Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x05 - "Charades"

[Finn]

no.


There are women in their early 60s who actually look pretty much like her...

 

[Okmyx]

M'Benga in the turbolift. Priceless.

 

[Jedi Marso]

In less deft hands, this script could have easily just been a farce - like the odious Profit and Lace from Deep Space Nine - or a meh snoozer like You Are Cordially Invited.

Fortunately, this episode is actually trying to do a great deal more than simply being a lighthearted Trek comedy involving a "body swap" of sorts and a wedding. It largely dispenses with the fish-out-of-water comedy aspects in its third act, pivoting to real emotional turmoil for Spock, Chapel, T'Pring, and Amanda. It touches on deep and universal aspects of relationships, both familial and romantic. It succeeds, astonishingly, at both being one of the better Trek comedies and being a decent character study.

I have a hard time thinking of anything wrong with this episode. The choice to have the noncorporeal aliens talk like customer service representatives was...a choice...but it helped add levity to an episode where first contact was not the driving force. I thought the charades scene itself was a bit painful to watch, but that's more because of my own personal bias against "cringe comedy" - the scene was effective at getting me to feel vicarious embarrassment, so it worked.

Usually I post my thoughts on each episode, but in this case Eschaton has said what I was thinking better than I would have said it, so QFT, as it were.

I'll just add that the comedic moments this series is working in goes a long way to endearing us further to the characters. Laughter is a great way to bond. Even my wife, who is by no means a Trekkie or sci-fi / fantasy geek of any sort, was chortling in the background as she went about her day.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

So I assume they will be selling standard regulation beanies now?

I swear, if they sell that beanie for a reasonable price, they'd make a killing off of simple merchandising.

I think they're getting rid of Pon Farr too

From what I can tell, Pon Farr is a biological Mechanism that Vulcans can a irresistable desire to mate every 7 years.

Maybe it hasn't happen for Spock just yet and they're setting that up for later when they need another "Hi-Jinks" episode.

 

[Jedi Marso]

That's my assumption. It's the future, Humans have gotten great at health and aging.

Something not well-addressed in Trek, but it is realistic to expect that by the mid 23rd Century, human lifespans should be about half-again as long as they are now, with the associated extended youth and vitality. Then again, WWIII would have had a detrimental effect on the species as well, so who knows.

In any case, Mia Kirschner looks too damn young as Amanda here- more like Spock's sister than his mom. I'm almost in favor of giving her some gray or silver highlights in her hair just to lend her a bit of gravitas in terms of her supposed age.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I didn't care necessarily for how human Spock acted though. They described it like he was a teenager, and I don't see why he would necessarily act like a teenager. He's an adult, and I could see him struggling with unrestrained emotions, but not acting like a teen. I suppose that was done for comedic effect, but it didn't make much sense to me. Further, the scene where Uhura, La'an, Una, and Ortegas are teaching Spock to be Vulcan is another scene, which worked as comedy I suppose, but didn't make much sense either. Spock has been half-human all along, and learned to integrate his feelings, and he has been culturally Vulcan since birth, so he wouldn't need them teaching him how to be Vulcan.

You have to remember, that Vulcans live longer than humans, on average Vulcans have been recorded to live up ≥ 220 Human Years.

Despite Spock appearing to be human in his late 30's, that could be the "Human Equivalent" of a teenager.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

This is what's wrong with their relationship. T'Pring cut her teeth on her mother and is replicating her devouring behavior. T'Pring cannot forgive a teeny fault like this.

Like I said to someone else, she's been trying, she's been working at better understanding, she's demonstrated her love for him and he still doesn't trust her. She was hurt. And I imagine you've been unforgiving in similar circumstances. (Or I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt.)

Why is that women are always forgiven for their pathological behavior?

I probably should not engage, but sometimes the things you say are so deeply wrong and so easily dismissed by actual statistics that I'm shocked. I don't think anyone could argue that women (being human and all) aren't capable of evil. But I will argue that they get away with it more than men because they're more manipulative or some bullshit.

I'm sad this episode seemed to wrap up that arc and this whole thing with Spock and Chapel I guess was supposed to happen but to do it at T'Pring's expense kind of rubs me the wrong way.

Totally. I don't think it's the last we'll see of her though. Her story isn't over (as we know).

There are women in their early 60s who actually look pretty much like her...

Michelle Yeoh turned 60 this year right?

 

[Unique]

Something not well-addressed in Trek, but it is realistic to expect that by the mid 23rd Century, human lifespans should be about half-again as long as they are now, with the associated extended youth and vitality. Then again, WWIII would have had a detrimental effect on the species as well, so who knows.

In any case, Mia Kirschner looks too damn young as Amanda here- more like Spock's sister than his mom. I'm almost in favor of giving her some gray or silver highlights in her hair just to lend her a bit of gravitas in terms of her supposed age.

I was distracted for a minute when her first scene with Spock was about to start, and when I looked back and saw this young woman talking to Spock about the event my first thought was she must be some sort of party planner.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

In any case, Mia Kirschner looks too damn young as Amanda here- more like Spock's sister than his mom. I'm almost in favor of giving her some gray or silver highlights in her hair just to lend her a bit of gravitas in terms of her supposed age.

Maybe gradual human lifespan engineering has been in the works and the "Methusalah" project where every human gets a little bit of a longer life is starting to set in by this point.

Remember, we know that Admiral Leonard McCoy lives past 137 y/o. I wouldn't be surprised if Amanda Grayson has some benefits of Genetic Engineering to look young for 60 something =D

 

[Seven of Five]

Well, that was a joy to watch.

