Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x01 - "The Broken Circle"

[Sci]

From a world-building perspective, you don't think it's a bit inconsistent that you've introduced a drug that Starfleet personnel take to have artificial superior abilities, and in the very next episode you have one of the main characters on trial by the same organization for having artificially induced superior abilities?

As others have said, inconsistency and hypocrisy are in fact quite plausible traits for Federation society to have. I mean, hell, we in the United States loudly proclaim ourselves as the land of the free and home of the brave even as we incarcerate a larger per capita percentage of our population than almost any other country on Earth.

And I can also see the root of how Federation anti-Augment bigots would rationalize the inconsistency: the serum's effects lasted less than five minutes, which is a very different thing from permanently augmenting your DNA.

Beyond being a bit silly, my main objection is that this doesn't fit well with everything else. Yes, you can point to other silly things, other fictional drugs, other magic tech. But that doesn't make this good writing because other stupid shit has made it to screen, especially since it's not consistent with the Federation we've seen over the course of a half-century of episodes where it's about the ability of humanity and idealistic human values to overcome.

This complaint is just silly. Star Trek is full of magic technologies that gave people advanced abilities and then weren't widely deployed for reasons unknown. And a serum to make you a better puncher for five minutes in an emergency doesn't nullify human idealism.

Hopefully they will lift the ban on genetic engineering moving forward or have Genetic Engineering Regulations as to what can be modified.

Well, we know it's in place at least through the end of DS9 in 2375. I would like to imagine that it was repealed around the same time the Federation repealed the ban on Synthetics circ 2399 at the end of PIC S1.

I think you judge on the person... and in this case I don't felt it realistic to have both healers in fisty cuffs.

You, uh, don't think it's realistic for commissioned officers of a military force who survived a brutal large-scale war to have combat experience, huh?

You're being too literal. I don't buy Deanna as a warrior. I don't buy Chapel as a warrior.

Who said she's a warrior? She's a Starfleet officer.

I find her story unbelievable. She serves many functions from unprofessional to warrior to tech expert to love interest... it doesn't gel for me.

Well that's a "you" problem, because the idea that she could simultaneously be a combat veteran and a medical officer and have relationships with other people is not only realistic -- I promise you, there are plenty of people who meet that description today.

 

[fireproof78]

Well that's a "you" problem, because the idea that she could simultaneously be a combat veteran and a medical officer and have relationships with other people is not only realistic -- I promise you, there are plenty of people who meet that description today.

Damn it, reality! Git you're mits off ma Star Trek!

 

[bdub76]

Waiting to see Starfleet rehab for all the performance chasing drugs folks are using. This can’t end well.

 

[Greg Cox]

Speaking about cultures and hypocrisy:

In general, I think there's often a tendency in such discussions to confuse a culture's ideals with their everyday reality, so that fans cry foul and see a continuity error if the ideals and the reality are not 100% consistent.

All Klingons must be honorable, at all times.
All Vulcans must be logical, at all times.
All Starfleet officers must behave in accordance with the highest ideas of Starfleet, at all times and without exception.

But ideals, almost by definition, are something to aspire to, not consistently achievable by everyone all the time. In reality, people and institutions can and will sometimes fall short of perfection, even if they genuinely believe in those ideals.

Similarly, taboos don't mean that the forbidden behavior doesn't happen -- because otherwise you wouldn't need a taboo against it. So, Vulcans can lie, Klingons can be cowards, Prime Directives get violated, human genes get tinkered with . . . .

People are inconsistent and contradictory. They aren't as predictable as statistics in gaming manual or whatever.

 

[F. King Daniel]

This is episode one of the season. The drugs thing is almost certainly going to be important later, as well as why they don't use it to make Nog beat the Jem'Hadar army single handed in DS9.

Although what side effects would make death preferable to survival?

 

[fireproof78]

This is episode one of the season. The drugs thing is almost certainly going to be important later, as well as why they don't use it to make Nog beat the Jem'Hadar army single handed in DS9.

Although what side effects would make death preferable to survival?

One, it's temporary, 5-10 minutes. Not exactly ideal when it wears off in the middle of a battle. Two, as with many drugs resistances can be built up over time so more and more may be needed for diminished performance. Three, it would probably jack up your metabolism to fuel this ability, resulting in tissue damage, metabolic damage and the body trying to eat itself to sustain the performance if you don't increase your calorie intake.

 

[cooleddie74]

It's basically green liquid PCP that wears off after a few minutes. Sure, it's sort of a Popeye spinach thing but then Trek has had a lot of characters gulping down one form or another of spinach to save the day at the last minute. I'm not bothered.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Waiting to see Starfleet rehab for all the performance chasing drugs folks are using. This can’t end well.

See Whom Gods Destroy and Dagger of the Mind.

 

[cooleddie74]

I mean. Garth of Izar wasn't immune from mental health problems and he was one of the most legendary Starfleet names of the 23rd century.

 

[Nerys Myk]

You're being too literal. I don't buy Deanna as a warrior. I don't buy Chapel as a warrior. I find her story unbelievable. She serves many functions from unprofessional to warrior to tech expert to love interest... it doesn't gel for me.

You may buy it. But I cannot. And I'm not after people to persuade me, just we have different views on this.

