Short Treks: Children of Mars

[CharlesPhipps]

I find it weird that so many people were hard on Picard's version of the Federation.

The evil-doers ended up being Romulan infiltrators.

It's the equivalent of 9/11's torture cells and Guantanamo Bay being due to secret Muslim infiltrators.

[Durandal_1707]

Ah, Children of Mars, or as I like to call it, Modern America but with shitty holograms.
My biggest issue is the way they presented the school system of the Federation, it's so... unimaginative.
What's with the godawful school system? In TNG, DS9 and VOY there are multiple types of schooling, from what appears to be home schooling on the ENT-D, to classical school teaching on DS9. However, in many cases the future technology gets incorporated in the schooling system. 3D holograms are seen in a couple of episodes, which would make sense, as geometry would be a lot easier to explain that way than with a pen and paper. Nope, instead they use 2D OLED holoscreens where they write with holo-pens I guess (guess all types of keyboards are outdated). Here's my question. Why? Remember those transparent screen projectors that were used in schools, a few decades ago? You know, the ones with transparent sheet, that was placed on a large boxy projector lamp and the image was projected on a pull-down screen? Overhead projector is what I think they're called in English. Those were very good at their job for what is worth. They began to be used in large numbers since the 50s, 60s I think, so for like three decades they were used a lot. Nowadays, like 20 years later very few people and places still use them. Almost everyone has moved on to LCD projectors or even flatscreens. In about half a century, we've moved from transparent sheets to LCD projectors and maybe soon even flatter screens. Why? Because there is always the demand to improve things, to make them more accessible, to improve the way teaching is done. The flat transparent screens from the Fed school are not improvement. Not only you're literally replacing paper and pen with electronic paper and electronic pen, the way kids write on the display is very uncomfortable for the wrist, and if there's one thing kids like to do is complain, so why is that shitty system even a thing? In previous ST series, they always used "iPads" and all, but sometimes they would also used 3D holograms, and there was a TNG episode where the kids were learning about geometric shapes, and said shapes were low rez holodeck holograms, which would make sense, as it's not like the geometric shapes from books are anything else. Given that the episode was already low budget, they could have just replaced some of the props and the terrible 2D screens with cheap 3D holograms, especially since from what I can tell, the kids were being taught about star cycle, and that is one domain where 3D holograms would be perfect (ever been to a planetarium? now imagine having one at school every day). There is only one scene where some 3D holographic shapes are seen, but it appears to be some game for kids, rather than some homework. The Federation has advanced holographic technology, and by the looks of it, it's very cheap and not very energy intensive, so why is everyone still using an outdated 400 year old system as the main schooling system? The reason why I gave the example with the overhead and LCD projectors is because, as seen in real life, any technological advancements are rapidly introduced in daily life, and very quickly they produce changes in the system. Computer science not only changed the way we handle math and science, but it rapidly became a very important matter in almost all aspects of real life. Yet for some reason, in NuTrek, all that fantastic technology has had very little impact in the civilian life, despite the massive problems they'd solve, even though, you know, the entire point of new technologies is to improve life.
Also, why is the current schooling system still used 400 years from now? The lessons are boring (and they're learning about stellar evolution, how the fuck is that boring??); The principal just hangs around noting down the kids that are late for class (doesn't he have paperwork to do? Is the entire school hallway his office?); The alien girl gets a 2 (I assume 2 out of 10 like most grading systems) from the teacher because of that caricature that the other girl drew for her, even though, given that it's an electronic system, the teacher could immediately find out who sent/made the drawing, which is a system that would be very useful to catch cheaters or kids sending threats; Bullying and school violence are still a problem 350-400 years into the future, I guess we should just stop all the current anti-bullying campaigns, clearly they're utterly useless. Great. Currently among the best schooling systems, the model used by Scandinavian countries is considered to be in the top, since it's very effective at teaching children and preparing them for adult life. The schooling system in the NuTrek it's so bland and sterile, it feels like it was done by someone who hates kids. It brings nothing new to the table, it's so generic, like it's copied from Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall". And yet, in the 24th century, this Hollywood schooling system is still used, I guess the humanistic Federation doesn't care about improving the life of its citizens in any way.
Frankly, I don't care that the Short Trek had a low budget, in fact most of the few suggestions I gave can be perfectly applied with shoestring budget, the episode feels dull, uninteresting, and its presentation felt like I was watching an insurance commercial, at one point I was expecting one of the teachers to bring a comfort animal to the girls to make them bond. Instead we got Space!9/11 no.3, because that's better than a puppy I guess.

Holy crap. Line breaks?!

[Zatman]

This is one of the few reviews I really disagree with Chuck on. He brings up a lot of valid points (and I'll re-watch later and go more in-depth) but in terms of setting the tone, I think it worked phenomenally well. While yes, perhaps the late 24th century could have something better than a combination padlock, and classrooms could be a bit more "techy" I think this episode was really made to connect to us. Kima was an alien, but she was just "not-alien" enough that she could be our daughters, or sisters, or friends. The lack of any overt "this is the future" being thrown in your face all the time, I think really brought it home for us viewers. The best entertainment to me, are the ones that make me feel, not just a superficial laugh, or moment of sadness, but movies or shows that have my face wet, sobbing into my desk, or laughing so hard I can't stand up, or a sense of optimism or relief that makes me want to go and conquer the world. This short 6 minute video, did just that for me. I'm only 30 and don't have kids, but I could see myself in those girls, I could see my friends in those girls, I could see the people I know from work in those girls. To me, that's what made this successful.

