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[sdsichero]

Earlier, I was watching one of the worst TNG episodes ever ("Cause and Effect"), and it reminded me of something I really grew to hate about modern day Trek.

Whenever something happens, that you or I would just ignore or dismiss as foolishness or a figment of imagination, they start running tri-phase particle scans and aim the gravimetric sensor array at it. And invariably discover "plot-particle emmission."

I'm watching this episode, and Crusher is sitting there saying, "I heard voices last night, and no one was there!"

And I'm thinking, if I was Picard, my first reaction would be, "That's because you're a crazy bitch, Beverly, now shut the fuck up when mens is talkin'."

Instead, Geordie starts analyzing and what-not.

And they're forever doing shit like that. I mean, I guess in the future, when quantum anomalies pop up around every corner, you can't afford to dismiss something as mere crazy-bitchitude or stellar transphase shutthefuckuposis.

But goddamn, I just wish for once that a bump in the night on the Enterprise was still just a bump in the night.


Bad enough they kept showing the same goddamn poker game every fifteen minutes...

Those non-things are either left out of the script or episodes are not made about them.

I liked that episode.

[Nightfly]

Those non-things are either left out of the script or episodes are not made about them.

I liked that episode.

Me too.

Though DS9 will always be cherished by me, I rather liked that on TNG they'd more likely scan a thing than pray to it.
Bajorans bugged me.

[Strict31]

Those non-things are either left out of the script or episodes are not made about them.

I liked that episode.

That's not my point. My point is that these are things which any normal person would dismiss as absurd or as a figment of imagination. But in Trek, they take every little thing seriously enough to have Geordi or Data or Wes run a scan on it.

"Did you guys see a shadow out of the corner or your eye?"

"Hmmm...my tricorder's not picking anything up beyond passive background theta rays."



"Captain, I think I felt something on the ground..."

"Sensors are detecting a large amount of rocks and detritus."



"Do you smell that...?"

"Reconfigure the main deflector to detect bio-trianic radiation!"

I mean, it's always, let's immediately assume this normal sounding shit is actually something we'd never detect unless we specifically focused this special device Wesley crapped out to detect plot holes!

I understand it's the future, and they're all enlightened and shit. But it strains credulity even more than crazy shit like shooting phasers at warp velocities. I mean, we been getting by for centuries thinking a bump in the night is nothing more dangerous than two people perhaps having midnight...bump.

But in the 24th century, they put entire work shifts on the problem.

It's like the writers can't find out a way to clue the characters into the problem without someone tripping over a duotronic alignment module that was dropped into the script. obviously it's not all the time, but it happened enough that it caught my attention.

[sdsichero]

That's not my point. My point is that these are things which any normal person would dismiss as absurd or as a figment of imagination. But in Trek, they take every little thing seriously enough to have Geordi or Data or Wes run a scan on it.

Hmn i guess I have to go rewatch some of those episodes. They are in a bottle though so perhaps some of those "bumps" and "shadows" have more significance than if you are out camping.

Yes the "particle of the week" did sometimes get overdone... but it wasn't enough for me to dislike the series.

[Severed Djed]

It's like the writers can't find out a way to clue the characters into the problem without someone tripping over a duotronic alignment module that was dropped into the script. obviously it's not all the time, but it happened enough that it caught my attention.

In TOS, you would clue them into the problem by having someone get killed. Someone, or an entire ship. Or planet, or whatever.

I wonder if there was another Roddenberry directive telling them to cut back on the death a bit. Combine that with the available tech, and that Roddenberry Space is dangerous, and you have paranoia as protocol. No wonder they spent so much time in the holodeck.

Actually, now that I think about it, the TNG crew remind me more of people role-playing Star Trek than acting it on TV.

[Strict31]

In TOS, you would clue them into the problem by having someone get killed. Someone, or an entire ship. Or planet, or whatever.

A subtle, but effective clue that something is afoot...

I wonder if there was another Roddenberry directive telling them to cut back on the death a bit. Combine that with the available tech, and that Roddenberry Space is dangerous, and you have paranoia as protocol. No wonder they spent so much time in the holodeck.

