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lonesomedreamer · 10 months ago

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SNW Liveblog: “Under the Cloak of War”

another installment of Grimdark Trek in which SNW tries its hand at “Conscience of the King” without understanding that episode’s ethics.

or: The Wrath of M’Benga

A fantastic look for her! (Finally.)

Ortegas sucks, is judgy/borderline racist, and insubordinate. What else is new?

The choice to put war in Christine and M’Benga’s backstory still makes very little sense to me. I know Christine was underdeveloped in TOS, but this background has nothing to do with that character.

“Chris needs us [at dinner].” Why, though? They both clearly have pretty bad cases of PTSD (M’Benga almost had an actual heart attack in the previous scene), whereas Pike does not. So why does he need them there, for (lack of) moral support? Christine’s dating a Vulcan—maybe she should call M’Benga out for being illogical.

Protective boyfriend Spock!

“Our captain needs us.” This again? He needs them for what? And as CMO, M’Benga should be well aware that neither he nor Christine are medically fit to represent Pike, the Enterprise, or the Federation at large in their current emotional states.

NOT the Superpower Serum subplot coming back. It was stupid in 2x01, it’s stupid now.

Why do Klingon prosthetics/makeup look worse now than they did in the 80s? His scalp looks like it’s made out of plastic. (Which maybe it is. But that's the problem.)

Christine’s often emotionally unavailable partner is attempting to be warm/supportive/empathetic in his own way, and she’s pushing him away. I do understand that SNW!Christine is traumatized and suffering from PTSD, which may cause her to behave in ways others see as irrational…but she was able to cope with the horrific events of “All Those Who Wander” and to offer emotional support to Spock afterwards despite the likelihood that those events were probably upsetting/triggering. So her behavior here makes no sense to me. Maybe the writers hadn’t thought up this backstory for her back in Season One…

“War changes people.” But this episode isn’t going to explore whether it actually changed Rah, is it? Or whether he is/can be/should be redeemed?

“How can we represent a Federation that believes in peace if we say some people aren’t allowed to make up for their past?” Wow, the writers are actually allowing Pike to be articulate AND correct? Granted that he’s been a total insensitive dumbass so far, but I’m still impressed.

“And when you find whoever’s in charge, you make them pay.” Jess Bush is a very talented actress. So it’s a real shame that this is the material she’s been given. Trek is about people overcoming things like the desire for vengeance and being better humans—about choosing to be better, in fact! Yet this nurse is advocating vigilante justice?

“Don’t let hate ruin your soul.” These are some fundamental Trek ideas! But they're coming from the “bad guy,” so I guess the writers ARE saying that “some people aren’t allowed to make up for their past”...

M’Benga violently murdering someone in flashback...yikes??

I saw a comment about how disturbing it is that SNW keeps making its two medical characters special-op types, and it’s true. McCoy might have had faults, but he honored his oath to the letter. First, do no harm. He was an empath, arguably the conscience of the show—not for nothing do fans very often portray him as the symbolic “heart”/pathos of the TOS triumvirate! Pain, suffering, and death physically sickened him. He could never have fatally stabbed someone, in a rage or otherwise. Justified or not. That’s the kind of doctor I want on my peaceful intragalactic exploratory mission. Didn’t the Rukiya subplot and its highly questionable resolution make M’Benga morally ambiguous enough???

…well, that answers that question.

There are definitely cameras on the Enterprise. Probably even in Sickbay. We know this because of common sense and because they pulled the “tape” when prosecuting Kirk in “Court Martial” and then again when Sarek confronts Kirk in Search for Spock! Christine could NOT cover up the truth here. (And while I’ve seen some people argue that the truth is ambiguous, I strenuously disagree. M’Benga murdered Rah.) Nor should she. Though she’s a traumatized war survivor like M’Benga, and Rah is a criminal from the same war, the CMO of the Federation’s flagship stabbing a (probably-unarmed) diplomat in a time of peace AND while on duty is a most definitely court martial offense. To put it mildly! Even if M’Benga was driven by his severe PTSD to react violently when Rah confronted him, he should be relieved of his duties, placed on medical leave, and treated. He should NOT continue serving on the Enterprise. This is even more severe and alarming than his rash decision regarding his daughter in Season One, and it should be the end of his Starfleet career. WHY did they write this?!!?!

Not only does no one properly investigate, Pike kind of shrugs and side-eyes M’Benga slightly before closing the case. A diplomat was killed on his ship under suspicious circumstances while alone with two people that Pike knew were struggling emotionally as a result of said diplomat’s presence… and he just takes their word for what happened and moves on?!

tl;dr They’ve ruined M’Benga. Twice. The Rukiya subplot was pretty bad, but at least his ultimate goal was for his daughter to live. This is also bad, but it makes M’Benga—a DOCTOR—a cold-blooded killer (both in war and in peacetime) in a universe that has always stood against violence and vengeance and for dialogue and reconciliation. It’s still a “war is hell, peace is the way” message, but it’s weakened by the choices made by its characters. War is bad because it irrevocably traumatizes and destroys people. Healing doesn’t exist, not even in the utopian twenty-third century with all its advanced medicine. What kind of message is that?

Thanks, I hate it.

The Good: Babs Olusanmokun and Jess Bush both give amazing performances (better than the script/character arcs deserve by far), and Robert Wisdom was also great as Rah—Spock being a supportive boyfriend! ♥—a nice allusion to TNG: Spock mentions Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” (quoted by Riker in TNG S1)

The Bad: wildly out-of-character/unethical behavior and violence that contradicts and undermines the whole spirit of Star Trek!!! Babs’ excellent acting is undercut by an abysmal story (again)—an unnecessary war backstory for Christine so that she, too, can be Traumatized™—pointlessly sabotaging Christine and Spock’s relationship after just two three episodes* for, idk, drama?—bad Klingon makeup/prosthetics—Ortegas is a terrible officer—Pike is a terrible captain—no exploration of whether Rah was actually a changed man

I won’t comment on the war flashback scenes except to say that I don’t think they needed to be as gory or as drawn-out as they were to be effective. That’s on-brand for SNW, though.

Season 2 Pike is a completely ineffective leader who appears to command very little respect and even less authority. He really is the Sitcom Dad of captains—well-meaning, oblivious, and kind of bumbling.

Finally: I’m really confused about what motivated the writers/showrunners to pursue the Spock/Christine storyline for, what, 16-17 episodes only to now have Christine be reluctant to even call their relationship…well, a relationship. She also seems to be the one undermining said relationship. Just to refresh: in TOS, Christine was the one who admitted to being in love with Spock; who signed aboard the Enterprise out of loyalty to her missing fiance (!); who loved Spock so much that she let his consciousness be placed in hers in order to save his life. And in THIS VERY SHOW, Christine stole a shuttlecraft and engaged in interdimensional travel in order to beg some aliens to repair Spock’s broken genome!

Not only do I support Trek’s decades-long promotion of peace 110%, I also support SNW’s (apparent) goal of fleshing out the underdeveloped female characters from TOS. That said, there was no good reason to put full-blown war in Christine Chapel’s backstory! Girl was studying to be a bio-researcher and dating a professor before she became a nurse, not serving as a combat medic! If the creators wanted this show to feature original characters in the Trek universe, they could have done that—just like every other (pre-Discovery) Trek has done before them. But what they actually wanted was to use familiar names to get more views/higher ratings. So those names got assigned to characters who are still, essentially, OCs. It is endlessly frustrating to me.

But still not as frustrating as what they’ve done to M’Benga. The writers of this episode really need to watch “Conscience of the King” again. On a loop.

*I skipped 2x07 because Lower Decks is not my thing, but I know the S/C sabotage actually begins in that one. :|

EDIT: After thinking about it more and sleeping on it, I think that even if it WAS ambiguous and Rah killed himself or it was somehow self defense, M'Benga and Chapel have a moral obligation to attempt to save the life of a man with a giant knife sticking out of his chest. Instead, they both stare at him as he dies on the floor. Reprehensible behavior either way.

#this one is ranty and negative and i'm sorry :\#sometimes my liveblogs are just nitpicky. this one is kind of angry.#disgusted might be a better word tbh? dismayed?#luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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Liveblog: “All Those Who Wander”

In which Star Trek does Alien.

This episode should absolutely have come with warnings for flashing lights and superfluous gore/body horror.

The “end” of Uhura’s tenure on the Enterprise would be more meaningful in a longer season. I know it’s not realistic to hope for 22-26 episode seasons anymore, but even 13 would be better for an episodic, character-driven adventure show than just 10.

This looks bad. In fact, her hair has been getting worse all season. Rebecca Romjin is a beautiful woman, but the hair and makeup people have been doing her no favors (something I’d argue that she has in common with her predecessor in the role, Majel Barret).

“We are bonded now and forever by the family that is Starfleet.” Who WROTE this drivel? I’d love to serve in Starfleet! I love its ideals! But even in TOS, it wasn’t infallible and perfect and One Big Happy Family.

Is “Lieutenant” really the next rank immediately above “ensign”? Genuine question.

Absurdly tiny coffee cups!

I still want to know why they’re always doing dishes on this ship that has technology well beyond that shown on TOS AND how/why the captain has time to do said dishes.

La’an’s actually allowed to show some personality!

