Decided to fix up Linnell's hair and give Flans a Chess Master.
Although Eureka has got to have one of the worst depictions I've ever seen.
Maybe from 2371-2378, while Tom Paris was busy being his Delta Quadrant counterpart.
Like, I don't hate Tom Paris (at least late VOY, anyway), but you can't deny that in combination with his early personality, that face just looks inherently punchable for some reason.
The planet had previously industrialized and since de-industrialized by choice.
Unfortunately, he died after being shot midair by Libyans while falling off a cliff into molten drip.
You mean Kruge?
Reminds me of this classic:
I do have to agree. The setting may be the best part of later seasons of DISCO, even if they (in my personal opinion) frequently squandered it.
Like, I felt like they didn’t need to make up the DMA - they had practically seasons worth of material written for them just from the inherent realities of the setting.
I take this with a grain of salt, in part because of this past headline: Robert Picardo Says The Doctor Isn’t Just Comic Relief In ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Season 2
Which isn’t to say I hated him in Prodigy. Rather, I wonder if by “deeper”, it means he’ll be absolutely ridiculous, just rambling about opera and holonovels all the time, and the writing won’t be all dark and brooding on this show.
I tried to hint at it at the beginning, but I admit mapping Ferengi politics onto human politics is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. I was honestly just trying to use commonly-understood terms, which may be a weak fit.
In terms of social-economic orthogonality, I think that can work for a more general analysis, but doesn't seem the case in Ferengi society - for instance, social left and economic left reform in the late Zek (Ishka behind scenes)/early Rom seemed like a packaged deal. Also, the social restrictions on women extend to their economic right to make profit - many of the issues in Ferengi society are a blur of economic and social issues that are intimately connected.
Also, unrelated to my above thoughts, rewatching "Family Business", I disagree with your assessment of Rom. For one, I think both Quark and Rom were equally bothered, just had different ways of expressing it; Quark let his discomfort out through visible anger, while Rom tried to hide it for a while, letting it seep through into his expression. Also, Rom, while seeming like a product of his society, seemed much more open to listening to Ishka, suggesting that while he had socially and economically conservative values, he didn't hold them as strongly as screaming Quark.
Overall, I agree with your sentiment that political categorization is complex, and I feel no one model perfectly characterizes all ideologies, that there are merely abstractions that might work well in a specific context. Heck, there's a sci-fi story idea I'm "working" on (by which I mean I haven't touched it in ages) where I created a 3D political spectrum for my main factions; I forget what my third axis was, though. In the end, as much as some humans like to nerd out about it, an ideology can't be perfectly reduced to a point on a graph or a line.
Still, there is some undeniable urge to do a deeper dive on Star Trek political mapping, down to sub-charts for characters in the individual societies where we have enough information, although you'd have to figure out how to handle different eras.
It took a good minute for me to decode that acronym. 
I guess I usually don't acronym that film and just refer to it as VI or by its full name
Glorious use of sarcasm.
In terms of writing, they really captured him well on Prodigy, though he was almost entirely a comic relief character.
Looks-wise, he definitely triggered the uncanny valley and was one of the worse aesthetic adaptations of a legacy character in that show. In general, there are some unintentionally terrifying officers on that show.
I do have to say that was one thing Lower Decks did well - when they brought on a legacy character, they were aesthetically recognizable, but never a caricature.
cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/19747430
A sequel to https://startrek.website/post/14985611
cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/19747430
A sequel to https://startrek.website/post/14985611
A sequel to https://startrek.website/post/14985611
cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/14985611
"Boss of Me" might be my favorite Flans song... besides "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head"... and "Music Jail"... and "Let Me Tell You About My Operation"... and "If Day for Winnipeg". Nevermind. Please don't make me choose a favorite Flans song.
cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/14985611
"Boss of Me" might be my favorite Flans song... besides "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head"... and "Music Jail"... and "Let Me Tell You About My Operation"... and "If Day for Winnipeg". Nevermind. Please don't make me choose a favorite Flans song.
cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/19356345
I finally got around to watching some Discovery (though I'm only through the first few episodes of season 4). My thoughts:
- First three are a moderately enjoyable sci-fi drama
- I have to admit, season 3 just presented enough interesting ideas and mystery I was able to ignore most of its flaws
- I've really started to notice death by subplots, though. It feels like they try to do 4 different plots in an episode, 2 which they do okay and 2 which are way weaker than they should be. I would have rather they done 2 subplots really well.
- I felt season 4's conflict was really contrived. The plot could have almost written itself with what happened in season 3. Osyra died and we don't even talk about the aftermath in the Chain - the slavery isn't just going to magically disappear, and there's sure to be a power struggle. Also, killing Book's family was kind of idiotic - talking about grief and obsession again is like beating a dead horse. Heck, if you'd let his family live but still destroyed the planet, we could have had an interesting story on diasporas instead.
