drug-fueled super soldiers, but I will say, as a matter of production choices, this was still not hugely, graphically violent. They were fighting barehanded, and there was not really any time spend on the injuries anyone suffered. It's more amped up than classic Trek-Fu obviously, but neither was it the blade wielding bloodbath of Disco or Picard. It's a tiny caveat to the critique, but it matters. It's a poor story choice, but not one that breaks the universe in the way it might have. <br /><br /><b>Matthew: </b>Strobing lights. That's all I meed to say about the action sequence. I thought their freezing makeup looked good, though.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Conclusion</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>This squeaks into a 3 for me. It's got its weak spots, absolutely, particularly the action story in the middle. However, the episode moved briskly enough, and like I said, even in the action story, they did not engage in the worst excesses of Discovery or Picard. It's a fine hair to split, but I think if you can see a different approach even in the fuck-ups, that bodes well. I may also be rounding up a little because I binged the first three episodes at once, so I know the next two are pretty good and that may make me a little charitable. What really seals the 3 for me is the story on the Enterprise is one of a piece with Star Trek I like. Nice nerds who care about doing the right thing. That's all I want from my Trek. I will be less charitable if they go Super Solider again, but the first season at least built up some good will to spend on things like this.<br /><br /><b>Matthew: </b>This is a weak 2 for me. It's not a 1 because it isn't actively offensive or horrible. But it bored me. It was action schlock with no science fiction, and I forgot the half-stated motivations for the situation by about minute 20. It also made my Special Continuity Area tingle uncomfortably. That makes <b>for a total of 5</b> between us. I hope the next two episodes are as good as you say, because for me this was a dismal start to Season 2. <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-41415080302280379562023-05-31T23:27:00.004-05:002023-06-01T11:49:29.243-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: These Are the Voyages...<div style="text-align: center;"></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPa4LoVspqyrFz-ZgqaNFHF9C_bYjjMlaZB0pHPi5VH8bo4vuZDY0sFNP4g8kX-7-6QDrVw20c_92F2QFSU5iHDptaulgeF5p2J6FfF0GUa22IGo9vU4E_S8LetaqBkPEjYbiFJSFIlnI-Lb_6XtN4owHLxkzHhG9w3zJpt8r622Yj4mBz5ESDfoAdLQ/s1600/3.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br />"<a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/These_Are_the_Voyages..._(episode)">These Are the Voyages...</a>"<br />Airdate: May 13, 2005<br />97 of 97 produced<br />97 of 97 aired</b><br /><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Commander William T. Riker faces a moral dilemma during his tenure on the Enterprise D, and investigates the final mission of the NX-01 crew in order to seek guidance.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> <br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6JzAGmdIam0OgKSLq8MtSXRGE8s9UeRafi-60IXqZUvugqDy71Dv3MMexlb4BYpZZ7n875ehEJaCBNqzwHcP8HsGbgDcGF1EskNJDPH0dUn4JOJwbI6HGilzNrmVJrT7CtuIS0fmm1xWd1XuEmq51Oyb-WV10RzwPGoCWTijAt3Kx5NsDrVg1pMfdA/s1920/William_T._Riker_talks_to_Deanna_Troi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6JzAGmdIam0OgKSLq8MtSXRGE8s9UeRafi-60IXqZUvugqDy71Dv3MMexlb4BYpZZ7n875ehEJaCBNqzwHcP8HsGbgDcGF1EskNJDPH0dUn4JOJwbI6HGilzNrmVJrT7CtuIS0fmm1xWd1XuEmq51Oyb-WV10RzwPGoCWTijAt3Kx5NsDrVg1pMfdA/s320/William_T._Riker_talks_to_Deanna_Troi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> N</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">ote to directors: shooting in seated profile is not the most effective way to take ten years off of someone.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b> </b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Writing</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin</b>: Well...here we are. The end. It's been a long road, getting from there to here. And the last hour of the trip felt longer than the rest of the trip combined. This episode was derided as a colossal, epic failure when it premiered and I don't think time has softened that assessment. I had fallen out of regular watching by the end of season 2, but I had watched a little of the Vulcan arc after hearing season 4 really turned things around, and I remember watching the finale shortly after it aired on VHS my father recorded from TV. That was how we did it back in the day. I remember being gobsmacked by how bad it was. Time and a complete rewatch have not improved it for me. I think this episode is a failure in two major ways: what it does to Enterprise, and what it does to season 7 TNG classic 'The Pegasus." I'll start with what the finale fails to do for this show.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I am going into this episode in as charitable a mind frame as I can manage. I also remember being very irritated by this finale when it aired, and I think I may have watched it one time since. Berman and Braga have called it a "Valentine to the fans." And I <i>can </i>see what they were going for, in broad strokes at least. The idea of tying one series to another could be fun. Finally delivering on the "birth of the Federation" could be fun. But clearly there were issues in execution.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin</b>: My first complaint is the easiest. It's been seven years since Terra Prime, and no has gotten a promotion, a new job, or even a new hairstyle. Both TNG and Voyager did infinitely more hypothesizing about these characters' lives than Enterprise chose to do, and for no apparent reason. Give Hoshi a kid. Give Reed a scar. Anything. You don't even have to resolve it. You don't even have to comment on it. You just have to add literally anything to the scene to imply a story happened. Even with that obvious path to really fun storytelling, they biffed. Whatever sadness I may have felt that the show was ended is instantly tempered by the confirmation that I didn't miss anything. Another three seasons would still have not seen these characters make any meaningful step in their lives. I reviewed the Memory Alpha page for this episodes and two items jumped out at me that I hadn't considered before, but they strongly support a general feeling I had about the episode at the time. That feeling was the clear problem with the fact that the show's finale was not about this show or its crew. It's about Riker. That's a fun idea for a field trip, like the infinitely more successful mirror universe episodes, but a terrible idea for a finale. This is the television equivalent of giving a best man toast about the groom's ex-girlfriend. Memory Alpha's trivia section points out that this one of two episodes that technically do not feature the actual cast, only their holographic recreations, the other being the infinitely better Voyager episode "Living Witness." The other piece of information is that this episode was the first since The Animated Series and TOS not to get a feature length finale. It's a little thing, but that really struck a chord. The other Berman era shows all got a two hour finale, and that matters. To be fair, those shows had more to wrap up. While neither DS9 nor VOY quite hit the same sublime notes of TNG's, and VOY in particular does not do any wrap up work about these characters' lives going forward, we still got lots of screen time in all of three with those characters, in word and deed, showing us what they mean to each other. The most we get here is the crew mourning Trip, but even that is largely a cheat. It's just another twist to keep Trip and T'Pol from getting to portray an actual grown up relationship. They could have used the time jump to show us literally any facet of their relationship. Their marriage. A child. Moving in together. Trip chasing T'Pol through Washington Square Park to profess his love on New Year's Eve. Literally anything. They had the entire limitless universe of storytelling to pick from, and they chose <i>this</i>. The books that follow the series retcon Trip's death to a ploy relating to Section 31, and as annoying as that sounds, I get the impulse to undo this, one of the dumbest of decisions.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> Having the characters make no progress as people, as officers, as, well, anything, in six years is just downright bizarre (I read this as being ten years since "Broken Bow," which means six years of unfilmed voyages). It smacks of laziness. And you're right, the other two time hopping finales gave us fascinating iterations of the characters we had grown to care for. Why not here? Perhaps it was a time issue. So that would have been the first step towards fixing this finale. We are to take this as future history - things known to Riker and anyone else in the 24th century studying this era. Fine. Give us some actual history! Put Shran on the bridge. Give Trip and T'Pol a second child and a relationship, not the pointless wheel spinning depicted. PROMOTE Hoshi and Travis, for Ardra's sake. Make Malcolm a secret agent. So yeah. The way the Enterprise crew was depicted was the opposite of fun. Anti-fun. Boring in the extreme, and hard to chalk up to anything but laziness. And indeed, keeping Trip and T'Pol apart for six more years, then teasing a reconciliation only to kill him in a pointless sacrifice to nullify some quite meager baddies is just insulting to anyone who has cared about these characters over the past four seasons. I am not high on character sacrifices anyway, but if you're going to do them, you'd better do them right (something basically achieved once in the franchise, maybe twice if you include Lon Suder). <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I'm going to separately ding the ending for being quick and lazy. I like the idea of trying to dramatize the foundation of the Federation. I just wish they had done that. They fell into the trap that a lot of real world historical dramas do, treating what happened in the past as inevitable. It's too easy to drop references to the eventual real world outcome in how you craft the lead up in that story. Even if you know these people know the Federation is being founded, that doesn't mean that they have any real idea what it would look like by Kirk or Picard's time. This is more a high-level wishlist than a true complaint, I suppose, but this would have been an incredibly complicated time with nested levels of almost infinite moving parts. Try to picture the Constitutional Convention and the big and little fights and compromises and petty bickering and deal making, but try again without adding what you know about the rest of American history coming after. Every planet member has literally billions of beings breaking down into major group and subgroups, and down almost to the individual, overlapping and conflicting wants and needs and deal breakers. I guess what I want is for the show to find a way to show my why Earth and Vulcan and Andor and Tellar <i>as depicted in this series</i> would want an alliance that basically means the end of their individual political sovereignty for reasons other than "well, we know it happened because TOS says it did." That's the real meat on the bone of a prequel, to find the the specific stories to tell from the perspective of those people, not merely the overture to someone else's symphony. Instead, we get a long shot of Archer signing the documents; the end. It's basically the narrative equivalent of that Lord of the Flies parody episode of The Simpsons. "And then the Federation was founded by...let's say Moe." TL;DR: Enterprise is a ton of missed opportunities for interesting stories that in no way directly relate to any other character or story told in any other series.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>This thread to the plot could have helped fix the previous one. A big problem here with the action beats, which frankly were pretty decent, was that they had nothing to do with either of the other story threads. Why not have Archer save the nascent Federation at the last minute? Why not have Malcolm get hot intelligence from Section 31 that puts them on the trail of those who would undo it? Why not have a villain besides some rando smuggler/kidnappers? Maybe they felt hemmed in by the previous story arc, which basically told the same story about founding an alliance despite opposition, but did it far better? Well, in that case, ditch it. But I agree - the historical equivalent of a Constitutional Convention is a fertile field for stories. They just sort of.... chose not to tell them. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin</b>: So now, let's look at The Pegasus. By having Riker both disclose the cloaking device to Troi before Picard and deciding in her presence to tell Picard, we completely deflate an excellent hour of television. If nothing else, it moves the most important moments of "The Pegasus" to events not depicted in that episode. That's a narrative no-no. And of course, these changes make the episode worse. In the original telling, Riker decides at the last possible second to reveal the cloaking device, when he simply cannot stall any more and he has to decide between his ship's safety and his career, possibly his freedom. It's a great moment, and Frakes acted it to the hilt, back in the day. Framed between two sides of the same bald coin, Picard and Pressman practically represent the angel and devil on his shoulder and we watch him make the decision, happily the correct one. Now apparently, he had already decided to do that, but just hadn't gotten around to it yet because reasons. I'm not saying there's not a version of Pegasus were Troi serves the role of a moral compass in a gentler, but still effective, way than Picard's disapproval, but that's a different episode and not the one they wrote in 1994. They took a great episode and made it worse and made a bad episode all on its own in the process. And there's no real way to segue into this, so I'll just say it. The misunderstanding they have Data make over the comm with Troi is a season one Data joke, not a season seven Data joke. It just is. It's lazy (again) and it's nagged me for 18 years. Glad I can finally get that off my chest. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>The way to fix this part of the story is easy - set it at literally any time whatsoever after the end of TNG. I understand the "Valentine to the fans" aspect of tying it to a beloved episode - but that approach brings with it major problems, not least of which is continuity problems and retconning (another of which will be addressed below). Do you know what we love as much or more than old classic stories? <i>New </i>classic stories. Wouldn't it be amazing to present us with essentially a new TNG adventure starring Riker and Troi, set on a very well recreated Enterprise D? The narrative tie-in was really clumsy, too. Riker is having a problem of conscience, which Troi <i>does not know </i>the particulars of. Why would she suggest this historical holodeck program? <i>When </i>in the run time of "The Pegasus" does she suggest this program? Trip... disobeyed orders and sacrificed his life in order to save his morally upright captain. How is that an analogous situation? Riker <i>obeyed </i>the orders of a morally corrupt captain, and now must decide whether to risk his career in order to save a treaty, a fragile peace, and the respect of his current captain. It doesn't track that this would give him any useful information that bears on his problem. Maybe the story could have been about the NX-01 crew disobeying the orders of a corrupt Admiral who was trying to torpedo the peace. That would be analogous. But you're right either way - Riker's ethical arc was clearly delineated in the original episode, and needed no amendment.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Acting</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin</b>: The best thing I can say I don't think anyone in front of the camera phoned it in, an assertion I cannot make with any real certainty about the people behind it. Everyone turned in solid enough performances for a script that just didn't ask that much of them, outside of Archer and T'Pol mourning Trip. Frakes and Sirtis are their usual charming selves. They could do this in their sleep with their hands tied behind their backs. And was adding Shran to the story just a reason to get Jeffrey Combs on screen? Sure. Do I care? Not in the slightest. You get that residual check, Jeffrey Combs. You've earned it.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> Oddly, especially given my unalloyed praise of his job these past four seasons, the actor who felt off to me was Connor Trinneer. I wonder if he was thrown off by the royally dumb storytelling choices of the script. He seemed too jocular by half. Frakes delivered nuance in brief scenes, and did some passable chef work, too. Sirtis was a very credible counselor and friend. Of the NX-01 crew, I would say that Peter Billingsley and Jolene Blalock turned in the best work. They've really leaned lately on Blalock's ability to deliver emotion without gratuitous emoting, and this episode is no different. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Production Values</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> Most of the effects were fine. I'm going to focus on the obvious misstep: trying to make Frakes and Sirtis play themselves ten years younger and not having the technical skills to do it. Troi's uniform is distractingly the wrong color. Her wig is horrendous. According to Memory Alpha, they couldn't find the original pieces they used with her natural hair in TNG, so they found a wig, and...it shows. It shows. And whoever tried to get Frakes back in the jumpsuit should be hauled before the Hague. I'm not criticizing either actor for aging, I don't look like I did ten years ago. I don't look like I did three years ago before the pandemic. But I'm also not playing myself in a movie about me from ten years ago. If they really wanted them in and could have worked them in as themselves, it would have worked fine. Sirtis looked fantastic in Picard, and no paunch could erase the twinkle in Frakes' eye. It's just that you can make 25 look 19 with makeup and you can make early 30s look early 20s with some heavy lifting by lighting and fashion choices. It's just harder to make 50 look like 40, especially if you do not have the appropriate wig budget. I don't like to rag on actors' appearance since it's kind of mean and out of their control. I am rightly criticizing a production department for basically setting them up to fail. As a counterpoint, sure, they were only going back in time seven years, and yes, if I watched them side by side, I would probably be able to clock which one was Encounter at Farpoint and which was All Good Things, but both Marina Sirtis and Denise Crosby looked amazing and credibly like their season one selves in the TNG finale. It's possible, they just didn't do it here, and it served as another distracting failure in an episode full of them.<br /><br /><b>Matthew: </b>Yep. Yep yep yep. Just in case the ill-advised nature of the retcon wasn't apparent, the visual signifier of Frakes and Sirtis obviously not looking like their 1993 selves really threw a wrench into the suspension of disbelief. This is why setting their portion of the tale post-TNG would have made worlds more sense. With that said, they did an amazing job on the VFX and set construction of the D, both within and without. Yes, the turbolift wall looks weird, and the decor in the observation lounge was a little off. But boy, it sure felt like TNG - something even Picard Season 3 didn't manage, and on a shoestring budget to boot. I will say though that clearly the Federation Founding scene bore the brunt of that budget emphasis. Back in all their uncanny valley glory are the crowds of Gumby people inhabiting an utterly unreal space. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin</b>: I understand why they kept it to the Enterprises because of the use of the intro, but I kind of really miss the inclusion of DS9 or the Defiant and Voyager. This was the end of an uninterrupted run of television almost twenty years long. That's rarefied air otherwise occupied pretty much only by Law & Order in the modern era. The idea was solid, but for a proper goodbye, everyone should have been included. That aside, the ships looked gorgeous.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I would rather get more story than yet another recitation of the TOS/TNG opening. The CGI was very good. But I agree, it missed the mark.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Conclusion</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin</b>: This is a one, hands down. I have a strong case to make that this is worse than Kurtzman Trek in that it commits their sin of messing with prime continuity, but it was done by people up and down the line who should have know better. Abrams was a self-professed Star Wars fan who got the job because of the insane way jobs are parceled out in Hollywood. Berman and Braga and Coto should have known that, if nothing else, doing a series finale about a different series was a bad idea. Messing with the otherwise truly excellent Pegasus is what turns misfire into trash fire. There's even a truly gratuitous violent death of a likeable main character for shock value. With some edits and choosing not to set it inside a better TNG episode, this could have been a fun confection and a field trip. I can make a strong case that Barclay and Troi on Voyager got a little repetitive, but I can't deny that they are fun. At least be fun. This episode was neither good nor fun, and it deserves and continues to deserve its reputation.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I think this was a mish mash of disjointed parts. Given more emphasis, any of the major story threads could have worked. But shoe-horning them together was a conceptual error. Killing a major character without much preamble or denouement was ill-advised, to say the least. But the actors gave it their best shot and the effects were pretty good. So I'm at a 2 on this <b>for a total of 3.</b> Easily the worst series finale in the franchise, but not altogether unlikable in spurts.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-13194255828583910002023-05-30T23:05:00.002-05:002023-05-31T23:29:28.652-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: Terra Prime<div style="text-align: center;"></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe9dEGgTbIsoTca0j7eaCnEKHwLrjFjAYmm1X-BW6h2LHtTnKPvsdMymZMoKpIiHAFII-AamrA0d0Uo5mJfl96LEIh0QGa5u8FpLwkM_fjYZ5psMVGsHDAQemExgMqTYNY2NX-u4Ay1MkpkooBbCOTZGo47T5NSabSwvTYoGqbYX30iX6Or13QCXmiDA/s1600/8.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Terra_Prime_(episode)">"Terra Prime"</a><br />Airdate: May 13, 2005<br />96 of 97 produced<br />96 of 97 aired<br /></b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">The crew of the Enterprise must find a way to infiltrate the Terra Prime facility before they can attack the Earth.<b> </b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0dFuVNb57i91jKdjEJINDzjdGBVAgNTJ1CGxSQji8OvWCdv9KuvhMYXmFwTQec-ToY_B639f-IXwwc8nzt0SAwVKHW5pYk3QoEckQmvyCLqFWcht07JBZKk9f4gRYQYNUmptma2uaRzrRvg3pkZ-LthLZ1zrqe8laYJ2LifCKNBJDPW9nv9OqCGuKKw/s850/terra_prime_403.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="850" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0dFuVNb57i91jKdjEJINDzjdGBVAgNTJ1CGxSQji8OvWCdv9KuvhMYXmFwTQec-ToY_B639f-IXwwc8nzt0SAwVKHW5pYk3QoEckQmvyCLqFWcht07JBZKk9f4gRYQYNUmptma2uaRzrRvg3pkZ-LthLZ1zrqe8laYJ2LifCKNBJDPW9nv9OqCGuKKw/s320/terra_prime_403.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Say it! Say "my uncle was a Denobulan!"</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> <br /><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Writing</b><b> </b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>So here we are, at the "real" finale for the show, as fans have dubbed it in hindsight. Listening to the writers' commentary, Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens were very clear that they wanted to give every character a satisfying set of scenes, and a resolution of sorts to their story. Not necessarily a sense of fonality, but a sense of growth. I think this episode achieves this. Hoshi is shown as having overcome her nervousness and found her space legs. Travis bags the babe and shows his expertise in the cockpit. Malcolm gains the respect and escapes the manipulation of his Section 31 handler. Phlox shows how dedicated he has become to his new human (and Vulcan) family. Trip and T'Pol finally bond after a long (and annoying) estrangement. Archer makes good on the promise of his father's engine - using it to bring humanity into a larger, collaborative galactic world. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I agree with your general take on the episode but will add that it really shouldn't take until the end of season four to remember that you have an ensemble. Shran in a handful of appearances got more development that anyone not Archer, Trip, or T'Pol, probably getting about as much if not slightly more than Phlox. Obviously, part of that is the incomparable acting of Jeffrey Combs, but it's also words on the page. That ongoing critique aside, I agree this episode succeeds in both giving the crew lots to do, and feeling like an orthodox episode of Star Trek.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>As action plots go, this one was a fairly straightforward "ticking clock" infiltration story. The scenes played out with good pacing and forward momentum, and I never felt like I was questioning why the plot went here or there. If I had a complaint, it would be that the action plot's relationship to the "Birth of the Federation stuff" was a bit abstract, by which I mean that the delegates coming around to greater ties with humans didn't really seem to follow having a giant space laser operated by human extremists nearly incinerate them. With that said, Soval's series arc of coming to approve of Archer and the humans' approach to the larger galaxy worked for me. I think not having Shran at the table was a slight miss, even though I get it from a diplomatic logistics point of view. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> This is one of those time's I'm going to invoke Ron Moore's name. I think he has a facility for zippy political writing that would have bridged the gap. The giant space laser (please continue to picture me making Dr. Evil air quotes around that) is silly. An episode that focused on the various factions and their actual wants and needs would have been a little more satisfying. There's the idealists like Archer who want a galactic community for its own sake. There's the isolationists who fear change. There could be other factions that want or don't want an alliance for various reasons, and all that shaken together could have really been something. Still, they hit the beats of ticking clocks and prison breaks with enough skill to leave me basically satisfied, if not truly sated.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>The baby story... I think it was acted to the hilt, but I sort of didn't know why she was there at all. How does putting a baby's face on the "issue" make it scarier to the average schlub on the street? Humans are pretty notorious for liking babies, making goo goo sounds at them, and generally finding them very sympathetic. So then having it die just wasn't a choice I think needed to be made. It doesn't violate continuity to make her the first hybrid, so why not go for it?<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I also still don't get what the whole baby was for? Was he assuming that a baby that kind of looks like a LOTR elf would somehow so deeply offend the average person to sway people to his side? People love elves. Like, a lot. The addition of the disease was also baffling. How can this one of a kind hybrid be the treatment? How would they have figured that out? None of it makes sense. It felt like the idea of Trip and T'Pol having a kind was deemed the most interesting idea and then they shoehorned a plot around it. As the acting demonstrates, Trinneer and Blalock could absolutely carry a romantic plot, and this episode really crystallizes why it's so annoying they kept throwing plot in the way. It's a lazy crutch to frustrate your couple getting together. My general note to writers after the strike is over: Characters and relationships are more interesting than plot twists. If you create interesting, three-dimensional characters with their own well-defined perspectives and goals, putting two or more of them in a room will generate all the conflict you need to move a story. I'm not saying a big external event can never be interesting, but it can't substitute for the relationship storytelling. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Acting</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>As mentioned above, Trinneer and Blalock absolutely smashed it on their scenes. I completely believed their investment in the child's well being, their sense of loss upon her death, and their finding of emotional solace with each other afterwards. Peter Billingsley also had some very nice scenes delivering the bad news and such. So while I wasn't on board completely with the story direction, I certainly was all there for the acting.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> Trinneer's performance was genuinely heartbreaking. He was really devastated in a way that incredibly affecting. Blalock managed that Nimoy/Spiner level performance of inspiring the emotion by not portraying it. Just series high work for both them. I found the plotting only so-so, but that last scene really elevates the whole episode.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>Peter Weller worked again for me here. I think his confrontation with Bakula at the climax of the show helped to crystallize his worldview as a coherent, racially motivated conservative. The juxtaposition against Archer's hard-headed idealism really helped the episode reach me on an intellectual and character level. Good performances by both.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> He still just didn't click for me. Maybe I'm just so angry at racist demagoguery generally that I will not enjoy watching even a well portrayed one, or I'm letting my residual annoyance at Into Darkness spill over onto this episode. He just doesn't do it for me. I don't care about his point of view and don't quite see how he amassed a following. I will acknowledge it may be a matter of personal taste and the times we live in, but here we are. </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>Side character actors such as Linda Park, Dominic Keating, and Anthony Montgomery all got good scenes to chew into, and they each delivered. It was clear they felt this was a last hurrah for their characters, and not in a bad way. I liked Malcolm's comic beat about the barf bag with Phlox. Hoshi's mini-triumph resonated, too. