Barclay was never bad, Apart from that one time when he regressed when meeting the legend who only built a big big ship to compensate for something. It's the same entry where Picard becomes technoTarzan and swings from coolant hose to coolant hose in an engine room with easily-puncturable series to (windowed tubes) that contain convenient flesh-meltin' plasma. I can handle the bridge being on top of the saucer-shaped ship where it's easy to imagine a big-a$$ bullseye, but I'd spend the extra 20 credits on a tube that has no points of vulnerability, as opposed to tubes with very big freakin' windows that can withstand the temperature of the plasma coolant liquid. Are all the windows there to show the coolant that changes color depending on temperature or pressure so only one hue is normal and the rest means "fix me now, dingdong, or else!"? Sheesh, and most of us PC builders get all antsy when installing the water cooler and just wishing they put gasketed windows along the tubes so we can see the water go "wheeeeeeeeeeee!" through the tubes. Um, no, one little leak and the $3000 PC becomes a $0 short circuit... but, meh, on the starship the plasma stuff is a cool shade of pretty puke green... Was she mentioned in the movies?! Maybe the same one with the windowed plasma coolant tubes, which also didn't bother to promote her to a full Doctor from Nurse as well. I mean, if Chapel was, how can TNG have not missed the same trick? Also, where's the Federation hook-up app, since she and always-desperate Harry Kim could hook up and both have something in common. Then he, like we, wouldn't have to sit through that misguided episode about "STDs are bad, here's the convoluted allegory that doesn't match up". Yup. My Vulcan ears always perked up when I heard the name. Alas, Suzie Plakson was not available, or had better roles to play. Crusher was just resting up for all the caber toss and hawt ghost Khaaaaandle sex... He's the king of making high-concept ideas engaging. Good sci-fi always starts with some high-concept creativity. The ideal goal is to even get experts in a field to enjoy a story that posits ideas that they know aren't true. Indeed, to an extent, that applies to all of us, because...: Sound doesn't traverse the galaxy so all those sound effects of zaps and whooshes can't be heard. Well, in close orbit to Earth, it has been proven that one can hear a cool ASMR noise. But from Andromeda? Nope, nuttin'. Woohoo! Plus, the tagline to that Alien movie told us that reality - spoiler alert If the engines go down, ship doesn't go stop immediately as a result due to the pesky laws of physics in space If one is wearing red in the original series but isn't named Scotty or Uhura, they're gonna die so place your bets appropriately Voltage is a potential. Current is the application and direction - the flow - of said voltage. See, and do not try this at home or anywhere else, when you go taking out that metal fork while rubbing your foot on your pet sheep, that sharp zap sensation won't kill you (static has too little current in of itself, despite containing tens of thousands of funky fresh volts - wheeee!)... and conversely, that puny 110v outlet where you just shoved said fork into said outlet made a big zap and now you're charcoal drenched in weeee. Oops. Thankfully the sheep had previously waddled off go to graze on that lettuce you had taken out of the fridge a moment earlier. Also, what the heck are people doing shoving forks into outlets? Unless it's those safety outlets (TRRs) where both hot and neutral have those little spring-loaded plastic bits that have to be opened simultaneously by the prong. Also note, the ground roundy hole should be up top - not the bottom - as it's harder to accidentally touch the hot wire (the smaller of the two rectangular bits). (and this one is the most egregious one yet) if Guinan's booze isn't green, Data won't drink it. My ex, however, would order three more gallons' worth and need another refill by mid-week. Yep, a noise is made. Just get through the science lessons and tangents of magnetic fields and mantle and core first. It's a really cool video... Just a reminder that, despite it not being 1980 and those old signs reading "don't go back in the car" no longer exist, as the same physics things apply: Please don't go to the gas station to go to fill up your vehicle with petrol, start scratching yourself while filling, then going into the vehicle to go scratch some more, then leaving the still-insulated vehicle out of abject boredom, then forgetting to touch a grounded metal pole before reaching out at the gas nozzle to finish. At least, if nothing else, scratching wool isn't as boring as sticking the voltmeter's leads up a potato. Brushing up against wool deffo creates some voltage and enough to get the meter to get happy. Also, if ewe can help me think of a baaaaaaaaaad joke regarding wool, don't be sheepish and let me know... See, movie told us so. Oh, wait, if it's all fiction and those gross fritters don't exist... if nothing else, part of the ship's set was repurposed for "Red Dwarf" and that's a good thing! Wait, where was I going with all this again? That's right. The coffee buzz wore off seven hours ago...
