Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x04 - "Among the Lotus Eaters"

[Captain Jollydark]

I thought trifles and filler episodes were desired now?

AND longer run times.

 

[Noname Given]

So Zac was the Yeoman that Colt replaced.

Good. Colt was a better human being.

And A LOT cuter too. (Hey I've had a crush on the actress who played Colt - who has sadly passed - since I first saw TOS S1 The Menagerie at about age 8.)

 

[tomalak301]

I thought trifles and filler episodes were desired now?

Depends on the filler episode. This episode was just boring and I expected more from an Ortegas episode. It was also annoying with all the repetitiveness.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

Or just completely out of his life. Carol Marcus didn't show up during TOS and Antonia never appeared post-2284 and Kirk returning to Starfleet to be an instructor at the Academy. Sometimes love interests or former ones stay in the background and live their own lives or decide it's all over and thus never again appear in the hero's life.

And sometimes they aren't even created until there is a need for them in a story.

 

[fireproof78]

Depends on the filler episode. This episode was just boring and I expected more from an Ortegas episode. It was also annoying with all the repetitiveness.

I guess. I guess it's time to for me to hate SNW now.

 

[tomalak301]

I guess. I guess it's time to hate SNW now.

Not liking one episode doesn't mean I hate SNW. Where did that come from.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

Is it me, or does Melissa Navia seem to be the shortest female amongst the cast?

Spoiler: ST:SNW - Cast Height

Is it you or is it a cast sheet? We may never know.

 

[tomalak301]

I do think this episode would have been a lot better had it been tighter. Episodes don't need to be an hour or more. They can easily do 45 to 50 minutes and get in all that you want to get in. I think the run time of this episode actually hindered my enjoyment of it somewhat.

 

[fireproof78]

Not liking one episode doesn't mean I hate SNW. Where did that come from.

Joke. It's called a joke. Or hyperbole or something. I in no way was implying that you should hate SNW.

I was joking that perhaps it is time for me to hate SNW because it dared have filler.

And now the joke is ruined.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

Reading a thread with spoilers about an episode to decide whether or not you're going to watch the episode is sooo effing weird to me. (Especially since all such declarative statements are patently bullshit since we know everyone here will probably watch the episode anyway).

I love being a fan, but fandom...? Oy.

 

[tomalak301]

Joke. It's called a joke. Or hyperbole or something. I in no way was implying that you should hate SNW.

I was joking that perhaps it is time for me to hate SNW because it dared have filler.

And now the joke is ruined.

Forgive me, understanding jokes in internet form is harder than real life, especially when you have the shrug emoji.

 

[fireproof78]

Forgive me, understanding jokes in internet form is harder than real life, especially when you have the shrug emoji.

I know, I know. The default for a joke is the wink which I despise, mostly because I cannot wink in real life. So, shrugging, eyebrow raises and hyperbole are my joke default signals. "Hate" is a word that I use as hyperbole because when it comes to entertainment I do not hate anything. That's ridiculous to my mind.

Reading a thread with spoilers about an episode to decide whether or not you're going to watch the episode is sooo effing weird to me. (Especially since all such declarative statements are patently bullshit since we know everyone here will probably watch the episode anyway).

I love being a fan, but fandom is nutty.

I do not care about spoilers. Never have. Will still watch if it interests me.

 

[Wingcommanderdarkwolf01]

This rebranding of 'helmsman' to 'pilot' has been subject to creep since TNG, and then exacerbated by Voyager and Enterprise, as well as First Contact. Roddenberry used to talk about Trek being 'Hornblower in space' among other things, evoking imagery of slow, graceful moving sailing ships. Hence the use of the term 'helmsman', which also has modern naval roots.

Then you see the episodes like "The First Duty" and "Chain of Command", which emphasize more traditional 'flying' skills more in line with aviation. (Riker being the only 'pilot' on board capable of flying that mission) In first contact, the flight of the Phoenix was very much a 'test flight' akin to Yeager breaking the sound barrier. Zephram Cochrane becomes not just the 'inventor' of warp drive, but the first warp drive test pilot, as well. Then there is Tom Paris aka Nick Lacarno aka Captain Proton. Helmsman? Yes. Pilot? Very much so. I think more than anyone else, Paris's character was the first true overlap of the two.