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I think one of the great losses of the series in not letting the side characters grow was not letting the actors grow with them. Plenty of actors and characters that I truly love in TNG, DS9, and VOY had to grow into them. That's a natural part of a TV series, and note to the AMPTP, this is why you want human writers on set to interact with and learn from their actors to better write for them. Writers and actors work together to sculpt a character to an actors' strengths. Think of Nana Visitor and Kira between her season one warmed over Ensign Ro and her season 6 performance mourning Ghermor's death in the infirmary. Just miles between those performances and I think it's in large part the writers writing to the way Visitor best portrayed big emotions, barely restrained rather than explosive. This was a long way of saying we've criticized some of the acting of the supporting cast, particularly Montgomery, but I think a more sustained diet of good material would have helped both actor and character improve, as this episode demonstrates.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Production Values</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> I think the Mars shots betrayed their "end of season" budgets. They looked pretty fake - the worst effect probably being the spidery broken glass during the final confrontation. It looked almost laughably fake. They would have been better served by some actual glass and a fog machine.<b> </b>The shuttle re-entry action had a similar fake look to it, though I enjoyed the Sagan monument on the planet's surface. One pretty good effect was the space laser hitting the SF bay. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>I don't have a ton to add here. The spider effect was not great, and I'm always going to say do it live rather than on green screen. </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><b>Conclusion </b><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I think this sticks at the 4. The baby plot from the first part felt a bit tacked on for me and was not fleshed out such that I felt otherwise by the end of this episode. But the whole thing was rather satisfying, with a well developed political/moral message and well paced action.<b> </b>I think a viewer would have to work hard to dislike this episode. It is a fitting finale for the show we've gotten over the past four seasons. Thank goodness they did not follow this up with a different, ill-conceived finale episode.<b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> So I have a lot of the same general reservations that I had last week, largely that the very interesting idea of humans dealing with their xenophobia gets filtered through the less interesting lens of an action story. I also continue to not bond with Peter Weller's Paxton, but as I said, I appreciate that may be as much a matter of taste as anything else. The action plotting makes me want to give this a 3, but I think on the strength of the acting, I have also go with the 4. Trinneer and Blalock really gave it their all and my only regret is that they weren't simply allowed to do this the whole time. They could have easily given life to a better crafted arc. But still, for the last substantive episode of Enterprise, there are worse notes to end on, as we will all soon learn. A well deserved eight for what is rightly viewed as the show's actual bow.</p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-64737737264066649962023-05-20T09:00:00.002-05:002023-05-20T12:50:56.017-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: Demons<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRAzpTjjlLtub9YPW9FalW8-1s8Wg_hkMUrt54e5Inc5mB5fXl-9tqfTBwr6BxeDiZYD1lbf3LmyL9CxKKC2mt0PxIzhCvp3S0XS93-I15Bc31LPoWMn0V5MGynd2UxR8GFRWmDpKhH7zxH_2ezRHYtVl5Ggd66pCRvv53g1B-ze4zvd9eO97hJGzq-g/s1600/7.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br />"<a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Demons_(episode)">Demons</a>"<br />Airdate: May 6, 2005<br />95 of 97 produced<br />95 of 97 aired<br /></b><p></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p>The crew of the Enterprise discovers a group of violent Xenophobes who seek to drive all alien migrants off of the planet Earth.<b> <br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-LLEaXtndReSshez3C1TvoaydHn9xuUoS5ffvV2K7vi15QNVfx8KIXWBEAt2-di13PVU_OYpjdxsG9Hg5FGiNjHlC1cXXsBbZEHf2w9A9VJwWYVAqYNAmo7o8gBcF64Tg9p4LPDb4duClSFYQhG82sTZW0Am7hqZUU2gZzoRS5g2VyUCJxyWjcFa6CA/s1408/T'Pol,_Tucker_and_Paxton.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1408" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-LLEaXtndReSshez3C1TvoaydHn9xuUoS5ffvV2K7vi15QNVfx8KIXWBEAt2-di13PVU_OYpjdxsG9Hg5FGiNjHlC1cXXsBbZEHf2w9A9VJwWYVAqYNAmo7o8gBcF64Tg9p4LPDb4duClSFYQhG82sTZW0Am7hqZUU2gZzoRS5g2VyUCJxyWjcFa6CA/s320/T'Pol,_Tucker_and_Paxton.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Could a man with such a high-buttoned suit jacket really be all bad?</span><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b> </b><p></p><p><b>Writing</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> I think this episode is the core of a good, even great idea, and one that is quintessentially Star Trek: the conflict of human ideals and human prejudices. I think this is the more interesting post-9/11 story than even the Xindi arc, because it has the potential to be so grounded in human story telling. This is more complicated, in a way, than the Xindi weapon story. That's about acceptable tactics in the face of an existential threat. There's a lot there, and the show found a decent amount of it, but these stories have the potential to be more personal and relationship-focused. Rational or not, humans might feel that their entry into the broader galactic community has only made them targets and coupled with legitimate annoyance at Vulcan paternalism, you have a recipe for some pretty dark thoughts. How Earth got from that point to the philosopher kings of TOS and TNG would be a great season long arc, and a pretty daring one in the early aughts. Cramming this into the home stretch doesn't do this story any favors. <br /><br /><b>Matthew: </b>I agree this idea could have stood longer-term development. There is a callback to the run-in with racist goons during their last trip to Earth, and that isn't nothing. But I find the Terra Prime movement to be pretty interesting, for much the reasons you lay out, so I would have been thrilled to get more hints of their activities and the people who are recruited by them in prior Season 4 episodes. Ultimately, that's not really the fault of this particular episode, so I am not going to penalize it for that.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>I think my main problem, much like the barfight earlier in the season is that episode chooses to manifest this xenophobia in the most literal knuckle-dragging way possible. I'm certainly not saying I want a sympathetic depiction of racists, but to truly sell the threat they pose, I need to see the work of them cloaking themselves in moderate language that pretends to address real problems. Instead of giving us a suave, plausible demagogue, we get the unmistakably EEEEVIL Peter Weller and a plot that's too complicated by half. I'll address this more in the next episode where it gets more discussion but I'm still not really clear on why the hybrid child exists. Setting that aside, the "Enormous Laser on the Moon" is such a corny James Bond plot that Austin Powers had parodied it. It's just too ridiculous a plot, and one that wasn't necessary. Again, I'm having trouble connecting the dots of cause to effect. Wouldn't threatening a bunch of humans turn off enough of the moderate middle to take this movement out at the knees? Wouldn't some more targeted threat just at the aliens be more effective, or even some kind of false flag blaming Vulcans or something (though we did just have a false flag with Vulcans earlier in the season). It's just all too moustache twirly and it robs the threat Terra Prime presents of any real teeth. </p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I disagree here on the EEEVIL of it all. John Frederick Paxton (why do all the worst honkies use three names) is the hero of his own story, and has crafted a plausible self narrative that justifies his actions. But what makes it all the more believable is the diversity among the followers of Terra Prime. Xenophobia and racism appeal to a lot of people, especially when they are frightened. So showing us miners, reporters, diplomats, and more who have been touched by this rhetoric lends a quality of verisimilitude to the narrative. For whatever its flaws (and there are a few), this is soooo much better developed as an allegory about racism and anti-immigrant sentiment than the <i>whole </i>of Picard Seasons 1 and 2. I do agree on the space laser, though. That's silly. Did they need the laser and the baby? It seems like just one would do.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>My last hang up is what this does to Trip and T'Pol. We have precious little time left (spoiler alert: even less for Tucker, zing!) and the magical appearance of a shared child is just too much too fast. They haven't really sealed the deal on being a couple so this serves to not stress test an extant couple, it serves to prevent them actually getting to be one. Even with the sexism and gratuitous nudity aside, this pairing hasn't gotten the airtime that Tom and B'Elanna, or even Worf and Jadzia did. Tom and B'Elanna were such a well portrayed couple because we got so much of them navigating the nuts and bolts of relationships. Even the most sci-fi ideas, like B'Elanna customizing their fetus, is still basically anchored in a very human idea. She was traumatized by her father's absence and that understandably creates trust issues for her adult relationships. Tom is and should be understanding, but not infinitely so. If and how this relationship can now work is understandable and relatable, and made more complex by the sci-fi story elements. The sci-fi elements are not doing the heavy lifting of giving them a relationship. This coupling has been carried almost exclusively on the back of the actors' chemistry, not the writers' words, and this Shocking Twist is just the lately example. </p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Yeah, this was a bit of a left field sort of twist, and I don't think their reactions to it are given enough time to breathe - it's down to the actors to convince us of their feelings. I also think this story thread would have benefited from making the resumption of their relationship more clear since Trip's return to the ship. Speaking of random relationships, Gannet (ho ho) and Travis was written just on the happy side of Okay-ish, but I couldn't find much of a reason to invest in it before she was revealed as a Space Racism sympathizer.</p><p>Acting</p><p>Kevin: I was not a fan of Peter Weller's Paxton, and I mean that beyond the extent I was supposed to dislike the character for his politics. He's just so Creepy and Obviously Evil that I wonder how he wooed anyone to his cause. This may be a better outing for him than Into Darkness, but whoo boy is that the faintest of praise. Patrick Fischler's Mercer was more successful. You hire a character actor like him to be vaguely nervous at everyone, and he delivered. </p><p><b>Matthew:</b> I disagree, and this is probably why our experiences of this episode differ. I thought Peter Weller delivered the sort of monomaniacal, sociopathic, but rhetorically effective Space Racist that the story needed. There are plenty of real life villains who seem so obviously evil that no one should stoop to following them... but hey, here we are, with a whole coterie of shitty douchebags dominating various cable networks and political parties (I'll leave it to the reader to guess which ones). Agreed on Fischler's slightly creepy doctor. <br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>I wish Harry Groener's <strike>Mayor of Sunnydale</strike> Minster Samuels got more to do and with some more complexity. As fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will recall, he's great at being genuinely warm and genuinely terrifying at the same time, and I think they chickened out by having him disclaim his former prejudice so quickly. Focusing the story more on that kind of casual, but more pervasive and insidious racism would have been a more interesting exploration of the issue, and Groener absolutely could have carried it.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Definitely, his best stuff was during the Espresso scene, in which Archer challenges Samuels' youthful indiscretions. Either way, Groener more than made up for the somewhat annoying Tam Elbrun here, and delivered a character with intellectual nuance and diplomatic charm.<br /></p><p><b>Production Values</b></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Congrats to the prop person who has to glue things to a baby. You earned that union paycheck today, my friend. The moon caverns were a little styrofoamy, but I don't have much else in the way of critique. There were a bunch of new sets which was fun, though a few of the wide shots continue to look awkward. The Orpheus facility was still pretty 00s video game cutscene, but it was well designed for what it was.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I am almost certain that the Vulcan ears on the baby were CGI additions, not physical props. And they looked pretty good. Apparently, the diplomatic conference was held in the lobby of Paramount's on-site screening room - and it sort of looked lobby-ish. I think the mine and Orpheus interiors did a pretty good job of making a world feel big without a whole lot of material. The CGI of the exteriors was pretty hokey, though. The standout ridiculous set was the bizarrely dorced-perspective San Francisco alleyway with an utterly fake-looking city backdrop. I've been to SF... I don't think there are a whole lot of straight up 45 degree inclines.<br /></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> This is a solid 3 from me. We raise some interesting issues, but we explore them through the most bland action movie lens we can think of. There's a more interesting story about how easy it is to sway self-identified 'nice' people into supporting some pretty hideous policies. They were such villains from the start that there is no way to be surprised by anything they do, and no way you could buy any non-villain not seeing right through it. Add to that, their plan is standard Bond villainy, and the result is story whose stakes I never quite buy. The acting and effects are fine overall, they just don't elevate the writing on this one. The finished result is still solid enough, more than enough to merit a 3 from me.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I'm at a 4, and it verged on a 5 but for some scattershot plot threads. This hits me right in the sci-fi allegory center of my brain (a bundle of neurons long nurtured by years of TNG-DS9-VOY), and watching it now after the completely ham-fisted attempts of Kurtzman Trek to ape this sort of storytelling increases it in my estimation. But it's not a 5, because of the threadbare romantic subplots and dorky supervillain plan. So that puts this at a <b>total of 7.</b><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-39721054056863046362023-05-15T21:18:00.001-05:002023-05-16T14:11:11.272-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi--jSJhDmdm92V591goFQDcPqg-tubasBXbPrET_XaOWYQgjrGwd1Ovgw-j42g-uviVeD6_Fd1LW0MomP4RxbW0F1geQe6VYnOjS6PQS1fi0KIU-Uj9af1WQHj9wYa3lP5W5E4COTw1m3OTvWMORmVNxbubVhr5WzrJlU0FFU4AoPiSTuKqsnryO8Ytw/s1600/8.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/In_a_Mirror,_Darkly,_Part_II_(episode)">"In a Mirror, Darkly Part II"</a><br />Airdate: April 29, 2005<br />94 of 97 produced<br />94 of 97 aired</b><p></p><p></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p>Captain Archer decides to make the Terran Empire great again by using the futuristic USS Defiant to crush its enemies.<br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWTgoEgQdZUVlwovOsXURXFC8qVNgCbwLg051tvv2SJQq74DpQXBiJVJku_bQ0LEh4svYVvPGjYHv88Pjx8CyQqO4voa07JSrCgjuOLjdwDv_x0Wu5knKAN7SRbB_nzfvKbPDQrkFN0iw3gDiuIp6xWf4C76eU7xChOLX897GSLb26IZaiUXfIktavoQ/s1549/Hoshi_Sato,_mirror_Empress.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1549" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWTgoEgQdZUVlwovOsXURXFC8qVNgCbwLg051tvv2SJQq74DpQXBiJVJku_bQ0LEh4svYVvPGjYHv88Pjx8CyQqO4voa07JSrCgjuOLjdwDv_x0Wu5knKAN7SRbB_nzfvKbPDQrkFN0iw3gDiuIp6xWf4C76eU7xChOLX897GSLb26IZaiUXfIktavoQ/s320/Hoshi_Sato,_mirror_Empress.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Terran Girlboss in the house!</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b> </b><p></p><p><b>Writing</b></p><p><b>Matthew:</b><b> </b>I guess an episode like this has some unique challenges. It's a second part, of course, and these have historically had some hurdles with sticking the landing and delivering on the promise of the first part. On this score, I think this episode succeeds. What do we want? We want to see that sweet, sweet TOS-era hardware we were teased last episode. And boy, this episode delivers that in spades. We get boatloads of action on the ship, between ships in combat, in uniform, using "old" props, and even with a Gorn thrown in for good measure. To call this "a love letter to the fans" is a minor understatement. About the only portion that doesn't work super well for me is the Gorn chase sequence. On the one hand, it involved Mirror Kelby getting chomped in two. And I'm definitely on board for that. But overall it lends a bit of a "series of vignettes" feel to the episode.</p><p><b>Kevin: </b>So I think this is actually a pretty successful two parter with regards to consistency. It keeps the tone and verve of the first half. This was a big, fun comic book of an episode, and i think it sticks the landing on giving us a ridiculous over the top good time. I don't mind the vignette feel, since it serves the point. We're just here to wander around the TOS museum with some fun 'what if?' elements, and the episode definitely does that.<br /></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>For me, watching any mirror universe episode gets my brain working, and the question I cannot avoid is "how is this world possible?" I just don't see how a species with this level of violence, lack of fellow feeling, and willingness to betray others could have achieved space travel or, indeed, survived at all. So I would rather see some sort of argument being made for extenuating circumstances that have warped a culture, rather than "this is an eeeevil species, mwah ha haaaa!" Why does Archer ever trust Hoshi? Why does anyone take a glass of anything poured by another? How are children raised? This episode did little to answer or dispel such questions.<b> </b>At a minimum, this does make the humans out to be sort or piratical in their approach to other cultures and technology, which does mitigate questions of how they could achieve spaceflight to some degree.</p><p><b>Kevin: </b>I think it's more plausible than you give it credit for. I think there's a decent case that the Roman Empire was very successful while being extremely violent and treacherous, and there's a pretty solid case to make that they weren't really innovators, either philosophically or technologically, but when they encountered an idea or thing that worked, they adopted it at scale with ruthless efficiency. This is a cartoonishly stylized version of it, to be sure, but I don't think it comes off as impossible these people achieved dominance.<br /></p><p><b>Matthew:</b> Bringing the Constitution class Defiant into a world 100 years behind it is handled well here. It is made out to be suitably powerful and destabilizing, and portraying the "Empire" as moribund and on its heels works for me. With respect to continuity, I do have questions. Did the Terran Empire achieve TOS-level technology by this means? I think that's what I'm supposed to take from this story. But that calls into question the Terrans seeming obliviousness to the Prime universe by the time "Mirror, Morror" rolls around. Does Hoshi really become Empress? Like, I guess that could be a thing. But it could just be bluster on her part. </p><p><b>Kevin:</b> I agree that they should be more aware of the prime universe by the events of Mirror, Mirror, but to the extent it wrinkles the timeline, I think it actually works since it's interesting to think they learned to copy the Defiant, but not apparently improve it. That's a fun take. The series of books set in the Mirror Universe certainly have an Empress Hoshi, so that's how I read the ending. If nothing else, all the betrayals and whatnot were just fun. Either way, the bluster was just a hoot to watch.<br /></p><p></p><p><b>Acting</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Scott Bakula chewed, swallowed, and excreted the scenery here. His speech to the crew was over the top, and that's without the deleted scene, which goes even further. He didn't do it for me. I think everyone else gave things subtler shades that I enjoyed more. Particularly good were Blalock as Mirror T'Pol, and Billinglsey as Mirror Phlox. They felt basically like their own characters, just thrown into a corrupt world. Gary Graham is ever welcome, and his new take on his character, as weary and tentative, really worked.</p><p><b>Kevin:</b> In the alternate-alternate universe where we never got the overload of Angry Suburban Dad Archer, there may have been more contrast here. My favorite was probably Linda Park, just because she was <i>committed</i>. I think she even managed to infuse the femme fatale stuff with enough internal life to make it fun and campy and not low key misogynistic. <br /></p><p><b>Production Values</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>How much praise can he heaped upon the TOS sets, costumes and props? We said a whole bunch last episode, and things are multiplied five-fold here. The Jeffries tube! The new areas of the ship we've never seen! Grav plating! TOS food! The bridge was just, wow. Splendid. Moving, even. Seeing a set this accurate, filmed in this fidelity, with characters so impeccably dressed was kind of astonishing. real triumph - and I saw in the Blu-Ray text commentary that the production crew only<b> </b>had two weeks to build everything. They didn't take any days off in those 14 days, and it shows in this labor of love.</p><p><b>Kevin: </b>I agree with the love for the TOS sets. My only critique is the CGI Gorn which was less successful than the CGI Tholian was for me. I didn't mind the inclusion per se as a piece of fan service, but the execution was a little short of the mark for me. <br /></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>This two-parter is easily the best post TOS mirror story. It tells a complete, cohesive yarn without lapsing into (too much) camp. Neither does it simply repeat the fish out of water storytelling of the original. It may not answer some of my larger questions, but it is fun paced with pep. And the production values are stunningly good. So I think this half hits a 4, dragged down a tad by the Gorn interlude.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> This is another easy 4 for me. It's fun, energetic and well executed both in terms of pacing and technicals. The only bad thing I can say about this episode is, again, that it's sad that the best achieved stories in a much improved season 4 are about people other than the main cast. Still, that certainly not this episode's problem. This is a hoot, and hoots get 8s. <br /></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-20066429932219769712023-04-29T12:30:00.004-05:002023-05-15T21:18:13.232-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: In a Mirror, Darkly<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe9NhSPVbNJku_7AJvHyXyymNnbrhGjnJ82nmNLp150lcMtYzc6G5YnWOBS-aQm84lj4SLLEct9F6YEswGOuHd-yEw5AUgr7kUmSury44mv6dqTEgiCnw6e4swhsFYPseExKyhdN8iAEjGWx4-Qh1vkZCaiC9xJmZ00D6mVLbxeJqvsHrr7-7dBZcNWg/s1600/9.png" width="81" /></a></div><b> Enterprise, Season 4<br />"<a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/In_a_Mirror,_Darkly_(episode)">In a Mirror, Darkly</a>"<br />Airdate: April 22, 2005<br />93 of 97 produced<br />93 of 97 aired</b><p></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p>Commander Jonathan Archer of the ISS Enterprise hatches a plot to steal a weapon of great power from a degenerate alien species, the Tholians.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDFAKFMs2wWU2jSp7WHUP0naI4d9Vlui-nXxw0CGhP96gaVU-RlP3LHVsvsbNAHVMW4tbVIEDfRqXoDDTKqfpBg6znMt1I6Wr-wdMDrQE-i5HysqzLA7V-9arI0WIEItj6HqN1_or78y0ovwoqxlkTiIDaaULzFrARLizLkymYl9KCMkK8IeglQQlcIQ/s1000/Archer_takes_control_of_the_bridge.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDFAKFMs2wWU2jSp7WHUP0naI4d9Vlui-nXxw0CGhP96gaVU-RlP3LHVsvsbNAHVMW4tbVIEDfRqXoDDTKqfpBg6znMt1I6Wr-wdMDrQE-i5HysqzLA7V-9arI0WIEItj6HqN1_or78y0ovwoqxlkTiIDaaULzFrARLizLkymYl9KCMkK8IeglQQlcIQ/s320/Archer_takes_control_of_the_bridge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Don't take your eyes off that midriff, Sergeant."</span><br /></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><b><br /></b><p></p><p><b>Writing</b></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Short of DS9 "Trials and Tribbleations," I am hard pressed to recall an episode whose fan service was so elegant and so fun. I think this episode succeeds where so many others, particularly Enterprise offerings, stumble because it doesn't do anything to create continuity problems. By not having the prime characters come to the Mirror Universe or vice versa, there's no contamination and we are not left scratching our heads about why Kirk didn't know about this when a literal earlier captain of an Enterprise found the same thing. And we don't have to play Discovery Whack-a-Mole to come up with excuses for the gap, either. So freed from having to make it fit, I can just enjoy the story for itself.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Yup. Yup yup yup. Here it is, folks. Fan service done right. I just learned the phrase "member berries" recently (it was in reference to Picard Season 3, which... yeah, I'll avoid going there for now). Apparently, there are two meanings: one is a right wing dog whistle mechanism, asking people to "remember the good times" in order to show what bad times we now live in because of [insert marginalized group here]. But it has been co-opted by fan culture to describe pointless insertions of prior characters, devices, locations, or whatever, which serve to "serve" fans who 'member stuff. But member berries aren't storytelling. Often, they're the laziest possible way to try and create goodwill among a fan base, and they only serve to take time away from doing hard things like building character and developing plot effectively. And they're often gotten wrong, because the people monetizing existing IP are rarely actual fans of said IP. Well, if <i>these </i>be member berries, please make them into a pie that I can eat forever. Because WOW did they get it right. Not only are the callbacks done with perfect respect for continuity, but they also actually serve the current plot instead of interrupting it. The presence of the Defiant is perfectly consistent with "The Tholian Web," but does not require having seen that episode to understand it. It provides clear motivation to the characters in this story, not just a "Hey, you 'member this?" to the fans.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>There's a playfulness to this episode that I think really serves it well. Using the end of First Contact and Zefram Cochrane to pivot to the Vulcan crew being murdered and their ship presumably cannibalized for parts and tech is a great way to quickly show, rather than tell, the audience where we are. And once that's done, the episode lets a lot of the differences just exist without constantly waggling their eyebrows to draw attention to them. The crew is in different but superficially similar positions, and we know that and we don't need to belabor the point. Finally, the lack of involvement of the prime universe crew lets the story be about these people, and by the end, I care about a fair number of them. Mirror T'Pol is suffering the injustice of being a second class citizen working for a real asshole, and I understand that, and when she takes steps to remedy it, I care. Even not-dead Forrest swanning around chewing the scenery and Gary Graham with a Beard help give some energy to story, rather than paper over the lack of one. Is it a simple, almost comic book story? Sure, but gosh is it fun, like...you know...comic books used to be.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>The Mirror episodes of Discovery were fun for much the same reason this one is - without being completely tethered to the prime universe (of course, neither was the main show, but now I'm getting snarky), characters have free rein to grow, change, die, etc. Alternate universe/timeline shows like this frequently enjoy such freedom, which of course raises the question of why they just can't write the rest of the show like this.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> The fan service pairing the episode with the events of Tholian Web are great. Again, doing it in this isolated box lets us see Tholians and their webs without losing any sleep over continuity. It answers a question left unanswered in TOS and uses it to do some fun world building. This helps explain why an evil Earth empire was able to expand so far, so fast. It also doesn't do anything dumb to Tholian Web. Nothing was changed or added in a way that shifts the narrative gravity of the original story. This is probably the strongest of the Mirror Universe outings since the original since it doesn't get bogged down in either our main characters or tripping over itself to give too many elements a mirror. </p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Where this episode succeeds for me is in making the Mirror Universe make
a bit of sense. Earth's position is tenuous. As an "empire" of awful
people doing terrible things, they are actually backward and fractious,
making them easily defeatable. They need to acquire and steal technology
and resources from other people, places, and indeed times, in order to
succeed. You know - just like a real expansionist military dictatorship.
