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[JonnyDBrit]

It does seem kind of impractical... if you're just swinging it around in a flurry, I could see someone just knocking it out of your hand. And yeah, it just sort of turns into an awkward sword when people attack each other.

I'd actually argue the reverse - being able to use it quickly would mean a user could potentially catch their opponent's weapon and take it away from them, while its wide, balanced arc means its not actually difficult to use in terms of defense. Plus if anything, a design like the batleth could work against shields... as in the kind used in medieval warfare, because its curved shape could allow one to go around a person's defense.

Part of the problem is that we see the batleth in isolation in a sci-fi series, where a physical weapon is always going to be slightly odd. We don't know who or what it was designed to fight, to the best of my knowledge; its a bit confusing to see spear and pikemen for example, without remembering they're chiefly meant to be posted in large army units to create a wall of death, especially for an oncoming cavalry charge.

 

[Fuchsdh]

The Hollywood Reporter article with their favorite VOY episodes has some good ones: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...est-930900/item/scorpion-star-trek-100-925121

Makes me want to break out of my orderly TNG viewing, but I'll wait. The two obvious episodes I think they're missing are "Counterpoint" and "The Void".

 

[Stallion Dan]

The Hollywood Reporter article with their favorite VOY episodes has some good ones: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...est-930900/item/scorpion-star-trek-100-925121

Makes me want to break out of my orderly TNG viewing, but I'll wait. The two obvious episodes I think they're missing are "Counterpoint" and "The Void".

Lists some good ones but some pretty bad ones too.

Year of Hell for all the great concept was a waste of 2 episode slots, everything is reset so we get nothing for it, at least with Timeless Harry gets that message from his future self. But even in the first part Voyager gets so screwed that you just know there is going to be a reset button which ultimately makes it all less interesting and gives the story pretty much no stakes.

It also fails to take into being the knowledge Kes would have given them from the episode where she is traveling backwards in time, which Tuvok expressed a directly interest in. Instead of having shields ready the moment they encounter the Krenim they have to wait until Seven of Nine found out the torpedo frequency by which time the ship is screwed anyway, the frequency by the way is still the same frequency as Kes got from one. Multiple crew members knew that frequency also since it was used to cure her.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Lists some good ones but some pretty bad ones too.

Year of Hell for all the great concept was a waste of 2 episode slots, everything is reset so we get nothing for it, at least with Timeless Harry gets that message from his future self. But even in the first part Voyager gets so screwed that you just know there is going to be a reset button which ultimately makes it all less interesting and gives the story pretty much no stakes.

This is a very common criticism, and I get the point to a degree in terms of the larger Voyager plot season-to-season, but I don't buy it in regards to the episodes themselves. While the timeline resets, it doesn't reset what viewers saw, any more than "well that episode took place in an alternate universe so it doesn't really matter." We get to see the crew tested and where that leaves them, and even if that is erased it still impacts our understanding of the characters.

I mean if you think about it it's really no different from an episode like "Tapestry", only that Q makes the string-pulling apparent whereas only the audience is aware of the resets.

I also really appreciate that the episode doesn't shy away from the fact that Anorax might still be flirting with the doom of his race, he just maybe won't get around to it as soon because his wife is there.

 

[firehawk12]

This is a very common criticism, and I get the point to a degree in terms of the larger Voyager plot season-to-season, but I don't buy it in regards to the episodes themselves. While the timeline resets, it doesn't reset what viewers saw, any more than "well that episode took place in an alternate universe so it doesn't really matter." We get to see the crew tested and where that leaves them, and even if that is erased it still impacts our understanding of the characters.

I mean if you think about it it's really no different from an episode like "Tapestry", only that Q makes the string-pulling apparent whereas only the audience is aware of the resets.

I also really appreciate that the episode doesn't shy away from the fact that Anorax might still be flirting with the doom of his race, he just maybe won't get around to it as soon because his wife is there.

It resets in as much as it as no real consequences on the characters - they don't learn anything about themselves, develop any further, or change in any fundamental way because of the experience that befell them.

But that's Voyager's problem isn't it? Even when something does matter, like the two parter Equinox, it's basically disregarded soon after and all but forgotten about.

(Is Janeway as bad as Ransom? The show doesn't want us to think so, but the next episode everyone all but forgets the Equinox accident. Starfleet doesn't even mention it when they have their dumb Reginald Barclay episodes).

Come to think of it, probably the only two parter episodes that had any impact on the show is the first Borg cliffhanger because of Seven of Nine and the one where they go back to 1996 because they get the mobile emitter.

