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Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x08 – “The Life of the Stars”

Rate the episode...

  • 10 - Excellent!

    Votes: 28 22.2%
  • 9

    Votes: 36 28.6%
  • 8

    Votes: 17 13.5%
  • 7

    Votes: 11 8.7%
  • 6

    Votes: 5 4.0%
  • 5

    Votes: 8 6.3%
  • 4

    Votes: 3 2.4%
  • 3

    Votes: 3 2.4%
  • 2

    Votes: 6 4.8%
  • 1 - Terrible.

    Votes: 9 7.1%

  • Total voters
    126
I don't think that though. :vulcan:
If the point is to find out if organics are worth talking to, then seeing that they treat their kids poorly would be the equivalent of testing whether humans will kill a vulnerable Gorn before deciding whether or not they're worth talking to. lol
 
If the point is to find out if organics are worth talking to, then seeing that they treat their kids poorly would be the equivalent of testing whether humans will kill a vulnerable Gorn before deciding whether or not they're worth talking to. lol
Who said poorly?
 
What is everyone’s read on the Kasquians as they’ve been presented thus far; are they some sort of hive-mind or are they actual individuals? Seems like so far we’ve only seen them talk with one voice as opposed to seeing a specific individual. Is it like a Great Link situation where they are individuals but become one when they are on Kasq? Or is it just one singular entity and SAM is the first individual they ever created?
 
I've enjoyed this show more than I expected to, but this episode was an absolute nightmare mishmash of some of the worst impulses on new trek. It talks about mental health like a subreddit would and it makes for terrible television, AND terrible depictions of trauma response. Why the hell isn't the academy using, I don't know, an actual therapist to treat these students? Instead, they bring in Tilly, whose qualifications for this work is that.....she.....has traumatic experiences too? That's nice and all but "hey just work on this play together; see yourselves in the characters" is very weird, to say nothing of how weird the episode was in general.

The best part of it (the Doctor stuff) was given short shrift and probably should've been the A story of the episode. There's so much there to explore with him being so long-lived and they spent like 60 seconds on it. This was a huge miss for me, unfortunately.
 
Why the hell isn't the academy using, I don't know, and actual therapist to treat these students?
In her conversation with the Doctor in the beginning of the episode Ake actually mentions that the cadets have been getting trauma counseling. Showing the cadets in individual therapy is just not what the writers wanted this episode to be about. This was about how they are able to heal as a group and through the magic of theater or whatever. IMHO this worked really well. :)
 
I've enjoyed this show more than I expected to, but this episode was an absolute nightmare mishmash of some of the worst impulses on new trek. It talks about mental health like a subreddit would and it makes for terrible television, AND terrible depictions of trauma response. Why the hell isn't the academy using, I don't know, an actual therapist to treat these students? Instead, they bring in Tilly, whose qualifications for this work is that.....she.....has traumatic experiences too? That's nice and all but "hey just work on this play together; see yourselves in the characters" is very weird, to say nothing of how weird the episode was in general.

The best part of it (the Doctor stuff) was given short shrift and probably should've been the A story of the episode. There's so much there to explore with him being so long-lived and they spent like 60 seconds on it. This was a huge miss for me, unfortunately.
Spot on.

The writers could have gotten in contact with actual trauma counselors, and worked in what they would actually do, and show an actual Counselor doing the job. Could have gone really deep into it, and even have a PSA type card at the end saying please contact X if your having problems etc. But no.
 
Spot on.

The writers could have gotten in contact with actual trauma counselors, and worked in what they would actually do, and show an actual Counselor doing the job. Could have gone really deep into it, and even have a PSA type card at the end saying please contact X if your having problems etc. But no.

Drama, music and art therapy are recognised therapy routes for trauma, so its not as unorthodox as you might think.
 
Instead, they bring in Tilly, whose qualifications for this work is that.....she.....has traumatic experiences too? That's nice and all but "hey just work on this play together; see yourselves in the characters" is very weird, to say nothing of how weird the episode was in general.
Peer support and group counseling is used for trauma treatment in conjunction with individual work. I've done both on a personal side after a shared traumatic event.
 
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We definitely had “Die Blechtrommel” as well, but I was limiting myself specifically to plays in that post. Although our teacher seemed to be keen on reading more modern / current stuff with us, as we also read Patrick Süskind’s “Das Parfum” and Bernhard Schlink’s “Der Vorleser”. In English it was Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” and Bernard MacLaverty’s “Cal”.

