#YEAH EVEN THOSE 2 SEASONS OF ENTERPRISE WERE WORTH IT | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

discotreque · 4 years ago

Text

LwD 1.10, “No Small Parts”

Well, that was the most fun I've had watching Star Trek in literally a quarter of a century.

I had high hopes for this series. I love TAS, largely because of its wacky outsized concepts that could only have worked in animation—not that they all did work, but the potential was so apparent to me, even as a kid reading the Alan Dean Foster novelizations—and as an adult, there's something about the imagination of Lower Decks's FX setpieces that transcends even the glorious CGI bonanzas of Discovery.

Pause for a confession. I've long pushed back against criticism of serialization in new Trek. That's just how TV is now, okay? Might as well complain about it being in widescreen. But I'm backing down a little, because I've realized there is something about Star Trek that's inextricable from at least a partially-episodic format. And while Picard was telling a different kind of story, I can't deny that my favourite episodes of Disco have been the ones with a mostly self-contained A-plot. After 10 delightfully episodic instalments of LwD, its focus on long-term development of characters instead of a season-spanning puzzle-plot (okay, mostly just Mariner, but we only have 10 × 22 minutes and she is the star) has been downright refreshing.

So here we are, at the end of the most consistent and well-executed Season 1 of a Star Trek series since, arguably, Those Old Scientists. And sure, if they'd had to produce another... yikes, 42 episodes? Then sure, they probably would have dropped a clunker or two—but they didn't, and winning on a technicality is still winning. I'm practically vibrating with excitement for Disco to come back next week, but damn, I'm going to miss this little show while it's on hiatus.

Spoilers below:

Something I've been keeping track of finally paid off this week! (Which never happens to me, lol.) The destruction of the USS Solvang marked the first present-day death(s) of any Starfleet officer on Lower Decks, the only other on-screen killing at all being a flashback in "Cupid's Errant Arrow". Which makes sense, being (a) a comedy, and (b) about typically "expendable" characters: it hasn't been afraid to flirt with a little darkness here and there, but killing people off at Star Trek's usual pace wouldn't just be wrong for the tone, it would be downright bizarre.

But... people die on Star Trek. That's one of the core themes of the show, really: space is full of knowledge and beauty, but also danger and terror, and believing that the former is worth the risk of the latter is (according to Trek) one of humanity's most noble traits. I'm the least bloodthirsty TV watcher I know, but the longer we went with a body count of nil—ships completely evacuated before they were destroyed, main characters hilariously maimed without permanent consequences, etc.—well, I didn't mind per se, but the absence of truly deadly stakes was definitely getting conspicuous.

Turns out they were saving it up for maximum impact. And holy fuck, I've never felt such a pit in my stomach watching a ship get destroyed that wasn't named Enterprise. It felt grim and brutal and somehow both much too quick and dreadfully inevitable—and yeah, it looked extremely fucking cool—and I'd like every other Star Trek property for the rest of time to take notes under a large bold heading labeled RESTRAINT.

Comedy doesn't need to do this, but my favourite comedy does, and in a way that few other art forms can even approach: lower my emotional defences by making me laugh, endear character(s) to me with goofy-but-relatable antics—then BAM, sucker-punch me in the motherfucking feels. M*A*S*H is probably the classic example on TV, Futurama was notorious for it, and even Archer has pulled it off a few times; it's also a staple of some of my favourite standup. I wasn't sure if Lower Decks was going to go there in Season 1—and wasn't sure if they'd earn it—but I knew if they did, that they'd nail it, and damn. Feels good to be right.

Last batch of notes for the season!!! I rambled enough already, so let's do it liveblog-style:

I fucking KNEW they were going to use "archive" visuals from TAS at some point, I KNEW IT :D

"THOSE OLD SCIENTISTS" ahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I like chill and confident Boimler a lot? You can really see—

oh bRADWARD NOOOOO

That opening shot of the Solvang tracking down to the red giant was extremely Discovery-esque... minus the motion sickness, that is

A lady captain AND a lady first officer? That's—oh hey, it's Captain Dayton's brand-new ship. Hahaha, that means they're totally fucked, right?.

Yep! They sure a—umm, wh—shit, okay, but—oh no—no, you can't—wait DON'T

...fuck

FUCK.

Narrator: "And then Amy needed a five-hour break."

[live-action Star Trek showrunner voice] "Gee, Mike! Why does CBS let you have two cold opens?"

Okay, yes, the bit with Rutherford cycling through all the different attitudes in his implant was transparently an excuse for Eugene Cardero to vamp while waiting for something to do in the story, but as far as I'm concerned they can contrive a reason for him to do a bunch of different silly Rutherfords in a row any time they damn well want, because that was classic!!!

EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP

AND THE EXOCOMP IS PAINTED LIKE THE EXOCOMP IS WEARING A LITTLE EXOCOMP-SIZED STARFLEET UNIFORM

EXOCOMP!!!!!

The slow burn and now the payoff of the Mariner-is-Freeman's-secret-daughter plot has been executed so well. I'm beyond impressed with this writer's room, y'all—they are threading a hell of a needle here

"Wolf 359 was an inside job" would have been a spit-take if I'd had anything in my mouth

...how many memos do you think Starfleet Command has had to issue asking people to stop calling the USS Sacramento "the Sac"?

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THEY'VE DECORATED THE SHUTTLECRAFT SEQUOIA THOUGH

Is, uh, is it weird if I'm starting to ship Tendi and Peanut Hamper a little? It is weird, isn't it. I knew it was weird...

Coital barbs??? I take back everything I said about wanting to know more about Shaxs/T'Ana.

The "good officer" version of Mariner is... kind of hot, tbh! But Tawny Newsome has done such a great job of building this character all season that her voice getting uncharacteristically clipped and martial and "sir! yes, sir!" is also deeply, deeply weird

Ah, so this is literally exactly like when TNG (and DS9) would bring in, and then blow up, a never-before-seen Galaxy-class ship, just to underscore that we're facing a real threat this week, baby. And hey, it fucking worked—my heart was in my throat, omg, for the reveal of the—

PAKLEDS?????????

The fucking PAKLEDS have been gluing weapons to their ships for the last 15 years. GREAT.

(We interrupt the SHIP BEING SLICED INTO SCRAP for an interesting bit of world-building: on Earth, the traditional First Contact Day meal is salmon!)

"I need a dangerous, half-baked solution that breaks Starfleet codes and totally pisses me off! That's an order." I'm starting to think Captain Freeman might actually be overqualified for the Cerritos, y'all—she's REALLY awesome

OH SHIT IT'S BADGEY, this is a TERRIBLE IDEA

"How much contraband have you hidden on my ship?" "I don't know! A lot!"

