posted
That was SO GOOD. Everything that I'd hoped it'd be and MORE.
Yes, it's out now. Apparently, with the actors on strike and unable to promote the show, they filled the time at SDCC's Star Trek promotion by showing the episode early, and then uploaded it Paramount+ shortly thereafter.
So we start in the animated 24th Century with the Lower Decks crew checking up on an ancient (though inactive) portal. However, when Rutherford takes a picture of Boimler in front of the portal, it activates and sucks Boimler in.
Back in the 23rd Century, the Enterprise crew are checking out the portal for the first time when it spits live-action Boimler out.
The opening credits are a PERFECT fusion of Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks. Overall, it looks like an animated version of the usual Strange New Worlds intro, but with little Lower Decks nods thrown in. Like, the same creature we see attached to the Cerritos's nacelles are now attached to the Enterprise's. Also, I see you, koala.
The first half of the episode is basically Boimler being, well, Boimler. He's stuck in the past and fanboying about everybody on the Enterprise. However, he quickly starts getting on everyone's nerves.
An Orion ship shows up, but Boimler convinces them not to fire on it since Tendi told him earlier that Orion scientists discovered the portal first AND one of Tendi's ancestors is on the ship. However, the Orions steal the portal and warp out.
Boimler manages to do some stuff to track down the Orions (while everyone else hilariously doesn't look to avoid timeline contamination), and trade the portal for the grain Enterprise is carrying.
The portal gets returned to the planet, and Boimler is about to return to the future when the portal activates on its own and spits out live-action Mariner. The portal is now out of juice and both Boimler AND Mariner are stuck in the 23rd Century.
Boimler and Spock try to replicate the element needed to power the portal, but fail... explosively. Mariner helps Uhura take a break from trying to decipher the markings on the portal. The break helps, and Uhura figures out the portal was made by ancient Nausicaans. Yes, Nausicaans. Yes, they even specifically point out these are the same "love to play domjat but are really bad at it" Nausicaans. Unfortunately, all the writing says is "This is a time portal."
However, it turns out the element needed was once used in the hull of old NX-class ships, and there's a tiny piece of Archer's Enterprise on the ship. The Enterprise crew get their turn to geek out talking about Mayweather and Hoshi.
So, Boimler and Mariner return to the animated 24th Century. Of course, we couldn't do this crossover without a wink and a nod to the fact that Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell are married.
The last scene is back in the 23rd Century with the Enterprise crew celebrating Pike's birthday. However, we're no longer in live-action. Gotta say, the animated Strange New Worlds cast looked great.
Yeah, I know I left out a bunch of stuff. But this was so jampacked full of awesome that I couldn't possibly write it all down.
A perfect crossover. 11/10. Quite probably my new favorite Strange New Worlds episode.
-------------------- "Kirito? I killed a thing and now it says I have XPs! Is that bad? Am I dying?"
-Asuna, Episode 2, Sword Art Online Abridged
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Damn, I missed the koala. Will have to watch again...
Absolutely note-perfect fusion of two very different shows. They're really quite fortunate that Newsome and Quaid actually look like they could be real-life versions of their characters. It's a shame they couldn't have Tendi and Rutherford as well (especially with the episode's Orion focus) but I guess it'd have made the episode too packed (plus, Noël Wells could conceivably be made up to look like her character, but Eugene Cordero, less so...).
Also, does this mean we have a week off, now? Tthe musical ep is out August 3, and which I thought was ep.2x09: if it is, then that would mean that 2x08 is coming out this week. And I think it would make sense to do so, otherwise that's two "gimmick" episodes on the trot...
quote:Also, does this mean we have a week off, now? Tthe musical ep is out August 3, and which I thought was ep.2x09: if it is, then that would mean that 2x08 is coming out this week. And I think it would make sense to do so, otherwise that's two "gimmick" episodes on the trot...
No, they appear to have adjusted the schedule so there will be a new episode this Thursday.
posted
Question: is Uhura being brilliant at languages a retcon?
The thing is, I don’t recall it ever being mentioned or demonstrated that OG Uhura was, back in TOS or its movies. I could simply not be remembering that however! And while Uhura is always going to be awesome (in any incarnation) it actually makes sense for a communications officer to be a linguistics expert. And that stupid fucking scene in ST6:TUC can Get In Grave.
So where did it come from? Obviously Hoshi Sato was established from the off as a linguist, and that made dramatic (as well as logical) sense given the lack of a Universal Translator. And obviously Kelvinverse Uhura was likewise established as a linguist. Whether the one inspired the other is an interesting question…
… which then brings us back to my original question: has Saldanahura’s (!) example inspired them to retcon Celia Rose Goodingahura..?
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
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posted
In the old Pocket TOS novels, Uhura was always made out to be not only a linguist but a specialist in communications, meaning theory & formats, not just technology. Fandom held that for decades, & it's awful that it's only now getting on screen.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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Yes. My impression was that in TOS she was basically used as a switchboard operator. USS Enterprise, please hold… No wonder she wanted to quit. That is the true proof of Nichelle’s legacy - that she could be so revered for just being there, representing what she did, while basically doing fuck all - or doing the best she could with what (little) she had to work with. Hard to imagine she’s been gone a year now. RIP.
posted
I'm okay with Uhura being a more technical comm wizard rather than a super-linguist. She had the idea of a subspace bypass circuit in "Who Mourns...", and was the best person to execute it despite not having done such work in years.
Understanding language helps, I'm sure, but her specialty could be anything from subspace comm theory to encryption to antennae, and much more. In the age of reliable automated translators basically capable of reading the mind of a frickin' cloud, I'm not sure how much knowledge of multiple languages would be necessary as a qualification or expectation.
-------------------- . . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
quote:And that stupid fucking scene in ST6:TUC can Get In Grave.
Well, she did get her mind wiped by Nomad. Maybe she didn't bother to relearn Klingon. But yeah, that scene was played for laughs and not really credible. Like Chekov being Chief of Securtiy not knowing that phaser fire would trigger an alarm.
-------------------- "Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts." - Ruth Gordon
Registered: Mar 2000
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It’s a puzzle quite how many things, specifically but not solely character-related, that ST6 gets wrong given it’s essentially by the same creative force behind ST2. But then again, Meyer wasn’t too bothered about Koenig/Chekov not having been on the show/ship in the episode that introduced Khan…
posted
I mean, regarding STVI -- it's certainly possible that Uhura is familiar with many, but not all, Klingon dialects, and there's no reason to think there might not be distinct Klingon languages and dialects such as there are languages and dialects on Earth.
A bit more troubling with the characterizations in STVI are Meyer's insistence on having African-American actors says lines that deeply troubled them -- Brock Peters didn't care for the line he had to say about the "alien dregs of the galaxy" and Nichelle Nichols flat out refused to say "Guess who is coming to dinner."
None of this is quite as troubling as Spock forcing a mind-meld on Valeris.
And re: Star Trek II. Easy enough to imagine Chekov was on the Enterprise but not on the bridge, especially given how many times we'd not see George Takei even though Sulu was presumably still aboard the ship ... but also, why not just swap out Chekov on the Reliant with Sulu? Really, the only impact would've been the scene they tried to film where Kirk gives Sulu orders to take command of Excelsior.
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