Just nitpicking, but "Werther" is a novel ("Briefroman"), but point taken ... in English, we got "Lord of the Flies", too... and, more interesting, "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" by George Orwell and John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row". And a couple of short stories. I really enjoyed these classes.
 
What is everyone’s read on the Kasquians as they’ve been presented thus far; are they some sort of hive-mind or are they actual individuals? Seems like so far we’ve only seen them talk with one voice as opposed to seeing a specific individual. Is it like a Great Link situation where they are individuals but become one when they are on Kasq? Or is it just one singular entity and SAM is the first individual they ever created?
That's a good question.

I'm leaning toward something like the Changelings' Great Link... the ocean becomes a drop, the drop becomes an ocean.

Sam is likely a photonic version of that. Odo was 'newly formed' when he was sent out, according to the Female Changeling. Sam was formed only a few months before SFA. So in that way, she and Odo are similar. Perhaps when the writers were creating her character, they thought of Odo's beginnings, and worked backward for the Makers to be the photinic equivalent.
 
I mostly agree with this. Except for Jay-Den. He's actually been pretty well done overall. Particularly compared to how the other cadets have been written.

When it comes to the pacifism. He didn't fight on the Miyazaki until his boyfriend was threatened and then the same thing when he thought Darem was in Danger. He was willing to kill someone with a big boulder. Now he is reciting a murder, blood and testicles opera. He obviously has some blood lust.

Those are just some examples. There are more. It just seems like uneven writing to me.
 
When it comes to the pacifism. He didn't fight on the Miyazaki until his boyfriend was threatened and then the same thing when he thought Darem was in Danger. He was willing to kill someone with a big boulder. Now he is reciting a murder, blood and testicles opera. He obviously has some blood lust.

Those are just some examples. There are more. It just seems like uneven writing to me.
There's very little in this episide I can defend, but I will defend the part with Jay-Den.

I see nothing odd or inconsistent with a pacifist ready to fight to defend someone they care about. That's a pretty universal trait, honestly, whether you're a pacifist or not.

Same with him enjoying Klingon opera that has murder in it. Even a pacifist can enjoy an action opera.
 
Not overly well known? It's a classic that's performed in High Schools and community theatres annually. It was revived on Broadway just two years ago. There's literally a performance of the show opening tomorrow at a theatre near me.

"Theatre" was just a cover for what the class was really about.
Perhaps it's better known amongst old people. (Queue younger people saying they know it. Well, congrats to you but that's atypical.)

I respect what they tried to do. In my opinion, they didn't pull it off. It would have been better if they told their own story to get that message across instead of trying to suck it out of a play.

It's an extension of "show, don't tell." In this case, the episode literally told us using the play and class what the message was. Instead, just *show* us that by creating a new, compelling story that brings those themes to life.

YMMV.
 
I said "not great." As in they're kind of sequestered away at times and not really seeing the broader culture like an Academy experience might bring.
But we don't know that either. There could be the Federation equivalent of international schools, especially in whatever diplomatic capital exists now (I can't remember if it's Earth or not).

The premise of the show is Starfleet Academy so of course she's going to be an Academy student so it is what it is. And they at least acknowledged how stupid it was to just send a blank slate out into the world in this specific context. lol

It wasn't invented, if I understood correctly, it was a year three course.
She says she gives it to third years, but like... in this version of the course there's no curriculum or pedagogy.

Like looking at the actual class: She tells them to pick a play. They read it. Then she yells at them once for not understanding the play and then she stalks them until she sees them try to do a table read of it. She doesn't even know if they're performing it or just fucking around like theatre kids always do. lol

Heck, she doesn't even pick the play so in terms of teaching them to deal with trauma... what if they all picked silly musicals instead of Our Town? Tarima would be singing Defying Gravity in order to process her trauma?

It's not even clear how much time has passed. Did this happen over weeks? Months? Days? Are there any schools that run through a class in a couple of days unless it's like trying to get some technical certification for using Microsoft products?

How is it graded? Do they all pass if they decide to perform the play? Tarima tells Tilly to fail her, but what does that even mean?

I guess that's what I mean by invented. lol
 
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