My Voyager Rewatch: S4E06

My #StarTrekVoyager rewatch S4E06 “The Raven”

Another holodeck episode? Janeway is showing Seven the program where she sculpts to inspire “imagination, creativity, fantasy…” and Seven doesn’t see the point. But the image of DaVinci’s proto-airplane causes a flashback, ending the teaser.

It looks like Seven has PTSD from her assimilation. So far she’s in denial. The “Bomar,” an alien race shoehorned into the story, look ridiculous and have lots of unreasonable conditions for Voyager to cross their space.

Seven is learning to eat. Is a theme of growing humanity developing, or is the show just contriving a reason for Neelix to exist?

Plot whiplash. From nurturing Seven’s humanity to her Borg side reasserting itself. You have to ask what that has to do with the flashbacks and the bird. She escapes the ship in a shuttlecraft. The Bomar’s purpose is now obvious; they will serve to impede the search for Seven.

Yup, they do and they’re are quite obnoxious about it too. A tedious chase sequence puts Tuvok on Seven’s shuttle which leads to a nice scene. Seven wants to assimilate Tuvok then changes her mind and they just talk. Good performances.

Meanwhile, Janeway realizes the significance of the bird. Seven & Tuvok eventually find the Hansens’ ship where Anikka was assimilated and learn its name. It’s the Raven. We didn’t know that before and that makes Janeway’s epiphany feel like a cheat. Meanwhile, the Bomar start shelling the ship from outer space. We get it; they’re petulant.

In the coda, Seven is becoming creative and that’s the throughline. Seven’s growing humanity begets flashbacks begets still more humanity. In the end, Janeway tells Seven that her parents were “unconventional & had unique scientific theories.” That’s how you describe crackpots.

Healing from childhood trauma is a good basis for a story. But the Bomar were straw men and lots of the rest didn’t make any sense. Story wise this is a nice house with a bad foundation. Focus on the central storyline and skip the filler. This should have been far better.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

#StarTrek

Images used under the fair use doctrine.

Stars End S3E23

“There is Not Really Much Use in Cross-Examining a Podcast”

Cross-examinations are a staple of teevee.  On Law and Order, there is a plethora of great scenes where Jack McCoy presses the defendant until they break and inadvertently provide irrefutable evidence against themselves.

Lije Baley wants us to believe there is no benefit to cross-examining a robot, but teevee and Captain James T. Kirk argue against this.  Consider this scene from “The Ultimate Computer,” restored to the intended version that was prevented by copyright issues.  Ironic because Star Trek walks right up to the border of the ground Asimov covered in The Naked Sun in this one.

M5: This unit is the ultimate achievement in computer evolution. It will replace man so that man may achieve. Man must not risk death in space or other dangerous occupations. This unit must survive so man may be protected.

SPOCK: Captain, attack force almost within phaser range.

KIRK: There were many men aboard those ships. They were murdered. Must you survive by murder?

M5: This unit cannot murder.

KIRK: Why?

M5: Murder is contrary to the First Law of Robotics.

KIRK: But you have murdered. Scan the starship Excalibur, which you destroyed. Is there life aboard?

M5: No life.

KIRK: Because you murdered it. What is the penalty for murder?

M5: Death.

KIRK: And how will you pay for your acts of murder?

M5: This unit must die.  (It disconnects itself from the power feed in Engineering and goes dark.)

KIRK: M-5?

CHEKOV: Sir, deflector shields have dropped.

SULU: All phaser power is gone, sir.

SPOCK: M-5 is leaving itself open to attack. The machine is ignoring the Third Law to atone for its violation of the First Law.

The Ultimate Computer, Star Trek S2E24

So, despite Baley’s repeated assertions to the contrary, Kirk shows us it can be productive to cross-examine a robot, perhaps even forcing a mental freeze-out.

“Mental freeze-out!” you might exclaim!  “Dr. Han Fastolfe says that’s practically impossible!”  I suggest we ask Captain Kirk about that too.