About the only aspect of the story I didn't totally grasp right away
was Archer's seeming desire to hand back command to Forrest. I guess
it's explained by not wanting to alienate Hoshi, but it reads more like
some sort of lack of ambition or loyalty, both of which are
contraindicated by the other events of the episode. </p><p><b>Acting</b></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>This will be a bit of a back handed compliment, but here we are. This is the best this ensemble has ever done. In part because Park and Montgomery got any kind of lines or character development, but they managed to get a group of colleagues (who hate each other, sure) off the ground in 45 minutes in a way they just couldn't for like two seasons. Everyone is visibly having an absolute blast, chewing the scenery in the best possible ways. There's a version of this show where a bitter, isolated Trip in our universe comes to form a bond with, and eventually love for, T'Pol in a way that would have been really interesting without defaulting to lazy tropes and HR nightmares. But anyway, up and down the line, everyone is having the best time playing dress up and, boy, is that fun to watch. Bakula comes to the closest for me to outright scenery chewing in a bad way, but I think he keeps it inside the line, giving the grouchy Archer we normally don't like free reign. If I had to pick and MVP, it's Evil Phlox. Billingsley could go find Jeffery Combs and do a string of B-movie 80s gore fests about crazy doctors that I would a billion percent go see in the theater.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Linda Park is my all-star in this episode, and no, not because she exposes copious amounts of skin. It's a real shame she wasn't given more episodes of the main series, because boy, does she tear into this material with abandon. This is, of course, the fault of the writers and show runners - Berman and Braga have never shown us much desire or ability to write women well. Trinneer and Blalock get to show us different shades of their characters (well, I suppose Trip is an entirely different color palette). I am very much agreed on Dark Phlox. The only sort of miss for me is Bakula - and it's not because he is bad here, in fact he is rather good. But it's not a big stretch from Angry Dad Archer in season 3. <br /></p><p><b>Production Values</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> Like "Trials and Tribbleations," this is a showcase for the design team, particularly because of the light, confident hand. The Defiant looks great, inside and out. I've banged this drum before, but the TOS sets look gorgeous in HD in a way that makes the constant need to reimagine them a little feeble. The updated Tholian Web also looked great and still looks pretty good, even with the gap in time. The Tholian reads a little video-gamey but I can't deny that kind of works for the actual alien in question and the scene of him being tortured was quite effectively done. I think the only bum note is Trip's burn scars, which felt very slapped on. And I know it was the early aughts, but that was still an unacceptable amount of gel in that man's hair. I do love that evil Trip is a brunette. That's so literal, I giggled.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>The Defiant sets look SO GOOD. And I will bang that drum with no apology whatsoever. The minor details of a set, or the number of blinky LEDs you cram into frame, are not the most important things. What is important are clean lines and lighting - something TOS had in abundance. Clean lines, easily identifiable rooms, and good lighting allow us to feel like we're in an actual place that humans inhabit. It makes the world feel real. NuTrek bridges and sets lack this feeling for me, because I can't shake the feeling that I would be constantly tripping in the dark, and squinting to read text on a transparent display. And with the additional budget and technical know-how to create things without seams or cheap looking finishes? MWAH! The Tholian looked like a perfect extrapolation of the puppet head we saw in TOS. Listening to the commentary, Trip's burn scars were designed to recall Pike's in The Menagerie. So I'll roll with it. <br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>The uniforms were a fun variant of our uniforms through the Mirror Universe that might better be described at the Midriff Universe. The bare midriffs would normally get a bit of a scold from me, but I can't deny they are of a piece with the earlier iteration, and the silly fun happening all around makes it seem more acceptable for some reason I feel very strongly about, but can't really articulate. I will also add that we had seen Vulcan women in the prime universe with long hair before, and there was no reason to force Blalock into the Beatles wig other than that Nimoy wore one. Let the woman have long hair. She looks fantastic. </p><p><b>Matthew: </b>On the one hand, watching sweaty Archer and Sato canoodling after vigorous coitus is not something I want to do with my kids. On the other hand, her nightie recalls Lt. Marlena Moreau's perfectly. Putting Reed in the MACO getup? Great touch. Devising a rank scheme and keeping it consistent throughout the Enterprise jumpers, complete with altered patches? Now you're just showing off, guys. They really went all out on the costumes here, and it is appreciated.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Lastly, I have to heap specific love on the title sequence. Just a masterwork of self-parody. I think the one that clinched it for me was the shuttle doing a bombing run rather a triumphant arc over the lunar colony. They could have gotten away without it and relied WWII B-roll in lieu of majestic sailing ships, but the little touches really showed the audience we weren't in Kansas anyone, and it did it all with zero exposition.<br /><br /><b>Matthew: </b>100% agreed on the title sequence, especially the replacement of music. I could imagine some sort of "Dark Faith of the Heart" rendition, but it might veer into comedy, then. <br /></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> This is a highly enthusiastic 4 from me. It's a fun concept that rides the knife's edge of fan service quite skillfully. What holds this back from a 5 is the lack of some deeper story. It's a confection, and a good one, but the ambition of the story is not to be more than that, not that that is in any way a 'bad' thing. This is on par with Trials and Tribble-ations, and that had the added reach of being something of a shocking technical achievement at the time to boot. It feels like I'm being hard on the episode, but I don't mean to be. This episode was, above all, extremely fun and dazzlingly executed. The only bad thing I can say about the quality of fan service in this episode is that it would shine brighter against a darker background. Imagine if they had resisted the urge to introduce the Ferengi or whatever for four seasons before dropping this gem. The only real damning thing I can say is that this show and the characters it created were better realized in two episodes than our main cast was in two seasons. It's kind of the Shran effect. They did such a good job with him, it calls into question when we couldn't do it with our regular cast. But I'm getting away from myself. This episode is truly a gift for the long-time fan, and just a hoot to watch. Prior to this review, I really had not done a re-watch of Enterprise, and I'm honestly not likely to after, but I will certainly pop this one in for some good popcorn-focused fun again.<br /><br /><b>Matthew: </b>I think this reaches the 5. The reasons are three: the stellar production values, including a note-perfect recreation of a TOS Constitution class ship; the balls-to-the-wall acting from all players, including the oft neglected Linda Park and Anthony Montgomery; and a clever, consistently engaging story. Does it propose a grand ethical dilemma, or provide an explanation for this bizarre world? Nope. But it cleverly integrates continuity, entertainingly riffs on Enterprise's characters and situations, and just keeps one's attention rapt on screen. THIS is how fan service is done - by telling a good story using the "member berries," not just spreading them around willy-nilly without regard for context or import. <b>That makes our total a 9.</b><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-53281671444246808032023-04-27T09:00:00.005-05:002023-05-15T21:18:23.791-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: Bound<div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje2o3kDYg__FDNb46JXqK0Py5E5xoYI81NItnHZSKbYeCVsh8m9RT_ReaCRr2cVFuYXCtkmOi73Np-Al92OFoTyXsVBqjz8cAxMV0CfVg9BVDTKe5ds2pvnawqEoPSOKO-B-vlamxsrnw1gnj-lb0vRbEUtkLiiG1RvMlcaT1UpseSyhi8BUFl4eqtiQ/s1600/3.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Bound_(episode)">"Bound"</a><br />Airdate: March 4, 2002<br />92 of 97 produced<br />92 of 97 aired</b><p></p><p></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p>Enterprise takes on three Orion dancing women for some reason.<b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGeDbJ2hLvmst9sdw6Uz2NZ6dUmNhDNutSAuss0hozoo30SPwLHS1M2oIjgGvmGfzXILiVwYxGqjRod83n2-TfyGZAFhpQi9iQ3nG9Zo6fk2ulZrM2NswGLv2RUCbl3OiaZ-JJYIgU2vcGd3ihZC9n-xx9ax4NXc6GphgOZnTtUlnBMl8nIdLUmov1YA/s1200/bound-098-1200x677.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="1200" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGeDbJ2hLvmst9sdw6Uz2NZ6dUmNhDNutSAuss0hozoo30SPwLHS1M2oIjgGvmGfzXILiVwYxGqjRod83n2-TfyGZAFhpQi9iQ3nG9Zo6fk2ulZrM2NswGLv2RUCbl3OiaZ-JJYIgU2vcGd3ihZC9n-xx9ax4NXc6GphgOZnTtUlnBMl8nIdLUmov1YA/w380-h215/bound-098-1200x677.jpg" width="380" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Rxerq">Where have you gone, William Ware Theiss?</span></span><br aria-hidden="true" /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you... woo woo woo.</span></span><br /></div><div><p></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b> </b><p></p><p><b>Writing</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>A story using a Trek trope as tired as "Sexy lady/ladies use sexiness to make male crew act like fools/endanger the mission" is going to need to bring a lot of other things to the table to make itself worthwhile. In a world where TOS "Elaan of Troyius," TNG "The Perfect Mate," DS9 "Fascination," VOY "Favorite Son," "The Disease," "Alice," ENT "Two Days and Two Nights," in addition to various <i>Pon Farr </i>episodes, exist, what does this new addition bring? Well, it gets Trip and T'Pol back together. So there's that. And while that's not nothing, the way they have been kept apart and reunited in the past few episodes has not felt particularly organic in the way, say, the Koss betrothal did. This seems more predicated on their both being crappy communicators, which is not very satisfying for me (See also: Friends).</p><p><b>Kevin:</b> More than most other recurring stories, this one just doesn't go stale with repetition, it gets actively worse. The hideous sexual politics the franchise has a whole can sometimes dabble with do not get better with age, and Enterprise has been a shockingly obtuse offender on this front. In additional to all the <i>pon farr</i> and Two Days and Two Nights, let's add the HR nightmare of nude neuropressure sessions. There's no goodwill to burn, particularly for Enterprise, on going full neanderthal. <br /></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>With respect to the Orion story, I guess the takeaway is that the Orion men are actually the slaves of the women. I... guess? Does this contradict all previous appearances of the Orions and their dancing women, including within this series and this episode? I don't know. Maybe? It's a fine enough idea, but I would have liked to see it developed in a different way. No, not like "Spock's Brain" and its "Bringers of Pain and Delight," nor like "Code of Honor" with its women who own all property but let men appear to (oy), but... yeah. I don't really know how to square the idea with the portrayal of the Orion men as sybaritic slave dealers. And I don't think the writers here did, either.</p><p><b>Kevin: </b>I think part of the core problem is that the Orions were written as apparently a whole society based on slavery in TOS, and that gets confirmed in Enterprise, but the show never really wants to grapple with the idea that this is actively horrible. It's beyond even the most detached Vulcan cultural relativism. There's no real room to allow any other aspect of Orion culture that could shine through because this is just too horrible, and normal Star Trek should engage that. Slavery is simply so morally abhorrent that centering a whole culture on it makes it hard to care about them at all. And particularly in its TOS origins, it smacks of a kind of 'exoticism' that you would otherwise find in a H. Rider Haggard novel, fetishizing the idea of women in gauzy outfits being kept in gilded cages. I can't shake the notion that back in the 60s, they started with a Victorian pantomime of Arabian Nights and just painted everyone green to cover for that.<br /></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>So when it comes to how things shook out among the crew, we have already seen Archer seduced by at least three female or female-looking beings over the course of this show, so it's nothing new for him. Ditto Malcolm. I think the story should have leaned more into the comedic aspects of Trip suddenly being a calm, non-horny "taken" man. Travis works out to sublimate his sex drive... meh. And Kelby? Ugh. If his character wasn't assassinated before, I now have no interest in him whatsoever. He's a total yutz here - and why does Trip refer to him as Lieutenant when he has 3 pips?</p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Yeah...none of the story really works. None of the motivations or
characterizations are anything but completely shallow. I'm also going to
take this opportunity to be annoyed at the lack of queer people on the
ship. In addition to the horrible sexual politics of literally owning
women's bodies, most of the episode plays like an 80s frat comedy, with
all the men simpering teenagers, and the women left to be scolds. I'm also going to lean into my annoyance at how neatly the Tucker thread gets tied up. It was just a waste of precious time that could have been spent with these characters having a relationship rather than just constantly tease if they will.<br /></p><p><b>Acting</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I would have to say the acting highlight here was William Lucking as Harrad-Sar. While I was baffled by the story's stated motivations for the character, at least he was slimy and fun to watch. Other highlights were Blalock and Trinneer giving game performances which, again, overcame their characters' writing. I enjoyed Anthony Montgomery and Linda Park's brief scenes.</p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Blalock and Trinneer of course have chemistry, but I found the needless delays frustrating enough to get in the way of that this time. <br /></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I was not into Derek Magyar's Kelby. Not at all. He comes off as a sophomoric twerp, which of course owes something to the writing, but I have to place at least some blame on the actor's shoulders. Bakula underwhelmed me this time around as well. I haven't mentioned the Orion women... they were fine. They could act well enough to not be minor embarrassments on the level of, say, Chase Masterson. Sorry, Chase fans.<b></b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> Magyar is certainly handsome, and ironically, the other thing I remember him from is a 2000s gay movie called Boy Culture, where he plays a sex worker. It was cute. He wasn't exactly a revelation in that, but he was still certainly handsome. Beyond that, everyone was....fine. I honestly don't remember many specific scenes.<br /></p><p><b>Production Values</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>We really only get two things to chew on here - the Orion ship design and the Orion costumes. The ship was bulbous and very obviously CGI. The costumes were.... scant, but looked pretty good. The green makeup and black wigs were fine.<b></b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> I don't have any technical complaints. The costume choices are giving me cheap 'harem' pastiche, and that underscores the problems I cite above. The ship is a little too bulbous for my taste. It ends up looking muddled on screen.<br /></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>This is not a good episode. How bad is it? It's not Code of Honor bad, nor is it Move Along Home bad. It's just slightly dumb, derivative, and doesn't offer much in the way of insight into the characters or their cultures. So I'm at a 2 on this. <b></b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> I think this actually gets to 1 territory for me. Its sexual politics are among the more retrograde of the series and it lacks the breathless absurd and mullet-filled charm of Angel One. Beyond really putting the nail in the coffin of Enteprise having some of the worst episodes for gender issues in the franchise, it's another-one off that feels like it was a season one script that got dusted off, and it again derails the solid momentum the mini-arcs were successfully building. <b>That makes for a total of 3.</b><br /></p></div>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-2901334942623001492023-04-20T13:48:00.010-05:002023-04-20T19:13:32.110-05:00Picard, Season 3: The Last Generation<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguyR912OPbNKUmrzlZfPH4nU2eYPZnrlN3ZwBWXfPTCBe3DYIvlAgqWPcpU8QFIVrLnfguacE3mrm8uLh_pnEzwJYZBDIcYK1BJbSSbEM5D3fjxu-YV_IUe6hhl8YoXy-PEDT0n6HNyBQS_gYPO3p5VUVaf_0ptnMtCTxBwwtLXdJAMMBW4hyXXlpPVA/s1600/6.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Picard, Season 3<br /></b><b><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Last_Generation_(episode)">"The Last Generation"</a><br />Aired: April 20, 2023<br /></b><b>30 of 30 produced<br /></b><b>30 of 30 released</b><p></p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction<br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">The Enterprise flies into the Death Star to destroy the core of Star Trek.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_J_nDP94EENIuAa7PnHekXQ6ClgU6fgueLKp3AjizkGm-ulGZBNkvFhbuinFgK5PP5YktjBRQ_0Fvnwxuex3_DxTWsz9SC8bwOxb-jRAnUHmW9flX8d9bQBIowNyCdUHjsDBUd-Q_heaNUk7yB6gID50Q4ILHruI0uToX7eebfh9tMqrRzjn2uXw_Q/s1810/kaboom.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1005" data-original-width="1810" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_J_nDP94EENIuAa7PnHekXQ6ClgU6fgueLKp3AjizkGm-ulGZBNkvFhbuinFgK5PP5YktjBRQ_0Fvnwxuex3_DxTWsz9SC8bwOxb-jRAnUHmW9flX8d9bQBIowNyCdUHjsDBUd-Q_heaNUk7yB6gID50Q4ILHruI0uToX7eebfh9tMqrRzjn2uXw_Q/s320/kaboom.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">Kaboom!<b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><b><br />Review: </b><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">So, it's done. We can evaluate this as an episode of Star Trek and as an overall season-length arc. As an individual episode, you can practically feel the creators straining with every fiber of their beings to remind us of Star Trek stories we like. You've got the tricorder beeps from Star Trek II, the Federation President, in this case, Chekov's son, warning people to avoid Earth at all costs from Star Trek IV, Jack Crusher being dolled up like Locutus Part II, Alice Krige as the Borg Queen saying "your future's end," fading the episode out to a poker game, a post credits scene with Q telling Jack that his trial is just beginning...</p><p style="text-align: left;">And look. I am not made of stone. Various heartstring-pulling moments worked to some degree on me. But they're in the service of what is ultimately a rather dumb, extremely poorly paced, action schlock story. The closest this episode came to a "Star Trek moment," by which I mean something ethically, philosophically, or conceptually challenging, was the crew having to decide to destroy the Borg Cube (sigh) while their friends were on board, sacrificing the few for the many. But that choice was undone almost as soon as it was made, by Data flying the Enterprise D through the Borg Cube a la the Death Star run in Return of the Jedi.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This last underscores to me what Star Trek has become. It's an action franchise now. Gone are the "hard sci-fi" days of trying to realistically portray the realities of space flight, especially taking a large ship through an unstable gravity field (a la "The Pegasus"). Instead, ships can do whatever looks cool, and can warp instantly into any location the story demands. Gone are the days of "soft sci-fi," in which a technology would be imagined and its effect on regular humans explored (a la "Hollow Pursuits"). Instead, we are given a whiz bang world in which everything is taken for granted, nothing is consistent, and technologies only show up to solve a plot problem, as opposed to presenting a character problem. Gone are the days of finding non-violent solutions to problems, opting for diplomacy first, and eschewing the destruction of sentient life no matter how opposed its goals are to one's own (a la "I, Borg" or "Silicon Avatar"). Instead, we shoot first and ask questions later, with massive pew pew space battles standing in for ideas, and the constant, unremitting sound of space rifles and space pistols cocking in the place of characters thinking their way through problems.</p><p style="text-align: left;">As a plot, the emotional beat of Jean-Luc Picard reconnecting to the Borg to reach out to his son, who has felt alone all his life, basically works. It's kind of "aww, sweet" when they hug, and that's what impels him to sever himself from the Borg. But if you think about it for too long, it falls apart. The Borg Queen, voiced by Alice Krige, says that the Borg are pursuing a new, non-mechanical, biological approach to assimilation. OK, but then why is Jack made up to look like Locutus, with pipes connecting his body to the machines? Oh, right - because that's what fans are familiar with. It's what sells, and what the producers think will drive subscriptions to Paramount Plus. And why did Jack feel alone all his life? Well, because. Because the writers chose to separate him from his father for no real reason but to "raise the stakes" and create "dramatic tension" between Beverly and Picard.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">After the action is over, the denouement has Jack Crusher "fast tracked" past academy training and put on the bridge of a new Starfleet vessel - well, and old one really - now captained by Seven of Nine, and rechristening the Titan as USS Enterprise G. I am very much against fast tracking anyone through the academy, which is a very Abrams move. Why not have Jack show up to his first day as a cadet instead? Oh right, because they need to set up a sequel spinoff. Why not have the ship name remain, honoring the lineage of the Titan? Oh, right, because we need to have an "Enterprise" or no one will want to watch (a problem which, to be fair, has been in evidence since the year 2000). And so two lines of ships are disrespected - the Titan being an afterthought, and the Enterprise now being a renamed, underpowered, non-flagship.<br /><br />Production notes: The show is still abysmally, ridiculously dark. They turned down the
