Shave your beard and do a mirror universe episode where you talk about things you liked about voyager and what you dislike about picard.

ST: First Contact - I disagree with the criticism that the character was "changed" to accommodate the story. Ever since "Best of Both Worlds", the character has expressed trauma, regret, and rage against the Borg. It's called PTSD.

With regards to Lwaxana Troi, I always felt that part of character was that she was acting. Everything about her over-the-top nature was her putting on a show, she was purposefully trying to be larger than life. She was a hugely important figure with a lot of pride, but also one that has a lot of weight on her shoulders and has gone through a lot. And her way of dealing with that is to throw on a wig and a big smile and inhabit this personality to hide her darker side. So yeah, of course she feels like she's acting. She sort of is.

As someone healing from trauma, what I feel some ppl dont understand is it's always sort of there even if it's just a tiny marble in the back of your head. Your life develops and you even enjoy yourself again, and it may even seem like everything's better. Then comes a day when it confronts you full force and consumes you. Picard was triggered. It made sense.

Re: Lwaxana Troi. The phrase you want is Suspension of Disbelief. But I think her best moments are with Odo. Especiallly the turbo lift “I’ve never cared to be ordinary” situation. Makes me tear up every time.

Lwaxana Troi feels like a drag performance and has been an inspiration to many drag performances, and if taken in a that view, the larger than life mild parody of hyper femininity and masculinity smooshed together works reall really well

Re: Starfleet. Starfleet, and Star Trek as a whole, isn't about *being* good, it's about *getting* better. We will always fall short of our ideals, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying. As Data tells Lal, "It is the struggle itself that is most important. We must strive to be more than we are, Lal. It does not matter that we will never reach our ultimate goal. The effort yields its own rewards."

I've been rewatching Deep Space Nine over the past couple weeks. When I got to the Past Tense 2 parter I found it very eerie just how not far off the 21st century that Sisko and Bashir end up in seems. There were several more moments in the episode Shakaar that were also remarkably relevant to events going on now. Quotes such as Shakaar saying, "I didn't fight the Cardassians for 25 years just so I could start shooting other Bajorans." And then there was this whole exchange between Winn and Sisko: Winn: You're refusing my request for aid? Sisko: I suppose I am. W: If Bajor cannot depend on the Federation for aid, we'll withdraw our application for membership. S: That would be an unfortunate overreaction on your part. If I may say so, your entire response to this crisis has been an overreaction. By using the militia against your own people, you're risking civil war over a couple of soil reclamators. W: I'm afraid you can't see what's really going on here. This isn't about soil reclamators, this is about the future of our society. When someone like Shakaar can defy the law and escape punishment, we risk descending into anarchy and chaos. This is a test. A test by the prophets. They want to see if I'm worthy of the role they've given me as First Minister and Kai. I will not fail them. I will stop Shakaar by any means necessary. I also find it especially ironic that Winn, an extremely controversial "leader," is covered in orange.

Picard was 0% what I thought it would be and I think that added to my enjoyment of the show.

I think the darkest VOY ep might be Latent Image where they had to erase the Doctor's memory after he could not get over the guilt of saving Kim over another crew member and then when he remembers they were going to erase it again. But finally 7 of 9 convinces them to let him work though it and you get to see how long and painful that healing process is.

"It's easy to be a saint when you live in paradise"

Lwaxana Troi. I had an Aunt very much like her. Stubborn, flighty, opinionated, arrogant, tough. Even mean at times. That was her with company. When folks were around, she had this 'way' about her. Like she was trying to hold Court! But when it was just you and her together? Kind, patient, vulnerable and more than a little child-like wonder. Lwaxana Troi had lots of irritating traits, but her heart wanted what was best for all. Miss you, Valda!

