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caitlinsfandomthoughts · 3 years

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Watching Star Trek TOS For the First Time! Season 1 Reaction

I’ve been a TNG, DS9 and Voyager fan for maybe 10 years but had never watched TOS until I decided that I would. And then I realised I couldn’t live with the possibility of the internet not being able to know my incoherent rambling reactions if it so desired. Most of these were written the day after I saw them but with the early ones it was later so sorry if I don’t remember your favourite.

Season 1:

The Cage: Be still my beating heart why must number 1 leave the show? Why?! Imagine a world in which Majel Barrett got to continue to be her in the Star Trek universe instead of Lwuxana (sorry I don’t love her) and Nurse Chapel. She’s so beautiful I love her. And she gets to where pants and be the second in command. While the episode for sure has sexist moments it does seem like there was more of an actual effort to present to future as having gender equality. When you compare this to the ultra mini skirted version of the actual show, it does feel like executives went through it to make it more marketable. It’s been noted by others that she is quite similar to what Spock’s character became: the cold, logical one, while Spock smiles in this episode. While I ended up loving Spock I still would’ve loved to see a woman in that kind of role, especially in the 60s. Although I’m not sure she would’ve been treated that well.

So Vina can’t like, get medical treatment from Starfleet doctors who know how to put a human body together? No? We’re just gonna leave her there? She’s too ugly? She’s better off living in a fantasy world where she’s pretty? Ok then…

The Man Trap: I don’t even really remember this one so I’d have to rewatch it.

Charlie X: Charlie sees women and becomes an incel, Kirk has to try and teach him not to be. This is a decent goal that somehow culminates in a space boxing match. Kirk loses his shirt. Sexual tension is presumably resolved. Uhura sings.

Where No Man Has Gone Before: The pants are back. Man becomes some kind of god and Kirk beats him up if I remember correctly.

The Naked Time: This is where The Naked Now comes from. This one was less sexual, which is probably a good thing, and less drunk, which is too bad cause I love drunk Crusher and Picard trying to focus on work while their brains won’t brain. Highly relatable mood. This one is where the immortal line “sorry, neither” comes from, spoken by Uhura in response to Sulu calling her a “fair maiden.” According to the internet that was an ad lib and I so hope that’s true cause it’s amazing. Also according to Spock Sulu is a “swashbuckler at heart” which is cool and all but I wish we got to find that out by him actually being a character that we know the personality of rather than a background diversity guy who gets to say a couple of lines sometimes. Also each to their own but shirtless Sulu is infinitely more attractive than shirtless Kirk.

The Enemy Within: Bad. Women at Warp podcast said it best, it’s bad because they say the evil Kirk is still Kirk and is needed for him to be a good captain/person. This could’ve been ok if he didn’t do something so irredeemable, or they could’ve not had him be defined as a true and necessary part of Kirk, but you can’t have both and sell it as an ok message. Rand not being able to look at ‘good’ Kirk after really makes it feel real, her acting in general makes it feel too real.

Mudd’s Women: Women take beauty pills that make them have makeup on and men find them too ugly to marry without them even though they are still beautiful. Also said women were kinda slaves but don’t worry about it! *hand waves*

What Are Little Girls Made Off: I don’t know what the title has to do with the episode. This is the episode where Nurse Chapel is introduced even though she was in a previous episode. And she’s taken more seriously than I thought she would be. Kirk gets an android version of himself made by a guy who he already doesn’t trust and doesn’t predict that maybe that’s not a good idea. Apparently to make an android all you need to do is put one person and one dummy on a giant plate and spin them around real fast. If only the guy who wanted to take apart Data in Measure of a Man knew.

Miri: Problematic. I think the crush angle could’ve worked if it was one sided, but Kirk played into it and it was creepy, and you know, also manipulative, assuming Kirk doesn’t actually feel the same way and is using it to get her to help them. That’s my more charitable interpretation anyway. Also McCoy doesn’t know how vaccines work. Also this episode doesn’t know what puberty is, or rather when it starts. If the virus is supposed to get to you then, that starts round the preteen age. Miri is older than that even though she’s not an adult.

Dagger of the Mind: This was the first one where I was starting to quite like it and it was feeling a little more like Star Trek to me (I know this is the first Star Trek but there’s a certain way 80s/90s era Star Trek feels to me). I really liked the beginning where it was setting up this whole maybe prisoners become violent because of how the prison treats them thing and that it was challenging the viewpoints of some of the main characters, although McCoy was already team prisons are bad and I love him for that. It then went more into the lobotomising asylum type story which was still ok. The guy turned out to be a doctor rather than a prisoner which I didn’t like cause I wanted the prisoners to be humanised. Although you could’ve done a “see anyone, even ‘innocent’ non criminals can be turned violent with this treatment” but they didn’t really emphasise that.

The Corbomite Maneuver: I don’t remember this. Kirk playing poker with some alien I think. Edit: I’m been informed this is the one where the alien turns out to be a lollypop guild kid lip-syncing to an adult’s voice, which I do remember, and probably thought it was some kind of sleep-deprived fever dream.

The Menagerie Part 1 & 2: I laughed so much when they wheeled Pike out and I finally got the Futurama reference in Where No Fan Has Gone Before. I mean I obviously knew the whole thing was a Star Trek Reference, but I had never seen that specific imagery before and now the joke makes sense! Also Pike wanting to go back there seems kinda wrong. I mean they say he’s a vegetable mentally I think but he doesn’t seem to be? I can kinda get that he’s got more incentive to be there than Vina who could probably be helped by Federation doctors but also, he hated that place and spent the whole episode trying to get out of it and it doesn’t feel like a fitting ending for him.

The Conscious of the King: And here begins Star Trek’s love affair with Shakespeare. The only thing I have to say really is, if I didn’t mishear something… a father and daughter played Macbeth and Lady Macbeth? A married couple. And no-one thought that was weird? She was the daughter of a dictator though so there was an Ivanka Trump vibe.

Balance of Terror: Romulans. Spock wasn’t sure that they were related to Vulcans till this ep, though he suspected it. How far back did they split for it to be unknown? I like that the Romulans were sympathetic and we had scenes with them just in their ship from their perspective, and they had some conflicting views with each other. And I really like how Spock was suspected as a spy cause racism and of course he wasn’t and saved that guy cause he’s the better person. That said I found this episode pretty boring and I don’t know why. I kinda wish it turned into a witchhunt situation and was more about the racism on the Enterprise, kinda like The Drumhead from TNG.

Shore leave: Wtf was this episode?! And I don’t ask that because the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland showed up, or that it was a random holodeck planet episode, that’s fine. When the White Rabbit appeared I was just like, ok it’s going to be one of those episodes, that’s fine. Holodeck episodes are fun, I don’t even mind a random magic alien or two appearing for no reason to wreak havoc, say by making everyone larp as Robin Hood, that’s all Star Trek, that’s Star Trek doing a Star Trek, what I didn’t like is this episode goes nowhere! McCoy sees the White Rabbit, we’re off to a good start, Sulu “Swashbuckler at Heart” sees an old gun that he geeks out on, cool. Kirk sees some woman of course. Also there’s some guy fending off a tiger. Random female guest star of the week rather than letting Uhura be part of the story gets her uniform torn by some guy. Then she imagines a princess dress and if that were me as soon as I realised I could think things into existence I would just imagine all my dream clothes. Kirk imagines an old student friend who is attempting very hard to be Irish (thank you Colm Meany for saving us from this).

Anyway so the planets a holodeck cool. And I’m like, Spock should beam down, I wanna know what he’ll see, this is where the episode could get interesting. And then it happens, but nothing happens, they don’t even make much of a deal of him not seeing anything. But then I thought what if! What if Spock didn’t beam down and this was another imagination?! What if he was some alien with some ulterior motive OR better than that we get to see Spock as imagined by whoever was thinking of him. You could go down a very fanfic road if it were Kirk’s imagined or desired view of him, or maybe you could show different people’s perceptions and then they still suspect he’s not acting like himself even though it’s how they see him, but its not quite right, cause it’s not actually how he is. Or at least I thought they were going to find out what was going on. But NOPE none of that happens. Instead leprechaun guy shows up again and Kirk just wonders off to fight him for the next fucking millennium! The uniforms they wore at the academy seem like they were made out of better quality material than that of a Starfleet captain’s. Poor Kirk must be having to replicate new uniforms every other day. Then they laugh I think, and sexual tension is presumably resolved. Then the aliens show up and are like yeah this planet is a holodeck we thought you’d like it also McCoy died but he didn’t and I’m like THEY DIDN’T CONSENT TO THIS. But then they decide to party.

It reminded me of a Red Dwarf episode called Better Than Life where they knowingly go into a virtual reality game which is basically the same as this planet. But over time Rimmer keeps sabotaging what he imagines cause he hates himself so much his brain won’t let him have nice things. And it’s still a comedy, but there’s an opportunity for exploring the character’s psyche with this setup that wasn’t done here and that made it boring.

