FriendOfDeSoto

I started a rewatch of DS9 a couple of months ago and I’m a third done with S7. I saw Oceans 11 on DS9 earlier today. Didn’t even skip all the bad Ferengi episodes in the rewatch.

I suppose it was hard for the makers of Disco to square the circle of telling Star Trek stories in a post breaking bad streaming era. In TNG S1 they use the phaser as a visual effect maybe a dozen times, most of those in Conspiracy, because it cost too much. Now they can do whatever for a dime so they overlooked that we liked the character stuff they wrote to fill the hour so they wouldn’t blow most of the budget on SFX. I hope that in a future fourth wave Trek they fill the hollowness we feel.

Yeah, I have been looking at the veritable content drought we’ll be entering since there is nothing in production any more. And in streaming TV stuff takes ages to get off the ground or even renewed. I read on the grapevine that letting all existing contracts expire is a way to kick Kurtzman out and after that there is a chance for a fresh start under new leadership. But that will take time until after Academy S2 goes online. So considering all this stuff going on behind the scenes, I’m okay with Muppets and Casablanca in space. Whatever! Better than nothing.

A prequel! What a novel idea.

This should be an org chart at the Star Trek office today when they look at show ideas: is it another prequel? Yes - don’t pursue this idea. No - Allamarain! Move along home.

Granted, they got lucky (initially) with SNW. But that needed a backdoor pilot through Disco to get launched.

It’s a Tuvix level decision I’m glad I didn’t have to make. I think reuniting a child with their biological parent is a general, understandable guideline. And if you look at this clusterfuck in sequence, the first crime in this case - the illegal invasion of Bajor notwithstanding - is Rugal’s abduction by Dukat’s aide and his subsequent depositing in an orphanage. If it hadn’t been for that, Rugal would not have had Bajoran foster parents. Who were understandably not very nuanced about the Cardassians. (There must have been a way to raise him not hating his “kind” unconditionally as he does. So they carry a small dose of guilt for this mess in my opinion.) Which led to Rugal biting Garak.

The biological dad makes a convincing case that he was fucked over. Rugal is fucked no matter what. Sisko went back to where this train was sent on the wrong track and corrected that. I can kind of see the logic of that decision. He had to weigh different factors and decided to give less weight to Rugal’s wishes over the crimes that preceded him ever being in a position to express them this way.

Tough call but he (somehow, there doesn’t appear to be a legal system with a metal sphere gavel and the social worker from Mrs Doubtfire presiding just yet) had to make one. And there probably isn’t a right decision.

As I said before: I don’t want to be the guy who defends PIC … Jurati being justifiably imprisoned or at least institutionalised may have also spared us S2. Who am I to argue with that?

I’m thinking of Quark who burgled, sabotaged, schemed, snuggled, bought more than one child from the GQuad, and engaged in weapons trade and remained for the most part a comedic diversion character 7 series long. No consequences and maybe the thinnest veneer of looking at any of his decisions from an ethical POV. That’s another reason why I don’t perceive the difference you describe.

We could probably go back and forth a couple of more times here but maybe we leave it at that? Just tell me in no more than a paragraph: Tuvix. Janeway yay or Janeway nay? I’m just curious.

I hear you. You think crossing the line mattered in 80s+ Trek but it doesn’t now. I don’t think that’s true. Sisko poisoning a planet is one of the examples where it clearly didn’t. But should have. So nostalgia is the only thing I could come up with to explain why you like the older and dislike the new stuff.

I don’t want to be in a position where I have to defend Picard, the show. Half of S1 is okay and then it goes off the rails. There are moments in it that are good. Overall, it’s a mess. One aspect that they did well is that they show a hero aging. Kurt Corbain will always be an icon because he ended his life early. So we were spared his ideas on COVID, Q Anon, or pick another hot button issue later in life or albums continually deteriorating in quality. With Picard they wanted to show consequences and chisel away at the icon a bit. The trauma of being borgified. His being sidelined for his unwillingness to bend to his superiors’ will. Why they had to bring his parents into it will be the writers’ secret. But they show consequences of lines being crossed. One of them is him standing rightly on his professional principles. It sounds to me this is exactly the stuff you’re missing and they built the whole S1 premise on it.