I'd actually argue the reverse - being able to use it quickly would mean a user could potentially catch their opponent's weapon and take it away from them, while its wide, balanced arc means its not actually difficult to use in terms of defense. Plus if anything, a design like the batleth could work against shields... as in the kind used in medieval warfare, because its curved shape could allow one to go around a person's defense.

Part of the problem is that we see the batleth in isolation in a sci-fi series, where a physical weapon is always going to be slightly odd. We don't know who or what it was designed to fight, to the best of my knowledge; its a bit confusing to see spear and pikemen for example, without remembering they're chiefly meant to be posted in large army units to create a wall of death, especially for an oncoming cavalry charge.

It's strange because no one else seems to have hand to hand weapons. Vulcans have those American Gladiator staff things, but they only use them in their sex games. I guess the Jemhadar had knives? I can't remember at the moment.

Maybe if they encounter Klingons in Discovery, the fighting won't look so stagey.

 

[Stallion Dan]

I also really appreciate that the episode doesn't shy away from the fact that Anorax might still be flirting with the doom of his race, he just maybe won't get around to it as soon because his wife is there.

They'd been doing it for 200 years in the time ship. That scene was long in the past, or should have been, there was also no way he was ever going to see his wife again so his whole motivation was flawed. Major error in the story.

 

[Fuchsdh]

They'd been doing it for 200 years in the time ship. That scene was long in the past, or should have been, there was also no way he was ever going to see his wife again so his whole motivation was flawed. Major error in the story.

The whole idea was that destroying the time ship itself reversed all their changes.

 

[Cheerilee]

It's strange because no one else seems to have hand to hand weapons. Vulcans have those American Gladiator staff things, but they only use them in their sex games. I guess the Jemhadar had knives? I can't remember at the moment.

Maybe if they encounter Klingons in Discovery, the fighting won't look so stagey.

Humans have Ambo Jitsu, the ultimate evolution of martial arts.

 

[Stallion Dan]

The whole idea was that destroying the time ship itself reversed all their changes.

Yes, which means that scene of Anorax putting down his work to be with his wife was 200 years in the past, since they'd been trying to restore her colony for over 200 years.

His entire plan to restore the timeline to be with his wife again would never have worked, even if he restored the timeline she would be long dead, the timeship erases things from time, it doesn't travel through time.

The Krenim don't live long lives either, so it not like he could have restored it then joined an older version of his wife.

 

[firehawk12]

Humans have Ambo Jitsu, the ultimate evolution of martial arts.

Was that the thing that Riker did with his dad when Pulaski was trying to date him?

 

[Cheerilee]

Was that the thing that Riker did with his dad when Pulaski was trying to date him?

Yep. The ultimate fate of martial arts on Earth is to put on BMX armor and wear a blindfold, and then hit each other with American Gladiators-style padded sticks that have audible proximity sensors attached on the opposite end. And if your opponent misses and wanders past you, you're not allowed to strike them in the back of the leg because that's an illegal move.

 

[Htown]

Was that the thing that Riker did with his dad when Pulaski was trying to date him?

Yes.

also the lamest thing about Star Trek are the stupid future sports they come up with

dumb, every one of them

 

[firehawk12]

Haha. Well, at least they tried... instead, on Enterprise, Archer is inexplicably a fan of waterpolo.

Speaking of, is there any clear idea what "Parasee's Squares" is supposed to be?

 

[weemadarthur]

I assume it's full-contact, low/zero grav foursquare.

 

[Henchmen21]

Haha. Well, at least they tried... instead, on Enterprise, Archer is inexplicably a fan of waterpolo.

Speaking of, is there any clear idea what "Parasee's Squares" is supposed to be?

Nope. Never been shown what it is outside of what the uniforms look like and that it's dangerous for those under a certain age. Otherwise it's just been alluded to or talked about.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Nope. Never been shown what it is outside of what the uniforms look like and that it's dangerous for those under a certain age. Otherwise it's just been alluded to or talked about.

Honestly it's one of those things they probably don't have the budget to envision properly, and it's a better idea to just allude to rather than having to fully create it.

EDIT: Also jesus O'Brien's soldier dislocation thing started on TNG? Wouldn't 24th century medicine have just replaced his arm with bionics or something after the tenth time this happened?

 

[Stallion Dan]

As a bit of fun I wonder what the ship names would be if Voyager was a current show.


In an early (S1 or 2) episode B'Elenna is shown her true desires and they turn out to be Chakotay. Bakotay and a Ch'Alanna.

