This is pretty good. Phase II probably has the same general quality as The Original Series.
Now that I've gritted my teeth through the compliments, let's get into the jabs.
I'm just kidding. This episode is okay, I just hate that there's no deeper execution of the ideas underpining this episode. My slipshod censoring here is repealed because of my deep and abiding feelings about The Confederacy.
Star Trek: Phase II, "Divided We Stand" can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KChYhXhj7vY.
The trailer we're watching can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nkegWQe1ZM
17 to 01 is available on iTunes. It updates Thursday mornings at 2:00 AM ET / 1:00 CT. We're also amazingly on Stitcher.
5 comments:
Except for Kirk's speeches, this ep does a good job of keeping the pace up. (And they did a superb job replicating the TOS Enterprise sets.) You're right of course that the themes aren't addressed in any depth; though that too isn't exactly out of character for Star Trek writing.
McCoy totally runs down the checklist of "what wacky thing is happening to us this week" that you guys were joking should be SOP at some point in 17-to-01.
I guess that scene with the ship's counselor is ST:Continues' version of Riker going down to engineering to make sure Geordi, Wesley etc get their required screentime.
It makes sense we never saw a chaplain-type role on TOS, given the "science trumps religion" theme, and it makes sense TNG would show a chaplain-type role, given their emphasis on diplomacy and interpersonal relations; but it's weird how TNG traded the science officer position for a ship's counselor. Does the Enterprise-D have too much science to be commanded by any single person? Is the idea of a "science officer" just too ridiculous in the first place? I don't know what to make of it.
ST:TMP trailer- the space rock is evil? Only now do I realize the parallels between ST:TMP and The Fifth Element.
The counselor role makes a lot of sense, even if it isn't until 5.9 seasons into Deep Space fucking Nine that ANYONE explains it competently. The lack of a science officer was always weird--even if Data is the de facto Science Guy. When I did the RPG, there were science officers and a science department, but part of the plan was having civilian science staff come on board for special missions. Having non-crew specialists rotate out for certain missions makes a lot of sense and the distinction between mission crew and crew-crew would be an important one.
It's barely noticeable in TNG when there's a scene that makes sure a character gets their requisite screen time. To me at least. It's hella noticeable in DS9 because so many episodes get that laser-focus in on different characters (I think there are at least three episodes where Quark makes a long distance phone call to the Defiant for one reason or another).
Jesus christ, Leloo and Corbin Dallas are kinda like Ilia and Decker, aren't they?
Minus the kung-fu and pod-racing, yeah. Better Ilia and Decker than Star Trek IV's whales, right? I mean, it's not like the Fifth Element starts out with the only creatures capable of stopping the evil are all dead and have to be resurrected somehow.
*cough*
I forgot Kirk had a crew of four hundred, and might not see a friendly port for sometimes months at a stretch; a ship's counselor does make sense. Kind of surprising the Galaxy class doesn't have more than just the one.
Do the shows ever explain what exactly the (chief) Science Officer is? Is it an administrative position in charge of understanding what all the science personnel are up to, who just happens to man the astrophysics/planetology station on the bridge? I mean, we don't ever actually see Spock undertaking "science duties" outside of a crisis, so it's hard to see what his normal "science duties" might be.
I kind of assumed he did "science stuff." Technically, he should be the administrator for various science labs and research projects on the ship, but he's obviously not. TNG should definitely have someone in that role but they also don't. *shrug emoji*
That's a crazy bridge between Fifth Element and Star Trek: The One With the Whales. Wish I'd seen it before we recorded the movie.
Dang, I've had it in my pocket for a while, too. I should've remembered you guys were doing Movies I through VI before tackling the rest of TNG.
To be fair to TNG, their science departments do have department heads, we just rarely see them. Presumably for the same reason we don't see Spock to science stuff.
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