#chapel/m’benga your big big brain

[bigassbowlingballhead]

You could tell me you ship nurse Christine chapel with anyone on the enterprise and I’d believe you.

[lonesomedreamer]

SNW Liveblog: “Ghosts of Ilyria”

In which the dialogue is both the best and worst part of the episode.

Episode 1: “I’m gonna mess with your genome. […] We’ll have to make a few alterations if you want to blend in.”

Episode 3: “…a humanoid species known for modifying their genes… However…genetic modification is forbidden in the Federation.”

MAKE. THAT. MAKE. SENSE. I know what they did in Episode 1 was just temporary, but Chapel’s whole purpose on the ship is genetic research, which she used to alter (temporarily or otherwise) the genetic code of certain crew members??? Do the writers actually read their own scripts?!

An ion storm, you say? Is this going to be a mirror episode? Seems a little early in the show’s run to be pulling that rabbit out of the hat.

“Whatever tweaks your freak, pal.” Thanks, I hate it.

The design of Engineering is a little busy for my taste, and the lighting is still too low for a functional working environment, but it looks pretty cool!

Oh shit, I completely forgot about the Eugenics Wars (which are such a huge piece of Trek lore—that’s my brain after eight days of work in a row, ig)…of COURSE genetic modification is forbidden! Which makes what they did in Episode 1 even more ridiculous!!! I’m sure having La’an discuss this with Number One is meant to be a wink and a nod to the audience, since presumably she’s related to Khan in some way.

Just kidding, they’re just going to openly acknowledge that she’s related to Khan, lol. But in all seriousness: why is she? Why couldn’t La’an just be an OC???

Good Spock dialogue!

He said “records” the way Nimoy would have, and it made me smile.

Uhura, a xenolinguist and polyglot from Kenya, saying “y’all”…hmmm.

“Nonessential personnel.” “Contact tracing.” “Lockdown.” Obviously, this language could apply to any pandemic, but you can just tell that writers were still waist-deep in the experience of covid while they worked on this script.

Spock’s sass! We love to see it.

Okay, it’s pretty badass that Number One can carry a full-grown man (alien or not) over her shoulder.

“How in the exact hell are you carrying him?” a. Christine and I are on the same wavelength, but b. that’s a truly awful line of dialogue.

I’m annoyed by Number One’s convenient backstory, but I guess to be totally fair to these writers, the character effectively has no backstory, so what’s stopping them?

“You know what will happen if that containment field goes down.” Yeah, we’ve seen it happen to Spock, and we’ve cried about it.

Ethan’s delivery could use some work. I’m a mumbler myself, so I do get it, but especially since he’s playing Spock, he really needs to enunciate!

Ah…this show’s fantasy elements in a science fiction package strike again.

I know she wasn’t a major, well-developed character, but I still feel comfortable in saying that “Don’t thank me, I know I’m good at my job” is an egregiously uncharacteristic thing for Christine Chapel to say. Yikes. (Christine IS good at her job, but TOS got that across by showing it—like when she found a creative way to get a crewman to stop refusing food.)

An amazing shot with nods to the mod/retrofuturistic aesthetic of TOS (finally!)...more of this, please.

If they hadn’t invented a medical transporter out of whole cloth, none of this would be a problem.

“No spoilers.” They really had to slip THAT line in there as a capstone to M’Benga’s tragic story about his daughter? Good thing his daughter is super cute. I do wonder about consent here, though: did M’Benga’s partner/his daughter’s mother agree to this arrangement? What about his daughter herself?

Overall, this episode felt more like classic Trek than any of them have so far, right down to Spock being stranded planetside with his captain. While I question some of the writing/plot choices, I have no big complaints EXCEPT FOR the horrible continuity/logic error wrt this episode and the “gene therapy” shown in the pilot. I was even pretty neutral on Pike in this episode. He’s no Jim Kirk, but he was Fine. (But speaking of Kirk, what happened to Sam??? They just forgot he existed and almost died in the previous episode…?) And I like the moral of this episode’s story—I just feel like the way they got there was a little clumsy.

The Good: Several really authentic-sounding Spock moments; Jess Bush is gorgeous; M’Benga’s absolutely adorable daughter; they kept the whistle sound on the Bridge from TOS!

The Bad: Is “gene therapy” okay, or isn’t it?! Consistency, people! Other dialogue choices…were made—some are OOC, some are just cringe, which is par for the course on SNW; La’an conveniently being Khan’s descendant; this show continues to be more fantasy than scifi

I am once again hoping for more S/C in the next episode!

