Sfdebris.net

I like Chuck and I like his stuff. Even so the way I figure it there will be points were two people disagree even if they are really close. This thread is for such instances...

I'll start with one relating to Regeneration (Enterprise): Chuck said that Borg Drones self destruct if left behind enemies lines as shown in Q Who. My response to that is that such a feature could be one that they could simply toggle on or off as the situation required. When they sent Drones onto the Enterprise, that was a situation in which the Borg knew that the Crew would pick it apart and gain some intel on a threat they faced. When they were going to earth, they had limited drones to work with and figured that the risk of intel gained by the enemy was minimal compared to the prospect of reactivating dead drones.

Zor

In general, I agree with Chuck that Janeway's decision making is bonkers and inconsistent. I think that, for the sake of comedy, he sometimes lampoons some of her decisions that are actually quite reasonable.

One example is in Dark Frontier. Chuck suggests that attacking Borg vessels and stealing technology from them is piracy, and seems to say that there's a moral or ethical issue with Janeway engaging in it. However, the Borg are in a de-facto state of war with the rest of the galaxy. Moreover, it's an undeclared war since the Borg on constantly aggressive and negotiation with them is impossible. Calling that piracy is like saying that the Allies were engaging in piracy in WWII when they captured a U-boat in order to obtain a functioning Enigma machine. Of course, Voyager deciding to attack a Borg Cube is a bad idea just because it's nearly suicidal, but I wouldn't say it's wrong.

Another instance of this comes up in Unimatrix 0. It's a pretty dreadful episode all together, but Janeway's decision to help the people of Unimatrix 0 is not wrong. The Borg break a ton of conventional rules in this way. You could argue that they're members of the Collective, which makes this a purely internal matter and therefore a violation of the Prime Directive. You could also argue that these are prisoners of war who have been enslaved and are requesting asylum, and therefore it's decidedly NOT a violation of the PD, and helping them is the only humane choice.

Episodes that feature minor and side characters are perfectly fine.

For all it's many, many flaws, I personally rather like Repo, The Genetic Opera

A few things. I think that his hatred for Neelix through out the first 3 seasons really kept him from accepting that he evolved past those annoying traits for the most part. He didn't suddenly become the best character mind you, but he did start to show sides that yeah he could be bumbling but he was pretty much always well meaning in his actions. It kinda made me think that as a result of Kes leaving he wanted to do her proud and improved himself as a result. It kinda makes me want to request Mortal Coil because I think not only is it a good episode, it's a great one. With Neelix as the main character to boot so it'd be a whammy of what the hell.

While I think it's perfectly fine, I'm not really big on Yesterday's Enterprise at all and, conversely, I'd probably have given Relics a 10 personally.

LavarosVA wrote:A few things. I think that his hatred for Neelix through out the first 3 seasons really kept him from accepting that he evolved past those annoying traits for the most part. He didn't suddenly become the best character mind you, but he did start to show sides that yeah he could be bumbling but he was pretty much always well meaning in his actions. It kinda made me think that as a result of Kes leaving he wanted to do her proud and improved himself as a result. It kinda makes me want to request Mortal Coil because I think not only is it a good episode, it's a great one. With Neelix as the main character to boot so it'd be a whammy of what the hell.

Agreed- season 5 Neelix is not only a tolerable character but a good one, someone who actually offers the 'outside look at humanity' (or in his case, the Voyager hierarchy) that we were promised, and engages in a lot of character growth as well. It's just a pity that he seemed to have slide back hard in season 7. The episode Prophecy in particular, which killed off any chance of Neelix ever getting a 'fond' farewell that didn't involve an open airlock.

His claim that Dragon Age Origins is the successor to Kotor more so than Mass Effect doesn't work for me. It's definitely the successor to Baldur's Gate. While there are some lore/story similarities like the Tevinter/Rakata, the gameplay similarities have more to do with Kotor's gameplay being similar to BG, and you can't get around the fact that Mass Effect 1 is about a member of a galactic peacekeeping organisation hunting the relics of a dead race in order to stop a traitorous cyborg.

nebagram wrote:

LavarosVA wrote:A few things. I think that his hatred for Neelix through out the first 3 seasons really kept him from accepting that he evolved past those annoying traits for the most part. He didn't suddenly become the best character mind you, but he did start to show sides that yeah he could be bumbling but he was pretty much always well meaning in his actions. It kinda made me think that as a result of Kes leaving he wanted to do her proud and improved himself as a result. It kinda makes me want to request Mortal Coil because I think not only is it a good episode, it's a great one. With Neelix as the main character to boot so it'd be a whammy of what the hell.

Agreed- season 5 Neelix is not only a tolerable character but a good one, someone who actually offers the 'outside look at humanity' (or in his case, the Voyager hierarchy) that we were promised, and engages in a lot of character growth as well. It's just a pity that he seemed to have slide back hard in season 7. The episode Prophecy in particular, which killed off any chance of Neelix ever getting a 'fond' farewell that didn't involve an open airlock.

I actually liked Prophecy. Yeah him trashing Tuvoks room via fucking a Klingon was a bit over the top but it's one of those moments that other characters have that they do a dickish thing but can still be alright, like Quark saying he regrets having Rom as a brother, or Worf at any poker game in TNG or Jadzia all the time.

I agree with the majority of Chuck's thoughts on Star Trek. Sometimes his opinions on Roddenberry, Star Trek philosophy, and the franchise as a whole not only agree with my own thoughts, but articulate my views more coherently than I have in my own mind. When I do disagree with him on Trek, it's more a matter of personal perspective. I might rate a certain episode slightly higher or slightly lower, but I can almost always see his side of it. I agree with his Stargate stuff a little less often, but probably still 90% of the time.


Where I disagree with Chuck the most is his X-Files reviews. I thought he really missed the boat on what, to me, is one of the very best episodes of the show in Die Hand Die Verletzt, as well as episodes like Irresistible. Then he gave the thoroughly mediocre (to my mind) subsequent episode, Fresh Bones, a more positive review. With Star Trek, it feels as if Chuck has the essence of the show down and can relate exactly why something does or does not work- I don't get the same sense with The X-Files.

I think I'm also slightly less high on Farscape than Chuck is.