Episode of the Week: Angel One

[BillJ]

Jeyl wrote:

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Anyone who honestly feels threatened by Q (especially looking like this) to the point where they might break down in tears is not someone you want as a security officer. Period. Q is not some evil super power that strikes fear into people. He's just some pompous a-hole who's shenanigans are over the top.

Q: Games? DID SOMEONE SAY GAMES?!?!

Tasha: I'm so scared.....*cries*

You seem to forget that this was only the second time they had seen Q (and the first time Tasha was turned into an ice cube). Looking back at what a loser he became later on doesn't change the in-universe perspective that Q is still, essentially, an unknown.

You keep trying to twist the facts to fit you perspective, when your perspective should be shaped by facts.

[MikeS]

Angel One. Always the bottom of my "lists" and not watched since original airing until now because of this...

...I enjoyed it, it was "fun". I can't really explain why. Maybe it was as simple as it seemed fairly "fresh" to me, having avoided it for so long.

Nit-pick: How can Data recite to the hour, minute and second the time an escape pod would "arrive" at Angel one? Firstly, how does one define "arrival"? Entering orbit, landing or entering the system? Secondly what if gravitational forces or something else had interfered with the pods "as the bird fly's" trajectory?

I'd be interested in doing a fresh "hurt/heal" after our communal rewatch - see if the blu-rays have affected our ratings of episodes.

[Timo]

Nit-pick: How can Data recite to the hour, minute and second the time an escape pod would "arrive" at Angel one?

Counter-nit-pick: That's not quite what Data claims.

Rather, he is saying how long it would take a lifepod to travel the distance the E-D just traveled in two days at warp one. The top speed of a lifepod is a known quantity, and the distance the E-D just traveled in approximately two days, or alternately the distance the E-D would travel in two days sharp, is known down to quite a few decimals as well.

That is, Data is correcting Riker on the technical points of the XO's idle speculation, not establishing anything about what actually happened.

Interestingly, Data also says that Angel I has "evolved" into a matriarchy. Is he referring to a slow process where the planet deviates from the patriarchal norm of the galaxy while it climbs down from the trees and then back up to space? Or is he referring to a relatively recent political shift?

The latter would be in line with how unnaturally the matriarchy sits on the shoulders of the rulers. It's a society that tries real hard not to be the partiarchy it still was twenty years ago, so naturally it goes overboard on everything while failing to achieve anything much.

Timo Saloniemi

[Jeyl]

BillJ wrote:

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You keep trying to twist the facts to fit you perspective, when your perspective should be shaped by facts.

Here's a fact that shaped my perspective. Denise Crosby, who played the weeping Yar, left the show before the first season ended. Seeing her character done so poorly throughout the entire season, especially in that episode, it's not hard to imagine why she wanted out.

First Episode: "I spoke before I thought sir."
Second Episode: Allows an obviously infected Geordi to infect her and than later has sex with Data.
Third Episode: Is attracted to the mad man who kidnaps her.

And now you're defending the writers wanting her to weep on the bridge. Next thing I'll be expecting is an argument defending this episode by saying women should still be treated as they were back in the days when they couldn't own land or vote.

[Timo]

In which sense was anybody else given better material to work with? It appears more as if Crosby was ousted for not being able to do the same sort of camp the others were adequately pulling off.

Timo Saloniemi

[Jeyl]

Timo wrote:

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In which sense was anybody else given better material to work with? It appears more as if Crosby was ousted for not being able to do the same sort of camp the others were adequately pulling off.

So.... the argument is that they should have stayed campy? I thought TNG got better once they abandoned the campy side that plagued the first two seasons.

[Timo]

The argument is that complaining about sexism in Yar's lines is about as fruitful as complaining about racism in LaForge's. Both had idiot dialogue through and through, but sexism or racism had much less to do with it than general writer tapiocabrainedness.

Timo Saloniemi

[Jeyl]

Timo wrote:

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The argument is that complaining about sexism in Yar's lines is about as fruitful as complaining about racism in LaForge's. Both had idiot dialogue through and through, but sexism or racism had much less to do with it than general writer tapiocabrainedness.

So sexism and racism was non-existent in TNG's first years? That's rubbish. At least Geordi got to take command of the Enterprise in two episodes.

[Timo]

It just looks more honest and open there than in the later years. But the amount of it doesn't really change with the seasons. And why should it? It's not as if there's a corresponding change in the society at the time, either.

Timo Saloniemi

[BillJ]

Jeyl wrote:

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Here's a fact that shaped my perspective. Denise Crosby, who played the weeping Yar, left the show before the first season ended. Seeing her character done so poorly throughout the entire season, especially in that episode, it's not hard to imagine why she wanted out.

First Episode: "I spoke before I thought sir."
Second Episode: Allows an obviously infected Geordi to infect her and than later has sex with Data.
Third Episode: Is attracted to the mad man who kidnaps her.

And now you're defending the writers wanting her to weep on the bridge. Next thing I'll be expecting is an argument defending this episode by saying women should still be treated as they were back in the days when they couldn't own land or vote.

So she should be attracted to no one? Should never have sex with anyone? And should never recognize when she's made an error?

Sounds like you're the one with deep-seeded issues about independent women...

[Jeyl]

BillJ wrote:

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Sounds like you're the one with deep-seeded issues about independent women...

I'm sorry. Are you implying that I'm the sexist one here? Go through all of my posts I ever made here at TrekBBS. You won't find a single post where I question Yar's attraction to Lt. Castillo from the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise". I never even contemplated it being an issue. Yar is a really played very well in Yesterday's Enterprise and Denise does a wonderful job with the material she has. No episode from TNG's first season even compares to how great that episode is.

BillJ wrote:

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So she should be attracted to no one? Should never have sex with anyone? And should never recognize when she's made an error?

Again, if you watch the episode "The Naked Now", you will find that having issues with it doesn't mean you're sexist. For a show that proudly proclaims that humanity has grown out of it's infancy and will one day be like angels and gods that the first regular outing is an episode where all of them act stupidly drunk and all the women only want sex.

Captain of the Tsiolkovsky: I hope you have a lot of pretty boys on board, because I'm willing and waiting.
Tasha Yar: You are fully functional, aren't you. How fully?
Crusher: I'm a woman. I haven't had the luxury of a husband.... a man...
Troi: Don't you want to be with me? Alone in your mind?

Yeah. We can have this infection cause the men to just act silly, but it must turn the women into sex starved maniacs who practically beg only the men to have sex with them even in the middle of a crises. I fail to see why having an issue with that means that I'm the one being sexist about it. Even DC Fontana, the writer of this episode pulled her name from it because she was so embarrassed with the result.

And as for your "never recognize when she's made an error?" bit?

Tasha: Data, I'm only going to tell you this just once. It never happened.

Nailed it.