I was fine with Picard's story arc, makes him seem much more human

Regarding Majel: Personally, I find her acting as Lawaxana highly believable, but this is probably because I have an unusual level of comfort with (or perhaps more accurately, enjoyment of) metafiction (if I'm using the term correctly). Most characters in movies and television shows have two layers: the character being portrayed, and the actor doing the portraying. Meanwhile, most people also have two layers: the persona they show in public, and the "true" self that they only show to their most intimate companions. Characters, in my experience, are rarely written with both of these layers, and when they are, they're usually either a villain who is deliberately deceiving others for his own nefarious purposes, or an anxious character whose character arc inevitably involves overcoming this anxiety and being more true to themselves. Lawaxana is the rare three-layer character. On the one hand, there is the actress, Majel... is it properly Barret or Roddenberry? On the other, there is the "Daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, and Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed". And this is the persona we see the vast majority of the time she's on screen. Even when she's alone with Deanna, she's still playing the aging matrician who is concerned for the future of her lineage. You don't find it convincing, and see this as evidence of Majel's poor quality as an actress. I. on the other hand, don't think it's *supposed* to be entirely convincing. Pretty much all the time we see her on screen, Lawaxana is playing a role, which means we're getting more meta than most people can comprehend: Majel is playing Lawaxana who is playing the role of Daughter of the Fifth House. And except for a brief glimpse in the episode where it's revealed she lost a child and it played havoc with her, we *never* actually see that middle layer. I'm not sure even Deanna ever really sees it. Probably the only person since her late husband who ever saw that middle layer (assuming he ever did) is Mr. Homm. Over the course of TNG, we never see it. It's existence is merely implied. If you're not the sort who can see these kinds of implications, you probably don't even realize it's there. We, the viewers, don't see this layer directly until Deep Space Nine, when she's trapped in a turbolift with Odo. The entire theme of that episode is that both of them let the other see their "middle layer", a thing neither of them allows others to see under ordinary circumstances, with Lawaxana accomplishing this visually through the removal of her wig. As it turns out, the *real* Lawaxana is, in Lawaxana's own eyes, "ordinary". And she does not like being ordinary. She likes being Lawaxana Troi, Daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed. There's also the fact that I never confused Lawaxana for Nurse Chapel.

I agree in the main re. Majel Barrett, but I do think her scenes with Odo where she shows her vulnerability and tenderness are excellent. They had a great chemistry.

Steve, I have to say I think you might have a fundamental misunderstanding of the character of Lwaxana Troi, and I say that because you say you can always see Majel Barrett acting--but I think most of the time you are supposed to see the character of Lwaxana acting, and here's why: the show makes it clear that despite the whole equality thing, she still faces some sexism, even in this evolved future--the DS9 episode where she marries Odo is just another reminder of this--and she is also an ambassador and an empath. We know that she is capable of deep, meaningful emotions but those types of behavior are generally not acceptable for an ambassador or someone of her, for lack of a better term, social upbringing. I always got the feeling that it was the character, not the actor, acting in most the situations--though perhaps you find the rare moments when she shouldn't be "acting" to ring the most false? Just something to chew on. Thanks for the video, always happy when one of these pops up.

I think a lot of the reasons people are pissed about the Picards and the Luke Skywalkers having regrets and facing their failures can often be attributed to the individuals inability or refusal to look into their own past and face their own mistakes. It hits too close to home, and is a little TOO real for their desires of entertainment to take them out of their reality for a little while. Often their entertainment is a form of escape, and being confronted with that while they are trying to escape it can breed hostility and resentment, where they will concoct whatever narrative or reasoning they need to justify said resentment.

"Tuvix" didn't even wait until the next episode to forget about how grim that murder was. Final moments of the episode have Janeway and Kes all smiles because Tuvok and Neelix are back ... Jesus Christ you psychos.

I liked the discussion of "seeing the villain's point of view." One of my favorite TNG episodes, and definitely my favorite Troi episode, is "Face of the Enemy." One of the things I like about it is that, even though Troi is the nominal protagonist and we definitely want her to come through it okay, I always end up rooting for Commander Toreth, and feel sad it doesn't work out better for her. Even though she personifies the titular "enemy", she's not really evil. She's a Romulan, but says and does all the same things we'd expect a Starfleet captain to do in her place, and it's more than a little uncomfortable to see Troi have to act so dishonorably towards her.

The darkest and most galling thing about the climax of "Tuvix" is that the central dilemma is a false one. We've seen repeatedly that the transporter can duplicate people. Can we not assume that the transporter's pattern buffer would have a log of its transport history? Even if they couldn't just recall the pattern of Tuvok and Neelix, they could have saved Tuvix's pattern while they retrieved Tuvok and Neelix and used that pattern to save Tuvix as well. If Thomas Riker can live, so too could have Tuvix.

