Yes. She talks about them at least once in TNG and it is alluded to more. There is even an episode where they visit her world after her death and meet her sister and we see the world is a total mess (the episode was Legacy).
The TNG Federation’s utopia is there, but it’s not evenly distributed. Tasha Yar’s homeworld is not part of the federation, and as such gets none of the benefits of member worlds or colonies. I don’t think the Federation could fix that world even if it allowed itself to. How many soldiers would it take to pacify such a place? How many years to set up new infrastructure and a new government and hope it doesn’t collapse as soon as they take a step back? I think the Prime Directive is more than just a rule to protect nacent civilizations, it’s a rule to keep the Federation from wading into one giant mess after another. Wait until a civilization has already brought itself 90% of the way there, then introduce yourselves. That’s the Federation way.
I’m loving this show. But is captain Pike’s hair getting taller every episode?
He bumps uglies with Alora, not one hair out of place after.
You need the right kind of hair gel. Or epoxy.
New episode, “The Serene Squall”.
I wonder if Sybok will be seen again.
It’s my sincere wish that everyone forgets he ever existed. … “Never seen or heard from again …”
It’s funny. I used to be fond of saying that The Orville is my favorite Star Trek series. Granted that was tongue-in-cheek, since it is simply an homage to Trek and not in its universe, but it is so close that with a few tweaks you could easily turn it into Star Trek. And the shows had great humor and were well-written. I also loved the characters and the universe, and the technology was legitimately cool and interesting.
Season 3 is mostly humorless. There are still jokes that land, but it is far fewer. The episodes are really dark. They are still well-written and I’m still a fan, but they aren’t nearly as enjoyable as they were. I liked the juxtaposition of light-hearted stories like Bortus growing a mustache or people dealing with the politics of a workplace birthday party, and deep stories involving the meaning of humanity or dealing with the consequences of your decisions. They’ve lost most of the lighter half of that.
In comes Strange New Worlds, which has much of the same light-hearted fare that Orville did. There are even more jokes now. Although for the most part the technology, characters, and universe are all something familiar (going back to TOS) they give everything a new polish and modernization that makes it feel new and interesting. I can now say that this show is my favorite Star Trek series, and my tongue stays out of my cheek.
It almost feels like Seth MacFarlane made The Orville because he was such a fan of Star Trek (well, I know for a fact that is true), but also that Strange New Worlds was made by someone who’s a fan of The Orville. If that is true, Seth might deserve a lot of credit for helping to vastly improve the very franchise he is so fond of without actually being a part of it. It’s pretty cool.
Your post pretty much sums up my thoughts on these two shows. I hope The Orville finds its mojo.
Yeah I found the premiere of the Orville boring. Haven’t watched episode two yet. But to get back on topic, I liked this episode of SNW but it was probably the weakest so far but I can’t out my finger on why other than when the twist (which we guessed a few minutes earlier) happened the villain became Generic Snarky Villain which has been boring for a decade now. As far as whether the spoilered name above will come back: of course they will. Why introduce them otherwise? I am pretty sure the other villain of the episode will also return as well. I don’t mind either even though I complained above. The show has been good enough (even this episode was good just the weakest so far) that they get the benefit of the doubt from me.
Did no one else notice that T’Pring’s assistant was none other than Stonn —
The episode had a bit of Our Mrs. Reynolds in it.
I said to my wife at that moment, “That’s the guy she leaves Spock for”.
I thought the actor playing the villain was quite good.
I just hope they make Sybok something other than lame.
It does bother me that for all their logic, the Vulcans seem to have no imagination for anything other than run-of-the-mill monogamy. Indeed, that seems to be a limitation of Star Trek writers most of the time, except with the occasional Dr. Phlox, for whom it is played for laughs.
I feel like Spock, Chapel, T’Pring, and Stonn should be able to come to a very logical understanding.
lol come to over in the Orville thread.
It was TERRIBLE. I was so disappointed.
As to the Spock-T’Pring dynamic, as much as I enjoy those actors, they’ve leaned on this side quest just a biiiiit too much. We’re seen episodes in and have spent a LOT of time on this, and on Chapel’s attraction to Spock. Let’s not stampede in that direction every episode, please.
I’m really starting to like Pike’s devil-may-care, agent-of-chaos approach to captaining. There’s more than a bit of Doctor Who in his characterization, IMHO.
So long as they are telling a story well, I have no problem with it. I don’t consider it a “side quest” any more than any other story line in the series. We aren’t in a world in which they are going to make—or anyone wants to watch—a season of 24-30 episodes for seven seasons. So if you’re going to tell a story, you just have to tell it. You can’t space it out like you could Data’s slow humanisation or whatever.
I never thought about it but you’re absolutely right. Essentially, in any situation he is cool and grinning, confident that he or his people are going to solve it. He gets kidnapped by brutal pirates and reacts by making them a delicious meal, all with a friendly grin. That is so much the Doctor.
Basically replace “I’m the Doctor” with “I’m from Starfleet” and you got it.
I want to watch!!
As for Pike…well yeah…just don’t let Kirk have the skip or inspect any cadet ships and you’re invulnerable!