As if station wagons would still be a common point of reference in the 23rd century…

“Do NOT make me turn this car around.” Again...these are not references that make sense in the show’s context/setting. They’re in the script solely to cater to a certain portion of the audience. Also, I still don’t find Pike’s “Captain Dad” schtick endearing, sorry.

Sensors don’t reach the planets surface, yet they land the shuttlecrafts conveniently close to the ship they’re rescuing.

“You gotta buy him a drink.” How long has Spock been in Starfleet now…at least five years? They’re constantly explaining Starfleet culture/traditions to him like he’s a cadet. I know he’s a Vulcan, and I know that it’s for the audience’s benefit, but there must be some other character (Uhura being the obvious choice) who can fill that role…

And also: who keeps buying people drinks? Is this just a turn-of-phrase, or what? They’re certainly not paying for anything on the Enterprise, and we never saw them actually pay for anything on TOS even during shore leave.

Wait—they took the CMO and Chapel on this mission? What if people need emergency medical attention back on the ship???

The Peregrine is built with some of the same parts as the Constitution-class ships, but it’s not the same design—so why does it look like a carbon copy of the Enterprise, and why does it have such a small crew compliment in comparison?

This is obviously going to be another Gorn episode, and I already know I’m still going to hate it.

I’ve since read that this was prosthetic makeup, but it looks like bad CGI to me.

They’re really going to make Spock have an awkward expository conversation about Surak and logic with Christine in the middle of a crisis/rescue mission in the penultimate episode of the season?

M’Benga calling the little girl “my daughter” and then catching himself was a nice touch. He should be haunted by his decision.

I love that Christine’s hair is still perfect after everything. Peak TV show energy.

All of this—gore and jump scares and a vicious, non-verbal alien species as the overpowered Big Bad—is so anti-Trek and I hate it!!! :)

As usual, the level of technology here strains credulity (and far outstrips anything on TOS).

Kirk’s big brother is just a peach… McCoy and Spock’s dynamic only worked because Spock gave as good as he got and because the audience knew that Spock considered McCoy a close friend/brother. Watching Sam Kirk be an intolerant ass is just uncomfortable.

COMICAL. Seriously, this is a joke.

So the Gorn are superior (in evolutionary terms) sentient beings…and also mindless, bloodthirsty lizard creatures? Sure.

Gorn-o-vision! This entire episode is impossible to take seriously.

Alluding to Spock’s sacrifice in Wrath of Khan and throwing a “long live and prosper” in does not make this any more like proper Trek. Speaking of WOK, Hemmer’s choice would be so much more meaningful if it were done in a similar setting (since he is, after all, the Chief Engineer…) instead of this throw-away “noble” sacrifice of a death.

Hemmer’s death is also a reminder of how short 10-episode seasons really are, and how little development his character was really given. As badly as her character was handled, even Tasha Yar had more time to grow than Hemmer before she was killed.

“This sucks. I hate funerals.” Ortegas and her quippy remarks being charming and funny and essential to the episode as always…oh, wait.

HUGS!

I actually think it’s really sweet/meaningful for Christine to tell Spock that his emotions “make you human.” I’ve seen some bad-faith interpretations of this scene assuming she’s trying to “push him to be more human,” but I read it as her encouraging him not to deny his inherent humanity, which he’s grown up thinking of as shameful. His humanity isn’t inferior to his Vulcan nature, and he needs to accept it and embrace it if he wants to find peace.

As the child of an alcoholic, I genuinely think Pike has an alcohol problem. He’s been shown drinking a lot in this show.

The Good: La’an gets to show some personality (but only early on)—moral support Spockstine hugs

The Bad: Everything else, lol—Pike makes terrible tactical decisions, repeatedly, beginning with bringing cadets on the rescue mission without knowing any details about the circumstances; the most glaring was letting La’an, who’s barely coping with her own Gorn-related PTSD well enough to function, basically take charge after they discover that they’re dealing with the Gorn—the way this series had handled the Gorn is laughably bad and not at all in the spirit of Trek; they’re treated as monsters rather than sentient enemies who can potentially be reasoned/negotiated with (i.e., the Romulans)—Hemmer’s death was pointless and a waste—they continue to do absolutely nothing with Number One as a character; why is she even on the show at this point?

Overall, this was a poorly-lit and very poorly-written episode full of jump scares, shaky-cam, flashing lights, and needless gore/death. It felt like the antithesis of everything Trek is supposed to be. Here’s hoping the finale is better.

#luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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SNW Liveblog: “The Elysian Kingdom”

This episode? Messy af. Spock in a wig? Sexy af.

The scene with M’Benga and Rukiya is precious, as always—though the subtext of it (her desire to change endings and rewrite stories more to her liking) is a little on-the-nose, considering that the writers of SNW are basically rewriting a classic television show to suit their own whims.

If Rukiya is running out of time, in theory all M’Benga has to do is stop materializing her so frequently…assuming that, while her pattern is in the transporter, she’s not conscious/aware. If she IS, that’s an entirely different (and horrifying) can of worms.

The exchange about superstitions between Pike and Spock is nice.

“Drinks are on me.” This is why Pike’s crew seems so undisciplined, imo. We know that Kirk would, and did, drink with his crew. But he wasn’t casually offering to buy them drinks from the captain’s chair.

“You gonna say the thing?” “Hit it.” Thanks, I still hate it.

I miss TOS’s buttons and tactile controls so much. They’re just more visually appealing (and frankly, more practical) than touch screens.

“Perhaps you did, indeed, jinx it.” I love Spock, lmao. (Also, as someone who calls out sports announcers and coworkers for jinxing things regularly…Pike totally jinxed it.)

People falling out of their chairs during turbulence is a real Trek classic!

Great, M’Benga is what, hallucinating?

These kinds of zany episodes on TOS/TNG took place either on a strange planet—like in “Squire of Gothos” or “Shore Leave”—or on the holodeck. Setting this on the Enterprise instead was…well, a choice.

La’an’s princess costume is delightfully ridiculous and sparkly.

It’s kind of a bummer to see that Christina Chong has real acting chops (even if “Princess Thalia” is intentionally way over-the-top), but is denied the chance to do much acting thanks to how flatly her character is written.

Ethan is hot. No notes.

“Maybe I can get us out of here with the help of some powerful magic called science.”

I vastly prefer hammy/possessed Kirk to hammy/possessed Pike. Sorry ’bout it. (Maybe it’s just the actors, or maybe it’s because regular Kirk comes off as so much more sincere than Pike to me?)

Why is Hemmer, an alien with inherent telepathic abilities, immune to whatever’s happening on the Enterprise, whereas Spock, an alien (well, half-alien) with inherent telepathic abilities, succumbed to it? I can hand-wave most plot holes…this one’s just lazy writing, though.

Worth it? Worth it.

I would watch THIS show.

“Truthfully, I should have known it as well…since that’s what he does in the book.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“There’s no such place, my queen, he’s bluffing.”

All those lines were funny and delivered well!

Even though classic tricorders look pretty out-of-place on this redesigned Enterprise, I still love seeing them.

The resolution of the Rukiya subplot reminds me a lot of the end of The Motion Picture.

The moral quandry of it is enormous, way bigger than “storing your daughter’s biological pattern in the transporter to keep her alive,” which raises plenty of ethical questions of its own. M’Benga tells Rukiya that “it’s up to you”—but how can such a young child make such a huge decision: to exist in space as a disembodied consciousness for an infinite amount of time or to wait in stasis for a cure for her human body?! It’s uncomfortably reminiscent of the “willing” sacrifice made by the little boy in Episode 6…not really the comparison you want viewers to be drawing, given how that one ended. Children that age can’t give meaningful consent.

Besides, what does M’Benga know about this entity? How do either of them know that they can trust it? It’s been using the Enterprise as a dollhouse for hours out of boredom/loneliness! What might it do to Rukiya’s energy? And how will becoming said disembodied consciousness impact a nine- or ten-year-old human girl? There are actually a number of great science fiction (horror) stories about this, the premise being that human minds are ill-equipped for that kind of existence. For all M’Benga knows, he could find the cure next week. It was teased in Episode 6. All he needs to do is keep Rukiya safely the transporter—which really shouldn’t be a problem unless she is, in fact, conscious in there. But the writers obviously just wanted to wrap this problematic subplot up and move on.

A grown-up version of Rukiya appears to comfort M’Benga and tell him about her many “adventures,” because it turns out time exists differently for her now even though it’s been ~30 seconds of real time…? It cheapens the scene before and makes me feel belittled as a viewer. I’m okay with feeling uneasy about M’Benga’s choice! I’m not okay with being cajoled into thinking that it was the correct choice. When Kirk let Edith Keeler die, her ghost didn’t reappear to assure him that she understood why he had to! He—and by extension, the audience—just had to live with it.

“She’s safe.” He doesn’t and can’t know that for certain. He let an alien consciousness he neither studied/analyzed nor communicated directly with spirit his daughter away after two minutes of deliberation! Anything could be happening to her out there. Though, to be totally fair, she’s not going to die, so…there’s that?

So yes: this episode is messy. I rewatched it after seeing the ending and reading a lot of reviews/commentary and actually revised this liveblog. It’s not as bad as I initially thought! However, I’ve come to think that the Rukiya subplot itself was a poor choice, one full of troubling implications, dubious decision-making, and questionable ethics. I understand why the writers scrambled to get rid of it. And conveptually, this episode wasn’t even a bad send-off for Rukiya! The execution was just lacking. It could’ve been so much more.

