StillPaisleyCat

I find the implicit assumption that everything onscreen is ‘fact’ exasperating.

More episodes than not depend on guest or recurring characters providing inaccurate, incomplete or outright deceptive information. In many cases, the plot hangs on whether the hero crew can deduce or find more evidence about what’s actually going on.

To assume that everything not directly contradicted in an episode is true is boggling.

Some of the criticisms fall in another category of beating on SNW’s alleged canon ‘violations’.

These include assertions that Chapel ‘isn’t the same person’ as she doesn’t have the same temperament/personality as in TOS, Uhura not having met or known of T’Pring before Amok Time, etc., Spock would have been ashamed to have eaten animal products (bacon), T’Pring’s ears have the wrong shape

While I can be quite critical of incoherence in plot threads or characters within a single show, especially in a single season (say in Discovery season two or every season of Picard), to me that’s a problem in how a set of writers are telling a specific story.

I’ve come to realize that the fans who just can’t get past continuity changes they can’t resolve immediately across the entire history of the franchise just aren’t going to enjoy SNW as much as I am.

I classify these inflexibilities as:

— not being open to the possibility that the characters may grow and change,

— not being open to the possibility of characters being unreliable narrators or saying things ironically in later shows (e.g., in TOS Uhura might tweak Spock about T’Pring to press him to identify who she is, even if she personally knew exactly who she was),

— refusing to accept that minor changes in timing, visual design, technology and characters are possible due to intertemporal interference as long as the Prime continuity maintains key/essential events.

In the end, hanging out here to have conversations with folks who are a bit more flexible is a better choice for me.

You’re fortunate to have missed the complaints elsewhere then. It really seems to be an episode that has very strong reactions, but isn’t outright controversial.

The reaction here seems overwhelmingly positive. Even the fans on old Trek BBS is mostly giving the episode high marks.

But the review by Trek tie-in author Keith Di Candido at Tor is quite critical, and that group of commentators seem largely to have followed.

The old sub has more than the usual quotient of nitpicks, but also enthusiasts.

Trek Movie is one of the few that takes the middle ground saying the episode ‘misses its mark’.

I’ve seen a great amount of curmudgeonly criticism of this episode in other places.

Can’t understand it really. There really seems to be a contingent of fans that just don’t want to have fun.

A 30 year old in 1995 would be a Gen Xer.

My recollection is that it was the younger adults in their 20s who were into the lounge culture revival in the 90s.

Older boomers would have been in their teens the first time round for this music. It wasn’t so much for them.

Sinatra and ‘lounge music’ made a big comeback in the nineties with younger people then in their early twenties, that would Gen X, not the boomers.

Gen X thought the late 50s and early 60s were interesting 30 years later.

The Bond revival was also in full swing with that age group too, which is why we got Bashir’s Bond hijinks combined with lounge culture.

James Darren was the real deal as a lounge singer. His career was trending upwards again during the show because of the lounge culture trend.

I’m also going to make a pitch for holodeck/holosuite episodes. I would absolutely argue that in the 90s they weren’t filler at all.

They aren’t as interesting now because they are too close to technology that we use everyday. That’s likely why we aren’t seeing Holodeck episodes in the same way in the new era.

While virtual reality, and shared role playing games are deeply established now through massively multiplayer games and discord, Star Trek in the 90s was actually doing its s job as a science fiction show imagining what people could do with VR and what could go wrong.

Taking it back to TOS, a shore leave planet that turned out to have interactive holographic characters and an operating system gone wrong wasn’t a trope, it was an entirely new concept. More, it built on the psychological thriller concept of imaginary things becoming real and dangerous that was at the core of The Cage and the MGM movie Forbidden Planet that inspired Roddenberry.

In both the Berman era and in TOS, virtual reality shows were a key way to explore character development, relationships and team development within the ensemble of characters.

DS9 ‘Only a Paper Moon’ is a deep dive into withdrawal from reality due to trauma. I would say it may not be as successful now because it’s too on the nose and less allegorical given the way gaming and VR are used by many with trauma and anxiety as coping mechanisms.

SNW in 7th place in the Nielsen US streaming top ten, lines up with the Parrot Analytics Digital Originals top ten for the week ending June 16th where SNW placed 6th.

It reinforces that Parrot’s broader methodology is fairly predictive of what Nielsen will get from its sampling of streaming through television boxes.

Which begs the question: if Parrot isn’t so far off from actual viewship data, and knowing Parrot had Prodigy’s 2022 demand in second place of all Paramount+ digital animated originals (just behind Lower Decks), why did Paramount pull Prodigy?

It’s great to see Trek shows, actors and EPs getting nominated, but this particular set of nominations are somewhat disquieting when we don’t see Picard picking up nominations from others.

It’s challenging to keep all these award nominations in context.

There are many nomination lists coming out at this time of year, but not are equally prestigious and some have been the subject of criticism and controversy over the composition of their boards and questions about inappropriate influence.

This one, the Hollywood Critics Association is often described as the most influenced by the local LA entertainment business relationships if I recall correctly. In 2022, many members resigned amid allegations of finances and voting .

Unfortunately, it’s not in the past as there are new reports that the President of the Association resigned in June citing a hostile, biased and dismissive work environment.

Cool. Love the semi-spoilers.

Already preordered my copy.

Nickelodeon has had an overall decline in viewership of 70% since 2017, around 25% since the pandemic.

Kids have stopped watching linear television.

Prodigy was doing ok relative to other Nickelodeon offerings, but not great for such an expensive show. Weekly and monthly viewership was only 170k in 2022 according to Nielsen.

I love TAS and believe all of its episodes are worth watching at least once.

Yesteryear is iconic and essential Spock and Guardian of Forever context but there’s a lot to take in.

TAS has some episodes that may not be the best, but definitely provide many firsts, and as such are an important bridge between TOS and TNG other later extensions of the franchise. So, here’s my list of ‘you really should see them’ episodes and why.

• • The Lorelei Syndrome puts Uhura in command, undoing the damage of TOS Turnabout Intruder ;
• • More Trouble, More Tribbles is a ‘must see’ part of the Tribbles trilogy with the TOS and DS9 a episodes;
• • The Time Trap - lays a foundation for the pocket universe trope;
• • The Slaver Weapon - it’s by Larry Niven and brings his Kzinti into the franchise, which only Starfleet Battles game upheld until they reappear in Lower Decks;
• • The Practical Joker introduces the Rec Room, precursor of the Holodeck, and introduces the ‘space anomaly causes Holodeck malfunction’ trope, with hijinks naturally.

• • The Counterclock Incident - Robert April and time running backwards, again not the best but one not to be missed.