Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Discussion – 1×10 “Rubincon”
Season One of SFA comes to a close, wrapping up the cliffhanger from last week.
3 replies on “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Discussion – 1×10 “Rubincon””
I enjoyed this. The climax of the series wasn’t about rushing in, phasers blazing, but as my wife summed up, they had to “Science the shit out of it.” The solutions were to listen carefully, to study, and to find the right conclusions in the data.
I enjoyed that Nus wasn’t an explicit caricature of the current political landscape, but deciding you were correct, ignoring what doesn’t fit your narrative, and allowing others to suffer as long as you end up closer to what you want is pretty clearly a representation of specific ideologies. Even then, they didn’t outright dismiss that viewpoint, but treated it fairly and even with respect.
When Reno delivered the line about it being the end of the road, I was disappointed. They should have had her say “It’s been a long road, getting from there to here.” The line would have worked the same and the fans would have ate it up.
I also went back and freeze-framed each of the “Graduating Class of 3196,” (and staff, apparently.,) because they went by far to quickly.
Few things are as Trek as “Show Trials” and I’m here for it. This is where ponying up the money to get actors like Hunter and Giamatti really pays off. The “VNN” chyrons on screen are so Fox/OANN/NewsMax it was almost painful. But that’s where Trek shines. As a mirror to our own world. TOS was about diversity and equality. 2020s Trek should absolutely be about misinformation and demagoguery. The Federation isn’t perfect and they’ve fallen even further than what we’re used to. I think it’s important to admit that and acknowledge that they’re working to get back to their utopian ideals. Braka’s bad faith arguments are 100% a mirror to what we’re seeing from current leaders and media. The fiction here is that he let the truth land. Current demagogues seem to be impervious to self-awareness.
And the kids. Well, they did “science the shit” out of the problem. I loved that instead of rushing in, Reno reminded them of their orders. And they started acting like young officers. Reno turning a Federation-ending/trillions of people are going to die situation into a “teachable moment” was perfection. We’re seeing their roles start to manifest. They screw up, but they learn, adapt, and do better. They are settling into their roles. I know we’re all a little sick of bathos, but the “I need to pee” line worked (especially before a commercial break).
The 32nd Century ships aren’t my jam, but damned if Athena isn’t gorgeous. Seeing the atrium wrecked genuinely hurt. (It got better).
We’re getting at least one more season. I’m not going to hold my breath beyond that. The changes in the Paramount structure and the debt they just took on make me think the network will probably shift to cheap reality TV for a while.
> We’re getting at least one more season. I’m not going to hold my breath beyond that. The changes in the Paramount structure and the debt they just took on make me think the network will probably shift to cheap reality TV for a while.
The reality of this hurts. I am hoping we’re in a reality where Paramount gets sold off for parts, “Star Trek” gets packaged up into a bundle and sold off to the Roddenberry estate and even if we get some cheap Star Trek for a bit, we still get Star Trek out of it. I mean, some of the Tom Baker years of Doctor Who are so painfully cheap the walls shook as people rushed past them, but that’s also the Douglass Adams years. I can suspend my disbelief if the stories are good.
I enjoyed this. The climax of the series wasn’t about rushing in, phasers blazing, but as my wife summed up, they had to “Science the shit out of it.” The solutions were to listen carefully, to study, and to find the right conclusions in the data.
I enjoyed that Nus wasn’t an explicit caricature of the current political landscape, but deciding you were correct, ignoring what doesn’t fit your narrative, and allowing others to suffer as long as you end up closer to what you want is pretty clearly a representation of specific ideologies. Even then, they didn’t outright dismiss that viewpoint, but treated it fairly and even with respect.
When Reno delivered the line about it being the end of the road, I was disappointed. They should have had her say “It’s been a long road, getting from there to here.” The line would have worked the same and the fans would have ate it up.
I also went back and freeze-framed each of the “Graduating Class of 3196,” (and staff, apparently.,) because they went by far to quickly.
Few things are as Trek as “Show Trials” and I’m here for it. This is where ponying up the money to get actors like Hunter and Giamatti really pays off. The “VNN” chyrons on screen are so Fox/OANN/NewsMax it was almost painful. But that’s where Trek shines. As a mirror to our own world. TOS was about diversity and equality. 2020s Trek should absolutely be about misinformation and demagoguery. The Federation isn’t perfect and they’ve fallen even further than what we’re used to. I think it’s important to admit that and acknowledge that they’re working to get back to their utopian ideals. Braka’s bad faith arguments are 100% a mirror to what we’re seeing from current leaders and media. The fiction here is that he let the truth land. Current demagogues seem to be impervious to self-awareness.
And the kids. Well, they did “science the shit” out of the problem. I loved that instead of rushing in, Reno reminded them of their orders. And they started acting like young officers. Reno turning a Federation-ending/trillions of people are going to die situation into a “teachable moment” was perfection. We’re seeing their roles start to manifest. They screw up, but they learn, adapt, and do better. They are settling into their roles. I know we’re all a little sick of bathos, but the “I need to pee” line worked (especially before a commercial break).
The 32nd Century ships aren’t my jam, but damned if Athena isn’t gorgeous. Seeing the atrium wrecked genuinely hurt. (It got better).
We’re getting at least one more season. I’m not going to hold my breath beyond that. The changes in the Paramount structure and the debt they just took on make me think the network will probably shift to cheap reality TV for a while.
> We’re getting at least one more season. I’m not going to hold my breath beyond that. The changes in the Paramount structure and the debt they just took on make me think the network will probably shift to cheap reality TV for a while.
The reality of this hurts. I am hoping we’re in a reality where Paramount gets sold off for parts, “Star Trek” gets packaged up into a bundle and sold off to the Roddenberry estate and even if we get some cheap Star Trek for a bit, we still get Star Trek out of it. I mean, some of the Tom Baker years of Doctor Who are so painfully cheap the walls shook as people rushed past them, but that’s also the Douglass Adams years. I can suspend my disbelief if the stories are good.