I dunno. In the first episode, one of the onboard supplies of black guys got froze to death when Q strolled onto the scene. Or some sort of ethnic looking being. And those Bandi dudes were getting fucked up by the space beastie. I don't think they were living through the planetary bombardment (and since the thing was alive, one wonders what it was bombarding the planet with, exactly...).

Actually, now that I think about it, the TNG crew remind me more of people role-playing Star Trek than acting it on TV.

That's a good way to put it. Obviously, they're not as apt as a D&D party is to use a vorpal sword to attack that rustling bush over there, but at the same time, they seem to feel that, if it managed to catch their attention, it must be a parasite of some kind, or perhaps a quantum fissure.

[sdsichero]

In TOS, you would clue them into the problem by having someone get killed. Someone, or an entire ship. Or planet, or whatever.

I wonder if there was another Roddenberry directive telling them to cut back on the death a bit. Combine that with the available tech, and that Roddenberry Space is dangerous, and you have paranoia as protocol. No wonder they spent so much time in the holodeck.

Actually, now that I think about it, the TNG crew remind me more of people role-playing Star Trek than acting it on TV.

Hmn... it was a different time I think. TNG was less the frontier than TOS, it was more rational in a way. More (space, physics) science was tried plot-wise. DS9 was a nice clash of the two.

"It's easy to be a saint in paradise"

[Strict31]

Oh, by the way, this is the episode with Famke, I believe.

Tasty space bitches...The 24th century totally rules!

[edit] er...the episode that's currently on Sci-Fi, that is.

[Strict31]

Goddamn punk-ass Ferengi. Always fuckin' something up.

[The Comedian]

That's not my point. My point is that these are things which any normal person would dismiss as absurd or as a figment of imagination. But in Trek, they take every little thing seriously enough to have Geordi or Data or Wes run a scan on it.

"Did you guys see a shadow out of the corner or your eye?"

"Hmmm...my tricorder's not picking anything up beyond passive background theta rays."



"Captain, I think I felt something on the ground..."

"Sensors are detecting a large amount of rocks and detritus."



"Do you smell that...?"

"Reconfigure the main deflector to detect bio-trianic radiation!"

I mean, it's always, let's immediately assume this normal sounding shit is actually something we'd never detect unless we specifically focused this special device Wesley crapped out to detect plot holes!

I understand it's the future, and they're all enlightened and shit. But it strains credulity even more than crazy shit like shooting phasers at warp velocities. I mean, we been getting by for centuries thinking a bump in the night is nothing more dangerous than two people perhaps having midnight...bump.

But in the 24th century, they put entire work shifts on the problem.

It's like the writers can't find out a way to clue the characters into the problem without someone tripping over a duotronic alignment module that was dropped into the script. obviously it's not all the time, but it happened enough that it caught my attention.

That's because it's the future, duh!

[False Prophet]

New Chris Pine interview

[GOSD]

Cause and Effect was a good episode, Strict!

[Strict31]

Cause and Effect was a good episode, Strict!

You're drunk on bitches and romulan ale.

That episode sucked grapes through asses. It was the same scene over and over again. And they should have just renamed Data "Lt. Cmdr. Deus Ex Machina."

[Starlord]

I liked cause and effect as well, and I'd rather have them question something slightly odd than shows that are all about the bizzare or different and yet the first thing someone says is. "Oh you're crazy, that couldn't happen."

[Strict31]

I liked cause and effect as well, and I'd rather have them question something slightly odd than shows that are all about the bizzare or different and yet the first thing someone says is. "Oh you're crazy, that couldn't happen."

The problem is that a bump in the night is never just a bump in the night in the future. It's always some sort of subquantum transphase verteron wave. Which, if they hadn't detected it, would cause a cascade failure in the matter/anti-matter articulation chamber. Which, as we all know, would lead to a warp core breach and adios muchachos.

I mean, sure, here in the primitive present-day, bumps in the night are occassionally knife-wielding murderers sneaking in your house, or, more rarely, microscopic black holes being farted out by a giant particle accelerator deep beneath New Jersey.

But mostly, it's just the frickin' house "settling".

In the future, the bump ratio is way off.