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Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x05 - "Spock Amok"

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It was callous and ruthlessly practical, but, I would argue, not selfish. Selfish seems too small a word I guess, selfish implies pettiness. I think of desperation and denial. I in no way condone her decision. She was dismissive of Kirk as a living being worthy of her consideration at all other than how he was of use. But (and it's a Big But) she believed she had come up with the best plan for optimal results.
Anyway, that's my take.
I fully believe she thought she had the optimal plan for her goals. Very logical. But also selfish. I don't think we're too far apart, but I'm willing to say she was being selfish.
 
Honestly I am so far fine with all the SNW characters. I would like to see Ortega developed a bit.

Nurse Chapel is a bit jarring because she is nothing like the character in ToS but taken in isolation she is believable.

A far cry from the Discovery and Picard shows where many characters seemed more like caricatures wit over the top emotion, aggression, edginess you name it.

It mostly just got under my skin in PIC. It wasn't so much for the intensity of the emotion, but because the plot-first writing meant there wasn't a lot emotional continuity for any of the characters, and the time skip made it worse. I'm just hoping that whatever writers' room they get together for the inevitable spin-off takes a few notes on treating every member of the cast like their presence matters.
 
Someone earlier asked why does it have to come down to sexuality. Because some people dislike depictions of things they are uncomfortable with, and on the other hand, we LGBTQ+ like to be acknowledged as existing.

I just wanted to say, not all of us do. I already exist, I have very little need to be ‘seen’ by Trek, or anything else, certainly not in a blunt, obtuse way that some shows and movies chose to represent ‘we LGBTQ+’. I respect that some do, but not all of us feel that the best way to get past what is essentially a small part of my overall character, personality, and make-up as a human is to make it a part of a storyline or make a scene about inclusion or whatever. I just want it to be as natural as it actually is. Not a grand gesture. Not a celebration. I’m not a box to be ticked. I don’t want to be acknowledged as existing, I just want to exist. I feel the way both Picard and Discovery - especially Discovery - approach the subject does not make me feel acknowledged, accepted, seen or anything else, they make me feel abnormal and other and actually sometimes it makes me feel less than. I don’t like it and I wish it would stop. I know other people have different experiences and I’m glad for them, but as you were talking for all of us, I wanted to let you know that it’s not everyone and not all of us need or want that.

Maybe there was a better thread in which to respond, and I really don’t want to derail the thread which is and should remain about the episode. If a mod feels the need to delete or move this post, there’s certainly no objection on my part.
 
Someone earlier asked why does it have to come down to sexuality. Because some people dislike depictions of things they are uncomfortable with, and on the other hand, we LGBTQ+ like to be acknowledged as existing.
What?!?! People aren't satisfied with the best LGBTQ+ depiction Trek had to offer?!? [/sarcasm]
 
Fun episode. I like the twist with Spock and T'Pring swapping bodies. Number One and La'an make for a good team. Pike and "Spock" handling those aliens was interesting and I like the reverse-psychology at the end. The asshole Vulcan that Chapel told off feels like a throwback to ENT when most of the Vulcans were assholes and I'm glad he got knocked out. M'Benga's cool and that can't be said enough. The "Amok Time" music was a hoot.

I give the episode an 8. My average for the season, half-way through, is an 8.6.

I'm also glad to see Admiral April back. Once again, SNW is giving us a chance to see him as an actual character instead just a name. He's different from other Enterprise captains: unlike Kirk and Picard, the Admiralty seems to agree with him. It's something that distinguishes him.
 
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I have to add this in: Spock and T'Pring are a terrible match! Good for the episode, bad for them. I know this is a prequel and Spock can't call it off but I'm going to say it anyway: "Spock! Break up with her! You have no chemistry! It's not going to work out!"

But, of course, he doesn't. He can't see what's obvious. So T'Pring has to find a loop-hole, which brings us to "Amok Time" (TOS). "Logical. Flawlessly logical." Unfortunately for both of them.
 
Well, it was bound to happen, the first dud of the show. The Pike stuff involving the new aliens was good, but everything else was absolute garbage. What the "comedy" stuff reminded me of the most was the comedy segments of Star Trek V that made no sense and made a lot of characters look like morons.
Hey, the character stuff and humour in V is the only thing that works in that movie, aside from the soundtrack.

Katra swapping peoples minds was moronic and I'm pretty sure the Vulcans would have ran into that situation at some point if it was possible
Which doesn't mean that every Vulcan is aware of this possibility or of its solution. Also they probably wanted to keep it mostly private.

and the dialog between the mind swapped Vulcans felt like it was written for characters on The Orville instead of characters on actual Star Trek.
Star Trek has done humorous episodes before.

But these simply aren't problems with Trek ships; this kind of problem has never been shown.
I believe I said that also. I'm just trying to provide a real-world explanation.

I have to add this in: Spock and T'Pring are a terrible match! Good for the episode, bad for them.
I do think this T'Pring is less cold-hearted than her TOS counterpart, and more likeable.
 
There is another homage to the original TOS I have not read being mentioned. The Enterprise bingo has one of the challenges being a "Turbolift Two Floor Shout Challenge".

In TOS, turbolift two was first mentioned on a sign in the episode "The Man Trap". Yeoman Rand uses this lift when she delivers food to Sulu.

Small note: there is also a turbolift seven, which is mentioned later in the series.
 
I do think this T'Pring is less cold-hearted than her TOS counterpart, and more likeable.

Then again, the reason she's like that in TOS can possibly be attributed to pon farr (we know it affects Vulcan women as well).

As for all this crap about sexuality...all I have to say about that is this:

Sentences that begin with "In the future, everyone will ______ " rarely end well.

srsly, I never bought into the thing about "everyone is bi" or whatever. People will always have preferences.
 
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It's pretty clear that it is turbolift two.

(17) Timothy Peel on Twitter: "@gaghyogi49 Here is the full screen version Jörg... https://t.co/PQHpTEW53W" / Twitter

Anson Mount's Pike is emerging as one of my favorite hero captains. One of the highlights of this episode is his reaction to the oopsie by Spock and T'Pring.

It says "turbolift two floor shout" which is what they did, Number 1 called for the Bridge La'an called for Engineering. Two floors. Not specifically turbolift #2.
 
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Re: Spock and Sex

I feel like people keep forgetting Spock was getting it on in TOS with that girl in the prehistoric cave, that girl on Cloud City, that girl when he was pollinated, and seducing the Romulan captain. I feel like people have collective amnesia too because Spock actually gets more romance than Kirk.

DC Fontana also had Spock have sex outside of Pon Farr in her novels and if that's not the word of God (Gene), it's the word of Saint Peter.
 
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