Star Trek appreciation thread

[Philip Ayres]

This week on Council Trek:

TOS: The Paradise Syndrome, And the Children Shall Lead, Is There in Truth No Beauty?, Spectre of the Gun & Day of the Dove

Voyager: Ashes to Ashes, Child's Play, Good Shepherd, Live Fast and Prosper & Muse. 4 More to go this season, Unimatrix Zero a week Thursday & Friday

[The Doctor]

Four good TOS's there and one with a poundland birdman grooming kids.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Y'know, out of context that sentence is really quite worrying.

[Philip Ayres]

Oh wow Icheb's dad is Mark Sheppard!

[The Doctor]

Icheb in real life sadly grew up to be a bit of a toolbag.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

I guess by that you don't mean useful and handy to have around.

[Toph]

Well he became a toolbag in the show, too. Just...literally.

[Jim]

Now that I've accelerated my watchthrough for fear of the show dropping off Netflix, I've finished season 5. The greatness largely continues, but boy is The Fight quite possibly my least favourite episode of the entire series so far, certainly in the bottom three. I was relieved to see that Chakotay's new haircut didn't survive.

Naomi Wildman, and her relationship with Seven, is very charming. She could so easily have been annoying, and I hope she continues to make guest appearances.

Dark Frontier was fun, I liked the audacity in part one of planning a heist on a Borg ship, and the idea of a Federation science vessel tracking a Borg cube like scientists tracking a herd of animals was very neat, but I couldn't shake the fact it didn't work chronologically.

Equinox was also quite gripping. Even if it was entirely predictable, it was really well done and a good concept. I'm guessing we'll never hear anything of the surviving Equinox crew again, much like the whole Maquis thing never amounted to much, but a big part of what I'm enjoying about Voyager is the looser continuity and strong focus on good one-off stories.

My daughter has now watched the occasional episode with me (and the other day she went back to the beginning and watched the pilot without me!), which is great, but it makes me sad that that would be impossible with something like Discovery. I really think Trek has lost something by abandoning all-ages shows.

[Philip Ayres]

This Week on Council Trek:

TOS: For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky, The Tholian Web, Plato's Stepchildren, Wink of an Eye & The Empath

We may stage another attempt at watching The Tholian Web all the way through

Voyager: Fury, Life Line, The Haunting of Deck Twelve, Unimatrix Zero, Part I & Unimatrix Zero, Part II

VERY good week there

[The Doctor]

The Tholian Web is one of the all-time classics!!!!

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Yup. I've seen it and seen it all but NEVER managed to make it all the way though in one go thanks to getting interrupted.

See Also: The Doomsday Weapon

[Toph]

Dec 13, 2021 8:46:06 GMT Jim said:

Now that I've accelerated my watchthrough for fear of the show dropping off Netflix, I've finished season 5. The greatness largely continues, but boy is The Fight quite possibly my least favourite episode of the entire series so far, certainly in the bottom three. I was relieved to see that Chakotay's new haircut didn't survive.

Naomi Wildman, and her relationship with Seven, is very charming. She could so easily have been annoying, and I hope she continues to make guest appearances.

Dark Frontier was fun, I liked the audacity in part one of planning a heist on a Borg ship, and the idea of a Federation science vessel tracking a Borg cube like scientists tracking a herd of animals was very neat, but I couldn't shake the fact it didn't work chronologically.

Equinox was also quite gripping. Even if it was entirely predictable, it was really well done and a good concept. I'm guessing we'll never hear anything of the surviving Equinox crew again, much like the whole Maquis thing never amounted to much, but a big part of what I'm enjoying about Voyager is the looser continuity and strong focus on good one-off stories.

My daughter has now watched the occasional episode with me (and the other day she went back to the beginning and watched the pilot without me!), which is great, but it makes me sad that that would be impossible with something like Discovery. I really think Trek has lost something by abandoning all-ages shows.

Prodigy is a thing! She can watch that, and it has Janeway in it, so she'll be moderately familiar with at least one of the characters!
(My father refused to even watch the trailer because "it's just a damn cartoon?" then proceeded to record the jetsons)

With no spoilers, Naomi will continue to be unannoying.

If you want to be spoiled about the fate of the Equinox crew, without giving away any plot details in future episodes:

SPOILER: Click to show

You're right. We never hear about them again, even in passing.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't stand The Fight.
Not only is "interdimensional aliens are trying to communicate through my crazy gene" one of the all time weakest Trek plot concepts, they went about it in the single most boring way.