Burnham getting to be captain is about as realistic as chubby Kirk being demoted back to Captain.

On a slightly unrelated note:

What’s up with double-spacing every sentence?

It’s really

annoying to read

if you ask me.

I think you are partially trapped in nostalgia. Star Trek has never been this philosophically pure. Picard broke the Prime Directive in S1 by having contact with the Edo. And then regrettably prevented them from executing Wesley for trespassing a flower bed. Either should’ve cost him his command.

When Data has an inappropriate chat with a girl on a dying planet, JLP jokes with Riker about the level the shit is up to for them. And there are no palpable consequences for any of this behaviour.

Picard doesn’t feel like he should plant the Borg bug in Hugh. Admiral Valarian Canapés wholeheartedly disagrees. And while I like Picard’s reasoning, from a ten thousand foot perspective I agree with her. With the benefit of hindsight, it would have prevented the best TNG movie from existing but perhaps we would have also been spared Picard S2-3.

Late TNG and early DS9 with the introduction of Starfleet Al Qaeda, i.e. the Marquis, is a turning point for me. We get more stories that are more grey. Star Trek went from Kirk coming to a planet, telling the inhabitants their culture was stupid, to more contemporarily thoughtful treatments of ethical and moral conundrums in a utopian world, to seeing where utopia rubs up against the rest of the galaxy that isn’t there yet. Starfleet and the Federation are no longer exclusively the good guys. Sisko poisons an atmosphere just to catch one traitor and gets away with it. WTF?

Janeway gets a pass from me for most of her bad decisions because she tried and had to figure stuff out by herself. Tuvix be damned!

Enterprise also exists.

Third wave Trek is more grey than Marquis era Trek. It’s more CGI and action oriented because they can. That saves a couple of pages of dialogue otherwise spent on ethics. It’s different just like TNG was different from TOS. But it isn’t a radical change if you ask me.

Early TNG isn’t great until they stabilised the writers room. And then there is a continuation of development through DS9 and even into ENT. (Unfortunately including grade A assholes.) “Chaos on the bridge” is the default for Disco and Picard. And that’s why they often tell weird stories that don’t match up with what came before. They try to do Trek in the now passé golden age of television. And failed a lot imo.

Of all the third wave Trek, I’m most fond of Lower Decks. Because it doesn’t take itself too seriously and is littered with easter eggs. Disco S2 is good. Most of SNW S1-3. Picard had moments in it but that’s it. My heart’s not in it any more. I watch it because I see we are entering another content drought. I even enjoy SNW S4, not because I think it’s good Star Trek but because it’s a middle finger to Paramount for no longer financing any new projects.

As far as I’m concerned, that and PIC S2 NEVER HAPPENED!

Ro’s decision is understandable if you consider her life experiences.

The Maquis are not created in universe to be good or bad. They are not black or white, they are gray all the way. Because that’s how all freedom fighters/terrorists are in their time. They get their marks from history. Some upstart colonists in the 1770s tend to get a more favorable score from history. For the communists in Cuba it depends who you ask.

Reality is a clusterfuck and politics is the art of what’s possible. No one designed the situation to place colonists on these planets, to have a war in the neighborhood, and then have to come up with a compromise to end the killing. It happened and now they have to deal with it. I’d like to see the SWOT analysis of each colonized planet, just to see if they considered risking setting off the stereotypical fascist race in the neighborhood by their presence. That is to say the colonists may not be entirely blameless either. But regardless, the federation made an agreement to end the killing in a big war. They drew a line on a map and that’s never not caused other problems in history. In the middle east, in Korea, in Europe, etc. It’s often the best solution to end or prevent the fighting but it’s still a shit solution that doesn’t solve all problems. Indeed, one might argue it may only be a temporary reprieve. So the Maquis are borne out of gray, they do things that are gray, often more on the darker spectrum, and then the authorities come in and also react in dark gray when they poison an entire planet’s atmosphere. The writers even threw in some native American tribes having to relocate or accept Cardassian rule to perfect the clusterfuck.

