TrackerNeil Posted July 4, 2016 Author Share Posted July 4, 2016 On this week's Nitpicking: The Next Generation, the Enterprise crew encounters another omnipotent being who attempts to make their heads explode, both figuratively and literally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom 1974 Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 1 hour ago, TrackerNeil said: On this week's Nitpicking: The Next Generation, the Enterprise crew encounters another omnipotent being who attempts to make their heads explodes, both figuratively and literally. And yet, an episode I think is one of the better ones from Season 2... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted July 5, 2016 Author Share Posted July 5, 2016 9 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said: And yet, an episode I think is one of the better ones from Season 2... After having to sit through "The Child", I will not disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawkcabi Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 On 7/4/2016 at 11:31 AM, TrackerNeil said: On this week's Nitpicking: The Next Generation, the Enterprise crew encounters another omnipotent being who attempts to make their heads explodes, both figuratively and literally. Have to say I'm really enjoying these. I've come to increasingly look forward to Mondays for each new episode. As to what a Klingon accountant looks like? I'd say look no further than Arne Darvin (Charlie Brill) the Klingon as human infliltrator from Trouble with Tribbles and Trials and Tribbleations. I don't know how much ahead of time you do these episodes but a bit of trivia for "The Outrageous Okona" George Burns was original offered the role of the great comedian but he turned it down so they went with...Joe Piscopo. I've said it before and I'll say it again, that's like offering a gig to Bruce Springsteen and when he won't do it then getting Kenny G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 21 hours ago, drawkcabi said: I don't know how much ahead of time you do these episodes but a bit of trivia for "The Outrageous Okona" George Burns was original offered the role of the great comedian but he turned it down so they went with...Joe Piscopo. Criminy. Who was third on the list? (Thanks for your kind words, BTW. We have loads of fun recording these, so I am glad people enjoy listening.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawkcabi Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 29 minutes ago, TrackerNeil said: Criminy. Who was third on the list? (Thanks for your kind words, BTW. We have loads of fun recording these, so I am glad people enjoy listening.) Gallagher? YVW keep up the good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted July 11, 2016 Author Share Posted July 11, 2016 On this week's Nitpicking: The Next Generation, in yet another "Dear god, never go on the holodeck" episode, the Enterprise computer is revealed to be a magical wish engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon AS Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Geordie's sudden attack of romantic feelings for the good old days is kind of in line with one of Trek's more troubling issues. For all that Star Trek presents a utopian future society, there's a strange thread of technophobia and romanticisation of a "simpler, better" past that runs through the franchise. When it comes to the fore you usually get really crappy stories, like Insurrection. Even in stories where the luddite of the day is the villain, there's usually a sense that we're supposed to be thinking that they kind of do have a point, like in DS9's Paradise. I go back and forth between thinking that the glaring design flaws when it comes to the Entereprise's systems are just the writers being lazy when looking for ways to propel the plot forward, and thinking that it's an expression of Clarke's famous statement about sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic. Which would mean that Star Trek technology is too advanced for Trek writers to grasp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted July 14, 2016 Author Share Posted July 14, 2016 On 7/12/2016 at 2:15 AM, Jon AS said: Geordie's sudden attack of romantic feelings for the good old days is kind of in line with one of Trek's more troubling issues. For all that Star Trek presents a utopian future society, there's a strange thread of technophobia and romanticisation of a "simpler, better" past that runs through the franchise. When it comes to the fore you usually get really crappy stories, like Insurrection. Even in stories where the luddite of the day is the villain, there's usually a sense that we're supposed to be thinking that they kind of do have a point, like in DS9's Paradise. I cannot agree with this strongly enough, and it's often true of the fantasy genre as well. Dan and I wrote a paper on this that's due to appear in a textbook this fall, and at that time I'll post it on Peccable if the publisher allows. Until then, I'll just say it is truly amazing just how conservative TNG really was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted July 18, 2016 Author Share Posted