I don't think Dark Frontier wrecks the chronology as badly as it seems, as long as you assume they never reported in to the Federation.
And there'd be no problem at all if they gave the Raven a lower registry number (signifying that it's an older ship), and had them having been many years out of contact with the Federation, with Seven having been born on their way towards Borg space.

[Jim]

Dec 13, 2021 11:48:22 GMT Toph said:

Prodigy is a thing! She can watch that, and it has Janeway in it, so she'll be moderately familiar with at least one of the characters!

Yes! She's seen the trailer and likes it (and she's a fan of Janeway - one reason she likes Voyager is how important the women are), but my fear is it will just be on Paramount+ and I'm really not liking the idea of paying yet another monthly fee for a streaming service. We shall see.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't stand The Fight.
Not only is "interdimensional aliens are trying to communicate through my crazy gene" one of the all time weakest Trek plot concepts, they went about it in the single most boring way.

Yeah, I think you probably can find a spin on that idea that would just about work, but this wasn't even close. And it was all about boxing, which I can never understand the love for.

I don't think Dark Frontier wrecks the chronology as badly as it seems, as long as you assume they never reported in to the Federation.
And there'd be no problem at all if they gave the Raven a lower registry number (signifying that it's an older ship), and had them having been many years out of contact with the Federation, with Seven having been born on their way towards Borg space.

I would have to rewatch it (which wouldn't be a chore! I'm finding Voyager very rewatchable), but from what I remember you might be able to generously assume they didn't tell the Federation much about what they were studying when they were asking for permission / funding or whatever it was. Could have been more explicit though. The little science vessel shadowing a disinterested Borg cube is such a great premise, and visual, I can forgive it a lot.

[Toph]

Dec 13, 2021 12:20:49 GMT Jim said:

Dec 13, 2021 11:48:22 GMT Toph said:

Prodigy is a thing! She can watch that, and it has Janeway in it, so she'll be moderately familiar with at least one of the characters!

Yes! She's seen the trailer and likes it (and she's a fan of Janeway - one reason she likes Voyager is how important the women are), but my fear is it will just be on Paramount+ and I'm really not liking the idea of paying yet another monthly fee for a streaming service. We shall see.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't stand The Fight.
Not only is "interdimensional aliens are trying to communicate through my crazy gene" one of the all time weakest Trek plot concepts, they went about it in the single most boring way.

Yeah, I think you probably can find a spin on that idea that would just about work, but this wasn't even close. And it was all about boxing, which I can never understand the love for.

I don't think Dark Frontier wrecks the chronology as badly as it seems, as long as you assume they never reported in to the Federation.
And there'd be no problem at all if they gave the Raven a lower registry number (signifying that it's an older ship), and had them having been many years out of contact with the Federation, with Seven having been born on their way towards Borg space.

I would have to rewatch it (which wouldn't be a chore! I'm finding Voyager very rewatchable), but from what I remember you might be able to generously assume they didn't tell the Federation much about what they were studying when they were asking for permission / funding or whatever it was. Could have been more explicit though. The little science vessel shadowing a disinterested Borg cube is such a great premise, and visual, I can forgive it a lot.

Stateside, Prodigy is intended to be P+ first, and in a few months it's supposed to air on Nickelodeon. Doesn't mean it will, and doesn't mean that includes foriegn markets, but that's what they announced a while back. Maybe there are similar plans over there for you.
But if not, so far Paramount+ has put everything out on DVD/Bluray. So it's guarenteed at least that.

[Philip Ayres]

This week, on Council Trek:

Voyager: Imperfection, Drive, Repression, Critical Care & Inside Man

TOS: Elaan of Troyius, Whom Gods Destroy, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, The Mark of Gideon & That Which Survives

[Philip Ayres]

Forgot to do last week:

Voyager: Body and Soul, Nightingale, Flesh and Blood 1, Flesh and Blood 2 & Shattered

TOS: The Lights of Zetar, Requiem for Methuselah, The Way to Eden, The Cloud Minders & The Savage Curtain


This week on Council Trek:

Voyager: Lineage, Repentance, Prophecy, The Void & Workforce, Part I. 2 weeks to go.

