Star Trek TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT - pre-Paramount+ TV Series

[Seto Kaiba]

6 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Wasn't this originally supposed to be about STDs anyways?

No, Jeri Taylor and Brannon Braga have both gone on the record to say that it was a jab at how kids were supposedly "addicted" to video games at the time.  It originated with writer Fred Bronson's own fondness for playing Tetris to unwind.

As Jeri Taylor put it:

"Through an evolutionary process – without really intending to ape that movie* – this insidious spread of a game had its origins in kids being addicted to video games now, and what happens to them. That was the original intent and that's what drove the final story and script. That insight followed the development."

* meaning Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The only episode I recall being an explicit allegory of STDs was in Enterprise, the second season episode "Stigma" that was a really unsubtle allegory for being HIV positive (which was shot all to hell by Pa'nar syndrome later being retconned from an incurable telepathic disease to an easily curable injury caused by untrained telepaths.

[JB0]

I stand corrected.

Fortunately, the ill effects of video game addiction can be cured by a simple flashlight set to strobe. No worries!

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, JB0 said:

Fortunately, the ill effects of video game addiction can be cured by a simple flashlight set to strobe. No worries!

Yeah, it's pretty easy to tell that "The Game" was rescued from the Season 4 rejects bin as makeweight for Season 5.

Rewatching Star Trek: the Next Generation without skipping any episodes has really reminded me of just why Star Trek fans loathed Wesley so much when TNG was still airing.  The way the crew treats Wesley varies wildly from episode to episode, seemingly based on nothing more than what the writers think would make Wesley look better when he ultimately saves the day.  Sometimes the crew dismiss him as an annoying kid who's only ever underfoot.  Other times, he's this amazing wunderkind they can't stop gushing about.  That the writing goes to such lengths to make Wesley look good without him really doing anything to justify it really makes him come off as a Marty Stu at times.  (I'd say "The First Duty" is probably the only actually-good Wesley episode, in no small part because those two approaches to the character finally meet in the middle in a story where Wesley got to be good, but not amazing, and screwed up in a believable way that the crew were subsequently disappointed by for mundane and believable reasons.)

[sh9000]

 

 

[derex3592]

I liked "The Game" because...young Ashley Judd. Period.  There is NOTHING more to discuss. 😍😍.

 

In other news the wife actually TOLD me to buy the upcoming re-release Box Set of Next Gen on Blu-Ray so we'll have ALL the episodes to go back and watch someday...Ummmm..OK! Didn't have to twist my arm on that one! Releasing on 9/20! 

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, derex3592 said:

I liked "The Game" because...young Ashley Judd. Period.  There is NOTHING more to discuss. 😍😍.

... I'm pretty sure that was listed as a motivation by some of the production staff, TBH.

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[Seto Kaiba]

Moved on from TNG into DS9 as my rewatch continues.

Just finished "For the Cause", the episode where Eddington betrays the crew to steal the industrial replicators destined for Cardassia and Captain Yates is revealed to have been running supplies to the Maquis.  Talk about harsh in hindsight... Kassidy Yates dropped off the crew of her freighter, the Xhosa, on a Maquis colony before surrendering to Sisko's security staff on DS9.  The colonies that got wiped off the map by the Jem'Hadar-supported Cardassians when the Dominion War started.  She tried to keep them out of a cushy Federation penal colony and instead they probably all got gunned down by the Jem'Hadar instead.

[Mog]

Eddington would probably spout off that they died a far nobler death, instead of rotting in some prison.

While Sisko would eat some bread in front of Mikey. . . before firing off another torpedo at a Marquis planet. 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Mog

[Seto Kaiba]

In hindsight, it's also kinda weird that the topic of the Maquis being wiped out by the Dominion comes up pretty prominently but nobody ever recalls that Kassidy's old crew were among them.  She eventually comes back to DS9 after getting paroled and the topic of her (now dead) crew never comes up.

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[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

 

That was a fun bit of prop reuse... the Lyssian Central Command station was originally made as the Edo "god" from season one episode "Justice.

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[derex3592]

Got this from Amazon a day early!  Popped in Disc One Season One last night with the wife. All I can say is - It's never looked better. (When upconverted via a 4K Player to a 75" 4K TV) Sound is DTS-HD 7.1 and it kinda is what it is on the pilot, but oh man!, somebody in the audio editing booth had fun and cranked ALL the surround channels to 11 for this mix! 

 

[sh9000]

Congrats @derex3592.  I also have that set and it's great.

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[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

 

Ah, what almost was...

Not only is this a vanishingly rare Good Wesley Episode, if it weren't for the royalties issues and the showrunners feeling that Locarno was irredeemable Robert Duncan McNeill would've been reprising his role as Nicolas Locarno on Star Trek: Voyager instead of suspiciously similar substitute Tom Paris.

[Tking22]

It took quite a while but I wrapped up Star Trek TAS, it was fun enough I suppose, and I see why it was essential viewing for wrapping up the original TOS five year story arc. That said, I'm officially ready for TNG, I really took my time with TAS because it was just a bit too cheesy and yes, old looking, a lot of the time, I need to get back into live action territory. 

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[Seto Kaiba]

Oh god, Inner Light.  

That was one fantastic performance by Patrick Stewart.  Just absolutely amazing, and impactful enough that they kept calling back to it in little ways as the series went on.

[Dynaman]

8 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Oh god, Inner Light.  

That was one fantastic performance by Patrick Stewart.  Just absolutely amazing, and impactful enough that they kept calling back to it in little ways as the series went on.

Not just call backs, it was one of the very few instances in the show where a character changed and the change stuck in future episodes.  This episode is second only to the one where Picard goes home and "reconciles" with his brother.  Brilliant performances by both actors in that one.

[derex3592]

Agreed! 

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[derex3592]

Never one of my favorites, the actor who played Mark Twain's voice just annoys the crap out of me....

[Seto Kaiba]

Not the best two-parter in TNG by a long run... though it was fun that Futurama of all shows decided to lampoon the ending.

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[Dynaman]

Here is one on the Enterprise C (well, a sister ship to it - the curator explains).  Neat to see the comments on how it was built for filming TV episodes and NOT as a display model.