Majel Barrett was awesome as No 1 in The Cage.

The algorithm brought me here in all its wisdom. I'm a musician and have seen quite a bit of videos about synthesizers. It was only a matter of time a mixup such as this one happened, I suppose.

"These area's are going to be good area's, great area's, good area's to help the poor, the disabled, really good area's. I'm going to call them Sanctuary Districts, good area's to help the poor and disabled. Fenced in area's, good area's, to help the disabled. And the poor. To protect them. Sanctuary Districts because these people need my help."

About synthetic life: "We don't want to be tempted to exercise our base instincts, so we will ban the object of temptation, rather than examine our base instincts and grow out of childhood." This is what any sweeping ban is telling the populace. Socially speaking, it lets everyone off the hook; the temptation is gone, nobody has to learn how to deal effectively with the 'problem' since the problem is no more. And those base instincts are still fully in charge! Look at all the jinking around to not be tempted!

In regards to one of the first questions posed about human shaped robots...Issac Asimov made a wonderful point in "The Caves of Steel" (which the movie i robot was loosely based) that the purpose of designing a robot to look like a human is because of all of the human sized designs which already exist in the world. He draws a comparison that you could make a robot that looked exactly like a tank and it would work excellently as a tank, but it couldn't walk through a doorway, or turn on a water faucet, or dribble a basketball. What makes more sense is designing a humanoid robot that knows how to drive a tank and can also grab some boxes out of your attic, walk your dog etc.

“[Lwaxana] is far and away my least favorite character in the franchise.” * GASP * lower than the Outragous Okana? You can’t be serious! 😉😆

As a trained theatre actor, I have to disagree about Lwaxana Troi. The "phoniness" that you refer to is a trait of the character herself. She wears an over-the-top mask to cover her loneliness and insecurity and grief. That mask is removed a few times in Next Gen and DS9 and it is stunning to see the vulnerability underneath the overconfident gregarious shell, specifically because it contrasts so much with her typical demeanor. I often think of Dark Page (S7 Next Gen) and The Forsaken (S1 DS9) as beautiful examples of this. Remember she lost both her daughter and her husband, and that grief clearly weighs heavily on her heart.

RE: Starfleet and things like bias. Isn't there a quote along the lines of "The one to be truly afraid of is the one who thinks he has nothing left to learn"?

Re: Medalion's question I'm not sure it can be said that Starfleet is "bad" now. Rather, the arc of Picard brings the protagonists up against its less than shiny side (which with the exception of the Romulan mole, seems to be more of a matter of bureaucracy and Picard's soured relations with the brass than anything else). But the finale still has the fleet coming to the rescue with Riker.

Re: First Contact Picard being an action captain signifying a change in his character...I dunno he was pretty much action captain in first part of Chain of Command, and in Starship Mine, so I don't think it's as huge a departure from his established character as someone people claim it is

The Doctor was not complicit in Tuvix's murder, he actively refused. I think it's important to note that.

Maybe Picard's willingness to go along with the forced relocation in "Journey's End" was the reason he was so adamant to defend the Ba'ku in Insurrection; I think it may have been a better movie if they had linked the two events and had him have guilt over the situation motivate his choices against the S'ona and Ru'afo.

The second the end credits roll: "Tuvix? More like WHO-vix! LOL" -Captain Kathryn Janeway

When I read Synth ban I thought it referred to the campaign by the uk musicians union against synthesizers in the 70s. Synth players were putting string and horn sections out of work!

For me, the difference between Picard and Luke Skywalker is that with Picard, I could see how he could naturally and organically go from TNG Picard to Picard Picard. With Luke, his character in the Last Jedi felt too OOC, with no explanation or exploration of how he became Last Jedi Luke. Yes, we see the flashbacks, but how did he go from Jedi Returns Luke, who would always try to see the good in people, to Last Jedi Luke, who is momentarily terrified of the Dark Side? There just doesn’t seem to be an organic explanation for this sudden change in character.

THANK YOU for your comments about The Last Jedi, I've been saying that for years to all the haters.

