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

[Ovation]

It’s all make believe. It’s meant to be fun. It’s not a treatise on ANY form of science. It’s perfectly fine to dislike a story choice. It’s fine to critique it from a storytelling perspective (structure, pacing, etc.). It’s absurd to claim the liquid PCP is less believable than the instant telekinesis or hyper speed or Venus drugs or magic oxygen booster or…on the basis of science. Do people actually watch the show?

 

[DaveyNY]

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...

I've pointed out at least twice now that Chapel & M'Benga were fighting Humans and Klingons and that they were the dregs of the local society, not professional fighters.

 

[Mudd]

As for the serum, Starfleet has become: how can you cheat to get in and stay in? And what can you get away with once you get in?

Yes, they're preparing for Captain Kirk.

 

[Mudd]

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 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.

You can't debate this nonsense. They're dug in, and for some reason can't let go of a fixed position on a trivial point.

Take a deep breath and know that the day after tomorrow we'll be having a virtually identical tug-of-war about some different bit of continuity/canon/plausibility/whatever after the next episode airs - if we go along with it.

 

[cooleddie74]

Whiners gonna whine. That why they're called whiners.

 

[Yistaan]

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?

We haven't actually since TOS, where Trouble with Tribbles did indeed establish humans and Klingons on equal strength level.

TNG and afterwards then said that Klingons were a gazillion times stronger than humans or whatever.

Admittedly maybe we can just say that TNG and afterwards got things wrong and SNW's fights are getting back to the canon established by TOS, showing that Klingons and humans have equivalent strength.

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 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.

I'd be hesitant to accuse anyone of any kind of -ism but it is possible the actress' build is subconsciously influencing reactions. I doubt if 6 foot tall Gwendoline Christie were playing Chapel for example, it would have caused as much disbelief (and I say this as a puny Asian man myself who Jess Bush would probably beat to a pulp in a fight so I have no bone in this whatsoever).

 

[Nerys Myk]

We haven't actually since TOS, where Trouble with Tribbles did indeed establish humans and Klingons on equal strength level.

TNG and afterwards then said that Klingons were a gazillion times stronger than humans or whatever.

Admittedly maybe we can just say that TNG and afterwards got things wrong and SNW's fights are getting back to the canon established by TOS, showing that Klingons and humans have equivalent strength.


I'd be hesitant to accuse anyone of any kind of -ism but it is possible the actress' build is influencing reactions. I doubt if 6 foot tall Gwendoline Christie were playing Chapel for example, it would have caused as much disbelief.

Haven't we seen Klingons fighting Humans, Bajorans, Trill and Kahless knows who else and not wiping the floor with them?

 

[bdub76]

Yes, they're preparing for Captain Kirk.

Or they're going all anti-western.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revisionist_Western

Given how uptight 90s Trek compared to TOS, it makes some sense for SNW to be a more revisionist version of 90s Trek. However, it shouldn't go so far as to break people's suspension of disbelief.

 

[cooleddie74]

Quark killed a Klingon for cryin' out loud.

 

[Yistaan]

Quark killed a Klingon for cryin' out loud.

I forgot about that, I could've sworn he had some kind of device that linked his physique with Worf's or something?

 

[Ovation]

it shouldn't go so far as to break people's suspension of disbelief.

It’s Star Trek. Suspending heaping helpings of disbelief is a fundamental necessity.

 

[cooleddie74]

Suspending disbelief has been crucial in Trek since "The Man Trap" on the evening of September 8, 1966.

 

[Yistaan]

Chapel: I know kung fu!

Klingon: What's kung fu?

M'Benga: Chris, this is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, your Boreth memory ends, you wake up in your bed and spend your years in blissful ignorance until your accident. You take the red pill, you stay in the battlefield of the Temporal Wars, and I show you how deep cheating fate goes.

 

[Mudd]

It shouldn't go so far as to break people's suspension of disbelief.

Viewers are responsible for suspending their disbelief, or not. It's a choice, and not a complicated one.

There is no magic line for the writers and producers to walk.

Everything about Star Trek breaks someone's suspension of disbelief. It can't be avoided because the subject matter itself is preposterous.

 

[cooleddie74]

It's Star Trek. I've spent a not-insignificant chunk of my time watching this franchise over the years thinking one variant or another of: "Wow. I mean, science fiction and aliens and all, I guess. I guess I'll roll with this."

 

[NCC-73515]

Quark killed a Klingon for cryin' out loud.

That guy fell onto his own dagger

I forgot about that, I could've sworn he had some kind of device that linked his physique with Worf's or something?

That was the sequel where Work remote-controls Quark from next door, quite a funny idea

 

[Nerys Myk]

Suspending disbelief has been crucial in Trek since "The Man Trap" on the evening of September 8, 1966.

I'll give you a link to my several page documents detailing the physiology of the Salt Vampire.

 

[Yistaan]

Cut scene from Star Trek Generations--

Guinan: Picard, I really think you should take some M'Benga juice with you before going down to confront Soran. Who knows? It might even be helpful if you run into a certain James Ki--

Picard: M'Benga juice is highly illegal so I'll forget I heard that.

Picard later spent years wondering if he could've saved Kirk by just taking the M'Benga juice and giving it to him.

 

[cooleddie74]

Kirk: "Temporal Nexus? Reminds me of that time I went back to early 21st century Toronto with that La'an woman."

Scotty: "Sir???"

Chekov: "Keptin?!?"

Kirk: "Never mind."

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

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?

We literally have IRL "Illegal drugs" like PCP that give you incredible strength and reduce your sensitivity to pain.

If in the several hundred years since now, they find a way to create a temporary physical boosting conction that you can inject for combat, I wouldn't be surprised.