But hey…at least we got La’an’s princess dress, Uhura’s evil queen ensemble, and Spock in that wig.

The Good: Gorgeous costumes—the actress playing Rukiya was a delight; I’ll miss her—Spock in general—some very funny lines/delivery—Christina Chong gets to act!

The Bad: The writing, pacing, set design, and some of the acting was all pretty clumsy—for an episode that turned so heavy, the campy fairy tale stuff was too light and took up too much time. Too much of Ortegas and Pike; not enough of La’an and Spock. (I think there’s too much Ortegas on the show, period. She just doesn’t work for me. No judgment towards other people who may feel differently.) Some truly WTF parenting choices made by M’Benga—huge unresolved questions/plot holes by the end.

But the beauty of SNW returning to Trek’s episodic roots is that it’s a standalone episode. Hoping for better (and more Spockstine!) in the next installment.

#luth liveblogs snw #this one is LONG and rambly so on the off chance anyone even reads these: you’ve been warned

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lonesomedreamer · 7 months ago

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SNW Liveblog Snark: “Hegemony”

here it is at last, my final slog through snw that no one asked for!

I’ll never forgive this show for introducing Roger Korby for no reason. but ig I shouldn’t be surprised: they also made T’Pring a legitimate “love interest” for Spock since the first episode…

beaming up looked more “realistic” in the 60s than it does on the very high-budget snw…

why is there a delta slapped onto every single object on the Enterprise? is the Federation, in fact, a giant corporation that needs to brand itself?

how many times can these writers go back to the Gorn??? there are only 20 episodes, and the Gorn have already been the Big Bad in like four of them. (the fact that there’s a Big Bad at all is its own problem, imo.)

“sometimes a monster is just a monster.” no, bad. please go watch some TOS.

the Big Bad Gorn have what are essentially magical powers that counteract almost all the Enterprise’s tech…because the plot requires them to ig!

this is the “command” crew?? even the CMO…? funny how only two of them are wearing command gold.

I’m nitpicking with this—I understand that there’s some overlap in starship roles, so TOS!Spock can be both the head of the science division and the first officer. nevertheless… “command” is its own distinct division in this show’s universe!

and sure, Bones spent way too much time on the Bridge, but it was never implied he was in a “command” position. he had also never stabbed an ambassador—in Sickbay AND while on duty—in“self defense” or otherwise, but I digress…

Pike: I need volunteers Spock, Uhura, and Number One: we volunteer! Pike: no, not you

someone please just write Sam Kirk out of the show already

why would anyone be surprised that Spock has never seen a zombie movie? (I mean, has Spock seen any movies? are movies even still a widespread form of entertainment in this universe…??)

this show does not deserve her

everything about the Gorn subplot is, as always, pessimistic and dark and deeply un-Trek-like. slaughtering baby aliens, however dangerous they are, also just feels…gross.

Pike actually manages to half-ass a line that sounds like actual Trek philosophy (instead of murdering these creatures we don’t understand, maybe we should learn more about them!) even though it contradicts what he said earlier in the episode about monsters.

please don’t be Scotty. please don’t be Scotty.

oh, for fuck’s sake.

also…if we’re still pretending that this is a direct prequel to TOS, Spock, Uhura, and Scotty have all had experience with the Gorn before the events of “Arena,” yet none of them mention that while they’re together on the Bridge watching their captain battle the Gorn captain to the death…???

Pike’s girlfriend is alive, which is fine, but that also means more screentime will be wasted on their subplot… this show didn’t need any more new-old characters (Scotty?!), and trimming some of its peripheral characters (Batel, Sam Kirk, etc.) to focus on its core cast wouldn’t have hurt.

[unconfirmed theory about the Gorn] “if that’s true—” well, it’s pretty big IF, right?

“[Christine] beamed back to the Cayuga.” “Gonna be honest, that is not great news.” wow, stellar dialogue.

I’m glad Spock still has his box o’ blue light, even on this nightclub nightmare of a Bridge…

they really cast this stunningly beautiful woman just so they could totally waste her. it boggles the mind!

“Placing those rockets is a near-impossible task. No human can do this. I, however, can.”/ “I am the only member of the crew who can pull this off. If it is to succeed, it must be me.” everybody loves Spock, but why can’t a human do this whereas a half-human half-Vulcan can…? explain please??? (they won’t.)

there are so many “witty” dialogue exchanges on this show, but they’re so rarely actually funny or charming that they usually end up being cringey and/or tonally dissonant wastes of time instead of effective comic relief. (here, Scotty apologizes for eavesdropping but says it “wasn’t my fault you decided to have a secret conversation in front of my sleeping spot”…did none of these scripts have an editor??)

Christine is alive? I’m shocked!

there’s no feasible way anyone on the damaged ship lived. even in the surviving structure, they’d be directly exposed to, well…space. but at the same time, no one watching believed Christine was dead, right?

and if Christine has been there, alive, the whole time, is she (as a nurse) not going to see if anyone else might also have survived??

Christine managed to restore limited power/life support to one area of the ship despite the massive level of destruction, and then the best way she can think to communicate with the Enterprise and Spock is via…flashlight?!?

but WHO could’ve predicted there would be Gornlings on Scotty’s abandoned shuttle in a town that’s been overrun with Gorn—oh.

“that thing chose not to attack?” maybe it’s not a thing at all, Pike. or (more likely for this show) maybe Batel’s already a host for Gorn eggs and therefore not a target.

why is Spock’s task somehow impossible for a human? I still want to know…

lmao, nice try…if anyone has plot armor, it’s Spock.

so this is an adult Gorn? (it’s wearing a space suit.) yet it makes no attempt to communicate in any way…which suggests to me that SNW is not going to gradually transform the Gorn into nuanced/compelling antagonists the way people have predicted. hatchling or adult, they’re just the SNW equivalent of xenomorphs.

you know when you shouldn’t turn slowly around with your weapon for dramatic effect? when your boyfriend is about to be murdered by a bloodthirsty alien!!!

here for any Spockstine I can get. this is still ridiculous, tho.

also, that is not how physics works!

Uhura and Number One grinning at each other when Spock says “two to beam up” like they somehow know Christine is one of the two…the single survivor of that shipwreck could’ve been literally anyone (and no one even thought to check for survivors in the first place)! just because the audience knows information doesn’t mean the characters automatically do, too. dramatic irony is a thing?

brb starting a gofundme to send these writers to a Literature 101 course.

nowkiss.jpg

can you beam that many people up at once? and shouldn’t the bioscanners be able to filter out or at least detect Batel’s Gorn infection…?

there’s no way Montgomery “over the moon about being confined to quarters with his technical journals” Scott received bad grades at the Academy. whatever. he’s quirky now or something.

she should be the captain of her own ship on her own show. that is all.

as usual this season, Pike is indecisive when it matters most and seems borderline incompetent. this is precisely the kind of no-win scenario that Starfleet officers are supposed to be able to handle.

and ending the season on a cliffhanger is pretty lame. but then so is the entire Gorn subplot.

well, this one was a mess in a misleadingly straightforward package, and it’s not even technically over. a two-year cliffhanger…tough sell.

this is SNW’s second or third trek-does-horror episode in a complement of only twenty. that’s not great. the writing isn’t, either; plot points are predictable, dialogue is cringe, and a great deal of the action seems to rely heavily on circumstance and/or luck (Scotty and his tech skills being on the planet, Christine being alive/finding Spock, etc.) but worse, this isn’t any kind of morality play. by their own admission, it’s a zombie movie. and it’s not even a good one.

The Good: a crumb of Spock/Christine content after this very show spent the last three episodes torpedoing that ship—Rebecca Romijn is gorgeous and gets to do something, if only for 5 minutes—Scotty is well-cast (much better so than Paul Wesley’s Kirk).

The Bad: the Gorn being horror villains (again) violates everything Trek is supposed to be about—bad/nonsensical science everywhere—one of the weakest/most out-of-character Spock outings to date (and I don’t mind him being upset/grieving Christine, but the writing for him was not good this week)—introducing yet another TOS character on “Pike’s” show—speaking of…Pike’s overall behavior and decision-making (or lack thereof)—no one on the Enterprise checking for survivors, broken scanners/sensors be damned, in the wreckage before they planned to destroy it.

I say it every time, but at this point, I’m not expecting anything more or better from season 3 on. But I do hope Spock and Christine get to smooch a few more times.

#once again pretty negative so you have been warned #but I am finally DONE #luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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SNW Liveblog: “Charades”

In which Ethan Peck gets to have some fun, the writers also prove they know nothing about Vulcans, and the last fifteen minutes redeems the whole episode.

What exactly is “sub-impulse speed”?

God dammit.

The fellowship only lasts for two months? What’s even the point?

I hate to complain about a female character working out on-screen—life in space would definitely necessitate some kind of exercise regime! For everyone!—but at what point in her TOS appearances did Christine Chapel strike these writers as the type of girl who spent a lot of time beating on the Enterprise’s punching bag? Maybe if we hadn’t just seen La’an in this exact same scene two episodes ago…

This…this outfit is almost mod! Earrings and all! I’m shocked. Give it some color and you’d be onto something.

In fact, all three girls (La’an, Christine, and Ortegas) are wearing black here. Why do SNW the costume designers HATE fun?