Then it forgets about that ever happening and aim her at Tom Paris. Torris, T'Elanna (B'Elanna really lends itself to mash-ups).

Neelix/Kes would have to be Keelix because just isn't much to do with Kes.

Of course is the constant what-ifs of Tom and Kes too, so we got Karis, Tes, Kom. Probably not Kom.

In later seasons The Doctor gets a thing for Seven, and she clearly admires him so...Doctor of Nine? Deven? Soctor?

Of course then there is the ultimate unspoken but holy shit don't go near fanfics or you'll drown in it pairing, Janeway and Seven. Jo9? Sevway? I got a few but I feel Jo9 would have been it.

Would also be a tough luck Harry meme.

 

[The Hamburglar]

As a bit of fun I wonder what the ship names would be if Voyager was a current show.


In an early (S1 or 2) episode B'Elenna is shown her true desires and they turn out to be Chakotay. Bakotay and a Ch'Alanna.

Then it forgets about that ever happening and aim her at Tom Paris. Torris, T'Elanna (B'Elanna really lends itself to mash-ups).

Neelix/Kes would have to be Keelix because just isn't much to do with Kes.

Of course is the constant what-ifs of Tom and Kes too, so we got Karis, Tes, Kom. Probably not Kom.

In later seasons The Doctor gets a thing for Seven, and she clearly admires him so...Doctor of Nine? Deven? Soctor?

Of course then there is the ultimate unspoken but holy shit don't go near fanfics or you'll drown in it pairing, Janeway and Seven. Jo9? Sevway? I got a few but I feel Jo9 would have been it.

Would also be a tough luck Harry meme.

I used to refer to 7 of 9 as 6 of 9 as in 69er

 

[funkystudent]

Deep Space 90s

 

[Stallion Dan]

So I watched Tuvok slit the throat of a Hirogen with a blade.

Most violent thing ever on Star Trek?

Also a decapitated Hirogen head is found/seen on screen next episode (unrelated to Tuvok's work).

 

[Fuchsdh]

Deep Space 90s

I was about to ask where the hell Michael Dorn was.

Man, while Ronald Moore got off on the Klingons way too much and they continued to make Worf the punchline in way too many episodes, he was still a pretty great addition.

 

[Man God]

I was about to ask where the hell Michael Dorn was.

Man, while Ronald Moore got off on the Klingons way too much and they continued to make Worf the punchline in way too many episodes, he was still a pretty great addition.

It continues to dress him down until it finally gives him his final redemption at the end. Worf is quite frankly too good of a Klingon to associate with the current craziness that Gowron and his ilk support and institutes a regime change.

 

[Fuchsdh]

It continues to dress him down until it finally gives him his final redemption at the end. Worf is quite frankly too good of a Klingon to associate with the current craziness that Gowron and his ilk support and institutes a regime change.

I do appreciate that element to the character. I always thought that even by the time we got Data, the "trying to be human" bit was a bit overdone (or at least a bit... human-centric?) Worf was interesting in that he was trying to be more Klingon while also coming to terms with the fact that the Klingons had a lot of flaws. He's sort of the One True Klingon.

 

[BorkBork]

SFDebris did a really good take on honour and how Worf perceives that virtue differently than many other Klingons: http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/d473.php

 

[Fuchsdh]

SFDebris did a really good take on honour and how Worf perceives that virtue differently than many other Klingons: http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/d473.php

Watching that reminds me that the absolute best uniform for me is the TNG Season 4+ with the Voyager-style com badges. Sharp-looking. I like the First Contact uniforms too, but they're just so damn inconsistent with the front cuts on them it drives me crazy.

 

[HappenstanceUK]

So do we think Star Trek Discovery will continue the tradition of having a cameo of someone from a previous Trek?

 

[JonnyDBrit]

So do we think Star Trek Discovery will continue the tradition of having a cameo of someone from a previous Trek?

Well, its not impossible - there's still members of the Enterprise cast around that they could put in some makeup to have them be older ala Bones in the TNG pilot. That or have time travel shenanigans yet again to pluck someone from the future shows.

 

[funkystudent]

So do we think Star Trek Discovery will continue the tradition of having a cameo of someone from a previous Trek?

If Jeffrey combs doesn't pop up someone messed up

 

[firehawk12]

Bakuka is working on a CBS show so maybe he'll show up and carry his dog around for a scene.