DS9: Blood Oath Wow. Still the best Klingon episode (IMO) in the entire franchise. Colicos, Ansara, and Campbell are fantastic and Terry Ferrell does a great job. This is one of my favorite DS9 episodes. Kor is drunkenly monopolizing a holosuite and Quark gets Odo to help him. Odo puts Kor in custody. Koloth comes for him but leaves when he sees how drunk Kor is. Later, Odo talks about them and Dax goes to get Kor out. They and Kang are there to meet up to go take revenge on the killer of their firstborn sons. Curzon Dax was godfather to Kang's son and took a blood oath for vengeance. Even though Kang says Jadzia isn't bound by the oath, she still goes with them and helps them succeed. Koloth and Kang die in the attack. No one tries to explain why these TOS Klingon characters now look like 90s Klingons and it totally doesn't matter.
TNG: Journey's End Oh, from the heights of great DS9 to... Did anyone else cringe a little every time they said "Indian"? Maybe it's because I was working with AZ tribes back then and now automatically replace it with "Native American". Anyway, this episode is okay, if a bit heavy-handed. The generic "Indians" are a stereotype (for a wonderful, realistic, made-by-Natives depiction, watch Reservation Dogs on FX/Hulu). The whole Picard's-ancestor-done-them-wrong was unnecessary. Richard Poe gave a nice performance as Gul Evek, adding a little nuance to the species. "Moody, sullen, and rude" Wesley was kinda fun to watch. There are 2 things important about this episode: 1) Wesley realizes he's not happy at Starfleet Academy, quits, and goes off with the Traveler (from waaaaay back in season 1!). I empathized with Beverly in the ep - showing the change in me as my friends' kids have grown up. It's tough to let them make their own decisions. 2) This establishes the treaty with the Cardassians that left some formerly Federation worlds under Cardassian control (and vice versa, although I don't think they really dealt with Cardassian colonists). This sets up the circumstances that birth The Maquis, and therefore Voyager.
I remember scratching my head at this episode. It felt very convoluted. According to Paul Sorvino he liked Star Trek and wanted to appear on it so his grandkids could watch...or something like that is what I recall. A forgettable episode nonetheless.
Blood Oath Short answer, good episode. The most TOS fanservice outside of Relics that we'd ever seen. I have many issues with the TOS Klingon Empire. (I have many issues with the TNG Klingon Empire as well, but those are different.) Kang was shown as worthy mirror to Kirk. Maybe he was a total bastard. But in Day of the Dove he was fighting the good fight and being lied to the same way Kirk was. Kor was a mass executing monster. But he was doing it in a time of war. I guess. (Not that it seemed his behavior would be different otherwise.) But Koloth? This is the fellow who was going to secretly poison and starve a civilian colony. But hey, now they're honored comrades! Carousers of the highest order. The three musketeers with bat'leths. I also don't like that now Klingons are ALSO long lived compared to humans. Humans are the mayflies of the Federation, it seems. BUT: Michael Ansara is SO FREAKING GOOD! OK, obviously Calicos is great. And Campbell doesn't suck. ("I'll ASK somebody!" is pretty good.) As far as their TOS depictions are concerned I would have swapped Kor and Koloth. Let Koloth be the garrulous, whimsical one. Make Kor the master strategist and warrior. This was more interesting from the perspective of the actors, but less "faithful" to the TOS characters. All three were paper thin in TOS, but Kang was the most like his TOS depiction. But that's because he was bad ass then and bad ass now. (Which is also then.) The hit / miss ratio of Dax stories, especially Trill stories is exceptional. It's not a hundred percent. This actually hits a little differently for me having seen all of DS9. I'm much more on the side of Jadzia being a new person. Not because I think the quest is right or wrong or good or bad. But because that's how everything else works and (it seems) for very good reasons. It seems the only exception here is because it's Klingons and Klingons are (to some) kind of cool. Fifth / sixth season Jadzia would have cut out the Albino's heart. If two women are talking but they're talking about killing another person over a vendetta and it happens to be a guy does it still pass the Bechdel test? The episode is much more about talking about the battle and what it will mean than the actual battle. Which is very Star Trek. This summer that silly little birdy ship will be 40.
