Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x10 – “Rubincon”

[Tosk]

It was smart to put "What about Discovery?" right at the beginning. Sure, the reason Discovery couldn't jump past the barrier was basically just a piece of technobabble, but getting it out of the way from the get-go kept the audience from ... well, from thinking "What about Discovery?" throughout the entire episode.

I do think it's funny that TPTB originally jumped Discovery to the distant future because they didn't want to have to deal with canon any more...and then went and created a rod for their own back on SFA, where every time there's a huge problem they have to handwave away why Disco ain't helping.

Honestly, I kind of hope season two does have an actual Discovery appearance just so it feels...integrated, somehow.

 

[tafkats]

Seán Ferrick was talking on the TrekCulture Ups & Downs video about the problem Discovery poses. In retrospect, maybe the writers of DIS should have realized they were making the ship too powerful and written in some kind of limit, like in NuBSG where the ship CAN jump anywhere it wants to, but the further they try to go the harder it is to calculate accurately and the more dangerous it is...

 

[fireproof78]

Seán Ferrick was talking on the TrekCulture Ups & Downs video about the problem Discovery poses. In retrospect, maybe the writers of DIS should have realized they were making the ship too powerful and written in some kind of limit, like in NuBSG where the ship CAN jump anywhere it wants to, but the further they try to go the harder it is to calculate accurately and the more dangerous it is...

Quite honestly, they had the easiest out from Season 2. The intrusion of Discovery, or other ships, in to the spore realm harms the beings there. Eventually, the beings learn to fight back and push the Discovery out of their realm.

 

[nightwind1]

and to the Holy Fallout

May Atom bless you with his holy glow.

 

[Tuskin38]

I like that the villain’s plans were stopped with worlds and science, not lasers and explosions

 

[cooleddie74]

Nus Braka WILL be back in Sweet Sweetback's Subspaaaaaaaaaace Song!!

 

[StarTrek1701]

Seán Ferrick was talking on the TrekCulture Ups & Downs video about the problem Discovery poses. In retrospect, maybe the writers of DIS should have realized they were making the ship too powerful and written in some kind of limit, like in NuBSG where the ship CAN jump anywhere it wants to, but the further they try to go the harder it is to calculate accurately and the more dangerous it is...

Nah, spore drive was a great addition to the Star Trek general mythos, it's just the timeline was all janky.
If the timeline was 20 years after Janeway's return it would have been perfect.

 

[firehawk12]

Yes, it was a good bit of continuity.

Kirk just never blew up the damn ship and I never thought he would during the course of the show was my larger point. This idea of "the outcome is already known" somehow takes away the drama of a show is completely, and totally lost on me, which is what I was respondoing to.

But, I'm a weird guy. I weep over a character dying despite them being introduced and dying in one episode, I don't mind spoilers and think spoiler warnings are strange, I don't mind knowing the score of a game and find the hyperbolic overreaction to never know a game score extremely bizarre (see many different sitcoms over the years), and don't mind cliffhangers either.

My consumption of media appears to be extremely different than most.

If there's zero tension since every threat is actually not a threat, at some point it stops being interesting. Kirk didn't face the destruction of the Enterprise every single week either.

Also the characters were allowed to fail once in a while because the stakes aren't extremely high, like when the scientist had to commit suicide in order to convince the Federation that warp drive was damaging subspace or when Picard had to accept that he couldn't force the resettlement of colonists just because the Federation ordered him to do it. Failure was an option because it wasn't the entire fate of the Federation, humanity, or the galaxy at stake. Even Q's appearances weren't always about testing humanity when that's what he's most famous for in the TNG era.

I accept the premise that the main characters have plot armor because that's just the reality of making TV, but the easy way to solve that problem is to not put them in danger constantly. Especially with stakes that are so high and become ridiculous because failure would literally mean the end of the show.

 

[fireproof78]

If there's zero tension since every threat is actually not a threat, at some point it stops being interestin

I respectfully disagree. The tension comes from investing in the characters and their reactions, not whether I go "I think this time Kirk will die. Gary Mitchell will definitely best him. The Romulan Commander outsmarted him. Spock actually killed him. He's going to blow up the Enterprise."

 

[Sim]

Braka's allies probably DIDN'T care about what Nahla did to Anisha. But I think it demonstrates that they are not wholly evil and anti-federation but broken, desperate survivors willing to hedge their bets with whoever offers them help. For what it's worth there were probably a lot of people in the crowd who had childhoods like Caleb, but never had a Starfleet officer there to help guide them to a better a path. It's implied pretty heavily that a lot of worlds think the Federation abandoned them and that disappointment is where the anger stems from. Appealing to these worlds desire for stability and therefore democracy was necessary.

Even if it wasn't Ake's argument that swayed them I would assume that they DID care about someone like Braka having control over superweapons and therefore control over them. Ake showed them that Braka was ultimately weak and pitiful and none of them were going to follow someone who was outwitted by a Starfleet Captain. The criminals among this crowd probably thought it's easier to deal with Starfleet busting their balls than a mad manchild who carries a detonator that can end civilisation if they step out of line.

