Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch (oh god no)

[Ambient Sheep]

Hmmm, seems I somehow missed that one, the description rang no bells and Google Images confirms.  Doesn't look like I missed much though.

Oh great, was already an inconsequential post, and now a new page too.  Sorry everyone.


EDIT: just checked, our watchalong watched two that day (11th March this year), the other being the subsequent The Defector, which I remember very well.  Can now only think that The Vengeance Factor was totally unmemorable.

[Mr Trumpet]

Is there another similar episode with a tribe of outcast soldiers from a now-peaceful planet? I get that confused with this one if so.

[MojoJojo]

There's The Hunted in a few episodes. That's a lot better. I think Lemming will have some thoughts on it.

There are a lot of repeated ideas in s03. A lot of them are inconsequential - e.g. A lot of episodes start with the Enterprise visiting a planet due to a plague - but some higher concepts are repeated too.

I'm watching some TOS as well, and there's something interesting about the way food is handled in each series. Food hasn't been in TOS much except for a few salads, but I get that 1950s food pill vibe. In TNG they introduce the replicators and show near contempt for cooking, like Riker in the Vengeance Factor. In DS9 they still have replicators, but the writers realise that eating is more than sustinence and characters eat for pleasure, go to Quarks to eat together and cook for fun. In voyager the replicators basically stop working, and obtaining food and cooking become a matter of survival.

[mothman]

Considering phasers and disruptors have the ability to vapourise, it's striking how rarely it's used[nb]In what I would call the "modern era" - but meaning TNG and after; when really the modern era is Discovery and after.[/nb] and thus retains its shock value.

[kalowski]

I watched a great episode last night (not yet reviewed but I am looking forward to everyone's opinions - my son just said, "That was brilliant," as we reached the end). But it did remind me how flaky the Enterprise's shield are. A couple of hits and they're down to 37% of whatever. And I'm sure other crafts have better shields too.
At least this is how it feels to me.

[Wonderful Butternut]

One thing always bothers me about this episode and that's Riker vapourising Yuta. I get the idea, it's to show that his duty and stopping a murder comes above all else, but the execution of it doesn't really work. Anyone except Chorgan can safely restrain Yuta without being killed by her heart attack virus, and surely Riker could've tried shooting her a few more times on a setting below maximum? She was barely able to get up after the second shot. Also maximum setting on a phaser is said in a later episode to be able to take out half a building, could you try a bit below that maybe?

I watched a great episode last night (not yet reviewed but I am looking forward to everyone's opinions - my son just said, "That was brilliant," as we reached the end). But it did remind me how flaky the Enterprise's shield are. A couple of hits and they're down to 37% of whatever. And I'm sure other crafts have better shields too.
At least this is how it feels to me.

Since very few TNG plots are solved by blowing up ships, pretty much any firefight consists of the Enterprise either being completely outclassed, or effortlessly defeating their opponent as the plot requires. As such when the stakes require, the ship appears to have an eggshell for shields.

[earl_sleek]

Like how long it takes to travel to various places, shield strength isn't depicted consistently and basically does whatever is convenient for the writers.

[daf]

056 | "The Vengeance Factor"



Hell's Arseholes in Spaaaaaaaaaaace!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Highlights :
• Rambunctious Gatherer Banter
• The Boot Scavenging Sketch
• Go Home Old Woman!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• Palm Torches #3
• Spiced Parthas à la Yuta
• Riker Snog Servant
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Score :

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Ah yes, Episode "Rein in your Travelling Community please they keep stealing all our scrap metal."

The Gatherers are one of a number of alien races that openly scoff at the Federation because they're pampered and soft and want for nothing and Can't Possibly Know What Our Hard Life Is Like, and they make me cringe because I used to write fanfiction staring various Mary Sues exactly like this.

I like that Wesley rolls his eyes at the Gatherer who comes aboard the Enterprise, rather than becoming enamoured with him, because that feels like what they're setting up and it's nice to see it subverted.