July 18, 2016 This week on Nitpicking: The Next Generation, the Enterprise crew encounters the rogue-iest (the most roguey?) rogue to ever rogue his way through a bad Romeo and Juliet ripoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 This week on Nitpicking: The Next Generation, when faced with concepts like disability, communication, isolation and the differences between us, the Enterprise crew stand around and fail at doing nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted August 1, 2016 Author Share Posted August 1, 2016 On this week's Nitpicking: The Next Generation, the Enterprise crew once again fails to recognize someone impersonating Data and we learn that, in the Federation, some animals are more equal than others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 On this week's Nitpicking: The Next Generation, in an episode that initially flirts with actual science fiction, the transporter is revealed to be a magical cure-all device, a fact that will immediately be forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aemon Stark Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 I kinda like "Unnatural Selection" insofar as it's a good showcase for Pulaski, a character that's always been pretty underrated in my mind (even if they do try to make her echo Bones a bit too much with the transporter aversion). Although, I might like her simply because - unlike many of her crewmates - she has something resembling a real personality. Unfortunately, it's not just the magic transporter solution that undermines the episode. Later TNG and especially DS9 will establish that genetic engineering on humans is illegal in the Federation, so the "Children" in this episode don't really fit into that continuity. It would have been interesting if a subsequent episode had referenced them in that way. The other problem is that - if I'm to understand it - the nature of this "infection" makes no sense. Even if somehow the Children's antibodies could become "airborne", antibodies don't actually destroy anything (though they may "neutralize" pathogens). They mainly just attach to antigens on foreign (or sometimes host) cells or particles ("opsonization") so that they can be attacked by various white cells (especially macrophages) and destroyed ("phagocytosis"). What's more, in order to produce antibodies, a matching B cell first needs to encounter the antigen, after which it will "present" its digested antigen to a nearby Th cell, so that the Th cell can stimulate the B cell to multiply and mature into plasma cells, which will then produce clonal antibodies for those matching antigens. Later on, those antibodies won't be so effective at eliminating viruses or much of anything else in the air because you need white cells and complement particles and all sorts of other things in blood to actually do it. Of course, even if we allow for this antibody-mediated disease process, it makes little sense that it would affect Pulaski in minutes. For that matter, if the problem is "bad antibodies", why did no one in this episode suggest our 21st century treatment for this? Actually... we've had plasmapheresis and exchange since in the 1960s. But I don't think it would have been as dramatic if we'd seen Pulaski get a dialysis line and then slowly get better while they did a few PLEX treatments. (Also "altering DNA" doesn't cause "aging"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted August 15, 2016 Author Share Posted August 15, 2016 This week on Nitpicking: The Next Generation, we see the Federation at its racist worst when Riker joins, and somehow manages not to offend, a Klingon crew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted August 22, 2016 Author Share Posted August 22, 2016 This week on Nitpicking: The Next Generation, a high point of the season--and the series so far--as Data's personhood is put on trial. Actual science fiction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 This week on Nitpicking: The Next Generation, Wesley seeks advice on women from the worst people in the galaxy. Includes guest commentators Jill Neff and Cynthia Taylor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon AS Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Ah, finally another awful episode... ...of TNG for you guys to rip into! So is that Feminist Worf Twitter going to be a thing? Because I'd totally read that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 42 minutes ago, Jon AS said: Ah, finally another awful episode... ...of TNG for you guys to rip into! So is that Feminist Worf Twitter going to be a thing? Because I'd totally read that. "Up the Long Ladder" is still to come. As to Feminist Worf, I'll leave that to Cynthia Taylor, who originated the idea. But I'd follow that, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted September 5, 2016 Author Share Posted September 5, 2016 This week on Nitpicking: The Next Generation, the Enterprise crew find themselves trapped in a late 90's CD-ROM adventure game and discover the wonder that is rebooting from disk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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