Funny thing about Picard... I liked the season but I have a somewhat different take on Picard as a person. For the same reason as you I am totally okay with him having let people down in the past but I don´t see what he does PRIMARY as atonement towards specific persons for previous sins. Because of Dahj he gets a new purpose for his life/a new mission, a purpose that is "classic" principled honorable Picard. But one that needs the help of the people he has deserted. The purpose/mission is the goal, the atonement is the means to get the gang on board with it. There are many instances where the metatext is "yesyes, I let you down but can´t you see this mission is so important enough you need to get beyond that?". That does NOT diminish the character, actually it is a very realistic portrayal of a elderly person who is principled and honorable but has lost some of the ability to take on other peoples POV. Props to the writers and Patrick Stewart for the bravery to take the character there...

You're a good man, Steve Shives!

Personally, I think Majel Barrett did a good job acting a crappy character. The problem is that the writers rarely gave her much to work with; but the handful of episodes where she was sympathetic, like when she was stuck in the turbolift with Odo ... aces.

The only thing separating Picard from those rogue admirals is that he LEARNS from his mistake in Journey's End as we see in Insurrection.

I'm surprised no mention of the episode"Dark Page". Lwaxana's bad parenting can be seen as a direct result of the tragic death of her first child. Plus the episode is so dark, dark was in the name

In the tuvix video you probably should bring up similitude which is basically the same episode done right

wow, 47 minutes and I didn't even notice it was that long of an episode. I can't explain why, but listening to you ramble on is far easier than with anybody else. Most of the time I would say "oh, 47 minutes? I don't have time for that." but with your videos it never seems to be that long. I think Lwaxana Troi has two good episodes though, the episode where she's dealing with the death of her first daughter is a good example of her being believable. She actually reminds me of a discussion I had with my own mother about my brother who accidentally killed himself before I was born with my mom's service revolver (she was a police officer). And the other episode where she seems believable is the one where she and Odo get trapped in the turbolift and once she drops that silly personality affectation and gets real with him she seems very believable. Most of the time though, she's not so good at playing that character.

"I don't think that we will ever escape that." Adam Savage did a commencement speech at Sarah Lawrence College several years ago that I absolutely LOVE. One of the things he said was "We are never finished products. We are always 'works in progress'." I feel that speaks quite well to your statement about The Federation still occasionally making mistakes.

I loved "Pale Blue Dot"- your rewrite of the Voyager series finale. I thought it was brilliant. I also agree that having little or no carryover from one episode to the next was a problem for Voyager. The major offender was "Year of Hell." A much more thoughtful ending would have been if time did not reset, and the rest of that season was spent showing how they recovered, got the rest of the crew back and put the ship back together. Would love to see your take on "How Year of Hell should have ended."

I think it would have been too easy to make Picard a perfect, unquestionable character. People think of his character that way, but he has always been morally flawed. Like when he acquiesces to Starfleet in the relocation of the population of Dorvan V, or any number of times he excuses inaction with morally questionable interpretations of the prime directive. It would have been a crowd-pleaser to make old Picard a perfect, golden space dad, but it would have been boring and one-dimensional. I thought that the first season of the Picard series was a mess in many ways, but I really think that what they did with Picard's character was authentic, believable and probably the most interesting part of the new series.

I've always likend Section 31, the Tarshiar, and the Obsidian Order to be like Black Ops division of the CIA or MI6

45:00 and don't forget the irish reunifercation prediction for next year in TNG.

Wooo! My first comment response on a Steve Shives video! Dreams do come true!

I was thinking of your Picard-Rambo connection... and the best connection would be to the first Rambo film 'First Blood'. With that you have a veteran pushed to the breaking point by sadistic cops going on a rampage due to a volatile mix of special forces training and PTSD. Picard thought he got passed the trauma of the Borg. But having the Borg attack one earth just brought it all back.

Steve, there's a father-son that you forgot about, Riker and his son Picard in Rascals, season 6 episode 7. Riker is a pretty great "dad" in that episode.

Steve in regards to Lwaxana, I am going to yes she is missing that Suspension of Disbelief. But to see the complete opposite Andrew Robinson in the introduction of "What we left behind" No makeup no costumes but for those 2 minutes, you forget that he is an actor and you just see Garak. It is an amazing thing to see.