lights on the D bridge for this episode, just in case you got excited by
actually seeing things last time. The CGI is top shelf, and the D looks great in action. Frankly, these were some of the most emotional moments, as the D ship shots paired with the TNG music cues created undeniable nostalgia.<b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">The characters we care about all get their moments of screen time, their Marvel Movie jokes, and it's OK. They act roughly the way they're supposed to act. The new characters get the bare minimum of development. Raffi gets to meet her grandkid, resolving a plot line I certainly did not care about given its perfunctory development in seasons one and two (total screen time five minutes or less)<b>.<br /><br /></b>So on the plus side, it's a better send off for the characters than Nemesis. But, when it comes down to it, this send off already existed, tied to a far, far better science fiction story with way less dumb action: "All Good Things." <b><br /><br /></b>Ultimately, I would give this episode a 6, because it marries effective fan service with lots of dumb and unsatisfying action. The series as a whole I would give a 5. It's subpar from a storytelling perspective. It took ten hours to tell one movie's worth of story. The changeling plot that took 8 episodes was an elaborate red herring, which is extremely unsatisfying, to put it mildly. It destroyed the Borg, hopefully for good, but it didn't make them interesting in the slightest. It just traded on our excitement from prior Borg stories. </p><p style="text-align: left;">It <i>is </i>the best season of Kurtzman Trek, which is akin to winning the Nicest Authoritarian Dictator or Tallest Hobbit award. <span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" lang="en">It
gets things half right - with basically good characters being nice to
one another (a step up from the previous seasons of miserable people
doing terrible things). But it still fails to tell a story that
justifies its own existence or is intellectually challenging in any way
whatsoever. </span>Compared to the movies, it lands right around "Star Trek Beyond" for me. Not fundamentally unpleasant, but not really requiring a second viewing, basically ever. I was only really outright <i>offended </i>once this season (Worf's decapitation spree), which is a new record for this iteration of the franchise.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">I'm sorry to be a downer, I really am. I wanted this to be better. I don't think I'm being unfair to it. It just didn't do it for me. I would classify myself, fairly I think, as an <span> <i>Über </i></span>fan. Star Trek has formed a core pillar of my identity as a fan, a reader, a viewer of TV, and as a person, for three and a half decades now. I am very familiar with what <i>I </i>think it is, and what <i>I </i>like in it. And this just isn't it.<br /><br /><span>I am glad other fans seem to like it. But I am sad if this is the best that the franchise can be going forward.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieuNPItovIGAd-4D-JkEW0JP6ssPGJz6cW5dV70vOwOp2qJom76ikGMMx_VVJ9mCkdBZoNtHC9En4Hc8-dqjTW4XECYX3TdA90FHlFEHahhlGlduYZ8FxI3fYSP69eu5cgEQH_lQETkZunaSfIySURgeEyBsk5j6IDIct3t06OJZU-rbFrGiIrWVbXBg/s1794/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="1794" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieuNPItovIGAd-4D-JkEW0JP6ssPGJz6cW5dV70vOwOp2qJom76ikGMMx_VVJ9mCkdBZoNtHC9En4Hc8-dqjTW4XECYX3TdA90FHlFEHahhlGlduYZ8FxI3fYSP69eu5cgEQH_lQETkZunaSfIySURgeEyBsk5j6IDIct3t06OJZU-rbFrGiIrWVbXBg/s320/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b><p></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-42087497246235450982023-04-17T01:22:00.011-05:002023-05-15T21:19:05.587-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: Divergence<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGZ2we8gRsuxSUNrZgdcWjScLN9VehCYwFQZjGDP1Yi0aj_4srl3ninWMD6OEmY0x1Zc9HQjBSPxmSRCp9PTZhRzC4rBhvY8RUYV3n5C0eBeFtPeXxPlOkGORguUQB2xzYyW-0YO6LSKAJ-PtaqD8Ad-i241cXWNdSmrkINrcxRgJ30nTFoVdCgxxkag/s1600/6.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br />"<a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Divergence_(episode)">Divergence</a>"<br />Airdate: February 25, 2002<br />91 of 97 produced<br />91 of 97 aired</b><p></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p>Phlox races to find a cure for the augment virus, while Malcom and Archer butt heads over Malcolm's secrecy. <b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP3i2-8PC9JwrRCsm6bgCbiFD5glmqKKyyuTfGi8OSLKP_gKJJ2B9Jp1Co00R9iI5INtrl-L6rS3QrAKFfWvsFTt7N4wHzOPNFf0_XOpKsB25u31IAIxCltW1Zu51cl_08fSy8NWnWqi7f2hyJVXpzq596ZheXeiXeYxogmpVPsKS_I8S9Z0OBkrKxbQ/s1024/ent-divergence24a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="1024" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP3i2-8PC9JwrRCsm6bgCbiFD5glmqKKyyuTfGi8OSLKP_gKJJ2B9Jp1Co00R9iI5INtrl-L6rS3QrAKFfWvsFTt7N4wHzOPNFf0_XOpKsB25u31IAIxCltW1Zu51cl_08fSy8NWnWqi7f2hyJVXpzq596ZheXeiXeYxogmpVPsKS_I8S9Z0OBkrKxbQ/s320/ent-divergence24a.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The diabolical Westmorehead Virus claims another victim.</span><br /></div><p></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><b>Writing</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> This isn't the deepest episode in the world, but it certainly moves briskly. The ticking clock of the Enterprise's reactor gives way to the ticking clock of the Klingon fleet enforcing a quarantine with extreme prejudice. Does this seem to make Tucker (again) the only engineer in the fleet? Yes. Is Phlox's solution, and the need to infect Archer too neat? Also yes. Do I mind? Not entirely. The episode was fun enough to watch and it moved well. The solutions are all in the nick of time, but it's a dramatic trope for a reason. I continue to question if the episode really needed to be made, but now that it has, I'm not mad at it. I don't really have that much more to say about it.</p><p><b>Matthew:</b> I definitely rolled my eyes at the Archer being infected scene. In addition to being cheesy in the extreme, it also relies on Archer's savior trope far too much for my liking. We basically got a whole season of that during the Xindi arc, and it's played out for me. The other Archer thing I didn't like was his browbeating of Reed. I don't like Shouty Dad Archer, and that was definitely present here. With that said, I agree that the nuts and bolts of this episode were good clean fun. Intellectually challenging sci-fi? Nope. But climbing up/down a line between two ships is fun. Cold restarting the warp engines is fun (if predictable). Space battles are fun. So this was sort of like the instant ramen of Star Trek. It's got Klingons and phasers and warp engines, oh my! And no one was murderous or eeevil who shouldn't have been. I <i>am</i> still capable of having fun, you know. On the continuity question, the explanation was not needed, but all in all, this was about the least offensive possible attempt at one.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>I think my only real "Oh, come on" moment had to be getting Tucker back on the Enterprise, even if it's only "temporary." We knew it was coming, but boy did they chicken out quickly. </p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Yeah, I wonder what was behind this. If there is a glaring weakness to the whole season's "story arc," it is this reversal to the Tucker/T'Pol romance. It doesn't feel real. It is predicated on their being obtuse morons to each other who refuse to communicate any feelings, and this setback is undone before it even has a chance to set in. Add in the pointless Kelby subplot, and you have a dud for me.<br /></p><p><b>Acting</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> John Shuck is, as always, a delight. His presence is fantastic and he brings a level of intelligence and empathy to the proceedings to almost make it seem like a serious operation. James Avery will always be Uncle Phil, so it was really like watching Uncle Phil play K'Vagh, but damned if he wasn't having a blast. He was doing a permissible amount of scenery chewing given the setting. Billingsley was his usual delightful self throughout the episode as well. So, all around, a nice outing in the acting department.</p><p><b>Matthew:</b> I never watched Fresh Prince, so I can come to James Avery with no preconceptions. I think he brought a good sense of nuance to his role, and his relationship with this son. He elevated it beyond "My son should die because honor, blah blah blah." John Schuck will always be there, preventing the annihilation of the Klingon people. His character story of not finding acceptance as a doctor worked pretty well, too. Agreed on Billingsley, the only actors that fell a little flat for me were Bakula and Keating. Their jousting didn't meet the mark for me, but it's as much writing. <br /></p><p><b>Production Values</b></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Overall, this was largely a continuation of last week's effects and sets, so I don't have a ton to add. I will say I have one additional concern about bringing back the TOS makeup: it's unsettling close to black face. With the head ridges, it's an alien. Without them, John Schuck is just a white man wearing a lot of brown make up. The TOS Klingons don't age particularly well in that regard, so I'm not eager to see it again. </p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I think the concern is not hiring actors of color, more than the makeup itself (this is setting aside the 60s Orientalism in choosing the skin shade to begin with). I think the Klingons are enough of a well-developed fictional race so as not to call forth unpleasant comparisons to our own cultures (cough, cough, looking at you, Code of Honor...). <br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>The highlight effects wise was the Columbia in formation with the Enterprise. The internal plot mechanics aside, it was an ambitious shot and the sense of scale and danger came off nicely. The fleet over the colony also looked pretty good.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Yeah, all the space shots were of at least average quality. I still am not over the dumb blinky tubes on the Columbia bridge. I get that they needed a quick visual differentiator, but a can of paint on one accent wall could have done the job just as well. <br /></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>I feel like I'm giving the episode short shrift, but I don't think there's that much to chew on. The action falls from the starting point the last episode established, and it does so briskly enough. There's not really a deeper story here, and I renew my objection to 'explaining' the ridge thing, but as explanations go, it was fun, and I will always enjoy John Schuck and James Avery acting for the back row. This is a solid 3 for me.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I was never bored, even if I wanted more ideas from the story. A tighter and more fully explored ethical dilemma might have elevated things for me. It was sort of quickly brought up and then quickly dismissed from the story they filmed. But lots of fun things occurred, no one dropped any f-bombs or decapitated anyone, and no canon characters were fridged for "stakes." So I can hardly be mad. I'm at a 3 as well. <b>That brings our total to a 6. </b> <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-15541804605485947472023-04-14T12:32:00.011-05:002023-04-20T13:49:21.746-05:00Picard, Season 3: "Võx"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZAWYvH8OlYf8LXoDg5aTIDBwZyxWe4XQjAqYBJjVPv00L6ilFnJLRVEVwz63NY1tYGTV5L0bWWwbSv60FgfhaQ98JonWNhPB1Lm3Q_PoAjepT7NpCZGYcZT1DVg-mNC0uFZN484Hdb6aAdJEoNWfvLLtIHFzsZH1H4GGv7jAJ0_9NBtUgH40FdCSx9Q/s1600/5.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Picard, Season 3<br /></b><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/V%C3%B5x_(episode)"><b>"Võx"</b></a><b><br />Aired: April 13, 2023<br /></b><b>29 of 30 produced<br /></b><b>29 of 30 released</b><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">We finally learn the Big Dark Secret behind Jack Crusher's superpowers. Saddle up, lock and load -- it's really, really dumb.<b> <br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWh-X-nhA1JH5jF9MxbCzjG0CfYETA1Dzu9tFY9zBzVOuA_QRtEviuCCD44Q47So0mahvYLfW5hIAJD9jXzTq1XMTmgBvBRRLF-7-G1uT6t5_3MId4Dycklf0LJS0-C8cqdVPHoYuDtRaQZIU0R8uMwzVwvRYEAmph_U_dd-zZhiTEccJ8oswFxHhlyg/s1905/Enterprise_1701-D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1905" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWh-X-nhA1JH5jF9MxbCzjG0CfYETA1Dzu9tFY9zBzVOuA_QRtEviuCCD44Q47So0mahvYLfW5hIAJD9jXzTq1XMTmgBvBRRLF-7-G1uT6t5_3MId4Dycklf0LJS0-C8cqdVPHoYuDtRaQZIU0R8uMwzVwvRYEAmph_U_dd-zZhiTEccJ8oswFxHhlyg/w356-h148/Enterprise_1701-D.png" width="356" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><div style="text-align: center;"> Dun dah daaah, dah dun dun dah DAAAAHHHH!!!!!</div><b><br /></b><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> <span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Review</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>So look. Everyone on social media is all gushing about the Enterprise D. Did I like it? Sure. Did I feel emotions? Of course. It is fan service of an extraordinarily high order. I will get to it. But I want to talk first about the other 38 minutes of the episode, all of which were profoundly, unbelievably dumb.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Counselor Troi, who apparently went to "How to be a Full Betazoid" school at some point in the past 35 years, is completely telepathically inhabiting Jack Crusher's visions. She opens the Red Door and behind it is.... wait for it.... (because we've waited 9 episodes for it...) the Borg. Again. Yep, the changeling crap was just 8 episodes of misdirection. Are you not SURPRISED and ENTERTAINED???!?!? The big baddie for this season is the Borg. As it was for Season 2. As it was at least in part for Season 1. </p><p style="text-align: left;">But it gets dumber. Jack Crusher has telepathic powers, you see because the Borg, when they assimilated Picard decades ago, altered his DNA. They altered it in order to... program any offspring he had in order to become a biological transmitter of Borg information? </p><p style="text-align: left;">I mean, look. Telepathy is magic, to some degree. But good science fiction creates rules for fantastical things. And these are not good rules. And, much like the Romulan master plan in Nemesis, this Borg plan has so many failure points that it beggars belief. What if Picard just doesn't have kids? Jack Crusher was concieved in a last wild pre-breakup bone session, recall. What if the kid dies in a traffic accident at age 9? Can the Borg communicate instantly with a biological transceiver across galactic distances? What is their endgame here? It's hard to imagine one.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The other... half? of the Borg plan is to assimilate Starfleet. No, not the people, but the literal "star fleet." Somehow, and this is only explained in the briefest sketch of too quick dialogue, every ship in the fleet has been equipped with "Fleet Mode." This mode allows the fleet to be coordinated via linked computers as one attacking or defending body, in case their crews are "incapacitated."</p><p style="text-align: left;">I just... for one thing, why would enough of the fleet be anywhere in one place to be coordinated in such a way? It's Abrams level dumb for that much of the fleet to be anywhere, for any reason (an insult I reserve for special occasions, of which this is one). But for another, does no one see the obvious risks involved in such an approach? Heck, even Riker and the rest of our bridge crew immediately aver that this feels a bit "Borgy." Starfleet has literally been put at extremely similar risk a good half dozen times throughout the franchise ("Control" in Discovery, a similar takeover by the Diviner in "Prodigy," "The Ultimate Computer" in TOS, the command codes in Star Trek II...). How stupid is Starfleet Command, anyway? Very, it seems.</p><p style="text-align: left;">So Jack's human transceiver abilities start "assimilating" all of the people (non humans included) under the age of 25 around him, because their brains haven't finished developing (another failure point in the Borg "plan"). And Picard and crew need to get off the Titan, which has been taken over by these assimilated Millennials and Zoomers. They escape in a shuttle, are not shot down by the assembled HUNDREDS of ships surrounding them, and escape back to the fleet museum, where Geordi has a surprise he's been saving.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Yes, it's the Enterprise D - original refurbished saucer, repurposed Galaxy-class stardrive, and automated systems so that a crew of 7 can run it (something I roll my eyes at, but it was done in Star Trek III so I'll let it pass). Why didn't Geordi volunteer this ship for service several episodes ago when it might have come in handy against Frau Farbissina and her Shrike? Because, that's why.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The feels really start flowing, and we get the biggest burst of fan service in, basically ever, in any franchise. This is Episode 7 Millennium Falcon level fan service, and it's fine. It's what we wanted. They even turn the damned lights on (one could make an argument for the whole series' fucking outlandish dark "lighting" scheme being an emotional buildup to this moment, but I reject such arguments, because it wasn't necessary to suffer through 9 hours for such a "payoff"). Everybody says the lines we expect, and the Enterprise we all know and love warps into action at the close of the episode. Yay!</p><p style="text-align: left;">But it's all so stupid. This plot is so, so dumb. And it doesn't really have any science fiction to it. It's the same old recycled zombie plot, with a dash of magic thrown in to make it work. The villains' plan has so many failure points, and it requires the victims to be profoundly ignorant and stupid for it to work. And it involved eight solid hours of misdirection, during which none of these obvious problems were solved in dialogue or story development.</p><p style="text-align: left;">So yeah. I guess I'm at a 5. Most of the episode is a very stupid 3, but the fan service is a 6 or 7. <b></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQHOL3Jb3PFS7oH9X_O5auQ6tX19dF35rQT6UEI4es73QL0NweMj-xWeC1y5jEzmZ_zGLVfpJ_1S6OCwtCAIjnuMt4Y95CkefGtcvGEnVibC2p_W2rbvry4e8zMS2HY6qZVFHTRdyWtiRKgyzmKyda9iKXCn8PuN5rTue0NUznQG2euJyJSushdh8uHg/s1783/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1147" data-original-width="1783" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQHOL3Jb3PFS7oH9X_O5auQ6tX19dF35rQT6UEI4es73QL0NweMj-xWeC1y5jEzmZ_zGLVfpJ_1S6OCwtCAIjnuMt4Y95CkefGtcvGEnVibC2p_W2rbvry4e8zMS2HY6qZVFHTRdyWtiRKgyzmKyda9iKXCn8PuN5rTue0NUznQG2euJyJSushdh8uHg/s320/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Click to embiggen.<p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;">I have seen reactions on social media that say things like "Is this the best ever episode of Star Trek?" <br /><br />No. No it isn't. It's <i>reminding </i>you of the best ever episodes of Star Trek. But it's a pale, lackluster imitation, almost wholly lacking the idea content and ethos that made Star Trek great, and that only lands an emotional punch owing to how long it's been withheld from you by Alex Kurtzman and the other show runners at Paramount Plus. I'm sorry to rain on parades (truly, I am). But it just isn't very good.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">As with the entire series, characterizations (Worf's decapitation spree
and the Riker/Troi retcon notwithstanding) generally work quite well.
