I just want to say I'm really enjoying your very thoughtful analysis.
Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x10 - "No Small Parts"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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I just want to say I'm really enjoying your very thoughtful analysis.
Not the Cook, he was a perfectly normal Klingon. There was also the Lawyer. He's not a warrior just because you can frame the courtroom as analogy for combat. The fact that we don't see many Klingon civilians doesn't mean that what we have seen precludes them from existing. And it's perfectly in character for Worf to want Alexander to be a warrior even if there are lots of non-warrior Klingons. Lots of human parents are disappointed their kids don't become doctors, but that doesn't mean there aren't other careers.
Also, I'm of the opinion that we wouldn't necessarily see diversity in alien races if we saw it, without knowing what we were looking at. Could an alien really explain the difference between the various earth religions if they only ever dealt with the US military?
Probably not, any more than the US military could assume all the differences within the alien culture just based upon the first tribe encountered.
The TNG-era Klingons, up to the present, are the most notoriously stereotyped aliens in the franchise.
Gotta say I was startled to see the Pakleds in this episode - Trek took a lot of flak at the time for portraying them as what many considered stereotypes of mental disability, and I figured that's why they never got foregrounded much after "Samaritan Snare."
Gotta say I was startled to see the Pakleds in this episode - Trek took a lot of flak at the time for portraying them as what many considered stereotypes of mental disability, and I figured that's why they never got foregrounded much after "Samaritan Snare."
You're trying to argue the fact that most TNG-era Trek didn't portray most of its alien races as one-dimensional monocultures? A ridiculous argument.
Your defense is a Klingon restauranteur, who, BTW, was derided in another episode by a proud, traditional warrior by his choice of vocation, and a lawyer, who used battle metaphors to describe himself and his professional throughout the episode?
These are but insignificant drops compared to the deluge of sameness with which most alien races, especially Klingons, were continually portrayed.
A Ferengi scientist character in "Suspicions" even has to point out how unlikely it is that there are Ferengi scientists at all and, in-universe, the character was treated with derision by other scientists. Which is a laughable notion for such a technically sophisticated race, but there you go. There's a reference in the same episode to how Klingons similarly treat their scientists like crap.
What alternative would you suggest though? I don't think it's generally a good idea to go all Guardians of the Galaxy and just display aliens as normal humans in weird outfits - why even use a sci-fi setting then? And real "alien aliens" are hard to portray as characters outside of written fiction because of the lack of internal perspective. It would take an entire season to do a genuine first contact scenario properly.
Considering most of the Klingons we meet are, necessarily, in the military, it's not that much of a stretch to assume that their warrior/military caste has that proud, traditional warrior ethic. So, it's at least partly justified.
But I'd have the occasional episode where we meet a Ferengi scientist and we don't have to bend ourselves into pretzels to explain how "unlikely" that is.
Just toss the familiar, monocultural aliens into the odd unexpected/non-traditional role from time to time without making a big deal out of it.
(To be fair, Klingon restaurant guy and Klingon lawyer were decent-ish examples of this, but there should have been more.)
You substituted a euphemism for “similar personalities“, but I think it means the same thing. Here is what you wrote:
That sounds like a huge reach to me, one that suggests subtleties that have not shown up in any other aspects of LD. I think that perhaps McMahan thinks the personality traits shared by his 4 leads is inherently funny. To some, no doubt, it is.
They certainly have more “similarities in social temperament” than not, as per your comment above.
So, he’s got 4 characters with “similarities in social temperament” and brings in a guest character with these same “similarities” just to make the point that the new character’s actions belie those similarities?
That sounds like a huge reach to me, one that suggests subtleties that have not shown up in any other aspects of LD. I think that perhaps McMahan thinks the personality traits shared by his 4 leads is inherently funny. To some, no doubt, it is.
