Wouldn't that require that the appropriate folks in the Federation be aware of what is going on?
So far, we're only aware of the duplicitous Commodore Oh & Lt. Rizzo being the ones in-the-know.
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Michael Chabon vs Trekkies
- Thread starter F. King Daniel
- Start date
So far, we're only aware of the duplicitous Commodore Oh & Lt. Rizzo being the ones in-the-know.
Not sure how implied makes it better.
You know, I had a teacher once who would eviscerate students if they piped up with opinions on the books in discussion if it turned out they hadn't actually done the required reading. After all these years this comment reminded me of that, and illustrates where he was coming from.
The Federation used obsolete mark 1 EMHs as manual labor in mines, because they did not see them as sentient. If anything, using humanoid AIs for labor is on brand for the Federation.
There's also the assumption that they were sentient, of which we were given no indication on screen that this was the case. For all we know the Federation.requested stops and securities in place to ensure sentience doesn't develope. And if they weren't sentient, they certainly weren't "killed".
Also, who doesn't know "why they did so?" The Federation knows why they decommissioned and banned the synths. Because something went horribly wrong, people were killed, and they lost one of their oldest colonies and most important ship yards. We as the viewer know the androids acted as they did because they were clearly hacked/reprogrammed. And who did the hacking, why, and why would they go so far is the show's mystery which we are in the process of finding out.
That's like blaming the police for "letting" criminals do crime. Especially if the crime happens outside of their jurisdiction, or the criminals retreat there afterwards. You have to catch them to stop them, and people like Bjayzel operate in and retreat to the former Neutral Zone for the express purpose of lying low and being out of reach. It took Seven ages to find her, and basically by accident, and boy did she have incentive to look.
So, this is a clear case of didn't actually watch the thing we're complaining about. Maddox isn't working with her. He borrowed money and resources to continue his work that was now illegal in the Federation, and like any loan he's supposed to pay it back. There's no indication he knows exactly what some of her unsavory dealings entail (he very likely wouldn't have come to her admitting he can't pay her back and that other people with a lot of money were looking for him if he had known about it).
Again, part of the mystery of the show. We don't know what's up with that yet.
How ... dare she? Sometimes people are maladjusted and fall through the cracks, and especially addiction is hard to overcome if the addict doesn't want help.
And having a character succumbing to drug addiction because of personal set backs is no more indication of "incompetence" by the Federation than Reginald Barclay is. You know, the hypochondriac with almost crippling anxiety and a holodeck addiction who we learned had been passed from ship to ship with untrue letters of recommendation and was in the process of being transferred from the Enterprise, too, in order to be someone else's problem before Picard stepped in?
I certainly admire the self-confidence of persons who have no knowledge of the matter at hand (Star Trek Picard), viewing it, digesting it, thinking about it on their own, to still feel competent to discuss it, as long as they have read a few second-hand opinions about it. I'm really much too insecure.
OK. This seems like a reasonable strategy, as long as you're highly confident in your ability to predict in advance whether you'll like something without having seen it. (Although note that it's fairly trivial to see Picard without paying. CBS is pretty generous with their free trial weeks and months.) What are your personal-taste dealbreakers WRT Picard? Too downbeat, for instance?
As for the issues you raise, I'm not sure Maddox working with bad people says much about Federation society, although it does say something about Maddox. And the Federation not being willing to expend serious effort to extend its benefits beyond its existing borders is one of the key issues in the series, yes. It's not so much a new problem as an old issue that's become much worse in the intervening decades.
I truly am blown away by the assumption that the Federation is somehow horrible and evil because of the actions of individuals portrayed being outside of the Federation sphere of influence?
After following and reading comments from the cast and crew of American Gods and Legion during those show's runs I've come to really enjoy that interaction so I'm glad Chabon has chosen to share and engage us during the airing of Picard. We can disagree with the answers but I think it's cool to have that insight.
Having watched and been disappointed by the writers' and/or actors' previous works does give some, albeit indirect, knowledge about their present material.
I recall that it was not uncommon for fans to say don't bother watching Nemesis or, much more recently, Dark Phoenix, it's not worth your time or money, and yet people who did skip it still commented about what a good Star Trek or X-Men film was or in the future can be, with the latter a lot of fans have a lot of hope and expectation that a better film can be made.
But that's not what you did. You were passing judgement on a show you didn't watch, going so far as to list specific points supposedly proving how bad it is based solely on second hand reports. And lo, most of those points were inaccurate. You wanna tell us what you hope to see in future installment? Sure! You wanna tell us all about the shortcomings of the current show? You better know what you're talking about, and "I heard" doesn't cut it.
The time that some people invest in reading and posting about a show they haven't watched could be put to better use by actually watching the show.
I didn't go see Dark Phoenix because of bad word of mouth. Then I got the chance to see it for free and guess what? I thought it was a good film. It's not perfect but the performances are solid and Han Zimmer's score is amazing. Sometimes you need to stop listening to what the crowd is telling you and just do things for yourself. You never know how much enjoyment you might get out of the things you avoid.
Also if you're going to criticise something, you better have watched it or read it. Your opinion means absolutely nothing otherwise.
Trek shouldn't repeat itself:
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/s...-chabon-interview-riker-troi-hugh-1202216302/
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/s...-chabon-interview-riker-troi-hugh-1202216302/
I had a similar thing with episode 5 of Picard. I saw it delayed and from the sounds of the complaints and the handwringing about "torture porn akin to the Saw movies" and such I was actually nervous watching it, since I get queasy with eye stuff. Then I watched it and while it is a horrible scene it was nowhere near as bad as people were purporting.
I have had several experiences like that. So, I pretty much stopped giving a crap about what other people thought. I loved Into Darkness, thoroughly enjoyed Rise of Skywalker, was decently entertained with Jurassic World, and found Discovery to be an exciting adventure, if uneven at times.
Picard is probably the last show I thought I would be onboard with, but it managed to get me hooked.
They’d still post about how awful the show is, but then get to add “See how right I was?” after every single episode they hate-watched.
I absolutely hated Star Wars The Last Jedi to the point where it killed any remaining enthusiasm I had for anything related to it, even the older movies. So you know what I did? I stopped watching and consuming Star Wars. I haven't even seen the last two movies. I think I'll probably watch Discovery, since i don't hate that, I just think it's boring and a bit bad.
Exactly the point. Plenty of content out there to consume.
I hated the Last Jedi as well, but I didn't mind Rise of the Skywalker. As much as I dislike TLJ i have zero interest in going into threads filled with TLJ fans and telling them how much it sucked and how it ruined Star Wars and is doesn't adhere to Lucas's vision. I've just never bothered to rewatch it and when I encounter people who did like it, I just tell them i didn't and we talk about why I disliked it and why they did like it like adults.
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