But let’s think about this together as we discuss chapters 7, 8, and 9 of The Robots of Dawn.  It’s a monument to cross-examination and interrogation.  And not just of robots.  We talk about it, you can join us!  Let’s go!

The scene from “The Ultimate Computer” was taken from Chrissie’s Transcripts Site. (and then shamelessly edited).

Stars End S3E22

“There is Something to be Said About a Podcast That Makes One Smile”

This is the city, Eos, Aurora.   It’s the city of the dawn on the planet of the dawn.  It’s the largest and most important city on the oldest and most important Spacer World.  Mostly, good things happen in Eos, the Robotics Institute is in Eos as is the planetary government.  Sometimes bad things happen; things that require a lot of discussion.  Was the victim even alive?  Was this even a crime?  Questions that need answers.  When that happens, I go to work.  I carry a badge.

Friday, October 30.  It was windy in Eos.  We were working the day watch out of the roboticide division.  Our host is Han Fastolfe.  My partner’s Daneel Olivaw.  My name is Baley.

Join us as we get into the meat of The Robots of Dawn.  Baley starts to learn the details of the case, and Fastolfe performs some experiments on Baley.  Plus the return of an old friend, the wackiest trip to the lavatory in all of the Asimov canon, and the Great and Glorious Az tries his hand at writing romance.  As always, you’ve read it, we talk about it, and fun will be had.

Stars End S3E21

“The Podcast Has a Notoriously Short Memory”

Obligatory Star Trek reference loading…

Do you know what a “teaser” is? You probably do, but just in case I’ll tell you anyway.

A teaser is the bit of a teevee episode that precedes the opening. Nothing much happens in a teaser except to set up the action and hopefully grab your attention. A wedding on the Enterprise is interrupted by a red alert. A landing party beams down to Cestus III to find the outpost destroyed. Chekov screams in terror because he’s been startled by an inexplicably elderly couple. You get the idea.

And boy, does the Great and Glorious Az have a teaser for you! A quick 126 pages of astral viewing, etymology, rhetoric, and a description of a government official that made Joseph’s wife, Joanne, groan in faux outrage. That’s the first three chapters of The Robots of Dawn and not a whole hell of a lot happens.

We talk about it, you listen to us. A splendid time will be had by all. Hopefully.

Also, a spoiler warning. If you’re new to the podcast and haven’t finished the novel yet, you might want to read ahead before listening to the episode. Or not. It’s up to you.

Stars End S3E20

“A Small Podcast Yet to the Humans Involved Astonishingly Large”

We didn’t set out to do it, but we did it.

What, you might ask?  We’ve created an episode that’s an excellent jumping-on point for anyone who’s been itching to try the podcast, but doesn’t know where to start.

How?  Well to start with, we’re talking about a short story.  You don’t need to read the books or watch the shows we talk about to enjoy the podcast, but we certainly understand if want to!  We’re talking about “Mirror Image” from Robot Visions, in which Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw help to solve a dispute between two mathematicians.  It’s about 19 pages long, a comfortable, digestible chunk.

And?  And we have guests!  Episodes are better with guests and we’re joined by two charming mathematicians, Coleen and Charlie Jacobson, long-time science fiction readers and friends of Joseph from Elmira College.  They’ll help us decide if the off-screen mathematicians are true-to-life!  On a personal note, if you remember Joseph from EC you might enjoy hearing from half of what he calls, the “Mathematics Faculty Classic” that existed from 2012 to 2014.

So, if you’re a regular listener, settle in for another excellent episode.  If you’re new to the podcast, buckle up!  You’re in for a fun ride!  Let’s go!

Two notes on the Featured Image: The background is some board work from 2016 when Joseph taught Geometry from Charlie’s notes. In the foreground are two images of Paul Erdös, one at age 20 and one much later in his life, drawn by LeUyen Pham from The Boy Who Loved Math. Erdös is famous for being one of the most prolific mathematicians of all time and for having a multitude of collaborators.

