Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x04 - "A Space Adventure Hour"

[Starflight]

La'an, Ortegas, and Number One will all leave the ship after their hearts are shattered by Spock. M'Benga will be his next amorous fling, who will resign from the CMO position because he can't face Spock anymore afterward. Scotty is in line after that, who will be promoted to Chief Engineer via romantic nepotism (and then also have his heart broken, explaining the relatively unremarkable relationship between them in TOS). It's all going to tie together brilliantly.

 

[fireproof78]

That wasn’t a holodeck in TAS. That was an environmental simulator. It could generate images but not smells etc.

Snow seemed pretty real as well as them falling in to a pit. So it generated more than images.

 

[Yistaan]

That wasn’t a holodeck in TAS. That was an environmental simulator. It could generate images but not smells etc.

It's possible that they downgraded the same room so that it wouldn't mess up the ship's power supply like in this episode, but before they used an entirely new power source like in TNG onwards.

 

[Disco]

That wasn’t a holodeck in TAS. That was an environmental simulator. It could generate images but not smells etc.

Close enough.

 

[Starflight]

Personally I don't care about canon-breaking and had no problem with the holodeck's presence in this episode, but it definitely doesn't line up with the portrayal in TNG (where it is presented as novel, and they're shocked by the safeties not working in "The Big Goodbye", which is obviously something they'd be aware of if someone had reported it happening a century earlier).

I feel like the best response from fans of SNW - and from the writers - is to say "yes, this contradicts what's been said before, but we don't feel the need to be saddled by lines from a teleplay written nearly forty years ago, and in this particular story, holodecks existed earlier". Some people will be outraged, some people will be outraged about the outrage, but I feel like most people will just think "yeah, fair enough" and judge the plot on its own terms.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Btw I think it would have been way better if the fictional sci-fi show was "Captain Proton".

For how much of a (self-)TOS insert it was, IMO they clearly didn't go far enough - certainly "Wormhole X-Treme" this was not.

Proton is a different type of show.

 

[Yistaan]

Personally I don't care about canon-breaking and had no problem with the holodeck's presence in this episode, but it definitely doesn't line up with the portrayal in TNG (where it is presented as novel, and they're shocked by the safeties not working in "The Big Goodbye", which is obviously something they'd be aware of if someone had reported it happening a century earlier).

I feel like the best response from fans of SNW - and from the writers - is to say "yes, this contradicts what's been said before, but we don't feel the need to be saddled by lines from a teleplay written nearly forty years ago, and in this particular story, holodecks existed earlier". Some people will be outraged, some people will be outraged about the outrage, but I feel like most people will just think "yeah, fair enough" and judge the plot on its own terms.

Trek has far worse continuity errors including travel times to the center of the galaxy and the galactic rim being commonplace in TOS/TAS and not so in DS9/Voyager, and SNW's establishment of biofilters muck up entire movies like Wrath of Khan (why didn't the biofilters catch the ceti eels?). At least with TNG maybe the new characters are just ignorant about holodecks.

People around 2009 treated 3D movies as this strange new thing thanks to Avatar but the tech had been around way before that.

 

[Kraig]

I was thinking that the guy in the tub was more about the faceless executives at NBC that made the cancellation orders.

If Desi (Tony) is married to Lucy (Ida) the red head, is the studio Desilu renamed to (Tonida, Idaton, Tonyid, Tonyida, Idatony, ....) ?

 

[Nerys Myk]

With the Edosian bartender playing the 60s alien I wonder if she's going to become this show's Doug Jones and do many creature feature roles.

Is that who that was? Seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place them.

And Tony in the tub as Desi Arnez.

Was Arnez still involved with Desilu when Star Trek was being made?

Not my favourite episode. There seems to be a correlation between direct Kurtzman involvement and (in my opinion) good Trek. Season 3 SNW with Kurtzman more heavily involved is not doing it for me.

In case it's not been mentioned before there was no canon issue with the holodeck as it was introduced in TAS.

Is he more involved this season? First I’ve heard of it. I would think his focus would be on Academy.

 

[Noname Given]

That wasn’t a holodeck in TAS. That was an environmental simulator. It could generate images but not smells etc.

Uh huh. They cycled through a beach (in which they could have swam); but settled on a Forrest to walk though and when the Computer started its practical joking, they were stuck in a Blizzard and were freezing (stated on screen).

The TAS 'Rec Room' system did more than just generate images.
(Maybe actually watch the TAS episode one day.)

 

[TRON JA307020]

That wasn’t a holodeck in TAS. That was an environmental simulator. It could generate images but not smells etc.

People seem to forget that. It was more if s projection. What we see here in snw is exactly what we got in tng only 100 years earlier.

Personally I don't care about canon-breaking and had no problem with the holodeck's presence in this episode, but it definitely doesn't line up with the portrayal in TNG (where it is presented as novel, and they're shocked by the safeties not working in "The Big Goodbye", which is obviously something they'd be aware of if someone had reported it happening a century earlier).

I feel like the best response from fans of SNW - and from the writers - is to say "yes, this contradicts what's been said before, but we don't feel the need to be saddled by lines from a teleplay written nearly forty years ago, and in this particular story, holodecks existed earlier". Some people will be outraged, some people will be outraged about the outrage, but I feel like most people will just think "yeah, fair enough" and judge the plot on its own terms.

Why even have canon at all at this point? They could easily have made this show and std reboots but they didn't. They chose to make it part of prime than became too incompetent to keep simple canon straight. Any star trek fan could have consulted them to keep it straight. Now its all a mess. This is leading into a remake of tos or the first two years. They can solve all this and call it a reboot separate from ENT, TOS, TNG, DS9,VOY and the movies. Simple solution but these producers can't seem to figure that out. Smh.

