Ok, just finished it. IMO the only people who will like this episode are people who love musicals or shows like American Idol.
I'm someone with the potential to like a musical, I loved the Buffy The Vampire Slayer musical episode and still revisit some of those songs some 22 years later (I'm not adverse to belting out a mean rendition of "Sweet's Song" in the shower). This episode though very rarely escaped the cringe zone IMO, Nurse Chapel's song was the only standout as it had a melody that wasn't derived from the stale template of modern pop music. Overall though the biggest emotions I felt through this episode were boredom and cringe. It really dragged at certain points.
As far as the story of the episode the musical-ness is explained by the excitation of an "improbability field" near the ship then Uhura and Spock tried transmitting music at it. A bit of nomenclature that continues NuTrek's tradition of ripping things off by ripping of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's "Infinite Improbability Drive". Really the explanation of this whole thing was just some bullshit to make singing, dancing Spock and Kirk happen. I know I'll never rewatch or re-listen to any part of this cringefest ever again. This one was strait up painful to sit through.
If you're into 50s-70s stuff and haven't heard of them already maybe check out 3 Hür-El, a Turkish band with a 60s-70s Psychedelic sound (a track, another track).
Angus ain't so bad. He trolls for the lulz tho and sometimes gets on people's nerves but I don't think he's ever trying to be mean, just comes off that way sometimes. Once in a while he gets in a laugh out loud funny remark that makes the rest more worth it.
A dramatic rumination on the scars of war which questions whether someone can ever be absolved of their most heinous sins. At least that's what the episode is aiming for. It gets there better than I would ever have expected the SNW writers to be capable of but there's still much to be desired. The ultimate note this ends on isn't one of hope or optimism but pessimism. Mbenga just gets away with premeditated murder for reasons the episode wants us to believe were, if not noble, then at least acceptable.
MBenga's victim was a war criminal, one seeking to reform himself in the aftermath of his crimes by becoming a respected ambassador for peace. Mbenga, a field medic during the war directly effected by the former's actions, left mentally scarred by acts he did in response. It's all good set up. However the ending is ultimately anti-Trek in nature. This is an ending Gene Rodenberry would have cut and replaced with an aspirational note showing MBenga struggling but ultimately rising above his petty desire for "justice" in the form of vengeance. Maybe he does still stab him but then he'd follow that by using every medical trick in his arsenal to save the Klingon's life. He'd throw himself on the mercy of his captain and plead forgiveness for his transgression and be given punishment but still a second chance for fixing his grievous mistake. The episode could have ended with Mbenga and the Klingon having some deep, bedside conversation in the med bay that left it ambivalent as to the moral quandary but hopeful that this is a world where even these mortal enemies can resolve their differences.
Instead Mbenga shanks the dude and gets away with it, with Nurse Chapel strait up lying to Pike that she saw the whole thing when all she saw were blurry silhouettes through frosted glass. Even worse we have an epilogue where Mbenga presents his vigilante style reasoning as if he was morally right to kill the ambassador. If this were some other IP this would have been a good episode however it fails as a Star Trek episode because it doesn't even try to present an attempt at aspirational resolution. The message is killing someone you believe to be evil is acceptable, due process and redemption be damned. That's just not what Star Trek is supposed to be about.
All in all a competent episode but it's DNA is just not Star Trek.
Regardless of whether people are upload ID's to websites or some government created system this is some nefarious shit being pushed under the guise of protecting kids online. It will lead to the removal of privacy from the internet entirely, hyper-charging corporate or government data harvesting, and opening a massive attack vector for identity theft. Been in the works for a minute and I'm super pissed to only be learning about it just now.
If you're the type to write your senator, now would be a good time.
Also here's an article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation laying out the censorship and surveillance concerns with KOSA:
An actual good episode. I'm shocked. Nothing annoyed me, no canon was disrespected, the jokes landed, there was a sci fi premise, an new alien planet. I could actually rewatch this and not hate my life for doing so. I am super surprised. They nailed it with this one. Of course they are going throw away all this good will with an awful musical episide next week so I'm not getting used to enjoying SNW.
A woman taking a picture. I'm almost sad AI imagery has improved so much since back then. Used to be able to generate absolutely horrific images like the attached "Angelina Jolie meeting Mike Tyson" monstrosity easily, now you gotta track down a model that's way out of date to get such ghastly results.
This was a decent episode. On the pre-2005 Trek scale I'd put it at almost a TNG early season 2 filler episode level. On the nuTrek scale then that makes this episode better than all of Star Trek Discovery, all of Picard seasons 1 and 2, a lil sub par for a Lower Decks episode, a lil less good than the best they ever managed in SNW season 1, not nearly as good as the second half of Prodigy season 1, and light years behind Picard season 3. All that is to say this episode is Strange New Worlds giving it the old college try. It felt like an episode of actual Star Trek with only a smidge of nuTrek badness, bout the best I can expect coming from these writers so thumbs almost up!
Who could have imagined that antagonizing your user base by disabling password sharing during financially hard times while also forcing every new production to pander to the worst of DEI/ESG tropes would turn out poorly?
Ok, just finished it. IMO the only people who will like this episode are people who love musicals or shows like American Idol.
I'm someone with the potential to like a musical, I loved the Buffy The Vampire Slayer musical episode and still revisit some of those songs some 22 years later (I'm not adverse to belting out a mean rendition of "Sweet's Song" in the shower). This episode though very rarely escaped the cringe zone IMO, Nurse Chapel's song was the only standout as it had a melody that wasn't derived from the stale template of modern pop music. Overall though the biggest emotions I felt through this episode were boredom and cringe. It really dragged at certain points.