The actors are a joy to see working again, and their characters feel
basically "right." And that's not nothing. But they're wedded to a
Nemesis-level plot which has been stretched from two dumb hours into
ten. So it's hard to feel or think anything after it's done and off the
screen besides "I like those characters. I should watch some actual Star
Trek with them in it."</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-53168321720338310092023-04-10T00:09:00.012-05:002023-05-15T21:19:17.817-05:00Picard, Season 3: Surrender<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXiPlC1V6hN7JF31SOGHH9JnNIO5XOnnRNwf57NlZ5SXb_Syb01_5UmWHYn3p0N-XJfmgXUf1AO9oQZ9kAvhX5VKdUhVdW2F20sm-SDyUiHzpvyarSy5KeKLRa53BAWH_8738_dyu2rHkj7zWca0x-GQcMNuriUBm_3AMZbUnjmD9KYdemFHIZdAQ9GQ/s1600/4.png" width="81" /></a></div><p> <b>Picard, Season 3<br /></b><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Surrender_(episode)"><b>"Surrender"</b></a><b><br />Aired: April 6, 2023<br /></b><b>28 of 30 produced<br /></b><b>28 of 30 released</b></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">We're still on the ship. We're still being held hostage by Vadic. We still don't find out the answers to the "compelling" mysteries of the season.<br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> <br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUlqYJGsIQPQ5CUU1n4AGQA6dFeoiBakrAEJn3lZvGUd586J1o89xqPeuSsYYNMuv3qFucqZZ0iXR8xte7_qm1pRsNClzRmNJ1GSBabVuh8X9J_0yAmsSicHEMDpxCnhypieYOtXykr9LeYo4oCsgWhMbslKHmca5ArNShb3Od6ZPvFZxyW5at_94n0g/s768/Picard_308_TP_0124_01360_RT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="768" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUlqYJGsIQPQ5CUU1n4AGQA6dFeoiBakrAEJn3lZvGUd586J1o89xqPeuSsYYNMuv3qFucqZZ0iXR8xte7_qm1pRsNClzRmNJ1GSBabVuh8X9J_0yAmsSicHEMDpxCnhypieYOtXykr9LeYo4oCsgWhMbslKHmca5ArNShb3Od6ZPvFZxyW5at_94n0g/s320/Picard_308_TP_0124_01360_RT.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It just occurred to me, but this scene is quite reminiscent of "Menage A Troi..." an episode that had undergone a rehabilitation for me with the benefit of hindsight and comparison.<br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> <br /></b><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Review</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> There are two things that basically work in this episode. Firstly, the resolution to the Data/Lore conflict, while utterly predictable, is reasonably emotionally satisfying. I'll summarize it for you: Data infects Lore with his love for others, and they integrate. You know what this would have been? An interesting episode of Star Trek. Instead, it's relegated to a 5 minute subplot in this "episode." Why the snotty scare quotes, you ask? Because of course the vast bulk of this episode is spent spinning its wheels yet again in service of the Big Dumb Plot. But I'll get there.<br /><br />The second thing that works is putting the crew in the observation lounge at the conference table to discuss things. Marina Sirtis has finally been invited to the pay che... I mean party, and it's impossible to deny the nostalgia and good feeling this scene engenders. Do they actually <i>have </i>the conversation? Nope. Maybe the next episode will feature it (I have my doubts). Speaking of Marina Sirtis, the rest of her time in this episode is spent counseling Jack Crusher about his RED DOOR VISIONS (yeargh), or chatting with Riker about their retconned personal issues, further undoing season one's sole highlight, "Nepenthe." Neither function is particularly satisfying. Like, I guess it's cool that she is given the dialogue scenes as a "counselor," but they're in service of an extraordinarily annoying plot, which still, 8 episodes in, is stuck at the "Oh no he's having another vision that we won't learn about yet if ever" phase.<br /><br />I was having a conversation about this with my family the other night after watching First Contact with my sons. They loved it of course, but I expressed some misgivings. I think big budgets and movie-sized ambitions are kind of a curse for Star Trek. When the show had to get by on a shoestring budget, you know what they did? They created interesting scenarios every week, and they had the characters talk about them. This was cheap, to be sure, but it also vastly increased my involvement with these characters and their world. I learn a whole lot more about Worf, for instance, when I hear him argue against helping Sarjenka in "Pen Pals" than when I see him decapitate a Ferengi gangster for no reason. And I learn way more about the world being built in the shows when people talk about treaties signed in good faith, and when crew members summarize their research into a culture and its foibles, than when people breathlessly recite the bare minimum of exposition while running down corridors.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Which leads me to the rest of this episode. The rest of this episode is a five to ten ten minute scene of Vadic holding the crew hostage which takes 30-plus minutes of screen time. The pacing on this show is so royally f#$%ed it defies easy description - I don't want to summarize all of the pointless twaddle the writers engage in, except to say that you can feel someone in the writers room saying "Great, but we need to stretch that to fill the episode order, can you do it?"</p><p style="text-align: left;">And then, we get YET ANOTHER tease about the Major Jack Crusher Revelation which will be forthcoming, definitely next episode, or possibly in the finale, or maybe never. There's a red door, and red eyes, and red CGI veins, and a lot of quick cutting montage crap, and I am so tired of this J.J. Abrams Mystery Box horseshit I can hardly see straight.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>I'm at a 4 on this. </b>It's falling below "mediocre" and becoming "actively annoying." There is just no legitimate storytelling excuse for dragging out the story like this (indeed, the only possible motivation is financial), and ignoring the elements of Star Trek that I (and I presume at least <i>some </i>other fans) actually want. I <i>want </i>conference room scenes. I <i>want </i>the alien of the week. I want a room full of nice people trying their darndest to do good things and help people in their spaceship. I don't want decapitations, Red Doors, and pointless, meandering mysteries. <br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofowcvfcid_yo7HHx3M59RM67FyDh8PQa175gJiWLfLA6SUJric2hbCoByh6d3qKlI1yQQqA2YOV1AFvztF8gE7PF4Q8kJz6_6HJTa_3xxDJ_xTqyL4znFer04CFZscAKfP-F9mA6dsumTPLk_f-X6w-RveXQ6S10nhnY19wenPE1HGy8ECC526A08A/s1729/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1171" data-original-width="1729" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofowcvfcid_yo7HHx3M59RM67FyDh8PQa175gJiWLfLA6SUJric2hbCoByh6d3qKlI1yQQqA2YOV1AFvztF8gE7PF4Q8kJz6_6HJTa_3xxDJ_xTqyL4znFer04CFZscAKfP-F9mA6dsumTPLk_f-X6w-RveXQ6S10nhnY19wenPE1HGy8ECC526A08A/s320/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Click
to embiggen. I think we're going to eventually land in Nemesis territory. I don't see this taking a drastic swing up towards big ideas and good writing. There are only two episodes left, which seem destined to focus on Jack Crusher Super Soldier and the Portal Gun Destroying Stuff. That is not fertile soil for the kinds of Trek stories I want, and instead feels a lot more like Beyond/Nemesis-type action drivel. <br /><br />Oh, and just a PS, my theory for the Big Dumb Jack Crusher Mystery is that he is being possessed by a Pah Wraith/Gul Dukat and Benjamin Sisko will return from the wormhole to exorcise it from him. [[Edit: It turned out to be way, waaaay dumber than that]]<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p></div>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-37586726284340772942023-04-01T01:44:00.006-05:002023-04-01T01:45:40.591-05:00Picard, Season 3: Dominion<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAZnMMsOmZRxx9nm_WxPinYErEVzSOIwyM5Y48zbhfeQ26nwOo5fMBUCF8CU1IgWc1UMbWDUoaHf4oMb6SnDYfj7DmcbdgxU88io_lWqX0rG3jo6-Nvw8PTwttnBgmRxPnImNfz2MJwslwZm3dXozQhRybIHr1v6ct-7kddCYmwE4sfX0bpgjrgedgdQ/s1600/5.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Picard, Season 3<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Bounty_(episode)">"Dominion"</a><br />Aired: March 30, 2023<br />27 of 30 produced<br />27 of 30 released</b><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">The bad guys board the USS Titan, and people pretend to have ethical debates. We learn a few drips of information about the antagonists. Somehow, despite the Big Event being mere hours away, it still find a way not to happen within the run time of this episode.<br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> <br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQkmW3mY5vv5Bh0RBeeJbCrfYVx7_F-abFK58P7G4OVx4tRSgD_EW5dH1gUE_wdFfXNoFm4QOZx9II2lmCyLAmEG_8WRlCFg1WGjYe8SrCcSUJwK7YoHWRqptmFNPjcZ4CvDEvVN2gREo21Z2Wogr31YL9TNPs0rZVx71Xbsfvd07Ol94voxCxa2gNNQ/s2000/Picard_307_TP_1216_01500_RT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQkmW3mY5vv5Bh0RBeeJbCrfYVx7_F-abFK58P7G4OVx4tRSgD_EW5dH1gUE_wdFfXNoFm4QOZx9II2lmCyLAmEG_8WRlCFg1WGjYe8SrCcSUJwK7YoHWRqptmFNPjcZ4CvDEvVN2gREo21Z2Wogr31YL9TNPs0rZVx71Xbsfvd07Ol94voxCxa2gNNQ/s320/Picard_307_TP_1216_01500_RT.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Maybe no one has complete, coherent conversations because they simply can't <i>see </i>one another, or their scripts?</span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> <br /></b><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Review</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I am one of apparently a vanishingly small number of viewers of this show that has issues with it. Maybe they've weeded out all of the other viewers with their prior two seasons of this show (and four of Discovery)? It kind of hurts, actually, to have people extol this is "finally a return to Classic Star Trek" when it really is anything but.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Let me use two examples from this episode to indicate how it fails to pass muster for at least <i>this </i>cranky gatekeeper.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The first is the "debate" that Picard and Crusher have with respect to whether they should execute the captured changeling Vadic. Now, I can see how a viewer who isn't particularly demanding might see this as spiritually in keeping with the TNG (or DS9/VOY/TOS/ENT for that matter) of yore. Whether or not to employ violence and or capital punishment has been at the heart of many a story. But it is important to understand the difference between mentioning something and actually exploring it. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Picard and Crusher talk for about about one minute of screen time about whether they should kill Vadic. At no point does anyone offer anything close to an ethical principle in support of their plan of action, whether it be a utilitarian argument in favor of saving lives at the expense of one, or a deontological argument about the inadmissibility of taking sentient life under any circumstances - both of which have been expressed clearly in prior episodes of Star Trek. In fact, Picard and Crusher simply agree with one another, so the "discussion" is superfluous. And then they blow it anyway, because their phasers can only go "pew pew" now instead of firing continuous beams.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">So then we have Vadic's stated motivation for her behavior. This story comes much closer to success, but it is missing some key features. She is the product of a "Starfleet" program to weaponize changelings as super-spy-soldier-whatevers. OK, fine. But what part of Starfleet? Section 31? This isn't stated. Was this program approved at the highest levels, e.g. the Federation Council, or was it an off the books operation done secretly? I'm perfectly fine with the Dr. Mengele story being told. But you need to situate it within a political context for it to read like a part of the "real world" created by the Trek franchise, as opposed to just being cartoon villainy. In Insurrection, for instance, Admiral Dougherty indicates that his operation with the Baku has been authorized by the Federation itself. But then, when his operation fails, he is hung out to dry. That's the level of political nuance that makes a story satisfying, and it's not an argument that "well that's a movie." Noooo, they've had seven hours of story time already, and this is the first we're hearing about Vadic's awful experience at the hands of Starfleet. </p><p style="text-align: left;">So ultimately, it's kind of like eating a Pop Tart instead of eating a fruit-filled puff pastry. It kind of looks similar, and it even has some of the same ingredients, but they're not utilized in the same ways and not cooked for nearly as long. They're designed to be quick and easy to produce, instead of taking lots of effort. <br /><br />Picard Season 3 is the Pop Tarts of Star Trek. It has sprinkles that look like our characters, flour and sugar and icing that look like the starships and planets and galaxy that we know and love, but the end result, while very sugary, ends up feeling mealy and bland and unsatisfying. <br /><br />I could belabor this review by listing any number of silly plot points (their plan was really to let a bunch of shape shifters board the vessel, and meet them with only two armed personnel?), but the two above are enough. This just isn't very good. It's sort of barely adequate if you squint, or you're tired, or if you're surfing your smartphone while you watch it. The Data stuff was fine enough for what it was, and Geordi got one good emotional scene. But 7 episodes are now in the can, and we're only at what would have been act 2 of an episode like "Conspiracy" (which clocked in at a grand total of 45 minutes).</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>I'm still at a 5 on this. </b>It's mediocre. Being better than the execrable seasons 1 and 2 of this show is not enough to earn my praise.</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDq3ZVJ3SSM8i8fxlJ6Vvadocr5any9xj7wmYu-ANv-G5KzWoNc5A58zPmcIjJNRTdj78B4SVIZtZV0LDy5CIrnn4zv--049-kOflyXRwX_5TRb4r7_tAjqqP2nxeVhyXP6wbxH_YSBJYlvXpvLhgd7B85d8aSJO0PN6B08z_4Nn1tUIUpEf7C6yFqww/s1737/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1167" data-original-width="1737" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDq3ZVJ3SSM8i8fxlJ6Vvadocr5any9xj7wmYu-ANv-G5KzWoNc5A58zPmcIjJNRTdj78B4SVIZtZV0LDy5CIrnn4zv--049-kOflyXRwX_5TRb4r7_tAjqqP2nxeVhyXP6wbxH_YSBJYlvXpvLhgd7B85d8aSJO0PN6B08z_4Nn1tUIUpEf7C6yFqww/s320/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Click to embiggen. As you can see, I think this long, horribly paced movie is going to end up around "Star Trek Beyond" levels of quality, which feels about right to me. That also was a passable imitation of a Trek story, loaded with fan service, that flubbed the execution of its idea content while leaning too heavily on action and emotional treacle.<br /></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-83882011774344511212023-03-30T15:27:00.002-05:002023-03-30T15:28:02.742-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: Affliction<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHFsC_p57O9dnhU4n0bBGEbxBBpvKHsEGEvPLrYFsLZHS4lYhNIJ1N99ogPUhs-H2toot_ERtMOR2AjjauTieyeVgF_P-yQf2chsYIAORcyLxeYikJth4kKUpKYS3F1H11D_hba8BYs2AjW7TlcMi1xSGXiQCBZp2Cc_aaiL8xYZirIdMAbs2_XzOLw/s1600/6.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Affliction_(episode)">"Affliction"</a><br />Airdate: February 18, 2005<br />90 of 97 produced<br />90 of 97 aired<br /></b><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">The Enterprise crew runs into some kidnaping trouble back home on Earth. Trip gets accustomed to his new ship and T'Pol feels his absence. Malcolm experiences a conflict of interest.<b> <br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRHWM3h6D0gFpF_GxecZ91YUEvZ3k5mylkR3rky1lf_olkCqW1_pbhZZAEwBKc1V-F4DCt-W75YZn1BHkug0ZBtTZ3AMymS8VErs3lQkDVLDuVk28UMBt1Th1ly7PeOgEr5IWdlnKlvl_rKErun_eFXqFQmfzwRf1cyi5o-i_17y3iiVxfEVFBEHqWw/s816/affliction-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="816" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRHWM3h6D0gFpF_GxecZ91YUEvZ3k5mylkR3rky1lf_olkCqW1_pbhZZAEwBKc1V-F4DCt-W75YZn1BHkug0ZBtTZ3AMymS8VErs3lQkDVLDuVk28UMBt1Th1ly7PeOgEr5IWdlnKlvl_rKErun_eFXqFQmfzwRf1cyi5o-i_17y3iiVxfEVFBEHqWw/s320/affliction-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">The first rule of forehead ridges is we do not talk about forehead ridges."</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Writing</b></p><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>This episode definitely has a "grab bag" feel to it, like there's a lot of things the show runners want to introduce for the remainder of the season, and this is just sort of where they have to do it. The A story seems to be the Klingons kidnapping Phlox in order to help with their "affliction." Spoiler alert - it turns out that the smooth-headed Klingons are the result of an attempt to cross augment DNA with Klingon to create super soldiers. On the one hand, I don't think this was a story that needed to be told. The Motion Picture had budget for bumpy heads while TOS did not, and that's that. On the other hand, I appreciate the desire to make things fit into a seamless continuity. Manny Coto inherited a prequel, which was an ill-advised enterprise to undertake for reasons we have already explored. So either he can ignore continuity to try to make it fit. I prefer the latter approach, as opposed to, say, turning the Klingons into Xenomorphs, or making everyone related to a Spock regardless of whether it makes sense or not. Coto's approach to this point has given us a credible origin for the Federation and hints at the Romulan War. Anyway, however superfluous this plot line is, the way it gives Phlox interesting choices (should he go against his better instincts with respect to genetic engineering in order to save millions?) works pretty well. I cared about his dilemma and found the augment connection to be clever, if not wholly satisfying (it doesn't do much to explain why every single Klingon depicted in TOS was smooth headed).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>I remember being annoyed at even reading the episode summary back in the day of this one, because the smooth Klingon foreheads did not need an explanation. Worf's joke "We do not discuss it with outsiders" from Trials and Tribbleations is the far superior response. It acknowledges the difference when there isn't any way to avoid it, and makes a good joke out of it. The only other path was an inverse joke where Worf or Dax commented on how cool Koloth's ridges were, ones they could see but we could not. It doesn't actually need an in-world explanation, so this was belaboring something that was best left alone. It also, calls into question natural design changes over series to a higher degree. Do other people notice that the Ferengi look way more like orcs now? Anyway... I agree the Phlox story is sound at its core. Two of Phlox's ethical values are placed in conflict. Drama will ensue.</div><p><b>Matthew:</b> So then we have Section 31. I am on record saying how carefully I think Section 31 needs to be used, and this use was on the borderline. Now, it's not the fault of Enterprise that Section 31 members are wearing black leather uniforms. DS9 is responsible for that bit of silliness. But the way things were handled otherwise was pretty solid - Section 31 is acting appropriately behind the scenes, as opposed to, say, having a whole fleet of ships and officers with their own special merit badges that they wear publicly. And I liked the spot it put Malcolm in in conflict with his loyalty to Archer and the Enterprise. If anything, I think we could have gotten a bit more of it - erasing the recording device was nice and I liked the brig scenes, but I would have enjoyed a scene of Malcolm pushing back against his handler and having the debate that was just implied in these scenes.</p><p><b>Kevin:</b> The episode itself is fine, it's the lack of deeper characterization prior to this point that undercuts it a little. We've only taken the most timid, newborn fawn-like steps, toward giving Malcom an interior life, and it makes the conflict a little less meaningful. I honestly, don't think they even need 31 explicitly. He's the security officer. He would naturally have interacted with Starfleet Security, and one of their higher ups is going off the rails a bit to do what he subjectively believes is in the best interests of Earth. And this isn't even the post-Federation utopia Earth yet, so I don't mind the cloak and dagger as much.</p><p><b>Matthew:</b> So Trip and T'Pol are psychically connected. Um, OK. Vulcans have magic powers, so it's fine, I guess, as it allows two characters I like and two actors who work well together to share scenes. I enjoyed Trip's scenes with Captain Hernandez as well - she is a wonderfully drawn character, sensitive to emotions and unspoken truths, but direct and commanding as well. She's the best Starfleet woman commander since Janeway. I do think Commander Kelby was made out to be too much of an ineffectual twerp, though. How could he have risen to this level without a greater baseline level of competence? I would have preferred the "different command style" story to this one. With that said, I liked making Trip the Jellico-style hardass on the Columbia - it makes sense for him to be taking out his frustrations on his subordinates to some degree.<b><br /></b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> I agree fully on Hernandez. She's a Starfleet captain in the mold of early TOS and that all works. I agree the internal workings of the engineering staff leave something to be desired. I just never like it when anyone, even a main character is treated as the only competent one. My only real regret here is we only have one more episode with this bunch, and it would have been fun to get a longer glimpse of another crew.</p><p><b>Acting</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Dominic Keating isn't asked to stretch too much here (uncomfortable English guy is right in his wheelhouse), but when he is in the brig later in the episode, I really liked his sense of desperation and despair. I wish he had been given juicier scenes with his handler, who was well played by Eric Pierpoint, who seems perfectly suited to "Officious/Slimy Boomer" roles. His scenes with Scott Bakula also really spoke to the character's inner conflict, though Bakula's choice to be physically aggressive didn't work well for me.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> This is where the lack of deeper relationship undercuts the acting a little. I'm being told about the depth of betrayal rather than experiencing it, since there isn't that much meat on the bone of them being close. Mutually respectful colleagues? Sure. But this isn't Trip. I agree physical anger isn't Bakula's strong suit.</p><p><b>Matthew:</b> Ada Maris is terrific as Captain Hernandez, and her interplay with Connor Trinneer made for a really enjoyable set of scenes. I totally and completely believe her as a commanding officer with deep knowledge and concern for her crew and ship. Trinneer and Jolene Blalock also had a nice "daydream" scene together, and Blalock played her emotions a bit more submerged, which I liked. <b> <br /></b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> To go down a 90s rabbit hole, I recognized Maris from Nurses, an NBC sitcom that was a spinoff of Empty Nest, which was a spinoff of Golden Girls, where she played a....unsurprising for the time stereotypical Latina nurse. It's nice to see she eventually gets more to do. Her last appearance at the top of the season and her appearance here really make me want to see more of her character. I bought her relationship with Archer when they went hiking, and I buy that she is the captain of this crew. One of the best compliments I can give a guest actor is that they don't act like they only a supporting character in someone else's story. She could carry an arc on her own. If they ever dust off Bryan Fuller's original idea for Discovery of an anthology based series, I would absolutely enjoy a few episodes on what Columbia got up to. Also, please take as read our standing list of compliments to Mr. Billingsley.</p><p><b>Production Values</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>There was a nice use of existing locations to stand in for San Francisco, including a fun Chinese restaurant facade and a suitably foggy alley. The Klingon vessel exterior and interiors looked nice. The Columbia bridge... yeah. It didn't work for me. The pulsating doodads in the back and the incongruous monitor facing the view screen just both seem like "blinky crap that people would trip on in an emergency."<br /></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> It was the running lights on those pillars that took me out. They were like having someone with their high beams on drive down the bridge every few seconds. And, as you say, they clearly don't serve a purpose <i>beyond</i> blinking.