Star Trek General Discussion

[KTrain]

Bit of a rough STW episode this week. It’s a classic Trek episode but not the classic Trek I enjoy.

We do get a resolution on one of the storylines, but it could have been handled less cringey.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by KTrain

Bit of a rough STW episode this week. It’s a classic Trek episode but not the classic Trek I enjoy.

We do get a resolution on one of the storylines, but it could have been handled less cringey.

Yeah, a bit like a TNG holodeck episode, but not as executed quite as well.

[Monahammer]

There were cringe moments but I think the episode stuck the landing. Still wish there were going to be like 20 episode seasons.

[Duruss]

I liked the emotional punch of this episode, it was cheesy and had heart.

[Shazam]

Sweet lord Singh and Uhura were haaawwtt.

[Traditional_Ale]

Everything about this episode, hell, this season; has made me feel like a 10-year old child that first fell in love with Trek to begin with.

A++

[Locke]

Anyone catch the DS9 hint?

Spoiler!

The Book 'Elysian Kingdom' was written by 'Benny Russell' who was Sisko's character in the DS9 episode 'Far Beyond the Stars' where he was a Black writer in old-timey 'Murica.

https://www.slashfilm.com/905507/sta...ne-easter-egg/

[Shazam]

Cripes Christina Chong was Lorna Bucket in DW. I knew I saw her somewhere else.

[timun]

Good for Christina Chong getting a chance to do something other than play the rather dour and serious Singh character. It was nice to see her get the opportunity to "stretch her legs" and show that she is capable of much more emotive acting. Acting as a perpetually "serious" character is deceptively difficult.



I can see why a lot of people may not have been a fan of this latest episode, and I went in quite skeptical as I'm not a big fan of TOS episodes like "The Squire of Gothos" or "Shore Leave". That said I was pleasantly surprised by the explanation for why the crew had suddenly begun a ren faire on the ship, and the resolution of M'Benga's daughter's story is as satisfying as it could have been. I wasn't really sure where they were going to take that plot point when they introduced it earlier in the season, as they had quite clearly established that she couldn't stay in the transporter buffer much longer, and if she'd just died there's no way they could believably keep Dr. M'Benga on the crew: he'd be a crushed, just a shell of a man afterward.

So it was never really a question of whether she would live, just a question of how. I figured there would be some deus ex machina medical cure and she'd live happily ever after, which wouldn't have been satisfactory but at least would have made some sense. Instead the idea that she'd live a non-corporeal existence is satisfying and not as clichéd, and it gives M'Benga more to do going forward. I don't know who wrote this plot thread into the series in the first place but in retrospect it was always going to be a bit of a dead end (no pun intended) for the M'Benga character.

[CaptainCrunch]

I liked it, especially after last weeks episode which had a obvious plot twist and felt like it tried too hard.


This one was a lot of fun as the cast got to ham things up, especially Mount and Chong who were clearly having a ton of fun playing opposite their character.



Of course the episode in the end is about heartbreak and making a decision. Sometimes with parents or so I'm told they need to make decisions about their children that represent a major sacrifice for them. This epsiode was all about that heartbreaking choice for M'Benga.


But where does this leave that characters arc, is there more story to tell? We know he's not long for the Star Trek verse.


By the way, one of the funniest things was this overwhelming critism of Anson Mounts Pike hair. The response? Give him the worst most ridiculous hair possible.


Solid episode, that tracks to one of the great things about Trek in that you'll get a zany episode like this and you know its followed by tragedy. What's coming next week?

[CaptainCrunch]

In case anyone is interested in the background of the Boltzmann brain


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain

[oldschoolcalgary]

finally catching up with SNW - its been really refreshing actually. I like the 'anthology' style of visiting SNW again... not sure if there is a meta narrative, though I suppose Pike's future qualifies.

Love the callbacks to TOS, especially the human Spock fighting the vulcan Spock... using the original battle theme was brilliant.

really enjoying it - hopefully it does well... More Gia Sandhu please!