Awwww, Boims!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA, FUCK THIS, PEANUT HAMPER OUT

BADGEY NOOOOO

AUGHHHHH WHAT THE CHRIST DID HE JUST—BUT—RUTHERFORD'S IMPLANT????

RUTHERFORD!!!!!!!!!!

SHAXS!!!!!!

F U C K ! ! ! ! !

ahaIOPugdfhagntpgjrq90e5mgu90qe5;oigoqgw4ouegrw5SP;IAEHURVa IT’S THE TITAN???????????

IT'S CAPTAIN WILLIAM T. RIKER ON THE MOTHERFUCKING TITAN??????????

i'm screaming I'M SCREAMINGGGGGGTGGGTGQER;LBHAOIBVNV;OAPBIJNVagr;h;oagruipuwtnaetbaetgq35ghqet

I'M SO GLAD THIS WASN'T SPOILED FOR ME WTF

I AM WEEPING LIKE A CHILD

...

(Just a brief 20-minute pause this time)

And oh wow, seeing Will and Deanna hits different after Picard too, in a few different ways, which I may even get into later now that my heartrate is back to normal, lmao

Oh, I am always here for some jokes at the expense of the Sovereign class. The Enterprise-E sucked. They should have built a new bigger model of the D and new Galaxy-class interiors for the TNG movies, and I will die on that hill

OKAY, FINE, YOU GOT ME, RUTHERFORD × TENDI WOULD BE ADORABLE AND THIS IS ACTUALLY A PRETTY GOOD SETUP FOR IT

Awwww, Shaxs though :( Congrats on the single most badass death in Star Trek history, dude. The Prophets would—well, the actual Prophets would probably be slightly confused about most of it, but Kira Nerys would be proud of you and I feel like that probably counts for more. RIP, Papa Bear

I am here all damn DAY for the Mariner–Riker parallels, ahahahahaha

Pausing it to record my prediction that Boimler's commitment to not caring about rank anymore is going to last 3... 2...

Yep.

Bradward, how DARE YOU.

"Those guys had a long road, getting from there to here." OH FOR THE LOVE OF—

What a brilliant way to resolve and renew the various character arcs and relationships moving into Season 2! The writers could easily have brought everything back to status quo—chaotic Mariner fighting with her mom and being a bad influence on Boimler, etc.—and done another 10 just like these, but I suspect that wouldn't have been ambitious enough for these writers. What a blast. I cannot wait for more.

Thanks for following along, friends! Stay tuned for my (similarly patchy and amateur) coverage of Discovery, starting next week!

#star trek #star trek lower decks #lwd spoilers #lower decks spoilers #lower decks #amy's episode notes

57 notes · View notes

calliecat93 · 3 years ago

Text

ST: The Next Generation Watchthrough Season 3 Episodes 1-3

Evolution: We’re at Season 3 folks, yippee~! We also have Dr. Crusher back! I’m kind of annoyed that they don’t os much as mention what happened with Pulaski, but considering everything,t hat may have been best. I’m just gonna assume that she took Crusher’s job at Starfeet Medical and Crusher decided to go back to the Enterprise to be with her son. Which I’m glad that the episode touches on the fact that Crusher doesn’t really connect with Wesley anymore and how she’s concerned that he’s more wrapped up in his studies and Ensign duties than… you know, being an actual kid. Whatever one feels about them axing Crusher last season, they at least acknowledged and worked with it now that she’s back. The issues with Wesley in the first two seasons is how he was an intelligent kid who felt like he got things handed to him and bolstered up despite having done nothing to earn it. S2 was a bit better, but the issue still lingered, just less in our face. But here? Wesley accidentally causes the problem with a nanite project he was working on getting loose and he tries to fix it without anyone finding out while also dealing with his mom being back and hovering over him after being without her for a year. I would like to point out that he made the choice to be without his mom so him going ‘how wold you know? You haven’t even been here.” is kind of his own fault, but I DO understand that he’s frustrated and it’s an understandable reaction from a tired, guilt-ridden teenager. That’s probably what I liked best, Wesley feels more like an actual kid who screws up and makes bad decisions but is good-intentioned and trying to both be responsible and make it right, which I think the other two seasons didn’t fully have. He doesn’t get punished or even scolded for almost causing the destruction of the ship and everyone on it, but he doesn’t get praised for admitting the mistake that he caused or directly save the day either like in The Naked Now and he did ultimately admit responsibility after talking to his mom so fair enough. The episode is overall a good one. There’s good tension and pacing with the nanite threat, Crusher comes back and gets right back to where she left off, Wesley has probably his best focus episode thus far, there’s the gap between mother and son showing them not ignoring the ramifications, the crew maintain their competence and managed to resolve the issue peacefully, and overall it’s a decent way to start off the season. A standard episode, but still promising for what’s to come. 3.5/5

The Ensigns of Command: We have Data on a planet to evacuate an upcoming invasion who do have the right to the planet due to a treaty… but the citizens won’t budge. We have a tense situation here. We have a bunch of stubbornness on both sides. The Sheliak’s DO have right tot he planet, but that doesn’t make it right to slaughter a bunch of innocent lives for no reason. But the colony leader won’t listen and refuses to go without a fight despite the land not being their’s and having the Federation ready to get them to safety. We have Data having t try and convince the colony… but he’s not really trained as a negotiator so… yeah. It’s nice to have Data in a role that he isn’t used to and him having to figure out how to navigate the issue especially with how he still struggles to understand human nature in a case where he very much needs it. The method he uses to finally convince them was not one I expected from Data, but damn it was an effective one and I loved how he got to get creative! I love it! Even his reverse psychology gambit was a good one even if it didn’t fully work cause the idiot leader is too good of a speaker, but the final attempt sure as Hell did the job. Picard’s attempts to negotiate with the Sheliak to buy time for evacuation were also freakin’ great especially at the end and I’m already liking him so much more than the first two seasons. The girl though who’’s really into androids? Yeah, while I give her kudos for trying to help Data and re-activating him after the leader took him out, I didn’t like her. She may like androids but it really seems that’s all she sees him as. And that just rubs me the wrong way. Also Dat saying he has no feelings of any kind… I really don’t get why the show is insisting on that cause that’s not true jut because it’s not the ‘normal’ way, thought he ending has Picard more or less point out that Data’s statement isn’t really accurate who who knows? Ultimately it’s an episode about how, as Data puts it, things can be replaced but lives cannot. Some fights aren’t worth the loss of life, and this was one of those cases. Also diplomatic negotiations and treaties aren’t a fun process haha. 3.5/5.