Simultaneously published at…

Stars End S3E19

“We Must Teach Ourselves to Face the Podcast”

I learned something today.

Did you know that when Elements are named to honor cities the Latin names for the cities are used rather than the common names? The funny thing is that this is true even if the city has no Latin name. This is how we get the name for holmium, which is named after Stockholm or rather after “Holmia” which is the Latin name for Stockholm that the chemist made up.

This is from the essay “Names! Names! Names!” by the good doctor. It’s all about naming elements and, although I haven’t quite finished it yet, I’m pretty sure it covers all hundred or so that were known at the time.

If you’re curious, here are the names of the other elements

The essay appeared in the December 1956 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, the very same issue as our final installment of The Naked Sun. This led John W. Campbell to declare Asimov a “two-headed author.” Isaac’s predilection for non-fiction was starting to show.

Being trained as a chemist, Asimov gives us a ton of Asenion names to enjoy in this final section! There’s GlaDIEah Delmarre, Klorissa Cantero, Jothan Leebig, Corwin Attlebish, and Anselmo Quemot. And who could forget Benzadril Copperbottom? In this final section, which corresponds to chapters 13 to 18 in the book, Baley survives the assassination attempt, gets his portrait done, almost strolls to his death, and solves the case! Of course, we talk about it all. Join us for the setting of The Naked Sun!

Simultaneously published at…

My Voyager Rewatch: S4E21

Happy Star Trek Day! It’s been busy, but I didn’t want to let the day roll around to midnight without posting something. So here’s another installment of my Voyager Rewatch. It’s nice that we have an outstanding episode for Star Trek Day, one of my favorites from Season 4.

I might post something else apropos in a day or so, but the start of it is way back in my Twitter feed and the more you tweet the harder it is to find something filed in reverse chronological order.

In an interesting bit of synergy, I realized that today is also the fourth anniversary of this blog. If you’re interested in my first post, you can find it here, “All in Color for Forty Dimes.” That’s a glorious start to a deluge of nonsense with occasional insights here and there.

So, without further ado, “The Omega Directive!” Let’s go!

My #StarTrekVoyager rewatch S4E21 “The Omega Directive.”

There’s an actual funny moment over a kal-toh game. That’s a good sign after some less-than-mediocre episodes. This looked like it would be a Seven-heavy episode; then it went sideways. There’s a real sense of mystery. Nothing is dumb so far.

“The omega phenomenon” has been detected within 1.2 light-years. “All other priorities have been rescinded.” Janeway’s locked in her ready room… the crew is being given puzzling orders on a “need to know” basis… so far, this is excellent.

The Borg know about the “Omega Molecule,” and of course, Seven and Janeway have radically different ideas about what to do. Turns out the kal-toh game in the teaser was a nice bit of foreshadowing. There’s a powerful scene between Janeway & Chakotay. As we’ll see, this needs everybody.

Okay, the technobabble explanation is dumb but can be ignored. The stakes are high, and tension rises. “For the duration of this mission, the Prime Directive is rescinded.” This is like Genesis. Later: “The Final Frontier has some boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed.”

Seven designates a crewman as “3 of 10.” Chilling, but it doesn’t play out as I expected. Another powerful scene with Seven and a survivor. Another perspective on the crisis: his people need the energy from the Omega molecule to survive.

Ahhh! Blue light!

Seven has a perspective on Omega from her time as a Borg. She views it as perfect with almost religious fervor. But she follows Janeway’s lead anyway. That’s real development. The climax is exciting and well done. But the spiritual stuff at the end is too simplistic and abrupt, marring an otherwise Great episode.

Nonetheless, this one is an exemplar. It’s a good story and depends on Voyager’s journey through the Delta Quadrant. The show needs more episodes like this and fewer things that seem like rejected TNG scripts.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

#StarTrek #StarTrekVoyager

Images used under the fair use doctrine.