[mothman]

Once you start to unpack the motivations of all the people from the Federation who've chosen to opt out if it in favour of some half-baked notions about individualism and the sanctity of labour, and draw parallels with equivalents in real-life modern-day society, you start to lose any sort of respect for a lot of them. The Maquis become a lot more questionable for one.

[Mr Trumpet]

"I'm being advised to go and live my life of ease and fulfilment on a different idyllic M-class planet from the one I previously lived on, because that's the price of ending a bloody war? Truly, I am emblematic of oppressed peoples throughout history"

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

"I'm being advised to go and live my life of ease and fulfilment on a different idyllic M-class planet from the one I previously lived on, because that's the price of ending a bloody war? Truly, I am emblematic of oppressed peoples throughout history"

oh okay can we send all the unionists to live on mainland Britain so we can get on with Irish reunification then

[Zetetic]

Do Federation citizens get a go on transporters much? (Vaguely related to the current discussion.)

[Wonderful Butternut]

oh okay can we send all the unionists to live on mainland Britain so we can get on with Irish reunification then

Only 3 years away according to "The High Ground".

[Mr Trumpet]

oh okay can we send all the unionists to live on mainland Britain so we can get on with Irish reunification then

They can have Ireland 2, it's a faraway planet full of kerbstones waiting to be painted

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

More seriously and less flippantly, "we don't want to move from this planet we settled and worked and made nice" is understandable and tracks with a colonist mentality. You terraformed the place and built houses and grew food and now someone says "sorry, you have to move, someone else wants to live here". Not only are you leaving the place you made your home, if you're a first generation colonist you remember how hard it was in the early days. Now you have to start all that again, only now you're older and maybe have small kids in tow.

As for the Maquis, their own government gave away their homes to the enemy. And while at first it seemed like the enemy would allow them to stay, and treat them fairly, it quickly became apparent that they wanted rid of the colonists by any means necessary. And the Federation didn't really help them.

[Mr Trumpet]

I can understand their annoyance, but in the scheme of things they have better opportunities and a higher quality of life available to them than any group IRL that they might be compared with, and indeed than comfortably non-oppressed people like me in the 21st century. So it's quite an ask to feel sorry for them.

[Lemming]

Do Federation citizens get a go on transporters much? (Vaguely related to the current discussion.)

I think civilian-Picard teleports from his house in France to a museum in San Francisco in the first episode of Star Trek Picard, but don't quote me on that.

They'd have to be the main method of international transport on Earth, surely, unless the transporter-fuckup-rate is higher than its generally portrayed as being.

[Poobum]

In DS9 Cisko mentions using up all his transporter credits to go back home during his first week at Starfleet Academy cause of home sickness, which kinda raises more questions then it answers.

[mothman]

That could be like a way of regulating leave though, while you're on the Academy site you can only leave via transporter..?

[Lemming]

S03E10 - The Defector

A Romulan officer apparently attempts to defect to the Federation.

- Shakespeare on the holodeck, uUUuUUurrRrRrgh. Picard WRONGLY believes that Shakespeare is the ultimate window into "the human condition".

- A Romulan scout ship shows up, being shot at by a Romulan battleship. The guy inside asks for asylum, and after a bit of a shit-your-pants tense chase sequence, is brought aboard. He claims to have information vital to the survival of the Federation.

- The defector, Setal, claims to be a low ranking logistics officer. His claim is that a base is being built inside the Neutral Zone, from which an attack fleet will be laucnhed in two days, able to devastate fifteen Federation sectors. The verdict is that he's talking bollocks, and has been sent to lure the Enterprise into the Neutral Zone to give the Romulans a justification for attacking it.

- EXTREME acting by Michael Dorn. Bev treats Setal's wounds, and Setal remarks that it's interesting that she knows how to do this. She says she's had experience working on Romulans recently, referring to "The Enemy". Cut to Worf looking extremely downcast.

-

SETAL: How do you allow Klingon p'tahk to walk around in a Starfleet uniform?
WORF: You are lucky this is not a Klingon ship. We know how to deal with spies.
SETAL: Remove this tohzah from my sight.
RIKER: Your knowledge of Klingon curses is impressive. But as a Romulan might say, only a veruul would use such language in public.