With Mayweather they return to the terminology of 'helmsman', but you still have Archer and his background as a 'test pilot' along with A.G. Robinson, once again pushing the limits of the 'warp barrier' in a program reminiscent of "The Right Stuff" and Edwards AFB back in the 1950's and 60's. Mayweather, and all other starship helmsmen and shuttle pilots, by extension, are 'pilots'.

So I think this is something of a natural evolution, and one I am okay with. I think the USN has rebranded its submarine helmsmen (planesmen?) as 'pilots', but I was an aviator, not a sub officer, so I'm not 100% sure on that. In modern Trek, the way we've seen the ships maneuver (much more like aircraft than sailing ships), I think the term 'pilot' is more appropriate, especially given that the ship's 'pilots' like Ortegas also get assigned to fly the smaller craft like shuttles. Which isn't to say that someone like Spock or the Scotty couldn't do it, but it isn't their specialization, and they would rely much more on AI computer assist and control.

Pilot is also used in real spaceflight.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I'm not buying Pike and Batel's relationship. Pike feels like he can share his delta radiation vision with Una and heck, even Alora, the overseer of the kid torturing planet Majalis (and if Pike is really so in love with Batel, why was he bedding Alora in that episode anyway?)

It wouldn't be a Gene Roddenberry utopia without lots of casual sleeping around.

Or just completely out of his life. Carol Marcus didn't show up during TOS and Antonia never appeared post-2284 and Kirk returning to Starfleet to be an instructor at the Academy. Sometimes love interests or former ones stay in the background and live their own lives or decide it's all over and thus never again appear in the hero's life.

I'm FB friends with a few of my exes, but they don't necessarily know (or care) about all the ups and downs in my life, and vice versa. Someone can go from the most important person in your life to just this side of an acquaintance. It happens.

I'm surprised we didn't see a deeper emotion storyline with Spock and Chapel, this would have been the perfect episode for that.

Judging from the clip they showed on The Ready Room, it looks like we'll be getting that next week.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Based on some of the comments, I detect a bit of a schism amongst we fans as to what constitutes a 'filler' episode versus what is actually the meat and potatoes of the show.

SNW. Strange New Worlds. The 'main' stories in my mind are stories like this one: where the crew works as a team to overcome challenges on hostile planets and in the depths of dark, dangerous SPACE.

The stories about Spock and T'Pring, or M'Benga and his daughter, or what not are the filler episodes. Not that I hate character development or that we can't have it, but to me those elements work best when interwoven into a broader storyline that is about exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations, etc. The focus of the stories should be looking outward, not inward. Character development should always be the B-plot, (except in rare exceptions), and never the A-plot. Because these characters should be learning and growing because of those experiences.

As T.S. Elliot wrote: "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." The development of our characters should be from stories like this one, not the navel-gazing episodes like the courtroom one.

At least, that's my two cents.

 

[fireproof78]

If they are exploring aspects of the human condition, even the annoying ones (like romance) then that's exploration to me. Be out in space is dangerous but working with people requires as deft a touch as flying a starship. Character exploration and development is my main draw to shows.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Forgettable.

 

[Macintosh]

As with many other SNW episodes: s'alright. Not bad, not great. I did find myself wondering how other characters from other series might have fared with the magic amnesia radiation.

 

[Jedi Marso]

As with many other SNW episodes: s'alright. Not bad, not great. I did find myself wondering how other characters from other series might have fared with the magic amnesia radiation.

If this had been a TOS episode, I think Spock would have been a little more resistant to it, or they would have used it as a vehicle to 'lay his emotions bare' as they did occasionally.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

Pike was scary and unrelenting in his violent anger towards Zac. I have to watch it again but he says something about how the experience reveals who one really is.