As far as the story of the episode the musical-ness is explained by the excitation of an "improbability field" near the ship then Uhura and Spock tried transmitting music at it. A bit of nomenclature that continues NuTrek's tradition of ripping things off by ripping of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's "Infinite Improbability Drive". Really the explanation of this whole thing was just some bullshit to make singing, dancing Spock and Kirk happen. I know I'll never rewatch or re-listen to any part of this cringefest ever again. This one was strait up painful to sit through.
Gonna watch it when I eat lunch in a few, I expect it to be bad too. Will report back.
Gratz mate. Glad to hear it.
According to the last time my doctor gave me grief I'm about 743 years old.
If you're into 50s-70s stuff and haven't heard of them already maybe check out 3 Hür-El, a Turkish band with a 60s-70s Psychedelic sound (a track, another track).
Wouldn't that have the effect of unmasking anon users?
Good luck attracting investment mate.
C'mon man, I made a whole /s/featurerequest sub for these posts.
OK, was trying to broker some peace, nevermind
Hint hint, Odysee embed fix, hint hint anvil.
Angus ain't so bad. He trolls for the lulz tho and sometimes gets on people's nerves but I don't think he's ever trying to be mean, just comes off that way sometimes. Once in a while he gets in a laugh out loud funny remark that makes the rest more worth it.
Geeeeeeeeeeez Edit: In light of everyone else being all supportive maybe not the best first reaction. I do hope things improve for ya mate.
American song about the same topic.
$FUJ to 100k by end of year. Can't go tits up.
A dramatic rumination on the scars of war which questions whether someone can ever be absolved of their most heinous sins. At least that's what the episode is aiming for. It gets there better than I would ever have expected the SNW writers to be capable of but there's still much to be desired. The ultimate note this ends on isn't one of hope or optimism but pessimism. Mbenga just gets away with premeditated murder for reasons the episode wants us to believe were, if not noble, then at least acceptable.
MBenga's victim was a war criminal, one seeking to reform himself in the aftermath of his crimes by becoming a respected ambassador for peace. Mbenga, a field medic during the war directly effected by the former's actions, left mentally scarred by acts he did in response. It's all good set up. However the ending is ultimately anti-Trek in nature. This is an ending Gene Rodenberry would have cut and replaced with an aspirational note showing MBenga struggling but ultimately rising above his petty desire for "justice" in the form of vengeance. Maybe he does still stab him but then he'd follow that by using every medical trick in his arsenal to save the Klingon's life. He'd throw himself on the mercy of his captain and plead forgiveness for his transgression and be given punishment but still a second chance for fixing his grievous mistake. The episode could have ended with Mbenga and the Klingon having some deep, bedside conversation in the med bay that left it ambivalent as to the moral quandary but hopeful that this is a world where even these mortal enemies can resolve their differences.
Instead Mbenga shanks the dude and gets away with it, with Nurse Chapel strait up lying to Pike that she saw the whole thing when all she saw were blurry silhouettes through frosted glass. Even worse we have an epilogue where Mbenga presents his vigilante style reasoning as if he was morally right to kill the ambassador. If this were some other IP this would have been a good episode however it fails as a Star Trek episode because it doesn't even try to present an attempt at aspirational resolution. The message is killing someone you believe to be evil is acceptable, due process and redemption be damned. That's just not what Star Trek is supposed to be about.
All in all a competent episode but it's DNA is just not Star Trek.
This was my cat, Piper. Now my mom's.
Good luck getting rid of that bit of intestine. Pssh who needs intestines anyway.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman
You never replied to my comment from the last time you mentioned Korn.
Here's the bill itself:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3663
Here's a Verify article fact-checking the age verification measures:
https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/social-media/kids-online-safety-act-does-not-require-people-upload-drivers-licenses/536-df0b9009-43bf-4253-8986-090cfdda05a5
Regardless of whether people are upload ID's to websites or some government created system this is some nefarious shit being pushed under the guise of protecting kids online. It will lead to the removal of privacy from the internet entirely, hyper-charging corporate or government data harvesting, and opening a massive attack vector for identity theft. Been in the works for a minute and I'm super pissed to only be learning about it just now.
If you're the type to write your senator, now would be a good time.
Also here's an article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation laying out the censorship and surveillance concerns with KOSA:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/young-people-should-oppose-kids-online-safety-act
An actual good episode. I'm shocked. Nothing annoyed me, no canon was disrespected, the jokes landed, there was a sci fi premise, an new alien planet. I could actually rewatch this and not hate my life for doing so. I am super surprised. They nailed it with this one. Of course they are going throw away all this good will with an awful musical episide next week so I'm not getting used to enjoying SNW.
A woman taking a picture. I'm almost sad AI imagery has improved so much since back then. Used to be able to generate absolutely horrific images like the attached "Angelina Jolie meeting Mike Tyson" monstrosity easily, now you gotta track down a model that's way out of date to get such ghastly results.
You liked that hard political turn in Barbie's second hour?
This was a decent episode. On the pre-2005 Trek scale I'd put it at almost a TNG early season 2 filler episode level. On the nuTrek scale then that makes this episode better than all of Star Trek Discovery, all of Picard seasons 1 and 2, a lil sub par for a Lower Decks episode, a lil less good than the best they ever managed in SNW season 1, not nearly as good as the second half of Prodigy season 1, and light years behind Picard season 3. All that is to say this episode is Strange New Worlds giving it the old college try. It felt like an episode of actual Star Trek with only a smidge of nuTrek badness, bout the best I can expect coming from these writers so thumbs almost up!
Who could have imagined that antagonizing your user base by disabling password sharing during financially hard times while also forcing every new production to pander to the worst of DEI/ESG tropes would turn out poorly?