“Oh, things are kind of weird between them.” I don’t use this word lightly, but between her being mean to Spock for no reason last week and now casually betraying her friend’s confidence like this with a little smirk (while Christine is visibly uncomfortable): Ortegas is just a bitch.

Do Vulcans consider their emotions to be “suppressed”? And would M’Benga, Vulcan expert or not, really be able to teach the native Vulcan how to better control his emotions (when he’s been learning that his whole life)??? Do they ever think before writing, or…?

Or: canon only matters when the SNW writers want it to.

“My mother felt this would be best.” A lot of Vulcans on this show throw that verb around awfully lightly. It’s almost like the writers don’t understand Vulcans.

If T’Pring’s mother doesn’t approve, why were they ever engaged in the first place? (I know that this show’s never going to acknowledge that they were betrothed as kids for an arranged marriage. But that’s the canon.)

Bitch, please.

A sweet reversal of her sneaking a glance at him in the Turbolift earlier.

Them.

Spock, please don’t look at your girlfriend when you’re supposed to be steering the shuttle away from the “rupture in space-time”.

Oh, his hair is so much better this way.

Why is everyone calling Uhura “Nyota” all of a sudden? I get that she’s just an ensign, but it’s weird.

This sounds like a casual phone call rather than the first contact between the Federation and an unknown species. Up the professionalism a few notches, Pike.

He does not.

“Mixed instructions? You don’t mean Spock.” I’m no scientist, but it’s obvious they’re talking about his DNA—keep up, Mr. Starship Captain!

“Uhura, get ‘em back.” Maybe if Pike hadn’t stumbled over his words and had gotten straight to the damn point, this wouldn’t be a problem! Kirk and Picard would both have said, “Excuse me, but the way you ‘fixed’ my science officer was not correct” rather than mumbling and stuttering until the call cut off.

He is adorable. You can pry human!Ethan!Spock out of my cold, dead hands.

“My fiancee’s mother? She hates me.” My fiancee? She hates me. Fixed that for you!

“I’ve already spoken to T’Pring and to your family.” That is really crossing a line! Kirk—Spock’s undisputed best friend of all time/brother/soulmate/true love (however you see them)—didn’t know about T’Pring or even that the Vulcan ambassador and his wife who were coming aboard were Spock’s parents until he met them on the Enterprise. But Pike is just casually contacting Sarek, Amanda, and T’Pring without consulting Spock first?! It’s not like he’s in a coma! He could easily have waited and let Spock tell his family himself. Accidents happen in Starfleet all the time. It’s a dangerous job.

Spock always seems to be played by men with the best smiles. ♥

Not Spock drinking alcohol and eating meat! He’s going to feel awful about that when his genetic code is “fixed”! (His dietary habits are cultural, not biological—why would he want to change them with or without his Vulcan DNA?)

If this was a TOS episode, Bridge crew would still be working on getting back in touch with the aliens who did this to Spock…but we have to show Spock enjoying some crispy bacon instead.

Again, I think control is a better choice of words.

“You just need to work on impulse control.” I don’t think taking his Vulcan DNA away would invalidate/negate his years of intensive mental training. He had to work extra hard as a mixed-race child to be a “real” Vulcan, so in theory he should still have access to about emotional control. If not, he should have been stripped of his memories of childhood and whatnot, too.

Spock’s sass is coming out so strongly in this script, which is great, but he should always be sassy! (“Gentlemen, I am in command of this vessel, and we shall continue on our present course…unless it is your intention to declare a mutiny.”)

I’m sure Christine enjoys seeing a more demonstrative version of the man she loves, BUT I hope they also show that she’s mourning the loss of the true Spock. She’s one of the few who really sees him for what he is—half Vulcan, half human, wholly himself.

To culminate his total lack of respect for Spock’s privacy/boundaries, Pike announces that his mom is on board in the middle of a busy hallway.

This Amanda is a babe (though there’s no way she’s old enough to be Ethan Peck’s mom).

I love this nod to the classic “Spock wearing a funny hat to hide his ears” trope.

Could they not get a costume to fit this actress? Not shaming her at all—I’m intimately familiar with the struggle of finding clothes that look flattering with a larger chest! But this ain’t it.

Why is Pike even still here? At this point, Amanda’s business is with her son. Pike can butt out.

“The engagement dinner has been moved several times due to your Starfleet schedule, a fact which they are not understanding about—” A few issues here: a) It seems, well, illogical that a family of Vulcans refuses to understand why Spock’s professional schedule would postpone personal obligations; b) this is the first time we’ve ever heard about this engagement dinner, 15 episodes into the season. That wouldn’t be an issue if (as in TOS) T’Pring had just been introduced—but she’s now been in numerous episodes including the pilot. Yet somehow this has never come up before?

Also, bold of this show to expect me to care that their engagement might get broken when they’ve already faked the audience out about that once and when I know T’Pring’s ultimately going to dump Spock anyway…

Incompetence.

So T’Pring’s family disapproves of Spock’s career (and we know from previous episodes that T’Pring isn’t thrilled about it, either), but they agree to hold this traditional and (apparently) super-important engagement dinner on the starship where Spock works?

I don’t think “Spock, you’re human” would be a human mother’s natural first reaction here. Idk. I know Amanda’s been on Vulcan a long time, but we know she’s still very warm, very human, and seeing her son so changed would have to be shocking/upsetting/concerning, right?

“I couldn’t even fool you.” That’s kind of funny.

First of all: Spock can lie with the best of them. Secondly, I don’t think you can learn to be a genuinely good liar in a few hours. Finally (and again): his years of Vulcan discipline/training shouldn’t have been erased (he obviously still has all his memories and knowledge), so he shouldn’t have to lie at all.

Seriously, Spock doesn’t have amnesia! He was raised by Vulcans—he knows how they speak!!!

Okay, but…Spock can’t perform the mind meld, and Amanda would know that. I feel like she should be saying, “My son was in a serious accident and is in no state to socialize” but then someone else—maybe even Sarek—overrules her. That would still leaves plenty of room for drama.

Just contact the aliens for help! I’m begging you! This is Star Trek!!!

“We can’t do it, but we already know who can” Thank God someone on this show can keep up.

I kind of hate her. :) At least she didn’t make a snarky comment, too.

I am weak (even if this is the least-flattering Vulcan look I have ever seen on any version of Spock).

T’Pring has some funny lines re: her difficult relationship with her mother, and I guess it’s a nice parallel to Spock’s difficult relationship with Sarek. I can sympathize with her, but I refuse to like her.

There’s no way a conservative Vulcan couple would be satisfied with a human preparing the traditional food for their daughter’s engagement dinner.

The majority of Vulcans in this show continue to look like a parody.

T’Pring’s dad being a foodie is funny. Him being obviously subservient to his scary bully of a wife is unoriginal and not so funny.

They stole a shuttlecraft and no one even alerts the captain?

Christine being willing to do anything for Spock: canon in every universe. ♥

I get that they’re in “interdimensional space” and in a state of semi-shock as a result (understandably!), but why can no one communicate effectively in this episode, including Uhura of all people???

Christine’s straight-talk with the aliens is just making me angry that Pike didn’t speak up about their mistake when he was communicating with them earlier.

She’s stunning.

Spock being protective of/afraid for Christine is precious.

“During the accident, the other being diverted the shields away from himself to protect you.” Even though I’m unsure how that would work (isn’t the shield around the entire shuttlecraft?)—that is SO Spock and so adorable.

“Are you so obtuse that you don’t even see that [you have feelings for Spock]?” It’s always one step forward, three steps back with Ortegas…

The writers were kind enough to grant my wish: Christine acknowledges that a wholly human Spock isn’t really Spock at all. The writing is less than phenomenal, but Jess Bush really sells it anyway, and it alludes nicely to Christine’s heartfelt confession of love in “The Naked Time” about seeing Spock as being greater than the sum of his genetic parts.

I’m tearing up.

The scene where Spock tells T’Pring’s mother off and praises his own isn’t super believable/in-character, but it’s satisfying!

Once again: the Vulcans on this show use that word way too much…

They really have wanted T’Pring to always be the victim/wronged party in this relationship ever since the first episode. But why?! She’s going to leave him! In canon, she makes him fight his own best friend to the death to have her when she doesn’t even want him! No matter how they resolve the relationship in this show, it’s all drama I don’t care about!!!

T’Pring’s mother was overtly racist towards Amanda and Spock during the entire dinner; she doesn’t approve of him; and she told him that he deserved to be disowned by Sarek/didn’t deserve to marry T’Pring. She would probably continue behaving that way towards him for the rest of her life. But after he endured all of that for her sake and after she repeatedly warned him not to mess the dinner up, T’Pring expresses neither concern for Spock’s ordeal nor relief that he’s been healed/that the dinner was a success nor gratitude for what he put himself through. She expresses only disappointment that he didn’t confide in her.

Crying in the club.

There’s a lovely reciprocity to Spock and Christine’s dynamic so far—he kissed her in Season One; this time, she kisses him. He risked his life to save her earlier; then she goes back and risks hers to make him whole again. I know these writers are going to screw it up eventually, so I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Overall, this episode was way too long (a full hour!) and was bogged down with a bunch of nonsense in the middle in the name of comedy. Its dialogue in particular was just as poorly-written as most SNW scripts have been (i.e., “you look constipated,” “you messed him up,” numerous crew members mumbling and stuttering in the heat of the moment…these aren’t Starfleet professionals, they’re high schoolers!) BUT there was an extra helping of heart in this episode. Between Amanda Grayson’s tenderness towards her son, Spock’s protectiveness towards Christine, and Christine’s fierce loyalty towards Spock, I almost cried more than once. And since Spock/Christine is THE reason I started watching this show in the first place, it’s nice to finally see some payoff fifteen episodes in!

