VindictiveJudge @ VindictiveJudge @startrek.website

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2 yr. ago

I still don't get the impression that S31 being legitimate was the writer's intention at the time. That Sloan is or was from Starfleet Intelligence and uses Starfleet resources while Starfleet Command looks the other way also works for interpreting his statement. Starfleet Command refusing to confirm or deny S31's existence can be used to back up basically any position. For instance, if S31 is a conspiracy within Starfleet, then Command can't acknowledge it or they would have to do something about it; acting like they don't know anything means they can keep letting S31 do what they want.

Even the bit of the charter mentioned in ENT implies that Harris and S31 are taking a very liberal interpretation of the Starfleet Charter. "Reread the Charter, Article 14, Section 31. There are a few lines that make allowances for bending the rules during times of extraordinary threat." But S31 operates day-to-day against ordinary and mundane threats, like everyday Romulan politics. And that bit doesn't seem to mandate the creation of a special branch just for extreme threats. Rather, it seems like it's there to cover the random crazy things that Starfleet crews run into once every few years, like taking a BoP back in time to gather some whales not resulting in punishment because of the extreme threat posed by the whale probe, even though they blatantly violated a bunch of rules regarding time travel.

The way he says it implies he's not being entirely truthful.

BASHIR: So which department are you with? SLOAN: Let's just say I belong to another branch of Starfleet Intelligence. Our official designation is Section thirty one.

I don't think I've ever heard someone say, "let's just say," and had it been followed by a truthful statement.

I was very skeptical when Lower Decks was announced and didn't watch any until the first season had finished, but it and Strange New Worlds are some of the most fun content to come out of this era of Trek. The whole show is just overflowing with love for the franchise.

They've been trying to give The Empress her own show and Worf said they were necessary. Depicting them as an official branch of Starfleet instead of a conspiracy within Starfleet also grants them legitimacy that they didn't have in DS9. Even their plot in DSC S2 is specifically depicted as their AI going rogue rather than S31 doing anything wrong.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

Part of the problem is that they seem to think S31 are the good guys.

Paramount's real problem is that they can't run a network to save their lives and keep trying it again and again. Paramount+ is just UPN 2: Streaming Boogaloo.

They might be more interested if the TNG remastered sales were better. The pricing scheme on them was absurd and drove off potential customers, though. IIRC, waiting for the complete series set was actually more expensive than buying the seasons one by one as they came out.

Yeah, DVD can handle better than what's on the existing discs. If better quality were viable and noticeable with the copies they're working with it probably would have been in the previous releases.

The 'more episodes per disc' thing is definitely true, though. A dual layer BD is 50GB. A dual layer DVD is 8.5GB. If the existing DS9 release fits a season and special features on seven DVDs, then if the discs are dual layer and completely full we're looking at two dual layer BDs for that entire season. Potentially one BD, depending on how much free space is on the existing DVDs.

Spock had a very dry sense of humor and enjoyed trading barbs with McCoy. McCoy also genuinely respected Spock despite his comments. The same is not true for the Data-Pulaski relationship. Also doesn't mean that McCoy's behavior was actually acceptable.

Though at this point it's usually because the original actor is dead. Saavik, Alexander, and Ziyal were the only significant recasts for ages.

And can you blame him? It's a fantastic look.

Janeway: "If anyone on this ship is going to be a terrorist, it's me! Now move aside and let me push the button!"

Archer: "Can you all please stop committing acts of terror for five minutes?!"

Pike: "Nobody will want to become a terrorist after they've tried my cooking."

Jack getting into Starfleet and assigned to a ship so fast can be easily explained with Starfleet being low on people after the events of the show. Also, he's still an ensign, so he didn't get jumped through the ranks. His bridge position is also something that Seven gave him as a special assignment rather than a standard bridge position specifically because of his background. He's essentially a formalized version of Mariner's role on the Ceritos.

Characters wander in and out of the story with little logic, the Dominion plot line just kind of trails off, and all of Starfleet vs Starbase 1 was kind of silly.

But Shaw is an amazing character, Vadic is fun to watch, the TNG crew got a far better send off than Nemesis, and the acting is fantastic. The fanservice of seeing the Ro, Shelby, Moriarty, and the E-D again was also fantastic as someone who grew up watching TNG with my dad.

The season has problems, but I love it anyway.

As much as I enjoy seeing the asshole Vulcans be taken down a peg, I really want to see more of her husband. He was laid back and expressive, so I thought there was going to be a twist with him. I hope he comes back later. He may be one of those Vulcans that gets the whole, "logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end," thing.

Like dealing with Vogon customer support.

Ah, Visitor posting. Now it feels like the old subreddit.

The commissioned officer pips were easy to see and read, but I had a very hard time telling what the provisional officer pip bar things they gave the Maquis crew members had on them. They were much more low contrast and the insignia was smaller.

It's about interference with non-Federation governments and cultures in general. The Prime Directive forbids mucking about with Romulan politics, for instance. Worf gets away with a lot of things that would violate the Prime Directive in regards to the Klingon Government because he has dual citizenship and is a member of Klingon nobility.

The ban on contact with pre-warp civilizations is also more specifically uncontacted pre-warp civilizations (you can chat with them if they're already buying Romulan ale from the Ferengi because the damage has already been done) and more generally pre-interstellar civilizations (warp drive is the usual way a civilization becomes interstellar, but there are alternative methods).