 

[weemadarthur]

If Jeffrey combs doesn't pop up someone messed up

He did an episode of Gotham and I was shocked to see him without alien prosthetic makeup.

 

[Fuchsdh]

He did an episode of Gotham and I was shocked to see him without alien prosthetic makeup.

Watching Re-Animator I realized that if I see him as a human he actually looks weird to me. Dude has been completely replaced by his alien depictions in my brain.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

So do we think Star Trek Discovery will continue the tradition of having a cameo of someone from a previous Trek?

Yup, when they need a ratings boost.

 

[firehawk12]

Yup, when they need a ratings boost.

Well, every "first episode" had a cameo from someone from the previous show. Even Enterprise managed to fit in a Cochrane cameo.

 

[funkystudent]

Well, every "first episode" had a cameo from someone from the previous show. Even Enterprise managed to fit in a Cochrane cameo.

They could do a similar cameo with a old recording of Archer but I wonder if reminding people of Enterprise is what they want to do.


Its 10 years before TOS and the enterprise was apparently around for 10 years before Kirk so I could totally see the old 1701 making a on screen appearance in a space dock or something.

 

[Fuchsdh]

They could do a similar cameo with a old recording of Archer but I wonder if reminding people of Enterprise is what they want to do.


Its 10 years before TOS and the enterprise was apparently around for 10 years before Kirk so I could totally see the old 1701 making a on screen appearance in a space dock or something.

That'd be nice. I really wish they'd keep a lot of the canonical stuff from the pre-TOS stuff the same. I think Star Trek 09's uniforms showed that you can take what was cheap and looks dated in the series and update it nicely without doing something like... well, Star Trek 09's bridge.

 

[weemadarthur]

Watching Re-Animator I realized that if I see him as a human he actually looks weird to me. Dude has been completely replaced by his alien depictions in my brain.

I know. He started talking and I looked around the scene thinking "where Jeffrey Combs at? I only see a human."

 

[The Hamburglar]

The budget for tng massively increased in series 5. When you see the enterprise in space doing shit and firing phasers it looks way ahead of 1991/2.

 

[Fuchsdh]

The budget for tng massively increased in series 5. When you see the enterprise in space doing shit and firing phasers it looks way ahead of 1991/2.

Yeah I just started S5 and the amount of battle scenes in "Redemption Pt II" is a marked step up from anything in the series before that.

Only thing that really bothers me is that they never really explain how the net works in 3D space, we only get it visualized along flat planes.

 

[Yarbskoo]

Welp, just finished Deep Space 9, and I feel empty inside. Just like after finishing TNG, all I can think is "I'm gonna miss those guys."

Oh well, next is Generations and Voyager. Fun times ahead, I'm sure.

 

[HappenstanceUK]

I think if you go into Voyager knowing its not great but you'll still get some solid Trek episodes then you should enjoy it.

 

[Stallion Dan]

I think if you go into Voyager knowing its not great but you'll still get some solid Trek episodes then you should enjoy it.

I think if you ignore statements like this you can just enjoy a great show.

 

[Sephzilla]

I think if you ignore statements like this you can just enjoy a great show.

He's starting Voyager though, not Enterprise

 

[Stallion Dan]

He's starting Voyager though, not Enterprise

Voyager is TNG, only better.

 

[The Hamburglar]

I've nearly finished TNG for the first time (at the end of series 5). Granted it is one of those shows where I have probably seen 80% of the episodes anyway when they have randomly been on tv but never from start to finish. Looking forward to watching DS9 for the 3rd or 4th time after this.

series 3 and 4 of TNG were great, series 5 hasn't been as good, although like I said previously the budget clearly has increased.

Now why does picard constantly have his shirt undone, has he been lifting?

 

[Sephzilla]

Voyager is TNG, only better.

 

[Octavianus]

Oh well, next is Generations and Voyager. Fun times ahead, I'm sure.

Watching Luke Cage reminded me of how much I want Rosario Dawson to apear in the next Star Trek.

 

[Fox318]

I'm watching Voyerger for the first time.

I've seen TNG but not DS9.

I'm up to season 3.

Is there a point to Kim?

 

[BorkBork]

Buttmonkey?

 

[weemadarthur]

I'm watching Voyerger for the first time.

I've seen TNG but not DS9.

I'm up to season 3.

Is there a point to Kim?

No, there's no point to Kim. There's never a point to Kim.

 

[Htown]

I'm watching Voyerger for the first time.

I've seen TNG but not DS9.

I'm up to season 3.

Is there a point to Kim?

No.

He is the center of one really good episode though.