As for Braka, he is a scared, insecure, narcissistic man who never grew up. His relationship with his father which is hinted at in episode 6 is why he hates authority and the Federation never coming to save him is why he hates them. It's really common in abuse survivors to misdirect their hate because they can't bring themselves to understand that their primary caregivers failed them. Braka would have known that it was his fathers fault their planet was wiped out but it made the loss of his family easier to deal with by blaming the Federation. Braka is ultimately an extreme example of what happens if you don't deal with trauma and let it control your life.

If that is what this was supposed to mean, then they did a poor job showing that on screen, imo. The way this "trial" was shown just didn't make the slightest sense to me. Why didn't Braka make a clear argument instead of going full anecdotal with an individual story that proves nothing whatsoever?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Instead, Ake confidently says the Federation has never bombed civilians ("For the Uniform", "The Wounded", Section 31'a shenanigans)

You know what's lame about "For the Uniform"? It's basically a gutless knock off of Fail Safe (1964). Everybody's seen or at least heard of Dr. Strangelove. In case you don't know, Fail Safe is the other, lesser-known major nuclear war film of that year. Although it's exceptional, it is gut-wrenching, it's played completely straight, and it's probably not as fun to watch as Dr. Strangelove. No surprise it's the lesser-known of the two.

You want to see an actual fire-on-your-civilians scenario with weapons of mass destruction, of the kind that Nus and Ake were arguing about? Not some nerfed kid-glove version like what happened in "For the Uniform", when all the civilians get to walk away, resettle, unharmed? Fail Safe is your film. Find a scenario like that in Star Trek canon. Don't bring me, "Well, the naughty Enterprise stunned some gangsters shooting it out in the street." Enlighten me. I'm completely unaware of it.

As pointed out, based on its story, "The Wounded" is unlikely to count. Although it's arguably open to interpretation, the apparent reveal at the end is that Maxwell was right. Those weren't simply Cardassian supply vessels after all, civilian or otherwise. They looked like innocent supply ships, except that they had military-grade jammers. They were evidently Cardassian military logistical vessels operating in a manner somewhere between ruse de guerre and perfidy to move materiel into position, in preparation to attack Federation territory.

I do appreciate the replies. We have gotten somewhere. We've been reminded of Laas and Ron Tracey. The point that the Federation is responsible even when one of its officers goes rogue is a good one. Even the discussion for the non-counterexamples has been fruitful. That also goes for Section 31, despite disagreement regarding whether it's legitimately part of the Federation.

Thanks, all.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

Starfleet itself may not have attacked citizens, but its actions could have led indirectly to the death of citizens.

From "The Last Outpost":

DATA: They should add that Starfleet has permitted several civilisations to fall. We have at times allowed the strong and violent to overcome the weak.

My favorite parts are with Jet Reno interacting with the cadets. She was a better teacher for them than Sylvia Tilley.

 

[DarthTimon]

I enjoyed the episode, and I enjoyed the first season, but what I am hoping with season two is that we get back to the academy itself, the process of moulding cadets into officers. I don't know if I'm explaining myself very well. I guess I want more self-contained stories in season two.

 

[Farscape One]

The season finale was very... underwhelming.

First, the tension of the Omega mines going off was basically gutted because of the epilogue in DISCO's finale. I never sensed any sort of danger whatsoever from it. Second, the trial itself.

I don't think it was a bad idea to put the Federation on a sort of mock trial because there are things about it that need to be addressed and looked into. Braka made some good points in his last appearance, and elements of that are felt throughout the franchise, not just in the 32nd century. (The hubris, the condescension, the looking down at others if they don't really share Federation values, etc.) Idealogically, it made sense to have him represent the other side of who the Federation looks down upon.

But there are several things about it that just didn't work for me. First, the floating cameras and the constant back and forthing of the perspective of 'live tv' with them. It took me out of the narrative each time, and it made me less willing to focus on the material they were covering. Second, Ake herself. In the pilot, she was all remorseful about what happened to Anisha that she ends up resigning. But here? She tells her in no uncertain terms that she deserved the prison sentence she received. (Which, given the facts stated in this episode, Anisha DID deserve it. Had she not stolen the schematics and used them to commit the crime, the theft and the murder wouldn't have happened to begin with, so she had it coming.) It feels like the facts were not kept straight here. This felt contrived, which undercuts Ake's entire path and reasoning in the season. Third, it was too easy for ALL of the watchers to leave Braka like they did. These are people with legitimate beef against the Federation... and they leave because of a single speech by Caleb, with Ake chiming in with a few words? This felt too easy and too neatly wrapped up. At least SOME of them should have stayed and made their point or case. It was totally unrealistic. And fourth, why didn't we get at least a single line of dialogue from these other people to show how the Federation has abandoned them? BABYLON 5 was able to accomplish a similar task in season 2's "A RACE THROUGH DARK PLACES" when the Telepath Underground on B5 was talking to Talia Winters about all the harm the Psi Corps does. That would have given the trial a bit more meat on the bones.

