2.10 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Hegemony
- Thread starter ctg
- Start date
ctg
weaver of the unseen
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
- Messages
- 9,829
Here we are at the end of a season with nothing really major happening, until the end. It has most certainly been different Trek to watch Captain Pike's Kitchen and seeing the Enterprise ... having sexual drama over who they're bonking and when. To be honest, it has always been part of the Trek texture, but I don't recall a season that has mostly centred around the family drama.
I know I've in the past called the Enterprise crew as a family, because that's what it generally is as they're so far away (supposedly) from the civilization. Yet, like with last week musical episode It's the strange things that have been focused on weekly basis, instead of advancing the long arcs, like the Gorn matter seriously.
But I guess we are about to get to that part ... just as the season ends. Unfortunately.
Let's see how it develops...
The Cayuca is in another impossible solar system. How does this solar system work gravitationally? Captain Batel called it Parnassus Beta, where the Federation had modelled a colony just outside the borders to feature a Midwestern American society.
It kind of makes sense for the easy filming location, because all the colonized planets are featured after the American system, because it's so supreme over the others. Not. As a critic doing just that makes the episode feels cheap. Simply because it's cheesy cheat instead of putting an effort of making settings in the sound stage.
However, the tension started to creep in when Batel's call to Pike was cut off by a signal loss. If my memory serves me well, it has not happened in the Trek history before as what followed was a pure EW (electronic warfare) before the mothership made a planet fall and started invasion routines.
It wasn't long after that Cayuga made a very scrambled emergency broadcast about the attack and when Pike heard it he ordered Ortegas to put the pedal to the metal and take "everything she's got," to get to the rescue.
Admiral was right when he said that the colony was sitting in DMZ and apply caution instead of going in guns blazing. Well, there was really no point as...
They were already too late. All we knew as the title sequence rolled in was that Batel was gone and Pike was showing a serious frown. The one that on Anson Mount's face means murder. Shiver lizardmen because the Slayer of Swede is coming for you.
(Hell on Wheel ref)
Gorn's EW measures made the Enterprise sensors and the transporter unusable. All Spock was able to determine that the source was on the planet. La'An called it, "the Interference Field," that the Gorn "deploys during invasions." Which makes sense as it is a valid invasion tactic to jam the enemy frequencies straight from the beginning.
Then just as the Captain ordered visual observation on the planet and the wreck, a Gorn Hunter jumped in and starting closing in, while the Federation Admiralty sent a meassage from the lizzies...
Even if they don't speak the same language, that message is pretty clear. But technically you cannot draw that sort of line in the space as the system itself is moving as the stars propels in deep space, and the exoplanets follow its gravitational forces in their stable orbits.
Another point is that because those planets are revolving around the star, they're going to be out from the Gorn space and back in the DMZ in a matter of time. The admirilty ordered Pike to hold the line, but he wasn't happy. Instead, the Captain Pike told the Command Crew that he was going to cross the borderline and he would accept volunteers.
Spock was first to volunteer for Batel and Chapel. Doc and Uhura joined the cause, and then Sam offered to go as well, even though "the last time he'd been scared to his wits." He wanted to show that he can handle the stress and danger like his brother.
La'An said that it might not be enough to go there armed with phasers alone.. The Slayer had an answer for that as he ordered a crate of weapons to be transported to the ready room. When it materialized, he pulled out from it special phaser rifles that the StarFleet had been tuning, "To better counter their defences."
To top the beam weapons, they'd also issued Nitrogen "freeze" grenades in the punch.
Ortega suggested them to use the debris field to close the distance and get to the planet under the Gorn Hunter's scanners. Una called it a zombie disguise, which baffled Spock's logic as he had not studied the classical Earth horror in his free time. Maybe the strangest thing was that Uhura was left behind in the Enterprise, even though Pike claimed the need for a translator in the warband.
Regardless, Erica flew them cross the field and then pulled a beautiful, but also thrilling planet fall that simulated a spacetrash entering the atmosphere.
To a human, I find it almost impossible to be able to read the Augmented Reality display. It does not make sense, but it was intriguing to see that the Gorn had erected their technology in the middle of the town.
La'An called it a trapper beacon, while Pike was certain that the tech was generating the Interference Field. Only thing they couldn't find any survivors. Only Gorn patrolling the streets.