 

[Yistaan]

Why even have canon at all at this point? They could easily have made this show and std reboots but they didn't. They chose to make it part of prime than became too incompetent to keep simple canon straight. Any star trek fan could have consulted them to keep it straight. Now its all a mess. This is leading into a remake of tos or the first two years. They can solve all this and call it a reboot separate from ENT, TOS, TNG, DS9,VOY and the movies. Simple solution but these producers can't seem to figure that out. Smh.

It's not publicized much but Star Wars DID lose quite a bit of fans due to the infamous reboot. It's Star Wars and Disney so they can take those blows and still make a profit. Star Trek is niche and can't risk losing fans due to a reboot. Besides Trek just HAD a reboot with the Kelvin film series that has now stalled.

 

[Starflight]

Why even have canon at all at this point? They could easily have made this show and std reboots but they didn't. They chose to make it part of prime than became too incompetent to keep simple canon straight. Any star trek fan could have consulted them to keep it straight. Now its all a mess. This is leading into a remake of tos or the first two years. They can solve all this and call it a reboot separate from ENT, TOS, TNG, DS9,VOY and the movies. Simple solution but these producers can't seem to figure that out. Smh.

I guess with SNW they shoot themselves in the foot a bit by tying themselves so strongly and deliberately to TOS and a specific time period, and also obsessing over "lore", but I feel like the best thing to do with almost any Star Trek show is embrace the full potential of the episodic format.

Obviously it can go too far if all internal coherence is abandoned, but the setting actively invites negative continuity between episodes. This week the nacelle snapped off and the captain turned into a snake due to a "quantum nebula", next week the ship's fine and the story is about a planet where everyone ages in reverse. The more a writer thinks "ah, but this story'll have to take place on stardate ____ and in this part of the galaxy and will have to reference these episodes", the worse the quality gets. The imagination and fun are sucked out and replaced with having characters standing around reading out the titles of Memory Alpha articles. TOS rarely referred back to itself and was all the better for it.

My big issue with the holodeck in this one wasn't that it broke canon (which it did), it's that it was an excuse to do yet another self-indulgent genre-twisting story. If it'd been used in a story I'd liked, the presence of the technology wouldn't have bothered me at all.

 

[trekfan_1]

Very polarizing voting so far. The amount of 10s is literally tied with the amount 0s.

 

[Sketcher]

Besides Trek just HAD a reboot with the Kelvin film series that has now stalled.

Just? Now? We're very nearly coming up on 20 years for when they started, and a decade since the last film.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Shortly after TOS Arena --

Subspace Fleetchat--

Spock: So today Captain Kirk and I began discussions for a lasting peace with the Gorn. I have some shore leave coming up, maybe we can meet up then?

La'an: You and Jim did WHAT??!!! You made peace with those MONSTERS? Then you just message me like nothing happened? We are DONE Spock, I hope you die horribly in your next Pon Farr because I'm NOT going to be around to help you out! You betrayed everything I ever believed in making peace with those monsters!!!

Spock:

SPOCK: Who better to make peace with? And La'an? We were the comet that flew too close to the sun. Live long and prosper. Or shall I say, "Live La'an and prosper"?

"I heard there was an opening for a ship's physicist."

SULU: But my real passion is flying. I'm fully rated on vintage aircraft and modern starships. Can't wait to take her out one day! Where no man, where no one, has gone before.

 

[Sakonna]

What problems?

I posted about it on page 7. Basically my issue was with story structure. The murder mystery and the 60's Trek thing were both good ideas that were not integrated in a way that brought out the best in either one. The two halves of the story got in each other's way rather than being complementary.

I don't think I've ever seen a lot of Brannon Braga in interviews etc. Anson's character is like him? I assumed Brannon was more of a cool hunk or whatever considering he was dating Jeri Ryan for a while.

Well, I definitely always thought Brannon Braga came off as SEEING himself as the cool hunk...

 

[Rahul]

Personally I don't care about canon-breaking and had no problem with the holodeck's presence in this episode, but it definitely doesn't line up with the portrayal in TNG (where it is presented as novel, and they're shocked by the safeties not working in "The Big Goodbye", which is obviously something they'd be aware of if someone had reported it happening a century earlier).

I feel like the best response from fans of SNW - and from the writers - is to say "yes, this contradicts what's been said before, but we don't feel the need to be saddled by lines from a teleplay written nearly forty years ago, and in this particular story, holodecks existed earlier". Some people will be outraged, some people will be outraged about the outrage, but I feel like most people will just think "yeah, fair enough" and judge the plot on its own terms.

Trek has far worse continuity errors including travel times to the center of the galaxy and the galactic rim being commonplace in TOS/TAS and not so in DS9/Voyager, and SNW's establishment of biofilters muck up entire movies like Wrath of Khan (why didn't the biofilters catch the ceti eels?). At least with TNG maybe the new characters are just ignorant about holodecks.

People around 2009 treated 3D movies as this strange new thing thanks to Avatar but the tech had been around way before that.

I think what makes the holodeck work here is a certain "honesty" from the writers.

Like - within the episode itself - they kind of make it clear that "yes, we know this isn't really supposed to be here - but we really want to tell this story - and we promise this is a one-and-done & we'll even put some handwavey explanations in as well".
Makes it kind of "okay" by treating it as a clear exception.

Whereas DIS for example often way more casually ignored canon, at times where it really didn't need to & it didn't add anything (like why does Lorca beam Burnham casually through the ship, if a simple turbolift ride would have been sufficient?), which felt often very ignorant of its status as a prequel.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

I confess I did wince when "Spock" said, "Computer? Arch."

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Why even have canon at all at this point?

So the studio can exert control over the lore of the franchise and any derivatives that might emerge.