This week in our TAS episode showdown it's : The Ambergris Element vs. More Tribbles, More Troubles Which one should get through to the next round? Watch, vote and have your say...
"Ambergris Element" - it's one of those TAS episodes that makes full use of the animated medium. Even modern live-action water-themed sci-fi Stargate Atlantis never tried anything like this. The tribble sequel should have been a lot better than it was.
Another close call. Hmmm. "More Tribbles" has big shoes to fill as a follow-up. Not as good as the original or as good as it could have been, but it didn't suck as a sequel. ST has done worse follow-ups. And it's just fun to see Kirk and tribbles and Jones and Klingons again. "Ambergris" I like. Is it too silly with Kirk and Spock having gills and scales and becoming water-breathers? No more than Barclay becoming a spider and Janeway a salamander and Geordi a UV invisible-whatever. Big points for pushing the envelope showing a waterworld and an aquashuttle and aquatic civilization (or should that be a marine civilization?) This eps has an epic scale, befitting the animation medium. And the story is fairly good, also. If I must choose, I choose "Ambergris".
By the way, KingDaniel, I just figured out that your avatar is a TAS-style remix of the Scotty-in-the-pipes scene from the '09 movie. Neat.
And we are split down the middle on this one! The poll is closed, so to break the tie, have your say in a post below. Ambergris or Tribbles? We'll take votes from the next three posters. Over to you...
I don't see how there can be a tie. "The Ambergris Element" takes advantage of the medium and tells an unusual and adventurous story. It certainly goes where live-action couldn't. "More Tribbles, More Troubles" is just...silly, and doesn't bring much of anything new to the table.
Sorry, KeepOnTrekking. Warped9 and captrek have got "Ambergris" through to the next round. "Tribbles" will be beamed to the engine room of the nearest Klingon ship, out of the showdown. Results so far : Bem 1 (5%) Albatross 19 (95%) The Slaver Weapon 13 (65%) The Pirates of Orion 7 (35%) The Ambergris Element 11(52%) More Tribbles, More Troubles 10 (48%)
Wow, I feel like Kevin Coster in Swing Vote. I’ll feel even more like Kevin Coster in Swing Vote after a few drinks.
You know, I've recently realized that beaming all those tribbles to the Klingon ship at once -- in either tribble episode -- should've constituted a far more destructive attack than what was shown. Beaming in all that volume of matter would require displacing a lot of air within the ship, which would cause a sudden increase in pressure within the ship. At the very least, the overpressure shock could've harmed members of the crew; at worst, a sudden overpressure within a pressurized vessel in vacuum could cause a hull rupture, like an exploding water heater.
“All that volume of matter” is probably much less than the water Scotty beams aboard a BOP in TVH. I don’t think there’s anything canonic that addresses how the transporter handles whatever is being displaced on the other end, but presumably it handles it somehow. We never hear the loud bang that I think would result from leaving a vacuum in the place of whatever just beamed away, so it may be that whatever is beamed simply swaps places with the air being displaced at the other end of the transport.
I meant to review these two episodes before voting, but I forgot the vote on this one. I would have to go with "The Ambergris Element." Just better in my view, though both have silly elements.