I would so read that book.
Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x03 – “Vitus Reflux”
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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I would so read that book.
We may need to discuss the meaning of stagnated - to stop growing and developing. They may havd had programmable matter before the Burn but it doesnt mean there were any great leaps forward, and in the isolated and xenophobic systems, they may have even lost the skills and knowledge to maintain the knowledge, leading to some visual regression in technology.
I don't think Sam is annoying in a teenager kind of way, but in a bad writing for the sake of comic relief way.
And Caleb and all the other footballers are annoying for me in a way... I guess something in me says "I was more mature with 16 in many ways than they are with 21, and they remind me of the very kind of bullies totally incapable of self-reflection that made my life hell, when I was that age".
There is just so much not to like about this episode.
This episode, even more than the last one, felt like a bad version of COBRA KAI. (My wife was the one to make the comparison that this show is "trying to be COBRA KAI in space", and it's actually hard to argue her point. I see what she is talking about. There's a lot of parallels between the two shows... except COBRA KAI actually utilizes the premise better.)
It's very rare when the music of an episode is so jarring and bad that I take note of it. But it was just awful here. It took you out of the show entirely and made it feel more like how a sitcom feels. Or, as my wife put it, 'a Hannah Montana or iCarly sound'. It just doesn't fit with a futuristic setting or STAR TREK in general. (And before anyone says "what about the comedic musical beats of episodes from TOS, TNG, etc.", those musical cues were not overused like it was here, nor did they feel like they were for kids.) It was so pervasive throughout that it felt like it was lingering ALL the time.
The way these cadets talk is still off to me. I just can't see these people as actual, serious cadets. (Except Genesis...she is the only one that seems to have any actual professional, officer material.) Particularly the frequency each of the cadets keep cursing. Not to mention the Romulan War College cadet dropping both middle fingers at the Academy cadets... in front of everyone.
I get that pranks will happen with people, but the level this went was WAY too far. BOTH Chancellors should have stepped in and stopped this from getting any further instead of egging it on. Which brings me to one of my biggest issues with this episode.
For clarity on why I am saying what I am about to say... I was bullied a lot when I was at school. I look at this episode... I think it sends the wrong message, and it quite frankly offends me. Why? Because not only was the War College Chancellor okay with his cadets bullying the Academy cadets (and let's be honest here, it WAS bullying), but he HELPED his cadets continue bullying. That's like having the school high school principal helping the school bully beat up other kids. WTF?! THAT is the person in charge of molding these kids into future Starfleet officers?
And Ake wasn't much better. She kept subtly egging them on to get back at them, which in the end, got at least one War College cadet crushed against the glass wall. That's dangerous behavior to be teaching your students, students who are supposed to be the next generation of Starfleet officers. Which brings me to my next point.
I like Ake as a character, but I'm not sold on her as a good Captain or Chancellor. Walking around everywhere on campus barefoot (when boots or shoes are part of wearing the uniform), in her pajamas half the time... this does not exude any sense of professional demeanor that you want to instill in these cadets who are looking to you as a guide on being a Starfleet officer. She acts like she wants to be their friend and not their instructor. And while it's great to want to be there in that way for those cadets, you also need to be setting the example for them. And that means actually having some sense of professional decorum when on duty. This is one area where Thok actually is better than Ake. While I don't like her shouty way of acting all the time, at least she demands a certain standard of behavior from those around her.
This show is making the same mistake DISCO made with their Starfleet officers: I can't take them seriously as professionals. In DISCO's case, the inability of them to not have a breakdown in the middle of a crisis with a ticking clock. In the case of this show, it's literally NOT acting like an officer or a professional. (Is this the influence of Michelle Paradise? Because she is listed as an Executive Producer... one of 11 people listed as such, which is a different conversation entirely.)
I will say that the phasers being set to transport was cool, though we have seen this in the past. (As far back as TNG's "Gambit" two-parter.)
I also found the DOTs pretty funny.
And I do like that the ending was trying to be serious with a message of 'empathy and patience'. Unfortunately, those words rang hollow. It was very surface level and didn't have any real depth. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions definitely betray the words in this episode.
This was truly a chore to watch. So much so that I was checking on the time remaining at least half a dozen times. I never do that while watching something first run, unless it's REALLY bad... probably can count on one hand the amount of times I've done that watching anything, let alone STAR TREK. (And I'd have fingers left over.) This is, for me, unquestionably among the worst episodes in the franchise.