The Slayer didn't wanted to fight them. He ordered the crew to hide in the Barber shop, while lizards patrolled the streets. Then Sam found a signal that took them to a grim scene at the end of the street. The captain walked them straight into a trap that a certain Scottish engineer had set up in a ransacked hotel.
Man, it's so good to see him 20 years younger and 30 kilos lighter. He had the right attitude and most certainly a brilliant mind, not talking about the skills to escape a dying solar research vessel, and Gorn's invasion to become a hunter for the hunters.
Then he let them find Captain Batel and the rest of the survivors hiding in a diner. Only Batel wasn't happy to see Chris as he told him off for coming to rescue. However she didn't say no to hear Scott's tale on observing Gorn coming out from the hiding places to witness a solar high CME eruptions. Almost as if the lizards like to bask in the sun.
Sam suggested that it was a sign of Gorn's feeding cycle.
At the orbit, Uhura and Pelia suggested to Una and Spock to use Cayuga's saucer section and crash it on top of the Gorn tower as if it was part of "the space junk," coming down the atmosphere.
What could possible go wrong, as the tower is located next to the town?
Spock didn't think about it as he made it to the wreck, while completely missing Chapel morse code after she turned to be alive on board the trash. It wasn't all, as he missed the nurse the second time, leaving Chapel no choice but to put on her own suit. Only her way out wasn't that easy as on her way out, she encountered a Gorn hacker blocking her access.
In fact, the hacker was also doing the same to Spock and it wasn't long before they were clashing. Spock tried to shoot but for not being zero-g combat expect he lost a grip from his gun and tumbled into the void. Nurse Chapel rushed after it and got hold of it, just before the Gorn suffocated the science officer. Essentially what happened next was that the lovers saved each other.
At the ground, Pike and Batel joined Scotty to get back to his shuttle to get the masking technology he'd built to evade Gorn scanner. It just wasn't an easy task as the master engineer had fused the kit firmly to his shuttle. And then a Gord kid turned up. Only it didn't attack, just ran away, leaving behind puzzled Slayer and Captain Batel.
The saucer took out the tower just as Batel revealed Pike that she had been incubated by the Gorn eggs. Poor woman. Chapel promised to look after her once the Enterprise had beamed up the survivors and the away team.
Gorn weren't happy and started attacking the ship, which left us with a cliffhanger that I'm pretty certain will get solved within the first ten minutes when the series returns.
I know I've in the past called the Enterprise crew as a family, because that's what it generally is as they're so far away (supposedly) from the civilization. Yet, like with last week musical episode It's the strange things that have been focused on weekly basis, instead of advancing the long arcs, like the Gorn matter seriously.
But I guess we are about to get to that part ... just as the season ends. Unfortunately.
Let's see how it develops...
The Cayuca is in another impossible solar system. How does this solar system work gravitationally? Captain Batel called it Parnassus Beta, where the Federation had modelled a colony just outside the borders to feature a Midwestern American society.
It kind of makes sense for the easy filming location, because all the colonized planets are featured after the American system, because it's so supreme over the others. Not. As a critic doing just that makes the episode feels cheap. Simply because it's cheesy cheat instead of putting an effort of making settings in the sound stage.
However, the tension started to creep in when Batel's call to Pike was cut off by a signal loss. If my memory serves me well, it has not happened in the Trek history before as what followed was a pure EW (electronic warfare) before the mothership made a planet fall and started invasion routines.
It wasn't long after that Cayuga made a very scrambled emergency broadcast about the attack and when Pike heard it he ordered Ortegas to put the pedal to the metal and take "everything she's got," to get to the rescue.
Admiral was right when he said that the colony was sitting in DMZ and apply caution instead of going in guns blazing. Well, there was really no point as...
They were already too late. All we knew as the title sequence rolled in was that Batel was gone and Pike was showing a serious frown. The one that on Anson Mount's face means murder. Shiver lizardmen because the Slayer of Swede is coming for you.
(Hell on Wheel ref)Gorn's EW measures made the Enterprise sensors and the transporter unusable. All Spock was able to determine that the source was on the planet. La'An called it, "the Interference Field," that the Gorn "deploys during invasions." Which makes sense as it is a valid invasion tactic to jam the enemy frequencies straight from the beginning.
Then just as the Captain ordered visual observation on the planet and the wreck, a Gorn Hunter jumped in and starting closing in, while the Federation Admiralty sent a meassage from the lizzies...