</p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>There is an inherent silliness to the Klingon forehead explanation that this episode doesn't really surmount. Nonetheless, several characters get interesting choices and scenes. So this lands in the fat part of the bell curve for me with a 3. <b><br /></b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> Between the foreheads and invoking Section 31, this is a little too much fan service for fan service's sake. I'm also just not that thrilled to see Klingon versions of the Augments. I wasn't super in love with the story earlier in the season, and didn't really need to revisit it. Still, as a self contained piece of entertainment, it moved well, and Phlox can carry most stories. I agree with the 3<b> for a total of 6.</b></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-58647035170356299292023-03-27T16:17:00.007-05:002023-03-28T14:01:33.267-05:00Picard, Season 3: The Bounty<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBlJcMYit8fYfdTBGSrpsAPnlrEtnm0ZoMk1l901H2zI7VKXxnuDP3nnowsRX3wflw0lpjxKTYFIlLPRg0pQOLnMNp8bQQf5vwUFMacLefWN8w8_qqT3aRpHh0Xou3a2KlY8fR5MvUOH6qFUpAqJ0r6cttP-Ks1YKIO8xQ7ircyzeXu4aCts5dmMHCjA/s1600/5.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Picard, Season 3<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Bounty_(episode)">"The Bounty"</a><br />Aired: March 23, 2023<br />26 of 30 produced<br />26 of 30 released</b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">At long last every major TNG cast member who is not dead or Traveling the limitless dimensions of the cosmos receives screen time in the same episode. And we are left to question: why did it take six episodes?</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_LUKV-4dwJC6pNu-uBX0Du65OEEE6HIxHzi8FQ4Esc3F05ywjAcqrBrm6tDgGICk9xQ-f6jI1bf91apZNO1Hh-yvIXAr-AKTumxftZv1SX25WjPU1VJ-GcfU31kCa1Z0lCocwgAsGu6zWTCmgjAyNGVn_htaSs41rtozu34fQuIDOe0nJHU8Uc9lAw/s1400/museum.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="1400" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_LUKV-4dwJC6pNu-uBX0Du65OEEE6HIxHzi8FQ4Esc3F05ywjAcqrBrm6tDgGICk9xQ-f6jI1bf91apZNO1Hh-yvIXAr-AKTumxftZv1SX25WjPU1VJ-GcfU31kCa1Z0lCocwgAsGu6zWTCmgjAyNGVn_htaSs41rtozu34fQuIDOe0nJHU8Uc9lAw/s320/museum.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Star Trek Picard: A floating museum of references to things you actually like.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><b><br /></b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Review</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>It's taken me a while to collect my thoughts on this episode. I didn't hate it. In fact, I even liked significant chunks of it. But I'm still just sort of "meh" about the whole thing.<br /><br />Now, it should be noted that "meh" is a <i>huge </i>step up from my feelings on the last two seasons of this series, and indeed every season of every Kurtzman live-action show<b> </b>thus far (including Strange New Worlds, which I view as pretty and dumb whilst not being offensive). <b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">So what do I think works here? I think they handled the reintroduction of Data about as well as they could have. I was going to be really honked off if my pained endurance of Nemesis and Picard Season 1 (both of which were varying degrees of awful) was going to be negated. And they weren't. This story threaded the needle of "undoing" those stories without undoing them. Is it kind of dumb? Sure. Did we need Masks Part Deux, in which multiple consciousnesses inhabit the Data body at once? God no. But they acknowledged Lal, ignored Sochi of whatever the hell her name was, and just sort of got it over with. It's clear that these particular writers understand what a train wreck Kurtzman Trek has been so far, and the way they have acknowledged but sidestepped the dumber decisions (Picard's android body, Data's retcon daughters and brother) has been welcomed by me. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Worf still gets the majority of laugh lines, which is of course consistent with TNG's portrayal of him as the ultimate straight man/fish out of water. Of course, this sets aside his horrific and counterproductive murder of the "bad guys" several episodes prior, but I guess this creative staff is working out its "let's move on" muscles in earnest. </p><p style="text-align: left;">There is an undeniable thrill and pang of nostalgia in seeing the main cast of TNG back together, basically acting in character, with a blessed minimum of dumb new characters getting in the way. Commodore LaForge is pretty good, and he has a mini arc in this episode - not wanting to help out of protectiveness for his children; being reminded of what truly matters by his children; wanting to help again. Would this arc have worked better if it had been given more than two scenes to breathe? Yep. Would his daughters mean more to us if they had been given more lines? Yep. But LeVar Burton can still act, and he sells his character's journey. </p><p style="text-align: left;">But now we get into things that didn't really work. When I feel things in episode 6 of a show, my inevitable question is thus: Why couldn't I have felt these things more consistently over the past FIVE HOURS of television? Why did they drag it out so long? Was it to save money? Sorry Burton, Sirtis, and Spiner, Peak Streaming is over, and we just don't have the money to give you all more screen time. For that matter, Gates McFadden is still woefully underutilized. Her function in this script is to deliver information about a new character we don't really care about, and to arouse the emotions of a character we still (barely) do. Anyone ever heard of a Bechdel Test? Star Trek used to pass them with flying colors in DS9 and Voyager...<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The story overall is still underbaked and clearly is being stretched to fill run time. Gotta fill those thumbnails on the Paramount+ streaming interface! This story is being tortured into a format that it does not have the depth to sustain. How can we have gone for 6 hours and still not really know what the Big Dumb Threat is? And when we do find out, what good will the prior 6 hours of show have been? It will be clear they were just arbitrarily withholding information, and that leaves a bad taste in the mouth of this paying viewer.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I am also annoyed that Moriarty is used as a red herring in this episode. Here's what a Trek fan would do with the story: make the Moriarty program the actual security system of this station, and make the "key" that they had to get from the.... Vulcan gangster.... be the Countess Regina Bartholemew. This way, you both acknowledge and resolve a dangling thread from TNG's "Ship in a Bottle" while also giving two wonderful actors a chance to shine. Nope. Daniel Davis makes an appearance in order to just.... sort of reference that without actually developing the story, because he's all in "Data's" mind. </p><p style="text-align: left;">So in a lot of ways this feels like a game of "remember this reference?" designed to optimize social media mentions, as opposed to a story that makes sense and creates the scenes necessary to justify the musical swells and tear jerks that the writers are clearly straining for. Yes, I remember the USS Voyager. And the HMS Bounty. And Moriarty. And the Data Head. How about this: TELL A STORY WITH THEM.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">I'm sorry if I am unenthusiastic. I know there are a lot of people who love Captain Shaw and are consistently amused by his gratuitous swearing (he is relegated to a meek side character inhabiting a conference chair in this episode). But the dialogue is still reeeeally dumb, and characters belabor and repeat plot point after plot point, as if the writers believe I am too dense to follow even a rudimentary turn of events or plan. The villain still hasn't been explained, which negates my ability to evaluate her justifications, her character, and her efficacy within a larger set of goals.<b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>So I'm at a 5, still. </b>I think this is mediocre, and leans a little bit to the left of the bell curve. It's flabby, it's dumb, and while it contains some nice nostalgic feelings, it does not develop stories in the way that TNG episodes, or even the better TNG movies, did. It feels like the writers are playing a game of "keepaway" with me, which frankly kind of pisses me off, since I am paying for this crap.<br /><br />It makes me glad I'm sharing my password three ways.<b></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5IcQ5sNfB4_NhXzA4aW-RExT8pJw6rSUoneuu48xcvp7epq8dHQ8VoElbH3BPjYr0Qs_bY5h5k-wP2GosrtOSjesNwkzeZ_-px4UnjNpuuAN1PvqcE6GVVdVdPVYaP1sD0OAKH7ux7-m5ZDcR7juB_q41mFD8EraZ7BwquK3nxi6gtAWcnwaRmbXCg/s1726/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="1726" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5IcQ5sNfB4_NhXzA4aW-RExT8pJw6rSUoneuu48xcvp7epq8dHQ8VoElbH3BPjYr0Qs_bY5h5k-wP2GosrtOSjesNwkzeZ_-px4UnjNpuuAN1PvqcE6GVVdVdPVYaP1sD0OAKH7ux7-m5ZDcR7juB_q41mFD8EraZ7BwquK3nxi6gtAWcnwaRmbXCg/s320/Picard%20quality%20graph1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">Click to embiggen.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-73675440998799011922023-03-27T09:00:00.010-05:002023-03-28T13:47:29.299-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: The Aenar<div style="text-align: center;"></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPN3QOq3Vfvzq6PwZSRm9nyvtS_KRydq22GorTULYUV6df1SaDwz7h6G3GJa0oN8a_lAvXnNGf28BLDNlaDLaLvhWNgwFmnpkFDPWIC3gyLH66eVxjj2v355Ry01KfwKmplwym9hk4PcY97jfUoT_BwgakxbWqigkSG93M9Oo7lZnrMuRtVGKq3gVFIA/s1600/6.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Aenar_(episode)">"The Aenar"</a><br />Airdate: February 11, 2005<br />89 of 97 produced<br />89 of 97 aired<br /></b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Archer and Shran discover that the operator of the marauding drone vessels is Andorian - but not a run of the mill Andorian. Rather, he is a member of an underground, pacifist sect of Andorians known as the Aenar.<b> </b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjgrqQiTOmwTKggbxzwFKdeqfu5Egs-4peVx2crBsAohLYMN_w8INCUf8aPgPKbf1oisXDEdJ3d5WU5isaxDxvUQLzxOwgIQ5D1Fn5ovRQCbUXiFjj-7mJenOeMbipP6PhX9SdsCnPFuwzOdLKVW-pfe3WVNezepSYPcLoXhuXZy-H6daYkxFklbMd0A/s1200/MV5BYTJkMGI0YjAtN2U2Mi00ODYyLWE2N2QtMzRlNzg1M2E4NTNjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzQ2MDUxMTg@._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1200" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjgrqQiTOmwTKggbxzwFKdeqfu5Egs-4peVx2crBsAohLYMN_w8INCUf8aPgPKbf1oisXDEdJ3d5WU5isaxDxvUQLzxOwgIQ5D1Fn5ovRQCbUXiFjj-7mJenOeMbipP6PhX9SdsCnPFuwzOdLKVW-pfe3WVNezepSYPcLoXhuXZy-H6daYkxFklbMd0A/s320/MV5BYTJkMGI0YjAtN2U2Mi00ODYyLWE2N2QtMzRlNzg1M2E4NTNjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzQ2MDUxMTg@._V1_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">"I don't think Mark Zuckerberg is ever going to get this Oculus Rift crap to sell, Captain."</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Writing</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I remember when I first heard about this arc, my concern was that adding a second species of Andorians would be about as successful as adding the Remans to the Romulans. Happily, this one comes off more successfully. The Aenar are sketched out pretty quickly with a clear culture and set of values and we get to see them wrestle, at least through a handful of people, with how their choices will play out. I suppose I still have a bit of a lingering of an objection that the Aenar were basically reverse engineered to provide exactly the complications they did. Beyond the fact that some Andorians are a paler blue in TOS than TNG, this pretty big distinction is absent until this episode. We needed someone from Andoria to be responsible for the drone to help tie a bow on the threat to the alliance. But I can't deny that the emotional beats of Jhamel's story work, so even if it's a little inorganic, I can't say I'm mad.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>The problems with the Remans were two fold - they were given too much of a role in prior Romulan history for credulity to remain intact (why hadn't we heard about such an important element of their history, especially in the extensive TNG episodes?), and they weren't given enough screen time or story responsibilities to be developed in a way that made them compelling or coherent. This episode suffers from neither problem. The Aenar are mysterious even to the Andorians, and they do not impact prior Andorian stories in any major continuity-straining ways. They're more like a remote sect, like the Amish or Mennonites in the US. But the time we spend with them, and getting to know one of them well, really helps make them feel "real" as opposed to the plot filler the Remans came off as. As far as the overall plot goes, I was a little annoyed that Shran moved on so quickly, but that's really more of a last episode problem than a current episode problem. It makes perfect sense that Shran would fall for a sexy, exotic person like Jhamel, especially since she was caring for him and he was helping to find her brother. Ultimately, whatever quibbles I have with this or that decision are superseded by the overall clarity and effectiveness of the plot. I know what Jhamel wants, and there is no DARK SECRET or HIDDEN TRAUMA that is making her on screen motivations invalid. The same goes for the Romulans, who clearly state their objectives and complain about the irony of achieving their reverse. I quite liked the sketches of politics and skullduggery that we got, and could happily have watched more. And you know what? It's amazing what <i>clearly laying out character motivations and characteristics </i>can do for a story. It allows me to care about the people on screen, and to have faith that their stated goals are both real, and will either me met or thwarted within the teleplay I am watching. It's so much more satisfying than slathering episode after episode with gobs and gobs of pointless "mystery." Am I drawing a pointed comparison to some... other... "content" which is being called Star Trek? You'd better believe it. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>The T'Pol/Tucker story gets a little advancement, culminating with his transfer to Columbia. I think my own objection here, is that especially given how close to the end of the season we are, this will not last long. Of course, it doesn't, but you can't really blame this episode, I suppose. They are pretty solidly portrayed as having difficulty making difficult decisions about each other given their feelings, and that works nicely.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>In some ways, this is a classic 90s/aughts will they/won't they romance, and it is irritating for it. I wish people would talk about their feelings with each other, you know? And these two don't even have the lack of cellphones to blame for it. These are grownups who live in a better world than ours. I long for a Roddenberry-style conversation stripped from our sexual morality. Anyway, it's not that the scenes are bad in terms of dialogue, I just don't want them to happen. I like couples. I like romance. Why can't we just let characters be happy? We already endured the whole Koss subplot. Is it really necessary to give a couple with enjoyable chemistry further obstacles? <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Acting</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin:</b> I think across the board everyone did a great job, and to the extent the plot works, it's on the back of the performances. Combs' Shran is his usual excellent self. Bakula turns in good work this week. He's firm where he needs to be firm, but never shouty. Alicia Adams did nice work advocating for her people in a way that did a lot of organic world building. Alexandra Lydon as Jhamel and Scott Allen Rinker as Ghareb also did a good job seeming like the near children they were. Collectively, the Aenar were sketched quite nicely, quite quickly.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>Whatever my issues with the storytelling choices, Jeffrey Combs acted the heck out of his character's feelings and decisions. Alexandra Lydon had the unenviable task of following up yet another Fridged Strong Female (Initial Trademark registered to Paramount, Nov. 5 1990), and heck if she doesn't make it work.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>Rounding out the main case, Trinneer and Blalock keep turning in nice credible displays of chemistry. The loss of a hypothetical season 5 to give the relationship room to grow is certainly of the sadder losses of the show's cancellation. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>Connor Trinneer turned in a master class reel of work here. His final scene with Bakula worked like gangbusters, and really paid off the years of work the two have together. Blalock also excelled in a tough role, since her character is being made to be standoffish and to conceal her feelings in an annoying way. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Production Values</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>The drone chairs were overall well done for me. Lots of bits doing stuff while staying on this side of the cheesy line. The internal dance party of the helmets was less convincing. The Aenar sets were some classic TOS ice caverns, but little touches made everything work pretty well. The CGI of the worms themselves was a little video-gamey but the practical borehole lighting worked as a neat effect. The make up and costumes of the Aenar were also nice and thoroughly realized, so all in all a good outing for the design team.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I was particularly impressed by the Aenar CGI city backdrop and set designs. Do I wonder why a blind race has such well lit environs? Sure. Do I care? Not really. I would much rather enjoy a well-lit drama than be fiddling with TV settings because anything and everything is "realistically" or "cinematically" swathed in darkness. I agree the worms looked hokey. Overall, this was a very strong effort in terms of effects and sets. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Conclusion</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>I think this episode is well done, and entertaining overall, but it's a little too plot driven if that makes sense. Having successfully implicated an Andorian for running the drone, we need to tie it in a bow. Jhamel's story is nice, but she and her brother enter and exit the story in one episode. The concept of the Aenar feels like it could bear more time on screen. Lissan did a nice job portraying her people's pacifism, but it would have been more Trek-y to see more Aenar wrestle more explicitly with that. This episode has just a little too much to do to tie up earlier episodes, and it holds the overall episode back a little. Still, this is a nice, brisk, entertaining episode, so this is another happy 3, not an early season meh 3.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew:</b> Yeah, I think I am stuck at a 3, as well, for a total of 6. It's the Trip/T'Pol stuff that brings it down from a 4 for me. The world building was effective, Shran's romance mostly worked, the action plot was fine. I quite enjoyed the prelude to the founding of the Federation that this story arc represented overall. But T'Pol and Trip being forced to suffer yet again irks me. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-52148592068221450132023-03-17T12:08:00.007-05:002023-03-17T12:53:19.768-05:00Picard, Season 3: Imposters<div style="text-align: center;"></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB18ijvTbgewDbH6D_dwR2YtoIfCNZh3nVb3Y-jQf1yMraxaGUuz1kkniTezzQyHtSSj6BD5W-XXGWhtk0GFBkxh9XQZi9KKGk7d5I9-jmw9CHe9PHj24UXCCqYEguwdh1HcwQuvxGfMIgMZckvIZQaFUpaLgmGE57j9w8Lc1P76uaAbKtad_ZRhBrVA/s1600/5.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Picard, Season 3<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Imposters_(episode)">"Imposters"</a><br />Aired: March 16, 2023<br />25 of 30 produced<br />25 of 30 released</b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Starfleet sends an investigator to hash out who did what and who needs to be punished for the last four episodes. Meanwhile, Worf realizes that he murdered his only informant and needs to find another one, while Raffi does donuts in the parking lot with her aggressively spinning wheels.<b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9GMwqiuaVPfom1GqjH86Yq3jfhW7qLBTMr3atEMA8vGMjRmC_ihMATov30b-SGxVrr9C-7jqhtsqhBh95XYo9RNSjR9-KbKBLVcNWqT65Z7YbUqZ5TSsIrxD6ni-9NvVuRovscOhblAoMsMxfbbNLzMgSYAlhlOnPpRkLzVe5dpjyNntmNzv-u3xpg/s1152/Ten-Forward-Ro-Picard.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1152" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9GMwqiuaVPfom1GqjH86Yq3jfhW7qLBTMr3atEMA8vGMjRmC_ihMATov30b-SGxVrr9C-7jqhtsqhBh95XYo9RNSjR9-KbKBLVcNWqT65Z7YbUqZ5TSsIrxD6ni-9NvVuRovscOhblAoMsMxfbbNLzMgSYAlhlOnPpRkLzVe5dpjyNntmNzv-u3xpg/s320/Ten-Forward-Ro-Picard.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">They are <i>really </i>getting their money's worth out of this set.</span></span></b><br /></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Review </b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Since this narrative is utterly (irreparably?) fractured, I will treat the A and B stories separately, in reverse order. The Worf/Raffi tale is clearly the afterthought, since it was entirely dispensed with last episode (much to that episode's benefit) and is mostly dispensed with in this one. It feels utterly pointless. Basically, Worf and Raffi fight, because cool, Worf and Raffi are fighting. Then Raffi (quite rightly) criticizes Worf for murdering their best source of information two episodes ago. So Worf is all like "OK, let's find another informant, then." </p><p style="text-align: left;">When a story is repeating itself because of a narrative mistake, that's generally a bad sign. And that is absolutely what is going on here. Worf and Raffi are still on Planet Drugs, they still have to look tough and act cool to lure out the "Beat It" extras who will move the plot forward, and then they have to fight AGAIN because showing how funky and strong is your fight is the only way to excel on Planet Drugs, it doesn't matter who's wrong or right.</p><p style="text-align: left;">So they have their faux fight and extract the information from their still alive informant, and maybe next episode they can finally leave Planet Drugs. But we'll see, I guess.</p><p style="text-align: left;">OK, now that the B plot is out of the way, let's talk about the A plot. Suffice it to say, SPOILERS from here on out, but frankly, this plot is so drawn out that watching an episode kind of feels like watching a story having already been spoiled, because didn't that happen two hours ago? I remember that.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The investigator is Ro Laren. She's back in Starfleet, after having sold them out 30 years ago to the Maquis. Picard is still royally pissed off about that, which seems a bit out of character, given all of the various "insurrections" he has engaged in when Starfleet was Wrong About Ethics. She is very brusque and rude to Picard and Riker, because that's On Brand in Starfleet, The Worst Workplace In the Galaxy. But to be fair, it also serves the narrative, which plays out in a pretty good imitation of DS9's Homefront/Paradise Lost and TNG's Conspiracy.</p><p style="text-align: left;">When it comes down to it, revealing that Ro has been investigating the infiltration of Starfleet, and that her ship the Intrepid is riddled with changelings, is about one act's worth of plot (i.e. ten minutes of a TNG episode). Here it takes forty minutes. It is mildly diverting and inoffensive. We get a pretty nice scene in which Ro and Picard hash out their feelings. Was this scene already given to us in a more economical form in "Preemptive Strike?" Sure. But no one has watched that (the writers reason), so we can re-do it here to fill run time and keep people subscribed to Paramount Plus.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Ro's sacrifice feels relatively hollow. For one thing, it was only necessitated by a plot bomb the writers placed there in a quick little moment. For another, it forecloses all sorts of interesting and fun Ro scenes that could have transpired. What it amounts to is that Ro received about twenty minutes of screen time before being offed - which mathematically speaking is about twenty Ichebs and 2.5 Hughs. But it's extraordinarily wasteful nonetheless - Michelle Forbes absolutely nailed her (ultimately repetitive) emotional scenes. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The rest of the run time is occupied by dumb Mystery Box BS with Jack Crusher having visions of killing people, killing people (who are changelings), and then having more quick cut visions of THE RED DOOR and THE RED LIGHT and THE RED CREEPING CRUD. To say that these things are uninteresting is to shortchange them - they are uninteresting <i>and</i> insultingly vague <i>and </i>dishearteningly time wasting <i>and </i>have been done before multiple times in Kurtzman Trek. We should already know what the RED MENACE is. Knowing is much more fraught with tension and expectation than Not Knowing. Instead, we just have to pretend we enjoy narrative wheel spinning, as if it is clever and enticing and not just a way to turn three hours of plot into ten.<br /><br />But we know better. We've seen six prior seasons of Kurtzman Trek, three Abrams movies, and a whole host of other "prestige TV" bullcrap stories that overpromise, overstretch, and underdeliver.