The Galileo Seven: This episode was good!! In contrast to the last one it delivered on promises it made, it had a satisfying ending, it’s probably my favourite so far. The whole time I was like this should be about how Spock can be wrong and logic isn’t everything to be a good commander. But given the quality of the previous episodes wasn’t that great and Spock was always right about everything I didn’t trust them to do that. BUT I WAS WRONG. I thought it would be about how just because you don’t have emotions doesn’t mean you can disregard those of the crew. But instead it was about how he couldn’t predict their enemy wouldn’t act based on emotion rather than logic. And then he admitted he was wrong and helped the guy bury the other guy, and then they were about to die and McCoy was like at least I’ve lived to hear Spock say he fucked up. And then Spock jettisoned the fuel so that it might act like a flare but it gave them less time and I was like no you’ve learned nothing! Don’t just do things that severe without asking your crew. But then after they were saved it was described as an act of desperation rather than anything logical and Kirk was like that’s an emotion isn’t it? You acted on emotion? And Spock was like well yes but I’m not gonna say it like that.

I like that emotion was good actually. I think it’s a fine balance between the message of its ok to be different and using Spock as an analogy for racism, and inadvertently neurodiversity, but also not buying into the idea that emotions = weakness and lack of emotion, or emotional repression = objectivity. Even if you don’t factor emotion into your decisions (which would be impossible unless you don’t experience emotions at all) it doesn’t mean that you don’t have personal biases in your perspective. So I’m glad Spock was wrong for once.

The Squire of Gothos: This is Q this is Proto-Q. He does all the same things that Q does; he shows up in clothes that are way out of date (and he thinks they’re from 900 years ago when they’re clearly early 19th century) and he flirts with the captain. Oh and he has powers, maybe they were computer powers, but not all? And he goes on about humans being brutal, warmongering people but he’s kinda into it. He fights Kirk but there was actual tension so it wasn’t annoying like the one with the Irish guy. And then it turns out he was just a kid exactly like the Futurama episode, except he is a kid not 35. I think him being a kid makes the flirting seem weird though.

Arena: Kirk and the Gorn at Tanagra. Kirk fights a lizard because aliens wanted to encourage them to not fight by telling them to fight. I thought maybe these lizards could be proto Cardassians but then I thought they can’t be they don’t talk, but then he spoke so I thought they could be, but then he was the one who was invaded and was only defending his people so I thought they couldn’t be, unless that was actually just lies and justifications in which case they definitely would be, but then that would undermine the message of the episode so I guess not. I wonder how many leaders have killed each other before these alien’s negotiation tactic actually worked.

Tomorrow is Yesterday: This was fun. There were a lot of twists and turns. I wonder if it was before or after the moonlanding. Every plan just makes it worse and more and more people keep getting exposed to the future. Kirk could’ve easily just closed the door and beamed back at the end but instead opts to punch like six people. (I think this is where “a woman?” “Crewman.” Comes from).

Court Martial: What if Kirk actually did it though? Would that be more interesting? Maybe. At least here he has an age appropriate love interest. She’s prosecuting against him which is surely a conflict of interest. AND she has a uniform with a longer skirt! And it actually looks good, like it looks like an actual dress that she can sit down in and it still looks like a dress and not a crumpled up shirt. It’s elegant but it’s still short. I could see this being an option (for any gender) as a dress uniform but it would still make no sense when they’re serving on a ship.

Return of the Archons: I am LIVING for Spock in a medieval style hood. It’s giving me Peter Cook in a Mother Superior’s wimple in Bedazzled vibe, it’s not quite on that level of beauty, but it’s close. For some reason Sulu returned from the planet in 18th century gear but then everyone else is dressed like it’s the 19th century, with some medieval robes thrown in, and this annoys me more than it should. Maybe it’s because he’s a swashbuckler at heart. Apparently they had a completely peaceful society except for the nightly purge they seemed to have going on that is never mentioned again.

Space Seed: KHHANN! I liked this a lot until the end. I want to know the lore behind Data’s Dad having his middle and last name. Edit: Actually only the middle name is the same and the last name is just similar. I still think there’s lore there (excuse the pun), probably he’s a descendent of his cult followers or something. The story seemed to be eugenics bad and also the type of guy to basically be a eugenics cult leader would be super manipulative and abusive but just charming enough in a relationship. It does a pretty good job of showing the abuse in his relationship with the historian woman, how he switches between being loving and I guess charming, and flattering to being abusive and degrading. I wish that the historian woman could find someone that she can explore domination and submission with consensually cause that seems like it would be what she really wants. Anyway but in the end they just let him go? Like he tried to take over the ship but they were like here have a colony. They compared the place to Australia when the colonists arrived at Botany Bay and that it could be... I forget what the word was but basically ‘civilised’ and No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO STOP RIGHT THERE NO Australia was already populated and didn’t need eugenicist cult leaders who were demonstrably bad to show up make it ‘better.’ AND THEN the historian is given the choice to go with them and she does and its framed like it’s good? Or at least ok? When they just did a pretty decent job of showing how abusive and manipulative he was and she had redeemed herself by turning against him? So I get that they probably wanted to bring him back although they’re probably not gonna bring her back, but they could’ve easily had him escape instead.

A Taste of Armageddon: Suicide machines. I forget the rest.

This Side of Paradise: SEX POLLEN! Well it’s more fall in love pollen, I guess, for one character. There’s a woman and there’s the music and the soft focus and BUT WAIT then the camera cuts to Spock not Kirk! Because she has taste. It’s about this point that I think the ‘Spock’s the most popular but Shatner wants to remain the star so we’ll emphasise their character’s relationship thus inadvertently inventing slash fic’ might’ve started. It’s time for a love triangle! She makes Spock get the sex pollen, which is not getting consent, and then he falls in love with her and is climbing trees and is all happy. Kirk can’t get a text back from Spock. Then Kirk and two others get the pollen except Kirk didn’t, but he did, but anyway I thought everyone would be horny but they weren’t they were just brainwashed. Soon Kirk is all alone on the bridge, then he gets the pollen and is happy to live as a poly triad but then he gets angry and it’s gone. Then he calls Spock to the ship and approaches the situation in the only way Kirk knows how: Homoerotic punching! So they fight for not long enough and then Spock is cured but he’s a little sad, there’s sadness in his voice, it’s not quite so matter of fact. Then Spock’s gf gets sad and the sex pollen is gone too, Spock might still have feelings for her but he has responsibilities to the ship and “to that man on the bridge” which if he was saying to just mean once again the whole ship, and its mission and the captain in a professional sense, seems a little redundant, which would surely be illogical.

The colonists get sad that they haven’t done anything for years because the sex pollen made them unambitious but I would argue maybe the sex pollen was right and you were better off just vibing. This episode was more interesting and less silly than I thought the creator of sex pollen would be. At the end Spock says that for the first time in his life he was happy. While every other character could still easily become addicted to a thing like that they could at least know they would experience happiness or any feelings again in their life, for Spock it was going back to nothingness.

Devil in the Dark: Spock calls Kirk Jim which I don’t think he has before, when he’s talking over the communicator and he’s worried he’s in danger, there’s some actual fear or urgency in his voice. Also the moment that got me was when Kirk wanted to send Spock back the ship cause he didn’t trust him to kill the creature and Spock was like “but… I’m not really as useful there I am here… so…” If I was writing it I would’ve played that up more but anyway, I like that they didn’t kill the creature. I like that McCoy said the thing. And also said “I’m starting to think I can cure a rainy day.” He’s my favourite.

Errand of Mercy: It’s kinda becoming the Kirk Spock show now, I like the ship but I miss McCoy. I like that the passive pacifists who Kirk was so angry with were actually more powerful. And KLINGONS! Oh yeah the orientalism, the yellow peril, it’s… it’s there all right. They were played a lot colder here, a little Cardassian maybe, still bloodthirsty but I don’t believe this guy has to do it himself to feel honourable, he can kill for sure but he’s fine ordering someone else to do it and being a chessmaster too.

The Alternative Factor: God this one was boring. But it does have a man with the worst beard wig I’ve ever seen. Now he’s stuck fighting the bad version of himself or something to save the universe. So remember that when you’re watching later Trek series, all of this could suddenly be destroyed if one of them gets tired.

The City on the Edge of Forever: UHURA GETS TO GO ON AN AWAY MISSION! Aaaand she doesn’t get to do anything :/ The usual three go back in time! To the 60s again! Oh wait… that’s meant to be the 30s? Oh. That’s some tall hair that lady has for the 30s. But at least said lady is a character, she’s a little perfect but she does things, she has strong beliefs, she might be written a little idealised, but she is still written like a person compared to almost every other Kirk love interest. “He says it (captain) even when he doesn’t say it” is an interesting line. So she has to die, I still think they could’ve just convinced her that you don’t make friends with fascists but ok. They never say what the Clark Gable movie is.

