I just wish that killing Icheb had been more violent and gross. Toss him through a wood chipper, that way we know he can never come back.
The setting: Why TNG and not TOS?
- Thread starter Acenos
- Start date
I just wish that killing Icheb had been more violent and gross. Toss him through a wood chipper, that way we know he can never come back.
Violent and gross would fit MT's style.
Honestly, I find these shows pretty tame.
This is an argument I see being repeated over and again. That somehow because a character has a darker later story or death negates all past stories or past enjoyment. And, as much as I am trying to be respectful this is a point of view but this one makes very little sense to me.
Who's MT?
Modern Trek.
I will concede that Icheb's death was sort of rushed though. If there had been a Voyager spinoff show, what was a very short scene would have been expanded into a multi-episode hunt for Icheb, Seven and her posse blasting through hordes of Bjayzl's goons to reach him, and even when they find him in that horrific state I just don't see Seven euthanizing him that quickly. I mean they still have sedation in the 24th century right?
Seven would have Icheb sedated, immediately beamed to sickbay where Bob Picardo then runs all sorts of drastic unrealistic procedures to try to save him, go into a psychological crisis realizing he deleted the evil Cardassian holographic doctor who might have known something to save Icheb, and then they finally realize nothing can be done and pull the plug on Icheb.
All that would have taken one episode, maybe 2. We got all that squeezed into an extremely short sequence and it feels jarring because in all other instances Trek crews go through extreme lengths to save one of their own. Even Picard killing assimilated crewmembers was called out in First Contact by Lily as not thinking through all possible options (and that situation was far more urgent than Icheb's, and realistically Picard didn't have the resources to try to rescue his assimilated crewmembers).
Seven would have Icheb sedated, immediately beamed to sickbay where Bob Picardo then runs all sorts of drastic unrealistic procedures to try to save him, go into a psychological crisis realizing he deleted the evil Cardassian holographic doctor who might have known something to save Icheb, and then they finally realize nothing can be done and pull the plug on Icheb.
All that would have taken one episode, maybe 2. We got all that squeezed into an extremely short sequence and it feels jarring because in all other instances Trek crews go through extreme lengths to save one of their own. Even Picard killing assimilated crewmembers was called out in First Contact by Lily as not thinking through all possible options (and that situation was far more urgent than Icheb's, and realistically Picard didn't have the resources to try to rescue his assimilated crewmembers).
Seven was never really “Trek crew”. She had her own moral compass.
I certainly got all kinds of nostalgia feels looking at the Cerritos inside the starbase.
There wasn't time -- Seven had Jay's guards chasing her. There was no "sickbay" to beam him to.
Seven did her best under a nightmarish scenario.
Reminded me of Picard in First Contact.
Only if it had been the original actor.
I imagine it's because the writers and the target audience grey up with TNG. Even for a lot of casual viewers and in pop culture Picards crew are THE Star Trek now
I agree that they went a bit overboard with the graphic nature of Icheb's death. It seems they wanted to show the sadistic nature of the enemy character, prove that this is more of an adult-themed show, and have an element of realism that Trek hadn't shown in death scenes before.
But I'm glad it was Icheb that died. Not because of any hatred or ambivalence towards the character (he had a fine character arc on Voyager), but because it shows that the creator cared about Seven's backstory. They needed a "son" for Seven to mourn over, and Icheb fit that to a tee. They could've created some post-Voyager acquaintance, or some unseen or barely seen Ensign or something that she knew from that ship, but instead delved into her backstory and found the perfect candidate for the fridging. Given that Icheb was an xB and close to Seven belays any suggestion that it was some sort of retaliatory act against his former actor Intiraymi.
The fact that these characters survive so long should be the exception. Space is scary and a Starfleet career is dangerous, as we are often reminded, and Icheb's death (although not really in the line of duty) helps cement that just because you had substantial on-camera scenes, shouldn't make you any safer than the average redshirt being tossed down a cavern.
Main characters having plot armor happens less in shows like 24 or Agents of Shield, where long running characters often meet sudden and brutal ends.
Not an outside possibility given that Jonathan Frakes directed both "Stardust City Rag" and FC.
Pretty sure giving Seven of Nine an entirely new motivation was more important than senselessly shocking viewers.
They made it visceral for us to emphasise how she must have felt.
"Me was a son to me"
It's also a tired and overused plot gimmick that has been derided and labeled as "women in refrigerators", with the only difference here being the gender inversion. I don't think turning this script tactic into "men in refrigerators" suddenly makes it good writing.
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