Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.05
Jun. 2nd, 2022 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which we get a shore leave episode and several TOS premises given a neat current Trek twist.
Following the darkest SNW episode so far, this one is a breather as the crew enjoys some downtime, and has enormous fun playing with several tropes. Including the "having to negotiate with a new alien race" one; I have to admit I only made it as far as Pike's original guess - they're empaths mirroring the behaviour of whoever is negotiating with them - but would not have drawn his next (and correct) conclusion, though in retrospect that makes much sense - that the ultimate test for them re: whether or not they want to belong to the Federation was whether the others could see their point of view.
Mostly, though, the negotiation was the MacGuffin upon which to hang the Spock/T'Pring bodyswitch twist. I have to admit that while I loved the episode as it was, I thought this idea was too good for one of several plots, it should have been eplored in an episode of its own. Now Turnabout Intruder is one of the few TOS episodes I've never watched, but I do know the summary, and doing the "regular male character swaps body with female guest character" premise but not because the female character is a villain but because the male character's attempt for them to understand each other better goes accidentally wrong was a good choice. Also, Spock, in particular, with his issues about his double heritage, finding himself in another body, and that body not just female but the one of his fiancee whom he both knows and doesn't know is again a great premise to explore.
A sidenote about what the show is doing with T'Pring, based on just two episodes (she hasn't been in more), so subject to possible revision: On the one hand, I get the objection that T'Pring as not being interested in marrying Spock, using logic to create a situation in "Amok Time" where she would achieve her aim of getting out of this marriage and getting the man of her choice no matter the outcome was an important part of characterisation and that retconning the Spock/T'Pring relationship into something that was, for a time at least, one of mutual interest in each other is conflicting with this. On the other hand, there are years between the episodes, and T'Pring being interested now does not prevent her from concluding this is not a marriage she wants years later. Also, Spock in Amok Time would have married her if everything had gone according to arrangement. If he really hadn't seen her since they were seven years old, and had been ready to marry a stranger, this would feel a lot less logical than marrying someone who he had reason to believe was truly interested in marrying him and with whom he could share a life time.
Also, I like that the show gives T'Pring a job, and that the body switch trope where one character has to fulfill the other's role because reasons is played in both directions - not just T'Pring-as-Spock having to go through with the negotiations but Spock-as-T'Pring having to bring the Vulcan logic despiser in. And the two actors are doing a good job selling the switch despite both Spock and T'Pring having Vulcan mannerisms.
While wishing this subplot had been its own episode with more time to explore such things as body issues and really having to live as a man and a woman for more than a day, plus as a member of a multicultural crew and a Vulcan negotiatior respectively, I very much liked the way the show combined this subplot with Christine Chapel's. They're doing a good job in general in providing Chapel and Spock with a growing friendship (which gives her romantic feelings for him later in TOS quite a different subtext), and Christine Chapel as a character who at this point doesn't want to tie herself down and is more into casual relationships also helps with that. (Oh, and the exchanges with Ortega were fun.)
Lastly, Una and La'an get their first non-angsty friendship plot as they decide to explore the concept of "fun" (and games). The result was silly and enjoyable and at the end moving when they walked across the Enterprise's hull and signed their names. I'll always imagine these names being there now when watching the original Enterprise.
Following the darkest SNW episode so far, this one is a breather as the crew enjoys some downtime, and has enormous fun playing with several tropes. Including the "having to negotiate with a new alien race" one; I have to admit I only made it as far as Pike's original guess - they're empaths mirroring the behaviour of whoever is negotiating with them - but would not have drawn his next (and correct) conclusion, though in retrospect that makes much sense - that the ultimate test for them re: whether or not they want to belong to the Federation was whether the others could see their point of view.
Mostly, though, the negotiation was the MacGuffin upon which to hang the Spock/T'Pring bodyswitch twist. I have to admit that while I loved the episode as it was, I thought this idea was too good for one of several plots, it should have been eplored in an episode of its own. Now Turnabout Intruder is one of the few TOS episodes I've never watched, but I do know the summary, and doing the "regular male character swaps body with female guest character" premise but not because the female character is a villain but because the male character's attempt for them to understand each other better goes accidentally wrong was a good choice. Also, Spock, in particular, with his issues about his double heritage, finding himself in another body, and that body not just female but the one of his fiancee whom he both knows and doesn't know is again a great premise to explore.
A sidenote about what the show is doing with T'Pring, based on just two episodes (she hasn't been in more), so subject to possible revision: On the one hand, I get the objection that T'Pring as not being interested in marrying Spock, using logic to create a situation in "Amok Time" where she would achieve her aim of getting out of this marriage and getting the man of her choice no matter the outcome was an important part of characterisation and that retconning the Spock/T'Pring relationship into something that was, for a time at least, one of mutual interest in each other is conflicting with this. On the other hand, there are years between the episodes, and T'Pring being interested now does not prevent her from concluding this is not a marriage she wants years later. Also, Spock in Amok Time would have married her if everything had gone according to arrangement. If he really hadn't seen her since they were seven years old, and had been ready to marry a stranger, this would feel a lot less logical than marrying someone who he had reason to believe was truly interested in marrying him and with whom he could share a life time.
Also, I like that the show gives T'Pring a job, and that the body switch trope where one character has to fulfill the other's role because reasons is played in both directions - not just T'Pring-as-Spock having to go through with the negotiations but Spock-as-T'Pring having to bring the Vulcan logic despiser in. And the two actors are doing a good job selling the switch despite both Spock and T'Pring having Vulcan mannerisms.
While wishing this subplot had been its own episode with more time to explore such things as body issues and really having to live as a man and a woman for more than a day, plus as a member of a multicultural crew and a Vulcan negotiatior respectively, I very much liked the way the show combined this subplot with Christine Chapel's. They're doing a good job in general in providing Chapel and Spock with a growing friendship (which gives her romantic feelings for him later in TOS quite a different subtext), and Christine Chapel as a character who at this point doesn't want to tie herself down and is more into casual relationships also helps with that. (Oh, and the exchanges with Ortega were fun.)
Lastly, Una and La'an get their first non-angsty friendship plot as they decide to explore the concept of "fun" (and games). The result was silly and enjoyable and at the end moving when they walked across the Enterprise's hull and signed their names. I'll always imagine these names being there now when watching the original Enterprise.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 04:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-06 06:15 pm (UTC). On the other hand, there are years between the episodes, and T'Pring being interested now does not prevent her from concluding this is not a marriage she wants years later. Also, Spock in Amok Time would have married her if everything had gone according to arrangement. If he really hadn't seen her since they were seven years old, and had been ready to marry a stranger, this would feel a lot less logical than marrying someone who he had reason to believe was truly interested in marrying him and with whom he could share a life time.
This is where I land.