I think Tom Paris's and Janeway's parenting needs to be evaluated in the context of salamander parenting in general. Apparently while stream-breeding salamanders do perform some parental care, pond-breeding salamanders don't, so they may well have met the species standard for parenting practices.

Justice for Tuvix.

People tend to express themselves in a manner that sounds like they’re trying to make an objective claim when they are expressing their subjective opinions. This is fairly natural, given how people are wired, but it can make it sound like they’re saying more than they really are. And, to be fair, I am saying that’s how they sound. When you get right down to it, though, the bottom line of someone listing things that Picard shouldn’t do is more likely just a list of things they didn’t like seeing him do. It boils down to the very thing you say it’s okay to do, which is to not enjoy it. In short, to answer your question, you did come off as condescending. Granted, depending on how well I worded this, I might sound condescending, too.

Been a while since i saw the episode, but Tuvix would have been fixed so easily. Make the bonding unstable or some jargon degradation of their dna. So to save them they HAVE to split Tuvix. The episode could then been a bucket list as this creature is born, lives and dies in the space of a few weeks.

Hey Steve! You often bring up comments of people disagreeing with you to review or emphasize a point, just wanted to let you know from someone who doesn't agree with you on everything, though admittedly on most, that I still thoroughly enjoy your content in those circumstances for your excellent and entertaining presentation. Always be you!

they literaqlly do create synthetic life forms and use them as slaves. all the EMH's that were created are established to have personality and are a form of life over prolonged use if they are like the one on voyager.

Re: Starfleet having systemic problems, Ben Sisko calls it out explicitly in The Maquis - "The problem is Earth [...] it's easy to be a Saint in Paradise". In PIC, Earth clearly has problems, they're still rebuilding the fleet after the Dominion war & failed Romulan evacuation - add the Synth incident so close to home. It's not a fun place right now. So it's obviously a bit harder for Starfleet HQ to be saints & they're finding it out the hard way.

I just recently saw the Voyager episode “Drone” and was quite impressed with it. Needless to say, it was quite dark and portrayed Seven of Nine in an interesting light. Sort of the student becoming the master sort of thing. It was my first time viewing this episode and I was impressed, not only by the fact that it was uncharacteristically good for Voyager and that I had ever seen I before! Thank god for free streaming. You can be entertained despite the endless repetitive commercials on the channel.

Speaking of forced relocations, Data and Picard also forced the relocation of the humans on the Sheliak planet. The circumstances were a bit different since the humans were facing certain doom.

Steve I love ya almost as much as I dislike the Kurtzman era shows.

Forced relocation is one of the pitfalls of colonization. For example, the French in Nova Scotia were forced to relocate to Louisiana and become the Cajans. This was done as the result of the peace treaty the French had with the British when they lost the French & Indian War, much like that episode.

Picard suffered deeply for being used by the Borg, and although he was not responsible for the lives lost at Wolf 359, he is still human and he questions if he did all he could not to be assimilated. Thus, he might be internally angry at himself, which in First Contact he turns that anger toward the Borg, who basically was able to easily strip him of his humanity, something he probably treasured about himself. Now with the new series, fans have to understand, that Picard had faced many situation in which he felt guilt, destruction at Wolf 359, Data sacrificing himself to save Picard, and his failed attempt to save the Romulan people. Even in Star Trek Nemesis, he wondered if he had been raised in Shinzon's situation, would he have turned out the same as Shinzon? After all, Shinzon was his clone. Thus, he even felt guilty about what Shinzon did to gain power in Romulus and felt he can atone for that by saving the Romulan people. Now we see Picard, 15 or so years later spending his time at his vineyard reflecting on his life, and facing his regrets. He had 15 years to start to question the choices he made in life. Not to mention, although Picard, at the time, didn't like to be called one of Starfleet's greatest Captains, or being placed on some pedestal, the reality is he did, as it ensured to him, that many of the decision he made weren't wrong. But after his fall from grace, so to speak, he questions his past. In the end of the season, it was Data's sacrifice he felt he could atone for by helping the Synthetics, since they were created based on Data.

When I read your thumbnail, I pictured Starfleet security running around smashing peoples Roland keyboards.

