Stormygeddon @ Stormygeddon @startrek.website

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2 yr. ago

Finally an Ortegas episode that isn't a simple "I fly the ship."

I was worried that a high five was relegated to habits of the ancient past when the Lanthanite was initiating with no reciprocation, but then the post credits scene with Spock teaching human mannerisms showed it's still a thing.

When I noticed that this week's intro was being done in a Vulcan manner, I was hoping they would take the opportunity to fix the infamous grammatical mistake¹ and say "to go boldly" with an unsplit infinitive just this once.

Vulcan Pike's hair reminds me of my old Dark Eldar figures.

I was wondering if the federation ban on advantageous genetic manipulation would have been implemented as a rule to stop the "four Vulcans" from choosing to remain Vulcan, but the episode didn't go there.

I found the use of bacon/cheese/animal products a little un-Trek-like in this episode. Comments against veganism felt a little weird in an era of food synthesizers and the general vision of "we don't enslave animals for food." It's not like vegan food is disgusting. Spock confirmed humans still eat inordinate amounts of cheese and meat with implications that it's often to the point that it's unhealthy. Is it still illogical to have some animal protein if it's problems regarding ecological efficiency are a solved issue (beyond the saturated fat and caloric arguments)? IDK, something felt off.

I didn't appreciate that despite the extra long (and extra long feeling) runtime of this one they had three of the Vulcans return to human off screen. I was kind of hoping for a Steven Universe type situation where they emotionally explore the core of these beloved characters and get reminded of who they are.

Overall, this episode was pretty cringe inducing. I'm kind of shocked to say I straight up did not like this episode. The secondhand embarrassment was too much for me to handle. Painfully unfunny scenes went for too long. The conflict resolution wasn't to my liking, feeling like a missed opportunity to explore character instead going for cheap gags—dinner with the boss sitcom, overbearing girlfriend, lie holding up more lies until the lies implode, pretending to be married, "we want our jerk back"—stuff we've seen thousands of times. I wasn't a big fan of the previous episode either so I'm just kind of put off that they've had two "duds" in a row where SNW usually had bangers in my opinion. Maybe I'll be kinder to this one upon a rewatch.

What even is he eating? A taco?

I was hoping they'd "fix" the infamous grammatical error and say "to go boldly" for this one.

Bold choice to have an in universe documentary made by an in universe bad/unprofessional documentarian. It makes the episode feel bad.

Also feels like 10 or so minutes were redacted considering the short length.

The first time in a decade where the sci-fi protagonists were wearing visored helmets that weren't transparent and lighting up their faces -- at least until the visor magically folded away.

Minor pet peeve to have, I know. I imagine the choice wasn't director induced and more something regarding stunt coordination but I wouldn't rule out thematically mirroring the faceless unempathic enemy.

add +2 to the "some sort/kind of" count

La'an saying "fascinating" makes me wonder if Spock is rubbing off on her.

For some reason I knew Pelia was going to say "heebie jeebies"

I feel like this parallels the story about spending of $10 million to research and develop a Space Pen vs just using pencils.

Same here but my AC is actually broken

The TNG references with the chair gag and wearing jeans BTS really got me.

Eh, I get a horror episode is something ST does all the time but I just didn't like this Plant et Zombies episode.

Might be a bit off beat to say this, but maybe the first episode of Prodigy?

It's very much intended as an entry point into Star Trek for those unexposed to Star Trek.

I'm reminded how I basically never bought a Star Trek merch as much as I like the shows.

S3E1

-Strangely flat ground in that one Gorn ship set where it looked like with all those biomechanical growths and wires it should be a little more textured.

-In the Climax, They were doing that slow frame thing that was popular in the early 2000s and has gone out of style. Was a bit jarring.

-Are they switching to a practical suit for this season's Gorn. The Gorn looked a little more "rubbery" this time around but I don't want to go back to compare.

-I liked the Gremlins 2 look of the Gorn Hatchlings on the back.