Even if they don't speak the same language, that message is pretty clear. But technically you cannot draw that sort of line in the space as the system itself is moving as the stars propels in deep space, and the exoplanets follow its gravitational forces in their stable orbits.
Another point is that because those planets are revolving around the star, they're going to be out from the Gorn space and back in the DMZ in a matter of time. The admirilty ordered Pike to hold the line, but he wasn't happy. Instead, the Captain Pike told the Command Crew that he was going to cross the borderline and he would accept volunteers.
Spock was first to volunteer for Batel and Chapel. Doc and Uhura joined the cause, and then Sam offered to go as well, even though "the last time he'd been scared to his wits." He wanted to show that he can handle the stress and danger like his brother.
La'An said that it might not be enough to go there armed with phasers alone.. The Slayer had an answer for that as he ordered a crate of weapons to be transported to the ready room. When it materialized, he pulled out from it special phaser rifles that the StarFleet had been tuning, "To better counter their defences."
To top the beam weapons, they'd also issued Nitrogen "freeze" grenades in the punch.
Ortega suggested them to use the debris field to close the distance and get to the planet under the Gorn Hunter's scanners. Una called it a zombie disguise, which baffled Spock's logic as he had not studied the classical Earth horror in his free time. Maybe the strangest thing was that Uhura was left behind in the Enterprise, even though Pike claimed the need for a translator in the warband.
Regardless, Erica flew them cross the field and then pulled a beautiful, but also thrilling planet fall that simulated a spacetrash entering the atmosphere.
To a human, I find it almost impossible to be able to read the Augmented Reality display. It does not make sense, but it was intriguing to see that the Gorn had erected their technology in the middle of the town.
La'An called it a trapper beacon, while Pike was certain that the tech was generating the Interference Field. Only thing they couldn't find any survivors. Only Gorn patrolling the streets.
The Slayer didn't wanted to fight them. He ordered the crew to hide in the Barber shop, while lizards patrolled the streets. Then Sam found a signal that took them to a grim scene at the end of the street. The captain walked them straight into a trap that a certain Scottish engineer had set up in a ransacked hotel.
Man, it's so good to see him 20 years younger and 30 kilos lighter. He had the right attitude and most certainly a brilliant mind, not talking about the skills to escape a dying solar research vessel, and Gorn's invasion to become a hunter for the hunters.
Then he let them find Captain Batel and the rest of the survivors hiding in a diner. Only Batel wasn't happy to see Chris as he told him off for coming to rescue. However she didn't say no to hear Scott's tale on observing Gorn coming out from the hiding places to witness a solar high CME eruptions. Almost as if the lizards like to bask in the sun.
Sam suggested that it was a sign of Gorn's feeding cycle.
At the orbit, Uhura and Pelia suggested to Una and Spock to use Cayuga's saucer section and crash it on top of the Gorn tower as if it was part of "the space junk," coming down the atmosphere.
What could possible go wrong, as the tower is located next to the town?
Spock didn't think about it as he made it to the wreck, while completely missing Chapel morse code after she turned to be alive on board the trash. It wasn't all, as he missed the nurse the second time, leaving Chapel no choice but to put on her own suit. Only her way out wasn't that easy as on her way out, she encountered a Gorn hacker blocking her access.
In fact, the hacker was also doing the same to Spock and it wasn't long before they were clashing. Spock tried to shoot but for not being zero-g combat expect he lost a grip from his gun and tumbled into the void. Nurse Chapel rushed after it and got hold of it, just before the Gorn suffocated the science officer. Essentially what happened next was that the lovers saved each other.
At the ground, Pike and Batel joined Scotty to get back to his shuttle to get the masking technology he'd built to evade Gorn scanner. It just wasn't an easy task as the master engineer had fused the kit firmly to his shuttle. And then a Gord kid turned up. Only it didn't attack, just ran away, leaving behind puzzled Slayer and Captain Batel.
The saucer took out the tower just as Batel revealed Pike that she had been incubated by the Gorn eggs. Poor woman. Chapel promised to look after her once the Enterprise had beamed up the survivors and the away team.
Gorn weren't happy and started attacking the ship, which left us with a cliffhanger that I'm pretty certain will get solved within the first ten minutes when the series returns.
Great episode, although I can't remember the last time I saw a "To be continued" tag punctuating a season-ending cliffhanger.
It renewed the promise of a third season, which I hope will not be too much more delayed by the strikes.