<b><br /><br />Conclusion</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">So when it comes down to it, I'm a bit less enthusiastic about this episode than I was about the previous. It is bogged down by two go-nowhere story lines and the good stuff was needlessly foreclosed by yet another needless canon character death. Some very good acting and some basically effective "Conspiracy" redux storytelling <b>put this at a 5 for me.<br /><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9Jc5A4hmaqX7abhNdomWwTKXmJwE_guPosicMMzihiKaZp7aXhhCqrzZfkJx25eJvTk17ydWJyGhEPX9I2cWuf_UWURXr3yEutiqikpB3spLl-2oHsyWBuGoGjiMtAToGeglZbe1HtfOq09-oMa5OyPMdYnBeHO4kwQqfgCPS9EGJBMRXVPXFcawvQ/s1774/Picard%20quality%20graph.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1177" data-original-width="1774" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9Jc5A4hmaqX7abhNdomWwTKXmJwE_guPosicMMzihiKaZp7aXhhCqrzZfkJx25eJvTk17ydWJyGhEPX9I2cWuf_UWURXr3yEutiqikpB3spLl-2oHsyWBuGoGjiMtAToGeglZbe1HtfOq09-oMa5OyPMdYnBeHO4kwQqfgCPS9EGJBMRXVPXFcawvQ/s320/Picard%20quality%20graph.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to embiggen!</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">To give you a sense of my head space, here is a lightly edited excerpt of my chat with Kevin after watching the episode (these are my contributions, not his):<b><br /></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe I've turned off my brain because I'm in "Nemesis" mode. It's like, whatever, man...the story's ending, so fine, do what you feel like. We're getting some pretty good acting out of it, the story just makes no sense. <br /><br />I was watching Star Wars Episode 1 because my youngest son chose it. And I'm kind of like "I sort of enjoy Jar Jar now. And you know what, this is a coherent story. Like it doesn't make the best choices, and there is too much telling instead of showing, but it at least proceeds from point A to B to C without a bunch of mystery box bulls#$%."<br /><br />Which made me realize that I can be detached from something. I used to love Star Wars, now I view it dispassionately. <br /><br />And I still love old Star Trek, but this s$%# is entirely different.<br /><br />And so however they wrap up the story, it won't matter, because I'll always have the stories in my head inspired by the good stuff. I won't ever watch this crap again.<br /><br />And it's true, they won't make good Star Trek ever again.<br /><br />But when it comes down to it, 700 hours is enough.<br /><br />I guess I'm just feeling very sanguine today.<br /><br />And nothing in this episode offended me out of that head space.<br /><br />I do at least get the feeling that this show runner actually likes Star Trek, while still being incapable of creating a reasonable facsimile of it.<b><br /></b></span></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-84423951207151779952023-03-16T11:28:00.004-05:002023-03-16T13:37:13.785-05:00Enterprise, Season 4: United<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXm-cqSl997OjxjKTmqDXZggdMfheBb9j-Vp2Mn1PC8U6M0jEuphEs3U7B-NHt6KAAJgCx2Ip-gUKcU0fAba-CM1-3oYDMD4qpXy94XC7u-mOGnt0h0d5lOqYYZYJsBEWxF4P4V7fCgxglMaNc_5dx-nSkqiURVDizDVlx7jTEe84FbM-xrzgiXZznA/s1600/7.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/United_(episode)">"United"</a><br />Airdate: February 4, 2005<br />88 of 97 produced<br />88 of 97 aired</b><p></p><p></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">Shran's lover Talas takes a turn for the worse, which threatens the fragile alliance Archer is forming to fight the unknown marauder.<b> <br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQDaeIfp-qFv31K44CDBYd8eYZoadtGePb-WgNPreuxDgtXWAnQD-w6HadCvO1bBTk7GZ80ubrAsf52TF_vkBzHDBkTVQ5FIiijW6YBK7ZKXMDHZa_g81k7vutpDDYF07eNQtc50QKJkGP-ELEkeSNjpqFDsiNdU67z-JfiK0KCGfMvfOd_Cz8YQ8svQ/s1000/Shran_and_Archer_fight_the_Ushaan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="1000" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQDaeIfp-qFv31K44CDBYd8eYZoadtGePb-WgNPreuxDgtXWAnQD-w6HadCvO1bBTk7GZ80ubrAsf52TF_vkBzHDBkTVQ5FIiijW6YBK7ZKXMDHZa_g81k7vutpDDYF07eNQtc50QKJkGP-ELEkeSNjpqFDsiNdU67z-JfiK0KCGfMvfOd_Cz8YQ8svQ/s320/Shran_and_Archer_fight_the_Ushaan.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I'm gonna slap chop your ass back to Andoria!</span><br /></div><b> <br /></b><p></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b> </b><p></p><p><b>Writing</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>This is a continuation of the previous episode, and I found myself more engaged this time around. Why? I think it should be pretty obvious that this is a story with more of a character focus than a plot focus. Whereas the previous episode had a bit in the way of character interaction and a lot in the way of action, here the action actually hinges upon the characters' motivations and characteristics. Am I going to credit some of this to my favorite twosome of Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens? Yup. Shran has had his distrust of Tellarites established, as well as his new relationship with Talas. Talas gets shot last episode, and (spoiler alert) dies this episode. Fridging? Yes. But look - a lot of sins can be forgiven when characters' motivations are established and adhered to, and the proper scenes are given to us to sell the emotions. This occurs in spades here. Shran's scenes with Talas make his subsequent murderous rage feel believable, but the political realities that are firmly established also make his eventual relenting to them work as well.</p><p><b>Kevin:</b> I agree with the broad strokes of your points. The inciting events are fairly paint by number, but the scenes themselves move with some energy and the responses themselves are credible for the given characters. I think they managed to do a good job tying the personal to the broader political stuff. It's pretty grounded to have the broad political landscape give rise to personal positions (the mutual fear and distrust) and then have those personal positions impact the broader political landscape (derailing the nascent alliance). That's nice believable work that mines drama from understandable things. <br /></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>This episode takes a decidedly TOS-style turn when Shran challenges Naarg to ritual combat to avenge Talas. Is this a bit silly? Sure. It is basically "Amok Time" all over again? Yep. But does it work? Again, because motivations and character traits are established, I can overcome my "Oh, come on" feeling because of course Shran would push this, and of course Archer would feel that the fragile alliance was more important than his life. I liked that Hoshi and Travis looked for a loophole that could save their captain, and the subsequent scenes of Shran having had an antenna severed were amusing.</p><p><b>Kevin</b>: Here I am a little less enthusiastic. This is just slightly too much a copy, and with a sillier ending. I suppose I find it hard to believe that Shran's insatiable bloodlust and honor would be satisfied by such a letter of the law versus spirit of the law interpretation. Picard using Shelliac pedantry worked since it was precisely their obsession with legal minutiae that gave rise to the threat. McCoy faking Kirk's death worked since Spock only needed to subjectively believe it, and he did. Here, it feels like cheating. If all you have to do to shut down this Ancient. Honorable. Tradition. is cause a mild injury, it gives lie to the notion that the Andorians take it that seriously. It was just to cutesy a solution that made everyone too happy to quite land.<br /></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>The B-story of this episode is the Romulan drone ship. I think the action beats for Tucker and Reed were enjoyable, and again flowed well from their characters. I enjoyed Reed disobeying Tucker's orders to leave him in the irradiated room (though I do question how he seems to have escaped radiation sickness entirely), and their later joking over it. Them jumping out into space as the united fleet arrived was a cool moment. Did I really care about any of the Romulan politicking portrayed? Nope.<b> </b>None of those scenes were given the air to let them grow. So Remans, Aenar, Romulan officials.... meh.</p><p><b>Kevin:</b> The Romulan stuff just isn't as developed as it needs to be. They aren't absurd mustache twirling villains, but their goals and priorities aren't there enough to really care yet. The action elements work great, though. It's fine, but not more than that.<br /></p><p><b>Acting</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>We have of course sung the praises of Jeffrey Combs many times, and this will be no different. This may be Combs' most full blooded role yet, since his Vorta and Ferengi characters never had such complex motivations. He gives us really believable love, grief, sadness over having to fight his friend, and comedy beats afterward. It's probably his best work on Star Trek, which is saying <i>a lot. </i>Molly Brink continues the run of criminally cut-short female characters in Star Trek, bringing a lot of pathos to her character's fear and eventual demise.<i></i></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> Shran's outrage is very convincing, and that's actually part of my problem with the resolution. Even if Andorian honor were satisfied, it seems like <i>he</i> shouldn't be. Archer maneuvered him out of being able to claim revenge for his lover, and ethics code or no, he should still be mad about that. <br /></p><p><b>Matthew:<i> </i></b>The main crew really excelled here, too. Scott Bakula sold me on an essentially silly character choice. Jolene Blalock modulated her restrained emotional response to Archer's danger well. Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating brought very Trek-like energy and competence to their B-story, acting in tight quarters and without any additional scene partners. </p><p><b>Kevin:</b> My complaints with the plot mechanics aside, it was nice to see Archer and company act like an orthodox Starfleet crew, and actually get to be good at it. Everyone is trying to find a solution that saves the alliance and comports with their value system, and they actually do that. It's kind of thing I watch Star Trek for. <br /></p><p><b>Production Values</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>The ship shots were excellent, both on the drone and on the fleet chasing it. The arrival of the fleet and the rescue of Trip and Malcolm was genuinely inspiring, which is a credit to the music as well. The Dan Curry designed ice-cutting weapons also looked great.</p><p><b>Kevin:</b> The Enterprise coming on screen to beam them aboard was a great shot, and the model work looked fantastic. They really achieved the Enterprise feeling like a massive object in space. <br /></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Yes, I am going to compare this to current Trek, specifically Picard Season 3. People are creaming themselves with praise over Picard's recent episodes, and this episode of Enterprise provides me with a demonstration of why I don't share that effusiveness. This, this right here, is an example of good writing that sells scenes and serves overall plot development. Characters are given the time to show us their motivations and emotions, so that when they have fights and/or tearful dialogue scenes, they feel justified and <i>right. </i>Something like Picard, at its very best (which I admit it is at presently), only gives us the payoff, with precious little of the setup, and it wastes more time doing it. I don't know how to explain it, except to blame it on the current streaming era, and the storytelling pressures this era creates (stretching stories to maintain subscriptions, incessant cliffhangers, constant repetition of plot points, constant emphasis on action). <br /><br />Anyway, I'm at a 4 on this episode. The silliness of Archer duking it out with Shran, and the fridging of Talas, keep it from going higher. But a tight political drama proceeded from firmly established characterization and impeccably acted emotional scenes. This is definitely above average to me.</p><p><b>Kevin: </b>This is still a hearty three for me. It's a good three, but the too neat, too silly resolution to the honor combat story keeps this from being Great. It's still Good, and that's always nice. The Romulan story won't win any Pultizers, but for an action story, it moves quite nicely, and the main plot about trying to keep the alliance together works overall, silly ass-pulling solutions aside. That's a combined 7.<br /></p><p> </p><br />matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-10797493312684862472023-03-10T14:08:00.011-06:002023-03-12T01:00:14.253-06:00Picard, Season 3: No Win Scenario<div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCdN24QXFe37SwoivNWTUKyqpTPEUhBFg5lqgryR1Js7xCdgDaOBQuTrDpVg9Q5o33l-lrwIx26qgVtuBDwE76Ak0M_h8e0VSaDWzP6CpDwXb542O811bNaGZiVgdJr63DrIJuxsN6V2_Fjp2VvLeGblt9fpNWeiEU6gKlyGfOzgOA15_gRlr4rEiEQ/s1600/6.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Picard, Season 3<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/No_Win_Scenario_(episode)">"No Win Scenario"</a><br />Aired: March 9, 2023<br />24 of 30 produced<br />24 of 30 released</b><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p>After four hours of "s#$% or get off the pot" storytelling, Picard Season 3 decides in favor of the former and pinches off this loaf.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDjDN8-cpJXfQecsYIHFEPezXeNXwMCEfr1c286_2lK5KBu0eTafBy6BUm10JrakJ9FqzpqORqioCFQcVlykmXA2WiiHnjH2Kw50TXC_MkrQaTiA6-Pnj5AeLiRIor4H7A-PgHUQPDBNfLv8nF_ySaDzAvIPRgh53n2JQimGBSikzy1h_0p9gS3gxvw/s1280/nowinscenario.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDjDN8-cpJXfQecsYIHFEPezXeNXwMCEfr1c286_2lK5KBu0eTafBy6BUm10JrakJ9FqzpqORqioCFQcVlykmXA2WiiHnjH2Kw50TXC_MkrQaTiA6-Pnj5AeLiRIor4H7A-PgHUQPDBNfLv8nF_ySaDzAvIPRgh53n2JQimGBSikzy1h_0p9gS3gxvw/s320/nowinscenario.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pictured: the best lit scene in the season thus far.</span><br /></div><div><p><br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>I am going to subdivide this review into two segments - one about
character stories, and one about the overall plot. I think this is the
most fruitful way to discuss what works and what doesn't about this
episode.</p><p><b>Emotional Story Lines</b></p><p>I found the Jack Crusher/Picard scenes to largely work, with one exception right at the end. The actors had really nice chemistry, some fun jokes re: baldness and twenty-something horniness, and some nicely subtle dialogue that didn't involve swelling music and treacly, writerly protestations about the beauties of filial love that can span the galaxy. Riker again got "I'm a dad, listen to me" advice to give Picard, and it largely worked as well. The one flaw to sour the mix was the reveal that Crusher actually had gone to surveil his father (wearing a baseball cap to remain inconspicuous) and was hurt by Picard's statement (frankly inexplicable given his prior statements) that "Starfleet provided him the only family he needed." Uh, really? What about his tearful rapprochement with Robert? What about his nephew Rene and the real tears he shed over his death? What about "the family line will continue?" What about his interest in his lineage, expressed to Anthwara in TNG "Journey's End?" Nope. Starfleet is all he needs. Anyway, 9 out of 10 points on this set of scenes.<br /><br />Less successful was Riker/Troi. Not for the acting, which Frakes absolutely nailed, but for the logic. You mean to tell me that I sat through all of Picard Season 1, in which the only redeeming facet was Riker making wood-fired pizza with his wife and daughter, only to have it undone? <span class="x4k7w5x x1h91t0o x1h9r5lt xv2umb2 x1beo9mf xaigb6o x12ejxvf x3igimt xarpa2k xedcshv x1lytzrv x1t2pt76 x7ja8zs x1qrby5j x1jfb8zj">When did they go from making pizzas together on Nepenthe to being separated, and why? Riker says something about not accepting his son's death and "feeling nothing" about it. When? Before "Nepenthe" or afterward? It didn't seem evident at all in those scenes. And what about his daughter Kestra? So while Frakes' scenes dictating a letter to Troi, and then talking with her directly, were very well acted, not enough groundwork was laid to have them make sense.<br /></span></p><p>Captain Shaw got his Big Moment(tm) with Jean-Luc Picard in this episode. And it was.... basically Ben Sisko in DS9 with more swear words, and 40 years later. I guess we can assume that they believe no one watching this show actually watched Trek in the 90s, because this is a straight re-use of the plot line. Sure, instead of losing his wife, Shaw lost 150 of his closest friends - literally, he claimed that his 150 person Engineering crew were "all like Jack Crusher to me" as Crusher was to Picard. Really? He had 150 best friends? That's a lot of namesakes for kids right there.<br /><br />When it comes down to it, blaming someone for what they did under the control of another being is petty and stupid, which means by the transitive property that Shaw is petty and stupid. And while that is not a good look for a Starfleet captain, it does work to explain how and why he is such a bad manager who presides over such a dysfunctional crew. For someone who has had 40 years to process his trauma and come to such an obvious realization (that Picard does not share culpability and is a victim himself) explains how he can be so petty to his subordinates, disregarding and minimizing the information they bring to him, fundamentally disrespecting and "deadnaming" seven of Nine, holding staff meetings in the dark like a f#$%ing weirdo, and clearly doing something to make the Doctor such a hosebag to everyone around her. Shaw needs to be in therapy and tending a garden somewhere, not in a captain's chair managing sentient beings with emotional lives and needs.<b><br /></b></p><p>I suppose this dovetails into Seven of Nine's mini-arc, in which Shaw is a giant weenie towards her, but then her insistence on keeping her name comes back to help her identify the changeling imposter. Whee.<b><br /></b></p><p><b>Big Dumb Plot Maintenance<br /></b></p><p>A big part of the progression of this plot is the escape from the nebula. In many ways, this plays out just like a TNG episode - a member of the crew comes up with a cockamamie hot take on their situation, and they technobabble their way into a solution for escape. The way it happens here follows that form but come off feeling a fair bit dumber. Dr. Crusher is the person who tips things off, which is fine, but it is only based on counting the time between "contractions." Is that <i>really </i>enough information to surmise that they are trapped within a life form? Then they have an interminable dialogue scene in which Picard, Riker, Crusher, and Crusher hash out their strategy - I say it is interminable because everyone repeats the plan to each other, over and over and over, as if we're not paying attention. And then when Riker agrees to the plan, he again recapitulates it in an announcement to the crew. Why is this happening? Do the writers think that modern audiences cannot follow a tight TNG-style exposition of the plan? Or do they feel pressure from Paramount to turn three episodes' worth of story into ten?<br /><br />Anyway, my point in bringing this up is not solely to criticize. I want to acknowledge that they aren't murdering their way out of a predicament, which is a step up from recent Kurtzman Trek. It's <i>almost </i>there. It's just bogged down by dumb dialogue and plot stretching.<b></b></p><p>I think we are to take it that the creatures born in this faux nebula are the space jellyfish from Encounter at Farpoint. Which, OK, fine. It's fan service, but it doesn't take half an hour and the jellyfish don't murder anyone, so I'm cool with it. The CGI was pretty.</p><p>Then we have the Changeling Hunt, which was dumb, dumb, dumb, and again is a re-do of a better told story in DS9. You mean to tell me that, in less than 4 hours, Seven of Nine can search a ship of 500 people for a Changeling Bucket(tm), <i>and </i>that the bucket looks exactly like Odo's for some reason? Didn't Odo receive a Bajoran flower pot as a gift or something? <span class="x4k7w5x x1h91t0o x1h9r5lt xv2umb2 x1beo9mf xaigb6o x12ejxvf x3igimt xarpa2k xedcshv x1lytzrv x1t2pt76 x7ja8zs x1qrby5j x1jfb8zj">That's akin to dressing every Jedi in post-1977 Star Wars like Obi Wan's desert gear. You're doing it because the fans recognize it (Yaay clap clap clap), not because it makes sense in the story. Which characterizes an awful lot of this season of Picard.<br /></span></p><p>This episode hopefully has wrapped up the <strike>Frau Farbissina </strike>I mean Vadic plot for a good long while. I just never bought her as a credible villain. Her scene with the talking fat blob also left me cold. Why is every universe threatening baddie blessed with a dark, booming, low voice? Salome Jens was scarier than this.<br /></p><p>There was no Worf/Raffi in this episode at all. Which, to be honest, was a nice break, since that was by far the Kurtzmaniest crap in this season.<b><br /></b><br />Minor production notes: this episode is still darker than the Long Night in Game of Thrones, and the shakycam makes me want to f$%^ing barf.<b><br /></b></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p>Ultimately, this felt like the conclusion of a story, which is oddly satisfying, after Star Trek having had narrative blue balls for the past six years. The story was frequently quite dumb, but no one decapitated anyone, the good guys were finally nice to one another, and a few of the emotional scenes worked. It's amazing how much letting actors we love portray characters we love without murder and strife getting in the way can paper over storytelling deficiencies (which are legion).<br /> <b><br />So I'm at a 6 on this.</b> It's solidly average. Why did we have to waste 4 hours to get here? And will this run of mediocre (in the true sense of the word) quality continue?<br /><br />(Nah.)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw89d3aIlBITOtQejYx4AZ11XDn3AImTBV3bMzDAx27BvDsTURUSQBMkOPjKvbxwervz0Jm-ZvCYoMAsH79wYjMgarZ04lChOqD4A5E9WUXwHcPqIQzydtT4L9iMGmmjGUeb5Awf0iEgCacCPxk9tKn8Xa3kALcNaAv8FSnL4lIcMxAgfs3ydie5QwhA/s1702/Picard%20quality%20graph.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1145" data-original-width="1702" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw89d3aIlBITOtQejYx4AZ11XDn3AImTBV3bMzDAx27BvDsTURUSQBMkOPjKvbxwervz0Jm-ZvCYoMAsH79wYjMgarZ04lChOqD4A5E9WUXwHcPqIQzydtT4L9iMGmmjGUeb5Awf0iEgCacCPxk9tKn8Xa3kALcNaAv8FSnL4lIcMxAgfs3ydie5QwhA/s320/Picard%20quality%20graph.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to embiggen!</span><br /></p><p><b><br /></b></p></div>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-62008874251855218302023-03-09T09:00:00.004-06:002023-03-09T09:00:00.196-06:00Enterprise, Season 4: Babel One<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0v5_GHrZfxorT4aCxUDBkxQjQenKdQ_urvmAd0vPIYBazsEadgd9bL6q-rr1XkPmsK3GXpQ0vrr3E_8fZaejC8hIHFRVfYZbnHY60aeaMMPalFtXkdv_J5YMmrEU6uUYTrscSnD5vAqm4e8oa1X7L81u8Wj5JeSrf0JImNn7uknlwLTSdR8RnbY8B5w/s1600/6.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Babel_One_(episode)"><br />"Babel One"</a><br />Airdate: January 28, 2005<br />87 of 97 produced<br />87 of 97 aired</b><p></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p>Enterprise is interrupted in its mission to mediate a dispute between Tellarites and Andorians by a mysterious attacking vessel. <b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB6NXbAKlT0ZXoxAVgfuAFp0gADZR9nQ-ZKCOTTpizUo5_Ur5gwOLp9SX6opdYz8TPxMR-pHJ9ysRSF1ErC-KCPeBtLZPyGId7tVcn4dxrZwD0EDBsrCo_pEDgoMnlHd6sMF9t_iXB2RYqT9MObgZ6ieuYnL7ZZ90WI0Qf6-1DNJ5zmhvqwqtc2Op2gQ/s1356/22724238657_29243a0fdb_h.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1356" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB6NXbAKlT0ZXoxAVgfuAFp0gADZR9nQ-ZKCOTTpizUo5_Ur5gwOLp9SX6opdYz8TPxMR-pHJ9ysRSF1ErC-KCPeBtLZPyGId7tVcn4dxrZwD0EDBsrCo_pEDgoMnlHd6sMF9t_iXB2RYqT9MObgZ6ieuYnL7ZZ90WI0Qf6-1DNJ5zmhvqwqtc2Op2gQ/s320/22724238657_29243a0fdb_h.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Once we force the subject to watch an uninterrupted Discovery/Picard marathon, </span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">their brain will be susceptible to any suggestion we make..."</span><br /></div><p></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b> </b><p></p><p><b>Writing</b></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Here we are ready to embark on another multipart episode. Given how unsuccessful the last standalone episode was, I'm find getting back to the mini-arcs. This one is fun right off the bat because we know it will involve Shran, far and away Enterprise's most successful character. We're also getting some nice foundation laying for the Federation we know is coming. It builds well on the previous thaws between Earth and Vulcan, and between Vulcan and Andoria. I like that on all sides, there are varying degrees of ambivalence on the conference. All of this combines to make a nice textured universe, and I like that it manages to be a prequel to the Federation that still feels like its own story. This isn't just fan service to set up the Federation. There's some stakes for these characters in their own story and that makes the difference.