I liked seeing Scotty in the episode but I thought it was contrived how just after they happened to find the exact kind of problem that only he could solve.
Who Likes 'Relics'?
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Doesn't seem any worse than most Star Trek episodes/films. Given that the Jenolan was from Scott's time period it makes sense to me that he'd be useful in that situation and know more than Geordie.
Don't know if you've heard, but space is big. Real big.
It couldn't have been more obvious if they'd tried.
Anybody who seriously thinks that WASN'T McCoy, needs their head examined.
Besides, I'd wager that every Trek series has at least one episode where characters' names aren't mentioned, yet it's still obviously them.
This reminds me of Janice Rand. She was only mentioned on screen one time during one movie, Star Trek I. The rest of the movies she wasn't even mentioned by name. She was only cameo appearances and in Star Trek III and VI she was not credited as "Rand".
But it is obviously Rand lol.
She had actually been destroyed and replaced by starfleet several times by that point. I think they were up to the E.
Good. 
It was a little contrived, & somewhat thrown together, right down to poor Doohan struggling at points with some of the more modern technobabble, but all in all, I like the episode. They do a fair job playing the "beyond his prime" theme, & I don't think any of it was an egregiously misrepresented depiction of Scotty, even if they did take a bit of liberty with him.
I also find the crew's relation to him to be believable enough. Generally, people will remember Kirk the captain, or Spock the ambassador, & in certain circles Scott will be revered for his accomplishments , but legendarily famous, a century later? Possibly not is certainly within the realm of possibility
They do throw Scott a bone or two, with the fact that they have the Jenolan specs manual contain entries he wrote. Clearly, his influence is still felt
I also find the crew's relation to him to be believable enough. Generally, people will remember Kirk the captain, or Spock the ambassador, & in certain circles Scott will be revered for his accomplishments , but legendarily famous, a century later? Possibly not is certainly within the realm of possibility
They do throw Scott a bone or two, with the fact that they have the Jenolan specs manual contain entries he wrote. Clearly, his influence is still felt
Man, that would have been FUN to see. Scotty would have been better about it. They'd have been sharing a drink by the time it was all over with. If anything, Scotty would have wanted to show off, and eagerly been wanting to teach, especially if it was being picked up quickly.
Also, ignoring the in-universe bits (where we have no idea if Scotty is famous or not), thats really not even the point... this episode WAS made for TOS fans, and fans of Doohan, and it could have showed a lot more respect to both of them. Although it does kind of redeem itself by the end, the episode alone nudged my dislike / disinterest in Geordi to downright loathing.
Tesla was beyond genius, and we have barely tapped the potential of some of his concepts. Bringing Tesla to the modern day could set science into overdrive. I don't think there is any possible way to waste Tesla in that manner. I'm still convinced he could have revolutionized the world (to a much bigger extent then his ideas have) if his Tower hadn't burned down, and if he hadn't lost everything.
Definitely could have used more TOS musical cues for the single episode / nostalgia purposes.
It still wouldn't have a magnetic field or radiation belts and what not that protect the main Earth from most solar radiation....
I suppose you've got to assume that any race that can build a structure on that scale can fudge together some sort of electromagnetic shielding.
Space chicken wire! And tin foil hats!
It's space chickens. The sphere is actually an egg.
In order to make that surface habitable, the builders would have to install artificial gravity (of short range, so that it doesn't cancel out gravity from the other side, or dislodge the star), and some sort of filtering between the star and the surface (for day-night cycles if need be, and for choosing the radiation bands for compatibility with the intended inhabitants) - but the most important thing would be to direct the waste heat somewhere else than back in. Then again, with as much energy being received as that, the builders could probably run a Trek doodad that defies the known laws of nature by sheer brute strength and somehow shoves the heat into another realm (when in doubt, subspace!).
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
I enjoyed this episode very much. It was great seeing Scotty again.
I liked this episode a lot. One can argue that the Dyson Sphere was wasted a bit, and might have been worth an episode of its own, but the Scotty stuff was great. And speaking as a lifelong TOS fan, I don't think the original show or Scotty were being disrespected in any way; Scotty was a man abruptly thrust into a time that was not his own; that's an inherently poignant situation, so of course the episode milked that for all it was worth.
If everybody aboard the ship spent the whole episode marveling at how amazing Scotty was, where would the drama and emotion come from? Those early scenes were supposed to be somewhat bittersweet . . ..
If everybody aboard the ship spent the whole episode marveling at how amazing Scotty was, where would the drama and emotion come from? Those early scenes were supposed to be somewhat bittersweet . . ..
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I like it too, with two caveats ...
I did not pick up that the crew in general was disrespectful to Scotty, didn't surprise me that he didn't have instant recognition. Nice moment with Scotty and Picard in the holodeck.
I didn't like Scotty's dialogue that he intentionally and routinely mislead his Captain/Commander about repair estimates. I seem to recall that most requests by Kirk/Spock about repair times were in the heat of the moment and at first blush Scotty was probably quoting some Starfleet standard, which was undoubtedly conservative to begin with. Also, like as previously mentioned, I take his "... you don't have eight weeks so I'll do it in two" comment and Kirk's refrain in TSFS as some friendly banter between long serving comrades.
I also don't care for the writing of Scotty as being the bumbling meddler. True, he played a crucial role at saving the day at the end, but in the middle acts he was very unprofessional and disrespectful toward Geordi. He should have recognized that and deferred to the ship's Chief Engineer, I think that would have been more in-character. Geordi wasn't exactly the epitome of professionalism, but Scotty was pushing his buttons. A little friction between the two could have been written more satisfactory, with both acting professionally and in a manner each thought best for the ship/mission.
I also don't care for the writing of Scotty as being the bumbling meddler. True, he played a crucial role at saving the day at the end, but in the middle acts he was very unprofessional and disrespectful toward Geordi. He should have recognized that and deferred to the ship's Chief Engineer, I think that would have been more in-character. Geordi wasn't exactly the epitome of professionalism, but Scotty was pushing his buttons. A little friction between the two could have been written more satisfactory, with both acting professionally and in a manner each thought best for the ship/mission.
I did not pick up that the crew in general was disrespectful to Scotty, didn't surprise me that he didn't have instant recognition. Nice moment with Scotty and Picard in the holodeck.
This is part of that whole "callback" and "references to earlier Trek" stuff that some apparently clamor for and a scene like this is exactly why the whole idea irritates me. No two ways about it, this is an example of extremely poor writing for the express purpose of making a pointless, stupid, and irrelevant callback to the dialog in TSFS.For the most part, the "callbacks", "call forwards", etc. in all of the TNG/ENT era were mostly stupid "look, we're a Star Trek series too!!!" nonsense.
Scotty wasn't Scotty anymore, in the films or here. So I don't care that Scotty came back. I did like the idea of surviving using the transporter, and liked hearing and seeing the old Trek transporter effect. The Dyson sphere (it wasn't Dyson's idea and not a sphere) was thrown at us without doing anything with it. Look, a Dyson Sphere. And it was deserted, simplifying the episode enormously. It was just a thing to get trapped in. It could just as well have been a big space cave they sent the ship into.
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