[Mabus]

So now that I had more time to ruminate over the CoM Short Trek, what exactly was its message? That when faced with a tragedy two (petty) enemies will all of the sudden hold hands or something? And tear together because their mommies and daddies might be dead? Because here's what I think:

This is a story that's too big just to be turned into a Short Trek. I think would have worked better as a Picard episode (which at least would spare us the crappy DIS CGI reuse and the cheapness of the school setting, probably). Instead of the Hawkeyed Jurati and the told-to-be-awesome-but-not-shown-instead-shown-the-opposite Raffi, you could at least replace them with the two girls, who by now should be in their mid-20s. This will give us a better connection with the Mars event, since now it's no longer yet-another-9/11, and you actually have a character invested in the incident. And you can give each character a different approach: One joined Starfleet because she suspected that the death of her parent in the Mars attack felt like some grand conspiracy, so she would take Raffi's convenient conspiracy nonsense (and without any goddamn high tech trailer in the middle of a national park and drug addiction), but her antisocial attitude that she develops over the years have an effect on her life. The other, joined the Daystrom Institute and tries to find out what happened during the Mars incident, as anyone with a brain can tell, robots don't just rise up one day and start doing coordinated attacks then just stop. But due to restrictions on androids from the Mars attack still being in place, she has to operate in secret. Neither knows what the other does. Then, as each are inches from finding the truth, the Starfleet Illuminati or whatever find out about their activities and decide to eliminate them. Since they have no place to go now, each realize that the only person that could help them would be a famous former captain that is now retired, well known for dealing with the impossible, as no one would suspect that. So they get to Picard, each surprised to see other, but get tracked again and all have to flee the chateau, and then have to leave the Earth to find out the source of the Mars androids hacking to clear their names and prevent another disaster. And during that time they butt heads, don't get along due to different opinions, one had their life affected a (convenient) absentee parent, while the other wasn't as much, and... well, you know the rest.

I know it feels corny and cheesy and somewhat cliche, but at least the story flows better and there are fewer contrived coincidences like there's some cosmic force bringing them together: the Mars incident was their common point and is shown from the beginning, so no later "oh and this guy as well was also involved in a similar but related incident that further lead to this and that", which should remove the need for mystery box every single scene and instead replace it with actual character development and get to know the characters better, because when at the end of the season you barely know the main characters, you have a tiny problem there.

[clearspira]

So now that I had more time to ruminate over the CoM Short Trek, what exactly was its message? That when faced with a tragedy two (petty) enemies will all of the sudden hold hands or something? And tear together because their mommies and daddies might be dead? Because here's what I think:

This is a story that's too big just to be turned into a Short Trek. I think would have worked better as a Picard episode (which at least would spare us the crappy DIS CGI reuse and the cheapness of the school setting, probably). Instead of the Hawkeyed Jurati and the told-to-be-awesome-but-not-shown-instead-shown-the-opposite Raffi, you could at least replace them with the two girls, who by now should be in their mid-20s. This will give us a better connection with the Mars event, since now it's no longer yet-another-9/11, and you actually have a character invested in the incident. And you can give each character a different approach: One joined Starfleet because she suspected that the death of her parent in the Mars attack felt like some grand conspiracy, so she would take Raffi's convenient conspiracy nonsense (and without any goddamn high tech trailer in the middle of a national park and drug addiction), but her antisocial attitude that she develops over the years have an effect on her life. The other, joined the Daystrom Institute and tries to find out what happened during the Mars incident, as anyone with a brain can tell, robots don't just rise up one day and start doing coordinated attacks then just stop. But due to restrictions on androids from the Mars attack still being in place, she has to operate in secret. Neither knows what the other does. Then, as each are inches from finding the truth, the Starfleet Illuminati or whatever find out about their activities and decide to eliminate them. Since they have no place to go now, each realize that the only person that could help them would be a famous former captain that is now retired, well known for dealing with the impossible, as no one would suspect that. So they get to Picard, each surprised to see other, but get tracked again and all have to flee the chateau, and then have to leave the Earth to find out the source of the Mars androids hacking to clear their names and prevent another disaster. And during that time they butt heads, don't get along due to different opinions, one had their life affected a (convenient) absentee parent, while the other wasn't as much, and... well, you know the rest.

I know it feels corny and cheesy and somewhat cliche, but at least the story flows better and there are fewer contrived coincidences like there's some cosmic force bringing them together: the Mars incident was their common point and is shown from the beginning, so no later "oh and this guy as well was also involved in a similar but related incident that further lead to this and that", which should remove the need for mystery box every single scene and instead replace it with actual character development and get to know the characters better, because when at the end of the season you barely know the main characters, you have a tiny problem there.

''This story is too big for a Short Trek''.

