"I LIKE THIS EPISODE. It's exciting!"
Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x10 - "Hegemony"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
And he's really Scottish!
Like probably a lot of people, I’m rewatching “Arena” again, and at first it looks like a clear continuity break (though I wouldn’t care much; it’s TV, they’re allowed). But! Two saving factors quickly become apparent:
1. When Kirk initially chases the alien ship, he has no idea at first that it’s the Gorn. It heads for an unfamiliar area (so we can retroactively assume that the Gorn have quietly expanded to new areas), and is only identified as Gorn when the Metrons refer to it as such.
2. In the planet, Kirk’s faced with the Gorn captain, which he describes in the log voiceover as “a creature the Metrons called a Gorn”. That would traditionally be taken as his never having heard of the Gorn before — but in context, he says it just after first seeing the classic humanoid rubber-skin Gorn for the first time. Which looks completely different from the Gorn Starfleet has encountered before! Hence, “a creature the Metrons call a Gorn”. It’s not that Gorn are unfamiliar, it’s that the Gorn have apparently changed, and that’s why we didn’t realize it was them at first.
So if SNW happens to follow up with a story in which the Gorn mutate or encompass more than one species or something, all will fit — probably even if they don’t.
1. When Kirk initially chases the alien ship, he has no idea at first that it’s the Gorn. It heads for an unfamiliar area (so we can retroactively assume that the Gorn have quietly expanded to new areas), and is only identified as Gorn when the Metrons refer to it as such.
2. In the planet, Kirk’s faced with the Gorn captain, which he describes in the log voiceover as “a creature the Metrons called a Gorn”. That would traditionally be taken as his never having heard of the Gorn before — but in context, he says it just after first seeing the classic humanoid rubber-skin Gorn for the first time. Which looks completely different from the Gorn Starfleet has encountered before! Hence, “a creature the Metrons call a Gorn”. It’s not that Gorn are unfamiliar, it’s that the Gorn have apparently changed, and that’s why we didn’t realize it was them at first.
So if SNW happens to follow up with a story in which the Gorn mutate or encompass more than one species or something, all will fit — probably even if they don’t.
In 2081, an actual East African will play Uhura, a Somalian will play La Forge and an actual French person will play Picard.
-1 for this being a cliffhanger. Solid 9. Excellent VFX in this. Loved the fakeout of the survivors being beamed up, only to have the dreadful discovery that the Gorn beamed them up.
Earth spins on its axis at 1000 miles an hour, Earth revolves around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour, and our solar system rotates around the galactic core at 515,000 miles per hour...
Pernasus Beta seems to hang dead in Space, not revolving on its axis, or orbiting the sun, or revolving around the galactic core because there's a demarcation line in space that the planet is not hurtling away from or towards at 67,000 mph.
Seriously?
Pernasus Beta seems to hang dead in Space, not revolving on its axis, or orbiting the sun, or revolving around the galactic core because there's a demarcation line in space that the planet is not hurtling away from or towards at 67,000 mph.
Seriously?
Scotty's on board the Enterprise now. Everyone's chances for survival have just doubled.
I gave it 7. The actor playing Scotty did a great job but points deducted for another case of small Starfleet syndrome, Chapel as the only survivor in the village and Batel hanging around a crowd of people, knowing she was infected. Next season, I expect Sulu, McCoy, Riley, Masters, Rand and Barrows to show up.
So are Chapel/Spock back on?
Next season, seatbelts please its 2259 not 1979. Seat harnesses should be the norm
So are Chapel/Spock back on?
Next season, seatbelts please its 2259 not 1979. Seat harnesses should be the norm
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I'm sure a lot will just come down to budget and being able to show an alien species that just doesn't look like a guy in a costume... but there are as you pointed additional narrative changes.
Although I would think explaining the changes would also mean Starfleet becomes aware of them which would then impact the 'canon'* of those statements you mentioned as well anyway.
It would be cool if the Gorn we see are actually the 'muscle' of the more intellectual and humanoid like masters. Sort of like a Founders controlling the Jem Hadar situation. The evolved Gorn use these for the fighting and to gain territory.
