Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x03 – “Vitus Reflux”

[Greg Cox]

Everyone seemed to have fun at uni. My time there was incredibly uneventful.

College was where I first discovered organized SFF fandom. Changed my life.

In all honesty, that campus SFF club had a bigger effect on my life -- and future career-- than any of my classes, let alone my now-dusty degree in Chemistry.

I suspect that's one reason I find myself responding so positively to the show. College is where life got interesting (after spending high school with my nose in a book), so I absolutely connect with the premise of mixed-up young people finding themselves (and their people) in college.

Very identifiable, even after all these years.

 

[cooleddie74]

Boob Windows

I have their second album.

 

[eschaton]

Quick word with my mod hat on: Come one, that sort of stuff is really not necessary. Let’s just not judge the actors’ and actresses’ bodies that way, okay? We don’t accept fat shaming here, and by that same token we don’t accept skinny shaming. “Give that girl a sandwich” is a really tired — and I’m sure for many people hurtful — trope. And it doesn’t hurt us to not talk about people that way. Thank you.

I was careful to word my statement to be about the character, not the actor, because it's not so much about having a critique of Zoe Steiner's body as it is Tarima being implausible as someone going through rigorous physical training.

I completely understand the point that we shouldn't act to critique the bodies of any women. At the same time, our family has been touched by eating disorder. My teen daughter has been struggling with it for over a year, including months of residential treatment last fall. Media depictions of very thin women who are shown as both the love interests of hot, muscular guys and being physically able to compete in all sports do implicitly send a pretty awful message that some people are going to pick up on. So depictions like this set me on edge.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I was careful to word my statement to be about the character, not the actor, because it's not so much about having a critique of Zoe Steiner's body as it is Tarima being implausible as someone going through rigorous physical training.

I've seen dancers with smaller frames.

 

[oktay]

I watched episode 3, it was good. But it's only good if you don't view it as just a Star Trek business; otherwise, it's an episode that doesn't fit the Star Trek mold.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Caleb's Conan esque frame just critiques many others.

The scene with him and holly hunter meeting as adults was like, "Wow, she did not expect him to be this big."

 

[Turtletrekker]

I have their second album.

That's when they really started to come together as artists.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I watched episode 3, it was good. But it's only good if you don't view it as just a Star Trek business; otherwise, it's an episode that doesn't fit the Star Trek mold.

Star Trek is very versatile and not limited to one "mold".

 

[Michael]

I was careful to word my statement to be about the character, not the actor, because it's not so much about having a critique of Zoe Steiner's body as it is Tarima being implausible as someone going through rigorous physical training.

I completely understand the point that we shouldn't act to critique the bodies of any women. At the same time, our family has been touched by eating disorder. My teen daughter has been struggling with it for over a year, including months of residential treatment last fall. Media depictions of very thin women who are shown as both the love interests of hot, muscular guys and being physically able to compete in all sports do implicitly send a pretty awful message that some people are going to pick up on. So depictions like this set me on edge.

I too have some experiences with people with eating disorders and think I understand a lot about their suffering. I’m also married to a rather thin woman (who doesn’t have an eating disorder). And that’s why I know how hurtful statements like the ones you made about Tarima can be, both for people who are just naturally skinny and people who are suffering through a disorder. I understand you didn’t say it with malice. I’m just asking for all of us to be a little more careful when it comes to stuff like this.

 

[Nyotarules]

3.5 points from me. 100 years after the burn and alien youth who have never been to Earth act like teenagers from the 21st century USA.......

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Also, another issue I have with the Calica Game Rules, the Mascot sitting there are a silly target with no way of shooting back?

Seriously, they already are stuck at the end like a field goal with no way to move, at least give them a phaser or 2 to shoot back.

Otherwise you can stick a dummy in that position and it wouldn't make a real difference.

 

[Nerys Myk]

3.5 points from me. 100 years after the burn and alien youth who have ever been to Earth act like teenagers from the 21st century USA.......

Yeah, much like 23rd and 24th Century adults acted like 20th Century Americans. No one in Star Trek is trying to reinvent "the wheel" when it comes to familiar behaviors. (No matter how much Picard pontificates)

 

[cooleddie74]

Again: Starfleet officers 240-odd years from now used lingo most people now no longer use. Spock referenced flypaper in a 1966 episode and I couldn't tell you anyone I know right now who uses or even needs to buy flypaper.

 

[Michael]

3.5 points from me. 100 years after the burn and alien youth who have ever been to Earth act like teenagers from the 21st century USA.......

I viewed the episode more favourably, but yeah, watching it I wondered if US viewers realize just how US centric all those tropes are. I only know this stuff from movies and TV shows, because where I went to school and university we didn’t have sport competitions and rivalries with other schools. There never were any varsity teams, jocks wearing letterman jackets, prom queens and stuff like that.

 

[fireproof78]

Again: Starfleet officers 240-odd years from now used lingo most people now no longer use. Spock referenced flypaper in a 1966 episode and I couldn't tell you anyone I know right now who uses or even needs to buy flypaper.

I do.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I viewed the episode more favourably, but yeah, watching it I wondered if US viewers realize just how US centric all those tropes are. I only know this stuff from movies and TV shows, because where I went to school and university we didn’t have sport competitions and rivalries with other schools. There never were any varsity teams, jocks wearing letterman jackets, prom queens and stuff like that.

We do. I roll with it. Just like how I roll with the Anglo-centric stuff in Harry Potter or Doctor Who

 

[Fateor]

Minor technical nitpick that I haven’t seen anyone mention so far (just to demonstrate that I notice this kind of stuff too, I guess ) …

During their caper infiltrating the War College quarters, Sam is shown to activate/appear and deactivate/disappear from one door to the next. She might be able to do that since she’s photonic, but why would the spray ejectors she’s using keep disappearing with her as well? They might be holographic, too, but surely not the substance inside of them.

But then again, does she somehow work like a transporter, being able to materialize with objects at will? I guess we just don’t know enough about her yet to really say.

Yeah, I noticed that too.

I honestly think that bit of logic just escaped the writers/director.

I liked the first 2 episodes, but this is just a 5 from me.

I like they "starfleeted" it in the end. Kind of like technobabble solution, but instead of words, some science action. Beat them with science! How Starfleet of you!

But this "American high school bully shtick" is absolutely not for me. I have no idea is real US schools are like this, or it's exaggerated, but this motive being in so many shows and films is exhausting, and having it in Star Trek is just too much for me, so the whole episode was mostly not very enjoyable.

All schools are like that, the only difference is how the bullying manifests.

 

[cooleddie74]

In TOS the Academy was said to have physical doors that open like ours and people propped water buckets on them to play practical jokes. Physical books and crass nicknames were still a thing.

 

[Nerys Myk]

In TOS the Academy was said to have physical doors that open like ours and people propped water buckets on them to play practical jokes. Physical books and crass nicknames were still a thing.

I wonder if Finnegan gave Kirk the same sort of beatdown that faux-Finnegan did?

 

[tomalak301]

She's certainly the most traditional "Starfleet" cadet in the show.

But she also has some "Red Squad" type warning signs that could backfire on her really badly without the right bit of character growth.

I don't like anything having to do with a red squad storyline so I hope this show doesn't go down that route. It's still early so I'm just really talking about first impressions. I hope her character growth is done right too.