This gets a 1.5 from me (and sadly, that rounds up to a 2 on this site), and I feel like I'm being generous.
This episode, even more than the last one, felt like a bad version of COBRA KAI. (My wife was the one to make the comparison that this show is "trying to be COBRA KAI in space", and it's actually hard to argue her point. I see what she is talking about. There's a lot of parallels between the two shows... except COBRA KAI actually utilizes the premise better.)
It's very rare when the music of an episode is so jarring and bad that I take note of it. But it was just awful here. It took you out of the show entirely and made it feel more like how a sitcom feels. Or, as my wife put it, 'a Hannah Montana or iCarly sound'. It just doesn't fit with a futuristic setting or STAR TREK in general. (And before anyone says "what about the comedic musical beats of episodes from TOS, TNG, etc.", those musical cues were not overused like it was here, nor did they feel like they were for kids.) It was so pervasive throughout that it felt like it was lingering ALL the time.
The way these cadets talk is still off to me. I just can't see these people as actual, serious cadets. (Except Genesis...she is the only one that seems to have any actual professional, officer material.) Particularly the frequency each of the cadets keep cursing. Not to mention the Romulan War College cadet dropping both middle fingers at the Academy cadets... in front of everyone.
I get that pranks will happen with people, but the level this went was WAY too far. BOTH Chancellors should have stepped in and stopped this from getting any further instead of egging it on. Which brings me to one of my biggest issues with this episode.
For clarity on why I am saying what I am about to say... I was bullied a lot when I was at school. I look at this episode... I think it sends the wrong message, and it quite frankly offends me. Why? Because not only was the War College Chancellor okay with his cadets bullying the Academy cadets (and let's be honest here, it WAS bullying), but he HELPED his cadets continue bullying. That's like having the school high school principal helping the school bully beat up other kids. WTF?! THAT is the person in charge of molding these kids into future Starfleet officers?
And Ake wasn't much better. She kept subtly egging them on to get back at them, which in the end, got at least one War College cadet crushed against the glass wall. That's dangerous behavior to be teaching your students, students who are supposed to be the next generation of Starfleet officers. Which brings me to my next point.
I like Ake as a character, but I'm not sold on her as a good Captain or Chancellor. Walking around everywhere on campus barefoot (when boots or shoes are part of wearing the uniform), in her pajamas half the time... this does not exude any sense of professional demeanor that you want to instill in these cadets who are looking to you as a guide on being a Starfleet officer. She acts like she wants to be their friend and not their instructor. And while it's great to want to be there in that way for those cadets, you also need to be setting the example for them. And that means actually having some sense of professional decorum when on duty. This is one area where Thok actually is better than Ake. While I don't like her shouty way of acting all the time, at least she demands a certain standard of behavior from those around her.
This show is making the same mistake DISCO made with their Starfleet officers: I can't take them seriously as professionals. In DISCO's case, the inability of them to not have a breakdown in the middle of a crisis with a ticking clock. In the case of this show, it's literally NOT acting like an officer or a professional. (Is this the influence of Michelle Paradise? Because she is listed as an Executive Producer... one of 11 people listed as such, which is a different conversation entirely.)
I will say that the phasers being set to transport was cool, though we have seen this in the past. (As far back as TNG's "Gambit" two-parter.)
I also found the DOTs pretty funny.
And I do like that the ending was trying to be serious with a message of 'empathy and patience'. Unfortunately, those words rang hollow. It was very surface level and didn't have any real depth. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions definitely betray the words in this episode.
This was truly a chore to watch. So much so that I was checking on the time remaining at least half a dozen times. I never do that while watching something first run, unless it's REALLY bad... probably can count on one hand the amount of times I've done that watching anything, let alone STAR TREK. (And I'd have fingers left over.) This is, for me, unquestionably among the worst episodes in the franchise.
This gets a 1.5 from me (and sadly, that rounds up to a 2 on this site), and I feel like I'm being generous.
They had 700 year leaps in tech since tng by the time the burn happened. Seven centuries. Are we to believe that the loss of dilithium caused all their tech to regress? No way. Actually in 700 years they should have moved beyond dilithium. Not all species use it. Starfleet scientists would have come up with some other alternative in 7 centuries. Could have taken what Cochrane did and used superior tech to keep the matter/anti matter flow regulated and separate.
