Being inspired by something is different from copying something.
What are your favorite 'Retread' or 'Rehash' episodes?
- Thread starter Prax
- Start date
Being inspired by something is different from copying something.
Exactly. There's a difference between saying "I'm going to write a hard-boiled detective story in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler" and saying "I'm just going to file the serial numbers off The Big Sleep."
Although when you get things like Ghost and Always, or Deep Impact and Armageddon, Dante's Peak and Volcano, Mission to Mars and The Red Planet, coming out so close together, you gotta think there's something going on. It could be as simple as competitiveness, or as cynical as corporate espionage.
My assumption: all these people are going to the same parties and the same meetings and lots of ideas get thrown around and everyone comes away thinking "You know, there hasn't been a good samurai vampire mermaid movie in years Maybe that's worth developing . . . ."
Or, less casually, a star, a director, and a producer have lunch. Over lunch, the idea of collaborating on a samurai vampire mermaid epic arises . . . but "creative differences" crop up and they each head off to make the samurai vampire mermaid THEY want to make.
A year later, we have dueling samurai vampire mermaid movies . . .
This seriously needs to be a thing. Why is this not yet a thing?
It could take over from the Sharknado movies on SyFy.
I can think of two other colonists-must-evacuate episodes: "Progress" and, of course, "The Maquis".
The weakest of the bunch was "The Ensigns of Command". The colonists, all 15,000+ caved in to Data's demand in just a few days. It was unbelievable. There were no shows of force by either the Sheliak or Starfleet, yet the colonists submitted anyway.
Both DS9 episodes were superior to their TNG counterparts.
Data was the show of force. He had the phaser and destroyed the water pumping station. The Sheliak was a threat of the use of force.
The Sheliak never made their presence or threat known to the colonists. The colonists had never even heard of the Sheliaks. And they had no clue that the Sheliak were about to annihilate them within a week.
It was Data who informed the colonists of the situation. Data was the first contact that the current generation of colonists ever had with the Federation. It was unbelievable that the colonists, who had made a home on the planet for over 90 years, would simply accept a stranger's (Data's) word that their end was near.
Data's phaser light show may have been impressive, but there was nothing more. Starfleet, Picard and Data, as far as I could remember, didn't even threaten to forcibly remove the colonists. Picard didn't even do a video conference with the colonists. No Picard speech. He left the persuading completely to Data. It was just Data's word and his phaser show. For all 15,000+ colonists to cave in to that in just a few days wasn't believable.
It was Data who informed the colonists of the situation. Data was the first contact that the current generation of colonists ever had with the Federation. It was unbelievable that the colonists, who had made a home on the planet for over 90 years, would simply accept a stranger's (Data's) word that their end was near.
Data's phaser light show may have been impressive, but there was nothing more. Starfleet, Picard and Data, as far as I could remember, didn't even threaten to forcibly remove the colonists. Picard didn't even do a video conference with the colonists. No Picard speech. He left the persuading completely to Data. It was just Data's word and his phaser show. For all 15,000+ colonists to cave in to that in just a few days wasn't believable.
Yeah, no. It wasn't a light show. Data demonstrated power that they had not bargained for. They didn't have to believe every word he said to be convinced that he heralded a scenario that was a horribly bad bet not worth the risk. What you're attempting to dismiss as a light show was staggering enough to demonstrate just how bad their position was.
And the original stubborn-colonists-must-evacuate episode: "This Side of Paradise" on TOS.
(Unless we count FORBIDDEN PLANET, in which Doctor Morbius--one of the two surviving colonists-- refuses to evacuate Altair V.)
Why didn't the colonists -- or at least, a significantly large number of them -- ask Data to provide them with similar phasers that he used in his demonstration as a means of defense?
The colonists had not seen even one Sheliak. It was just Data's word, and Data was essentially a stranger. It was a huge leap of faith for colonists who had proudly made a home on that planet to simply walk away that easily and quickly. It was not believable.
From their prospective, how were the colonists to know that it was not actually a Federation ploy to clear the planet of those colonists for some other purpose? The colonists encountered only Data and no one else from the Federation.
