Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x05 - "Spock Amok"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
I haven't watched it again yet but supposedly instigated an uprising or insurrection or some such.
Kirk doesn't say that he's straight. And the text implies he's dabbled with other genders but has a stronger preference for women, making Kirk pansexual. Or, at least, bi.
Here's the quote inset in this image:
Well I was reading it as straight versus, "I prefer women in general but"
But sure.
But sure.
Absolutely delightful. Usually I’m not really thrilled with inconsequential episodes, but this was so breezy and natural and well-done that it had me captured from start to finish.
A few random notes;
1. The music and the props used in the Vulcan dream sequence. Awesome
2. The ambassadors…very cool concept.
3. Pikes wrap-around tunic. Awesome
4. So many subtle, excellent character moments / interactions. Excellent witty performances
5. I wasn’t sold on Chapel after episode one. I stand corrected.
6. Re-flavoring gum via transporter. Hilarious and ridiculous.
7. Close up of the new phaser props. Gorgeous
8. M’Benga is fascinating (ahhh fuck it, all these characters are legitimately fascinating)
9. Sign the scorch. Love it.
10. Oh no, not Kyle…he’s so mean!
Whatever “it” is, this series has “it” so far. It’s not that it’s brilliant or challenging or revolutionary. It’s just that it has a perfect balance of elements that give it an intangible feel that hits just absolutely right. It’s especially amazing as a TOS fan. It’s a TOS love letter without being an eye-roller. And the cast is fucking BRILLIANT. Like, from top-to-bottom BRILLIANT. I love Peck as Spock.
9/10 for having a fun, light episode and doing it so naturally and effortlessly. There isn’t an ounce of insincerity or self-consciousness in this series or these characters.
A few random notes;
1. The music and the props used in the Vulcan dream sequence. Awesome
2. The ambassadors…very cool concept.
3. Pikes wrap-around tunic. Awesome
4. So many subtle, excellent character moments / interactions. Excellent witty performances
5. I wasn’t sold on Chapel after episode one. I stand corrected.
6. Re-flavoring gum via transporter. Hilarious and ridiculous.
7. Close up of the new phaser props. Gorgeous
8. M’Benga is fascinating (ahhh fuck it, all these characters are legitimately fascinating)
9. Sign the scorch. Love it.
10. Oh no, not Kyle…he’s so mean!
Whatever “it” is, this series has “it” so far. It’s not that it’s brilliant or challenging or revolutionary. It’s just that it has a perfect balance of elements that give it an intangible feel that hits just absolutely right. It’s especially amazing as a TOS fan. It’s a TOS love letter without being an eye-roller. And the cast is fucking BRILLIANT. Like, from top-to-bottom BRILLIANT. I love Peck as Spock.
9/10 for having a fun, light episode and doing it so naturally and effortlessly. There isn’t an ounce of insincerity or self-consciousness in this series or these characters.
I've thought about this way too much over the course of the years (as we fans do) and now I keep coming back to issues of consent and the right to one's body autonomy - which is way too serious for this show probably, but my perspectives have changed. I know back in the day her choice was perceived as coldhearted and mean and selfish, and oh poor Spock has to get laid or he'll die and she's so wicked to deny him. But she said she didn't have any other way to divorce him according to law and tradition. She came up with a solution where neither of the Vulcan's were likely to die. It sucked to be Kirk, sure but girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.Her strategy was a logical means for obtaining her selfish goals.
Same. I definitely had the same "she's cold-hearted" reaction when I was younger. But my current interpretation is far more sympathetic. She was a woman in a situation she didn't want to be in and which her society only provided a single exit for. She made the logical choice, even if it was costly to Spock. (I'll assume she had no way of knowing that Spock and Kirk were close friends, but Spock's career would've been adversely affected regardless.)
I didn't really enjoy this episode all that much. They used the word "hijinks" way too much. I wanted more scenes of M'Benga fishing.
I agree with some of that. And definitely SNW has reinforced those legitimate reasons for why the relationship wasn't working. They were living separate and incompatible lives. Ideally, they could've just gone their separate ways after realizing it wasn't working.
However, as you point out, it seems like the Vulcans didn't allow for that (I can't remember what was explicitly stated). Maybe the Vulcans need a more logical system for marriage?
Where she got selfish was by incorporating Kirk into her plans.
Well, it was bound to happen, the first dud of the show. The Pike stuff involving the new aliens was good, but everything else was absolute garbage. What the "comedy" stuff reminded me of the most was the comedy segments of Star Trek V that made no sense and made a lot of characters look like morons. Katra swapping peoples minds was moronic and I'm pretty sure the Vulcans would have ran into that situation at some point if it was possible, and the dialog between the mind swapped Vulcans felt like it was written for characters on The Orville instead of characters on actual Star Trek. I also didn't like the other subplots, but I don't care to list them, they just sucked but not in a very memorable way.
The show has been great until now so I'll just consider this a bump on the road, even the best shows have terrible episodes. Hopefully they don't try full on comedy episodes again in the future, its the one thing the SNW creative people apparently cannot pull off.
I voted 3/10, and Pike's stuff (including the return of the green command tunic) are the only reason its not lower. Its far from the worst episode of Trek, but it was disappointing to get an episode this bad on a show thats been as great as SNW has been so far. Hopefully next episode is a return to form.
The show has been great until now so I'll just consider this a bump on the road, even the best shows have terrible episodes. Hopefully they don't try full on comedy episodes again in the future, its the one thing the SNW creative people apparently cannot pull off.
I voted 3/10, and Pike's stuff (including the return of the green command tunic) are the only reason its not lower. Its far from the worst episode of Trek, but it was disappointing to get an episode this bad on a show thats been as great as SNW has been so far. Hopefully next episode is a return to form.