They're trying that with The Last Starship.
The end result is a lot of events that are "author waves their hand and horrible thing happens". With a side serving of having to add new restrictions to long fleshed out technology like adding massive time dilation onto Transwarp drive.
this in my opinion is a triple lol episode
there was alot of lol lol scenes
there was alot of lol lol scenes
I mean the premise is the galaxy fell to chaos, starvation, and destruction. It is the Andromeda plot.
Literally the show makes no sense if it didn't happen.
It's unexplained properly I believe and agree but they are absolutely dilithium dependent if not MORE dependent since the Federation only starts to recover because Burnham found a planet of dilithium and the cause of the Burn.
It's like, "Cobra has taken over the USA" in an episode of GI joe. You can disagree with it but you shouldn't start saying it didn't happen.
Well, I mean, you could also stop watching and say it didn’t happen that way, too lol
I’ll tell you for my own part I think of each series as an alternate universe of its own. It helps make sense of the fundamental tonal and other differences, aside from simple historical and events and the like.
And I gotta say I spend a lot less time in the DSC/SNW/SFA(?) universes than I do others. I don’t think I’m that unusual for it either given how much of the merch for the earlier stuff is made/sells vs the later.
So I can’t begrudge some fans wanting to know more about the details of the Burn and not being satisfied with it all being because of dilithium alone. By Trek’s ow canon, a number of aliens out there have used alternate techs and they’re nowhere to be found as galactic superpowers. One is right to wonder why.
This is the way to do it, I think I started enjoying all the Star Trek series more when I just accepted they were essentially standalone shows that share a name.
FWIW I didn't watch the last three seasons of Discovery so I literally don't know what the Burn actually is or how Burnham fixed it or whatever, but I'm quite liking the tone of post-post-apocalyptic recovery that SFA is going for so far, even if they're not exactly capitalising on it.
Yeah, they're not hiring me to write that book, but if I did I would have de-emphasized the Burn itself.
The Burn was the Catalyst but it was the fall of the federation and the resulting wars that resulted in the collapse of galactic civilization.
At least in the Alpha Quadrant.
Like Pike's speech on WW3, it was never the Burn itself but people turning on each other and the end of cooperation.
Eh, I prefer this tone over later DSC’s but that’s not exactly high praise. In this episode especially I found the CW, nothing’s change since the 21st century, plastic tone of this universe profoundly grating. I think the only reason I didn’t rate it less than I did is that I don’t take this show or era in Star Trek “seriously.” It’s slop with little interesting bits in it here and there.
I’m also watching Andromeda (just finished the first season), so I get my “fall of the Federation” story there, better than in Trek so far, and find it fine, but not as interesting as Star Trek…..which has been MIA for a while now.
I loathed in ep2 when the hot young couple du jour were talking about wealthy donors to the Academy (hi money) but I will hope this show maybe uses it to explore how much worse things are now vs before, how they might get better. I mean, otherwise, again, it’s just a CW show. Maybe the executives don’t give a shit so long as they get eyeballs if they’re making Trek/scifi or something else, but this Trekkie does.
I’m also watching Andromeda (just finished the first season), so I get my “fall of the Federation” story there, better than in Trek so far, and find it fine, but not as interesting as Star Trek…..which has been MIA for a while now.
I loathed in ep2 when the hot young couple du jour were talking about wealthy donors to the Academy (hi money) but I will hope this show maybe uses it to explore how much worse things are now vs before, how they might get better. I mean, otherwise, again, it’s just a CW show. Maybe the executives don’t give a shit so long as they get eyeballs if they’re making Trek/scifi or something else, but this Trekkie does.
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The title of chancellor originated in Picard season 2 because Patrick Stewart was chancellor at Huddersfield uni.
Whether it changed in 30odd years between TNG season 1 and then or whether it's a retcon we can just handwave as one of the many early installment oddities who can say.
The head of Starfleet Academy has been called Commandant even later than TNG season 1 when Admiral Quinn offered the job to him, such as season 5's "The First Duty".
I don't mind the title change in SFA.
I don't mind the title change in SFA.
Picard Season 2 changed the title first.
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