Lmao Memory-Alpha
"Steve Levy's claim that "Wolf 359 was an inside job" is not entirely untrue, as the Borg victory in that battle was due to their having assimilated the knowledge and experience of Jean-Luc Picard"
Oh, how did I not recognize her, the captain of the Solveng was the captain of the Rubidoux from earlier in the season. She did not have a good year.
"Steve Levy's claim that "Wolf 359 was an inside job" is not entirely untrue, as the Borg victory in that battle was due to their having assimilated the knowledge and experience of Jean-Luc Picard"
Oh, how did I not recognize her, the captain of the Solveng was the captain of the Rubidoux from earlier in the season. She did not have a good year.
Agree and likewise mirror Georgiou
That what they want you think, and that's how they get you.
i’m going to quote the script from “Encounter at Farpoint” (from memory, so not an exact quote), where Beverly Crusher is described as “in her 40s but looking in her 20s”.
People age much better in the 24th century...see Picard running around at 90, also.
BTW, Crusher is described also as “stunningly beautiful” there...
Peanut Hamper and Tendi have superficial similarities in temperament. But when the going got tough, Peanut Hamper became fearful, revealed herself as fundamentally selfish and spiteful, and abandoned her crew; Tendi would never do that. That is a huge difference in personality.
No. He's got two characters with somewhat similar social temperments: Tendi and Rutherford; both are gregarious and enthusiastic. Boimler's temperament is anxious, and Mariner's is defiant and contrarian.
Rutherford and Tendi have deeper differences, though; Rutherford's friendliness masks an unusually intense desire for control of himself and his environment, while Tendi's stems from her desire to gain the approval of everyone she meets. Their respective emotional arcs have been tentative this season, but so far they focus on Rutherford needing to learn to let go of his desire for control and Tendi needing to let go of her desire to have everyone's approval.
He does, indeed, bring in a single-episode character to make a point about how superficial similarities can hide deeper differences.
I don't think you are engaging in with the material in good faith.
It is certainly in contrast to the exocomp at the end of that episode who sacrificed themselves to save the Enterprise, which Peanut Hamper would not do.
I'm honestly not asserting that much depth. "Superficial similarities can mask larger differences" is not that deep a theme and is not a particularly "deep" interpretation. But there is almost always something going on beneath the surface of any given text, and it's silly to pretend otherwise.
Yes, Peanut Hamper is that, but I think she is an instance of a deeper theme, as she dovetails with the other examples of the people Beta III and the Pakleds, of things that the Federation thought were known and then ignored, for the things only to end up needing further attention. Poking fun at the lack of follow-up to many of the problems faced and solved each week in the pre-CBSAA series has been a recurring theme of LDS season 1, and these three examples are further instances of that theme brought to the fore for the finale. One of the strengths of "No Small Parts" was that Carol herself came to the realization that Starfleet is bad at maintaining things.
Still, I’m really liking that the federation now (I guess) recognizes that Exocomps can develop sentience and even allows them to sign up for Starfleet.
You know: progress!
You know: progress!
What a great finale. 10 of 10.
Peanut Hamper's voice was bugging me and then I saw that they were voiced by Kether Donahue from "You're the Worst", just perfect.
I won't go on about all the minutia that made me laugh and just say that I can't wait for next season.
Off to next season, give me warp...5...6..7..8...
"Should we bring the small horga'hn?"
Riker's CMO was next to him on the bridge! I loved him in the books.
Peanut Hamper's voice was bugging me and then I saw that they were voiced by Kether Donahue from "You're the Worst", just perfect.
I won't go on about all the minutia that made me laugh and just say that I can't wait for next season.
Off to next season, give me warp...5...6..7..8...
"Should we bring the small horga'hn?"
Riker's CMO was next to him on the bridge! I loved him in the books.
Wrong species of reptilian for that, I'm afraid. Also wrong rank and uniform color.
I love this fan art!
https://twitter.com/GeekFilter/status/1316120281534980097?s=20
https://twitter.com/GeekFilter/status/1316120281534980097?s=20
No, that was a Saurian.
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