The Survivors: Well… that went nothing like I expected. Things start out kind of same old, same old. We have a couple being too stubborn to leave their home despite hostilities and the crew can’t convince them otherwise… then Troi gets some strange repeating melody stuck in her head. You know how addictive Earworms can be? Well imagine it never being able to stop and going over and over and over… and Dear Lord poor Troi didn’t deserve any of this. Marina Sirtis conveyed Troi’s growing desperation and pain because it just won’t stop extremely well. This and a hostile vessel raise a lot of questions. Why is all of this happening? It’s all connected to the elderly couple… and the reveal is utterly shocking and horrifying. I’m reluctant to even go into detail because I don’t want to ruin the surprise for anyone who may have not seen it. But lets just say that it’s not simple pride keeping that couple from leaving even when the danger returns. Oh not even close. This episode was freakin’ great. It’s pretty good but when we get the big plot twist? It flips everything on it’s head and the actor delivering the big revelation… the performance is utterly gut-wrenching. Their actions are sympathetic and the guilt and grief is so evident and heartbreaking, a being driven to despair that caused them to commit probably one of, if not the, most unforgivable act that one can commit. It’s an utter tragedy, plain and simple. IDT an episode of TNG has hit me this hard, I legit teared up. Just… damn. 5/5.

While I didn’t really watch the show as a kid, I did see scattered episodes her and there because my mom watched it 24/7. Seasons 1 and 2 of TNG just… din’t feel right. They weren’t bad, they just didn’t have that feel that I remembered from what I had seen. Now though? I’m starting to get that feeling again. The episodes, while not ground-breaking or anything, maintain quality and it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to replicate TNG or struggling to escape it’s shadow anymore. If this is indeed the season where the show truly found it’s groove, then I am excited for the other 23 episodes~!

#st watchthrough

2 notes · View notes

robthomissed · 4 years ago

Text

Some thoughts on Jordan Binnington that no one asked for but I found his contract press conference very interesting

Okay, just gonna get this out of the way. Is Jordan perfect? Hell no. Has he made mistakes in the past? Absolutely. Will he make mistakes in the future? Almost certainly. But I do believe people can grow and I think Binner has that capacity. This is not an effort to redeem or defend him but merely me making observations and sharing my thoughts.

I just watched through the press conference and noted things I thought were interesting and tried to keep track of time stamps if you want exact quotes because this man's speech pattern can be hard to transcribe

2:00 – asked about how there are other goalies that make more money and haven’t won a cup but Army mentioned that he got the feeling from Binner that he wanted a good contract but was willing to maybe take a little less if it meant keeping a good team around him.

- Roughly paraphrased: “being on a competitive team matters to me. I’m not looking to crush the bank, it’s not all about money to me. At the end of the day what you look back on and feel in your heart is the memories made, competing, being successful, going through tough times and getting out of them, and being there for your teammates.”

3:00 – Asked if he has been able to reflect on his journey he took to get here

- First call was to parents/grandparents and talked to his girlfriend

- He then goes on to talk about taking a drive by himself around St. Louis and stopping and looking at notes in his phone that are from different times in the past few years about his mental and physical struggles

- He drove down to Enterprise just to reflect, then he drove past the Hilton by the ballpark where he stayed when he first came into the league, he thought about the baseballs games they went to during development camp, he drove past the restaurants where him and Eddy and the boys would eat dinner a lot. He talked about how those are the memories that stick out to him now and how proud he is of himself and the people around him who helped him.

5:00 – “I’m proud to be a St. Louis Blue. We already have so many memories made and I am very happy here in St. Louis, the people are so genuine.”

- This just made me happy. I have always thought that Jordan was happy enough here and wouldn't mind staying here but would maybe want to go somewhere else. Just the tone of his voice when he said this really struck me. He seemed to really mean it and it is nice to hear that he enjoys being here and that the people here are at least a small part of that.

6:50 – asked about his calculated personality and how sometimes he feels that he needs to do something like he did in San Jose

- He feels like reading situations and adapting is part of being a leader and sometimes you have to mix things up if stuff isn’t going your way

- It’s something he enjoys about his position. He sees that as an extension of his role as a teammate

- I personally love how sometimes Binner will just kind of lose it like that. He did it at least once before in juniors and so he knows when and how to do it. His teammates and coach love it and he knows that even if he is having a bad night in net that he can at least do something for the team. He has also said in the past that he believes that hockey is supposed to be entertaining so if he just doesn't have it that night then he should still do something to put on a show. I can respect that. Do I wish he didn't take a penalty for it in San Jose? Yeah. But in the end, I like what he did.

7:50 – Panger says hi to ask what kept Binner motivated throughout his struggles in the minors and Binner says hi back. It was just a nice moment and that is something I notice that happens with Panger a lot. The boys really respond to him and I think that speaks very highly of Panger.

8:58 – this man makes web diagrams which is so nerdy and I love it

- He talks about taking notes in his phone and putting in the work to get better. He seems really into introspection and reflection which I love. He acknowledges that it took a lot of work and meeting the right people along the way. All the simple things add up seems to be a theme in his life

10:00 – He talks about how the money isn’t what drives him it is more about making people realize that they should want to pay him that is his motivation.

- He talks about how he ended up in Providence with the Bruins organization because the Blues had nowhere for him to play. He talks about how good that was for him and how much he learned about himself and what it took to get to the next level there. The way he talks about us not having a place for him really stands out to me. He doesn’t seem upset or anything but it just feels like that put a fire in him to prove that we needed to make room for him.

12:00 – Asked about how if the contract hadn’t gotten done now that it probably would have been tabled until the end of the season

- “you’re in or you’re outright?” he would have been willing to go prove himself again and fight it out but he felt like this was a good deal.

12:45 – What is his motivation now?

- His motivation constantly changes. Lots of small goals that lead to bigger ones

- “We already have built such a great history in St. Louis, I wanna make the city proud. I want to continue to make my family proud. Just keep pushing myself to be the best athlete and person I can be I think that’s what keeps you alive”

Now I have been on record saying that I didn't think Binner had much loyalty to St. Louis or the Blues in the long term. Sure he would compete hard and be all in while he was here but I fully expected him to want to go somewhere for more money or where he might be able to be more of a spectacle since he enjoys the spotlight sometimes. But after hearing him talk here and some other interviews over the past year or so I think maybe he does realize how special it can be here. He is the goalie that brought us a cup and when you do something like that you are a hero forever.