Agreed. Y'know... in fiction you need a reason to care. The automatic human reaction one has for REAL children losing their parents does not apply to a film or TV show because ultimately they are just two actresses reading from a script and your brain knows it. So what is it that makes the viewer care? Time and good writing.

One of my favourite books is called ''Goodnight Mr Tom'' and it is about an abused World War 2 child evacuee and a lonely widower who slowly bond and eventually become the equivalent of father and son. And I am not afraid to admit that when near the end of the book something really shitty and world shattering happens to that kid, I shed a manly tear as I read it and it has stayed with me for 20 years. And that was because I had just spent an entire book bonding with these two and thus I genuinely felt it when it happened.

That is my personal example, but many others have had very similar ones. The Terminator at the end of T2, Joel and Ellie bonding in TLOU1, Harry Potter and everything he goes through. You can bond to fictional people and feel for fictional tragedies...

...unless its a Short Trek with only 10 to 20 minutes to play with. I don't care about these girls and there is no reason for me to do so because the groundwork is not there due to the limitation of the concept.

[Link8909]

While I've still not watch the remaining Short Treks yet, going by Chucks review and what I have seen, Children of Mars look alright, not something I'd watch again but has a straight forward and somber message about people coming together in times of tragedy, while providing a tease to Star Trek Picard.

Like TNG season 1, there seems to be an unending supply of Short Treks. Every time you hope there are no more another comes along.

Honestly, I really like the Short Treks, they can allow stories that would have been distracting or just filler to shine on their own, for example the B-Plot of "Force of Nature" with Data training Spot could have made a great Short Trek back then, or could tell a story that wouldn't have filled a full run time and might have ended up being padded out like "Q&A", and could even tell stories outside of the main cast like my personal favourite "The Escape Artist", but I think the greatest thing about Short Treks is that it allows for experimentation within the Star Trek Universe, I'm really looking forward to finally watching both "Ephraim and Dot" and "The Girl Who Made the Stars".

I really hope we get more in the future and that they push more with what they can do, for example they could tell stories outside of each series like The Lost Era between 2290 and 2360, or could even go back to older series like Deep Space Nine and have a short about Morn, or could really get crazy and have a short that reinvents Star Trek like what if it was Steampunk or an Anime, or even what if stories that go back to older episodes and looks at what would happen if it had played out differently, like what would have happened in the rest of The Next Generation if Picard died in "The Best of Both Worlds"?

[Nealithi]

So I have thought about this review and some of the responses to it. I think bullying has been in a our schools for a long time and with the twisted mess used to face it. It will be there for centuries at the rate we are going. The chased by another student in a car? Yep, dodged those. Thrown into oncoming traffic? Yep. If you lift your arm to fight back. The teachers then send you and only you to be disciplined and inform your parents that only you are disruptive. If you ask a teacher or police officer for help. You will be brushed off and told to 'grow up and learn how to handle it'.
I think this is enough on my thoughts on Bullying in schools.
What I find unrealistic in this short was the two rivals holding hands at the end when seeing the news were their parents may have been at ground zero of a terrorist attack. Sorry, when I was a teen, there was a fire at the factory my mother worked at. The school had a hard time keeping me in the building as I had to find out what happened to my mother. And I was a damned waterfall of tears till after I heard she was alright. I would not have held the hand of my bullies. But one good mark for them. They left me alone because I think they understood my pain. Not all bullies are that empathic.

[CharlesPhipps]

Honestly, this is a problem with a lot of Short Treks.

Most of them would make decent episodes on their own. The one on the Discovery in the future deserved a full 30 minutes and probably could have been an hour.

Ditto the Trouble with Edward.

[Cheerilee]

Something I've bumped into several times recently (on youtube) is people saying "I refuse to watch a review of an episode that's longer than the episode itself." And one of the reviewers I was watching said (paraphrased) "Well there's just so much to talk about here. Let's put it this way. Have you ever talked about a scene from a movie? Scratch that, let's break it down even smaller. Have you ever talked about *a line* from a movie? If you have, then congratulations, you have automatically talked about that line for longer than the runtime of the line itself."

IMO, that's something that no reviewer should ever have to apologize for. If you get excited in your review (good or bad) and you just gotta let it all out in great detail, then that's great, and that makes for the best reviews, while judging a review's length by some arbitrary scale against the runtime of the original subject is just nonsense.

[Madner Kami]

Something I've bumped into several times recently (on youtube) is people saying "I refuse to watch a review of an episode that's longer than the episode itself." And one of the reviewers I was watching said (paraphrased) "Well there's just so much to talk about here. Let's put it this way. Have you ever talked about a scene from a movie? Scratch that, let's break it down even smaller. Have you ever talked about *a line* from a movie? If you have, then congratulations, you have automatically talked about that line for longer than the runtime of the line itself."

IMO, that's something that no reviewer should ever have to apologize for. If you get excited in your review (good or bad) and you just gotta let it all out in great detail, then that's great, and that makes for the best reviews, while judging a review's length by some arbitrary scale against the runtime of the original subject is just nonsense.

People are increasingly confusing the word review with the word synopsis.