Yeah, you're right. When people complain about "memberberries", we need to point them to this ep. "Hey kids! Remember when these 3 were the bad guys? Well, we've redeemed them and are going to make you like them!" I could actually listen to him read from the phonebook. I just adore him. Hell yes! And eaten it! But that just shows how much the character was allowed to change & grow. Yes. Yes, it does.
I'm in the process of writing up my screed about Journey's End. (Oh. Joy.) But today is the 30th anniversary of the wrap of Star Trek: The Next Generation! We would not see their like for... What? Back to work? Oh, the MOVIE is coming out this November? Um... Ok.
I wonder what it was like wrapping 7 years of a show but knowing you were going right into doing a movie.
Journey's End Hey! I'm caught up! Next up is: 24 April – DS9: The Maquis, Part I 25 April – TNG: Firstborn (That's good. I have a LOT of Disco to watch.) Five episodes of TNG left! Well. This episode is making me cranky. Fair warning. (I'm having a hard time distilling this to something short enough to bother with reading. What I'm posting is the short version!) It was good to see Jack. Indians: I think you'll find that they're called The Guardians now. Wesley's line "This predates Starfleet and the Federation!" Dude. Lots of things do. If we're talking about any beliefs or even societies that we know about right now? ALL of them do. If this had not been his final appearance I totally agree. It's even absolutely believable in his character arc. But again, not how I wanted to say goodbye to the character. When did this huge devastating war with the Cardassians happen? I only mention this because for some reason the war that we'd never heard of at the beginning of Disco was completely out of bounds! This would be a nice double feature with Insurrection, wouldn't it? Summary: This is NOT a good ending for Wesley. But I'm glad they didn't end the show without him. (Ohhhh, they could have done so much more with the scene with Geordi and Wesley.) The A plot and the B plot turn out to have nothing to do with each other. It looks like they do, but then they don't. The Wesley story annoys me as a Star Trek fan. The relocation story annoys me as a carbon based life form. Fortunately this all leaves fodder for DS9 that handles it all so much better. Oh no! Someone with the family name Picard was involved with Spanish colonialism! (Good thing it wasn't an ancestor from his mom's side of the family.) How far do you have to watch Encounter at Farpoint before Picard declares that there is an Earth legal precedent saying no person can be held responsible for his ancestors? Like... 15 minutes? OTOH: Picard: "I have the deepest respect for your beliefs." The court would like to admit Who Watches the Watchers. Picard: "Well. As long as you don't think they're REAL. That's wacky!" DS9 did this far better because you kind of got the impression that the show itself felt that the skeptics were wrong. Or at least didn't get the whole picture. (And I'm not JUST talking about the Bajorans and their Wormhole Gods.) But when TNG and some of what I saw of VOY would trot out Native Americans and get into the deep spirituality of blah blah blah I couldn't help but think "Yeah, I can think of some human religions it would never cross their minds to include on Star Trek." (The rest of them?) It feels incredibly patronizing. The whole attitude of the show is "These are OTHER people." DS9 managed to NOT feel like that. Well. Wesley Crusher, adieu. (It was kind of funny to see Wil step on to the transporter for the last time followed by Rick Berman's credit. I could almost see the middle finger.)
