2016-01-05
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Posted on January 5, 2016 by Mark Farinas
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17 Responses to 2016-01-05

  1. Eddie says:
    January 5, 2016 at 6:49 am

    So apparently it worked, in that they have escaped the effects of the mysterious radiation. However they still have exhausted their power reserves to the point that they can’t send a subspace distress call.

    Reply
    • Moeskido says:
      January 5, 2016 at 3:29 pm

      Not to mention still being stuck with a captain that 21st-century American males find “unlikable.”

      Reply
      • Matt says:
        January 5, 2016 at 4:12 pm

        I just lol’ed.

        Reply
      • Mark Farinas says:
        January 5, 2016 at 4:15 pm

        I should implement a comment “like” system.

        Reply
      • Josh P. says:
        January 5, 2016 at 5:53 pm

        She doesn’t need to be liked on a personal level, she just needs more good decisions and more low level respect for the crew. Inquiring as to Das’ name was a good step, letting Calhoun go instead of wasting time, energy, and lives on securing him was probably good too.

        Reply
      • Uilliam says:
        January 6, 2016 at 6:23 am

        I like her as a character. She doesn’t take any crap, which is how a Captain should be.

        It’s just the view of ‘Enlisted people are kinda stupid’ is a bit….grating. Being as most of us I suspect are not CEOs, you have to sympathise with the grunts a little.

        We’re naturally drawn to sympathize with the underdog.

        It’s like with Tuvix.

        Sure I guess technically Janeway was in the right, because she needed Tuvok as he was an important member of the crew, and Neelix who was…..well…he was apparently useful.

        But it was kind of a dick-move separating the two.

        I even understand Commander Maddox’s reasoning for wanting learn about Data so Starfleet can make Soong Androids. But how the character went about it was so very very wrong.

        Personally I like that Barret is flawed, I like that she’s not this near-perfect character.

        As much as I facepalmed and went “Kirk you dumbass!” when he didn’t raise the shields before Khan struck, and cost amongst other things, Scotty’s adorkable nephew in Wrath of Khan.
        But it made the character fallible, human as it were. It added to him. Just like his “Let them die!” attitude towards the Klingons.

        Pike, being willing to blow his captor away with a very much not drained laser pistol..showing that just because humans are in space and are besties with aliens, doesn’t mean we should just throw away the things that are part of what makes us human.

        As much as Captain Barret’s “Oh stupid Enlisted…” attitude, rubs a lot of people the wrong way, it shows that she is mortal. Prone to misjudgements. It makes her a more interesting character.

        I mean do we love Picard any less because he kinda hates kids? Do we love Kirk any less after Wrath of Khan, or screwing Captain Dekker over?
        Well okay screwing Dekker over was kind of a dick move, but still. He’s finally got her back! He wants his ship back and he regrets the promotion…and that hubris of ‘Hey I can just roll on back into the center seat on a totally refitted ship like nothing’s ever happened and I can just take over like I haven’t been flying a desk for a few years’ that makes his character all the greater because it allows for growth, and coming to terms with the fact that…he isn’t at the top of his game anymore.

        Reply
        • Moeskido says:
          January 8, 2016 at 12:38 pm

          I’m reluctant to cite most episodes of Voyager as anything other than an example of how to ignore a series’ premise. But Janeway had to look after a marooned shipful of people in a hostile place, and her pursuing the “greater good” for their survival works for me. Early TNG was mostly full of silly caricatures. TWOK is an opera without the vocals.

          Post-series backstories aside, the brief view of Pike we had is my standard for a starship captain who might have had a few genuinely interesting rough edges. Almost as if a pseudo-1950s-era Star Trek could serve as an analog for what 1960s-Trek tried to address.

          Reply
      • Uilliam says:
        January 6, 2016 at 6:28 am

        I mean look at how many comments this ‘Episode’ has generated.

        Mark Farinas must be doing something right.

        Reply
        • Josh P. says:
          January 6, 2016 at 1:59 pm

          I think a big problem for Captain Barrett is unlike all the other captains who have a ton of victories under their belts we are seeing a lot of worst cases only. In the normal version of this story it would be about finding the solution, non-crew false tension, and getting out clean; maybe the blip would turn out real too, and the captain would have lept at that solution without any real reason. A weaker story over all than what we have here.

          Mr. Farinas is definitely doing things right.

          Reply
          • Tim "Scolopendra" Cooper says:
            January 8, 2016 at 12:27 pm

            No argument here–we’ve only got the evidence presented directly (“basis of proof,” heh) and we’re certainly not seeing anyone at their best. While this makes for excellent anthology-format drama, it also necessarily limits the context we have to make our character judgments. The heel (be it the technician who sees ghosts or the captain that disrespects her crew, depending on the mileage) is the heel because we see them being a heel. We’ve only got that plus our built in biases /and experiences/ to make judgments with.

            What I’m finding more problematic is the assumption that all critics are acting based purely on bias (and probably “ethics in games journalism”) rather than said experiences. I’ve seen the phrase “statistical bias” used, which is true enough, but statistics comment on populations, not individuals. Using statistics to comment on individuals is the most positive form of stereotyping, and it’s only ‘positive’ in that there’s at least some approximate if not entirely apropos data to back up the comment.

            So yeah, Mr. Farinas is certainly doing right by telling engaging stories. Job #1 completed with flying colors. Whether we want to get into an argument on whether the artist’s or the observer’s interpretation is more correct is a more academic and dicier subject–just look at Fahrenheit 451–even without resorting to snark.

            Reply
        • Moeskido says:
          January 8, 2016 at 12:42 pm

          No argument there.

          Reply
      • John Waltrip says:
        January 6, 2016 at 10:34 am

        I also find fire “hot” and water “wet”.

        Reply
    • Josh P. says:
      January 5, 2016 at 5:38 pm

      At this point they could safely use a shuttle as an emergency beacon.

      They should probably still be boiling hot.

      Reply
      • Mark Farinas says:
        January 5, 2016 at 6:52 pm

        We discussed this already. Besides the radiation wasn’t a heat source warming the ship. It was only acting on the bodies of the crew.

        Reply
        • Josh P. says:
          January 6, 2016 at 1:50 am

          Don’t worry about it, the scene is a powerful counterpoint to the rest of the story.

          Reply
          • Mark Farinas says:
            January 6, 2016 at 6:54 am

            Not worried. Just like the facts of the story to be straight.

            Reply
      • Greg says:
        January 8, 2016 at 3:08 pm

        Presumably the neck and engine pod pylons of the engineering section act as passive radiators to prevent this.

        Reply

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