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I think the thing I love about Strange New Worlds that I haven't enjoyed about Discovery and Picard is that this series really is highlighting the characters outside of Duties. Not having the Galaxy threatened by a big bad has allowed these characters already to grow and we get to see their personalities. This episode is just another example of that. I enjoyed seeing Spock and T'Pring's relationship struggle, or Chapel and Ortegas doing their thing, but I think my favorite aspect of this episode was Una and La'An and Enterprise Bingo. I just loved that entire storyline, and I really hope Lower Decks takes the idea and creates an episode on Cerritos Bingo because that felt like a Lower Decks idea. I did feel bad for the two ensigns though. They were just having some harmless fun.
I did give this episode a 7 though. I wasn't really a fan of the negotiations aspect and when they were talking about meeting the Romulans, well, the Romulans should be in isolation on their side of the Neutral Zone (I avoid this thread because of spoilers, so I'm sure that aspect of the episode has or is being discussed).
I did give this episode a 7 though. I wasn't really a fan of the negotiations aspect and when they were talking about meeting the Romulans, well, the Romulans should be in isolation on their side of the Neutral Zone (I avoid this thread because of spoilers, so I'm sure that aspect of the episode has or is being discussed).
Agreed!
Well, SNW is 5/5 for good/great episodes. I gave this one a 9. I enjoyed all the stories. It could easily have been a 2-part episode for me because I would like to have seen more from every single on of the plot lines in this episode. It's nice that SNW is getting longer episodes (into the 50-minute) range to allow for coverage of all these bits - no way they could fit it all into 42-46 minutes and be as comfortable/as little rushed as they are.
I thought the subtle differences between Spock and T'Pring, once they switched bodies, were great.
Una and La'an are a great pair.
And Pike wins the day at being a great captain as always...though maybe he should have clued his superior officer into his plans going into the last statement?
Great all around.
The one bit that I was a little confused on initially was: when did Chaple and Ortegas become such good friends? But, as posters above stated, since this is episode 5 out of 10, then about 6 months has likely elapsed in universe since the first episode, so that gives these characters enough time to become friends (and I remember the stardates jumping considerably during this season so far, so that seems to jibe). Thought it would have been nice to see some of those character-bonding moments.
And just as I thought: here we are halfway through the season and I am sad because there are only 5 more episodes to go until a long break before season 2.
But these simply aren't problems with Trek ships; this kind of problem has never been shown. Trek engineering can handle artificial gravity, structural integrity fields, inertial dampeners, Heisenberg compensators, and FTL travel/sensors - all of which are basically "impossible" by current scientific understanding. Managing heat? That is something we can do now, and they probably just do it way better. They could just pump some cooling fluid around under the hull and capture the heat for reuse (they probably have great tech to upcycle the low-grade heat into something more useful), or design the hull materials to conduct heat naturally to a capture point. In the later Expanse books they do this for stealth ships via liquid hydrogen and some heat storage material (maybe phase change heat storage? i don't quite remember) and they are much less advanced than Trek technology. Should be a piece of cake for Starfleet engineers.
I thought the subtle differences between Spock and T'Pring, once they switched bodies, were great.
Una and La'an are a great pair.
And Pike wins the day at being a great captain as always...though maybe he should have clued his superior officer into his plans going into the last statement?
Great all around.
The one bit that I was a little confused on initially was: when did Chaple and Ortegas become such good friends? But, as posters above stated, since this is episode 5 out of 10, then about 6 months has likely elapsed in universe since the first episode, so that gives these characters enough time to become friends (and I remember the stardates jumping considerably during this season so far, so that seems to jibe). Thought it would have been nice to see some of those character-bonding moments.
And just as I thought: here we are halfway through the season and I am sad because there are only 5 more episodes to go until a long break before season 2.
But these simply aren't problems with Trek ships; this kind of problem has never been shown. Trek engineering can handle artificial gravity, structural integrity fields, inertial dampeners, Heisenberg compensators, and FTL travel/sensors - all of which are basically "impossible" by current scientific understanding. Managing heat? That is something we can do now, and they probably just do it way better. They could just pump some cooling fluid around under the hull and capture the heat for reuse (they probably have great tech to upcycle the low-grade heat into something more useful), or design the hull materials to conduct heat naturally to a capture point. In the later Expanse books they do this for stealth ships via liquid hydrogen and some heat storage material (maybe phase change heat storage? i don't quite remember) and they are much less advanced than Trek technology. Should be a piece of cake for Starfleet engineers.
IIRC, Kirk also pointed out that he was not likely to choose a partner who only went into sexual heat every seven years.
Spock Katra body swap. They stole it from me.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/twi...isodes-be-creative.123325/page-2#post-4165653
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/twi...isodes-be-creative.123325/page-2#post-4165653
Kirk doesn't say that he's straight. And the text implies he's dabbled with other genders but has a stronger preference for women, making Kirk pansexual. Or, at least, bi.
Here's the quote inset in this image:
"Dabbling", as indicated by the text, does not indicate a preference. In fact, Kirk states that his preference is for the female sex, which makes Kirk "straight". I would not put it past him to experiment, which is in line with his reputation as a "lady's man".
It was callous and ruthlessly practical, but, I would argue, not selfish. Selfish seems too small a word I guess, selfish implies pettiness. I think of desperation and denial. I in no way condone her decision. She was dismissive of Kirk as a living being worthy of her consideration at all other than how he was of use. But (and it's a Big But) she believed she had come up with the best plan for optimal results.
Anyway, that's my take.
