Star Trek Strange New Worlds (Season 2)

[Mabus]

1. The issue with treating PTSD or other trauma related conditions is down to how readily available the treatment is. In TOS there was that episode where the Federation doctors were basically treating most of mental illnesses, and you can't do that unless you already have a good understanding of the central nervous system, meaning the Federation should still have something OTC. Sure, you could argue that M'Benga refused to take treatment and hide his shell shocked state, and you'd be correct. But he'd still had to have taken something for him to still be a functional adult, just like he took that super-serum. I'm more annoyed by his extreme reaction, he looked more like he had a stroke, I know people react to trauma differently, but there it was just too dramatic.
2. Pretty sure most of those 100 million dead Federation casualties were on ships or bombed from orbit, rather ground warfare casualties. And you won't need medical machines for them, since you can't heal bits of people. And last time I checked, the Federation is more than just humans. There's no reason the Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Denobulans, or other Federation members couldn't have manufactured medical parts for Starfleet and ship them en-masse, in keeping with the Ukranian war theme. But even so, there's no excuse for sending a single shuttle on the front lines carrying only a nurse and almost no medical supplies (I think she might have had some in her bag). After rewatching the scene, Chapel mentions that Starfleet ships should arrive soon as reinforcements and they could use the sickbay on those ships, so it's clear that Starfleet has no supply issue, it's just that things are kept deliberately dumb for drama.
3. Nope. In fact M'Benga clearly said: "Did you know there's no limit on how long you can store someone's pattern in a buffer? You just have to materialize them regularly." And the best thing is you don't need to do this more than a couple of times to someone critically injured, since you just need to keep them there until better help is available. Actually... Here's an even better idea: Have an additional pattern buffer to the battlefield evacuation transporter, I mean, if Starfleet can have a neverending supply of shuttles with transporters, surely they could spare a few hundred pattern buffers. Put all the critically injured, those that can't be helped on the field in the extra buffer. Then when the supply shuttle arrives, swap the full buffer with an new one, the shuttle takes the buffer with the critically injured to the nearest starbase or medical ship, rematerialize the injured in the hospital. Rinse and repeat. I honestly can see M'Benga coming up with such a system, he'd probably take the transport buffer from a crashed shuttle and jerry rig it to store the seriously injured soldiers there, and then ask the shuttle pilot to take them back to the base. But of course, that would be interesting to watch, and we can't have that, we need pointless deaths.
4. No, no and no. Operation Paperclip focused entirely on German scientists and engineers that actually made functional technology (so no Mengele nutjobs) and were not directly involved in war crimes, for better whitewashing, though some were later found to have been involved to some degree in forced labor activities. If you wanted a better example, you could have used Klaus Barbie (guy even had a Butcher nickname), but even there, the US government simply refused to hand him over and did not actively stopped Nazi hunters from arresting him. In fact, when he was finally caught, the US government had to issue an apology for working with him, since the matter was too embarrassing not to. And no, Rah shifting the blame on his subordinates is bullshit, since everyone that survived the battlefield could testify that Rah himself gave the order, so this would not fly. Also, von Braun's work put the man on the Moon, all Rah did were some negotiations with the unseen planet of the week, which could have been handled by others, since negotiations aren't a novel science unlike rocket science.

As a side note, when watching the episode, I got this hunch that the writers might have ripped off Fred Johnson's backstory from The Expanse, due to being too many similarities:
Military commander that pointlessly murdered civilians including children? Check.
Gets "The Butcher of [insert name]" nickname from this event? Check.
Never went to trial for his war crimes? Check.
Did a 180 and now tries to atone for his horrible crimes? Check.
Becomes an important figure in space politics? Check.
Developed a passive distaste for his own people? Check.

[CharlesPhipps]

This episode had an incredibly stupid premise even in-universe (they needed a Trelane-esque being to justify it) but it was something I forgive a lot of flaws due to the emotional development.

Some random thoughts:

* Jess Bush is fantastically sexy in her number. It needs to be said. However, the big thing is it is a woman choosing her career over a man. You still don’t see that very often in media.

* In the words of Friends with Kirk and La’an, “It could have been worse. He could have shot her.”

* Speaking of which, actually addressing Carol Marcus is something I’m glad they did.

* Spock’s breakup depression song is a math so chef’s kiss.

* Uhura is lonely despite being the center of everyone else’s drama. It makes me wonder if they’re going to do her and Spock.

* Captain Batel couldn’t be throwing up more death flags than if she was two weeks from retirement on her ship the USS Immortal.

* The Klingon Boy Band thing was hilarious but I now have to wonder if Klingons have boy bands or if the Federation DID infect them (in which case destroying the Federation was justified)

* I really expected Pelia to have more comments on this. “Oh, yeah, I wrote that song.”

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Well, I liked that episode. Not good enough to 100% distract me from thoughts of death but it got there near the end. I agree that the technobabble of the week was a bit weak but it's still something I was willing to swallow.

[m4a2000]

I am skipping this one. Just not my cup of tea. I did see the clip of the Klingon boy band... If that doesn't become a meme in some way I'll be shocked.

Season ends next episode and I can already tell someone is going to bite it.

[CharlesPhipps]

I am skipping this one. Just not my cup of tea. I did see the clip of the Klingon boy band... If that doesn't become a meme in some way I'll be shocked.

Season ends next episode and I can already tell someone is going to bite it.

A lot of people didn't like the Klingon boy band. I guess they just don't care for...

*puts on sunglasses*

K-Pop.

YEOWWWWWW

[Madner Kami]

*groans*

[clearspira]

*groans*

Seconded.

And people say the writers strike is a bad thing. Just think: the people behind this aren't working right now. Ah, bliss.

[tjfd88]

To paraphrase Jurassic Park, the writers were so occupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.

I needed to listen to some Jerry Goldsmith after this to remind me what GOOD Star Trek music sounds like.

I appreciate an attempt to try new things, but some things probably really shouldn't be tried. Still a very good show with a good cast and good stories. It just shouldn't be wasted on gimmicks, especially since after the next episode we're likely looking at two years before Season 3 even happens.

[hammerofglass]

I haven't seen it yet but the contrast between some fans grimly lamenting this dark day and other fans gleefully enjoying it exactly like Buffy fans with "Once More With Feeling" is hilarious.

[clearspira]

I haven't seen it yet but the contrast between some fans grimly lamenting this dark day and other fans gleefully enjoying it exactly like Buffy fans with "Once More With Feeling" is hilarious.

Buffy always had the tone of a comic book. Stupid things like that are perfectly in-keeping.

The original TOS pilot was rejected for being too cerebral. The same show that now has the same set of characters singing like its Aladdin.