Operation Annihilate! Kirk’s brother dies, and so does his sister in law, leaving his nephew without parents. This is never resolved and the episode ends with them laughing about how Spock got his eyesight back.

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frasier-crane-style · 5 years

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Let’s talk about Treks baby

The One Where Riker Stars In The Grey.

When Riker is reassigned to go over a terraforming colony bedeviled by pesky, genetically engineered wolves, a new first officer is assigned to the Enterprise. And he’s kwazy.

The irritatingly named Quintin Stone is sort of the Nick Locarno to Peter David’s later Mackenzie Calhoun. Brooding rogue, troubled past, gets the job done, you know how it goes. It’s a pretty unabashed power fantasy/Mary Sue in New Frontier, but there the whole thing is so over the top and tongue in cheek that you really can’t take it too seriously. Quintin, on the other hand, is more played for drama--for most of the story, there’s a question as to whether he’s outright homicidally insane. Luckily, Troi is on top of things, checking on his mental well-being and also kinda being his love interest, like a literal version of this gif.

Spoiler alert: It turns out he’s deeply traumatized by a not wholly believable incident in his past*, so good on ya for catching that one, Troi.

Looking back on it, this book would almost seem to count as a deconstruction of the ‘broody antihero’ trope, showing that the character type just doesn’t work in TNG. He infuriates most of the cast and doesn’t get the girl, while those who are taken in by him are presented as saps (yup, Wesley).

Speaking of New Frontier, with the self-aware jokeyness and tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of Trek’s campier elements, would it be fair to say PAD was ahead of the curve in predicting the modern incarnation of Trek? Its take on Star Trek would definitely fit in with the Kelvinverse movies and especially with The Orville, which is pretty much the people’s choice for Trek these days.

*Okay, I get the interpretation of the Prime Directive as not interfering or revealing yourself to alien cultures until they develop warp drive, at which point they’re going to figure out you’re there anyway. And if you can stop an asteroid from wiping them out without them knowing about it, fine. Cool. I get that. But I don’t get Star Trek stories where the PD means you can’t interfere with the Romulans’ development, even though they’re showing up on your doorstep every other week and shooting at you. It’s like saying if Hitler 2.0 showed up in Germany and started amassing power, the US shouldn’t try to discourage that shit or, I guess, engage in any diplomacy whatsoever. It’s mindbogglingly isolationist. And isn’t it arguable that part of a culture’s natural development is interacting with other cultures? Like the back and forth between America and Japan driving forward the medium of animation?

The One Where Picard Nearly Bangs Guinan’s Sister

This one has a bit of nontroversy attached to it, because it came out while Star Trek was still kind of hashing out the Borg, so there’s a disclaimer at the beginning basically going

The gist of it is that Borg aren’t supposed to have gender (a bunch of people with blue hair just had their ears perk up, didn’t they?), but PAD here has a drone that gets detached from the Collective and is a girl. It seems pretty self-evident to me--Picard gets assimilated, they get him back, he’s still a dude, so why wouldn’t it work that way with a chick? But this is back when assimilation wasn’t the Borg’s m.o. the way it would later become. They assimilate a Ferengi in this book (yup) and it’s kind of a big deal. Oh, and as you might’ve guessed, Girl Borg bears a few similarities to Seven of Nine, who would show up later in the franchise, although PAD’s take on it is more “we rescued a girl from a serial killer’s basement after ten years and she’s totally catatonic,” less “what is this human emotion you call ‘kissing’?”

Good thing we have Deanna Troi, a counselor, to ease Girl Borg through the healing process. Oh, wait, she basically takes one look at GB and goes

Thanks for the help, Troi. I guess this subplot is supposed to prove that it’s pointless to try to save any assimilated person other than Picard, because mentally they’re already dead, so might as well just have a bunch of fun guiltlessly blowing them away

(And that goes for you too, audience.) But still, bit of a downer. At least Spock would’ve tried a mind-meld.

There’s also this chick Delcara, who in a pretty XXtra Flamin' Hot narrative choice is like Picard’s soulmate and he’s sort of in love with her slash obsessed with her after having a psychic vision of her in Starfleet Academy and y’know? TNG might’ve opened the door to this by having Crusher bang a ghost, but we should close that door. We should close it right now.

(By the way, in case you’re wondering if this Guinan’s sister business means Picard is down with the swirl, it turns out she’s Guinan’s adopted sister, so is it just me or is that weirdly ambiguous? She’s a beautiful black woman and Picard wants to do her. You can come out and say it, book. No one minds.)

Anyway, Delcara is piloting one of dem planet-killers from back in TOS--in hindsight, it’s weird that the Abrams movies never did anything with the one big Death Star-y thing that actually is canon to TOS, isn’t it? They gave Khan and Nero ridiculously super-sized ships, but the one kaiju that’s actually in continuity, nothing--on a vendetta against the Borg, who basically killed her family twice over. Man, if only there were some kind of psychologist on board the Enterprise to help her through that trauma.

I sense she feels great bitterness, Captain.

Yeah, why does she get a seat next to the Captain again? Let Worf have that seat. How is it fair that he has to stand around all day, he actually does stuff!

Anyhoo, as you might’ve guessed from the opening set on a holographic rendition of Don Quixote, with a Data Discussion(tm) of quixotic endeavors... and the fact that Delcara intends to totally wipe out the Borg, gosh, I wonder if she’ll succeed--this one’s something of a downer. It does give the promised Planet Killer on Borg Cube action for those fanboys who’ve wondered who would win in a wrassling match, and Picard learns a valuable lesson about not pursuing suicidal vendettas against the Borg, which he definitely takes to heart...

(Wow, he did that one-handed? What kind of gains does Sir Patrick have?)

But still... bit depressing.

The One Where Bones Becomes A Space Pirate

Another giant novel, I’m surprised this one never got raided for parts in any adaptation. Even on the page, it’s pretty breathtakingly cinematic, and yet, the only part of it that’s really been used is, if you squint, Bob Burnham in Discovery being a disgraced Starfleeter.

The premise is that, some months ago, the TOS Enterprise crew was involved in a breaking of the Prime Directive that resulted in the destruction of a world and the ‘Enterprise 5′ of bridge officers blamed for the tragedy being shunned and hated wherever they go (ah, that utopian Star Trek future, predicting an entire population that’s politically engaged).

Now, with the command crew scattered, everyone’s trying to get back to the planet where it all happened to find out what tf went down for reals. In a bit of a stretch, this is really hard for them--no one seems to be able to call in a favor or hire Han Solo to take them there or anything, which I suppose is in keeping with Star Trek 3′s similar situation six years prior. They don’t have to go so far as to steal a Constitution-class this time. I suppose it’s fitting for the wild and woolly TOS era. In TNG time, they’d probably be able to dial a Space Uber. (As it turns out, it seems like if they’d just coordinated their plans, they all could’ve hitched a ride with Spock, but then there’d be no book, much less a Giant Book.)

Anyway, Kirk’s been court-martialed and is working as an asteroid miner, Chekov and Sulu fall in with Orion pirates, Spock is challenging the whole thing in court, and Uhura’s in jail........oh. It’s like that, huh, Starfleet?

Like I said, most of the plot involves the crew going off on all their separate adventures, eventually getting the band back together and figuring out what went down. Apparently, the book was criticized for its nonlinear structure, but I think it worked out really well. Starting months after the incident, with everyone disgraced, gets you pumped to find out what happened. Then when they flashback to the shit going down, there’s a great sense of foreboding because you know something is going to happen, just not what exactly.

If I can make a criticism, it’s that after some great build-up, the ending seems a bit anticlimactic. The nature of the threat requires some unbelievable Hollywood Evolution to buy (nothing new for Star Trek, admittedly, and this is a crew that’s fresh off meeting Apollo and Abraham Lincoln) and while it is fitting that they’re able to resolve the situation without blowing up anything or punching anyone (Star Trek loves to talk the talk about how anti-military it is, then end their movie with some Klingons getting blasted), it still seems a little... dry. You’re not going to have Kirk hang off of anything, story? Not even a little? Okay. I still had fun.

And you’ll note that once again, Deanna Troi was of no help whatsoever. Geez, woman, you’re oh for three here!