It renewed the promise of a third season, which I hope will not be too much more delayed by the strikes.
Seemed like an improbable plan.
Even assuming that two small rockets were powerful enough to move the massive wreckage, the Gorn should have noticed that the saucer was suspiciously deviating from the rest of the debris and calculated its path to the jamming tower.
Still, it could have been worse. They could have announced the plan with song and dance.
ctg
weaver of the unseen
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
- Messages
- 9,829
Well, I didn't see the rockets as a problem because they're ST models and the wreck was on somewhat stable orbit. Although not in the sight on town. So that they failed in the artistic, because to deorbit they would have had longer trajectory and therefore it could have been possible to get the orbital hit. It's just when I think about that mass, screaming through the atmosphere and making to ground it's more likely to wipe out the whole town than just the tower, because that mass is still fairly large, even if some of it has burned away in the atmosphere.
It would have done the lizzes most certainly and all those people who were in the surface structures and not hiding the basements.
Did you liked Scotty? The only one that we need now is Bones.
ctg
weaver of the unseen
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
- Messages
- 9,829
And he's a real Scottish person.Even so, I like this actor and his take on Scotty .
Just as an aside: I haven't seen the episode, but I'm not sure the star system is that impossible. Red dwarf stars and brown dwarfs are known to have solar systems little bigger than the moon systems of Jupiter and Saturn, with habitable zones of similar size, so the planets would loom visibly in each other's sky. Maybe not as much as depicted, but it's not so far from the reality of such a star system, at least not for Star Trek!
ctg
weaver of the unseen
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
- Messages
- 9,829
The star in the episode is not red or brown dwarf. It is fully capable M-class one that can support a planet with liquid oceans and a climate that matches Earth. If our planets were in close orbit to our star, we would have problems.
The habitable zones around red dwarfs and brown dwarfs are also that close to the star, as they're so cool and dim compared top our sun - planets in them have years only a week or so long. Palms up: Red and brown dwarf planets have other problems that are pretty major, and so their habitable worlds would look different to Earth - but whether (and what %) of such planets could support liquid water and a class M environment is a question still being researched (confusingly the technical term for a red dwarf is 'm-class star'). Suffice to say that such a sun might, in principle, support a habitable environment on planets in its teeny, close wrapped, habitable zone - if a lot of other factors happened to be just right.
Apologies for the pedantry - I just wanted to make the point because I just did some cover art showing the view from the surface of a planet orbiting a red dwarf, for which I kept as close to the known and confirmed facts of such systems as I could - and it does not look so wildly different than the shot posted. If you want to read a bit more about red dwarf habitable zones I recommend the list of links at the bottom of the Wikipedia page Habitability of red dwarf systems - Wikipedia
I don't agree with some that this season has been on a downward spiral, but I have to agree with you there, and there have also been a lot of hit and miss episodes. I'm glad that we finally got an episode that moves somewhere forward.
Why, but why, model a colony outside of the Federation? I'd understand it if the colonists didn't want to be part of the Federation, but that isn't the case. They built a colony in the DMZ and are surprised when the Gorn claim it. Makes no sense!
For me, it's just good not to have to see him or think of him as Simon Pegg.
Very probably. I mean, they could resolve it just as soon as Pike stops pretending to be a statue and gives an order.
Ha, ha! But true!
Season 2 of The Lower Decks (Or don't we count that?)
ctg
weaver of the unseen
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
- Messages
- 9,829
Did 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'' second season overdo the gimmicks?
With a "Lower Decks" crossover, a musical episode and lots of James T. Kirk, Captain Pike and his crew couldn't move for novelty episodes.
www.space.com
Yes, I think it probably did have too many "novelty" episodes within a single season. I didn't have a problem with them on an individual basis, but I did find myself wishing for an episode that was like the more traditional cliffhanger finale.
Could this be related to the Writers Guild of America strike and a lack of scripts? If not, then we will certainly see an effect of this in the next few months in many of the US TV shows we love unless that dispute isn't settled soon.
Thye need to keep the show series ot it wont last.
Similar threads
-
2.09 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Subspace Rhapsody- Started by ctg
- Replies: 15
-
2.08 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Under the Cloak of War
- Started by ctg
- Replies: 2
-
2.07 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Those Old Scientists
- Started by ctg
- Replies: 12
-
2.06 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Lost in Translation- Started by Dave
- Replies: 2
-