Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x10 - "Hegemony"

[cooleddie74]

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield": the Federation world Arrianus is decontaminated by the Enterprise after an exotic fungus threatens to render the surface of the planet uninhabitable.

 

[mattman8907]

that adult gorn was terrifying. I can actually believe that if Kirk faced a SNW style gorn I can see why he would be fearful of it.

 

[valkyrie013]

Darn, surprising people hung up on the town being, well a town. Reading to much into it..

For real world/practical/financial reasons.. is there a back lot no one is using.. yep this small town.. Okay, lets spiffy it up abit, add some technology here or there.. poof! alien planet..
No one complained when all the worlds in Star Gate looked like British Columbia.. I'm sure if this was filmed in LA, we'd have some dust small town.. and more complaining..

Ready room deep dives into the practical effects of the Gorn, even the Adult gorn was a practical effect.

 

[firehawk12]

"Planet Baldwin"?

"Wolf 359 was an inside job! The Dominion War wasn't real!"

I want Lower Decks to do a whole episode based on that guy. lol

Except that there's no evidence that they're "antitechnology" in any meaningful way. They welcome people from starships to vaccinate them. Their community seems pretty comfortable - what exactly are they lacking, giant TV screens everywhere? They're not exactly Westworld, are they?

There are enough people in America who move away from cities when they get the chance to think that the "small American town" model still has a lot of appeal to a lot of people.

What would be the non-ideological reasons for moving to an empty planet a few hundred light-years from where you are, exactly? Other than some scheme to get rich, like the miners of "Mudd's Women" or "The Devil In The Dark?"

Again, people don't usually leave their homes because they like them.

There's pretty much zero world building, and presumably they chose the setting was because they had the opportunity to use the set. Just like the TOS planets. So a lot of that is left to the imagination of the viewer.

For some reason, they chose to move away from the Federation, form their own society, and pick a very specific way of living. For me it's an easy parallel with the Amish, where it's also ideological for religious reasons, but it's a very oddly specific setting for people who are presumably much more evolved than us to choose to live in and form a society around.

It just seems odd that an advanced people would pick such an inefficient form of living otherwise. Again, unless it's like the fantasy people in Lower Decks who like to pretend they are living in Game of Thrones and pretend their starships are run on 'magic'.

UM?

Election?

Nearly a thousand episodes and I have yet to see anyone vote.

You know, I assume the Federation is a Democracy but I guess that's just an assumption. lol

Does it? All Batel says is they built the town on the "small town model" and made it look like 20th century Mid Western America. Thir tech level doesn't seem to match that, with vehicles that seem electric and not internal combustion. Their clothing is "contemporary" not 20th Century. Also Batel and Chapel's conversation takes place in front of a window with a big medical services emblem on it. I assume that's a clinic or doctors office.

As I said, Star Trek has a long history of providing aid to colonies, outposts and science expedition.
Man Trap- Medical exams for the Craters
Dagger of the Mind- Transporting cargo to the Tantalus Colony
This Side of Paradise- Check up on the Omicron Ceti III Colony
Devil in the Dark- Answering a distress call from the Janus VI Colony
Operation: Annihilate!- Tracking an outbreak if insanity to the Deneva Colony
The Deadly Years- Medical Check up for the people on Gamma Hydra IV
And the Children Shall Lead- Answering a distress call from Triacus
Whom Gods Destroy- Delivering a new medicine to Elba II
Cloud Minders- Getting xenite to a planet ravaged by plague.

My point is why would anyone choose to live in a colony that is based on a design that is considered poor by many urban planners now. I just read a story about how in Kentucky school bus routes are completely broken and that some kids are stuck on their buses for over 8 hours...

Unless there's some other thing like strict population control or a Logans Run rule where old people are turned into Soylent Green, we know from actual experience that these kinds of designs aren't sustainable.

Again, I know it's because they found a set in Pickering Ontario and it was probably cheap for them to use, so why not use it, so the writers probably didn't give any real thought to the world building of this society. I 100% accept that as a reasonable explanation and it's "fun" to think of this planet in the long line of Star Trek planets that were filmed on the backlots of other film and television shows.

My brain just can't accept that people would choose to form a society in that manner on purpose unless they were obsessed with being American or someone dropped a copy of a Yellowstone DVD into their society and they worshiped it as their bible. But it's more 'funny' to me than anything else. Like I gave the episode an 8, but it had no bearing on my score.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Darn, surprising people hung up on the town being, well a town. Reading to much into it..

For real world/practical/financial reasons.. is there a back lot no one is using.. yep this small town.. Okay, lets spiffy it up abit, add some technology here or there.. poof! alien planet..
No one complained when all the worlds in Star Gate looked like British Columbia.. I'm sure if this was filmed in LA, we'd have some dust small town.. and more complaining..