#star trek #peter david #judith and garfield reeves-stevens

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calliecat93 · 3 years

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ST: TNG S4 Watchthrough Episodes 10-13

The Loss: They did it again guys! They made a good episode about the female character! This time for Troi, yay! I love the woman, but her focus episodes have just been… let’s just say not up to par. But this time? A strange anomaly causes Troi to lose her empathic abilities, and… well, she doesn’t take it well. She tries to take it well, but when one loses a part of themselves that they’ve had their whole lives and rely on for not only their job but to go about their day? You’re not just okay. Deanna tries to just live with it and deny that it’s an issue. All it does is cause her frustration to build up and lash out. If this was an episode meant to focus on disabilities… well while I don’t have one, Troi’s reactions make perfect sense. She gets rather harsh, but I’d be more concerned if she didn’t cause… yeah. Everyone tries to be sympathetic, but all it does is make her feel like they’re pitying/acting condescending towards her. Again, understandable. Everything that she is feeling is perfectly understandable and I just want to hug the poor woman. I feel like there are some issues like Riker, while I can tell that he was using a tough-love approach t get her o get int ouch with her human half, was a huge asshole when comforting Troi the second time cause saying she acted like her Betazoid abilities made her superior to humans when she never did and is having a hard time adjusting to a major loss? Yeah… dude WTF? Also felt like Geordi shoudl have been utilized cause he’s also disabled and already figured out how to go through life with it. Even if Troi didn’t want his help, it would have been nice to mention. Also kind of conflicted on Troi getitng her powers back. I’m glad that she did, but I think it would have been much stronger if she hadn’t since she proved that she can still do her job without it, or have to regain it over time. Nevertheless, it’s still a really nice episode with Marina Sirtis doing an excellent job here, and again, Troi FINALLY got a good episode. Now keep it up TNG cause she deserves the best~! 4/5.

Data’s Day: We get a pretty unique approach for this episode. We follow Data as he is making a log to send to Maddox, who I guess had an epiphany since The Measure of a Man to not be a discriminatory asshole. Data logs what is, to him, an ordinary day on the Enterprise. We see him perform regular tasks, deal with problems, and his role in solving the Problem of the Week that would normally be the main focus. We get Data’s narration throughout, which allows his personal perspective on the matters. Also on this particular day, Transporter Chief O’Brien and a woman named Keiko are getting married… and Keiko gets cold feet and thus the whole situation becomes a lot more complicated with Data, who more or less got the two together, stuck in the middle. I really enjoyed this new approach! Not only is the episode still eventful to keep our interest, but it’s very much an episode that we haven’t had either here or in TOS. Just a day in the life of one of the characters, which with all the issues they get into once a week leaves plenty to over. We have a good balance of the Romulan/Vulcan Ambassador plot and the wedding and Data’s part in it. Seeing and hearing his perspective and things like getting Crusher to teach him to dance since he’s filling the ‘father handing off the bride’ roll for Keiko… it was just so fun. But the most important part of this episode… DATA HAS A KITTY! FINALLY WE SEE THE KITTY! I LOVE IT SO MUCH, IT’S SO FLUFFY~!!! The ending with the wedding was also just so heartfelt and I already love this O’Brien/Keiko pairing a lot~! When O”Brien gets promoted to main character status in DS9 they better give me all the domestic fluff! 4/5.

The Wounded: And speaking of DS9, while I won’t be watching that one until TNG is wrapped up, I do know that the Cardassians are a big deal within it. Guess it’s appropriate for O’Brien to get some focus in this one, I guess they were predictig the future here XD So here we have a Starfleet Capain named Maxwell who has gone rogue and blown up a Cardassian ship despite the Federation having a treaty with them. Why? A few things, but the short version is War is Hell and even when a war ends, the hate/prejudice formed against the enemy after years of kiling each other doesn’t just go away. O’Brien, while not murderous, served under Maxwell during that war and with the Cardassians on board the ship… yeah he’s got some issues. So first… I reaffirm what I said above, O’Brien/Keiko is freakin’ precious! I am SO happy to see a happy, healthy couple in something and they’re just so lovely~! Can we get more of this in the media? Please?! Second… just damn. Maxwell, while very much not protrayed as in the right and his actions nearly caused a war to reignite, feels very much like. traumatized man who never got over the horrors that he endured nor gotten proper help, and it lead to his hatred taking over and causing the deaths of hundreds. While we find that he did have some right to be paranoid, he still did it for vengeance and didn’t have legit proof to justify the provication (and even then that doesn’t justify the body count), but it still feels utterly tragic. O’Brien going to him at the end and talking him down from continuing the onslaught… damn man. IDK if they were planning DS9 when they made this episode, but if it’s anything like this one then I’m expecting some good quality! The trauma of war and how it lingers, what happens when you allow yourself to get comfortable in one’s hatred, and considering that O’Brien is a B-Team character the same way everyone not The Triumvirate was in TOS, I like the focus and development for the character and I’m so excited to see how it continues when DS9 comes along~! 4.5/5.

Devil’s Due: Okay first, the Christmas Carol simulation in the beginning is hilarious considering that Patrick Stwart himself would later play Scrooge. His is my mom’s favorite adaptation actually (Michael Caine will always be the true Scrooge to me though). Okay, the actual episode… it was alright. Honestly, it feels more like a TOS episode, albeit it’s not as frustrating to me as their attempts in the past. But we have a very attractive woman claiming to be The Devil romantically hovering over the Captain. Almost makes me think of Sylvia from the Catspaw episode. Kudos to the actress for Ardra, she really made what would otherwise be another sexualized, evil female character essentially forcing herself on the hero like in every other TOS episode with Kirk fun. She’s not intimidating, coming off more like a diet, far less complex female version of Q, but still fun. Otherwise, it was just okay. Not great, not horrible. Just kinda ‘watchable but indifferent about’ kind of episode. But after a more intensive episode like the last one, having something a bit more light-hearted without any serious introspection, politics, and trauma is honestly pretty welcomed. Also, Picard getting teleported to the planet in his pajamas and Worf just being so confused was the funniest scene all episode though Data as the judge in the court battle (just go with it) was also amusing XD 2.5/5

S4 has just been delivering hard thus far! Event he last one, while he lowest rated so far, was still fun. We’re about halfway through and I can’t wait for what else awaits~!

#st watchthrough

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Transcript - Transcript - 57. A Tale of Two Romulan Commanders

You can listen to the original episode here.

Anika: It seems like everyone is maneuvering and everyone is looking out for themselves or their interests.

Liz: I mean, hashtag Romulans.

Liz: Welcome to Antimatter Pod, a Star Trek podcast where we discuss fashion, feminism, subtext and subspace, hosted by Anika and Liz. That's me.

This week, we're talking about the only two episodes of The Original Series to feature Romulans: "Balance of Terror" and "The Enterprise Incident".

Anika: A first season episode and a third season episode.

Liz: Isn't it wild that the Romulans are so important to Star Trek and yet they only appear twice?

Anika: I think it's -- they're very memorable.

Liz: Yeah. And unlike the Klingons, they have that connection with Vulcan and--

Anika: Vulcan.

Liz: Spock, basically.

Anika: Yes, precisely. And the Klingons took over. As soon as the movies and Next Generation were around, the Romulans had much -- the Romulans were almost working for the Klingons in those later--

Liz: Yeah, they were sidelined.

Anika: It's interesting. It's interesting. And we've discussed how thrilled I am that they're having a renaissance.

Liz: This is a pro-Romulan podcast.

Anika: It's interesting to go back to the beginning of the Romulans and try to really watch it from a perspective of, you know, not "these are my favorite aliens since I was--"

Liz: Yes.

Anika: "--twelve." You know, it's interesting.

Liz: Sort of trying to piece together how we would feel about them without the baggage of everything else.

Anika: Right. It's hard, especially "The Enterprise Incident", it's really hard.

Liz: Oh, I know. I know.

Anika: "Balance of Terror" is more -- even within the context of that episode, we learn so little about Romulans in that episode, and it's much more about the personalities of the Romulans and the humans than it is about the race.

Liz: We get intriguing glimpses though, the business about the Praetor, and the junior officer who is more loyal to the politics and the Praetor than to his own commander, and so forth. I really love that stuff. And it feels like the foundation for everything that will come.

Anika: Those Roman Romulans!

Liz: I'm on the record as saying that I -- like, I think "Balance of Terror" is good, and I respect it, but I don't enjoy watching it. I was surprised at how much fun I had this time. And I think that's, in part, because I've watched a lot of submarine movies since the last time I watched the episode, and I have more appreciation for the tropes.

Anika: I was gonna say, so you see that that part of it? And respect it as a genre as opposed to just Star Trek?

Liz: Yes. And submarine movies are not really something that I watch because I love the characters, they're because I love the tension. So that that really worked this time.

But also, in talking to you about the character of Kirk, I really enjoyed what they did with him in "Balance of Terror", and the way he's so young, but he's so paternal with his officers. It's so interesting. McCoy's whole, "don't destroy the one named Kirk," you know, "there are millions of galaxies and billions of people, and only one James Kirk" felt like such a wonderful statement of the series' humanism.

