The Star Trek Thread

[Grath]

Even a life-size statue of Marcia Lucas (which would weigh much more) wouldn't even come close to equaling the money Star Wars has made over 45-odd years.

Taking the average volume of an adult woman (2.1 cubic feet) that'd be 1150kg of gold worth $73.11 million, or 1/700th of the total revenue of Star Wars so far.

[Thad]

yeah but gangster planet fucking ruled though

[Friday]

The end of that episode, where they leave a little tiny bit of Federation tech behind (a tricorder, I think? doesn't matter) and they muse "oh shit what are these copycat weirdos gonna do NOW" was actually going to be followed up on in what turned out to be DS9's famous Tribble episode.

Basically, they were gonna have Sisko and co go to the same planet but now it's this weirdo Federation copy instead of Gangster mode. Sadly, they thought it would be too expensive for the stuff they wanted to do so they settled for the episode we got with Time Travel and Tribbles.

Not that I'm complaining, of course. Tribbles 2 Electric Kirkaloo is rad to the maximum, but a part of me pines for what was lost.

[Mongrel]

yeah but gangster planet fucking ruled though

Fair. Spock in a Fedora is definitely up there with TNG's "Sir! I protest!"

Even a life-size statue of Marcia Lucas (which would weigh much more) wouldn't even come close to equaling the money Star Wars has made over 45-odd years.

Taking the average volume of an adult woman (2.1 cubic feet) that'd be 1150kg of gold worth $73.11 million, or 1/700th of the total revenue of Star Wars so far.

Where's my karma button to windmill slam, dammit.

[Mongrel]

Thad-length (U.S. customary units)
Mongrel-length (metric units)

Incidentally, I am still giggling about this.

[Thad]

The end of that episode, where they leave a little tiny bit of Federation tech behind (a tricorder, I think? doesn't matter) and they muse "oh shit what are these copycat weirdos gonna do NOW" was actually going to be followed up on in what turned out to be DS9's famous Tribble episode.

Basically, they were gonna have Sisko and co go to the same planet but now it's this weirdo Federation copy instead of Gangster mode. Sadly, they thought it would be too expensive for the stuff they wanted to do so they settled for the episode we got with Time Travel and Tribbles.

The Blu-Ray collection of TOS has an all-Tribble disc. "The Trouble with Tribbles" is the only TOS episode on it; it also includes "More Tribbles, More Troubles" from TAS, "Trials and Tribble-ations" from DS9, and a making-of documentary of the DS9 episode.

Not that I'm complaining, of course. Tribbles 2 Electric Kirkaloo is rad to the maximum, but a part of me pines for what was lost.

Check out Prodigy episode 13, "All the World's a Stage".

[Thad]

I'll also add that Mongrel's talk about the importance of creative collaboration is particularly appropriate given the WGA strike.

[Mongrel]

Bopping around through Trek clips reminded me of the HOUSECAT OF DOOM episode.



Written by Robert Bloch!

EDIT: Just as a fun find, not an alternate example of a "bad" episode.

I guess you'd call this one something of a mix of good and goofball Trek. Also one of the more notable episodes in seeding the "Kirk Was Zapp Brannigan" myth.

[JD]

Interesting tweet from the creator of Babylon 5. TV shows made for streaming are over-using cliffhangers, so people will watch the start of the next episode to resolve the cliffhanger, and stop there for the night. However, his source is a Netflix exec, and Netflix tends to add seasons all at once rather than release each episode as they air.

So not only did stupid fanservice demand that SEVEN OF NINE is now captain of the Enterprise, it had to go agonizingly out of the way to make it the seventh of nine Enterprises.

This is kind of a stretch. Seven of Nine captains the Enterprise-G, which is only the seventh lettered Enterprise. You'd need to also count at least one un-lettered Enterprise to make "nine". Whichever set you use to make "nine", Seven of Nine doesn't captain the seventh of that set.

