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Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x01 - "The Broken Circle"

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The Augment Klingons in "The Trouble With Tribbles(TOS)" got their asses handed to them by Starfleet officers, one of them being Montgomery Scott. Only Chekov seemed to have any real problems since he took on the burliest Klingon with the facial scars who promptly picked him up and tossed him like a sack of flour. And Augment Klingons were intended to be STRONGER than normal ridged Klingons and thus be better soldiers.
 
Richard S. Ta said:
Magical juice is economical writing. Not lazy. You have 50 minutes to tell a story and sometimes you have to get characters from A-B quickly. The expository dialogue surrounding the serum was just enough to clue the audience in and give them some history of it.

That short scene of exposition also added layers to the relationship between Chapel/M'Benga and a shared history strengthened for each character.

That 'bad writing' both presaged the solution to the problem and performed acts of world building.

The Chapel/M'Benga scenes are intercut with Spock struggling to pull the trigger in the Captain's chair.

And yet, the false Crossfield draws closer to the D7.

Climactically when Chapel falls my heart was in my mouth and even though I knew she wouldn't die, I still felt all of Spock's pain. The summation of about ten tense, thrilling minutes of television in total brought me to tears. I was waiting for Uhura to get the signal. I was relieved when Chapel and M'Benga were beamed aboard. I cried like a baby when Chapel came around.

It is not lazy writing.

It is not bad writing.

Anyone who's chewing off their own foot worrying about bone-density or scientific accuracy have no idea what writing even is.

Writing is not about explaining everything. Writing is about taking the audience on a journey. The Broken Circle was an excellent episode of television.

I was lukewarm to much of Season 1. I found I scored things between 7-9. Never a 6, but never a 10. A broken Circle is my first SNW 10. Perfect Star Trek.
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It's no different than the countless scenes of technobabble throughout the Berman era, it's just more visually interesting and emotionally engaging. This is an universe where all manner of disease has been cured and the only ailments are wacky shit like getting phased out of reality or you evolve into a salamander because you went too fast, a drug that works like PCP if it actually made you strong doesn't strain credibility. It's surprising they haven't used it before by having Crusher inject herself to move a rock so they can escape a cave.
 
cooleddie74 said:
The Augment Klingons in "The Trouble With Tribbles(TOS)" got their asses handed to them by Starfleet officers, one of them being Montgomery Scott. Only Chekov seemed to have any real problems since he took on the burliest Klingon with the facial scars who promptly picked him up and tossed him like a sack of flour. And Augment Klingons were intended to be STRONGER than normal ridged Klingons and thus be better soldiers.
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M'Benga, uh, dosed everyone on the Enterprise with steroids just before they entered K-7 station with the Klingons, just in case a fight broke out.
 
C'mon Antony, fighting on TV is usually bullshit, even with the men who fight. I've laughed for years over the absurdity of it. At least unlike many shows where women inexplicably kick ass when their size vs. their opponent(s) dictates that it should not happen, we got some made up serum to give a reason why this happened.

As for Spock's emotions, remember they said that whatever block Vulcans usually have was removed in his case? Well you know Vulcans normally have turbo-emotions. Chalk it up to that. Also yes, Spock is smokin' hot.

TV shows are mostly there to entertain you (so you'll watch and buy the stuff their sponsors are advertising). Unless something is totally stupid, I don't worry about it being accurate. Even is it is kind of stupid, if it's entertaining and it's fiction, I'm good.

Now on a documentary, the standards would need to be higher of course.
 
Trekker4747 said:
How do people feel about Ortegas? I really like her but in some reviews have seen people express dislike of over here because of her quippy-insubordinate attitude.
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I’m afraid I can’t really stand her. She has an omni-smirk etched onto her face and I’m sick of the quippy backchat. Can you imagine her on the Enterprise D bridge? “Ensign, I gave you an order, enough with the silly comments, just fly the damn ship!” / Ortegas reluctantly shuts up (albeit with a smirk).

Sci said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Christine being able to beat up a Klingon after taking a performance-enhancing drug is no worse than Kira being able to beat up Klingons and Jem'Hadar three times her size on the regular on Deep Space Nine.
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Kira being able to beat up Klingons, Cardassians and Jem’Hadar did strain credulity given the difference in size. However, in my head canon Bajoran women perhaps have a lot more physical strength than, say, a human woman (and maybe even a human man for that matter). Star Trek fight scenes have always been silly, frankly, right from the moment we first saw Kirk do a double fist punch, which I doubt would be enough to knock over an old lady.
 
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Richard S. Ta said:
Magical juice is economical writing. Not lazy. You have 50 minutes to tell a story and sometimes you have to get characters from A-B quickly. The expository dialogue surrounding the serum was just enough to clue the audience in and give them some history of it.

That short scene of exposition also added layers to the relationship between Chapel/M'Benga and a shared history strengthened for each character.

That 'bad writing' both presaged the solution to the problem and performed acts of world building.

The Chapel/M'Benga scenes are intercut with Spock struggling to pull the trigger in the Captain's chair.

And yet, the false Crossfield draws closer to the D7.

Climactically when Chapel falls my heart was in my mouth and even though I knew she wouldn't die, I still felt all of Spock's pain. The summation of about ten tense, thrilling minutes of television in total brought me to tears. I was waiting for Uhura to get the signal. I was relieved when Chapel and M'Benga were beamed aboard. I cried like a baby when Chapel came around.

It is not lazy writing.

It is not bad writing.

Anyone who's chewing off their own foot worrying about bone-density or scientific accuracy have no idea what writing even is.

Writing is not about explaining everything. Writing is about taking the audience on a journey. The Broken Circle was an excellent episode of television.

I was lukewarm to much of Season 1. I found I scored things between 7-9. Never a 6, but never a 10. A broken Circle is my first SNW 10. Perfect Star Trek.
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All of this.

Don't give me that "lazy writing" crap because some bit of made-up trivia jars your expectations - because that's all this kvetching is.
 
On the subject of Starfleet Uppers, in passing: as others have noted, Trek has introduced a number of unlikely drugs over the decades.

Not once - whether it's Cordrazine or tri-ox compound or whatever - not once has such a substance been mentioned before the plot demanded it. And once used they are almost never referred to again.

You can dislike it, but you can't honestly call it anomalous for Trek.
 
ananta said:
I’m afraid I can’t really stand her. She has an omni-smirk etched onto her face and I’m sick of the quippy backchat. Can you imagine her on the Enterprise D bridge? “Ensign, I gave you an order, enough with the silly comments, just fly the damn ship!” / Ortegas reluctantly shuts up (albeit with a smirk).



Kira being able to beat up Klingons, Cardassians and Jem’Hadar did strain credulity given the difference in size. However, in my head canon Bajoran women perhaps have a lot more physical strength than, say, a human woman (and maybe even a human man for that matter). Star Trek fight scenes have always been silly, frankly, right from the moment we first saw Kirk do a double fist punch, which I doubt would be enough to knock over an old lady.
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Wasn't Dax beating the crap out of Klingons too ?
 
shyborg said:
The 7th Rule interviewed the director Chris Fisher, he stated Anson and his partner had a baby. So this episode was planned in advance to allow him to have family leave
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Man you're only doing ten episodes and you can't time a baby better! :rommie:

Also missing Number One, but assume she'll be resolved at some point.
 
Trekker4747 said: ↑
How do people feel about Ortegas? I really like her but in some reviews have seen people express dislike of over here because of her quippy-insubordinate attitude.
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I don't love her. The attitude would wear on me.
 
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