[thebidoctors]

characters from each series i’ve watched and wether or not they believe in ghosts (the way i hc them anyways)

TOS

bones : absolutely not. will refuse to even entertain the idea of ghosts. if they’re dead, they’re dead, end of story.

spock : lets the crew think he doesn’t believe in em, but my man is secretly a believer. however, he doesn’t think they have the power to inflict harm. very much of the attitude “if the worst thing they are rumoured to do is slam doors, i’m not afraid.”.

jim : believes. big time. is wary of ghosts. probably wouldn’t be a f r a i d of them, but would ban ouija boards on the ship.

uhura : thinks it’d be pretty neat if they DID exsist, but doesn’t think they’re real. also agrees with spock, that if they are real, and the worst they can do is slam a door, they aren’t all that scary.

sulu : thinks all ghosts and demons and stuff are real and a threat. think ryan begara type.

chekov : thinks all ghosts and demons and stuff are real and a threat, but thinks he can take them on. he isn’t afraid, and he WILL disrespect a ghost just so he could fight it.

chapel : thinks ghosts are like fairytales. doesn’t believe in them at all but enjoys the stories. sometimes pretends to believe to piss off bones.

m’benga : kind of like a mix between uhura and chapel. he doesn’t think they’re real, but is open to the possibility and enjoys hearing stories about them. at the same time, he enjoys debunking every “paranormal” experience jim claims to have with chapel’s and uhura’s help.

scotty : fuck yeah he believes. not so much in ghosts, but in the old fae and shit, which are dangerous. he will not do anything that might piss off the fae. ghost and demons he doesn’t really believe in but at the same time he will provoke them in the hopes of fighting one, like chekov.

AOS

bones : life is shitty enough without ghosts. haunt your own house by wailing around the corridors at night. you don’t need ghosts to go insane when you live on a tin can hurtling through the void faster than the speed of light. doesn’t believe in ghosts and will be pissed enough to get rid of them if they do.

spock : doesn’t believe. at all. enjoys debunking “evidence”. is sick of explaining that science actually DOES account for unexplained phenomena. sometimes stuff happens that we can’t explain because we don’t yet have the knowledge required. is t h i s close to punching jim if he tried to convince him ghosts are real one more time.

jim : believes. whooooo boy he believes. probably more adamant about it than he would be solely to debate it with spock. would fight a ghost, but is semi-respectful of them (i.e has shane madej vibes, but less aggressive lmao).

uhura : doesn’t believe. doesn’t argue the point of the existence of ghosts with people who do believe though (unless they’re jim). gets annoyed when people use ghosts as an excuse for easily explained incidents, but won’t let it show.

sulu : does believe, but in a “hey they don’t seem pretty powerful i could take one in a fight” kinda way. would own an ouija board just to scare jim.

chekov : doesn’t believe, but in the “pffft ghosts aren’t real wait what the fUCK WAS THAT NOISE HELP” kind of way. maybe doesn’t believe in ghosts, but does in supernatural entities. or maybe he does believe he just wants to seem chill and Logical infront of the rest of the crew.

scotty : doesn’t know wether or not to believe, but has a “fuck the ghosts and the fae” kinda vibe. 10/10 would flip off the ghost of his grandmother or some shit like that.

keenser (is that his name? scotty’s buddy) : is possessed.

TNG

beverly : nah. remember how slow she was to believe in the “ghost” that haunted her grandmother? only believed in ghosts when an alien posing as one seduced her and made her think they were real. idk if scottish folk are anything like irish folk when it comes to ghost stories, but if they ARE she’ll have a healthy liking of ghost stories and fables, but she doesn’t believe.

picard : doesn’t believe. doesn’t really like ghost stories either. thinks that the concept of ghosts is pretty cool, because he’s a history buff and would find it pretty useful, but nah. not real.

data : finds the human concept of ghosts to be intriguing, has a full database on every recorded incident wherein supernatural activity has been suspected. on the other hand, he is able to explain 99% of those incidents. is interested, but thinks it’s unlikely.

geordi : he believes, but he he isn’t afraid. he’d do seances and ouija boards for fun if other people were down for it.

deanna : nah. she knows too much about how beings with brains perceive the world around them, and knows that sometimes the brain will blip. due to priming, many of these brain blips (mm v scientific) are perceived as supernatural occurrences. so she doesn’t believe they exsist, but she is interested in why others think they’re real.

riker : fuck yeah he believes. has confiscated geordi’s ouija board and thrown it out an airlock. fears the supernatural. might be exaggerating this fear because it amuses deanna. likes to talk to data about ghosts.

worf : yeah. he gives me believer vibes. can’t explain it, i’m not sure how exactly he believes in them, or why, but he does. i don’t think he’s afraid of them though.

nurse ogawa : she also believes, but not in a super “FEAR AND RESPECT THE SUPERNATURAL” way. is down for seances and ouija boards with geordi.

keiko : yeah, kinda? i think she doesn’t believe fully, but wouldn’t be surprised if they turned out to be real.

miles : ok he doesn’t believe in GHOSTS per say, but banshees? the sidhe? headless carriages? the white lady? fuck yeah. omens all the fucking way.