The Good: Ethan’s face without Vulcan make-up + his gorgeous smile!—a surprise Amanda cameo—Spock and Christine mutually being protective of each other/risking their lives for each other—some funny moments—Jess and Ethan both acting their socks off—really cool visuals during the “interdimensional space” scene—a few excellent costume designs—finally, the big kiss!

The Bad: Childish/unprofessional dialogue throughout—Ortegas being a bitch even to her friends—writing human!Spock like a teenager who forgot everything he knows about being Vulcan (even though his memories are in tact)—Pike’s total incompetence—name-dropping Roger Korby (ugh)

I can’t wait to see how this show is going to disappointment me in the Spockstine department going forward.

#luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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SNW Liveblog: “Among the Lotus Eaters”

In which they’re mean to Spock for no reason, but Spock helps save the day anyway.

In its own way, this is scene just as staged/cheesy as anything in TOS…it’s also giving NBC Hannibal (not a compliment from me).

Look: I just don’t care about the supposedly corrupt bureaucracy and chain of command in Starfleet. When I watch Trek, I want to escape into a post-scarcity utopian society, and nuTrek can pry that out of my cold, dead hands!!!

Other things I don’t care about: Pike’s on-again, off-again relationship with Batel. Sorry. This show already has too many characters vying for screentime with too few episodes to develop them to be wasting time on this.

Love that Pike makes sure to put out the candles before he leaves…meanwhile his quarters has a huge, open fireplace that burns 24/7.

Not that everything they do on the Enterprise isn’t science-related, but… “science specialist”? Do you guys even WATCH the show??? Gold is for the command division, red is for operations/engineering, and BLUE IS FOR SCIENCE! At least pretend to give a shit about your show’s own universe. (Oh…wait…)

“Most of the time I fly the ship, which is cool, but can get boring.” Speaking for all the kids (and adults!) who have fantasized about flying the Enterprise for the last 55 years: kindly fuck off.

“Can’t you just say ‘two moons’?” / “We get it, Spock.” Spock is the science officer (and ALSO Vulcan). Get off his back!!! His SNW crewmates nitpick him worse than Bones ever did.

I don’t like Ortegas much—she’s still written like garbage, no fault of the actor—and her perpetual bitchiness towards Spock is NOT helping.

“Doctors love being tasked for a mission because of their combat skills.” Maybe you should’ve thought of that three episodes ago when you were LARPing Wolverine in slo-mo against the Klingons for like ten minutes, M’Benga…

This line might have been okay by itself—McCoy-esque, if you will—except they’ve been giving Spock shit for Doing His Damn Job for the entire episode so far.

I love Christine, and SNW!Christine has grown on me, but…she’s not even the Head Nurse on this show. Why is she running Sickbay solo? Am I supposed to believe that the Enterprise doesn’t staff more than a single doctor??

“As long as it stays isolated to Uhura” Since they don’t know the cause and therefore whether the condition is infectious, shouldn’t they at least isolate Uhura? (They experienced a similar outbreak just a few episodes ago!!!)

Speaking of Uhura, seems pretty shitty of the writers to have Uhura be the first one to lose her memory: TOS already did that. (If it’s an homage, it’s not a good one.)

I adore Ethan, but sometimes his line delivery is weirdly stilted.

:')

There’s literally no one else left on the Bridge apart from Spock and Ortegas? Okay…

“It’s not the Spock show!” but it should be.

Whatever’s affecting the rest of the crew should affect Spock differently and/or belatedly due to his different genetic code. Then again, the only thing these writers seem to know about Vulcans is that they talk about logic a lot.

Not the computer having a ghost-of-Mufasa moment with Ortegas… (“Remember who you are.”)

“I feel like I know how to do this. And I’m the only one who can.” * Put a pin in this.

“Abso-friggin’-lutely.” Awful.

I didn’t think you can block a phaser blast with like...a physical shield?? Especially one (presumably) set to kill???

Kirk was involved in a lot of fights, but watching the captain of the Enterprise repeatedly kick/pistol-whip a guy who’s already laying prone on the ground is…surreal and horrible.

Trek’s always been two parts morality play, one part scifi, but can I get the scientific part of the reveal again? Something about radiation from an asteroid?? It sounds kind of interesting—but they’re just gonna gloss over it, aren’t they??

Also, the Enterprise is designed to protect its crew against all kinds of radiation—we know that because it was built to fly in SPACE, which is radioactive as fuck. So what’s special about these asteroids (and if the planet’s atmosphere is too thick to be penetrated by the Enterprise’s scanners, why can’t it protect the planet from the radiation coming off the asteroids that surround it)??

Please stop showing Pike punching this guy over and over again. It’s actually upsetting, I can’t see the point, if there is one.

Pike: “[Rigel VII] shows us who we really are…” Pike 30 seconds earlier: kicking and punching an unarmed man who’s sprawled out, bleeding, on the floor Pike: “The lives of my crew mean everything to me.”

sure-jan.gif

Look…TOS could be really unsubtle and on-the-nose about its messaging. It still did it with so much more grace and flair than THIS. “He was right. Not having a past…it can be nice for a while.” “I know what you mean. But maybe some memories are worth the pain of others.” / “The story of your life, the details…they matter!” Wow, what do you guys think is this episode trying to say?!?

*“No one but you could pull this off.” In “Mirror Mirror,” a visibly nervous Uhura hesitates after Kirk issues his orders; he then reassures her by earnestly saying “You’re the only one who can do it.” It’s meaningful because it’s true—Uhura is the only one both with the necessary skills and whom Kirk can trust in the mirror universe. Here, it’s just Pike stroking the ego of an officer who’s already an arrogant smartass…plus, while Ortegas might be the best pilot on board, the episode repeatedly makes it clear that she is NOT the only one qualified to “fly the ship.”

“I don’t blame Spock. He’s still got a lot to learn.” Why the fuck would anyone blame Spock for anything that went down here?!! The man was trying to analyze the asteroids—the very same ones that robbed everyone of their memories—at the beginning of the episode when everyone was rolling their eyes and saying “not now, Spock,” and look where it fucking got them!

And in the very next line, we learn that Spock came up with the solution that SAVED THE SHIP/CREW.

“It feels logical to me.” This is the kind of shit y’all should be angry about re: Spock, not him smooching Christine. It FEELS logical. Retch.

I know I sound really critical here, but I actually found this one a lot easier to watch (almost) straight-through than some of the previous episodes, i.e., without having to stop and scream in frustration. It was less mundane and plodding than the previous one (and left SNW!Kirk behind, thank God). That said, I did find myself tempted to fast-forward through some of the scenes on Rigel VII, and I did skip around during the Pike/Batel scenes. I also saw a lot of comments that this episode is very TOS...I guess so? Imo the resemblance is surface-level only, though.

The Good: Hey, they're on a STRANGE NEW-(to-the-viewer) WORLD! Imagine that! — La'an's costume and the way she's styled for the away mission. — Boring subplot aside, Batel also looks really nice. — The vibe, planetside, is trying to be like TOS. Gold star for effort? — A few funny lines. — Ethan gets a lot of flattering shots in this episode. :3

The Bad: A lot of time wasted between Ortegas' repeated “I fly the ship” mantra (both early and later on) and the Pike/Batel scenes that bookend the episode. — Almost everyone being critical of what Spock says and how he says it; it borders on unprofessional and mean and is ESPECIALLY bad since Spock then uses science to restore their memories (off-screen, of course). — Making Uhura the first one to get amnesia. — Failing to develop Ortegas at all in what I assume is supposed to be an “Ortegas episode.” — Christine's hair. My poor girl! — Spock forgets how to READ?!?? (I missed this while I was watching because it's just Too Stupid for me to believe they actually went there.) — Gratuitous violence from Pike that seemed to serve no thematic or symbolic purpose.

There better be Spockstine in the next one, because without it, Ethan’s face is still worth it…barely, though.

#i think i had more to say but then I just ran out of steam lol #this episode was better than the kirk one ('kirk'... ''''kirk''''...)#but idk not by a huge margin #luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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I only made it halfway through snw 2x03 and I already have SO many questions...

how can spock exist in a universe where the federation doesn't exist/vulcans and humans aren't allied with each other? (i.e., how did sarek and amanda hook up in this universe?)

why does the "united earth fleet" enterprise and its uniforms look the same as those of the federation/starfleet? and why is all the technology exactly the same?*

how does kirk intuitively know how to use paper money, and how much of it, despite never having done so before? (this may seem extra pedantic, but even just him confusing which bills to use, or asking the vendor how much a hot dog costs, would've gone a long way imo. also, boy can't make sense of a basic revolving door, soooo...)

how did kirk make enough money off of a few games of chess to put them up in a very spacious, swanky hotel?

how does kirk learn how to drive a 21st century car like a professional (in snowy conditions!) after about 2.5 minutes behind the wheel?

also, how can kirk zip around toronto like a native, a city he's admitted to never having visited before in his own time, much less as it was 200 years before his birth?

how do kirk and la'an get from toronto to vermont in between scenes with limited money and without any kind of i.d. (much less passports)??? they don't exactly have a transporter!