On the part about L'waxana's performance being poor, all I can think of was season 1 Will Riker (a.k.a. Commander Stink-Eye).

What about admiral Markus in the Abrams movies? Him waking up the augment captain from centuries prior in order to start a war with the Klingons. Waking up captain of the botteneybay was a terrible idea.

'Finality' Love this word creation actually as description for 'These are the Voyages'... The finale was the fatality move to the franchise.

Similar to your (spot on) disbelief that a conservative can be a fan of Star Trek, how can a person be a fan and not understand without snarky condescension that YES the least shitty option is what you sometimes have to enthusiastically pick. And not even sometimes, the entire franchise derives much of its drama and a good deal of its best lessons through progressing through the least shitty option. Best of Both Worlds was just an entire cascade of least shitty options (not even close to the only example in TNG though). The entire overriding philosophy of the DS9 franchise's writing room could have been 'lets put various people in various situations where the only way out is the least shitty option.'

Anytime people talk about the forced relocation episode I find myself thinking about the episode of ds9 where kira had to get some people off of a bajoran moon for a power project. The complexity of her emotions as she had to destroy a kiln, I believe, and get an old man off of the moon is the similar feelings of the next gen crew, but they are far more used to following orders and getting the job done. Yet kira does her job and the next gen crew helps set up the situation that creates the maquis. Forced relocation sucks, but occasionally it's a choice that a few must have to deal with for the greater goal. I never felt the federation didnt care about the natives being relocated, or hating them, they were looking at a greater good. I've never viewed it as an evil or immoral act, peace is a noble goal, just happens to suck that once again natives got the short end of the stick.

I don’t see Picard or STD depicting Starfleet or humanity any worse than Voyager or TNG. 90’s Trek focused on single ships. The further back each show steps the more cracks in the system are revealed. I always think about Quark’s best moment in The Siege of AR 558 when he talks about human nature... take their replicators and holodecks away.

"Tuvix" always pissed me off, not only because it was never mentioned again, but because even immediately after Neelix and Tuvoc were separated, there was no "are you guys all right?" moment. It was just like, "well, that thing's done." Did either of them have memory of being Tuvix? Did they feel like they just beamed up? Did they even feel dizzy? We'll never know.

🤣 I thoroughly enjoy watching you scold your viewers.

I saw elnor as the physical representation of the romulan people (and the federation's abandonment of them) when Picard takes responsibility that IS the federation coming back to help

As far as Luke Skywalker in episode eight, yes he was mistreated. He went from hopeful and optimistic, willing to believe that his child killing, genocidal father could be redeemed, to having one vision of his nephew going to the dark side and decides to stand over the boys bed with a lightsaber ready to run his nephew through, or at least considering it. The Luke we knew from the original trilogy would have been driven by that vision to do better by Ben to teach him how to avoid the wrong path, even to the point of abandoning all his other padawans. Which that in itself could have opened up an avenue for Snoke to convert one of them (Rey) to the dark side because of Lukes neglect, giving us a hero and villain connected with a shared history and former friendship and a realistic explication as to why they were a force dyad. Darth Rey then could have killed Han out of jealousy that she never knew her father, Leia could have done her force phone call to save her son rather than to distract him, and at the end Ben could choose to take the name Skywalker (a name neither of his parents had) to continue his grandfathers legacy. Sorry for the rant, I know this is Not Actually Trek, Actually not Not Actually Wars, Actually, but this is a bit that rubbed me raw in the sequel trilogy and you did bring it up.

About the "deadbeat dad" comment regarding the older Picard, we should agree that Picard is never fatherly in TNG, except perhaps in the "inner light" episode. He probably rescued young Elinor because of duty and not love. Relationships need time and presence to develop, and Picard did not have the inclination. The older Picard simply feels remorse for cutting loose of all friends and Elinor after the Mars incident, and having to use Elinor in aid of his personal quest. I still feel the fatherly bond at episode 10 is a bit rushed, although I would not begrudge Elinor to grieve for the father figure he remembered in his childhood.

Just stumbled across your channel and love your Trek Actually videos, a suggestion for a future episode I thought would be cool is the relationship between Odo and Quark and how they are probably the two closest friends on Deep Space Nine thought it be a cool thing to delve into.