Wouldn't it be great if Setal responded by showing his knowledge of Earth insults by just calling Riker a cunt?

- Setal, alone in his quarters, makes sure he's got his trusty SUICIDE PILL on him. Good job not searching him when he came aboard, gang.

- All kinds of dodgy shit is emerging - Setal blew up his own ship, sensors show nothing where the alleged Romulan base is, an analysis of the initial chase suggests that the pursuing warbird intentionally avoided destroying Setal's ship, and Setal himself clearly knows more than a minor logistics officer should.

- A good Picard moment, for a change - he asks Data to keep an unedited, impartial recording of everything that happens over the next 24 hours, so that history can fairly judge Picard's actions in the build-up to potential war with Romulus.

- It's time to go to the INTERROGATION ROOM so Troi can give Setal a right psychic going-over. Riker, appearing to think he's in a 70s cop drama, screams in Setal's face for about a minute, then gives it up as a bad job.

- There's a subtle background plot where Picard appears to ask Worf to contact the Klingons to provide backup in the event of a jam with the Romulans. Why would Worf have the ability to do this? They'll listen to him just because he's a Klingon, even though he's been to Qo'noS like, never?

- Geordi uses a couple of very common metaphors. Data, allegedly the most complex AI ever created and the only one granted sentient rights, gets his brain absolutely fried by this. Data goes off to befriend Setal, and shows him a cool recreation of Romulus on the holodeck, just to remind him that he can NEVER RETURN. Setal decides to stop fucking about and admits to actually being Admiral Jarok.

- Picard and Jarok have a dramatic line delivery contest, after which Jarok agrees to give the technical data of the Romulan warbirds over, to allow the Enterprise a chance in fighting them if attacked. More interesting acting from Dorn in the briefing scene, while everyone else is looking at Picard, he's silently glaring at the table, lost in thoughts.

-

RIKER: I don't like it I would've expected a greeting party.
PICARD: You echo another noteworthy commander in a similar circumstances, Number One. A countryman of yours, George Armstrong Custer when his Seventh Cavalry arrived at the Little Big Horn.
RIKER: May we have better luck.

Jesus. Not sure if that's the best person to be comparing yourselves with.

- There's fucking nothing on Nelvana III. Picard and Jarok conclude that Jarok's been taken for a ride, given false info by the Romulan government specifically to see if he'd defect. Picard really rubs salt into the wound just to be a dick, and Riker finally suggests they get the fuck out of the Neutral Zone immediately.

- Two warbirds show up and harass the Enterprise, one of them led by Tomalak. After a bit of fun taunting, Tomalak offers Picard the chance to surrender or die. It's game over but then WORF'S KLINGON MATES arrive and surround the Romulans. Tomalak and Picard agree that this is absolute bollocks, and that it's probably best to just go home and pretend nothing happened.

- Jarok, having been absolutely owned, reaches for his trusty SUICIDE PILL, leaving behind a letter for his wife and daughter, which Picard hopes to be able to deliver to Romulus one day.

This one feels very TOS-like to me, not sure why. Maybe the Cold War feel, the sense of looming destruction, the focus on one big guest character, the genuine tension that builds and builds over the episode. Jarok's a great character. The only real issue is the relative weakness of the "aha, but we have Klingons" ending, but it's not a major issue. And again, credit to Michael Dorn, who - as always - seemed to be really thinking about how to make Worf interesting through his performance, even though the character's actual role in the episode is fairly minimal. 9/10. I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever actually going to give anything 10/10, because a good portion of my favourite episodes are already behind us...

[Wentworth Smith]

I don't know why but one of my favourite bits in all Star Trek is how Picard shouts 'sir!' when he's pointing out to Jarok he's a traitor.

[daf]

- Shakespeare on the holodeck, uUUuUUurrRrRrgh. Picard WRONGLY believes that Shakespeare is the ultimate window into "the human condition".