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I agree that this is a "prequel" that "feels right." It acknowledges TOS "Journey to Babel" without aping it or outright re-doing it (a real problem for current Kurtzman Trek), and it gives the characters we have in this show things to do, positions to hold, and so on. I do wish the goals of the conference has been laid out a little more clearly. I realize this is a nerdy ask, and something that could never happen nowadays. But I long for the days of the Acamarians and the Gatherers hammering out power sharing agreements.<br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>I am ambivalent, slightly coming down against, the Romulan involvement in this story. The show is suffering from the fact that technology has passed what writers in the 60s might have reasonably expected. The line about not having face to face communication in TOS "Balance of Terror" clearly reads as that technology didn't exist in the 22nd century, which unbeknownst to the writers (but knownst to us), we would have that tech in the 21st. So, the holographic ship is clearly the reach to reconcile everything. On the balance, it's a little much. A species capable of running a drone in real time over interstellar distances feels more advanced the the Romulans we saw in TOS. The solution is either ignore them, or frankly acknowledge a retcon. Setting all that aside, I don't think they managed to give the Romulans enough meat on their story and motivations. I had a much sharper sense of the Andorians and Tellarites, and would have been fine had the story stayed there.<br /><br /><b>Matthew: </b>I am totally in favor of explaining the Earth-Romulan War, and this is a fine enough introduction to a story-line that will ultimately (spoiler alert) not bear fruit due to the show's cancellation. With respect to the "not seeing their faces" question, I would go for a "soft retcon," like having them wear helmets (which accords with the helmets worn by TOS Romulans) but still communicate or be seen visually. The real larger continuity problem is having Administrator V'Las be in contact with Romulans in the furtherance of reunification. This fits with neither the "unbeknownst" problem nor the TNG "Reunification" arc. And since that's not really the fault of this episode, I won't ding it for this. <br /></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>Overall, I think this episode does a solid job of setting a bunch of things in motion that the later episodes will handle, and as a place setter, it works pretty well. If I had to be picky, I suppose introducing the romantic relationship with Talas just to shoot her in the teaser comes perilously close to fridging her. Beyond that, it paints stakes and motivations quite nicely. I'll save this for the later episodes once we get to the meat of the story, but this is second time where the best stories of Enterprise have our main crew on the sidelines of it. It's not fatal to the season, but it is a kind of backhand compliment to the show. The show is at its best when it ignores the characters that have the center of it for the last three years.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I enjoyed this episode for all of the interpersonal interactions. Archer and Shran sharing a drink was a lovely scene, and indeed, Talas was a fun addition to the story, despite suffering the unfortunate malady of not being Suzie Plakson. I liked that her seduction attempt with the MACO failed, and so they had to beat him up. It was a rare non-incompetent Starfleet-adjacent security character. I thought the action stuff on the drone ship was just sort of "meh" and could have been streamlined in favor of more talking scenes (I should just save this sentence to paste into practically every Trek review I write from here on out). <br /></p><p><b>Acting</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> I will save time and energy and simply cite back to all the nice things I've said about Jeffrey Combs to date. The Tellarite actors as a group did well this week. Their 'argumentativeness' is usually a punchline, but I think everyone made it closer to a real personality trait. Molly Brink's Talas is again a worthy successor to Suzie Plakson. She had great chemistry with Combs, too.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Stipulating to the argumentative thing being kind of dumb, I agree that the actors carried it off well. They gave it a sense of calculation and evaluation, not just stupid irascibility. I also enjoyed Grace Park and Scott Bakula trading insults in the teaser. Bakula got a lot of nice scenes this episode, with Park, Combs, Blalock, and the Tellarites to boot. He could easily have gone Angry Dad with the Tellarite scenes, but reined it in.<br /></p><p><b>Production Values</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> There was a lot in this episode and it all largely works. The Romulan ship was a good model and the interiors felt really detailed and varied, a tall order for a drone ship. The costumes and makeup on the guest starts was also a nice array of good work. This is really the show hitting its stride. All the work serves the episode quite well.<br /><br /><b>Matthew: </b>The CGI effect that stuck out to me was the CGI spacesuit characters sent hurtling down the corridor - they were decidedly non-Gumby, which is a huge improvement over recent Enterprise CGI. The ship shots were predictably (at this point) good and the Tellarites were a good, solid, faithful upgrade over the TOS rubber masks. I might have enjoyed some cubed foods during the reception just as a wink to TOS fans. Oh, well.<br /></p><p></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> As a set up episode, it certainly checks the boxes, but as a set up episode, it does cover a lot of plot when I wouldn't have minded more time on relationships and other character focused work. That's a small complaint, and this lands in a hearty three for me. It's a very good competent episode that sets up a lot of fun places to go, and spoiler alert, we'll actually get to the fireworks factory this time.</p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I agree on the 3 for <b>a total of 6.</b> This felt a bit slow burn, and didn't introduce a big "hook." If they had withheld the Romulan reveal to the end, that might have hit harder. As it was, the reveal was only that the ship was controlled remotely. Either way, there weren't enough ideas to really animate me above "this was solidly entertaining," whether they be the details of the Andorian/Tellarite dispute, or the Vulcan-Romulan unification question.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-12304906805671822992023-03-03T17:44:00.009-06:002023-03-03T18:27:37.713-06:00Picard, Season 3: Seventeen Seconds<div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgUk6QermMGuoD_5vwAKB_F3BQR9GdCIwfBoMDj4jipRnPjXnWZn8zsiJC83vjcC4tPPbZqYbGLtjIiAdfjGSYTBHVwdc169Qk-c0fLDfL2LQ8FSaXdwN1mm30t_E8I67xpohTUSTMneJ3JUAVyOy5T19PFwamq-f4glGYfgzukWzQgBHIinBgYS_6jw/s1600/4.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Picard, Season 3<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Seventeen_Seconds_(episode)">"Seventeen Seconds"</a><br />Aired: March 2, 2023<br />22 of 30 produced<br />22 of 30 released</b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Introduction<br /></b><br />Still stuck in the same spot as last episode, Picard Season 3 decides that trashing its characters will pass the time instead of advancing the plot.</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUQ9XmL-LU9wuFzttxYqC9rtviztCr9YsexEGl9sox19TK5jRmgk3nYwBhhAfMlbkvSukl8wKqrh4EQzjHLNEspFCv94k5CdceTXkFMo7pgHcX8kLjU6zIDT1P9Fck-xUo-7PC183NriwOY4f3NP0cxqYVB2iRp2xr1Xl4j91yQR2seYP4FeviDuCuow/s762/ZcZTVu5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="762" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUQ9XmL-LU9wuFzttxYqC9rtviztCr9YsexEGl9sox19TK5jRmgk3nYwBhhAfMlbkvSukl8wKqrh4EQzjHLNEspFCv94k5CdceTXkFMo7pgHcX8kLjU6zIDT1P9Fck-xUo-7PC183NriwOY4f3NP0cxqYVB2iRp2xr1Xl4j91yQR2seYP4FeviDuCuow/w339-h183/ZcZTVu5.png" width="339" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pictured: What Star Trek will look like after Stewart and Frakes sign away their likeness rights.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><br />Review</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Editor's note: </b>Kevin has tapped out of reviewing these episodes, because, in Marie Kondo fashion, pondering this show does not bring him joy. As such, Matthew will concoct a rating on Treknobabble's 10 point scale, instead of an individual 1 through 5 rating.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Matthew: </b>I fully and completely understand Kevin's decision, because, as I remarked to him before this episode, I feel nothing towards this show, except maybe a grudging sense of obligation to wach it. The first two episodes were boring and stupid and violent in all the same ways as prior seasons of Kurtzman Trek, and the critical (astroturf?) consensus on the show is utterly baffling, <a href="https://www.engadget.com/star-trek-picard-season-3-paramount-plus-preview-review-080010710.html">except for a few rational outliers.</a><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">So what of this installment? We were given a big "revelation" last episode, in which (to the surprise of no one) Jack Crusher was revealed to be Picard's son with Beverly. Lucy has some 'splainin' to do, so to speak. And what was her explanation? <br /><br />She got pregnant right after they broke up (because messy breakup sex is really on brand for TNG-era Jean-Luc Picard), and then decided to ghost him because his life is really dangerous and her son would grow up with a target on his back.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Can anyone see the problem here? Beverly Crusher is a career Starfleet officer, for one. She literally chose exactly the same life, served on exactly the same ship for over a decade, and is intimately familiar with the dangers and the rewards that such a life offers. So maybe motherhood has changed her priorities? Ummm, remember Wesley? The Mozart-level wunderkind who was the apple of her eye? She chose to bring him along, and then LEFT HIM ALONE ON THE SHIP FOR A YEAR with the selfsame Jean-Luc Picard. And then, even within the confines of this show, she has taken the same Jack Crusher she was so worried about on some sort of dangerous, galaxy-spanning "Doctors Without Borders" quest. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Suffice it to say, this explanation is incoherent, and constitutes outright character assassination - of a main series character that I deeply cherish, to boot. This is not even to mention the gem of "lampshade" storytelling that comes next, in which Picard questions why Jack has a British accent. Beverly says he went to school in London and "just never shook it." Um, how long did he go to school there for - decades? And so his accent is an affectation? Then Beverly jokes that maybe it's genetic. Ha ha. So that means everyone else in the world, who knows that Picard is a Frenchman, has always wondered why Picard has a British accent - including Picard himself?<br /><br />OK. Reel it in, Weflen.<br /><b><br /></b>Their plot continues the nebula space battle "Wrath of Khan" redux. And it's fine, for the most part. The ship looks really cool, the battle itself was fine enough, and a secret saboteur is revealed on the ship. Shaw still acts like a moron, gets injured and then puts Riker in command - a man he professed a profound lack of respect and nearly outright hatred for not two episodes ago - instead of any of the members of his own chain of command. Then Riker and Picard fight over strategy and by the end Riker puts Picard off the bridge for "killing us all."</p><p style="text-align: left;">The B plot has Worf and Raffi doing their thing again. Since Worf has murdered all of his informants last episode, they have to find a new guy, and do. This guy acts like a drug addict, but is in fact a changeling who really wants to regenerate. Uhhhh, why did he allow himself to get caught on Planet Drugs in the first place? He could literally change his appearance to look like anyone in the galaxy, and had ample opportunity to do so.<br /><br />Anyway, Worf gets some good one liners in typical Worf style, and the next "twist" to the plot is revealed, that a "rogue terrorist faction" of Founders (how that works in a joined mind sea of goo is beyond me) is bent on the idea of destroying Starfleet. Of course there will be a minimum of 7 more twists that will likely undo this, but whatever. I'm OK with it. Would it be my choice for storytelling? No, since "shapeshifters infiltrate Starfleet" was already done perfectly in "Homefront/Paradise Lost" and in the Dominion War. But it's fine because plot is actually happening, and earlier than prior seasons.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Production values were fine. The ship looks great. Everything is still too dark. The camera still shakes around even during quiet dialogue scenes. The CGI de-aging during the flashback was not good, especially since they did not also de-age Patrick Stewart's <i>very </i>old sounding voice.<br /><br />Acting was fine for what it was. Michael Dorn, as per usual, got the best lines and was the most entertaining.<b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Conclusion</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">The drama here feels manufactured. Paramount let its fruit rot on the vine for 20 years, and now they need to gin up a way to do the predictable Wrath of Khan <i>redux </i>that they think will please fans. So the writers needed to reverse engineer an explanation for an unknown son and graft it onto these characters. Well, they failed. A hokey conspiracy plot would have been better than what we've gotten. We are 1.5 movies into this story and still don't really know the plot or the stakes. The world doesn't feel like the Starfleet that I grew up wanting to join - everyone is mean and nasty to everyone else (what the hell was with the ship's doctor, anyway? Beverly Crusher was literally the head of Starfleet Medical, has been doing field medicine for the last 20 years, and you don't trust her to help treat some bumps and bruises?) for no apparent reason, and the world is grim, dark, and pointless.<br /><br /> On the plus side, this was less gratuitously violent than the last episode and felt like it was spinning its wheels less. Worf was amusing instead of psychopathically murderous. <b><br /></b><br />I would have given this a 5 if it weren't for the Crusher character assassination. With that, which was a major and upsetting part of the episode, <b>I think this is still a 4.</b><br /><br />This feels like Star Trek Nemesis The TV Series. Characters who look like the ones we know but act just out of character enough to grate. Stupid violence and an overall supervillain plot that makes very little sense. Emotional beats that don't really work. A desperate attempt to recapitulate the success of Star Trek II because no one with fresh ideas is allowed to pitch them, at all.<b></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTwuWYLGIlCdKod4NsFZrxVqKQ34b0TZ5RzZ_k-WwkTRW6AAFJHFSpUkN9pSAu8Kuh8YyZp9P0f9ZapXKJx_lyp_-1hY_X5frq1QgA1vgVI_gSyzC2xPm_dodEu9mnh6ptkC8wdIh6FCK31DtRK5E93kZy-_WOhC4PAoiyo2MCN3Gu_ooKKPUZ3sk5Uw/s1727/Picard%20quality%20graph.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1119" data-original-width="1727" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTwuWYLGIlCdKod4NsFZrxVqKQ34b0TZ5RzZ_k-WwkTRW6AAFJHFSpUkN9pSAu8Kuh8YyZp9P0f9ZapXKJx_lyp_-1hY_X5frq1QgA1vgVI_gSyzC2xPm_dodEu9mnh6ptkC8wdIh6FCK31DtRK5E93kZy-_WOhC4PAoiyo2MCN3Gu_ooKKPUZ3sk5Uw/s320/Picard%20quality%20graph.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to embiggen!</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Kevin: </b>My swan song on reviewing this season is to point out that, if nothing else, this dialog is atrocious. Picard and Crusher sounded like college students dealing with a surprise pregnancy, not adults who literally have decades of real relationship under their belt. And for the last time, relationships are more interesting than twists. Watching these people navigate the complexity of possibly becoming parents and what that means for their friendship, let alone romantic relationship is just infinitely more fertile ground for a story. Worf was good this week and Raffi having someone to talk to was nice, since Michelle Hurd can...you know...act, being a professional actor and all. I would have bought his Uncle Iroh tea routine if he hadn't decapitated a room full of people last week (which they showed in flashback for some reason). </p><p style="text-align: left;">Lastly, the de-aging effects on Patrick Stewart were laughably bad. He looked like he was wearing drag make up. And don't get me wrong, I, unlike the state of Tennessee love drag makeup, I just think it was unintentional. So, yeah, maybe I'll binge the season later just to see what happens, or not. It's just we've spent 3 of the 10 hours we have left and we have barely named the villain let alone established their motivations in a coherent way. It's just going to twist on twist. It will turn out the Changelings are all working for Berlinghoff Rasmussen or something. because nothing matters.</p><p style="text-align: left;">And lastly, and I mean it: Why would body slamming a Changeling into a table incapacitate him?</p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-36245576003210580532023-03-03T09:00:00.006-06:002023-03-03T17:47:18.709-06:00Enterprise, Season 4: Observer Effect<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treknobabble.net/p/rating-system.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="81" data-original-width="81" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQqtp_4-Bizj6XvMDVtAouDssG0R6nZmyRSH-yJFAaaIjI9Kb2pNkwb1EV3RmMr4Wd17AehCVkbFXL9x5Ju4aKC_oMTxxKuPRSXU6yG7X4r7Y_W2CZjpeXOLUuFoSS-IGcD88WDcc9Mg9LUUBCOMdXio8i_mbbpvBcPNxQV8kdZhqb6nVb72p6AhgnAQ/s1600/7.png" width="81" /></a></div><b>Enterprise, Season 4<br /><a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Observer_Effect_(episode)">"Observer Effect"</a><br />Airdate: January 21, 2005<br />86 of 97 produced<br />86 of 97 aired</b><p></p><p></p><p><b>Introduction</b></p><p>Two strangers inhabit the bodies of the Enterprise crew during a crisis.<b> <br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzigZ8YSXt8I2X_XwNT9o5mnxwyRWTPpRylKVIS2vE2BFTxNBeHw15_tw-76jR7B_jBQQLY_UJ1U3ulPQWRShxy9wW-s8SDKnveNCNO0Q3tg3ZgqA2nuP1mnWrzCeLWtNZq6l9uHwFF_2LIBy2ytm8h-8acSeQjrXxq0zDssNk6-Uvn8Ztiwl-pHNkOw/s850/observer_effect_411.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="850" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzigZ8YSXt8I2X_XwNT9o5mnxwyRWTPpRylKVIS2vE2BFTxNBeHw15_tw-76jR7B_jBQQLY_UJ1U3ulPQWRShxy9wW-s8SDKnveNCNO0Q3tg3ZgqA2nuP1mnWrzCeLWtNZq6l9uHwFF_2LIBy2ytm8h-8acSeQjrXxq0zDssNk6-Uvn8Ztiwl-pHNkOw/s320/observer_effect_411.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Hoshi Sato, looking the way I feel after an episode of "Picard"</span></span></b><br /></div><b> </b><p></p><p><b><span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><b>Writing</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>So there are two main threads to the story - an "outbreak" sci-fi narrative, and a classic Trek trope - the non-corporeal species with "elevated morality." As an Outbreak story, I think this worked pretty well. I believed that the illness was serious and that the crew was taking it seriously. I think putting Trip and Hoshi in decon quarantine was effective emotionally for we the viewers, who not too long ago lived through something similar (albeit more typically in larger domiciles). I thought Phlox also got some nice scenes as a professional Doctor. So all in all, this thread was pretty entertaining.<b></b></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>The progression of the outbreak was really well done. The disease was scary and they built the symptoms and the technobabble well. The crew responded intelligently. It helped that they didn't have to make 'mistakes' to keep the threat urgent. The fear for Hoshi and Tucker built well, and Archer's grief at their loss worked, even knowing it would shortly be reversed, no small feat. <br /></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>Now for the Organians. Firstly, it didn't have to be the Organians. We've discussed the problems of prequels <i>ad nauseam, </i>but they are present here. Of course they Organians can erase their presence from the crew's minds. But there isn't any indication in TOS that this would be the kind of observation mission they would undertake. So it could just as well have been the Schmorganians. The presentation of their body swapping and their style of observation was creepy and effective (though I think the writers missed an opportunity to make T'Pol the emotional Organian and Archer the cold one). I do think the criteria of their observation, and its potential outcomes, could have been made clearer. Just what is "rational intelligence" in response to an outbreak? The "logical" Organian seems to veer between chastising corporeal beings for killing their sick, and viewing such actions as the more rational. Which is it? The scenes of them animating the corpses of Trip and Hoshi were eerie and well done.</p><p><b>Kevin:</b> The scenes of them inhabiting the dead bodies worked really well. It was creepy and effective. The problem is that, as you say, this didn't need to be the Organians. It was just fan service, and not particularly effective. It doesn't jibe with the TOS portrayal. I will also say the moral debate they were having wasn't super well sketched out. I'm not sure how useful this is a test of intelligence. It may reveal their moral priorities, and you can decide if that's someone you want to invite over for board games and hot cocoa. As much as I love Star Trek's philosophical musings, they are occasionally fast and loose with their terminology.<br /><br /><b>Matthew</b>: The third "Piller Filler" style mini-thread is the Hoshi/Trip conversations in quarantine. I think these were in the main effective, although Hoshi's story about running a Poker game feels a bit out of Left Field. Nonetheless, both characters are developed, get further fleshing out of back story, and get some nice scenes together, in an unorthodox pairing. <b></b></p><p><b>Kevin: </b>I will say that the back story of Hoshi running an illegal poker game
and breaking a dude's arm does not....fit...with her prior
characterization, but I suppose I'm happy she's getting whole chunks of
dialogue that is not translating things. It is nice to see normal, human conversations though.<br /></p><p><b>Acting</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>All of the actors who played Organians did a nice job of modulating their voices and postures in order to seem "out of character." The teaser scene with Dominic Keating and Anthony Montgomery was a great reveal of the weirdness afoot, and this is a credit to the actors. They also made the compassionate Organian's conversion work. I enjoyed their flat affect delivery. Similarly, Bakula, Blalock, Trinneer, and Park all delivered as well. Bakula was also particularly effective as the concerned captain. He really sold his "Sacrifice" at the end, and his communication with T'Pol was a credit to both actors.</p><p><b>Kevin:</b> The transitions were good, and a real step up from the similar set up in Season 2 misfire "The Crossing." Trinneer and Park had a nice vibe in the decon room. They weren't suddenly professing love (thank god), and they weren't suddenly best friends, but they just portrayed a nice rapport. <br /></p><p><b>Production Values </b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>This was a bottle show, designed to save on budgets for the season. The main "new-ish" set we got was the extended decon quarantine space. Otherwise, this was filmed on sets that were entirely used prior to this episode - and with no new actors or costumes. It just goes to show how effective storytelling is more important than any cool-looking gewgaw or effect. The sick makeup for Trip and Hoshi was very good.</p><p><b>Kevin: </b>The makeup job for them being dead really worked, and camera and sound choices really just let it all breathe, so to speak. They really nailed a body horror element that managed to land without derailing the main plot. <br /></p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p><b>Matthew: </b>I'm somewhere between a 3 and 4 on this. It's a self contained story with a novel angle and some good scenes. But I can easily pinpoint areas that might have been improved. I think, though, combined with the good acting on display, that this hits slightly above average, and I will go with a 4.<b></b></p><p><b>Kevin:</b> I think the weak fan service and flabby moral analysis of the Organians holds this back from a 4. It is a hearty 3 for me. This is a nice, solid, middle of the road episode that combines a solid (if not perfectly executed) idea and some lovely character work all around. It is actually really enjoyable to watch a standalone story populated by good acting and a solid understanding of emotional beats. It seeks to entertain me for 45 minutes and it did with ease. <b>That makes a total of 7.</b><br /></p>matthewweflenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.com1