*I know this is a conceit in mirror episodes, but it's established that kirk's timeline/universe is radically different from la'an's—both endured catastrophic wars, but idk...I feel like a society whose home planet was rendered all but uninhabitable would have difficulty matching the technological pace of a society whose home planet was not. plus la'an's society had vulcans close at hand to help. and their aesthetics/designs would definitely be different.

again...I SO wish I could turn off my brain and enjoy this show. but I just can't.

#luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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small thing: I hate these skinny pants, y'all. the flared pants were part of the glorious retrofuturistic aesthetic of TOS and went hand-in-hand with the boots and primary-color uniforms! these uniforms are so sterile and boring in comparison, and I don't think tapered trousers are any more likely to be fashionable in the 23rd century than flared ones.

but tragically, they've sucked every ounce of TOS's mod style out of the Enterprise and her crew, so this change is really no surprise.

#i'm sad. i love the vivid colors and cheesy but visually appealing 60s vibe of tos so much #:(#luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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hello to the the only reason I'm even watching

@deeneedsaname

#behold!#luth liveblogs snw #subtlety factor 0

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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Are they at the club? Why does it look like this??? The design of the Bridge is actually okay, but who decided it should look like a rave???? IMAGINE trying to work in that space. Give them some overhead lighting!

#i don't GET IT. *deep breath* trying to be positive. trying.#luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 11 months ago

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SNW Liveblog Stray Observations: “Lost in Translation”

I’m going out on a limb to say that this episode is one of the best SNW has ever done. But…

I just like to look at him.

…that’s not saying a lot, and it would’ve been much better without their bland, store-brand version of Jim Kirk.

“It’s the shiniest gas station I’ve ever seen.” Presumably Ortegas has never seen a gas station, since it’s the 23rd century…

I should be so excited to see my favorite character of the entire franchise—but every time Paul!Kirk shows up, I just feel…apathetic.

Do we need a pointless rivalry between the Kirk brothers? And since when does Jim Kirk—“in his class you think or you sink,” “a stack of books with legs,” “absolutely grim [as a cadet],” whose two best friends/soul mates are a scientist and a doctor, respectively—seem like the kind of guy who would disparage someone (much less his own brother!) for “wallowing in a science lab”?!

I think it’s cute that Spock wants to tell Starfleet that he’s fraternizing with his colleague, because it shows that he’s serious about their relationship! But of course we have to have drama one episode into said relationship instead…

Blood and body horror for shock value. On-brand for this show.

Even Uhura, a mere ensign, has huge quarters. They look as big as Spock’s (a lieutenant) and the first officer’s!

“I’m the communications officer.” Sorry, Ensign Uhura is the communications officer? Since when?? Technically, ensigns are officers—but afaik no Trek character ranked lower than lieutenant has ever been at the head of an entire section/division. For obvious reasons.

SNW has a huge budget, but zero extras. This Enterprise always feels like it’s got a crew compliment of maybe 20, not 200+.

An extremely bad CG body flying through space is not what I expected from this show, but…

“You’re like a space hippie.” Again with the twentieth-century language/references…

This is fairly classic Trek/scifi fare. I’m okay with it.

Not such a fan of the rushed climax and resolution, though—Pike acts without consulting his science officer or, indeed, any member of the science division at all. It’s not that Uhura’s untrustworthy! But as far as he knows, she’s on medical leave for exhaustion so severe it’s causing her to hallucinate. He nevertheless agrees to demolish a huge new processing plant for a resource vital to spaceflight immediately and on her word alone.

A totally shoehorned-in meet-cute for Kirk and Spock. I have mixed feelings.

This episode was fine. Serviceable—which I think is the highest praise I’m ever going to have for SNW. There’s plenty of nonsense (references to gas stations, hostility between the Kirk brothers/the canon-defying implication that their parents are alive, Uhura somehow being communications officer as an ensign, Pike consulting exactly 0 members of his science team about a scientific matter), but it was still fine. It had some nice imagery and a classic Trek moral. It even almost remembered that Number One is supposed to be a main character.

Good: a decent Spockstine scene—a pretty nebula—Number One actually gets some screentime—a reminder that Kirk is better at chess than Spock—a solid, if unoriginal, scifi story*—Uhura’s always good, and some Uhura/Kirk? I wasn’t expecting it, but I’ll take it (even if Kirk leaves a lot to be desired)!—I kind of like Pelia, sorry

Bad: some dialogue’s still cringe—pointless gore/scary imagery—Kirk family drama—Pike being sidelined AND being bad at his job—Paul Wesley’s Kirk overall (performance, characterization, and him being there at all)**

*As usual, even for a solid SNW episode, TOS did it better (“The Devil in the Dark”).

**Kirk’s not needed here! Literally any other member of the main cast could’ve served the same narrative purpose (the much-neglected Number One seems like a good choice, or Christine, or even M’Benga) with no loss to the episode as a whole. They’ve now made him central in two episodes of what’s supposed to be Pike’s show, though they don’t seem to know how to write Pike effectively, either, since he now spends more time in the kitchen than the captain’s chair. They also have no idea how to write Kirk—the writers are leaning way too heavily on the pop culture version of Kirk, the cocky “cool guy” AOS Kirk. (“Records are made to be broken,” really?) They need to go back and watch some episodes of TOS!

So, yeah. It’s fine when it could’ve been good. But honestly, 16 episodes in, I’ve learned that that describes this show pretty well.

#luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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SNW Liveblog: Episodes 6 & 7

“Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”

I do get the concept of having an interning cadet performing various duties across all divisions…I just highly doubt that said cadets would ever be entrusted with the ship’s phaser banks—for obvious reasons!

Now this look is what I’m talking about. Yeah, it’s tacky and cheap-looking, but it’s also geometric, iridescent, eye-catching…retrofuturism, baby!

“This is my Number One.” Is Pike allergic to the term “first officer”?

At least part of my question about M’Benga’s daughter was answered! She does know that her father is keeping her in the medical transporter.

Somehow, I doubt that this alien child with a genius-level IQ would say “Deal!”

Christine being good with kids is still canon. <3

Ah, yes, the condescending “our technology is so vastly superior to yours that you wouldn’t understand it” aliens.

52,000 times the speed of light? “Wow, that’s super slow.” Annoying!

Spock’s interaction with this kid is really cute, though.

“[My phaser’s] not on stun.” It should be! Jesus, Pike!!!

Oh, look: Sam Kirk, who might have been dead for the last three full episodes, appears out of nowhere! And no one’s even going to acknowledge that he’s been MIA for an undisclosed period of time.

I know a lot of people love Anson Mount’s Pike and find him to be the ideal Starfleet captain—but imo, he lacks both Kirk’s warmth and charisma and Picard’s eloquence and discipline. Though he’s had his moments, neither his lines nor the way he delivers them are doing anything for me. It usually seems like he’s doing just that: reading lines.

“Here, on Enterprise.” It’s THE Enterprise, dammit.

Pike finally expressing some genuine emotion is refreshing.

This plot twist is horrific and reminds me of Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers, in which aliens also use living beings as “batteries”.

Even acknowledging my deep bias in favor of previous installments, I feel like both Kirk and Picard would have caught on sooner and/or done more in an effort to save that little boy—done anything they could, in fact! Pike just struggles a little, then goes back to his cabin for a shot of liquor. I also don’t think Kirk or Picard would’ve listened to such empty excuses about how well, Federation children suffer, too! Because frankly, fuck that noise.

This episode did feel very Trek, like you could swap out the SNW cast with, say, the TNG cast (though imo, the outcome would have been different…or at least, the crew’s involvement would have differed). I’ve seen a few people suggest that this is a “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” situation, or call the scenario a “moral dilemma,” and I disagree in both cases, especially considering the technology and general knowledge of the featured alien society is shown to be wildly more advanced than that of the Federation. There’s no conceivable reason they should remain on a hostile planet on which their mere existence depends on a never-ending cycle of child torture. Are we meant to think that the “voluntary” disintegration chambers are ethical in “A Taste of Armageddon” just because humans are capable of killing, too? No! (That said, the episode does raise an interesting question about consent: obviously, the First Servant cannot consent to becoming a power source…so can M’Benga’s daughter consent to being kept in stasis in the medical transporter?)

The Good: Some good costumes—authentic Trek vibes—actually visiting an alien planet—M’Benga’s daughter.

The Bad: Holier-than-thou aliens who condescend and use whataboutism arguments—a lot of this episode is just illogical in many ways—the false moral dilemma/dichotomy.

“The Serene Squall”

Whyyyy is T’Pring back already, and why does she have a personal log that’s being used as narration to open an episode? Who’s asking for more T’Pring??

“I have been doing research on human sex.” Spock and I are on the same wavelength here.

Fortunately, the real power couple appears in the very next scene!

Christine, like me, is thinking: I really don’t want to talk about your girlfriend, Spock.

“I need a friend.” :( Hailing Kirk and McCoy—come to the rescue of this sad Vulcan boy!

This is another very cute Spockstine heart-to-heart…but the cringe dialogue strikes again: “Pro tip!” SNW is going to seem so dated a decade from now. It’s sad.

