"SF Academy: Episode 7 is Bad" Topic

I enjoyed 4-5-6 enough that I expected to like it, so much so that I had a really interesting debate in my head about whether or not it was bad. I ended up having a really illuminating ponder about what makes good and bad Star Trek, and about the difference between the implausible and the arbitrary.

In any speculative fiction the creators are going to make stuff up. You can't use transporters through the deflector shields, the Maltese Falcon is so valuable we'll all do anything to get it, house elves are freed if you give them clothing, etc. That's fine, that's the premise. But at some point you're just telling us "the characters really care about this, but oh no! This character wants something else! Feel the drama!" You need to build this. You need to make us care. Lay the foundation. If you just tell us arbitrarily that we're supposed to care about something, well, we don't care, and thus no drama.

And the implausible: "let's go do this thing!" "No, that's a bad thing" "but I have to do it because of my daddy issues!" "Okay, let's go" The security everywhere in this school is hacked every time with no perceivable effort. They don't even try to show us that it was difficult in any way to get access to the most precious secrets. And they do dumb stuff that's just…

Terrible, terrible exotic toxic effects are suffered from the most whimsically taken risks and reversed in seconds by pushing a button on a little device, and then another character has a sunburn and no one can do anything about it.

And the big, manly, deep-voiced Klingon was wearing a skirt and tights for no reason. Not some kind of Klingon skirt or ceremonial wear or anything. Just a rather ordinary woman's skirt. And leggings. I know they had a background male character on TNG do that, but with no explanation it's just a weird note of "look at us ignore convention!"

I guess not every episode has to be awesome, but once TNG got good there were very few truly bad episodes, or am I misremembering?

Anyway, folks here love to complain about new Star Trek so I thought I'd throw another log on the fire.

Hopefully 8-9-10 are as much better than 7 as 4-5-6 were compared to 2.

There are lacunae in my television viewing, and this series is one of them.

And the big, manly, deep-voiced Klingon was wearing a skirt and tights for no reason.

Well, the reason is that the character is gay. Or maybe trans, since he's wearing a skirt.

But it was ridiculous when Jay-den has to run down the corridor to try to rescue his love interest, and his skirt is so tight he can't run. That's why pencil skirts aren't appropriate in a military school!

The reviewers have been making the point that, considering the Klingons are nearing extinction at this point, shouldn't Jay-den do the honorable thing, leave the Academy, and father some Klingon children? Duty, family and all that.

" Duty, family and all that."

And where have YOU been for the last generation of Hollywood script-writing, Bill? Family is now "found" family--friends and workmates, not blood relatives. If I held the rights to "these (or you) are my REAL family" I could fund a decent-size convention. No such thing as duty if it means doing something you don't want to do. Truth and justice still officially exist, but what is true and what constitutes justice change without notice at irregular intervals, and anyone holding to last week's view of either is a fascist.

Welcome to the 21st Century--and, evidently, the 32nd. It's why I play old movies or radio drama when I paint castings instead of watching TV.

The episodes have been weak but this imho was the worst.
I will be surprised if they have a season two

He was headed to vacation while wearing the skirt, so off duty, could wear what he wanted. So that tiny part makes sense.

I don't think making sense is the objective. I understand the hologram has a bed and does push-ups. Will it be in better shape for Season Two?

I understand the hologram has a bed and does push-ups. Will it be in better shape for Season Two?

Well, it went to hologram camp last episode, so perhaps it has been repaired now. Though are there enough hologram people to justify a hologram camp?

Maybe they're actually punking everybody. Because this sounds like a farce.

I think they said there's a whole world of hologram people. They have a special name for themselves. They're not sure if they can trust "biologicals" so they're not sure about joining the Federation yet. It's hard to think about that. I'm sure we'll get an episode about that soon.

I used to know the guy who was the science advisor on ST:TNG. He was an actual scientist – had PhD degrees in physics and chemistry, real smart guy. The writers/producers had him on their brain trust and they'd go to him and say "Hey, we want this cool sciency thing to happen in this episode. Could that happen?" And he'd do some research, extrapolate what we know of physics and so on and go back and tell 'em, "Yeah, and here's how it would work" or "Nope, totally not possible," and they'd use that advice to shoot the episode. That's why it felt science-based, 'cause it was to the exent a scifi show with elements of the fantastic could be. Now? Trek is pure Space Opera. Oh well.

Here's how Major Grin breaks it down…

YouTube link