So the theme song's growing on me...

[conuly]

But damn, I'm not sure what to do with this episode.

1. So in addition to holographic transmissions, we seem to have... full android members of Starfleet? Yeah. Can they just fess up that it's a different continuity already?

2. Fridging another named woman of color? Not cool. Not cool at all. Why not kill off a white guy? Or, um, nobody at all for a change?

3. Her roommate is adorable, and needs to have some job other than being Michael's logistical and emotional support. That's not fair.

4. I've identified a problem with Vulcan emotional suppression. Michael is clearly unable to cope with emotional appeals. She just doesn't know what to do.

5. We're not spending enough time with the rest of the crew to make me care about them. Trek is usually more of an ensemble, isn't it? Ensembles work better for this sort of show.

6. My goodness, the dialog was cheesy today. But that's good, that's normal, that's what we expect in Star Trek. BRING ON THE CHEESE! WITH A SIDE OF CHEESE!

7. Are we supposed to sympathize with our Klingons or what? I have no idea where they're trying to go here, and I'm not sure they know where they're trying to go either.

8. Okay, so I have trouble getting my computer to upgrade to a new version of the same operating system, and I never managed to get my bluetooth keyboard to work more than a few days, but they just plugged in a water bear and they're getting clear visual displays? Bull fucking shit. There is no way their ship is set up to accept that sort of peripheral. They don't have the right ports and they sure don't have the correct installation CD.

9. And seriously, even for Section 31, nobody brought up the obvious moral issues here? Obvious ethical problems are really super obvious.

10. Weren't their insignias creepy black? I could've sworn that not only did the camera linger on this detail just a few days ago, but one of the other cons mentioned it.

11. I didn't think I'd say this, ever, but this series could probably have benefited from keeping the other prisoners around.

12. That burn. Man, his fear ganglia might not be operating at full strength, but his insults are spot on.

Comments

[thewayne]

#1. Mudd's Women. It's happened before, but never as full members of Star Fleet until Data joined. But yeah, that screams AU to me.

#8. Hey, if a Mac laptop can take down an alien mothership in Independence Day, then surely they've just made their universal computers more universal.

Unfortunately even the first episode is not available on demand. I tried to tell our DVR to record it when we were in Phoenix but it did not, and now the only way we can see it is to subscribe to their streaming service, which I'm not willing to do. So we'll either wait until the mid-season break and subscribe for a month and gorge ourselves, or do that when the entire first season ends, or buy the DVD when the season ends, or perhaps ignore the whole thing entirely: based on what I've been hearing from multiple sources, I'm not sure that I'm going to be too eager to see this.

[conuly]

now the only way we can see it is to subscribe to their streaming service, which I'm not willing to do.

When the hell did everybody become so law-abiding all of a sudden? I keep reading sentiments like this all over the place.

[thewayne]

When the hell did everybody become so law-abiding all of a sudden? I keep reading sentiments like this all over the place.Paranoia re: Big Brother?  :-)

I've always been a fairly law-abiding person.  I do speed a little, that's my main law-breaking.  I downloaded one music track via a torrent once, I was helping a person with a class presentation, she legally owned the CD and needed one track off it -- total fair use -- and the disc was copy-protected.  I also worked for a police department as a civilian for nine years doing computer work.  I've never done illegal drugs, but that's a preference and paranoia/medical issue more than anything. 

I'm a pretty minor offender.  When I was going through the interview process for the PD -- and it was quite a process! -- during the polygraph I was asked the pre-test question "We assume everyone has taken a pen or a pad of PostIt notes or some other office supplies home from work.  That's technically theft.  You die and go to heaven, but before you can get in, you have to write a check to cover everything you've ever stolen from work.  How much would that check be?"  I said maybe $20.  Then during the test, they ask "Aside from what we have discussed, have you ever stolen anything from work?"  The answer is no, because I've already said that I've taken maybe $20 worth of little stuff from work over the years.  It was an interesting process and experience.

With Trek, it's more a matter of not wanting to spend the time bothering with trying to track down copies of it, too much other stuff to do. Of course, if people have copies at the next slash convention that we attend....

[conuly]

When I was going through the interview process for the PD -- and it was quite a process! -- during the polygraph I was asked the pre-test question "We assume everyone has taken a pen or a pad of PostIt notes or some other office supplies home from work. That's technically theft. You die and go to heaven, but before you can get in, you have to write a check to cover everything you've ever stolen from work. How much would that check be?" I said maybe $20.

I've always been told to never answer the pre-test questions. That's how they trick you into confessing to being a thief or smoking weed or whatever and decide not to hire you.

With Trek, it's more a matter of not wanting to spend the time bothering with trying to track down copies of it, too much other stuff to do. Of course, if people have copies at the next slash convention that we attend....

Three seconds on google, but I suppose you have to let it load.

[rivendellrose]

5. We're not spending enough time with the rest of the crew to make me care about them. Trek is usually more of an ensemble, isn't it? Ensembles work better for this sort of show.

THIS, YES. I want to like a lot of these people, but I just don't know enough about them to get as involved as I should be, and, like, honestly, who even are some of these people? We've seen Whatshername from the Shenzhou in all 4 episodes that have aired and I still haven't caught her name! I don't think the girl who looks sort of like Nebula from GotG is an android, but I'm at a loss to say what she is?

Number 8 is a long-standing joke in my household - Husband regularly points out that problems of video codecs and cross-system compatibility make it reeeeeally unbelievable that Our Heroes can instantly video conference with every strange alien species they ever meet, even as far back as ENT.

And yeah, Saru is a hero of snark and insults. I may be having a hard time caring about a lot of the other side characters, but I do love him.

(Clearly Section 31 smacked Lorca on the back of the wrist and told him the black insignia were a little bit obviously amoral even for them.)

[conuly]

It doesn't help either that half the people we've seen Michael interact with are dead now. She's like a Typhoid Mary! Wherever she goes, people die.

But seriously, we need less "her being the loner" and more "teamwork with the loner" and "everybody has a name".

And yeah, Saru is a hero of snark and insults. I may be having a hard time caring about a lot of the other side characters, but I do love him.

Though you'd think a prey species would be a little wary about snarking at people known to kill.

(Clearly Section 31 smacked Lorca on the back of the wrist and told him the black insignia were a little bit obviously amoral even for them.)

Pity.

[mindstalk]

"We must stop the cheese!" -- Captain Janeway

[conuly]

MOAR CHEESE.

And also, yes, I would like a large ham, thank you.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Yeah i had mixed feelings about the series but i am beginning to enjoy it more now that i have watched three episodes.