I think Jordan is a little misunderstood sometimes in terms of how he emotes and the decisions he makes. he is very calculated about what emotions to show and when to use them. We call him Hockey Roomba for a reason. He reminds me a lot of a really good friend from high school who didn't look very exciting but once he trusted you it was a different story. I guess what I am trying to say is that Jordan is more emotional than we give him credit for he just controls them and channels them where he wants to.

Jordan also mentions respect a lot in this interview which was interesting to me. He seems to put a lot of emphasis on being a good teammate and having the respect of the people around him. He actually reminds me a lot of Jack Flaherty. They both have a high level of self-respect and compete from that mindset. They both aren't driven by money but expect to be paid what they believe they are worth. They both focus on staying in the moment and controlling what they can control and finding that inner fire to fuel them. And honestly, those are the kind of guys I want playing for my teams.

So congratulations Binner and I am happy you are here. Can't wait to see you keep growing as a goalie and a person.

#i just had a lot of thoughts watching that interview #my counselor brain kinda took over #this is a lot of word vomit so forgive the rough writing style #jordan binnington #st louis blues

4 notes · View notes

almaasi · 5 years ago

Note

I wanna watch Star trek but I don't know where to start! Is there a series that's most popular? Do I have to watch them in order?

OOH YES. it’s all on netflix so watching it is EASY PEASY

i’ll tell you about each of them, personal opinions included.

so!

there’s “star trek”, the original series, made in the 1960s, which is what my mama grew up watching. this is the one with kirk and spock and uhura etc. this is the fandom that kickstarted Fandom. it’s perhaps worth watching for the historical revolution aspect. i haven’t seen more than few episodes here and there (i found its pacing slow these days, yet adored the ones i saw as a kid, and would rewatch them over and over). you could watch “the trouble with tribbles” as a stand-alone. it’s 10/10 and hilarious. i intend to get back to watching the rest sometime. i’ve enjoyed this series mostly through tumblr gifsets and fanart. as far as i can tell, not watching all of it doesn’t really affect the watching of the rest… because…

imo, the 90s era of star trek shows were the best (the next generation, deep space nine, voyager…. and enterprise, which i haven’t seen yet). they’re mostly weird, cheerful, and upbeat. tng comes first, which gives some context to ds9, but besides a few crossover characters and storylines, you could watch either without the other. voyager occasionally has characters from the others but it’s pretty stand-alone (you could definitely watch this one with zero context).

show concepts (of the ones i’ve watched, sorry enterprise):

the next generation (tng): utopian adventure looking at space!! people trying to be perfect and being like ooooh aliens. ooh planets. this is the basic 90s trek. some bad stuff happens, but not a lot. mostly wacky spaceship antics/intrigue and people trying to do their jobs even when space shit hits the space fan. (season 6 of tng runs parallel with season 1 of ds9, and there’s one ds9/tng crossover episode in tng. the character of worf is developed here and is later introduced to ds9.) definitely a good one to start with!

deep space nine (ds9): everyone lives on a broken space station. this show is the edgy goth cousin, but the one with the heart and soul that i am so freaking in love with right now. my favourite star trek by far. the characters have SO MUCH DEPTH and i swear they’re all queer or autistic or both. this one gets plot-heavy as it goes on, but it maintains its underlying warmth and still has those ridiculous fun episodes that make everything okay again for 45 minutes. i love the characters so muh-hu-huuuch and the FOUND FAMILY vibe is literally out of this world. there’s only maybe 3 episodes out of 176 that i didn’t like, and they’re all one-off-romance episodes that squick me for personal reasons (compulsory heterosexuality, ableism?? ew ew ew, scrubbed forever from my personal canon). overall the writing is phenomenal. like maybe one of the consistently best-written shows i’ve ever seen, including modern stuff. plus i found another otp (garak/bashir) and that’s undoubtedly a big part of why i love this show so much. i am deeply compelled by character relationships, and this one has oodles of exactly that. you can ship anyone with anyone else and you’d be right.

voyager (voy): just a bunch of nerds tryna get home for 7 years straight. a lot of funky weirdness happens along the way. this is my second favourite after ds9. found family, but in a more professional way than ds9. i dunno if it’s just my opinion formed after not seeing this show for a few years, but i remember the writing of this one seemed kinda all over the place. always fun though, maybe because of its changeability. lady boss captain, hell yeah. (season 2 of ds9 runs parallel with season 1 of voy.)

then…

well, there’s the new shows, discovery (dsc) and picard (pic)

and i haven’t watched picard yet, but i’m getting the impression it has a similar vibe as discovery, and i just……. don’t like it. discovery is dark, violent, emotionally harrowing, and i guess there’s a time and place and audience for that, but it’s not me, or any time i want to watch something. it’s supposed to be ~reflecting the modern zeitgeist~ or whatever, but imo in these trying times i’d rather watch something soft and hopeful that makes me think about how to improve things, rather than something that hits a little too close to home and makes me think about oh god where are we headed if this keeps happening. i mean, it’s still going for the “help humanity improve” schtick of the 90s shows, but in a very different way.

and then there’s the modern jj abrams movies…….. eh, i guess they’re okay. lens flare and explosions, man. give me seven-season arcs with hundreds of ridiculous plot concepts any day.

tl;dr:

i conferred with my sister, and she gave some very good advice: start with tng, and if that doesn’t vibe with you, try voyager, and then ds9, since it’s good to get the context of how star trek deals with morality before ds9 knocks the entire concept on its ass.

but no, you don’t have to watch the series(es?) in the order they were made. background world-building storylines would make more sense if you did, but each show is generally unrelated. my family even found it kinda rewarding to watch them out of order (tng, voy, ds9) and piece together plot threads laid down in other shows.

but you can just pick one and go. c:

–

sister (@sweetdreamspootypie) adds which question each show attempts to ask and answer:

tng: how can we grow into the best of humanity? / what does it look like to be the best of humanity?

voy: what will we give up to stick to our principles?

dsc: what principles will we give up to stay alive?

ds9: capitalism, war, religion, diversity, real people just tryna live, leaning into the grey morality of Being Good. this isn’t a question. “how dare you infect me with morals!!”

#star trek #ishachan #ds9 #tng #voy #Elmie watches things #post of postiness #replies #long post

28 notes · View notes

theromanticrationalist · 5 years ago

Text

Short Treks: My Thoughts

Now that I’ve finally caught up on Short Treks, I thought I would share my thoughts on the series and the future of Star Trek.

Short Version: It’s a bizarrely mixed bag.

Now for the long version. (SPOILERS)

Short Treks: Runaway

I love Sylvia Tilly (who doesn’t?), and this new era of Star Trek has certainly given us some interesting and lovely characterizations. This was a pretty solid short story, and I loved that we got to spend more time with Tilly. I also enjoyed how they tied this story into season 2 of Discovery, which added more depth to her character. Yes, Tilly just makes friends with random alien queens. It’s just what she does.