St3E2

-Sexy Spock is so back.

-When that training session was sbeing interrupted, I expected Uhura to flex with speaking some Spanish to the Ortegas, but she didn't. And then they just proceeded to tell "be careful around Uhura she knows ___ languages" which just made that expected moment stand out even more. Plus the whole Spanish speaking thing kind of took me out of it as I still think of Star Trek as having some universal translation convention, like with that one episode of Discovery.

-The music being whimsical sounding felt so forced, like it was forcing the whimsy on the regular old scenes with the Bar Tender. I suppose that's half the point, and half an allusion to the original series, but it took me out of it. The LD crossover episode did something similar too.

-Spock punching instead of doing a Vulcan neck pinch felt so wrong, not quite in line with the less-violent TOS Spock, but that was an energy being induced punch so it checks out.

-Feels a bit weird hearing a modern song in Star Trek (even though it's from the 80s. Edit: forgot about two other modern songs in this episode too). Usually they refrain from it which helped some other shows like The Orville have more of an identity by referencing pop culture.

-I'm glad Ortegas is finally getting a subplot. In the previous seasons she's always felt like she was missing "her" focus episode which other members of the crew like M'Benga got. All she had was "I fly the ship" which was a bit lame. Though feels off, like maybe it's recycling some discarded script for La'an's PTSD, or they couldn't quite figure out what to do with Erica so they're trying something more generic. I'm interested to see where it goes.

Any word as to when?

That's it? That's the lost Time Lord? It was one minute of a bony CGI monster! Defeated with a secondhand thought, literally the secondhand to a clock! I guess I do kind of like tying how the Rani thought herself so superior to the human race but then being so unceremoniously finished in return. I don't like how Omega was just "grr, me hungry." I thought his main motivations was from being lonely and I think back to him trying to have the Doctor(s) stay with him.

The whole Poppy subplot kind of rubs me the wrong way. For one, there is a non-consenting aspect to it, suddenly having a hybrid child. Belinda didn't really want for one, and it's a bit of an "accident." The Doctor didn't really ask for it either. I don't see them as a romantic pairing, and the forcing of them to be one in the Wish World was supposed to be uncomfortable, as the Doctor in this generation is supposed Gay coded (could be pan, but doesn't matter) and the Doctor generally doesn't romance his companions. All right, so they had a wish baby without clapping humie cheeks, that can be an interesting consequence. But then they pull the rug and make that baby just a human baby, and the manner of which this baby was placed into existence was by force much like how the secondary antagonist of the last couple episodes did to the whole world. Once again Belinda didn't ask for this child as she has forgotten about Poppy and is disturbed at (and laughs off) the implication of having a (forgotten) child with the Doctor. It just all feels without express consent, uninvited/forced, unearned, and uncomfortable. For the other, it feels irrelevant as a consequence and forced the co-lead Belinda to basically have nothing to do. We didn't have many moments with her having her own agency as a character all eight episodes this season and Poppy was the contrived reason she was put in a box this finale—not even a figurative box, a literal box. There could have been some sort of parallel of Belinda and Poppy being stuck in eternity in an unchanging prison like Omega, but they didn't do something with that either.

Anyway, I was sad to see Ncuti Gatwa go. It feels so soon. He didn't even face Daleks. He'll probably be remembered as the one who cries every episode and was too short lived. At least he had a couple good episodes like Dot and Bubble, Lux, or 73 Yards. If they were going to bring in one of the other Doctors anyway, I'd have liked for the cameo for Matt Smith to have been extended, or at the very least do something with the bigenerated doctor too. I'm sure introducing Billie Piper is going to result in some gimmicky contrived mess.

I didn't realize people thought twice about the Dugga Doo

It's a little weird after so many years to see the Doctor specifically called "Doctor Who" as a name for multiple sentences.

It feels a bit longer than two years.

There's still the "mavity" gag going on.