Anika: Yes, I agree. And I think this episode does a lot of heavy lifting for the relationships between Kirk and McCoy, and how Spock is viewed by the rest of the crew. You know, how even if he didn't have a connection to the Romulans, like, he's sort of an -- he's the outsider. And I know that intellectually, like, that's his character description. But, again, because Spock has now been around for so long, and he's so central to Star Trek, it's hard to think of him as the underdog.

Liz: Yes, yes. And it's interesting to me that we have "Balance of Terror", where Spock is subject to the bigotry of another crewman, and then we have "The Enterprise Incident" two years later, where the Romulans are sort of trying to play on his experience of bigotry to say, "Wouldn't you be happier among Romulans?" and he's going, "Actually, no, I belong with the Federation. I'm not not fully human and not fully Vulcan, but I'm totally Federation."

Anika: It's definitely clear in "The Enterprise Incident" that they have a giant file on everybody in the Enterprise and that's what I want to know [about]. I want all of the details on how they are getting this information, and how it's presented to the Romulans, you know, to the Praetor and then the military, and then to the individuals. There's these layers there. That's why I'm so obsessed with these Romulans, there are just so many layers to it.

Liz: I was wondering if the Romulan officers have standing orders to try to recruit any Vulcan they encounter. Like, ideally high ranked Starfleet officers, but literally any Vulcan they can get their hands on. I think that feels very political, and sort of in line with the allegations that North Korea is very into abducting South Koreans when they can, and also ties in with Diane Duane's plot about the Romulans sort of being a bit obsessed with Vulcans and their abilities, and hating and fearing them, but also really wanting to be part of them.

Anika: I think that that is definitely a throughline through the Romulan stories, even in the first, in "Balance of Terror", when all they know about each other is this military intel spy stuff, right? They don't have any personal interactions or knowledge.

And the Romulan Commander -- Not Spock's Dad -- he envies the Federation, in that he -- this is gonna sound not to be super political, but I'm very political these days. Because I'd like to, you know, here's my world. It's horrible, and very political, literally everything you do is political. And with this pandemic, all of the problems existed before the pandemic, but now they are exposed for literally everyone to see, like, no one can escape them at this point. And one of those is that we force people to work until they die.

So this guy, this one Romulan Commander, he just wants to go home and be a farmer, and live out his life. He reminds me of people who are, like, forced into the military for whatever reason, either because it's actually a mandate for their culture, or because they can't afford to, like, go to medical school otherwise, kind of thing. And then they're stuck, you know, working off this debt to their society. And it's like, they've done it, he's done it.

This guy should be allowed to retire and have his wife and his family and his farm, and instead, he dies. And it's just like, why? Why did that happen? Other than that we don't care about people. And so, you know, not to say that America has more in common with the Romulans. But...

Liz: But...

What strikes me is that, between these two episodes, the Federation doesn't really necessarily have much of a moral high ground? Like, yes, the Romulans have been carrying out these unprovoked attacks on what appears to be civilian outposts along the neutral zone.

But two years later, Kirk is just literally going into Romulan space to conduct an espionage mission, and plausible deniability is literally discussed. It's interesting that the Federation has not held up as morally superior to the Romulans.

Anika: I mean, you don't think it is? Because I got the impression that, because it was Kirk and Spock, we were on their side and they're doing the right thing.

Liz: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Anika: So it didn't seem to me, like, if there is a moral we -- it was definitely, "the Romulans are bad and whatever we have to do to beat them is okay". Which isn't something I agree with on any level, but--

Liz: I don't know if it's necessarily that black and white, because if it were, the Romulans would not be so likable.

You know, we really respect the Mark Lenard Romulan Commander, and he's been basically carrying out terrorist attacks along the border. And the Joanne Linville Romulan Commander is so smart and charming, and a character you really enjoy spending time with. I don't think they would be that likable if the intent was for us to hate them.

Anika: I can see that. They're definitely likable. I don't know that they're -- well, yeah, no. Okay. I will concede the point.

Liz: Not necessarily admirable. But...

Anika: Maybe sympathetic.

Liz: I think that's it. I think, you know, Spock genuinely hurts the Linville Commander when he betrays her. And you get the impression, that in another life, the Lenard Commander would have been a really stand up, decent guy.

Anika: Right? Yes. If he wasn't stuck being that guy? Yeah.

Liz: Yeah. Well, that's the thing. He is so decent and honorable that we just overlook all the people he's killed.

I just want to say the Linville Commander doesn't have a body count.

Anika: Well, I mean, even if I completely erase Diane Duane's take on it from my mind, the Linville Commander, simply because she's a woman in the '60s...

Liz: Yes.

Anika: I assume that she had to work three times as much for every inch of power that she got in that society. Now, I know that, since then, we've seen the Romulans as kind of matriarchal, that they definitely have a lot of women in high places.

Liz: But that's a new thing. And it's sort of evolved from the force of Linville's presence.

Anika: Right. And definitely, in this one, again, simply because it was made in, you know, 1969, and where feminism was at that point, I just assume that she's this ... I don't know, like a Hillary Clinton figure, who, by the time she gets to be in power, everyone hates her because of all the things she had to do to get there.

Liz: You certainly don't get the impression that her subcommander has any strong feelings for her either way. Subcommander Tal, who looks like Peter Capaldi.

Speaking of feminism in the '60s, I was going through old zines, and I was really surprised to learn that the fans, the female fans of the '70s really, really hated this character. And it was partially that she made the moves on Spock, and how dare she, and partially because she does lose in the end, and they felt like it was a story about putting a woman in her place and depriving her of her power.

Anika: I mean, I guess I can see that argument, but I didn't -- I don't know. It probably is because I am biased, but I never felt like -- I felt like she -- her power is very tenuous to begin with. And honestly, Mark Lenard's, too.

Liz: Yeah, you constantly expect them to get a knife in the back.

Anika: Neither of them seem to be, like, commanding their crews in a way -- they're not they're not Kirk, you know? People aren't going to line up to fall on a bomb for him. Like, neither of them seem to have that ... Loyalty? I don't know. That … that presence. They just have the--

Liz: The camaraderie comes from being part of a democracy.

Anika: Yeah. Yes. It seems like everyone is maneuvering and everyone is looking out for themselves or their interests.

Liz: I mean, hashtag Romulans.

Anika: Right, exactly. But it doesn't feel to me like Spock put this woman in her place, who -- no, she wasn't she wasn't a woman in power to begin with.

Liz: But I think it's also that, but also, that sort of urge that any female character must be perfect and flawless and never make mistakes. And she does make mistakes -- she's attracted to Spock, she lets that interfere with her judgement. And he is also attracted to her, but he is a Vulcan and therefore doesn't. And I guess one point to logic, zero points to Romulans.

Anika: But don't you think Spock would be happier if he ... just saying.

Liz: I would love to see AOS Spock where the AOS Romulan Commander is somehow helping Spock with the rebirth of Vulcan.

Anika: Oh yeah, you know what? In AOS they definitely got to make up with the Romans much quicker.

Liz: Yeah, I realise that at this point in time, they still don't know that the Romulans are related to Vulcans. But that could be a whole movie. Call me, Paramount!

Anika: Apparently it was trending on Twitter earlier that Zachary Quinto wants to play Spock again. So let's go.

Liz: Yeah, yeah, we'll go for it. I love his work.

Anika: And I should say it was trending on Star Trek Twitter. Actual Twitter is very busy right now.

Liz: There's some stuff going on.

Anika: Yeah, just a few things.

Liz: But yeah, I think despite her flaws -- maybe because of her flaws -- I love the Romulan Commander, the Linville one. I quite like Sarek Commander, and I like to think that he has a nice husband at home. And he's a really, really good dad, and he has a great relationship with all of his kids. And...

Anika: He's the anti-Sarek. I mean, I love the Romulan -- wait. The Linville Romulan -- this is hard. They need names.

Liz: I'm very mad that neither of them have names. Why does her subcommander have a name, and she doesn't?

Anika: Right? Because if you they were trying to make a whole, you know, the commanders don't have -- this is one of those things that it's like, now we, the fandom and, and the authors in -- the [tie-in] authors, in particular, but everybody has come up with reasons why all of these things are. And we've made it part of Romulan culture, but in reality, I think it was just that they didn't give them names.

Liz: It's weird. I wish Dorothy Fontana was around to ask.

Anika: Like, why, what is this? What is going on here? Because, yeah, other people do have names. It's just them.

Liz: Yeah. And all the Klingons we meet have names. So I guess it's part of that whole Romulan secrecy thing, and, you know, their public name and their family name and their secret name. Thank you very much, Michael Chabon, you're forgiven on this count.

But couldn't we at least find out their public names so we don't have to refer to them by their actors'?

Anika: Right. Because it's annoying, especially, like, Lenard Romulan Commander and Linville. It just sounds -- it takes me out of the discussion.

Liz: I'm always on the verge of saying Linley instead of Linville. And I believe Joanne Linley was a different actress altogether. So...