43:45 "a few bad apples" *is* a systemic thing. Don't forget that the other part of the expression, which states that it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch.

Dragging TLJ into that discussion.. Just because that movie pissed off misogynists doesn't make it a perfect movie. And if you change a character's personality in a sequel, there is a point at which it becomes jarring. Odd that you don't seem to be able to see that. Btw, I'm fine with Picard in the new series, that's still believably the same person, in my perception of him. But Luke didn't have a lot of character traits in the first place, so you are more limited in how much you can change the few ones he had.

I have wondered how the Admirals are able to become "rogues", but I think it's actually the system that is generating them. In the US Navy, there are something like 270 Admirals, so I would assume that in Starfleet there must be thousands of Admirals. Not having constant communication with superiors or having been trusted to be "good people" based on their survival through the ranks probably contributes to an elitist attitude. They are probably given tasks with relatively ill defined parameters, and the massive scale of the Federation probably creates challenges in coordination that promotes corner cutting and rule bending. If we think about it like that, then it's actually surprising that Starfleet turned out as good as it did.

I absolutly feel the same way you do about art.

Since we're talking about The Visitor, the reporter that comes in to talk to Jake is played by Andrew Robinson's (Garak) daughter.

After Picard's history of hating children, people are shocked at the idea that he could have mistreated one? Wesley Crusher looked up to him as a father figure of sorts, and I don't think that relationship was particularly great, overall.

I think Starfleet and the Federation's imperfections are fairly well summed up by Sisko in "The Maquis, Part II". Commander Sisko: Do you know what the trouble is? The trouble is Earth-on Earth there is no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet Headquarters and you see paradise. It's easy to be a saint in paradise, but the Maquis do not live in paradise. Out there in the demilitarized zone all the problems haven't been solved yet. Out there, there are no saints, just people-angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive, whether it meets with Federation approval or not.

The thing every one forgets and makes O’Briens ordeal even worse, is that at the end of the episode O’Brien is proved to be innocent and they have no way of reversing the process

In regards to the 'forced relocation' theme, would the settlement at Tau Cygni V count as 'forced relocation?' TNG, S3E2, "The Ensigns of Command." The settlement was not an official Federation colony, as the original colonists had crashed there off course, and had fought hard to make their home survivable despite the planet's hyperonic radiation, but once the Sheliak decided to colonize the world themselves, the Federation (due to their treaty with the Sheliak) had the opportunity and responsibility to relocate those settlers. The episode portrays this as a heroic move, since the settlers would have been annihilated by the Sheliak, but the settlers still had no choice. Either stay and die, or give up their home for an unknown future. And yet the episode has a starkly contrasted 'feel' to it compared to 'Journey's End.' There was never a question of "Is this the right thing to do" in terms of moving the settlers at Tau Cygni V, versus the settlers of Dorvan V.

But also remember by Starfleet standards, In the episode "Journey's End" it would not be considered a forced relocation because they were not indigenous to that planet in the first place. it would just be a relocation effort on Starfleets part. This was also explored in the movie Insurrection where Admiral Matthew Dougherty said those very words about the Ba'ku.

Momma Troy makes me think about the 4th wall but I feel like I see the 4th wall from her tragic and heartfelt view. She makes me think about real human stuff as silly stuff is happening. Thanks for the videos Steve

I think this is the video where you revisited the idea of the episodic series not allow events to affect the characters. I'm rewatching Eureka and the drastic changes that happen in season 4 and 5 have long lasting emotional effects for the characters. Especially S05E04. The Astraeus crew suffered trauma at the hands of several alternate versions of residents of Eureka and are having a difficult time adjusting to life back in the "real world".

Steve is that the eaglemoss DS9 on your desk?

I really thoroughly and completely enjoy your channel.

Every time I watch Past Tense it scares me how possible that 2024 could be. While I don't think it will happen it doesn't seem that far fetched.

The Synth thing, being turned into slaves. I know you don't like Voyager, but this is what happened to the decommissioned Doctor holograms.

One of the things that really frightens me about the far right is that they don't view forced relocation as a big deal. This is not unique to the far right though, its common in all authoritarian regimes. There are some occasional circumstances where forced relocation is necessary of course, such as to save lives due to a natural or man made disaster, but to do it simply because a group/ethnicity "offends" you, that is truly abhorrent and something I will never understand.

