Whatever one's opinion of Shaw and Season 3, this is a masterclass of portraying PTSD.
What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?
- Thread starter Amasov
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Honestly I think my only real problem with the guy is that he was the captain and not the chief engineer. Swap his position and all my complaints go away. The actor certainly wasn't an issue I had.
We seldom get to meet our boogie men. And who was the Starfleet asshole that gave a Wolf 359 survivor a Borg first officer?
Who knows? Picard being there may have completely thrown Shaw off of his game.
It’s PTSD mixed with Survivor’s Guilt. These are very real problems that many people deal with every day, particularly combat veterans, as Shaw was. Picard suffered a similar fate, albeit probably without Survivor’s Guilt. He hated the Borg with a passion and literally nobody had a problem with it until STFC, when Lily smacked some sense into him by using the Moby Dick metaphor. Even then, it was more about his obsessive vengeance against the Borg potentially getting people killed instead of finger-wagging at him over being a “Borgophobe”.
It’s so very easy for those who don’t have to endure such things to smugly and judgmentally hand-wave it away as “bigotry”, but it’s a lot deeper and more complex a problem than simple anti-other tribalism. Apparently, even still in the early 25th century. To confuse the two so readily does a great disservice to those with legitimate psychological issues.
Really lost me at the Jaws "homage".
Yeah, the lighting across all three seasons of PIC sucked and the lighting in all five seasons of DSC was even worse.
They don't hold a candle to the poor lighting in PIC 3
Seeing how Admiral Clancy was running Starfleet in Season 1 I can see a flag officer like her saddling Shaw with a first officer he'd hate.
I know TV's not what it was 30 or even 20 years ago, but this trend of "darker lighting automatically means cooler and more gritty" needs to end. It's stupid in almost any genre.They don't hold a candle to the poor lighting in PIC 3
So much of Trek plays “homage” to itself and other material that I barely notice anymore.
Not a franchise for anyone that wants originality.
They usually hide it better. But they had a guy named Shaw telling the story about he almost died when his ship went down. Oh well at least his name wasn't "Quint".
My only regret is I have but one like to give.
They usually hide it better. But they had a guy named Shaw telling the story about he almost died when his ship went down. Oh well at least his name wasn't "Quint".
I agree with you.
But Stashwick just fucking nails that scene. Probably the best scene I’ve seen from the series.
I get all of the arguments in favor of Shaw. Not least of which is the actor.
That is a hell of scene. It's enough of being a hell of a scene that I still miss that it's a Jaws homage. (Plus Quint doesn't tell the story to the shark.)
But that last line? That's just irresponsible. (It's a clever line.) He can't say that in front of his crew. That line sums up why Shaw never got his hero moment for me.
All of Shaw's virtues are almost all on paper. I know why I'm supposed to like him eventually. I know the trope. I was waiting for it, actually. I mean, come on. My favorite character in The Bad Batch is Crosshair! (OK, it's Omega, but you know what I mean.)
But nope. He never gets there. And I was rooting for him. I was.
They usually hide it better. But they had a guy named Shaw telling the story about he almost died when his ship went down. Oh well at least his name wasn't "Quint".
That is a hell of scene. It's enough of being a hell of a scene that I still miss that it's a Jaws homage. (Plus Quint doesn't tell the story to the shark.)
But that last line? That's just irresponsible. (It's a clever line.) He can't say that in front of his crew. That line sums up why Shaw never got his hero moment for me.
All of Shaw's virtues are almost all on paper. I know why I'm supposed to like him eventually. I know the trope. I was waiting for it, actually. I mean, come on. My favorite character in The Bad Batch is Crosshair! (OK, it's Omega, but you know what I mean.)
But nope. He never gets there. And I was rooting for him. I was.
Hands down THE Gold Medal scene of the entire three-season run of PIC.
And all Patrick Stewart could do was sit and watch as he was out acted on his own show.
A performance sort of worthy of Robert Shaw from Jaws, who I think the character was named after. Derivative, maybe, but good. I liked Captain Shaw too.
Shaw is not a real person with real psychological issues. He's a character that the writers are asking me to find some sympathy for even as he treats other characters who've been through as much or more than he has (not to mention my already having an attachment to them) like crap because of who they were victimized by and how they identify, all capped off by giving him a lesser version of Quint's speech from Jaws and then also giving him a watered-down version of that same character's death (killed fighting his worst nightmare). I've quite simply seen this character type done too many times and better elsewhere to look at Shaw and think the writers pull off the trick of having his interesting qualities outweigh his flaws. I don't mind characters who heal imperfectly or who react to their trauma in cruel or illogical ways - I, Borg is a favorite TNG episode, for example, and Sisko is my favorite captain - but the writing has to be there, and, by me, PIC S3 took too many shortcuts with Shaw.
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