Anika: Whoops! Right.

Liz: This is just one of the things I would change if I could go back in time to fix Star Trek, but it's on my list.

I'm really interested in how Kirk is mirrored with the Lenard Commander, who is -- I won't say logical, but he's sort of stoic and duty bound like Spock. Spock is mirrored with the Linville Commander, who is emotional and sensuous and strategic like Kirk.

Anika: Interesting, I like this.

Liz: It just occurred to me this morning as I was making our outline, and I thought, my goodness, that would be an amazing double date. And it's just -- shipping aside, it's just really interesting how these character types bounce so well off each other.

And, of course, there's also a great deal in common between Kirk and the Lenard Commander, and whereas Spock and the Linville Commander have the sort of contrast you get in a really spiky het pairing. It's a very 1960s seduction.

Anika: It reminds me of how,, in James Bond, there's always like the hot girl that is a tragic figure or a side piece. And then there's the hot girl that is like, he can't be with her for some reason. And, and in the best Bond films, it's that she's on the other side, that she's the enemy. And it reminds me of that kind of relationship.

Liz: So what you're saying is that Mark Lenard is a Bond girl?

Anika: Yes. I mean, I think it can work, you know?

Liz: No, I think I think it makes sense. And I don't really ship anyone with Lenard Commander, because, like, he doesn't even meet these people face to face. And he kills a lot of people, but still, I--

Anika: You keep saying that! I don't even think of it. Like, yes, he's the enemy, and he's the Romulan, and he is -- because he's at that level, like, he's -- again, he's at retirement age, so of course he must have killed people that our crew knew. He's that level of person. And yet it does not factor into my appreciation of him at all.

Liz: That's the thing! It has not factored into mine either! And I'm so interested in how willing I am to overlook that. And will I change my opinion if I keep reiterating, to myself as much as our listeners, that he killed a bunch of people?

And it's kind of like, No, I think he's a great character and I wish he hadn't died, or we could have spent more time with him and ... yeah. Adventures of Romulans in Federation Captivity.

Anika: It reminds me of my strong feelings for the defector Romulan.

Liz: Yes.

Anika: And how I like he is -- in that episode, they straight up say, like, this is his resume of death. Here are all the people he personally killed. And yet, I'm so upset that he dies. I'm so upset that --, you know, his family won't remember him, and they'll destroy his name. And he won't get that Romulan legacy thing. And I'm just really distraught that he -- that the one good thing that he does, in defecting to the Federation and trying to save both sides, is what destroys him. Both physically and, you know, spiritually, I guess. It's just really upsetting.

Liz: Well, you know, we love a redemption arc.

And I think -- we know that the Lenard Commander and the defector whose name I'm blanking on, even though I should know it, neither of them actually had a choice in following out their orders. Romulus is not the sort of state where you can go, "Uh, sir, that is an illegal order, and I'm entitled to not follow it." That's the sort of thing that will get you and your family killed.

It's like the thing we discussed, I think, in our episode about, you know, odo being a terrible fascist collaborator, and how living under a totalitarian regime compromises everyone? [Transcriber's note: That was episode 46: #MeToo: Terok Nor - https://antimatterpod.tumblr.com/post/616682290664357888/46-metoo-terok-nor]

Anika: Yes. And it's -- anytime we bring up Emperor Georgiou, it's like, Emperor Georgiou is a horrible person, yes, but that doesn't mean that she can't have a redemption arc, because she didn't have a choice. That was it. That was the only choice she had.

Liz: Even as a person in power, if she wanted to live, and she wanted her family to live, then, yeah, she had to go along with it. She probably didn't need to eat so many people. But this is why she needs a redemption arc.

Anika: Right. It's just -- I'm always on the side of the people who are terrible, but want to be -- like, for me, all it takes is that you want to be better. That's all. That's all I need from you, and I will be on your side, and I will help you do it.

So, of course, the worse the things you've done -- it's gonna take longer. There's gonna be a lot you have to make up for, you know, but I just -- I always come from a place of, if you're going to go on this road, then I will help you on the road. I will be on the road with you.

Liz: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so I don't think that Lenard Commander is irredeemable. I just -- I'm so interested that we overlook his crimes.

Let's talk about Lieutenant Riley, the bigoted dickhead on the bridge.

[Liz's note: yes, obviously I meant Lieutenant Stiles. In my defence, Stiles and Riley are basically identical, in that they both have hair and faces and wear the same outfits. Yes, Stiles is addressed by name in dialogue. No, I don't know what difference that makes.]

Anika: Yeah. Well, I -- yes. So I put in our notes here, like, two seconds before we started, that the line -- it's, like, famous, really, at this point, that Kirk says to our bigot, that "bigotry doesn't belong in the bridge. Keep that in your quarters."

Liz: Yes.

Anika: Something like that. And you know, it's like, "Oh, what an amazing, progressive thought to have in the '60s."

First of all, the '60s were progressive, so let's just put that aside. But second of all, it's not actually super progressive to be like, hide your bigotry and it's okay. That's not it, guys.

Liz: It's sort of the starting point for being in a professional environment where there are no telepaths, but...

Anika: It's sort of like sexual harassment in the workplace. You know, I'm sure anyone, everyone, everywhere has had one of those trainings, sexual harassment in the workplace trainings, and like what they hammer into you is that it doesn't matter if you think it's sexual harassment, if the person who's being sexually harassed does, and you are creating a hostile environment by ignoring it, then you are in the wrong.

Liz: Yeah. And there's no need for Riley to confront his bigotry. Like, he's rude about Spock, and then Spock saves his life, regardless of that. And then we're friends again. And it's kind of like ... it's just a bit weak.

Anika: Yeah. I understand that they only had, whatever, 15 minutes to do this whole thing. And he's not in any other episode. He's just this random guy. I understand the shortcomings of the medium for this.

Liz: But to have it still held up in 2020 as an aspirational high point is really...

Anika: Exactly. It's really sad. We really need to progress, guys.

Liz: Yeah. Guys. Come on.

Anika: We need to move forward. Because the truth of the matter is, is that we're probably more bigoted as a society, or -- not as a society, but as individuals with individual groups within the society, because we're so partisan, and we're so entrenched.

The people who are bigots are, you know, we've been fighting against them for forty, fifty, sixty, eighty years, right? So they've become very defensive. They're very entrenched in their beliefs. And it just makes us all become more vocal and more loud. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I am super for being as loud and as vocal as possible in opposition to their open bigotry.

But because of that, we can't look at this one moment from 1966, where Kirk says, "Hide your bigotry," as if it's a good thing. Like, we just can't -- we need to say no, no hiding. Get rid of that.

Liz: I also want to say that it's just bizarre to me that Riley is holding a grudge about a war a hundred years ago. Like, my great grandfather fought in the First World War. I don't have any negative feelings towards Germans because of that.

Anika: There's the people who worship the Confederacy, and they're upset about getting rid of their Confederate statues, or saying that you shouldn't fly the Confederate flag at, like, national sporting events. Like, those people exist, and they are those loud, entrenched bigots. And so it's weird. It's weird. It's like that is not unbelievable to me. That, if he was raised in that community of people that -- and he was taught from a very young age that, you know, you hate Romulans.

Liz: Also, I wonder, on a worldbuilding level, is it -- is there this sense of unfinished business? Because we don't know anything about them, we don't know what they look like, we've never met a Romulan face to face, so it's very easy for them to become this terrible boogeyman.

Anika: Oh, absolutely. I mean, imagine if your grandfather fought the Germans, but you never learned about them? Like you never--

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: You never learned about Snow White. You know, like, you only ever learned about people who killed your grandfather's friends.

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: I don't know.

Liz: That is a really interesting way to look at it. I like it a lot.

Anika: I mean, as I said, like, five minutes ago, I am the opposite of this. However, I understand it, or I understand why it would happen. And again, it's all environmental, and what you're brought up with, and what you learn, and what you're surrounded by at all times. Those are the things that are going to affect you the most. Not to be all nature versus nurture, but I think we all have the natural ability to be open minded. But if you're only ever told one story, then that's the story that you're going to cling to.

Liz: Yeah, that's a really good point. And it's sort of -- I'm trying to bring it back to the actual episode and I can't. The pollen is in my brain and it's reproducing.

Fashion!

Anika: Yes! I love it. Okay. So Romulans had terrible fashion.

Liz: Oh, I think it's great.

Anika: As a rule, Romulans have terrible fashion, like, they are the worst. And these episodes are no different. Like, it's worse in TNG, and their ridiculous shoulder pads, and the fact that they all look like they're wearing, you know, used car leather outfits.

Liz: And their pants always look like culottes.

Anika: Oh my god, they're so bad. Everything is bad in The Next Generation. But the tweed, the different layers of bronze and magenta. Like, I don't even know what to call that color blue. But that blue--

Liz: It's like a deep electric blue.

