Amph [NERRRD] Observations, rhetorical questions, comments & 55 Years of Star Trek (General Thread)

My favorite part of the episode "A Piece of the Action" is Spock's critique of Kirk's driving abilities.

 

Re: Bread & Circuses: A recent Star Trek novel retconned the planet in that episode as having been people from Ancient Rome being transplanted by aliens, but that was probably the author's fanon theory they put there to make things make sense.

 

That's the same explanation used for the Native Americans on the alien planet in "Paradise Syndrome". Problem is, in that episode, Spock finds that the aliens were rescuing peoples and cultures otherwise facing extinction. That idea fits with Native Americans, but it doesn't work as well with Ancient Romans.

 

I suppose you wouldn't be that wild about that author's idea that the planet from "Miri" was an alternate Earth that had a culture that stagnated at around mid-20th Century levels, and the Enterprise was able to visit it because it entered their dimension?

 

No, that doesn't sound too good, either.

 

Yeah, somebody should've bonk-bonked that one on the head before filming started.

 

Just finished watching Endgame. Wow...about thirty minutes of that felt essential. If you remove all of the scenes between Chakotay and Seven, all of the scenes involving B'elanna's baby, the meandering dialogue between Janeway prime and Janeway Senior, you could have saved this episode by having the first half devoted to leaving the Delta Quadrant followed by the latter half of the crew in the Alpha quadrant.

Seriously, were ALL of Chakotay's scenes just the love story?

 

I always thought that the Doctor would have made a better love interest for Seven in that episode than Chakotay.

 

I haven't watched Voyager in years (least favorite series, I prefer even Enterprise over it), so my memory is spotty, but when the hell did a Seven and Chakotay romance start?! I remember her practicing with a holo-Chakotay before some contrived problem came up, but no idea when it moved from holo to real.

Endgame isn't quite the worst series finale (These are the Voyages is just bizarre), but its still falls far short of TNG and DS9's finales. Then again, it was an appropriate ending for Voyager, so at least it was consistent until the end.

 

Endgame also created so many problems with all of the ridiculous and contrived technology it introduced. 'Oh wow, Janeway Sr. can travel to anywhere and any time in history', and 'oh look, the Borg can simply transwarp and be on Earth's doorstep in a matter of seconds'. It makes one wonder why they didn't simply send a fleet of Borg ships to assimilate Earth a long time ago, but you know, it never occurred to them to try that apparently. Ugh.

 

I can buy the explanation that the Borg temporal vortex in First Contact was probably a prototype they were trying out, but having a whole transwarp portal network sitting there ready for use was absurd. Yeah, the super armor wasn't bad.

 

Man, I like the sound of that finale a lot better!

 

I'm surprised that there are people who think Enterprise isn't better than Voyager.

 

While I think Endgame drags it out all over the place (and cribs in a fairly awkward way from the way, way better All Good Things...) I actually really like the final scene / how they arrive home. It's subdued, which is not really what Voyager ever does but I quite enjoy it just a simple "We did it. Set a course for home." Everyone is happy but not "ohmigawddddd" bawling and frankly kinda shell shocked. Didn't need to see them arriving actually on Earth, Kim said it best "Maybe it's the journey." I think DS9's "What you Leave Behind" takes it way too far in the opposite direction - the first half of the episode is amazing with the end of the Dominion War but it drags out the goodbyes a bit too much for my tastes, bit too much hanging around Vic's and cheering and getting drunk and everyone gets their little final tag and whathaveyou, feel like a checklist. (Also Dukat v Sisko: Dawn of Fire Caves Battle for Magic Book as the climatic act of confrontation for the series is... well, goddamned odd and not in a good way. But I love the first half of the Feds vs the Dominion last stand on Cardassia, that's all great top to bottom)

The biggest winner in this is "All Good Things" which did how the balance it perfectly perfectly, wrapped up the episode plot, has a final comedown scene with the crew that puts a button emotional tag on they family dynamic of the crew at the poker table.

 

Yeah, All Good Things definitely wins out as the best Trek series finale. An excellent visit to past, present and future of the Enterprise and her crew, while ending on a nice open high note. DS9's was pretty good too, or rather, the last half of season 7 was excellent, the ending was just a bit rushed at points (the surrender), but aside from the somewhat silly Emissary conclusion, the rest of the farewells were emotional.

The2ndQuest idea for a finale sounds way better than the actual one. Endgame partially comes off as Admiral Janeway whining that her future didn't turn out good enough, because Seven of Nine isn't around, and a world without her isn't worth it. That was partially sarcasm, but future Tuvok's fate seems like a better, well, stronger reason to rush the journey home. Though don't think they bothered to explain why she didn't just go back to earlier. The proposed plot (stop a Borg invasion and get Voyager home faster) would allow for a more logical reason for why Admiral Janeway chose that particular moment in time and space.

Funny enough, Voyager's own Timeless (their 100th episode) did that plot better too. Harry and Chakotay are the only survivors, and Harry's gone kind of crazy which is why he is so desperate to fix the past. Too bad Chakotay didn't do much in that episode either.

Otherwise Endgame mostly relies on cliches (Tom and B'Elanna's baby being born), though the armor did look cool. But also overpowered, as even though the tech is from a few decades in the future, that's still surprisingly effective against the Borg. They even threw in a Neelix cameo I think, through long range communication, though for some reason he was chatting with Seven, didn't think they were ever that close. Then again, Seven's room is the most important room on the ship (who cares about Main Engineering or the Bridge ).

 

Voyager's 100th episode, Timeless is sooooo damn good (Favourite line in the episode "Apparently the Borg can't hold their liquor."). And it's a Harry Kim episode! And Future Geordi is in it (Levar Burton directed it too) And that final scene! Garrett Wang, given stuff to do, could actually rock it pretty hard.

Voyager's time travel trifecta: Future's End, Timeless & Year of Hell are all really darn great. The later two have reset buttons, yes, but I think they're quite earned.

 

YOH in particular is a great time travel episode.

 

In terms of Trek time travel episodes overall, I like DS9's "Past Tense", because of the questions it raises, and scarily enough, is set in the near future. We may have dodged the Eugenics Wars, but the Bell Riots are still due to happen.

 

It's really hard for me to rank them but as for favourite time travel Trek stories I'd go "All Good Things..." and then probably the OG classic "City on the Edge of Forever". then maybe even "Year of Hell" and "Past Tense". (and, to grab an Ent episode, "Carpenter Street" is kind of the only one but I dig Leland Orser a lot. Or, to kinda go sideways, Enterprise's Temporal Cold War storyline had some unique spins on it, especially the pilot ep and the whole Xindi attack)