I also appreciated Po’s dilemma in her fears and struggles with her people about the coming changes of them becoming a warp-capable society. Thanks to Po’s ingenuity and talent, she has given her people a way to stabilize Dilithium crystals, but Po has done this out of a love of science and creativity. She fears the exploitation of her discovery and inventions for selfish gain. As a creative myself, I could relate to Po’s anguish as she desires the purity of her creation’s purpose, the soul, to be preserved above all else. #TheStruggleIsReal

In the end, though, both Tilly and Po mature and grow a little, which was satisfying to see. I look forward to seeing Tilly’s continued trajectory to her inevitable captaincy!

Short Treks: Calypso

Another really solid story, but the only thing was that it didn’t feel like Star Trek to me. It just seemed like a beautiful and haunting science fiction story, maybe something that would be on Amazon’s Electric Dreams (love that series!). It certainly has some interesting implications for Discovery’s future, but overall it felt out of place in the lore. Despite that, this is probably the strongest of the Short Treks in writing, pacing, and emotional impact. Give me a love story with an AI/robot any day of the week.

Short Treks: Brightest Star

This was the one episode of the first batch of Treks that I was most excited about seeing. I think the strongest character and ideas of this new era of Star Trek is the character of Saru and his people, the Kelpiens and their predatory “overlords”, the Ba’ul. The planet dynamics of these species and how they’ve evolved together, and the mystery of how they are inexplicably linked is absolutely fascinating to me. Unfortunately, I feel like the writers really squandered the full potential of the ideas, which disappointed me greatly. 😞However, despite my disappointment, I did enjoy this story, albeit it was much to short. I think it needed to be 20 or 30 mins to really give the full impact of Saru’s struggle as an unusual Kelpien who looks up at the stars and speaks to them. But we don’t really get an explanation of how Saru is able to understand technology at all. We just have to accept that “he’s different”, so he just has the ingenuity to figure things out. I would have loved to have seen him when he was younger giving us examples of how his unorthodox thinking manifested in other ways in order for us to believe that he would be smart and capable enough to tinker and use technology beyond his people’s understanding. It would have also given us a chance to really immerse ourselves in the culture and mindset of the Kelpiens, to understand the psychology that shapes Saru’s very identity. In short, WE NEEDED MOAR KELPIENS AND SARU.

Overall, though, this episode was one of the very few that felt the most like Star Trek, as it exemplifies themes of questioning, seeking, searching, and asking and how that curiosity can lead us to worlds and realms beyond - that we are made for so much more than we could possibly imagine.

This story also gave me Isaac Asimov vibes, which was cool.

Short Treks: The Escape Artist

This one was really disappointing and, frankly, very dull. Don’t get me wrong, Rainn Wilson does a fabulous Harry Mudd. He really adds nuance and cleverness to a character that originally was pretty one dimensional and campy. However, this was the one episode that NEEDED to be shorter, as it went on for far too long, and the pay off wasn’t worth it. It also left me feeling like, what was even the point? Why did they make this short story about Harry Mudd without telling us anything new about him? Yeah, we know he is conniving con man, we get it. It also doesn’t make sense continuity wise in Star Trek because I thought Doctor Noonien Soong was the leading roboticist/android expert, and Data wasn’t anywhere near to looking as life-like as Mudd’s replicas. Somehow Mudd is able to create perfect hosts-from-Westworld androids that sweat, bleed, bruise, and otherwise act like organic matter, able to express the full nuanced range of human emotion as to be clone-like duplicates of himself. Um. Okay??? I guess this lone con man fugitive has made these ingenious and world-shattering discoveries and inventions in robotics and technology. Yep.

Short Treks: Q&A

The absolute best of the Short Treks, IMLTHO. (Yeah, I may be biased...) You can read my thoughts on this episode here: X.

Short Treks: The Trouble With Edward

Yeah. So this one is W-E-I-R-D, even by Star Trek’s standards. I also didn’t get it. I didn’t understand why it was made or why it took the tone that it did. It was funny, yeah, uncomfortably amusing, like we were watching The Office: Star Trek Edition, but WHY. Did someone ask for this? What is going on? WHY DID THEY HAVE THAT PARODY CHILDREN’S CEREAL COMMERCIAL AT THE END ABOUT EATING TRIBBLES WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING RIGHT NOW

It also doesn’t fit continuity-wise in the timeline. If someone at Starfleet was responsible for making tribbles the way that they are, then how come Kirk and the Enterprise weren’t notified as such? McCoy was the one who examined and discovered why they were breeding so much, but he could have just looked up Starfleet’s records apparently and got all the answers he needed.

I’m not one of those fans who gets upset about continuity errors in world building, but really, there are just some things you should obviously know better not to do.

Personally, I think the writer’s room was on Stamet’s mushrooms when they wrote this one, tbh. 😉

Short Treks: Ask Not

This was one was just ridiculous. The scenario wasn’t plausible, it was predictable, and the implications were kind of disturbing. For one, we all knew Captain Pike hadn’t turned. Yes, this perfect, plush, teddy bear of a man who is THE NUMBER ONE Space Dad of All Timeᵀᴹ who has absolute, unwavering integrity and honor is someone we are supposed to buy as having committed mutiny, or at least convince us that Cadet Thira Sidhu buys this obvious load of malarky.

Uh, I don’t think so.

Also...THIS IS SO MESSED UP WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR CADETS. Why would you put them through this manipulative farce just to test their devotion, commitment, and integrity?! If I were this cadet I would be seriously angry and upset that I was tricked and made to go through the emotional turmoil, trauma, and distress of standing up against your commanding officer in a life endangering scenario! What the heck?? What sick, perverted, twisted mind thought of this cruel -

Oh.

Haha, okay so I think it is kind of hilarious just how merciless Number One is that she would actually come up with this kind of test. This episode was TOTALLY worth the little Spock and Number One Mutual Appreciation Society moment, as Spock, with stars in his eyes, admires Number One’s cutthroat tactics. I mean in AOS, Spock did come up with the Kobayashi Maru so it is all making sense. However, at least in the Kobayashi Maru the cadets knew they were taking a test. Cadet Thira Sidhu did not. The lighthearted and warm fuzzy ending to this episode did not at all jive with what had just happened. It would have been much more interesting to have dealt with the implications of Number One’s test on the cadets, while expanding on her character as well as telling us why Pike would even partake of and allow this to happen, but oh well.