Anika: --tweed is also a bad -- they all look like they kinda -- it kind of reminds me of T'Pol's sofa jumpsuit that she wears for the first two seasons. And so I kind of like that. It's like, oh, look, the Vulcans and the Romulans both wear ridiculous--

Liz: Upholstery....

Anika: Right. Exactly. Upholstery clothes instead of actual fabrics. You know, clothing fabrics, as opposed to making what you make your furniture out of. But...

Liz: But.

Anika: But.

Liz: I always thought that the Romulan costumes, the Romulan uniforms, were crochet. And I finally watched it in HD and I was so disappointed to learn that it's just the print on the fabric. I loved the idea of this evil empire wearing grandma's blankets,

Anika: Me too. Oh my goodness. Like, that's another point in the matriarchy.

Liz: Yes. I guess...

Anika: There we go. But then they also have that ridiculous helmet. Amazing, ridiculous helmet.

Liz: Can we assume the helmet is because they couldn't afford ears for everyone?

Anika: Yes, definitely. We can. But it's also hilarious in every way. I mean, it's, like, spray painted gold. It is so good and so bad. I love it. And then, obviously, I love Linville Romulan Commander. All of her outfits, they're both amazing. She is like, "I'm going to make this tweet work for me, so you better be ready for my tall boots and short skirt."

Liz: It's [the] 1960[s] so she's going to command in thigh high leather boots and a skirt so short that, at one point, it rides up to show her undies.

Anika: It is so ridiculous. But again, this is why I can't take her completely -- I can't take -- like I can take her completely seriously, but I can't take the idea that everyone on that ship respects her as the captain completely seriously.

Liz: I think we just have to uspend disbelief. Like, everyone takes Uhura seriously, and she's wearing an equally brief skirt. I feel like we've become more prudish in the ensuing decades about showing vast expanses of thigh.

Anika: But then she wears that other dress with the swirls.

Liz: I love that dress so much.

Anika: That dress is amazing. That's dress I would wear now--

Liz: I was about to say that!

Anika: --with no qualms. I am ready to wear it. It is perfection and it's timeless.

Liz: It's really wonderful. And I look at the way the print on the fabric works, and how it follows the lines of the dress, and I'm just so impressed with that piece of dressmaking. Like, you know, how HD sometimes makes the costumes look a bit shite? Aside from a little wobbliness in the seams on that dress, I think it holds up really nicely.

Anika: So are we -- do you have anything else to say about fashion? Because I have a ridiculous comment.

Liz: I just enjoy how Spock is kind of offended at Kirk running around in what I'm gonna call earface.

Anika: Yes. I mean, I'm kind of offended. But it's not the ears, it's the makeup.

Liz: Yeah, it really...

Anika: The ears, you know, whatever, even the eyebrows are, you know, passable, but the fact they make him very swarthy is a little upsetting.

Liz: Yeah. And I think they've done the same with Linville, too. Harder to say with Lenard. I don't think he's in so much bronzer, but that -- this was very much an era where they're like, "Hmm. aliens. Let's get some white people and paint them brown."

Anika: It's not great. It's not great, guys.

Liz: I understand that, like, our perception of what brownface is has expanded since the '60s. Like, blackface and brownface, I'm sure, were controversial at the time. But no one would have looked at, for example, T'Kuvma wearing full-length, black latex and gone, "Oh my God, this man is in blackface," which happened with Discovery. And I'm not saying that's an incorrect reaction. I just think that our standards have shifted, and we've become more sensitive to this sort of thing.

Anika: I mean, I think that's probably true that we definitely -- I mean, I would hope.

Liz: Oh, yeah.

Anika: And I hope that we're getting better. I hope that we will continue to grow in this area. And you're right, I think that at that time, it was just makeup.

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: They weren't trying -- I don't even think they were -- like, maybe they were, I'm not gonna say -- I don't know. But it's possible that they weren't consciously trying to be racist, or they weren't saying that this kind of person is evil, and so we're going to color our white people to look like that. I think they were just using the -- again, using the story they knew.

Liz: Yeah, I think it is that -- the makeup for the Klingons and the Romulans is steeped in Orientalism, but I don't think that was a conscious choice.

Anika: Right, exactly. That's what I'm trying to say, that it was definitely true that it was -- that it happened. But it wasn't like they were going out of their way to do it. It just happened because they didn't know any better. And that is not an excuse. And that is a good thing. But it's a reason. I understand, again, where it comes from.

Liz: Exactly.

Anika: I'm not gonna be angry at Joanne Linville for -- she didn't have any control over that. You know, William Shatner didn't have any control over that. So you know, whatever. It's not his fault. I'm not mad at Kirk and I'm not mad at William Shatner. But I am mad at the fact that it happens.

Liz: Mad at the world in general for -- yeah, yeah.

Anika: I'm all over the place today. I'm sorry.

Liz: No, me too. And I guess this is a good time to give our listeners a heads up that I am moving house in a couple of weeks. And for the next two weekends, I will be painting the house I'm moving into. So our next episode could be a little scattershot. Because I'm probably going to have to get up very early in the morning to record it before we go and paint. So sorry.

Anika: Oh my goodness. Well, good luck with all of that.

Liz: Thank you. I've never painted anything except, you know, a canvas. So it's exciting!

Anika: It's a lot of fun, actually to paint walls. You're painting, like, walls and --?

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: It's actually very relaxing. And then, when you're done, you have an amazing sense of accomplishment. In my experience.

[Liz's note: I had an amazing sense of exhaustion. And fresh walls.]

Liz: I'm thinking of putting in, like, a bright magenta feature wall so I can make my study feel like the Linville Commander's office.

Anika: Yes, do it.

Liz: Divide it with a trendy with a translucent pink curtain for Spock to hide behind.

Anika: I really, I mean, you know, I ship them a lot.

Liz: I know.

Anika: That's where I was gonna go earlier. And so I know you have a headcanon that Laris is related to the Romulan Commander, and I'm one hundred percent for that. That's great. And I just want to say that I definitely at one point plotted a whole arc about how Saavik was their daughter.

Liz: I mean, she was half-Romulan, half-Vulcan!

Anika: Right. She was half-Romulan and half-Vulcan and like, Kirstie Alley kinda has the facial features. And then Robin Curtis has the hair. So it's sort of like, I can see it.

Liz: No, I can see it.

Anika: It works.

Liz: And it's like, "Well, I've had this kid and I don't think she's going to be very happy, she's not very happy growing up as a Romulan, maybe you would like to take care of her.". And Sarek is like, "A surprise grandchild?!"

Anika: Exactly! See, like, I think it would actually -- we wouldn't have to change anything in canon, although except maybe when she helped him through Pon Farr.

Liz: I was gonna say, we have to change the bit where they have sex.

Anika: But we can just ignore that.

Liz: I already do.

Anika: David can help him through Pon Farr.

Liz: Oh no, that's a new pairing.

Anika: I think it's kind of sweet.

Liz: I think Kirk is going to have some issues.

Anika: Anyway, I think that my main comment is that I'm really sad that she's never mentioned ever again in canon. Like, there's this whole book series, which I love. We've discussed that. [See episode 47: Pride and Prejudice in the Original Romulan - https://antimatterpod.tumblr.com/post/617951478179676160/47-pride-and-prejudice-in-the-original-romulan] But even there, she's gone, she's exiled. And so she's like a ghost, she's not actually physically there.

And then, like you and I have come up with, like, hey-- and people are like, "Oh, the universe is too small if everyone's related to everyone." And it's like, yeah, okay, but also...

Liz: Which I believe! But some opportunities are too good to pass up.

Anika: Right? And if Harry Mudd gets to have a Renaissance, where is my Romulan Commander? That's all I have to say.

Liz: Okay, concept. Concept, concept. The next AOS movie features the Romulan Commander, Jennifer Garner plays her.

Anika: Yes!

Liz: You know, she's a bit older than Quinto, and she has that sort of sexy maternal vibe. We know she can handle an action scene, but she also has buckets of charisma.

Anika: And we all met her as a spy!

Liz: Yes!

Anika: It's perfect.

Liz: Yep. As usual, it's a mystery to me why the entertainment industry isn't literally beating down my door

Anika: You know what, I wouldn't -- like, they don't even have to pay me at this point.

Liz: Oh, no, they have to pay me. I don't work for free. But I will accept payment in Australian dollars, which is a great deal if you're American. I was going to say, do we have much more to say? Could we just make this a short episode and I can take my pollen-filled head and--

Anika: The only thing I want to say is that I -- I wanted to discuss McCoy. Because I think he has an interesting role in both of these episodes.

Liz: More than usually, he's the voice of reason and humanity.

Anika: Yes. And I think I said earlier that "Balance of Terror" does a lot of heavy lifting for the McCoy and Kirk relationship. And I think just establishing McCoy as that, you know, center, heart and conscience of the Enterprise crew.