- Also, background character development feels a bit weak. I spent half the first couple seasons wondering who the heck Ariam was, and just when I did, they killed her before the audience could develop much of an attachment. They could have at least thrown in a few more crew barbecue scenes.
- I am now more impressed at what Lower Decks did with fewer, shorter episodes a season than Discovery. They really managed to create a sense that we'd been with these characters a long time and that they were growing despite the entire show being shorter than 1 TNG season. I do have a few gripes about season 5 (my main one being how does Ma'ah go from "Beckett is honorable" like, a few hours after meeting her to immediately distrusting her in the finale), but my respect for LD has only grown.
I finally got around to watching some Discovery (though I'm only through the first few episodes of season 4). My thoughts:
- First three are a moderately enjoyable sci-fi drama
- I have to admit, season 3 just presented enough interesting ideas and mystery I was able to ignore most of its flaws
- I've really started to notice death by subplots, though. It feels like they try to do 4 different plots in an episode, 2 which they do okay and 2 which are way weaker than they should be. I would have rather they done 2 subplots really well.
- I felt season 4's conflict was really contrived. The plot could have almost written itself with what happened in season 3. Osyra died and we don't even talk about the aftermath in the Chain - the slavery isn't just going to magically disappear, and there's sure to be a power struggle. Also, killing Book's family was kind of idiotic - talking about grief and obsession again is like beating a dead horse. Heck, if you'd let his family live but still destroyed the planet, we could have had an interesting story on diasporas instead.
- Also, background character development feels a bit weak. I spent half the first couple seasons wondering who the heck Ariam was, and just when I did, they killed her before the audience could develop much of an attachment. They could have at least thrown in a few more crew barbecue scenes.
- I am now more impressed at what Lower Decks did with fewer, shorter episodes a season than Discovery. They really managed to create a sense that we'd been with these characters a long time and that they were growing despite the entire show being shorter than 1 TNG season. I do have a few gripes about season 5 (my main one being how does Ma'ah go from "Beckett is honorable" like, a few hours after meeting her to immediately distrusting her in the finale), but my respect for LD has only grown.
cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/19150268
The Parliament just feels like a more beautiful version of the Nebula - it is rather elegant while keeping that Galaxy-class kitbash feel, combined with a bit of Miranda in the square edges of the saucer and a smidge of Sovereign in the nacelles. Nebula just looks derpy by comparison
True, Nebula and Parliament have a bit different purposes. However, other than nacelles, they actually seem to be about the same size interior-wise (based on some very Memory Beta info).
The Parliament just feels like a more beautiful version of the Nebula - it is rather elegant while keeping that Galaxy-class kitbash feel, combined with a bit of Miranda in the square edges of the saucer and a smidge of Sovereign in the nacelles. Nebula just looks derpy by comparison
True, Nebula and Parliament have a bit different purposes. However, other than nacelles, they actually seem to be about the same size interior-wise (based on some very Memory Beta info).
I went through LD 5x09 "Fissure Quest" to try and count/estimate the amount of Kims on the Anaximander.
The most we see on screen together not including Lieutenant Kim is 8 Kims on the Beagle Bridge (6 First Contact Uniforms, 1 Voyager uniform, 1 Delta Flyer uniform):
In the scene immediately after the opening credit, we see two non-Lieutenant Kims with the Voyager uniform:
Combining the 8 Kims seen on the Beagle with the extra Voy Kim on the Anaximander, I estimate there to be at least 9 Kims (besides Lt).
However, there are some inconsistencies.
We only see 6 (non-Lieutenant) Kims in the prison, despite it being somewhat implied the Anaximander is mostly empty besides Garak and Bashir:
In one count the mess hall scene, I counted what was at least 6 and at most 11 Kims.
Overall, I'm sticking with my initial estimate of 9 for now.
I wonder what could account for variations in Kims. Were some actually locked up somewhere on the ship? Did Lieutenant Kim forget one?
Also, assuming there are 9-11 Kims, is 14-16 crew (adding Boimler, T'Pol, Curzon, Garak, and the LMH) enough to run a Defiant-class, which usually has compliment more in the 40s? It could be possible that since it's a Section 31 ship that it's outfitted to run with less agents.
P.S I find it a nice bit of canonical accuracy that most Kims are wearing First Contact uniforms (and likely made it home), as since most timelines are close to Prime, uniform designs shouldn't be that different.
No. That was in TMP. To be fair, that’s two TOS movies where mysterious probe threatens the Federation.