Does the "Mayberry" backlot still exists?

 

[Guy Gardener]

But yes, the whole “evil biology” thing has turned the Gorn into the Magog from Andromeda and I’m not a big fan of this choice to say the least. Especially since it makes all of the adult Gorn culpable in what essentially are [insert verb for sexual assault][ camps.

I will give that the Gorn actually did something very proactive and more than the Klingons did this episode by putting up the demarcation line.

They, more than anyone else, have established the terms of peace for the Federation and them.

There is no reason to believe that the Gorn have to infect a sapient being.

They infest a cow, and then the children fight to the death, until one survives.

There is no reason to believe that medical science can't implant one egg into something similar to a hamster, and the one kid is born traumaless, and Charles Darwin cries.

Modern Gorn. Billions of landlocked Gorn on a planet with no access to alien prey, probably still have a biological clock.

So space born Gorn on the pull?

Rape as colonization?

OOOOOHHHHH!

Masturbation as colonization.

When a Gorn Gives up, accepts that they are a loser who is better off dead, they bite their own arm, a day later hundreds of babies leap out and fight each other to the death.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I want Lower Decks to do a whole episode based on that guy. lol


There's pretty much zero world building, and presumably they chose the setting was because they had the opportunity to use the set. Just like the TOS planets. So a lot of that is left to the imagination of the viewer.

For some reason, they chose to move away from the Federation, form their own society, and pick a very specific way of living. For me it's an easy parallel with the Amish, where it's also ideological for religious reasons, but it's a very oddly specific setting for people who are presumably much more evolved than us to choose to live in and form a society around.

It just seems odd that an advanced people would pick such an inefficient form of living otherwise. Again, unless it's like the fantasy people in Lower Decks who like to pretend they are living in Game of Thrones and pretend their starships are run on 'magic'.


You know, I assume the Federation is a Democracy but I guess that's just an assumption. lol


My point is why would anyone choose to live in a colony that is based on a design that is considered poor by many urban planners now. I just read a story about how in Kentucky school bus routes are completely broken and that some kids are stuck on their buses for over 8 hours...

Unless there's some other thing like strict population control or a Logans Run rule where old people are turned into Soylent Green, we know from actual experience that these kinds of designs aren't sustainable.

Again, I know it's because they found a set in Pickering Ontario and it was probably cheap for them to use, so why not use it, so the writers probably didn't give any real thought to the world building of this society. I 100% accept that as a reasonable explanation and it's "fun" to think of this planet in the long line of Star Trek planets that were filmed on the backlots of other film and television shows.

My brain just can't accept that people would choose to form a society in that manner on purpose unless they were obsessed with being American or someone dropped a copy of a Yellowstone DVD into their society and they worshiped it as their bible. But it's more 'funny' to me than anything else. Like I gave the episode an 8, but it had no bearing on my score.

500 people per small town.

1000 small towns.

Thousands of miles apart.

Transporters close the distance.

 

[Donald G]

Does the "Mayberry" backlot still exists?

No. The RKO 40 Acres backlot was demolished in 1976, unfortunately.

 

[Nerys Myk]

There's pretty much zero world building,

"World Building" is another over used phrase. It's a remote colony that was attacked by the Gorn. World built.

My point is why would anyone choose to live in a colony that is based on a design that is considered poor by many urban planners now.

Do we see enough of the town to know the complete "urban plan"? Do we need to?

 

[mattman8907]

Darn, surprising people hung up on the town being, well a town. Reading to much into it..

For real world/practical/financial reasons.. is there a back lot no one is using.. yep this small town.. Okay, lets spiffy it up abit, add some technology here or there.. poof! alien planet..
No one complained when all the worlds in Star Gate looked like British Columbia.. I'm sure if this was filmed in LA, we'd have some dust small town.. and more complaining..

Ready room deep dives into the practical effects of the Gorn, even the Adult gorn was a practical effect.

I miss those old Stargate days. It was one of my favorite shows growing up.

 

[StarMan]

I am quite certain if my brother lived in make-believe Star Trek land, he would choose to live in that town v. the flashy, futuristic setting afforded by Earth and other Fed planets. Vaccinations might be an issue, unfortunately. <facepalm>

There are trillions of people. Lots of diversity, lots of combinations.

 

[firehawk12]

500 people per small town.

1000 small towns.

Thousands of miles apart.

Transporters close the distance.

Lower Decks showed that there was a society where 2 people bought a moon and lived on it themselves, so I'm willing to accept that these are rich people who are cosplaying as 20th century Americans. lol

"World Building" is another over used phrase. It's a remote colony that was attacked by the Gorn. World built.
Do we see enough of the town to know the complete "urban plan"? Do we need to?

