Star Trek Social Club

We got horror last week, now we got stoner comedy this week. And kicked us off with a Jurassic Park episode. They really are running the gambit with film genres.

I love that they're experimenting, but I also would really appreciate some traditional Star Trek of seeing professionals being professional. I just want some of that Andy Weir style competence porn!

After reading some of the comments, I'm now going to watch the Hangover. As I had compared this episode to Dude, Where's my Car, but that movie jumps the shark and goes in to absurdity. Which, to be fair, is very appropriate for the genre. They didn't get that extreme with this episode, but I also wouldn't have been surprised if they did.

I don't know if I liked this episode, which makes me believe I'll like it a lot more later after I let it sink in a bit and think about what they were trying to do.

Overall I enjoyed this one too. A fun little romp and did not expect to do the hangover in space. As always I really enjoy the mid century modernist futuristic stylings that the set and costume design bring to the show.

I do like the silliness that this show can find itself in because it allows itself to be grounded in the era of TOS.

Last time I witnessed queer-baiting this blatant, one of them had wings and the other wore plaid (Tone indicator amused/bit annoyed). Was VERY worried there'd be some Scortegas in the future and VERY relieved at the conclusion (though I kind of think not everybody needs to be buddies but ah well).

I usually don't notice wardrobe but I fucking loved what Uhura was wearing her party. Ortegas' antennae though seemed like taping down your eyes to appear "Asian", what even.

Do humans/Starfleet ever abort negotiations because someone on the other side inadvertently did something culturally insensitive? Has a non-Starfleet culture ever gone to great lengths to accomodate our cultural weirdnesses?

Ok but Total Eclipse of the Heart in Klingon goes hard af

I did NOT have MUGATO SCOTTY on my bingo card lmao

Man I don't know what to take from that episode. Interesting for Scott, nice to see Ortegas get more screentime besides flying the ship. And I guess that's about it.

Am I remembering correctly that James Doohan had a prosthetic thumb? Was the thing at the end a knod to that?

It tries to be fun, but some of the jokes didn't land. That said, I'm not going to fault them for trying "The Hangover" in Space as it feels like at least it's something different and not so much by committee, and I still enjoyed most of the episodes. This is probably the best of the very rare "Ortegas Episodes" and I particularly liked seeing an "It's green" scene yet again.

Improvement from last week, but at the end of the day it's what we used to call a filler episode... 3/10, maybe a 4.

Dave Foley from Kids in the Hall is the resort manager.

You have not experienced Bonnie Tyler until you have heard her in the original Klingon.

I'm not sure there's a lot to say about this one. I enjoyed it. The jokes didn't land quite as well as they should have, but I have to take some responsibility for watching a stoner comedy at 9 am.

The Spirk enthusiasts should be pretty happy, though.

Mixed bag of an episode.

I liked that we got some proper character development - Spock and Kirk coming closer together, an origin point for their friendship is good to see, and the hallucination was a useful way to explain why spock would be willing to open up to such a friendship in the first place. Ortegas and Scotty similarly got some satisfying growth, and the quite unprofessional arguing between them didn't end drag on for too long.

I did not like the first couple of acts. I know this is meant to be a comedy episode, but none of the jokes really landed for me, it was just kind of a slog to get through. I'm not a big fan of "stoner / drunk" humour in other shows, and it's not a whole lot better here. I am not sure if the alien host was meant to be funny or charming, but they just came across as mildly annoying. If I compare this to pleasure-planet episodes we've seen in other trek shows, I don't feel the pleasure planet really added a whole lot. CG sequences aside, they were in a fancy hotel more than an actual planet.

Something that really bugged me is that despite repeated references to alternate shifts, at no point did any of the "alphas" think that maybe it might be worth handing off the negotiations or asking for help with the bomb. It speaks to a kind of arrogance that doesn't really play well given the whole point of the episode is learning to rely on others.

The final act is again mixed. The idea of a pressure bomb, the sci fi equivalent of a landmine, is a great way of building tension, brings ortegas and scotty together fully. But that it then also provides the solution for the diplomatic problems make no sense. The aliens say that particular type of bomb is part of a peace ritual that hasn't been seen in generations, but then why would a separatist use that for their sabotage?

Overall it was alright, but not amazing.

Only thing I enjoyed of the episode is that Ortega and Scotty didn't have any romantic involvement, and at the end it's only a friendship thing.

Jokes were not funny, and when the peace negotiations are going down the tube, then a random thing happens and all is good and everybody are friends. Make Pike fail the peace treaty, he is stoned, sober him up and somehow make him fix it. Will be a better thing that a explosion is now a peace sign or whatever.

Annotations for 4x03 up at: https://startrek.website/post/43096604