The Maquis Part I (This episode follows directly after the TNG episode "Journey's End.") We start the ep with a bang... ODO: An accident involving a Cardassian ship in Bajoran space? Bernie Casey! Cool. He's playing Lieutenant Commander Calvin Hudson, Ben's old friend, who's also Starfleet's attaché to the Federation colonies in the new Demilitarized Zone. Alaimo and Brooks are SO GOOD together! It appears, treaty or not, that Cardassian and Federation colonists are having their own little war. The dinner between Quark and Sakonna is wonderful. Quark definitely likes a challenge! Dukat gets kidnapped and "The Maquis" takes credit. Sisko takes Kira and Bashir to go after them and get captured. To Be Continued... This is a good episode with the tension ratcheting up as the pieces fall into place. All the actors do well, with Nana Visitor getting an especially nice scene. Rene also gets a good rant about how he'd make the station more secure if he didn't have to follow Starfleet regs. Both scenes show there is still strain between Bajor and the Federation. I always thought the Maquis was a great idea - colonists who feel abandoned and threatened taking matters into their own hands to protect the places they see as 'home'. One can't help but feel sympathy for them, even as they go further and further over the line. Sisko and Dukat find themselves on the same side here, trying to preserve the treaty and not get into another war, while dealing with rebellion among their own peoples. I'm tempted to watch Part II right now, but I'll be good and wait until next week.
Goodness. Where has the time gone? Maybe I'll watch one tonight. It's not like I'm a season behind on Disco.
FWIW, I don't think you need to see previous seasons of DIS to get into the new season (although I though season 4 was great). One ep so far dealt with the past seasons, but it was easy to pick up.
TNG - "Firstborn" Worf tries to get Alexander to light a candle to declare his intention to become a warrior, but is disappointed that Alexander doesn't necessarily want to become a warrior. They go to a Klingon festival (with audience participation theatre!), where there is an attempt on Worf's life, partially stopped by K'mtar, an adviser to the House of Mogh, sent by Kurn to protect Worf. We go on a wild Duras Sisters chase. Eventually we learn that K'mtar is actually Alexander from the future. He didn't become a warrior, but a diplomat, and blames himself for Worf's (future) murder. He was trying to change himself in the past. For all the jokes about Worf as a terrible father, here he actually learns to accept Alexander for who he is and who he will be. The Kot'baval festival gives us and the stories K'mtar tells add a few nice worldbuilding touches to Klingon culture. Worf learning to accept Alexander as an individual with his own wants and needs is a nice lesson for the episode. The Quark cameo was fun. James Sloyan gives a good performance as K'mtar/Future Alexander. A good, solid TNG episode. ETA: Of course, the future DOES change, as Alexander joins the Klingon military to fight the Dominion.
I feel like I'm late to my own party. DS9: The Maquis Part I "You're a noble people. And I salute you." "I didn't know you had children." "Seven." Eight! The Badlands? Where ships go missing, you say? Hmmmm. That must be one hell of a... Voyage. My problem with the whole "moral ambiguity and who knows what" of the Federation / Cardassian settlements is that that Cardassians are shown, from the start, as liars, torturers, and fascists. (Like, actual Fascists. "Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state." That's Mussolini, but can't you hear Garak saying it with ZEST?) I don't know what the writers' intentions were with the Cardasians. But we are introduced to them in The Wounded. (Were they mentioned first in Ensign Ro?) When the Federation (and specifically Jean-Luc Picard) are fully aware that the Cardassians are doing everything Captain Maxwell said they were. But oh, Captain Picard warns: "We'll be watching." Not doing anything, mind you. But watching like crazy. I can't imagine why any Federation citizens who get their borders moved on them wouldn't put total trust in that kind of vigilance. OTOH, this kind of hand off from TNG to DS9 had to have been awesome! I hope they do more of it in the next... Four? Weeks? Darn. For those of you actually keeping up: 1 May – DS9: The Maquis, Part II 2 May – TNG: Bloodlines