The Kirk autobiography has a scene where Jim is planning to meet David for the first time and tell Carol he's arranged for them to live on the ship with them and instead she comes alone and tells him she thinks it would be better for David to not have a father and goodbye forever. It felt like a bigger retcon than is actually supported by the text of Wrath Of Khan because Kirk is so surprised to meet David that I and most people read it as the first time he knew David existed.

I’m not sure it’s that important of a distinction to point out that many or most of the Evil or Rogue Admirals were acting in the best interests of the Federation, as they saw it. Aren’t many of the most notable contemporary power abusers doing exactly that? There’s something that they “love” or have given allegiance to - a way of life, an in-group, an idea of what their Society/the US/the Federation means, and for the good of that allegiance, as they see it, they hurt others or even destroy their lives. It’s one thing to be caught in a horrible dilemma where there’s imminent danger and every choice leads to compromise and loss. It’s another to be so deadset on securing what you do care about against hypothetical harm that you’re prepared to do immediate harm to those you don’t care about. That’s the banality of evil, yo. Rogue seems like a word Evil Admirals I Have Known want to be called by, even call themselves. Starfleet should be a force for good in the sense that it’s their mission and the responsibility they shoulder. But not in the sense that their identity as Starfleet means they never have to self-examine or do some serious thinking about what “a force for good” should actually be doing right now. Also, I can understand getting frustrated by stories where you see beloved characters at their lowest, especially if you were looking forward to a story where you get to see that character at their average to best. But people of all stripes can fall into despair and retreat from life. Maybe the people who have been putting themselves out there and striving and serving and trying to do their part are among the most vulnerable. Because the world tends to find a way to stay crappy. Because you need a certain kind of belief in yourself to live a heroic life, and then you take a step back and realize all that time that you were trying so hard and pouring yourself out, you were also maybe being a little arrogant and you missed things and you talked over people and left people behind. It can take a lot out of a person. I’m certainly not giving myself as an example of someone who has been living a heroic life, but I am a human struggling at a low point, and stories like Picard or The Last Jedi mean the world to me right now. They bolster my will to re-evaluate my life and be willing to start over, even when that means confronting shame or past failures. I really hope it’s not true that being a good sort of person who tries - a Luke Skywalker, a Picard - automatically inoculates you against despair or failure to live up to your own values. If it turns out that good people messing up or giving up is just manufactured drama, then... that’s very bad news for me lol

The dotor is not complicit he refuses to do the procedure.

While I agree with a lot of the points here Steve, I do think that the argument that we should just accept that the story is different to expectations is disingenuous. The complaint isn't that the story went in a different direction it's that an action was shown in the new media (which is contrary to the behaviour we've been shown to be expected from the character) that is treated as being as important as the rest of the characters mythology. Of course new writers have stories they want to tell but these changes introduced in new media don't compliment but override the history we know and it's because it's so difficult to reconcile the two characters that people have difficulty liking the new version. Luke's redemption arc feels forced because his attack on Ben that he's trying atone for made no sense to the established character and felt written into that same film to give them an excuse to redeem him. If TFA had shown Luke being blind to Ben's corruption and being unwilling to strike down another member of his family it'd make more sense for him to seek atonement but "I got scared so I was going to kill a child in his sleep" isn't Luke. Switching to Trek, the Elnor story wasn't necessary at all; the Qowat Milat could have just offered his services instead of their own when Picard visited and asked for help (he would have been less whiney then too perhaps). The Star Wars side of the argument will always be harder as there was lore, decades of it, that told us fans how Luke, Leia, Han, Ben, Jaina, Jacen and Anakin would act and what we SAW wasn't even close. Yes it's legends now but it's also the stories we've had since the 90s so it's more real than what we got meaning there's dissonance. But even for Trek, creating a conflict that seems out of character for the purpose of solving it immediately to try and give the character depth is just lazy writing when you have so much history to pull from.

To be fair O'Brien goes through so many insanely traumatic events he's got to have developed a serious resistance to it

For the parents video, I would have loved to hear your take on Moogie. Just watched the episode where Quark and her argue so much she takes a heart attack.