The native Americans in "Journey's End" didn't cave in, and they knew about the Cardassian savagery and Starfleet's threat to forcibly remove them.
The colonists had not seen even one Sheliak. It was just Data's word, and Data was essentially a stranger. It was a huge leap of faith for colonists who had proudly made a home on that planet to simply walk away that easily and quickly. It was not believable.
From their prospective, how were the colonists to know that it was not actually a Federation ploy to clear the planet of those colonists for some other purpose? The colonists encountered only Data and no one else from the Federation.
The native Americans in "Journey's End" didn't cave in, and they knew about the Cardassian savagery and Starfleet's threat to forcibly remove them.
Last edited:
DATA: I can reduce this pumping station to a pile of debris, but I trust my point is clear. I am one android with a single weapon. There are hundreds of Sheliak on the way and their weapons are far more powerful. They may not offer you a target. They can obliterate you from orbit. You will die never having seen the faces of your killers. The choice is yours.
http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/149.htm
The only thing that is silly about "The Ensigns of Command" is that only Data was sent to talk to them. They could've sent anyone else with Data amd it would have made a huge difference.
As for the colonists agreeing so readily...they didn't. A few people are interested in what Data has to say, but the rest aren't. Gosheven, the colony's leader is the one that was convinced, in the end. Everyone presumably falls in line, or were sort of manipulated into desiring evacuation by the fact that their leader, the one most opposed and most skeptical, flips on the subject.
As for the colonists agreeing so readily...they didn't. A few people are interested in what Data has to say, but the rest aren't. Gosheven, the colony's leader is the one that was convinced, in the end. Everyone presumably falls in line, or were sort of manipulated into desiring evacuation by the fact that their leader, the one most opposed and most skeptical, flips on the subject.
That was a colony of 15,000+ people. For every single one to fall in line -- if that was indeed implied -- was not believable. You get 15,000 humans in a room or on a planet, you know there will be disagreements, especially when it comes to fighting for the only home those colonists have ever known. Presumably there were many colonists like the leader who were proud of their accomplishments.
Again, it came down to Data's word. The colonists had never seen or heard of the Sheliak. Even the leader's conversion to wanting to leave in just a few days time was stretching credibility, for me as a viewer.
The reaction of the colonists -- at least, a significant number of them -- in "Journey's End", "Progress" and "The Maquis" were much more realistic. For better or worse, some people are going to fight to the very end.
Again, it came down to Data's word. The colonists had never seen or heard of the Sheliak. Even the leader's conversion to wanting to leave in just a few days time was stretching credibility, for me as a viewer.
The reaction of the colonists -- at least, a significant number of them -- in "Journey's End", "Progress" and "The Maquis" were much more realistic. For better or worse, some people are going to fight to the very end.
PICARD: Humans can't survive in that environment. Exposure to hyperonic radiation is fatal.
[...]
PICARD: Mister Data, as you are unaffected by hyperonic radiation, I'd like you to go to the planet via shuttlecraft and commence evacuation procedures.
[...]
PICARD: Mister Data, as you are unaffected by hyperonic radiation, I'd like you to go to the planet via shuttlecraft and commence evacuation procedures.
http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/149.htm
You remember that part, right?
Tau Cygna V was an H-class world (not class M).
Radiation affects health in a very plot-dependent way, much like a ship at warp moves at the speed of plot.
Last edited:
Sometimes it gives you eternal youth, other times it melts your face off.
It's a coin toss, really.
M
marlboro
Guest
I think I prefer "Doctor's Orders" to "One."
FWIW, the Enterprise episode "Stratagem" is a mashup of two Season One episodes of the old Mission Impossible, "Operation Rogosh"" & "The Train." "Rogosh" was a ripoff of the James Garner/Rod Taylor movie "36 Hours."
FWIW, the Enterprise episode "Stratagem" is a mashup of two Season One episodes of the old Mission Impossible, "Operation Rogosh"" & "The Train." "Rogosh" was a ripoff of the James Garner/Rod Taylor movie "36 Hours."
