• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Shatnertage's Mostly-1st-Time Watch Thread

Overall, the Cardassians are one of the most 3-dimensional races we see on Trek. Only the Bajorans and humanity come close, in that order.
 
Here's my changeling question. I was going to open a new thread, but I'll start it here.

When Odo is in his humanoid form, does he have internal organs, or is he just undifferentiated changeling inside? I'm just kind of curious about that.

At least he must have lungs. Probably not for real breathing, but it is a necessary organ, when he wants to talk and do all his characteristic sounds.
 
Overall, the Cardassians are one of the most 3-dimensional races we see on Trek. Only the Bajorans and humanity come close, in that order.

Just curious, are you saying that Bajorans are more three dimensional than Humans?

For the most part, yes. Human culture seems to be a monolith in the 24th century just like any other planet of "hats," except their "hat" is the smug moralist one. DS9 did help break this paradigm a little, but for the most part a human is shown as being human-centric, Federation-patriotic, and a believer in the communistic system. If one does not fit these criteria, they are ostracized.
 
^ I completely agree with everything you just said. :techman: Just wanted to make sure.

Humans are definitely just as one dimenisonal as any other "planet of hats." Even the ones in DS9 don't break all three of your listed stances. For instance....

Even Eddington doesn't break all three. He's certainly not Federation-patriotic but he's clearly still a believer in the communistic system and very Human-centric.

In fact, I can't think of one Human in Trek that isn't Human-centric.
 
I'm not understanding the...

"Prophet Motive"

This one was tough to get through--it took two sittings to finish it off. I heart Vizzini, but Wallace Shawn's screeching throughout this is just a total dick punch. It's really like they're daring you to turn off the TV.

Beyond that, the episode was pretty lame, with a few good moments, but not enough to even come close to redeeming the episode.

So there's not too much I can say about this, besides that it was really tough for me to get through.

Next review coming up...next.
 
Yeah, this one doesn't really have much going for it.

The only redeeming feature is that we see the Prophets again (for the first time since Emissary, IIRC). But even that isn't enough to save the episode, especially since this story is essentially a waste of them.
 
I really believe that whoever wrote this episode was no...

"Visionary"

Somewhere else on the board there's a thread asking what killed Star Trek. And, watching this, I realized it: episodes like this.

It's not that it's poorly made or poorly acted; indeed, there are at least a half-dozen moments that I thought were great. It's not that it's overwhelmingly cheesy or poorly-conceived. It's just bland, self-referential, technobabble-filled Trek that offers no hook at all to someone who's flipping channels.

The basic plot--that O'Brien is unstuck in time--is one that's been seen before in Trek, and it's not particularly well-done here. And it's so mired in technobabble that it really doesn't mean much if you take a step back.

There are a few good spots, including a fantastic moment of physical acting from Rene Auberjonois when Kira tells him that the Romulans suspect he has feelings for her. But all in all, the episode is just a bore.

Series of sub-par episodes here, so I'm hoping for better things very, very soon.
 
Things don't get better very, very soon, but they do get better quite soon. The time of Ira Behr fast approaches. :shifty:
 
Wow, Visionary was one of my favorites at the time it aired. Of course I'm a sucker for time travel stories. And I loved "I hate temporal mechanics!"
 
I think the biggest problem with Visionary is that it's too tech-based and overloaded with techno-babble. This kind of story just doesn't jive with the atmosphere and style of DS9. It would have worked on VOY, but not here.

That said, it's not like this episode is awful. It does have some good character moments - Odo's reaction to Kira saying the Romulans think he has feelings for her, Kira's initial reaction to the Romulans and O'Brien has some good ones as well.

DS9 often does that with the characters, even in lackluster or downright bad episodes.
 
I'm hoping Shatnertage will like Distant Voices. It's possible. It's one of my favourites of this season. And it's quirky, it isn't something that's been done before, I think, which will probably give it points from you.

I loved Visionary, though. :( Then again, I am yet another sucker for all the time mechanic episodes.
 
I loved Visionary too, but not for the temporal mechanics. I mean, those were fun and all, but seeing O'Brien deal with everything was the point of the ep for me. Also, it's always nice to see Romulans!
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top