The way some of the Maquis stories are told in late TNG and then DS9 is not the best Trek has to offer. But if you zoom out, the overall situation they’ve created is realistic and believable. The Maquis are ambiguous, the role of the federation is ambiguous. It’s all just gray. And while I don’t think it’s super unrealistic that they just get wiped out by the Ketracel White addicts, I thought it’s a lazy writers’ end to a great scenario they had created.

Just do what all other writers have done and choose a starting point and then increment the numbers a bit every time. That horse has not only bolted, it ran past the horizon, had a fulfilling family life, and died of old age.

The semi-established canon in second wave Trek was that 10 could not be reached. Semi-established because there were higher numbers in TOS iirc. So Tom Paris went too far, in more than one way.

I have the feeling Star Trek writers just forget about this.

Occasionally we get the reverse retcon where they realize they made a mistake and then try to never speak of it again. Breaking the warp 10 barrier, turning into cuddly and horny komodo dragon fish, is another example of this (although Lower Decks made fun of it later).

It’s all based on navies here on Earth. They chose the language to make certain ships this-or-that class. There are no definitive rules so far as I’m aware. A certain class of submarines would be designated something class because they shared the same weapons or the same propulsion system. So when sci-fi writers picked up this ball they played fast and loose with already fast and loose rules.

You may need to clarify what you mean by canon in this context exactly. If this Walker class appeared in a live action TV show I would say it’s canon. If it’s in a novel or an animated show I’d say it’s not or not necessarily. Trekkies can spend weeks debating this sort of thing.

The naming convention is vague.

LD’s California class is a dig at what the writers perceive as shit or boringly average California cities nobody knows if you don’t live there.

DS9 had some consistency with naming all runabouts after earth rivers.

All other names are up to the writers. So you get a Crazy Horse next to a Shenzhou, a Hood next to a Defiant.

Canon probably runs along the Memory Alpha/Beta divide.

Allamaraine!

Starfleet is not good at operational security. Why does the landing party contain half or more department heads? I would start there, either by revamping their guidelines or as viewers suspending disbelief.

I think the shuttle solution is elegant and I’m sure a writers room has discussed it. Today this would be (comparatively) trivially easy to CGI; I suppose during TOS it would have necessitated extra work days for the model unit and a permanent shuttle set, which I don’t think we get until TNG.

Several aspects of the universe were developed over time and several writers will have been involved. The insane scarcity of spots for the academy is something from early TNG that pretty much falls by the wayside later on and goes unremarked. Like Chief O’Brian starts off as a nameless con/nav officer with lieutenant pips and then somehow becomes a non-com with a rich war history, a wife that hates him, and a child lost in time temporarily.

They needed to keep the Wheaton out lukewarm in case the child actor wanted out or had to go for another reason. So they dangled his acceptance to the academy in front of us so it wouldn’t be a surprise when they finally got rid of the boy (the boy?). It’s a bit far fetched that super warp genius tapped to become a traveler of space and time would not get in as many times as he didn’t, for various questionable reasons.

I fear there won’t be a solution that doesn’t cost money somewhere. Please don’t buy 3 burner phone numbers at once. I would feel bad if it didn’t work and/or you get suspected of being a criminal.

Check your current phone subscription if you have one. There might be a way to get an additional number for free or very little extra. And it might be a good backup emergency service to have just with your parents maybe even if you go down a different route for the rest.

Anything other than Signal seems unadvisable from a privacy POV. Do you have a way of talking to them live on the phone, at the same time? You can try and register their Signal on a burner phone wherever you are. As they sign up, you sit on the call and give them the phone number and security code when it comes through. Unless having Signal on the phone is itself a reason to get arrested in Russia, which frankly wouldn’t surprise me either.

I don’t know if this will work. I did it on a different service using the number on a dumbphone to register for use on a tablet once.

The simplest answer might be that not all people who reviewed it there liked it as much as you do. I would say it also doesn’t matter. Even fans like different things. You like what you like. The internet will never agree with you 100 per cent. I feel 7/10 is about right for SNW and the plant zombies. But I also don’t completely hate Nemesis so my taste is at least questionable.