[Mothra]

Man, we're so far from having the Babylon 5 formula of doing an episodic story that resolves and pays off, while also inching the larger story arc forward. I'd kill for any of these NuTrek shows, SWN aside, to set something up and pay it off within an episode. Just isn't done.

The Jack Crusher teasing is a good example. The last 5 episodes of the show end with a slow pull in on Jack, with a character saying "now we're going to find out the whole reason all this crazy shit is happening...", only for the next ep to either ignore that, or dodge the reveal. So it certainly felt like some kind of network or genre requirement they were meeting: "Alright, last 5 minutes, gotta have a cliffhanger. I guess let's use that Jack Crusher one again."

[Mothra]

Good article on why some of the Jack Crusher stuff in relation to Jean Luc really clanged. Felt like such a dumb, tired idea that can be dropped into any show for drama.

[Mongrel]

[Upthorn]

Saw this late last night and I'm still wracking my brain to try and figure out what "my boyfriend is away on deployment" maps to, in context.

[Friday]

She's talking about Intendant Kira, of course, where "on deployment" is actually "currently in the mirror universe just nonstop scheming and fucking, and I'm all out of schemes"

[Thad]

Sooooo Next Gen seriously followed up the episode about a planet of Black people who are primitive savages and whose leader kidnaps a white woman with the episode that introduces the race of greedy, treacherous, lying thieves with exaggerated facial features, huh.

[Friday]

yeah season 1 is a hell of a ride.

it makes a lot more sense when you find out that a huge chunk of the episodes were recycled scripts from TOS.

season 2 is better, but pulaski.

season 3 is where TNG "starts." Every time a fan raves about TNG, they're raving about season 3 onward. Including me. Hell, I tell people to watch Encounter at Farpoint, Datalore, Q Who, and Measure of a Man, and then skip to season 3 when I recommend TNG to newbies.

[Mongrel]

The one that always gave me a good laugh was the one where the paradise planet dorks (not Risa) wanna kill Wesley for accidentally breaking their greenhouse while they play ball. Like, on so many levels that episode is agonizingly stupid but hilarious for being so.

[Esperath]

The one that always gave me a good laugh was the one where the paradise planet dorks (not Risa) wanna kill Wesley for accidentally breaking their greenhouse while they play ball. Like, on so many levels that episode is agonizingly stupid but hilarious for being so.

[Thad]

yeah season 1 is a hell of a ride.

it makes a lot more sense when you find out that a huge chunk of the episodes were recycled scripts from TOS.

"Last Outpost" is a very TOS kind of episode and there's a lot about it that works -- the unseen enemy, the slow burn figuring out what's going on, the twist when they do, the cosmically powerful but confused entity who's causing all the trouble.

I think all that's good -- maybe not great; it's formulaic, but it's a tried-and-true Star Trek formula and there's a reason they kept returning to beats like those.

The biggest problem, of course, is the antisemitism. The next-biggest is the deeply stupid resolution. Simply having Riker hold firm while the Ferengi prevaricate and try to spin things to their advantage would have been simple, but much more effective than "alien reads Riker's mind and thinks this Sun Tzu guy is pretty neat."

season 3 is where TNG "starts." Every time a fan raves about TNG, they're raving about season 3 onward. Including me. Hell, I tell people to watch Encounter at Farpoint, Datalore, Q Who, and Measure of a Man, and then skip to season 3 when I recommend TNG to newbies.

Look, I paid $70 for this Blu-Ray set and by God I'm going to watch it.

[Büge]

I'm just glad Roddenberry didn't get his way and give the Ferengi massive dicks. According to Herbert Wright: "He wanted to put a gigantic codpiece on the Ferengi. He spent 25 minutes explaining to me all the sexual positions the Ferengi could go through. I finally said, 'Gene, this is a family show, on at 7:00 on Saturdays. He finally said, 'Okay, you're right.'"