I really liked this episode. Anson Mount does an awesome job playing the snivelling courtier and it is great seeing Hemmer again. Science! My only quibble is the bittersweet ending gets watered down by the swift return of M'Benga's daughter. I get why they did it but it weakened the emotional impact of the scene.
I don't know that everything ought to be played for maximum emotional impact. Because, honestly, maximum impact then calls for Doctor M'Benga to be mourning and worrying that he made the wrong choice for a long time. This way, he gets a bittersweet mourning of separatioin, but understanding that he made a good choice, and that his daughter is happy.
The episode is the absolute worst use of the Boltzmann Brain concept, but fine, I'll let it go.
Back in 1896 (so, before Einstein and Relativity) there was a big problem in the field of Cosmology. Basically - how come we see an ordered universe? Thermodymanics told them that he universe should tend towards a disordered state. So, why wasn't it in such a state?
Ludwig Boltzmann suggested that maybe the universe we see is the result of a random fluctuation - that a disordered universe could just... fall into an ordered state. With enough time, all low-probability events become possible, and all, wo why not?
The Boltzmann brain is not a real posited possibility. It is a reductio ad absurdum argument against Boltzmann's idea. The ordered universe contains brains and such, right? So, what's more likely - that an entire universe fell into that ordered state that contains many brains, or it spontaneously manifested just one brain, (presumably Boltzmann's) complete with sense memories that it existed in this universe?
This became a measuring stick for cosmological theories - if your cosmological model is less likely than your own brain just manifested itself randomly, your model is probably not correct.[/color]
To be fair, they barely touch on it. Hemmer was like "hmmm could be a Boltzmann brain", and they never really talk about it again. Aka they never really explain teh creature, it just happens, and we move on.
The police have ranks and uniforms but are not military (their armament aside). They are a civilian force. The purpose of the military is to make war, not to explore.
An organization can have more than one purpose. Which other organization fought the Romulans when Earth and the Romulans went to war? And when the Federation and Klingons went to war? And when the Federation and Cardassians went to war? And the Dominion? And the Borg?
The police have ranks and uniforms but are not military (their armament aside). They are a civilian force. The purpose of the military is to make war, not to explore.
If Starfleet was military, then the open would have far more Terran tone to it.
- From Star Trek Continues (which I freely admit is not canon)
One of the running themes seems to be that protest as they do, Starfleet and the Terran empire aren't as different as all that:
Lorca did just fine on Starfleet, so does the emperor
It's one reason I hate the section 31 story lines. As much as they're technically portrayed as villains the writers can't seem to help themselves also portray them as a NECESSARY evil. and once you do that, all the talk of the federation being a peaceful society that had mostly risen above such things - goes out the window (they just hide it better than most).
One of the running themes seems to be that protest as they do, Starfleet and then Terran empire aren't as different as all that:
Lorca did just fine on Starfleet, so does the emperor
It's one reason I hate the section 31 story lines. As much as they're technically portrayed as villains the writers can't seem to help themselves also portray them as a NECESSARY evil. and once you do that, all the talk of the federation being a peaceful society that had mostly risen above such things - goes out the window (they just hide it better than most).
It's one reason I hate the section 31 story lines. As much as they're technically portrayed as villains the writers can't seem to help themselves also portray them as a NECESSARY evil. and once you do that, all the talk of the federation being a peaceful society that had mostly risen above such things - goes out the window (they just hide it better than most).
I think the issue with that though is the notion that being good requires absolute perfect good, that the slightest touch of evil means your just evil.
If the standard sci fi government is doing unscrupulous things 10% of the time, and you do them only .5%....well I think its fair to say your a lot more "good" than the standard. Could you do better, sure of course, always room to improve....but doesn't mean your wrong to say you have risen above such actions most of the time.
It's one reason I hate the section 31 story lines. As much as they're technically portrayed as villains the writers can't seem to help themselves also portray them as a NECESSARY evil. and once you do that, all the talk of the federation being a peaceful society that had mostly risen above such things - goes out the window (they just hide it better than most).
I too hate Section 31 as most writers don't understand the concept. Like Discovery just made them dumb villains.
The twist is, the Federation exists because of it's dark side. A couple of handfulls of people "do the dark deeds", so the whole Federation can honeslty claim to be good.
And, after all, when you take the "good" Main Characters from a Star Trek show.....you will notice a TON of evil deeds.
I too hate Section 31 as most writers don't understand the concept. Like Discovery just made them dumb villains.
The twist is, the Federation exists because of it's dark side. A couple of handfulls of people "do the dark deeds", so the whole Federation can honeslty claim to be good.
And, after all, when you take the "good" Main Characters from a Star Trek show.....you will notice a TON of evil deeds.
Well, yes, section 31 are essentially the sin eaters of the federation.
But, my point is, however it got there, the Federation shouldn't need a dark side anymore. It IS a radical concept, but the point is to have a society that really has risen above it. Not one that never makes mistakes etc. and sure there can be bad apples, but that has, as a whole, ascended - to a degree.
Section 31 makes a complete mockery of that by making the whole "we've gone beyond what we were..." an absolute lie.
It's one reason I hate the section 31 story lines. As much as they're technically portrayed as villains the writers can't seem to help themselves also portray them as a NECESSARY evil. and once you do that, all the talk of the federation being a peaceful society that had mostly risen above such things - goes out the window (they just hide it better than most).
This has been my argument against Section 31 since the beginning. No matter how "realistic" some may think it is for the organization to exist it really does fly in the face of everything we are supposed to believe about the Federation.