[direwolf]

Another fun episode. That ending got me all emotional. I've clearly become big softie in my old age.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Another fun episode. That ending got me all emotional. I've clearly become big softie in my old age.

Dude, I was looking for the dust that dropped from the ceiling right into my eyes.


Great ending and if that's a wrap with the Doctor its a great wrap up.


I wish there had been more Chapel in that episode. She's a fun character.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

But where does this leave that characters arc, is there more story to tell? We know he's not long for the Star Trek verse.

What do you mean? Dr. M'Benga is still on the Enterprise in the Original Series.

[SutterBrother]

Anson Mount hamming it up. Awesome!

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

I thought this episode was great.

TOS had the "Well I guess we have these ren fair/gangster/whatever costumes and set, how can we write a script about this" episodes.

TNG & Voyager had Holodeck episodes.

Most series throw in a few episodes that are "Star Trek crew, but...(Insert weird genre here). Usually they are terrible, but SNW put their tongue firmly in their cheeks and made a pretty good episode that really played around with the trope.

Chong, Mount, and (don't know the actor who plays Hemmer), all did amazing, I legitimately laughed out loud a few times.

They advanced some plot, got their weird fantasy episode out of the way, and made me laugh.
All in all, pretty well done.

Half a season in, and I already know more about every crew member than anyone other than Michael in Discovery.
I'm really loving this show.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

I thought this episode was great.

TOS had the "Well I guess we have these ren fair/gangster/whatever costumes and set, how can we write a script about this" episodes.

TNG & Voyager had Holodeck episodes.

Most series throw in a few episodes that are "Star Trek crew, but...(Insert weird genre here). Usually they are terrible, but SNW put their tongue firmly in their cheeks and made a pretty good episode that really played around with the trope.

Chong, Mount, and (don't know the actor who plays Hemmer), all did amazing, I legitimately laughed out loud a few times.

They advanced some plot, got their weird fantasy episode out of the way, and made me laugh.
All in all, pretty well done.

Half a season in, and I already know more about every crew member than anyone other than Michael in Discovery.
I'm really loving this show.

Hemmer is played by Bruce Horak who is from Calgary!

You can usually see him on the stage here or doing his art. I highly recommend seeing his one-man show "Assassinating Thomson" if he ever brings it back.


http://www.brucehorak.com/

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Sweet lord Singh and Uhura were haaawwtt.

in general this crew is pretty hawt. Spock with the Guild haircut was almost enough to make me switch sides. also I get the impression that Anson Mount is a big corny nerd in real life because he does goofy much too convincingly.

whether this episode "hit it" for you or not, the important thing is that the writers trusted you enough to understand what this was in Star Trek terms. can you imagine the showrunners of Discovery and Picard trying to do one of these? "hrrm, too much levity. our focus groups indicate that audiences only want serialized Dark Trek. let's throw in a scene with a beloved legacy character getting their eye torn out of its socket with rusty space tongs."

my only minor concern is that we're burning through Trek episode templates pretty fast. so far we've gotten

- disguised away team
- mediation between primitive warring factions
- threatening ancient powerful alien that's actually benevolent
- crew infected/mind controlled
- submarine warfare
- shore leave hijinks
- peaceful alien civilization with a dark secret
- surprise takeover of Enterprise by alien guest
- LARP

if we get a time travel/loop or mirror universe episode before the end of the season, I'll be a bit worried. but then again, maybe we just need the comfort food after years of being force fed some executive's idea of haute cuisine.

[CaptainCrunch]

We still haven't seen Klingon's yet, and I'm talking actual no bumps on their head over the top scenary chewing klingons from the original series


Romulans - even though they hadn't actually seen romulans until the OS


I hope they leave the mirror universe out of it, they completely ruined it in Discovery. Even though the mirror universe arch in Enterprise was the high point of that season.


They need the cheaply staged episode like the OK corral episode in the original series


Someone needs to steal spocks brain.