Lots of funny moments throughout, with my highlight being his friends trying to teach him to act like a Vulcan. Basically, have no emotions, raise your eyebrow and SHOUT A LOT!

I think comedy really endears the characters to me.

This week I also enjoyed the Strange New World and Chapel's desperate way to communicate the aliens.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Spock being held back by two officers as he threatens to break Kirk;

That gradual growing "Rage" at Sam's messiness at the conference table was hilarious.

Down to the point that the rest of the Science Officers had to hold Spock back from beating him down.

 

[tomalak301]

Well, that was a joy to watch.

Lots of funny moments throughout, with my highlight being his friends trying to teach him to act like a Vulcan.

I think comedy really endears the characters to me.

Something I forgot to mention in my review was this was the Ortegas I wanted last week for the Ortegas episode. She was fun here, didn't seem to have attitude issues, and she still flew the shuttle (I'm Erica Ortegas, and I fly the Ship!!!) in the end. That scene when they were teaching Spock how to be a Vulcan was hilarious.

 

[kirk55555]

What an awful fucking episode. The character of Spock is literally too good for shit like this and "Spock Amok", it diminishes the character to keep giving him focus episodes like this. Strange New Worlds does comedy about as well as Voyager does romance, meaning its fucking terrible at it. Hell, I'd rather rewatch Profit & Lace on a loop then ever do a single rewatch of this episode.

We're halfway through the season and literally all 5 episodes have been trash, Enterprise season 1 had more good episodes (by percentage of overall episodes in the season) then SNW Season 2 will probably end up having. Its just been so disappointing, SNW went from being a return to form for Star Trek in Season 1 to just being Discovery with less crying. At this point I'm just waiting for the LD crossover, although I just saw that one of the hacks who wrote this episode is a co-writer on that, so I doubt it will actually be a good episode.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The show runners just need to concede the point that this is a slightly altered timeline, and run with it.

That's what I've been saying all along.

Spoiler: Anti-Trekker - Star Trek; The Triple Timeline Theory Redux

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Here's the 3x Time-Line Theory postulated by Anti-Trekker AKA Salty-Trekker.

Spoiler: Here are the 3x Major Time-Lines

Having 3x Time-Line solves ALOT of issues and explains away any inconsistencies due to time-travel.

It doesn't invalidate the old time-line either, what we're watching is just a slightly modified parallel world due to time-travel shenanigans done by previous shows.

 

[Unique]

Like I said to someone else, she's been trying, she's been working at better understanding, she's demonstrated her love for him and he still doesn't trust her. She was hurt. And I imagine you've been unforgiving in similar circumstances. (Or I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt.)

Agree, and would add that when you’ve just had a major shock in a close relationship, going straight from receiving that shock to expressing forgiveness is unrealistic. It takes a lot of mental and emotional readjustment to move from your perceived reality to revealed reality. Some time is required for that process, and taking that time doesn’t mean that person is unforgiving.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Something I forgot to mention in my review was this was the Ortegas I wanted last week for the Ortegas episode. She was fun here, didn't seem to have attitude issues, and she still flew the shuttle (I'm Erica Ortegas, and I fly the Ship!!!) in the end. That scene when they were teaching Spock how to be a Vulcan was hilarious.

Yes, Ortegas hasn't gotten an episode that focuses on her yet, but she has had a good bit more to do these last couple episodes. Good to see her out from behind the helm console.

 

[Yistaan]

Agree, and would add that when you’ve just had a major shock in a close relationship, going straight from receiving that shock to expressing forgiveness is unrealistic. It takes a lot of mental and emotional readjustment to move from your perceived reality to revealed reality. Some time is required for that process, and taking that time doesn’t mean that person is unforgiving.

Maaaybe. Spock literally wasn't himself (as in half his DNA was altered) when he made the decision and it's unfair for T'Pring to blame him for something he did when he wasn't himself. It'd be like Spock blaming T'Pring for something she did after her juice was spiked with Romulan ale.

Also, if T'Pril is such a speciest, how the hell did she agree to her child being betrothed to Spock (TOS established this happened when they were kids) and why would Sarek and Amanda go with them? There wasn't a single more open minded Vulcan couple out there with a daughter for Spock to be betrothed to? Really?

 

[Airmandan]

I bet the thing that will cause Spock and Chapel to fall apart is him focusing on her vs the mission, similar to Picard and Nella. That would also explain why she then leaves and he goes back to being the unemotional Vulcan.

 

[Jedi Marso]

That's what I've been saying all along.

Spoiler: Anti-Trekker - Star Trek; The Triple Timeline Theory Redux

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Here's the 3x Time-Line Theory postulated by Anti-Trekker AKA Salty-Trekker.

Spoiler: Here are the 3x Major Time-Lines

Having 3x Time-Line solves ALOT of issues and explains away any inconsistencies due to time-travel.

It doesn't invalidate the old time-line either, what we're watching is just a slightly modified parallel world due to time-travel shenanigans done by previous shows.

This is pretty much how I've come to view it, although I tend to completely disregard JJ-Trek. It was just too far off-base and silly for me.

 

[Yistaan]

Altering someone's DNA just like that should be a bigger deal than is presented here. For one thing TOS established Spock's heart was where his liver in a human would be or something like that. He should be on the ground writhing in agony after Christine injects him.

Considering that M'Benga and Chapel obviously have no idea how to completely alter someone's DNA, curing Spock should've been a bigger deal. Starfleet Medical swarming in, etc. M'Benga and especially Chapel being bombarded with questions and interviews. The fellowship thing would've been an afterthought if it was even remembered.

And we also have this question of why no one uses this tech ever again. A certain Geordi La Forge born with a congenital disability certainly would have benefited.