What story? That she has combat skills? That she and M'Benga have shared trauma from their experiences in the Klingon War? That she and M'Benga have experience with a performance enhancing drug developed during that war? That it may be related to her background in bio-research?
Which of those is unbelievable for a character we know next to nothing about?
Unprofessional? When? Where? Why?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Well that's a "you" problem, because the idea that she could simultaneously be a combat veteran and a medical officer and have relationships with other people is not only realistic -- I promise you, there are plenty of people who meet that description today.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Reality is far more complicated and many people are far more multi-faceted than what people think of as pertaining to their experience, job, hobbies, etc.

Just because somebody enjoys weapons, military training, combat technology doesn't make them a bad person or a hostile one. In fact, they can be very peace loving, yet enjoy those same things.

Being a Combat Veteran & Medical Officer is very much real / plausible.

Just as being full of contradicting aspects, yet wholly co-existing in the same person.

Nobody is just 1-sided and fits in a persons stereo-types. I assure you that people are far more complicated and you just spoke very true words to what people are today, much less in the 24th century and beyond.

Just because Doctor M'Benga is a Combat Veteran and master BJJ practitioner, doesn't mean he's not a peaceful man and prefers to not fight if possible. Doesn't mean he won't open a can of whoop-ass if necessary.

Same with Nurse Chapel.

 

[fireproof78]

The truest sign of intelligence is the ability to entertain two contradictory ideas simultaneously.
~F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

[Greg Cox]

Heck, one of the very first things we saw Chapel do was inject the landing party with some sort of magic DNA serum that temporarily turned them into aliens. And that was in the very first episode of SNW.

To be honest, in this new premiere, I briefly thought M'Benga's serum was going temporarily turn them into Klingons so they could make their way through the ship in disguise, echoing that bit from last season's premiere.

Turns out the writers went another way, but even still, we saw M'Benga and Chapel resort to a hypo containing some sort of technobabble, body-altering serum in the very first episode of this series. Yet it's somehow beyond credibility this time around?

"This serum will temporarily rewrite your DNA to make you look like an alien." Okay. Whatever.
"This serum will temporarily allow you to kick Klingon ass." Nope. That's ridiculous!

 

[fireproof78]

"This serum will temporarily allow you to kick Klingon ass." Nope. That's ridiculous!

The line must be drawn here?

 

[Yistaan]

"This serum will temporarily rewrite your DNA to make you look like an alien." Okay. Whatever.
"This serum will temporarily allow you to kick Klingon ass." Nope. That's ridiculous!

The former change is cosmetic and inconsequential (relatively speaking, yes I know it's DNA alteration).

The latter temporarily turns you into an augment (in comparison to regular humans anyway). It's a functional rather than cosmetic difference, like making your airplane actually able to do lightspeed as opposed to just painting a starship on it. That's kind of a big deal. I'd assume the author of the Eugenics Wars books could at least understand why others would see that as a bit beyond the cosmetic DNA alterations needed to infiltrate aliens in the first episode.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The former change is cosmetic and inconsequential (relatively speaking, yes I know it's DNA alteration).

The latter temporarily turns you into an augment (in comparison to regular humans anyway). It's a functional rather than cosmetic difference, like making your airplane actually able to do lightspeed as opposed to just painting a starship on it. That's kind of a big deal. I'd assume the author of the Eugenics Wars books could at least understand why others would see that as a bit beyond the cosmetic DNA alterations needed to infiltrate aliens in the first episode.

Both are temporary changes to physiology.

 

[NCC-73515]

A point I haven't seen yet: Those Klingons might not be warriors, have very little combat training, and weren't prepared for a fight cause they didn't expect SF to show up. Maybe they are the janitors, cleaning people, or engineers and carpenters building the ship...

Ok everyone: https://screenrant.com/strange-new-worlds-star-trek-super-serum-explanation/

Nurse Chapel and Dr. M'Benga used an unknown serum in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2's premiere, and answers about it are coming.

Director Chris Fisher: I really want the fighting to be on a whole new level. Not least of which because we sort of tease this backstory between M'Benga and Chapel that they've used this hypospray before. They've used this substance before, which is really great backstory to tease, and which will be explained a little bit more in the season...

That's good! My problem with it is that it seemed to be a magic deus ex thing just to get them out of the crisis, and then it would be cheap, uncreative, or "lazy writing", though I wouldn't call it that. But if there's more to it, it can turn into something good.

 

[fireproof78]

Both are temporary changes to physiology.

And provide an advantage over another being.

point I haven't seen yet: Those Klingons might not be warriors, have very little combat training, and weren't prepared for a fight cause they didn't expect SF to show up. Maybe they are the janitors, cleaning people, or engineers and carpenters building the ship...

Several have made this point. Supposedly, Klingons hit 10x harder than humans.

 

[Jedman67]

And provide an advantage over another being.

Several have made this point. Supposedly, Klingons hit 10x harder than humans.

Klingons fight like a dairy farmer.

 

[HotRod]

I'm really struggling to understand the issues people are having with Chapel fighting off the Klingons.

It's been said god knows how many times already that we've seen on multiple occasions, human beings fighting off hordes of Klingons. Why is it suddenly an issue?

Is it because she's a woman of somewhat smaller frame? Is it because she's a nurse? One of my best friends is a small, blonde nurse, not much different then Jess Bush in terms of size, and in her off hours, she's an enforcer on her local hockey team. She's tough as nails and hits like a ton of bricks. So don't think that someone can't be tough just because they're small.