And Hippocratic Oath, Sword of Kahless, Let He Who Is Without Sin.
Least favorite type of episode
- Thread starter gakelly
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And Hippocratic Oath, Sword of Kahless, Let He Who Is Without Sin.
None of these holds a candle to "A Night In Sickbay." An appalling character assassination. I mean could you imagine a bigger jerk than Archer in this episode?
Fluff episodes.
I haven't watched that episode since it first aired. All I remember is Archer had to do some ridiculous tree funeral because his dog peed on it. Like animals never pee on trees on this planet.
I don't know. Say you go abroad, and there there's some sacred monument or something, the last thing you'll do unless you've lost your mind is to let your dog pee on it...
Was it just that particular tree or all trees?
And I can only stop my dog from peeing on it, I can't stop coyotes for any of the other wild animals from doing it.
Like I said my memory is 20 years old, but I don't think the tree in question had any special markings, and I think it applied to *all* trees.
T'Pol spoke of sacred trees, so I don't think it was all trees. Anyway, coyotes or wild animals are not Archer's problem, his own dog is. As a visiting alien with a request to make, the least he could have done is learn about these people's customs and respect them... How would you like it if your neighbor came to borrow your mower and casually walked on your prized orchids??? I don't think you'd be inclined to lend it to him after that.
What I'm trying to say is, it's a flimsy premise with lots of holes used to justify a pee joke.
If my prized orchids were clearly cordoned off in my garden, it'd be one thing. If it was a tree just like any other tree in my backyard, and I didn't warn my neighbor about it, I'd be ridiculous to blame them for treating it like any other tree. And if the tree must be put to death when it gets a small amount of animal urine on it, it should be put to death the moment a bird nests in it.
All of that flimsy justification for story would even be perfectly fine if it were a good story. But it was all for a pee joke.
Always assumed that it was so well known on that world it didn't need a warning sign of its special status. Much like I wouldn't expect there to be warning signs not to pee on the Eiffel Tower. (Then again, wouldn't be surprised if they actually existed). They just never anticipated an alien would visit and not know, apparently.
But I agree, it's an extremely flimsy premise.
What's absurd is Archer bringing his dog on a very delicate mission like this. He knew this was a very touchy people, easily offended and he went there with an important request to make yet he went there like it was some vacation spot. If the goal was to make Archer seem like a bumbling idiot then mission accomplished.
True, then again, it seems Archer was still irritated about their first encounter (and even more about spending five days apologizing for eating in their presence) before first beaming down. So while it may explain some of his reaction, it also further illustrates how deeply unprofessional he was there.
Ain't that the truth. Of all the planets NOT to bring the dog, this one topped the list.
You want to see Kretassian-handling done right, just look at how Mayweather approached it in "Vox Sola", while the captain was wrestling with some space... uh, glop. He sincerely explained that he had no idea why the Kretassians were angry. They explained, he apologized, they were mollified and told him what he wanted to know. Maybe they should promote him to captain and reassign Archer to Earth, as a professional dog walker.
Realistically, though, given that communal eating is presumably an aspect of many if not most alien cultures, the Kretassians should have understood that it was not intended as an insult.
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QUOTE="1001001, post: 13743232, member: 976"]
I have noticed the same thing in The Goldbergs, which i started watching because I lived in Jenkintown for a while. Of course in real life some people might learn their lesson and plan to change their behavior but backslide and revert to the bad behavior until they learn the lesson again. A few times. But the Goldbergs would have to have serious memory problems not to remember their lessons after learning them dozens of times. How could they graduate from one grade to the next in school if their memories are so bad?
You might know that I have a theory that most of the episodes in a long runnng and episodic instead of serialzied television series should be considered to happen in alternate universes of their own. Each episode is something which might possibly happen to the charactrs and thus does happen to the characters in an alternate universe of its own. Except of course for episodes which are definately prequels and sequals.
I developed that theory for Star Trek but it can be used with long running sitcoms like The Goldbergs too. So each and every episode where a character learns the same lession can happen in an alternate universe of its own where that episode is the first time that they learn that lesssion.
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The whole ‘Learning lessons’ trope is meant as ‘Prosocial messaging’ for the kids in the audience but it doesn’t even give good messages. They basically teach children that you can make sarcastic remarks at people all the time denigrating things they care about and they’ll just make a face and move on. And be infinitely forgiving of any level of inconsiderateness without it seriously affecting their emotional state.
They think they’re teaching kids to be nice to people but they’re really teaching them bad behavior has no long term social consequences.
They think they’re teaching kids to be nice to people but they’re really teaching them bad behavior has no long term social consequences.
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I've often felt those to be the functional equivalent of holodeck episodes in the newer series, just an excuse to tell some story in a (pseudo-)historical setting.
A episode setup I always hate is "will this series regular leave the show forever?". "Meridian" on DS9 might be the single worst Trek example, though TNG probably went to the well the most... it was always impossible to care "will Wesley get into the Academy this year?" or "will Riker leave for his own command?" Trip leaving forever to be chief engineer on some other ship for 2 weeks also stands out as particularly terrible.
Though even this has worked on Trek occasionally... "Explorers" includes that great story of Jake getting into the prestigious writing school on earth, but choosing to stay on DS9. Lower Decks nailed it with the fight about the transfer to the Titan in their finale. It can be done!
Though even this has worked on Trek occasionally... "Explorers" includes that great story of Jake getting into the prestigious writing school on earth, but choosing to stay on DS9. Lower Decks nailed it with the fight about the transfer to the Titan in their finale. It can be done!
I'd say my least favorite type of TV episode is a clip show. It's almost always a lazy out for budgetary reasons, & there's very few options to make it a satisfying story
Apart from that, I'm open to most any of the usual types that people complain about. Star Trek itself has a pretty bad record on episodes featuring kids. So they're among my least favorite, and I'll admit they also can swing the moral metaphor hammer a bit too hamfistedly now & then, but hey... not every episode is gonna be a winner. That doesn't mean the format or archetype is necessarily to blame
Apart from that, I'm open to most any of the usual types that people complain about. Star Trek itself has a pretty bad record on episodes featuring kids. So they're among my least favorite, and I'll admit they also can swing the moral metaphor hammer a bit too hamfistedly now & then, but hey... not every episode is gonna be a winner. That doesn't mean the format or archetype is necessarily to blame
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