That's 100% from Patrick Stewart I reckon - very self-indulgent. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually wrote that bit himself!

[Mr Trumpet]

I don't know why but one of my favourite bits in all Star Trek is how Picard shouts 'sir!' when he's pointing out to Jarok he's a traitor.

Very age of sail Royal Navy. We're not far off an order being barked out followed by an "if you please".

[Chairman Yang]

Special commendation to Ron Jones' excellent soundtrack for this episode. It really ramps up the tension throughout and the finale with three different faction motifs playing back to back is a triumph. It goes to show just how carefully they thought about the presentation of the show before Rick Berman fucked the music into a bin.

[Wentworth Smith]

Special commendation to Ron Jones' excellent soundtrack for this episode. It really ramps up the tension throughout and the finale with three different faction motifs playing back to back is a triumph. It goes to show just how carefully they thought about the presentation of the show before Rick Berman fucked the music into a bin.

Yeah, it's great. The scene where the crew meet in the conference room and Picard tells them they are entering the neutral zone has tension and feels huge entirely on the music. Really makes it feel like a momentous decision and after this nothing will be the same. Of course, after this everything was the same.

[Wonderful Butternut]

I don't know why but one of my favourite bits in all Star Trek is how Picard shouts 'sir!' when he's pointing out to Jarok he's a traitor.

That whole scene is gold. Picard just takes none of Jarok's shit.

Jarok: We have to stop a war! I'm only going to tell you exactly what you need to stop it.
Picard: You've given us no reason to trust you, and still won't co-operate fully even having admitted to being Admiral Jarok and not some junior logistics officer. Now shit or get off the pot.
Jarok: B-b-Bu... impassioned comments about my daughter.
Picard: Still not impressed. Give us unequivocal co-operation or GTFO.
Jarok: Ok... fine...

Lemming asked a few episodes ago why people think Picard is so great, that scene's a good example.

My other favourite bit. Tomalak before the Klingons decloak:


Tomalak after the Klingons decloak:


I do find myself a little perplexed about the Romulan end game vis-a-vis the Enterprise here though. Tomalak obviously knows that Picard won't surrender the Enterprise intact and it'll be destroyed. Are they really just gambling on Starfleet being too embarrassed by the Neutral Zone violation to do anything about their flagship being blown up in an obvious Romulan ploy? Seems a bit of a loose plan for the Romulans. And surely whatever treaties exist between the Romulan Empire and the Federation have clauses for dealing with boundary violations that don't involve just destroying the offending ship?

[Blumf]

In other news: CBS have, for some unfathomable reason, given Kurtzman another 5 years to fuck Star Trek up.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/alex-kurtzman-star-trek-michelle-yeoh-section-31-1235032085/

[daf]

057 | "The Defector"



Bard Trek

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Highlights :
• Picard Prosthetic Player
• Smug Tomalak
• Mysterious Orange Tiddlywink
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• Klingon P'takh
• Romulan Veruul
• The Firefalls of Gath Gal'thong
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Score :

[Wonderful Butternut]

In other news: CBS have, for some unfathomable reason, given Kurtzman another 5 years to fuck Star Trek up.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/alex-kurtzman-star-trek-michelle-yeoh-section-31-1235032085/

Disco's an unintentionally hilarious mess. Picard has potential but they drowned it in their grimdark fetish. Lower Decks is childish garbage for babies. No one wants the Section 31 show and we're pinning all our hopes on Strange New Worlds being classic Trek.

Yet despite many internet rumours of behind the scenes issues, imminent cancellations, Seth McFarlane being called in to take over,  new Trek keep getting renewed and now Kurtzman now has another 5 years at the helm. The only trouble to manifest in the real world was Netflix' dissatisfaction with Discovery's performance resulting in them lowballing for Picard and losing it to Amazon Prime. And that's not done enough to change things.

So obviously someone must be fucking watching it. Unless it's all classic Trek fans 'giving it a chance' even though it's rubbish, and they're about to run out of patience with it.