When they were beamed up I was wondering how the Enterprise was able to beam up such a large cluster of people at once. Although it really does make you wonder how the Gorn technology is so good with such a primitive need for hunting prey and in-fighting.
Hooooo... MAMA!
Now that was an episode!
I'm sorry, but that just bumped "Best of Both Worlds" clean off the pedestal for best Trek cliffhanger ever.
So... coupla thoughts...
1. Chapel was the only survivor on the saucer? Just happens to notice Spock floating by the window she just happens to be standing next to? Contrived. Totally, hopelessly contrived. I loved the resolution, though. Teaming up with Spock to take out the Gorn on the bridge was a killer sequence. Which segues right into...
2. Why are zero gravity scenes always depicted in slo-mo? You can move just as fast in zero-gee as you can in a normal gravity field, it's just that momentum and inertia have amplified effects unless you are careful. Made for a tense sequence, though.
3. Gorn tech! We've gone from seeing the Gorn in a multicolored rag (Arena) to wearing a full exosuit that looked really fucking cool! For the first time, we've seen a Gorn that looks like its part of a species that can actually build starships. I also like how they are slowly ferreting out some of the Gorn's truly alien nature, as in their relationship to light (and perhaps heat, given the pred-vision we've seen in past episodes.)
4. I thought the transporter effect when M'Benga, Ortegas, and the other survivors beamed out looked green and a little 'wrong.' Hence, the cliffhanger was less of a surprise, but still an 'oh shit!' moment.
5. Split second decisions do not appear to be Pike's forte. He pretty much froze up there at the end, with the ship getting pummeled. Dramatic effect, I know. But the man is a starship captain! C'mon, man!
Well, to paraphrase Hudson from Aliens, our heroes are in some pretty shit now, ain't they? Ship under attack by an entire alien squadron, survivors beamed out from under their noses? Captain Batel about to go full Kane right in sick bay? They're screwed! Doomed even!
How does it all resolve?
Check back in 2+ years, baby! Ouch!
Now that was an episode!
I'm sorry, but that just bumped "Best of Both Worlds" clean off the pedestal for best Trek cliffhanger ever.
So... coupla thoughts...
1. Chapel was the only survivor on the saucer? Just happens to notice Spock floating by the window she just happens to be standing next to? Contrived. Totally, hopelessly contrived. I loved the resolution, though. Teaming up with Spock to take out the Gorn on the bridge was a killer sequence. Which segues right into...
2. Why are zero gravity scenes always depicted in slo-mo? You can move just as fast in zero-gee as you can in a normal gravity field, it's just that momentum and inertia have amplified effects unless you are careful. Made for a tense sequence, though.
3. Gorn tech! We've gone from seeing the Gorn in a multicolored rag (Arena) to wearing a full exosuit that looked really fucking cool! For the first time, we've seen a Gorn that looks like its part of a species that can actually build starships. I also like how they are slowly ferreting out some of the Gorn's truly alien nature, as in their relationship to light (and perhaps heat, given the pred-vision we've seen in past episodes.)
4. I thought the transporter effect when M'Benga, Ortegas, and the other survivors beamed out looked green and a little 'wrong.' Hence, the cliffhanger was less of a surprise, but still an 'oh shit!' moment.
5. Split second decisions do not appear to be Pike's forte. He pretty much froze up there at the end, with the ship getting pummeled. Dramatic effect, I know. But the man is a starship captain! C'mon, man!
Well, to paraphrase Hudson from Aliens, our heroes are in some pretty shit now, ain't they? Ship under attack by an entire alien squadron, survivors beamed out from under their noses? Captain Batel about to go full Kane right in sick bay? They're screwed! Doomed even!
How does it all resolve?
Check back in 2+ years, baby! Ouch!
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It's what makes them alien to us. The Gorn likely have no problems balancing their more primal aspects with advanced space technology. They can build starships and easily go on hunting living prey.
Not to mention that the demarcation line is concave toward federation space not the gorn side... I guess that's just a ripple to include the planet and not it's moon? Seems very odd to me.
I mean it's not even that strange TBH. Colonies are founded by small groups of people and we've seen them go for various themes in the past. Like that colony in TNG that decided to live like pre-Industrial age Irish.
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