Starfleet calls Pike “their Boy Scout”? In his official file? That’s…weird—and it’s ripped off from Carol Marcus’ (deragatory) nickname for Kirk. It’s also going to be awkward when Kirk, who’s younger than Spock, takes over the Enterprise in the not-so-distant future. (I guess in theory it’s going to be ~8-10 years in the future, but since I know that a) they introduce Kirk in this series, and b) he’s probably not going to be 22 in-universe, I somehow doubt that he’ll be waiting in the wings to take over for years.

“It looks like a net…except, you know, made of lasers.” Once again, I am asking: who tf okayed this script? It’s so BAD.

What’s “playing fast-and-loose with the rules” about the captain leading a landing party? Pike’s done so multiple times already on this show, without taking the many times Kirk did it into account, of course—it’s only in the twenty-fourth century that it becomes frowned upon/against regulations (probably because of what happened in the twenty-third, lol).

Ahhh, I do love this—very close to the look of TOS!

Spock and Aspen got in the turbolift from the Bridge, went to another deck, and then run into…the Bridge crew being led into the corridor as prisoners??? Make it make sense.

Lmfao of course Aspen was married to a Vulcan, which at this time is so rare that surely Spock—the son of a human woman who’s also married to a Vulcan man—would already know about it, at least in passing, especially since Aspen is ex-Starfleet?

I see. She was lying…which Spock should probably have figured out based on her claim to be married to a Vulcan.

Unfortunately she’s not a better actress as “Angel.” Now she’s just really over-the-top.

“One of Vulcan’s favorite sons” Despite Sarek’s social rank, I really doubt that’s true of Spock yet. He’s also definitely not T’Pring’s “one true love” lol.

But that’s the thing: T’Pring doesn’t love Spock. We all know that! (Someone on this Bridge does love him, though!)

Angel’s threats to kill Spock are empty, because we, as the audience, know that there’s absolutely NO chance of him dying.

THIS is the context of their first kiss?? A fake-out?!? After 57 years, I guess I’ll take what I can get, but it’s still disappointing.

Christine hasn’t even had much of a chance to flirt with or pine for Spock. I’m only watching SNW for this ship, so I can’t believe I’m complaining, but where’s the build-up? The not-so-slow burn? It’s just bad writing. So, the norm for this show.

It is a great kiss, though.

And then T’Pring says she knew it was a ruse all along, and they just…get back together? Like nothing happened? When Spock and Christine’s mutual attraction is obvious (despite that I said about build-up)??? Thanks, I hate it.

“I know for certain there’s no feelings between us.” Except there clearly are, and this line is a total betrayal of Christine’s character. Again. She was always more than a lovelorn nurse, but she did always love Spock, from “The Naked Time” on, unashamedly! So for this Christine to say that she “knows” there are no feelings between herself and Spock after they made out in public, regardless of the reason…sure, fine, whatever!

Stonn is in the credits. He must be the guy T’Pring is with at the very end of the episode, I guess? And if so, hopefully that mean she’ll disappear from Spock’s storyline to carry on her own “affair” soon…?! (Not holding my breath.)

I have yet to watch any movie after Search for Spock, so I’m stuffing my fingers in my ears re: anything to do with Sybok. I’ve somehow avoided spoilers for 3+ years, so don’t need to be influenced by a bunch of retconning before I’m even properly introduced to the dude in canon.

So you can probably tell that I didn’t care about the pirate plotline at all. Was it good? Was it memorable? Was it at least funny? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m just here for the Spockstine, y’all. But I did notice Uhura wasn’t in this episode…which, tbh, is fine since she’d probably be wasted by the writers.

The Good: So much Spock/Christine interaction, especially that kiss! T’Pring breaking up with Spock. The writers remembering that Orions exist.

The Bad: Cringe dialogue—Aspen/Angel’s acting—the kiss being a fake-out—T’Pring immediately re-bonding with Spock.

#luth liveblogs snw #no one even reads these do they lol #oh well

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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SNW Liveblog: “Spock Amok”

Vulcan! I’m always excited to see Vulcan.

Oh, this is a dream. Got it. Also, Ethan looks kind of hot as “human” Spock.

So in Spock’s dream, his human and Vulcan halves are embodied by two separate people who must to fight to the death (over T’Pring)…what a heavy-handed, very literal way to represent his insecurities.

lmfao @ this space station—I get updating certain designs now that they have the budget and technology to do so, but there’s no way they had this kind of tech in the 23rd century (as it was depicted in TOS), even in a slightly alternate timeline…

“I plan to spend most of my time here with my fiancee, T’Pring.” Going to grit my teeth and ENDURE this. Reluctantly.

Spock’s quarters are, like Pike’s, ENORMOUS. He isn’t even the first officer, why are they so big…???

They’re also boring af compared to the way he had his cabin done up in TOS with the red wall-hangings and such. I do appreciate the little grate in the right corner, an obvious nod to the TOS design (albeit a tiny one).

No, please, don’t kiss. Really. (They do, of course.)

Apparently Spock is “redecorating.” There are splashes of red on some of the walls, so I guess that’s as close as I’m going to get to the og design?

T’Pring is, appropriately, a bitch.

The new design of the famous green tunic shirt is horrendous. It’s not my favorite look on Kirk—I’m a boring, standard-issue gold shirt girlie—but Shatner pulls it off. This one doesn’t even fit Pike properly, looks like it’s made of pleather, and any skin it’s supposed to show is covered by a black undershirt. It’s a no from me.

And so far, Pike strikes me as a pretty bad diplomat. I’m sure the show obviously wants me to think he’s an exemplary one—if so, give me some proof to back it up!

Once again, nothing about these civilian clothes is a) going to age any better than the mod 60s-inspired designs of TOS did or b) visually appealing/interesting even right now.

“They don’t shore leave. They shore stay.” This DIALOGUE. I don’t know if I can handle another 15 episodes of this.

I’m unsure how I feel about them giving T’Pring genuine grievances In her relationship with Spock, like him having to work late when they’re supposed to meet for dinner. On one hand, it does seem more realistic than the reasons she gave in TOS…but doesn’t that then imply that her ultimate decision to leave Spock is based on emotion? (It’s already based on emotion in a way, of course—that emotion being affection/lust for another man.) What’s more, I’m not sure it NEEDS to be realistic. T’Pring is not a nice person, maybe not even an ethical person…and that’s fine. We’re talking about the woman who was totally willing to let a total stranger die just because she didn’t want to marry him. Female characters don��t have to be nice and good to have worth. I don’t like T’Pring, but female characters don’t have to be likable, either!

It makes so little sense, because SNW’s T’Pring is both prejudice and emotionally abusive anyway! Her telling Spock that she’s concerned that he’s becoming more human due to his Starfleet career is appropriate for her character and also cruel of her. Which is, again, appropriate.

Y es! More of this, please! (Preferably with better lighting…but beggars can’t be choosers.)

While I’m all for erasing Roger Korby, I don’t know that replacing Christine’s fiance with Random Redshirt #6 is a great choice. Can’t a girl just be single? Especially since said Random Redshirt is the total opposite of Spock, with whom she was already flirting back in Episode 1.

Wow, they let La’an have some personality in this scene. Granted, her personality is defined by cynicism and misanthropy…but I’m shocked!

However, that somewhat pointless Number One/La’an scene interrupted the first real Spockstine scene (aka the reason I’m watching) of the ENTIRE series. Rude!

@deeneedsaname Girl, where are you when I need you?? It’s finally happening!

“You’re clearly an extraordinarily intelligent person. But you’re also an idiot.” Once again, file under: things Christine would never say (*to Spock. Maybe to Bones or another crewman. But not to Spock.)

“That is not a human gesture I am familiar with.” Like hell it isn’t, Spock darling. As if Amanda wouldn’t gently (or, sometimes, not so gently) smack some sense into Sarek…or even into Spock, as the case may be.

“That’s what being in a relationship is. It’s mutual sacrifice. Pretty much why I avoid them.” I like the callback to what T’Pring said earlier—HOWEVER, Christine Chapel is, canonically, the literal queen of (not-so-mutual) sacrifice for a relationship! She changed careers and signed aboard a galaxy-wide exploratory mission to find her missing fiance!!! You don’t even have to keep Korby’s character to maintain that (essential, imo) element of her character…?

“An incompatible mate.” Oof, that word choice.

As fervently as I ship this…when did Christine and Spock become close enough for Spock to feel comfortable discussing his dreams with her over a private dinner? Did I somehow miss that scene in a previous episode???

I do, however, love that this is an allusion to the scene in “Amok Time” where Spock tells Christine that he’s been dreaming about her.

I-Chaya reference!

“What are friends for?” I’m choosing to believe this is also a deliberate allusion to the exchange between Kirk and Bones in Search for Spock. <3

Cute! They’re cute!!!

“A Vulcan soul-sharing?” It’s called a mind meld, girl. Also, good thing she consents, since that’s a huge component of Vulcan marriage, and she already asked him to marry her…?

Bodyswap shenanigans…so, they’re ripping off another (serious/tragic) TOS episode this week for shits and giggles? I’m far from opposed to light-hearted or filler episodes (who doesn’t love Tribbles and “A Piece of the Action”?!) but it’s a lot harder to pull off with 10-episode seasons and questionable script quality.