Short Treks: Ephraim and Dot

The idea? Creative. The characters? Cute. The animation? Really nice with an old school flair. And yet I was once again left feeling like what was the point? I mean I’m sure 3-5 year olds would enjoy watching this little short, like something akin to Looney Tunes IN SPACE, but really there wasn’t much substance here. Frankly, it just seemed like it was a nostalgia trip and Easter egg dump.

Short Treks: The Girl Who Made The Stars

This is another very creative idea with excellent animation and an interesting look into Michael’s childhood and the ideas that shaped her. I suppose it accomplishes what it sets out to do, and is pretty effective, but personally it didn’t do much for me. It was sweet and inspirational and that’s about it.

Short Treks: Children of Mars

This was a prologue of sorts before Picard begins, and so it was interesting to have our first look into what we will come to expect from that series. It was, undoubtedly, emotionally effecting, as it actually brought tears to my eyes. However, I did have an issue with it and I was trying to figure out what that was. I then realized - it felt like a commercial. Like one of those long commercials that tells a poignant little story in order to sell an idea or product, whatever it may be. It was too glossy, stylized, and seemed like it could be used as a kind of propoganda-esque promotion of Starfleet and its ideals. I know that is a kind of cynical way of viewing it, but that is how it felt to me in the way it chose to tell its story. I think if the girls had been allowed to be real characters we could have immersed ourselves in their story and what the both of them ended up having to face together in the end. It would have felt much more real and earnest, instead of just tugging at our heartstrings in a syrupy kind of way.

Also, it kind of gave me The Expanse vibes. Just an observation.

Conclusion

These Short Treks, and subsequently the CBS era of the Star Trek franchise, are a really weird mix bag for me. On one hand, I do admire their creative risks as they decide to try new ways of telling Star Trek stories, which I know not all those in the fandom appreciate or desire. Yet on the other hand, most of the time the writing is just poorly done and generic, so it all seems to just cancel itself out. 😕

Creating memorable, enjoyable, and original characters: 100%

The level of Feelzᵀᴹ felt from the storytelling and acting: 1000%

Creativity through set, costumes, and stylistic approaches and ideas: 100%

Writing: Subpar, 20%

Science: Not Even Science

In the end it seems like those running this new era of Star Trek have a lot of heart, but not enough analytical thinking or patience to take the time to build the necessary character and plot logic that makes for much more satisfying storytelling. Just saying “Space, the final frontier” a thousand times doesn’t make this Star Trek, and making us feel things through excellently composed music and acting isn’t good writing. (Also, people saying that they love science all the time doesn’t mean they are actually doing science!) So, I don’t expect much from this CBS era, but I’ll be watching it and enjoying it anyway. I’m Star Trek trash. What can I say? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Source for images: X

#star trek #short treks #my thoughts #star trek discovery

2 notes · View notes

comics-mostly · 7 years ago

Text

WHY Tony Stark was *amazing* in Spider-Man: Homecoming

written 08/18/2017.

youtube

If, by chance, you've yet to check out Spider-Man: Homecoming, I suggest checking it out before reading this article - lest you want certain plot points spoiled.

Still here? Well let's get into it!

Let me start by saying that Spider-Man: Homecoming was AMAZING! Wait, is that too on the nose? It was SPECTACULAR? Perhaps the ULTIMATE incarnation of the character in film to date? I mean, it was clearly SUPERIOR to the other films in almost every way. Okay, I'm done. Sorry, I can get pretty punny at times. But yeah, this movie.. it was awesome, for sure. Not only was it fun, it told a unique story unlike anything we’ve really seen in the MCU so far. While the stakes were high for Spider-Man, they weren’t really all that high in terms of the Universe, or the world, hell, not even for NYC. This was so ground level that the stakes seemed higher on the last season of Marvel’s DareDevil. Really. And that’s a good thing. I don’t need to see Spider-Man taking on a Living Planet or Stopping Hydra from taking over the world via S.H.I.E.L.D. Let me just watch good ol’ Spidey try to foil a few robberies for a couple of hours. You wouldn’t believe how entertaining it really is.

So, of all the cool, awesome, funny stuff that makes Spider-Man: Homecoming a great film, one thing stood out to me more than anything else. Tony Stark. Notice I’m not saying Iron Man. Now, I’m more than willing to admit I’ve got a serious bias when it comes to Iron Man – I’m a tech guy at heart and the idea of having an armor like Stark’s gives me major nerd-wood. However, this post isn’t focusing on the Armor itself; but the man inside it. I honestly believe he was an excellent addition to the film, and not just because he’s a, “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” He was a perfect choice because, at this point in our journey, we know him. We’ve seen him at his best, we've seen him at his worst; when he was living it up as his usual awesome (though self-centered) self in the first film, to his lowest point in Captain America: Civil War which left his team, and at this point family, disbanded. We were with him from the very beginning, when he first donned the Mark I in that Afghani cave and rocketed – quite literally – into the age of Super Heroes. In the MCU’s sixteen film span – of which Stark has been in half – we have really gotten to know the man in the armor, and really get a genuine grasp of who he is as a man. So, that’s part of the reason that seeing him step into a brand new role, as Peter Parker's mentor, so very satisfying. Now, for those of you who have seen the movie – which I’m assuming is everyone, at this point – you know that Stark doesn’t actually have all that much screen time. You see him at the beginning, get a glimpse of him a quarter of the way through, he has a significant scene in the middle, and then he and Peter have a nice little pow-wow at the very end. But, while he doesn’t appear himself for much of the film, his presence is definitely felt throughout. Peter idolizes Stark and is always talking about the, “Stark Internship;” Favreau’s Happy Hogan has multiple scenes, and is essentially a Surrogate Stark for Peter; the villains of the film are stealing technology from a Subsidiary of Stark Enterprises; and the suit that Peter is wearing for the majority of the film was gifted to him by none other than Stark himself during the events of Captain America: Civil War. So, while Stark isn’t seen, it’s more than fair to say that he is very much a crucial component of not only setting up the plot, but also driving it forward. Not only is he the catalyst that effectively turns the films villains towards their life of crime, but he also serves as a significant father-figure in Peter's life; one that unintentionally pushes Peter to behave in ways that put him in harms way.

But, all of that information aside, I want to talk about the actual relationship between Peter Parker and Tony Stark. As I mentioned before, Peter idolizes the man and wants nothing more than to be acknowledged and, eventually, become a part of his team, the Avengers. Stark, being new to the concept of Mentoring, remains distant, but always vigilant; keeping track of Peter's progress through Happy. He may go about it in Stark-ish fashion, but you can tell that he wants Peter to succeed. However, even though Stark wants him to succeed, he wants Peter to enjoy being a kid and continue to go to school and stick to "Street-Level" activities as a "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man." Tony sees potential in Peter, but he also realizes that he's still just a fourteen – erm, fifteen – year old "kid," and because of that he thinks the "Training Wheels" ought to stay on. Tony just wants Peter to become the very best version of himself, and while Peter is desperate to be like Tony, Tony wants him to be better.

