Chain of Command, Pt I

Like many of my opinions on Star Trek: The Next Generation, my opinion of Captain Jellico, specifically, has come full circle. I wish there was some nuance in his character, but he's just gratuitously aggro. No conflict with the Cardassians was so imminent that he couldn't just let Riker finish a sentence. Granted, our leads burrow into their roles as planets orbiting Captain Picard instead of breaking out as their own independent characters, so both of our bike tires are flat this time.

It turns out the nerd fraternity is Lambda Lambda Lambda, which was actually a fraternity for black students that within the fictional "Revenge of the Nerds" universe allowed the nerds to use it.

Really, the harping I do about Star Trek losing its ideological way reaches its climax here. I know other people (and me. Actually, most me) gripe a lot about Star Trek: Picard, but STP is really a natural extension of the changes in Star Trek most clearly seen in "Chain of Command." I mean, is there any context in which "Starfleet does covert ops and does them badly" doesn't leave us pretty far from the space where we started? And are there any merits to that deeper space?

The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most podcasting platforms. New episodes usually go live on Sunday nights at 10:00 PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/Chain-of-Command--Pt-I-eg427q

The Quality of Life

I was pleasantly surprised by this episode. I don't think I'd seen it since it originally aired. There are flaws in it, especially how they test for sentience, but I don't remember the story being this compelling. There are so few instances of Riker having good leadership moments in later seasons that this one where he knuckles down ends up being one of the better ones?

Should the exocomps have come back? What if they're sentient, but non-sapient? With neither a drive to reproduce nor aspirational intelligence? Is it moral to create beings strictly for labor, even if it's labor they enjoy? What happens when the particle fountain is completed? Do you ship them across known space for another project despite the fact that it's less efficient than creating new exocomps locally and painlessly switching the old ones off? 

How mentally undeveloped do your synthetic slaves have to be before it's moral to create and use them for your own ends?

The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most  podcasting platforms. New episodes usually go live on Sunday nights at  10:00 PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/The-Quality-of-Life-efrf7a

A Fistful of Datas

It continues the proud tradition of TNG episodes using the holodeck and an improbable technical issue to fully commit themselves to genre episodes.

I mean, maybe not "proud."

It's got a ton great ideas: Data being a bunch of different dudes, Worf spending quality time with Alexander, Troi being cool and into Westerns. It just doesn't really get there with the plot and the Trek-ness of it.

I mean, if we're not going to let Troi light some dudes up, then let Worf replace all the guns with bat'leths, y'know?

The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most podcasting platforms. New episodes usually go live on Sunday nights at 10:00 PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/A-Fistful-of-Datas-effvgv

Q-Genics

We're back on track and it's just Derek and me all the way through the halfway point of the season and the start of the Deep Space Nine series.

We talk about Amanda Rogers' bland taste in men, the yikes factor of turning Doctor Crusher into a dog, and what is the deal with the Q even? It's an episode that's all over the place and the last thing we care about the fate of some character we just met and will never see again.

Sorry, I guess that's a spoiler for Voyager when Amanda Rogers and all of the questions she raises are ignored. Honestly, that's to Voyager's credit because it did all of this better.

"Voyager did all of this better" is a red flag in terms of episode quality, but welcome to season six! *Evil madman laughter*

The Beige and The Bold is hosted on Anchor and is available on most podcasting platforms. New episodes usually go live on Sunday nights at 10:00 PM CST.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/Q-Genics-ef5uif

Rascals

The Road to Deep Space Nine ends in a place we didn't expect at a time we never considered. It's like Agincourt, Appomattox, or AR-558.

I don't really know what else to say. Here's the link to trekmovie.com, which has a little more about the various Trek organizations which are donating: https://trekmovie.com/2020/06/03/star-trek-websites-and-podcasts-unite-ask-trekkies-to-support-organizations-fighting-injustice/ and the original reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/gva3en/the_mod_team_of_rstartrek_would_like_to_invite/

• The ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/
• East Of The River Mutual Aid Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/blmcovid?fbclid=IwAR2KN1ykjzIg31Hb_rX4dGcbdd3szQc4wMkeM_yZ9y3MjqcAiA6H3aJ5dcc
• Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatter.com/
• ActBlue Page for a Collection of Organizations: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ab_mn

The Beige and The Bold is a podcast that talks about Star Trek. You can reach out to me on twitter @vanvelding or on blogspot at vanvelding.blogspot.com.

source https://anchor.fm/tbntb/episodes/Rascals-eevnin