“Spock, I do not like hijinks.” File under: things T’Pring, or any other Vulcan, would never say.

Spock had to perform a mind-meld with Kirk while he occupied Janice Lester’s body before he really believed that their minds had been switched. But with an important diplomatic mission on the line, Pike’s just going to take Spock and T’Pring’s story at face value without any actual evidence…?

Speaking of…how the hell do they already know about tribbles?! Also, I’m skipping every scene of this comedy subplot. Apparently I, too, hate fun.

Pike has some kind, eloquent things to say about Spock. Fanservice!

Who knew that male-pattern baldness was also a thing on Vulcan…

Everybody Except T’Pring Loves Spock: The Episode (TSFS was Everybody Loves Spock: The Film) <3

“Humans evolved from apes, did they not?” a) No, humans evolved alongside apes—and we are, in fact, considered apes ourselves; and b) logic dictates that Vulcans must have evolved from something, too, buddy!

Spock being defensive of Christine! Spock punching a guy for insulting Christine!!! We love to see it. (I saw someone claim that this was Spock being defensive of himself, but it’s definitely his repeated comments about Christine that trigger Spock’s reaction.

So the thing that even a high Vulcan priestess doubted could be done/was purely a thing of legend (katra being transferred between bodies by a third party) is actually standard medical procedure that can be performed with ease in the Enterprise Sickbay? Don’t tell Kirk and Bones…

“You know you can call me Christine.” Another nice allusion to their scene from “Amok Time”.

“Vulcans cannot lie. At least not in the way that humans can.” He’s such a liar, actually, and we love him.

Ethan and T’Pring’s have so little chemistry, whereas he and Jess have SO MUCH of it.

Things I don’t want: Spock and T’Pring having sex. Spock and T’Pring cuddling after sex. Who asked for this!?!!? The Spirk shippers? The Spockstine shippers?? No! No one did! Besides, love triangles are boring.

She’s gorgeous, tho.

The Good: Some wonderful moments between Spock and Christine (finally!), including references to their most electric scene in TOS—Ethan and Jess’s chemistry—Pike expressing Spock’s value as a person and an officer and, by extension, the value/ideals of the Federation—Spock expressing why he needs/feels at home in Starfleet.

The Bad: Cringe dialogue continues to plague this show—almost all the Spock/T’Pring stuff—the entire body-swapping subplot—the (unfunny) comedy subplot feat. Number One and La’an—that UGLY rendition of the green tunic!

The real reason I’m watching SNW has taken center stage at last…or is at least stepping into the light! This was a lackluster and in many ways an unserious episode that nevertheless offered up a few gems, perhaps to make up for the fact that Spock and T’Pring actually have sex…thanks for that, Kurtzman! /s

#luth liveblogs snw

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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SNW Liveblog: “Momento Mori”

how it started: “Maybe you thought you were…protecting yourself when you attacked the outpost. […] We can talk, maybe…reach an agreement.”

how it’s going: “They are monsters. Some things in this universe are just plain evil.”

It’s obvious that something the sensors are picking up on the planet are related to an experience La’an has had elsewhere—but does Pike know that? He doesn’t question her barking “raise shields NOW!” as if she was the commanding officer, he just frantically repeats her order.

“It’s the Gorn.” I’m gonna hate this. I can already tell. (When the Gorn was introduced in the TOS episode “Arena,” Starfleet had definitely never encountered their species before. I was willing to let this go when La’an mentioned it in an earlier episode, but to have an entire episode based around a Gorn attack…no.)

La’an is now giving Pike orders, interrupting him, and raising her voice to him. I know she’s traumatized—but she’s also way out of line.

“Like, how big of a black hole?” The dialogue remains Bad.

“Aye aye. Full impulse…into a giant gas cloud of death. Why not?” Look, fan fave or not, if they continue to write Ortegas this way, I’m just never going to like her. I find her annoying and childish rather than charming. Don’t ask me why Chekov works for me and Ortegas doesn’t—I just call it like I see it.

M’Benga to Christine: “If I recall, you have an interest in archeological medicine.”

Me: Do NOT summon the ghost of bioarcheologist Roger Korby onto this show.

Please just keep the camera on a tripod! Shakycam really is the bane of modern film and television.

We’re betting a lot on what “should” happen here considering the ship has only a single photon torpedo remaining.

This sure doesn’t look like “going full dark” to me. Whatever.

Sometimes Ethan’s delivery is so perfect, and at other times it’s so stilted and unnatural. I’m enjoying his Spock way more than I expected to, but the inconsistency is distracting.

“I believe in Enterprise.” Even though this is incredibly nitpicky, and I know it, it’s bugging the shit out of me—it’s THE Enterprise!

I think what’s bothering me is the marked lack of professionalism among this crew. Sure, Kirk’s crew could crack jokes or grumble, and most of them were friends (who would eventually become even closer than family). But when the going gets tough on TOS, as campy as the show could be, there’s still a real sense of gravity on the Bridge and in Sickay and in Engineering. Apart from Spock and the pessimistic La’an (and, in his better moments, Pike himself) that seems lacking here.

Listen: no one is allowed to destroy the Enterprise except for her one true love husband, James T. Kirk.

Okay, this is an objectively good shot.

So is this.

I knew this was reminding me very strongly of a TOS episode, but I couldn’t think of which one until this scene. Now I know: this is a rehashed version of “Balance of Terror” (or “the submarine episode” as my dad and uncle call it), with the Gorn standing in for the Romulans. The special effects might be better here, but the writing—and therefore the episode itself—is just not as good.

God knows that Kirk was expressive. Shatner’s been mocked endlessly for being “hammy” and over-the-top! But Pike has had way too many moments of being visibly stressed/overwhelmed under pressure.

Does Sickbay having limited power and resources prevent M’Benga and Christine from adhering to basic hygiene like wearing gloves when operating on someone with their bare hands?? (I know that McCoy didn’t wear gloves in “Journey to Babel,” but he was also operating with more advanced, indirect tools…and there are plenty of things this show has changed/updated, so why not THIS thing?)

Christine has absolutely zero bedside manner. When will the REAL Nurse Chapel show up? While she could be blunt in TOS, she wouldn’t have told a patient who has shrapnel in her heart “You’re gonna bleed. A lot.” or “We can take bets on when the septic shock will begin.” Number One is totally right to ask “who say something like that?!” Why have they done this to my girl?! This isn’t “modernizing” her, this is…well, whatever it is, I am not a fan.

Spock, the science officer, offers an important scientific observation (while the Enterprise is in danger of falling into a black hole), and La’an responds with a snarky, meta comment about “do you ever speak in plain English?” I just do not appreciate the ongoing trend of media being self-aware of/deconstructing its own tropes. Thanks for nothing, Disney!

Or: they got science in my science fiction show?! Eugh! I hate it when that happens!

I would say “if this is a suicide mission, why send not one but two of your senior officers?” but that IS 100% classic Trek.

He might bear almost no resemblance to Nimoy (imo), this is a very Spock look nonetheless.

This entire mind meld scene is trying way too hard and is straining my credulity, especially the idea of the Gorn kidnapping small groups of alien races to use as prey for their hatchlings. I also can’t stand reminders that this show is technically a sequel to Discovery; I refuse to acknowledge the “Spock’s adopted human sister” thing and will fast-forward through/disregard any reference to said character. All the stuff about La’an’s brother deciphering the Gorn language, and La’an remembering his translations, seems especially silly.

“Uhura for the win.” Yet more cringey dialogue.

“Pacifism is not passivity. It is the active protection of all living things in the natural universe.” I actually really like this.

“Hit it.” And I still hate this so much. Just say “engage,” my guy!

This show’s visuals have been stunning so far, so the black hole was kind of a let down. All I could think was “that’s it?”

Overall, I like the idea of this episode a lot more than the execution. “Balance of Terror” is a classic; this is not. It’s trying to do too many things, focus on too many characters—it’s not enough that the entire ship is in grave danger. Number One is also actively dying! Hemmer’s hand is broken while Engineering is about to explode, and he and Uhura might get sucked into the vacuum of space to save the ship! The stakes were supposedly high, yet none of the tension felt real/earned. And while evil absolutely exists, making the entire Gorn species the ruthless Boogeyman (and they even use that word!) goes against everything Trek should be about. The Romulans were presented as unequivocal villains but were at least given a perspective and a face in the episode that inspired this one. Not so here. Forget any nuance from that or the original Gorn episode: Gorn bad!!!

The Good: I enjoy this style of story; Ethan’s Spock continues to surprise me by being a highlight; some great visuals and some solid Pike moments on the Bridge; the idea of “slingshotting” off the black hole was cool! And this entire episode FINALLY felt like it was based more in science than in fantasy.

The Bad: Everything having to do with the Gorn; perpetually lame-ass dialogue attempting to be fun/modern/quirky/whatever; La’an’s flashbacks/backstory (sorry, but it’s just not interesting); the ongoing misrepresentation of Christine Chapel’s character

Not looking forward to T’Pring reappearing in the next episode, but I’m also hopeful that Ethan really starts to come into his own as (almost) TOS-era Spock…and of course I’m still waiting impatiently for more S/C (and better writing for Christine!)

#luth liveblogs snw #this was probably the best episode so far *conceptually*#but there are still.......growing pains

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year ago

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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!

#luth liveblogs snw #no one has read any of these I bet but I'll keep doing them for no one just the same

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