Calling it 20th century midwestern town is presumably evocative, even if the set itself isn't.
Ultimately it doesn't matter since they just needed a place to be a Gorn hunting ground, which is why I feel like I've given this way more than than is really necessary. lol

 

[Amaris]

I am quite certain if my brother lived in make-believe Star Trek land, he would choose to live in that town v. the flashy, futuristic setting afforded by Earth and other Fed planets. Vaccinations might be an issue, unfortunately. <facepalm>

There are trillions of people. Lots of diversity, lots of combinations.

Indeed. I live in a tiny rural town, and I hate it very much, even though I do like some aspects of it. I'd haul my ass to a futuristic Federation city in a heartbeat.

 

[Mr Awe]

This is the last picture we see before it cuts to Christine:

Unfortunately, there aren't enough visual clues after to say where she is on the ship. She does seem to wake up in a corridor, and then steps into a room and there's lots of shelves, bins, power connectors. They keep parts of it blurry (likely on purpose), and focus mainly on her as she spots the Enterprise.

It also makes you wonder, as I mentioned in my review, whether there were other survivors. They weren't able to search thoroughly. They might've just dropped some living crewmembers onto the planet's surface!

 

[Nerys Myk]

Lower Decks showed that there was a society where 2 people bought a moon and lived on it themselves, so I'm willing to accept that these are rich people who are cosplaying as 20th century Americans. lol


Calling it 20th century midwestern town is presumably evocative, even if the set itself isn't.
Ultimately it doesn't matter since they just needed a place to be a Gorn hunting ground, which is why I feel like I've given this way more than than is really necessary. lol

I hope you figured out they aren't technophobe Space Amish.

 

[valkyrie013]

After losing their homes in Utah, an extreme sect of Mormons fled into deep space, eventually setting on the planet Parnassus Beta despite warnings from the Federation government. The problem with Parnassus Beta, however, was that it was deep within the Arachnid (Gorn) Quarantine Zone. Only good bug is a dead bug!!

My brain just can't accept that people would choose to form a society in that manner on purpose unless they were obsessed with being American or someone dropped a copy of a Yellowstone DVD into their society and they worshiped it as their bible. But it's more 'funny' to me than anything else. Like I gave the episode an 8, but it had no bearing on my score

We all have our own bias's I can't understand how one would live in a downtown city with like zero greenery.. just Blah..

I grew up in a town of 4000, there was 1 mainstreet, and some congregation of homes in the town, then ALOT of people on 5 acres a few miles out.. Thats what I think of this planet. Eventually there will be cities, but it hasn't gotten that far.

EDIT:
Also, Pike lived in a wooden home in the first episode, and still cooks dispite replicators.. Not everything has to look like an Apple Store..

 

[cooleddie74]

Masturbation as colonization.

Well, they say the Sun never sets on me.

 

[Kaelef]

I liked the episode, even though a few things took me out of it.

• Spock claiming he was the only one that could place the rockets and everyone agreeing but no more explanation given. We as the audience have to assume why this makes sense.
• Spock agreeing to de-orbit what's left of the Cayuga even though if there's any chance at all Christine is still alive, this is where she would be.
• Christine being the only survivor of the Cayuga. (If she survived, it's possible there were others, but there's no attempt to find any when the interference is dropped.)
• Scotty being the only survivor of his ship's disaster and this colony planet happening to be the one he could reach.

Not specific to this episode, but some general SNW thoughts:

• Though I appreciate SNW trying to establish it's own "big bad guys" in the Gorn (not Klingons, or Romulans, or, heaven forbid, trying to shoehorn the Borg in here somehow), they're just not interesting enough to devote more than one episode to. There are hints in this last episode that they may be working towards making them more interesting, however.
• Especially given how short the seasons are, I'd rather see more exploration and discovery (no pun intended) than xenomorph hunts.
• Young Gorn look kind of janky, but there's no denying the grown one in the space suit looked great.
• Sam doesn't seem to have much of purpose on the show. Whenever he shows up, there's the feeling that the writers suddenly remembered he's around and just sort of throw him in there for a couple of scenes.
• For all the excitement of getting Carol Kane as Pelia, they've done nearly nothing with the character.

And now I'm going to need to forget this show exists in order to survive what's sure to be a very long wait until next season.

 

[valkyrie013]

Atleast it wasn't the same Rock Quarry they used dozens of times in Discovery..

 

[Vger23]

You would wonder why if Earth is such a paradise,so many people want to go live on colony worlds.

Because utopia is soul-crushingly boring for people with any sense of strength or adventure.