V
Vale
Guest
David Warner was one of the most respected British actors of his generation and he relied on cue cards throughout filming TNG: "Chain of Command".
What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?
- Thread starter Amasov
- Start date
To be fair to David Warner, he got the part and the script basically only a day before shooting started.
Cue cards or not, he gave us a masterful performance.
Cue cards or not, he gave us a masterful performance.
Well, I can understand some had more trouble with their lines than others. Not everyone has an equally good memory, and not everyone had the same amount of technobabble. As far as pure text is concerned, you're probably going to have an easier time playing Neelix than playing b' Elanna or Seven of Nine or the EMH.
Rick Berman diary entry:
"July 3rd, 1994. This week we're busy filming TNG's first eighth season episode #179 - Across the Chasm. An episode in which Deanna Troi and Geordi laForge switch bodies.
Weirdly, after two days of filming, LeVar Burton approached me to ask if we couldn't simply keep the bodies reversed. Said he somehow felt more comfortable with lines such as 'Captain, I sense anger', than with 'Captain, in order to defraculate the quantum regulation tri-axial compressor we'd need to meta-stabilize the hyperkinetic unobtainium isotope manifold relay first'
Kicked him in the ass. "
"July 3rd, 1994. This week we're busy filming TNG's first eighth season episode #179 - Across the Chasm. An episode in which Deanna Troi and Geordi laForge switch bodies.
Weirdly, after two days of filming, LeVar Burton approached me to ask if we couldn't simply keep the bodies reversed. Said he somehow felt more comfortable with lines such as 'Captain, I sense anger', than with 'Captain, in order to defraculate the quantum regulation tri-axial compressor we'd need to meta-stabilize the hyperkinetic unobtainium isotope manifold relay first'
Kicked him in the ass. "
Last edited:
I listened to an interview with Kate Mulgrew the other day. She said she felt complete and total confidence when she was cast... until she saw the full scripts. Then she was in panic mode for months before she finally started feeling a bit more comfortable with all the technobabble.
It can't have been easy for them. I recall listening to one of those interviews years ago where one of those actors (it might have even been the same Levar Burton , but not sure) said he simply spitted those technobabble lines out as fast as possible in the hope that this approach would make his character sound confident and as if he knew what he was talking about.
Last edited:
LeVar Burton is the gold standard in making technobabble sound legitimate. No doubt being the man behind READING RAINBOW helped him as LaForge.
ENT dialed down the technobabble somewhat because it was set over 100 years before TOS and that series contained virtually none of what we'd come to label technobabble(thankfully) but every now and then Trip or T'Pol would spout some B&B-inspired or -written line that took you right back to the days of VOY, DS9 and TNG. It wasn't very fun.
It became very disappointing when "hull plating down to [insert percentage number here]" followed. I mean...come on. You have a reasonably believable(in-universe anyways) forerunner to shield technology. Just say "polarize the hull plating" and "plating is failing" or something like that. Once you introduce the percentages it just reinforces that it's 23rd and 24th century shields all over again.
Yeah...I can't stand it:
But, boy do I want "Chair offline" or "HullPlating.exe has stopped responding" type error messages.
But, boy do I want "Chair offline" or "HullPlating.exe has stopped responding" type error messages.
Imho, There's always been 'good' and 'bad' technobabble. 'Good' technobabble is when it's used to create a credible impression that these people are highly trained specialists that simply use jargon to communicate more effectively. Bonus points if the terms used aren't just a string of tech-y sounding words but actually could mean something in a hypothetical extrapolation of current knowledge.
It becomes 'bad' when it's used to obfuscate that there's a fairly simple solution to the problem, or even that there's no problem that can be described without technobabble in the first place.
It becomes 'bad' when it's used to obfuscate that there's a fairly simple solution to the problem, or even that there's no problem that can be described without technobabble in the first place.
Deep Dish Nine
Voyager
--- --- ---
--- --- ---
--- --- ---
What happens if you reverse the polarity on a polarized hull? Implosion?
Voyager
--- --- ---
--- --- ---
--- --- ---
What happens if you reverse the polarity on a polarized hull? Implosion?
You get attracted to the polarized hulls of all ships in your proximity that haven't reversed it? Like magnets?
You don't want anything magnetizing itself to your hull.
What about pointed sticks?
If I have a piece of fresh fruit I'll be fine.
Similar threads
- Locked
