Areas where you'd respectfully disagree with Chuck

[Riedquat]

He refutes all of that, the bit about pain in the episode and the "it got rayguns and FTL travel so is unrealistic anyway, therefore anything goes" argument elsewhere (and that one winds me up a lot because it's simply lazy).

[Fianna]

I thought his complaint with the painless pregnancy was more that, if it's so completely easy for her, than spending so much time on it is just boring.

[Riedquat]

I thought his complaint with the painless pregnancy was more that, if it's so completely easy for her, than spending so much time on it is just boring.

Not that that would be an invalid opinion IMO, but Kira is basically human-shaped, it's very implausible that it would naturally be that easy. Ignoring that sort of parallel with the universe we know just doesn't cut it. Speculative fiction has to survive on the rules of the real world and the exceptions it creates as part of its worldbuilding. Writers who fail to appreciate that turn out dreck.

Chuck pointed out their are ways of dealing with the pain, so by the time of DS9 there's no need for it to be traumatic either. AFAIK we don't know how long the Bajorans have been an advanced, high-tech species, but if it's been long enough that their knowledge can make giving birth a simple, spiritual experience without the unpleasantness that it's become a fundamental part of their culture, rather than due to implausible-sounding physiology I believe it wouldn't have been an issue for Chuck. Indeed it would've been an interesting little side-snippet on how technological change alters social attitudes.

[MithrandirOlorin]

The interesting side effect of someone who came here over the Madoka Reviews, which I think are mostly spot on. Is that I almost never agree with Chuck on Star Trek, the thing that was originally his main thing.

I like Star Trek 5 and Generations, I used to be pretty in Voyager, and I generally don't like when Star Trek pretends it's Star Wars.

[Yukaphile]

Well, as far as I recall, he never brought up her humanoid configuration, so if he had, maybe he could have clarified it better, because this is a mistaken impression, I feel, but it made me deeply uncomfortable at the time given how much he was ranting with scathing venom on how Kira was not suffering during childbirth, but of course, I am aware it's not what he meant, and he did later mention in "Deadlock" how that's not what he wanted at all. I guess that's what it boils down to. He didn't explain himself well enough, which is not good when you have that tone and that kind of raised voice. Gives the wrong perception. Thanks for offering your thoughts!

[Deledrius]

The interesting side effect of someone who came here over the Madoka Reviews, which I think are mostly spot on. Is that I almost never agree with Chuck on Star Trek, the thing that was originally his main thing.

I like Star Trek 5 and Generations, I used to be pretty in Voyager, and I generally don't like when Star Trek pretends it's Star Wars.

Liking ST5 and the SW Prequels means you disagree with a large number of people and not just our host, but at least you're consistent.

I have to say though, I like ST5 too. Or at least I don't loathe it, and there are parts of it that I think work really well and it doesn't get enough of a look because people expect to hate the bad parts. It's definitely a victim of its own ambition (and the budget).

[Yukaphile]

Well, he sometimes gives a pass in places I wouldn't. Like the Borg Queen's "Dr. Evil" plot at the end of "Dark Frontier." The Borg Queen had been doing fine prior to that. She wasn't obsessing over Picard or Data like in First Contact. But then they just had to go and have her cook up some lame-brained scheme... yet another reason the Queen sucks. He also gave too much credit to the reboot movie. I'd prefer something like "The Search for Spock" over that. At least it had the original actors.

[Admiral X]

One area I disagreed in would be how he bitched about Kirayoshi's birth. He makes some valid points, however, he just seems completely pissed off for some reason that it isn't hurting Kira. I know in a later video he clarified that he wanted it to be realistic, but... how are aliens, ray guns, and spaceships more realistic than an alien race who doesn't suffer during birth? Really. It felt either like complaining for the sake of complaining, or that he was just angry that she wasn't in pain. Then again, this is where he constantly reminds people that he's "not a particularly sensitive" person. He may think it was sexist to portray it like that, but I find it arguably sexist to make such a big, practically outraged fuss over how an alien species reproduces.

How is it sexist to point out how unrealistic a birth scene is?

[Deledrius]

I just rewatched that review and the complaint seems, to me, fairly obviously that the scene is boring and trite. Birthing scenes are cliché, and this one chose to avoid the usual tropes by being less interesting than usual. It fills its time with other stupid artificial drama tropes between the two men, and the women treating them horribly in return. The complaint about her easy birth sits on top of the earlier point, by virtue that while it may be possible, it's not interested dramatically and would be better off unshown if it's so uneventful and tedious to sit through. It's not wishing ill on the character, it's wishing for writing worthy of the A-plot in the episode.

Clearly you didn't read it this way, but I must honestly say his intent was not hard for me to get when I watched it.

I'm pretty sure that level of vitriol aimed at a character instead of the writers is reserved solely for Neelix... which, to make this post on-topic, is a character I do not loathe. My opinion of him has certainly lessened over the years as I recognize his faults, but his mere presence on screen isn't enough to make me have nightmares as it seems to be the case for most of the episode reviews in which he appears.

[Robovski]

I have to agree, I don't despise Neelix. Now, I do feel Tuvix is a missed opportunity (as well as one of many cases made for Evil Janeway) to ''improve'' the roll but that did mean disenfranchising two regulars from the show (and we can't change the status quo unless it's to introduce sex appeal).