My Voyager Rewatch: S4E05

My #StarTrekVoyager rewatch S4E05 “Revulsion”

This is the episode that derailed me last year. The entire thread disappeared into the aether and It was so bad that I couldn’t revisit it too soon. Now though, here we go!

A short teaser. A hologram hides a body, cleans up a crime scene & sends a distress call.

A testimonial for Tuvok: fake laughter at unfunny stories. Annoying. But Tuvok gets promoted; like he hadn’t already worn the rank pins for lieutenant commander for several episodes. Why is the Vulcan the only funny one?

Then Paris and Torres are cringy. “You must have been suffering from oxygen deprivation to say you loved me!” Ugh!

In other tedious bits of bookkeeping, Voyager finally gets the distress signal. The Doctor is ecstatic to meet another hologram. It’s obvious that Dejaren, who calls himself an isomorph, is dangerously unstable.

They hit us over the head with it. Our away team spends too much time talking about how dangerous the isomorph is then the doctor teaches the homicidal hologram how to control the ship. Genius!

“Spectrum” though is a great name for a holographic goldfish. That’s the high point.

The show is trying to do a bit of horror that doesn’t work very well.

The B story with Seven and Kim is mildly amusing at the end but not nearly worth the trouble of getting there. Janeway and Neelix disappear less than 8 minutes into the episode. The rest is a bunch of scenes cut together with only two cast members. Occasionally three. The episode seems designed to give some people a week off. Giving everyone a week off, including the audience, would have been preferable.

Rating: 0.5 out of 5.

#StarTrek #StarTrekVoyager

Images used under the fair use doctrine.

Stars End S3E18

“There is no Podcast Without a Podcaster”

First British Edition Cover

You know what? Solaria is weird.

Looking back over our podcast, it turns out that a lot of Asimov’s work is weird. Solaria may not be Mycogen-weird, but it’s pretty weird.

Last time we were introduced to the extreme isolation of Solarians and the preponderance of robots. Those were weird. And that seeing vs. viewing thing? That was weird too.

This time? Murder attempts where only Asenion robots are present? Weird. Fetuses grown in vats? Weird. Child farming? Weird. A plot to make the entire Galaxy like Solaria? Weird. And there’s lots more!

So, what do we learn this time? Solaria is weird. But don’t take my word for it, listen to the episode and you can see for yourself! Let’s go!

Simultaneously published at…

My Voyager Rewatch: S4E20

My #StarTrekVoyager rewatch S4E20 Vis à Vis

The holodeck is getting tiresome; we watch Paris play auto mechanic as the Doctor berates him about his duties in Sickbay. Tom is being a pain in the ass and there’s nothing about how the ship was torn apart over the last two episodes.

The alien ship is powered by a “coaxial warp drive.” Paris says it can allow a ship to travel huge distances instantaneously but I think it’s about free cable. But keeping with the mechanic motif, Paris has a technobabbley way to save the alien ship. Also, the budget must have grown because the alien has more latex on his forehead than usual.

Tom’s also being a misanthrope again. Why not go back to that well? The coaxial drive “draws in subatomic particles and reconfigures their internal geometries.” It’s like they’re not even trying.

Now Tom’s being an ass to B’Elanna. Was there any clue about this coming? Because it seems like bad writing. Practically halfway through the episode and I realize the alien is Bulldog from Frazier. This was too-slow of a build for something that is essentially “Face Off.”

But Vis à Vis literally means “Face to Face” so no surprise there. I suppose that Tom being an ass created the opportunity for “Tom” to move around Voyager undetected, but it all feels awkward and false.

This might have been slightly more interesting if “Tom” had switched bodies with Janeway while they were in the same room together. Huh. That’s what happened but it’s still not very interesting. That’s it. Everyone gets back in their own bodies and Tom makes up with B’Elanna. Everything is reset to normal with no consequences. Again. Meh.

Rating: 1 out of 5.

#StarTrek #StarTrekVoyager

Images used under the fair use doctrine.