Speaking of which, this is perhaps one of the greatest scenes in the entire film. It starts just after Peter fails to keep the Ferry from sinking without Tony swooping in and helping him. Once everyone is safe the two meet up and have a conversation in. which Tony effectively puts Peter in his place, and rightfully so. Tony's pissed because, 1.) Peter lied to him. 2.) He put himself, and the people on the ferry, in danger by acting so hastily. And 3.) Screwed up the entire sting operation, ultimately resulting in the Villain soaring away. But let's focus on the first one, because that's the real issue. After everything we know Tony has been though, it's easy to understand how being dishonest with him might might bring up bad memories. Let's not even get started on how Steve lied to him for years about the Winter Soldier killing his parents. Lying to Stark hurt him on a deeper level that even Peter might not have picked up on. The best line in this sequence comes from the exchange between Tony and Peter wherein Peter says, "I'm nothing without the Suit!" and Stark responds with..

When he said that my mind immediately jumped back to the end ofIron Man 3 when Tony finally realized that regardless of whether or not he has his suit, he’s still Iron Man. That moment didn’t necessarily stick with me so much when I originally saw it back in 2013, but hearing him tell Peter that made me instantly think of it. I thought of how, in Iron Man 3 Tony was trying to cope with the events of The Avengers, which resulted in his having a crippling case of PTSD, wherein he felt that he needed the suit in order to keep himself safe. Tony, at the time, believed his suit made him Invincible (see what I did there) and without it he was utterly powerless. But, he was forced to fight through it and, in the end, came to the realization that, suit or no suit, he is a hero. He is Iron Man. As angry as he may be in this moment, he desperately wants Peter to realize this as well. Thankfully, Peter finally realizes his worth - that just like Tony - whether he’s in the high-tech suit or not, he’s still Spider-Man. Having Tony Stark be Peter’s mentor was brilliant in the sense that no time had to be wasted on explaining why this mentor character is significant to Peter, or why we should care about them and the things they says. By having someone we’re already familiar with take on this role, it makes the experience all the more memorable. For close to a decade we’ve watched Tony Stark grow from a cocky asshole, into someone who genuinely cares about the people in his life. Things that might have crippled any other person have only served to make Tony Stark all the stronger, and because of that we admire him as the Hero that he is - suit or no suit. While others in the MCU (those who are against him, mostly) might only remember him for who he was, the audience has seen him evolve into so much more. All in all, Spider-Man: Homecoming was an awesome movie and if, for some reason, you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely go and check it out!

#spider man: homecoming #spiderman: homecoming #iron man #spider man #tony stark #peter parker #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #movies #film #comic book movies #Welcome to The WHY #The WHY #a Blog #The WHY - Articles

12 notes · View notes

gojiro · 7 years ago

Photo

Star Trek: Discovery Episode 1;

Okay there was some very positive stuff in the new ST series - first of all, the FX are much higher grade than I was expecting, at least in this episode they were movie quality. And the lighting and cinematography were film-type, as opposed to the TV lighting and cinematography of the TV shows - but unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to get plenty more of those highly annoying JJ Abrams lens flares.

We’ve really only gotten to know 4 characters with any depth yet; The Captain, Michael, Tall Thin Cowardly Alien Guy, Sarek (has he appeared in every Trek variant now?), and Main Klingon With A Purpose. Yeah I didn’t catch anybody’s name except First Officer Michael, who the show appears to be built around. And yeah I said we got to know 4 characters but named 5, because it’s early yet and they’re not all ‘built’ completely, just partially. The rest of the crew seem to be typical disposable red shirts (even though everyone is in blue jumpsuits - no Federation color coding yet) and will probably all be dead in episode 2. It’s hard to say if anyone is going to be likeable yet, but Michael seems interesting (and hot - grrrrrr), and she comes with the requisite tragic backstory.

The Klingons are interesting, of the new movie reboot style. It’s good to see that they’re back to their old skool vicious kill for the sake of killing mentality. The main problem with these Klingons though is that the new makeup is HEAVY, and is going to badly hamper the actors trying to emote, and their mouth appliances make it almost impossible to say lines. Of course, most of what they say is in Klingon…. The season-long plot arc seems to involve Main Klingon starting a Klingon holy war involving worship of our old friend Kahless, and uniting the 25 competing Klingon houses. I do find that a pretty interesting idea.

There appear to be 2 main ships; the first is that butt-ugly wedge design you saw in the trailer, but MUCH more evolved through CGI. Clearly what they put in the trailer was an alpha test. The finished version is still that weird wedge, which is like nothing else in the Federation ship database. But it’s acceptable. However, its appearance was super-brief - the main ship that all the action took place on tonight was the Shenzhou, which was a much sexier and Federation-normal variant of the Akira class. There’s no way to tell yet which will be the main ship of the series, whether we’ll be following both, switching off from epi to epi, or what. I will say the bridge of the Shenzhou is ridiculously large and too spread out - it’s very inefficient, and needlessly so. The Klingon ships look to be badly designed messes though, like the reboot movies. Again, they made only brief appearances, except for the main Klingon vessel which was more of a ceremonial craft than a warship.

So from this ONE episode, I’d say it’s a promising start - CBS has clearly sunk a lot more money and resources into it than I expected. I’d say this ONE episode ranks better than Enterprise (now there’s a low bar), early DS9, and Voyager. But of course, there’s no way to tell how well the show will keep up the quality - all I can think of again is the massive difference between the 'BattleStar Galactica’ origin movie and the series itself. So whether it’s worth paying $10 a month to see 'Discovery’ is the big question, and I can’t answer it. Although for that money I feel they’d better go back to the old days of 30 episodes in a season, instead of the modern standard of 13.

AND THATS MY FOOKING TWO CENTS!!

#Star Trek #star trek discovery #cbs #sci fi

3 notes · View notes

yahoo-puck-daddy-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Expansion draft controversy gives Bettman the chance to flex (Trending Topics)

LAS VEGAS, NV – NOVEMBER 22: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman (L) encourages people to boo him as majority owner Bill Foley looks on before the Vegas Golden Knights was announced as the name for Foley’s Las Vegas NHL franchise at T-Mobile Arena on November 22, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team will begin play in the 2017-18 season. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The thing everyone is talking about this week in the NHL is the league’s general managers being reticent to release their protected players lists for the upcoming expansion draft.