If Starfleet has already found a way to stabilize Omega-47 particles, why haven't they started using them as actual power sources for planets, as Ake said they were intended for? Also, since the Omega mines are now all stabilized, does that mean that everyone is going to be hunting for all of them to keep and use for their worlds? Maybe this will be followed up in season 2, but the fact the leftover mines wasn't even mentioned afterward makes it seem like the threat was not as important as this episode and the last claims it is, which also undercuts the overall threat they represent.

The song used at the end was just terrible.

The holographic trick to make it look like the Athena was destroyed reminded me of "BASICS, PART I" from VOY, when they projected holographic ships outside against the Kazon.

Reno was at her best here. I like how she was teaching while having the cadets help solve the various problems. She has been better utilized here than when she was on DISCO.

Performances from everyone, overall, was fine. Paul Giamatti was definitely chewing the scenery, but I didn't think that was a bad thing. I still feel there are shades of Dukat with his character, at least in how he characterizes himself.

This season finale reminds me of "HOPE AND FEAR" from VOY in that it was more a reflection of the past season than anything else. Not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but season 4 of VOY was their best season overall for that show, and was consistently good. Season 1 of SFA was not consistently good, and this finale just was not that good overall. It seemed to be tripping up on itself in multiple areas. It wasn't terrible, but it didn't wow me, either. I'll give this a 5.


My view of the season overall:

I feel like the season was all over the place. Two episodes are among the worst in the franchise ("Vitus Reflux" and "The Life of the Stars") and they really bring the season down. When the show focuses on the rebuilding of the Federation, the politics of the various worlds like Betazed and the Klingons, and actually treats the adult officers like actual adults in the room, they do those things pretty well. But the focus on the cadets' teen drama, the awful music, the huge time jumps between episodes (which doesn't help us see that these characters really DO have a bond), the bad dialogue of the cadets... just doesn't feel like this show works for me. I will say it seems to be slightly better than DISCO (at the moment), so it at least succeeded there. For now. If I were to rate the season overall, it would probably be a 5... which when I averaged out the scores I wrote down for each episode, it averages out to 4.925, so that tracks.


My scores...

"Kids These Days": 5.5
"Beta Test": 4.0
"Vitus Reflux": 1.5
"Vox in Excelso": 6.0
"Series Acclimation Mil": 7.5
"Come, Let's Away": 8.0
"Ko'Zheine": 3.0
"The Life of the Stars": 1.5
"300th Night": 7.25
"Rubincon": 5.0

 

[seti alpha]

I did not like the Omega plot, but I do wonder if someone could *learn* to carefully navigate ‘tangled’ subspace through some serious piloting (since it sounds not only tangled up, but in flux, which would require constant adjustments, like white water rafting where the currents can change on a dime).

There’s also the possibility of creating a technology or process to untangle or ‘flatten’ subspace and make it navigable, perhaps even temporarily so that an ‘icebreaker’ style ship would ‘clear a path’ and other ships could briefly move through this cleared corridor safely.

And the various non-subspace-y options. Khionian wormholes, soliton wave generators, popping over to the Mirror Universe and bypassing the affected area.

I just didn’t feel the Omega threat long term, as a travel impediment. The ‘billions of people on a hundred plus worlds are gonna die in the detonations’ thing seemed MUCH more important.

 

[Mudd]

So I like that Elasti-Girl managed to keep Braka monologuing long enough for the team to get the job done.

I do wish we’d gotten to see a little bit less of Ake, Braka and Anisha, and a bit more of Jay-Den, SAM, Genesis and Darem. But just the right amount of Jett Reno (a lot!).

And now, who knows how long until Season 2? It’s already in the can, I hear, but is it ready for eating?

Yeah. Tig Notario walked away with this one. Reno was the only character well-served this week.

 

[Mudd]

Kind of feels like Tilly was supposed to be where Reno was but there was a character swap this season.

The only thing Tilly could have done with Reno's part in this one would be to fuck it up in the most teeth-gratingly way possible.

 

[tenmei]

One thing that struck me in 1x09 is that when Ake leaves the Bridge, whe has to tell the Cadets that Reno is in command. Like, duh, she's the only Starfleet Officer there, so you would have thought that was obvious. At least here, the cadets defer to Reno automatically.

 

[Mudd]

She's reminding the audience.

 

[Discovery McDiscoveryFace]

Nah, spore drive was a great addition to the Star Trek general mythos, it's just the timeline was all janky.
If the timeline was 20 years after Janeway's return it would have been perfect.

I know a lot has been published about Bryan Fuller's original concept for Discovery. My thoughts were that it would have been far better served in the 30th century (if the spire drive was going to be a thing) and could have been set around the 26th if they weren't doing the Spore Drive. That being, that since we already have insight into the TCW, the 29th Century, Braxton, Daniels, etc.... putting it in the 25th or 26th creates the same prequel problem with the added menace of why it never features in the Braxton storylines.

Setting it later on, allowing for the Burn and following the aftermath and reconnection of that would have been a compelling series. Kelpians and Ariam and Gollums and all the new races we have seen in Disco would have flowed much better. We could have freely navigated the mirror universe too....

There seems to be an obsession with prequels which has infected Star Trek (please no more). The only downside to this would have been no SNW