Liz: It's actually interesting how little Spock has in terms of an emotional arc in "Balance of Terror".

Anika: What's interesting about Spock in "Balance of Terror" is that it's not about him.

Liz: Yeah. Which I think is sort of a metaphor for bigotry, in a way, that it doesn't really matter who a person is.

But the most interesting thing for Spock in this episode is that he makes a mistake and gives away their location. And that's so unlike him, and it's the closest hint we ever get to the emotional turmoil he may or may not be suffering in terms of the revelations about the Romulans.

I'm sorry, I just need to duck out for five minutes, but just keep recording and resume when I get back?

Anika: Okay.

Liz: Sorry.

Anika: That's okay.

Liz: Are you there?

Anika: Yes.

Liz: So sorry, my breakfast all of a sudden disagreed with me.

I was going to say, it is so interesting how there are things that have sort of been tacked on to the Romulans later on, like the cultural drive for privacy and secrecy, they're sort of present in this episode, particularly the bit in "The Enterprise Incident" where the Romulan Commander receives a message from one of her officers. And it's not an intercom. It's like, conveyed through an earpiece. And just little things like that really pull it all together and make it consistent accidentally.

Anika: But those are the bones that we built all of our canon on.

Liz: I know. And it's great!

Anika: And those headcanons became Romulan culture, because, you know, it's sort of like [how] Hikaru Sulu wasn't Sulu's name until Star Trek VI. Like, he didn't have a first name, but it became his name. It was like the fandom's accepted name. I think it was in a novel at one point. And then in Star Trek VI, he was like, I'm Captain Hikaru Sulu. And that was his name from then on, you know, it was like, it became canon.

And in similar ways, like, everybody talks about Romulan culture until a point where it becomes real, and it becomes part of the actual story.

Liz: Yes, I just love being able to go back and see the seeds of these ideas.

Anika: That's, yeah, absolutely. That's super fun. But so what I was saying about McCoy--

Liz: Oh, yeah, I'm so sorry.

Anika: It's, it's fine. You have to edit this.

It's just that it's interesting to me that in the first episode in "Balance of Terror", he is very, like, "Hey, we should, you know, be friendly, and we shouldn't go to war, we shouldn't assume that they're going to attack us, we definitely shouldn't attack first." And, "Hey, everybody, you know, and let's take some steps back and take a breather."

And in "The Enterprise Incident", he's like, so "I'm meant to pretend that Kirk dies, and then we're going to turn him into a Romulan, so he can totally steal a cloaking device."

And it's like, Okay, what happened to Dr McCoy? But I think it was the first episode, like, I can sort of see an arc for it. And I think that's interesting.

Liz: Yes, and also, I think that there's still a cloaking device mission. If they pull it off, which they did, there are very few casualties. Like, I think one guy's injured, and that's it. And I feel like McCoy--

Anika: From the McCoy standpoint, I think this is what I was getting at poorly. But now I'm going to get at it well. From a McCoy standpoint, "If I help, you know, Kirk plan the trademark Kirk plan, to work and and not kill off anybody on our side or their side, and have this bloodless battle and war, then I will have helped the cause and stopped the battle that would have occurred and the deaths that would have occurred if I didn't do this." I can totally see McCoy talking himself into that.

Liz: Yes, yes. And I also wonder if he came up with the ruse of faking Kirk's death, because it seems to be kind of a go-to move for him generally.

Anika: He did that. He knows how to do that well.

Liz: Yeah. He's had a lot of experience!

Anika: And he's now tricked Vulcans and Romulans into thinking that Kirk's dead, which is, I think, a particular achievement.

Liz: Hashtag goals. Am I right?

Anika: I like that. I mean, obviously, Kirk, Spock and McCoy are the trinity. And so obviously, they're gonna have big roles and stuff, but I liked that they did all get something to do in each of these episodes.

Liz: Yes. I also felt very bad for Chekov, the way Kirk snaps at him in the opening scene. Like, the poor boy is just doing his job, but he doesn't know you're playing a role. Maybe we need some sort of Original Series Lower Decks that's just Chekov going, "Why is the captain picking on me?"

Anika: Poor Chekov. Honestly, Chekov gets yelled at a lot.

Liz: Justice for Chekov.

Anika: He could form a support group with Harry Kim. Which I would love to read if anyone wants to write that for me.

Liz: Yeah, I would go for that. Please, someone write it and send it to us.

Anika: And then, you know, in "Balance of Terror", we have Janice Rand [being] sort of like, "Hey, Captain Kirk, I'm here for you." And then, in "The Enterprise Incident", we sort of have the, "Hey, I know that I've already lost Spock but I'm still gonna keep trying to get Spock" scene with Chapel. It's like, I don't know, they both have this weird -- it's both sort of sad and desperate, but also, you know, okay.

Liz: Yeah, I think it's a mistake to have both the significant recurring female characters in positions of unrequited love. Put it that way.

Anika: Unrequited love. Yeah. And they both had a sort of similar aesthetic. They're very feminine. They're very, like, I don't know, I guess -- it's not like Uhura isn't feminine, so it's all of them, all women on the show.

Liz: I think, particularly, Rand and Chapel seem similar because they're both blonde and they're both a little older than you would expect for that sort of ingenue role. Which is not a criticism. It's just an interesting casting choice.

Anika: I can see that. And they're both in pretty subservient roles. Supportive roles. And because, again, because it was the '60s, they were more subservient than they should have been, perhaps.

Liz: Yes. And they both go on to positions of more authority in the movies.

Anika: Right.

Liz: Not that we ever see much of Chapel as a doctor, but...

Anika: But we know that it happens. And Rand, too, you know, we only get a few glimpses of her, but--

Liz: And the whole Voyager episode--

Anika: The Voyager episode is really -- like, I love that that's our last view of Rand. And it's it's such -- it really, like, repairs her legacy for me, because I can I can imagine everything she was doing in between. And it makes me happy.

Liz: And the way we know Grace Lee Whitney was mistreated on set, it feels like a vindication for her as well. That she gets to have a position of authority, and she gets to have scenes with the first female captain.

Anika: Okay, I'm gonna cry. Anyway--

Liz: Oh, one final thing before we wrap up! You know all these scenes in "Balance of Terror" in phaser control, and manually charging the phasers?

Anika: Yes.

Liz: I think that's really cool. And I really wish that it had been a regular thing in Discovery.

Anika: I mean, that's a super, like, submarine plot thing, right? I feel like every -- and I don't go out of my way to watch submarine movies, but I've definitely seen the popular ones. And I those are the scenes I remember--

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: It takes so long to do everything on a submarine.

Liz: Yes! If that had been incorporated into Discovery, I feel like it would have been a really good way to demonstrate that, even though the effects and the sets and the trappings are much more modern than The Original Series--

Anika: Yes! You know, you're right.

Liz: --this is still an older setting than what we're used to.

Anika: And, you know what, you could even have, like, everything except the spore drive be that way. So the spore drive is its own thing, like, you could have this instantaneous dangerous side. But everything else would be in the old style. I like that idea for grounding Discovery.

Liz: And also for ramping up the tension, and I can just imagine, you know, Lorca drilling the phaser crews endlessly. Not that that show really needs more side characters, but what if it had more side characters?

Anika: Well, I mean, yeah.

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: It'd be good. It'd be good. I like it.

Alright, so do you have any final thoughts on TOS Romulans before we wrap up?

Liz: Mainly that I'm just really glad that Picard has returned us to an era where Romulans can have a variety of hairstyles.

Anika: Yes. I mean, and personalities.

Liz: Yeah! And also, I think Elnor would look super cute in the electric blue uniform with the culottes and the crochet and ... yeah.

Anika: That's kind of cute. Someone out there, draw that for us. Okay? I'll commission you. 'Cos Liz is right and we shouldn't work for free.

Liz: Yeah, yeah. Art is valuable. Even if it's really silly.

Anika: Send me your requirements, and I'll get back to you.

Thank you for listening to Antimatter Pod. You can find our show notes at antimatterpod.tumblr.com, including links to our social media and credits for our theme music.

You can also follow us on Twitter at @antimatterpod, and at Facebook -- search for Antimatter Pod.

If you like us, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you consume your podcasts. The more reviews, the easier it is for new listeners to find us. We get raised up.

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: And join us in two weeks we'll be discussing the season premiere of Star Trek: Discovery. It's back, guys!

Liz: I'm so, so excited to move on from my feelings about season two. New Trek, new hair, it's going to be great.

Anika: Yes, exactly. I want to put it all down because I continuously get annoyed with Discovery, and I want to go back to loving it.

Liz: I would like have new things to be annoyed at

Anika: That too! That'll work. I just want to be passionate. Any passion is good.

Liz: It's 2020 and I just want to feel something.

Anika: Oh my gosh.

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