TOS: All Our Yesterdays & Turnabout Intruder then back to the beginning for The Man Trap, Charlie X & Where No Man Has Gone Before

[The Doctor]

I do love The Savage Curtain.

-Ralph

[Jim]

Season 6 Voyager watchthrough now complete! Didn't disappear off Netflix at the end of December as I'd feared, and there's no date given for it yet, so might take season 7 at a more leisurely pace.

Maybe not quite up there with the high points of seasons 4-5, but still very watchable. I feared I would find the Fair Haven episodes more annoying than I did. I vaguely remember hearing that Tsunkatse isn't a well-loved episode, but I enjoyed it a lot; JG Hertzler is perfect as a Hirogen even if he doesn't have the physical bulk of the early Hirogen appearances, and the Doctor's criticism of fighting sports felt like a nice counterweight to last season's awful boxing episode.

Off the top of my head I enjoyed Blink of an Eye, The Voyager Conspiracy and Virtuoso the most, but I have a feeling there are a few which come in close behind that I'm not quite remembering. The Barclay / Troi episodes weren't bad, but I'm not sure how much I enjoyed them just for the novelty.

The only episode that stuck in my mind as a complete dud was Fury, which just seemed like a fundamentally flawed concept for a story. Better to have left Kes behind completely than do that.

My daughter has also _really_ gotten into the show now, watching the odd older episode by herself when she's not watching with me. She made one observation I really like - of all the Star Trek shows she's seen (and she's seen episodes from all up to Voyager), the crew of the Voyager is the nicest. I think she's right?

[Philip Ayres]

This week on Council Trek:

Voyager: Workforce, Part II, Human Error, Q2, Author, Author & Friendship One

TOS: The Naked Time, The Enemy Within, Mudd's Women, What Are Little Girls Made Of? & Miri

And I missed TNG coming back to Pick at 5pm!

When the Bough Breaks tonight, followed by Home Soil, Coming of Age, Heart of Glory & The Arsenal of Freedom! Saucer Seperation Friday!!!!

[The Doctor]

I do have a soft spot for Home Soil.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Noooo, it's Arsenal of Freedom tonight and I missed most of it!

[The Doctor]

Bad Phil!!!

-Ralph

[Toph]

It's Threshold Day!
So hug your lizard babies tight!

[The Doctor]

Everyone rags on that for a 30-second shot at the end (including many who have not seen the lizard baby clip in context). It's good daft fun. Won an Emmy for make-up.

-Ralph

[Toph]

Which Totally Batshit part of Threshold are you? Quiz:

uquiz.com/quiz/bSEbVe/which-totally-batshit-part-of-threshold-are-you?p=1079614

[Toph]

I got Neelix's Coffee

[Benn]

I got 'so mutation works like that now' which I'm going to blame on going off in the last question.

[Jim]

Voyager first-time watchthrough completed!

Great stuff, I am now a confirmed fan. I am going to miss these characters!

Even season seven, while certainly not the peak, has enough great episodes and a general level of quality to put it above both TNG and DS9's final seasons. There's fun stuff like Shattered's retrospective of the show (I think I would have place it closer to the finale?), but also genuinely great episodes like Lineage and The Void. It even manages a good Klingon story which at the same time feels very different to the kind of good Klingon stories that TNG and DS9 did.

I reckon it could have gone another couple of seasons before running out of steam TNG-style.

My daughter is still really into it, telling me about which episodes she particularly likes. This weekend she watched Nemesis and loved the twist, today the one with the inspections (can't remember the title) which inspired her to go and listen to Mahler on Apple Music afterwards (!).

[The Doctor]

She'll be ripe for Prodigy then!

-Ralph

[Bogatan]

Im never going to be able to say I like Voyager, but I do agree with you on the show being strong at its end. I suspect its because the crew conflicts that should (for me) have been more a part of the shows first couple of years would likely have resolved by the second have of the run and so Voyagers later seasons are closer to how I expected the show to be by that point.

Its possibly a failure of my imagination that I never even considered that they wouldnt get home during the run, but I didn't, which makes the finale a damp squib even if its probably a better story than I give it credit for.

I'd have watched another couple of years with them back in the Federation.

I did like most of the characters though so that we now have ..5 ..? yeah I think 5 appearances of voyager crew in the new shows is pretty cool. I still want the Doctor to show up in Discovery.