126
this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
126 points (97.7% liked)
Star Trek
10521 readers
251 users here now
r/startrek: The Next Generation
Star Trek news and discussion. No slash fic...
Maybe a little slash fic.
New to Star Trek and wondering where to start?
Rules
1 Be constructive
All posts/comments must be thoughtful and balanced.
2 Be welcoming
It is important that everyone from newbies to OG Trekkers feel welcome, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, religion or race.
3 Be truthful
All posts/comments must be factually accurate and verifiable. We are not a place for gossip, rumors, or manipulative or misleading content.
4 Be nice
If a polite way cannot be found to phrase what it is you want to say, don't say anything at all. Insulting or disparaging remarks about any human being are expressly not allowed.
5 Spoilers
Utilize the spoiler system for any and all spoilers relating to the most recently-aired episodes, as well as previews for upcoming episodes. There is no formal spoiler protection for episodes/films after they have been available for approximately one week.
6 Keep on-topic
All submissions must be directly about the Star Trek franchise (the shows, movies, books etc.). Off-topic discussions are welcome at c/quarks.
7 Meta
Questions and concerns about moderator actions should be brought forward via DM.
Upcoming Episodes
| Date | Episode | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 05-23 | DSC 5x09 | "Lagrange Point" |
| 05-30 | DSC 5x10 | "Life, Itself" |
| 07-01 | PRO S2 | Index |
| 10-24 | LD 5x01 | TBA |
| 10-24 | LD 5x02 | TBA |
In Production
Lower Decks (2024-10-24)
Strange New Worlds (2025)
Section 31 (2025)
Starfleet Academy (TBA)
In Development
Untitled comedy series
Wondering where to stream a series? Check here.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
A mediocre episode whose saving grace was the message. I get what they were going for and I agree with it, as an episode though... meh. It would have been nice to see the Federation fight back a little bit, just for drama purposes. The vibe I got was that even the prosecution was not 100% on board with the law but since it was a law they had to uphold it; imo it would have been more interesting to have a more passionate prosecution. Measure of a Man had Riker, Drumhead had Satie, both good opponents for the heroes. Who was the antagonist here? The bald Vulcan guy who spoke for 2 minutes?
Also the flashback made me feel like the director thinks I'm some sort of idiot who can't remember what happened a few minutes ago. What was the point of that?
I also feel like the episode squandered the opportunity to explore the theme of genetic engineering itself. Why is it so dangerous anyway? Would've been nice to hear that side of the argument.
As a sidenote, I don't like how bigoted the Federation appears to be; this whole ban on augments never sat right with me, not in DS9 and not now.
The antagonist was pretty clearly the bald Vulcan guy. The prosecutor didn't think the law was just, but it was her job. Kind of like Riker being forced in Measure of a Man.
I think it was made clear in DS9 and reinforced here that the whole Federation POV was entirely because of the scars on earth of the Eugenics Wars. I feel like it's maybe analogous to the Patriot Act - passed because of a traumatic event, but now decades (or centuries on) kind of hard to justify for anyone, but getting rid of a law is hard.
And the entire point of the episode was the Federation is bigoted against augments, and no - there's no good reason for it. It's about as good as the argument that because Mao and Stalin were atheists, we should ban atheism - as if THAT's what made them horrible people. And there's nothing in the canon to imply that Khan and the other augment war lords were war lords and fighting the wars because they were augments.
I've said other places I think this hypocrisy of the Federation is actually pretty justified in earlier Trek, we may not like it - but it's not because of nuTrek IMHO. Of course, because Prequel, they also can't fix it.
The Patriot Act is evil, laws against eugenics are good
I enjoyed the episode but agree with most of your points, especially the flashbacks. If the events had happened earlier in the episode they might have been understandable but they had just happened! Spock's little joke was pretty out of character as well.
In the case of Spock I am hopeful we will see him transform into the man he is in TOS. My fear is that they will make the reason for this to be some sort of traumatic event that happens to him while I would prefer a more slow transformation.
Nevertheless, I still remain optimistic about this series' future.
The flashbacks were a weird an unnecessary choice and I do wonder why no one in the editing process called bullshit.
But Spock's joke was not only amusing, but perfect in the context of the episode. It had already been established that he is not fond of the prosecutor, so clearly he was not only sticking up for Chin-Riley, he was sticking it to said prosecutor.
Vulcans don't lie... but they occasionally misdirect.