It’s easy to see why they wouldn’t want those lists going public. Not for the stated “We don’t want guys to feel hard-done by” reasons they’ve trotted out in an attempt to defend the dopey decision. In a league where arbitration hearings sometimes leave people crying, and one in which we’re constantly reminded, “It’s just a business,” hurt feelings shouldn’t enter into it.

[Follow Puck Daddy on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]

The actual reason GMs don’t want to expose their lists is that it helps to highlight how many big-money, bad contracts they have given out in recent years to guys who were never going to be worth the money. Everyone is guilty, from GMs widely considered clueless like Jim Benning to smart geniuses like Steve Yzerman. Everyone has at least one or two Brandon Sutter or Ryan Callahans on the roster that they’ll look to expose.

What’s amazing is that these guys think they’re pulling a fast one, as though fans don’t know all about Cap Friendly (or CapGeek before it) and how easy it is to quickly identify problem deals. Hell, half the excitement among fans league-wide surrounding the expansion draft isn’t that they’ll get to see the new Vegas Golden Knights team come together. They couldn’t — and shouldn’t — care less. They only care how the expansion draft will affect their teams. Will Vegas take the big-money vet who kinda sucks now? Will they take the promising 23-year-old who hasn’t cracked the top-six yet but who the team also couldn’t protect? That’s what people want to know.

And hey, let’s not pretend like Gary Bettman wasn’t the commissioner the last time there was an expansion draft. And let’s not forget that protected lists back then were…….. public. I don’t know what changed, but whatever it was, it’s stupid.

Greg talked Thursday about how this isn’t on The League, as many people are arguing. That’s partly true. But while GMs are behind the decision, it’s ultimately The League that is letting them keep all these lists secret, because who-knows-why.

Like, if there’s a baby in a restaurant who’s excitedly banging a knife and fork on the table and making a racket and jostling things around, then they knock a glass on the floor and it shatters, who’s at fault? Well, I guess you blame the baby because the baby knocked the glass off the table, right? But also, the parents have to know when to take the knife and fork away because the baby’s gonna make a mess.

Instead, the league is going to allow teams to not-publish their lists of protected players, which serves the purpose of shielding GMs from criticism in the end. If you only know one guy from each team who goes to Vegas, the GMs have plausible deniability. “Did you protect (insert goodish player they probably should have protected but who would have definitely been on the borderline)?” “Oh, uhhhhh, yeah. I did do that. Yes.” If you publish the lists, it just invites criticism.

But again, that criticism was going to be about 65 percent of why people cared about the expansion draft in the first place. Another 30 percent was how it affects each team in the end. And the last 5 percent is for the combination of Vegas fans and “they’re actually good be good next year” truthers.

To give you an idea of the depths to which the league will sink to let a very small number of rich old guys protect themselves, at the expense of making itself more popular with literally anyone who’s not already addicted to hockey or at least their favorite teams — my continuing theory is that there are no casual hockey fans — there’s the TV plan.

Oh yeah, the league will televise the expansion draft, insofar as it will hold a televised event to reveal who’s on the roster. So exciting!

Except that event will take place around the same time as the NHL Awards (never mind that protected list in behind the curtain!), possibly even on the same day. And it will happen a full 24 hours after the draft has actually been completed. The likelihood that there’s a slow trickle of news during that day on this front seems quite high. Enterprising local beat writers will probably be able to shake loose some idea of who was or wasn’t protected, and maybe even who got picked.

Maybe the big nationally televised Insiders in this league play ball a little bit and don’t reveal who got taken in advance — the NHL will probably never have a reporter daring enough to start throwing Woj Bombs — but the odds that we know at least part of that initial Vegas roster well in advance of whatever dreary broadcast actually happens seem, let’s say, high. Which negates the point of the big reveal show.

The Vegas front office will, in fact, have the better part of three whole days to put together its expansion roster. Which is a bummer in and of itself. This seems like something that could be banged out on TV in three hours the day after the Cup Final if they really wanted to. But “if they really wanted to” is the operative word.

The draft won’t be televised, just the results of it. It would be like if the NHL draft were held in a big board room with no fans in attendance, no TV cameras, no live reporting from inside the building, then Bettman came out and did little more than read off a list of all 350 prospects taken. “With the 274th pick, the New York Rangers selected…”

LAS VEGAS, NV – NOVEMBER 22: The team name and logo for the Vegas Golden Knights are displayed on T-Mobile Arena’s video mesh wall after the Vegas Golden Knights was announced as the name for the Las Vegas NHL franchise at T-Mobile Arena on November 22, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team will begin play in the 2017-18 season. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

This is the first expansion draft in almost two decades and, like everything else the league does, it’s done not with the fans in mind, but with protecting its own interests and shrouding everything in unnecessary secrecy. There’s no charm here. No one under the age of 50 thinks there’s any merit to continuing the old-school, cloak-and-dagger BS that has plagued this league for far too long.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Hockey contest now]

If Bettman has any guts as the commissioner, he will tell the GMs to take their concerns about being outed as incompetents and scream them into the nearest toilet. Instead, he kowtows. He says, “Whatever you want.”

The owners are Bettman’s bosses, and surely he doesn’t want to piss them off. But if his job is to make the league more popular (or at least, more profitable) then a good way to do that would be to, I don’t know, maybe throw the fans a bone on one expansion draft. Push back, like, a little bit.

The extent to which GMs wield power in this league is confusing as hell. Do you think Adam Silver would put up with half the crap Bettman does from these guys? The GM meetings this week only underscore the issue; every GM’s idea to fix every problem is bad and made out of a desire for self-preservation.

Look at the standings issue. Everyone acknowledges that some games being worth two points and some being worth three is nonsense. But why does it exist? It creates artificial parity so GMs can say to their owners — and their fans — “Hey, we’re only five points out of the playoffs right now, on March 28.”

Because remember, if you go with a 3-2-1 points system, the standings don’t change much from what they look like right now. But the gaps get bigger between good and bad teams. It’s the same reason there’s no real incentive for a return to the ’80s goalscoring days: When more goals get scored, the good teams tend to be the ones who score them. The good team scoring 60 percent of the goals in a five-goal game only wins by one, but in a 10-goal game the 60 percent difference is that much more stark.

Fake parity behooves GMs as much as it does teams fighting for a playoff spot.

But to that point, this is the one place Bettman can and should really put his foot down. You don’t want to mess with the in-season product too much because you’re happy with the profits, fine. The expansion draft has no real effect on any of that.

So Gary, bud, here’s your chance. Just say “no.” Just once.

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.