It was good horror, but I don't think I liked this episode very much.
I feel my biggest problem is the lack of resolution. I know that's kind of the hallmark of horror, the "The End...?" but I actually kind of like the technobabble explanations.
I don't want them to not take risks with Star Trek, so I welcome experimental episodes, but I still feel a bit let down.
I think this is suppose to reset Spock back to status quo for when the series ends next season. I don't think we're suppose to see him align his human/vulcan self.
I love me a good causality loop, but I don't feel like this was good example of one.
The diplomacy stuff on the Enterprise was fun. But oddly the dinosaur planet plot actually didn't feel as impactful.
Like it honestly feels like not a lot happened on planet. Which is a shame, because there were dinosaurs!
I feel like more of the dinosaurs should have had feathers, to keep up with contemporary understanding of dinosaurs. But I understand the pop culture short hand to help establish the cliche and not confuse the audience.
Ah, I didn't make that connection that Pilia and Ake are the same race. I should have paid a bit more close attention. I guess that seems like a proper racial characterization.
Almost wish they'd give her that weird Pilia accent.
I didn't realize this was releasing, so I binged and got all caught up.
Where is Sylvia Tilly? I thought the whole point of her being an instructor at the Academy was so she'd be here.
Also, what's up with Captain Ake being...extremely unprofessional? Not to say I need my captains to always be stoic. But I feel there is some hypocrisy with how she acts and also dressed down Mir for not standing at attention, when she's lazying around the captain's chair or running around barefoot.
I can understand cadets being unprofessional, and needing to be broken in, but when the ranking officer is too... something don't feel right.
The entire premise of high school/college drama and tropes, I'm not against this. It's not as artificial as I sometimes feel it can be in media target at young adults, but it also is a little bit... Which is slightly bothersome, but I feel they're also handling it well because it does appear to come with some character growth, but my fear is that that growth is coming too quick and they'll just reset some character growth back to give themselves room to have character drama.
I don't know where I stand on this series just yet. It's not bad though.
I enjoy good graphics, but I can look past them if the gameplay is fun and the story is good. With that said, I'm not clear if this will have any of the good qualities.
I do feel this game looks very conceptually interesting. I do very much enjoy VR games and really do feel like there aren't enough really pushing the medium. So I am cautiously optimistic.
Not as dramatic of an ending as I'd expect. But still a pretty fun listen.
I wonder is Lear ever tried to meet up with her Noonien Singh relatives?
I actually feel like La'an really reduces some of the drama of the daughter of Khan trying to find her place and understand where and who she is. She's not technically all alone because she has estranged family who already understands the prejudice of augments in Star Fleet.
I feel it is actually fitting for Khan to stay with his people to lead them. This is a noble trait, but it's also a bit more of an ego thing that does fit his character more than being selfish enough to save himself.
Elborians dying seems like a cop out. But I guess we need a reason the augments never got rescued, and Delmonda would have definitely sent for help.
This is a bit of fiction I never thought needed expanding. But it wasn't so bad. I hope they do some more interesting little side stories or expanded lore on something that might need more exploring. Say what happened to Prime Lorca, or how the events that led to Unification Part 3. You know, something a bit more meaty.
I actually didn't expect Khan to just abandon his people...but he does seem a bit self serving, so I guess it's not exactly out of character.
Also, we get some idea of when everything happens.
Also, interesting reasoning for Ceti Alpha VI's destruction being from the Elboreans' nonstandard warp drive. I'm really happy they explained it. I don't understand it though. What kind of FTL drive blows up planets? That sounds more like a horrible weapon putting the Deathstar to shame.
Sounds like rehabilitating Ivan didn't go very well.
Well, one episode left. I have to say, this has been a pretty enjoyable listen to on my mondays.
What a twist. That'd make sense. I guess the age would be about right. Space Seed in about 2267, and this audio drama is set after Generations' death of Kirk in 2293. Kali/Lear could be in their mid 20's or 30's which would fit.
I know this is consistent with the film, but part of me wishes she had met her demise more directly as a result of some choice that Khan made, if only to reinforce just how foolish she had been to join his little cult in the first place.
What I REALLY thought would happen is that Khan would be losing control of the situation and implant the Ceti Eel in McGiven's as a way to control her. Super messed up and dark, not as dramatic and evil going with a hot spring being populated by Ceti Eels. But you know, sometimes the universe is just uncaring.
And clearly they want to make Khan more sympathetic. So it's not a bad decision and is clearly offering interesting character growth for him. I imagine in the next few episodes we'll start to see him swing back to the tyrant we know he is.
This was a pretty heavy episode. A lot of interesting emotional beats.
Rosalind Lear appears to be hiding some kind of alternative motivation for investigating into Khan and Ceti Alpha, that is assuming Tuvok's suspicions are correct. I wonder if Lear might be a distant relative to an augment. We know that the Noonien-Singh line even survives to the 23rd century because of La'an from SNW. (Why did La'an's ancestors not change their last name?)
The song the young augments were listening to was Your Touch released in 2021. The song is synthwave so sounds like something from the 80's, which I thought was intentional, as we know from Space Seed that the Botany Bay was launched in the 90's (thought because of time travel shinanigans this was shifted around a few times). But I was expecting this to still be true. I'm unsure if this song is meant to imply that we're in a timeline where the Botany Bay is launched after 2021, or if this song is meant to be from the 80's which is how the augments have a copy. I wouldn't read too much into this, but...what's the point if we don't argue a bit over it?
Ivan's betrayal, and Khan's odd mercy towards him is interesting. Khan's paranoia served him well to deduce Ivan's betrayal as well. I'm very curious if the Elboreans will actually be able to rehabilitate Ivan, i suspect if they're successful this will place a great deal more paranoia in to Khan as he'll believe the Elboreans are capable of brainwashing. And make him even less trusting of them.
Lastly the inevitable loss of McGiven's to the Ceti Eel. It hit much harder than I was expecting. Amazing performances from the actors. I feel there are 2 possible fates of Kali, either Delmonda will save her and escape on that small ship they're building (Delmonda leaving the augments behind on Ceti Alpha V because Khan inevitably betrays them), or she dies which will send Khan of the deep end to go ape shit on the Elboreans.
This was a very interesting episode. I think we only have 2 eps left. Things should get moving pretty quick.
I also recommend checking out other works by Takeshi Koike. Sadly, Redline was such a financial failure it almost bankrupted Madhouse and ruined Koike's reputation. Despite that he's a god damn master of animation and movement.
He did the opening to a little film called Party 7 which is a weird film about Yakuza and a peeping tom motel owner. But the amazing animation of the opening is well worth it. The film itself is...kind of off putting, but still moderately interesting.
Trava: Fist Planet this is pretty classic Koike. In fact the two main characters also appear in Redline.
World Record in the Animatrix. Stylish and a simple (by Matrix standards) story.
He's also done a lot of recent Lupin the Third films, which I haven't gotten around to watching yet. I've heard they're not well recieved, but I literally can't imagine they're bad, because he's made like 3 of them.