Lynch's Spoiler Review: "The High Ground"
Tim Lynch , Tim the Enchanter
Organization: Organi-WHAT?
Keywords: TNG, terrorism, Bev, Melinda!, good job
Distribution: rec
WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for this week's TNG episode,
"The High Ground", in the context of a review. If you don't want to know
what happens, tread lightly.
I'm quite serious here.
Brrrrrrr.
I think "chilling" is a good word for this one, folks. I was worried about it
a little after seeing the preview, but Melinda came through. Here's a synop,
though, before I go into any details.
The Enterprise is orbiting Rutia 4(?), a nonaligned planet. The current
government has been the victim of many terrorist attacks by the Ansata, a group
that wants the independence of the Western Continent. All away teams are beam-
ing down armed.
A bomb hits just before Worf, Data, and Beverly are on their way to a meeting.
Bev wants to stay behind and treat the injured; Picard allows it grudgingly.
Bad move--suddenly two terrorists appear, literally out of nowhere, and kidnap
her.
Riker, throughout most of the show, is with the security leader on Rutia,
Alexana Devos. She was once a moderate, but now is committed to completely
wiping out terrorism in the city (after, among other things, three assassination
attempts against her, and the "accidental" blowing up of a shuttle bus, killing
about sixty children). Her methods, though a little heavy-handed, are apparent-
ly far less harsh than those of her predecessors, now deceased.
Picard and the others aboard ship are concentrating primarily on finding Bev
with Federation technology. The idea is to find out what mode of travel the
Ansata are using, and pinpoint the power source. Wesley wants to be down on
the planet looking (hey, it _is_ his mother), but is assigned to work with
Geordi and Data on this project.
As it happens, the terrorists are moving interdimensionally, using principles
first put forth in the Elway theory. (Honest...it's not my fault the show aired
on Super Sunday. :-) ) Unfortunately, the shifting causes substantial genetic
damage: small, and possibly reversible early on, but lethal after enough
shifts. Hence, the kidnapping of the good Doctor. The shift does leave certain
traces, which will allow the terrorists to be traces...after enough shifts have
been recorded to pin down a pattern.
Meanwhile, Beverly is down with the Ansata leader, a fellow called Sinn. He
considers himself to be fighting a war for independence, a Rutian George
Washington. Bev tries to argue the point with him, and succeeds only in under-
mining her own resolve. After Sinn receives word of Riker's attempts to meet
with him (to talk terms, which Sinn doesn't believe), he decides to get the
planet's (and the galaxy's) attention in a bigger way: by destroying the
Federation flagship.
This attempt, fortunately, fails by a whisker. Geordi manages to remove the
explosive locked to the dilithium crystal chamber and beam it out just in
time. However, the attack leaves three dead, four wounded (including Worf),
and Captain Picard taken into the hands of the Ansata.
This synop is getting long, so I'll just say that after one more shift (Sinn
coming on the Enterprise to name his terms), they pinpoint the hideout, and
a commando raid is pulled. Sinn is killed just as he is about to kill Picard
(maybe), Picard and Bev are freed, and several of the Ansata are rounded up.
However, it doesn't look like the end. Nor should it.
Phew. Sorry about that, but without most of the salient details, much of my
later discussion is a bit meaningless. Now, onwards.
The more I think about this episode, the more I like it. It's a wonderful
contrast to "The Hunted", which, as you know, I wasn't too thrilled with.
Here, nearly everything was done right.
Melinda captured perfectly all the problems of terrorism. (I haven't had
any direct experience with it, fortunately, but we've all been living with
it indirectly for a long time.) Here we had an adversary that didn't "play
by the rules", that could attack without warning (and did), and that seemingly
had no regard for human life. And yet, despite the irrationality of terrorism,
as Data says, it often does seem an effective tool for political change. (In
a wonderful little touch, he uses as an example 'the Irish unification of 2024',
which may be a little too far ahead.)
Every approach fails. If they try to negotiate, it's seen as a trap, and the
attacks increase. If you try to exert force, the terrorists often become
folk heroes, and you counter your own moves. There's no way out. I don't
think I've seen anything else that conveys this particular feeling of
helplessness so well.
In addition, the conversations between Bev and Sinn did a very good job of
debating the concept of terrorism itself. Every argument she uses, he counters
in some way. He invokes George Washington. He claims (quite correctly, in my
view), that "the difference between generals and terrorists is quite simply
the difference between winners and losers." (By the same token, I've always
felt that the only difference between "terrorists" and "freedom fighters" is
in whether you believe in their cause or not.) He uses fear as a weapon, not
necessarily because he enjoys it, but because it WORKS. As he puts it, when
asked "Is fear the only weapon you have?", "No...but it's a good one." By
the show's end, Bev is halfway converted, to the point where, as Picard rather
abruptly brings to her attention, she is arguing for a man who could quite
possibly have murdered her son. (Picard was taken before the battle was over,
you see, and Wes was on the bridge.)
Now, I did have one or two qualms about the show. My biggest one involves the
assault on the Ansata base. Why on earth did Riker go down with the team?
By his own logic, which he's used to prevent Picard from beaming down into
possibly dangerous situations, he should never have left the ship. Surely,
there must be some person in Security who is an expert on terrorist tactics.
There's very little else to fight about, though. (Some may quarrel with the
open-endedness of the ending. I don't. It's not an issue that lends itself
to that pat an ending. I liked it in "Loud As a Whisper", and I liked it
here.)
Beverly was done better here than I've seen her in a long time. At one point,
for example, Sinn calls her an idealist. She replies, "I live in an ideal
culture. We have no need...", etc., for all the violence. Now, this had
several people I was watching with bitching about Roddenberryism. Nonsense.
Judging by how easily Sinn shot the argument down, I don't think it was meant
as a true statement about the Federation. It is, however, exactly the sort
of thing I've always pictured Beverly as thinking, and was not at all surpri-
sing to hear. Extremely well done.
I also, just as an aside, found the attack on the Enterprise to be much
better done than the complementary scene in "The Hunted". In the latter,
it was more a "oh, gee, look where he is now" feeling. Here, there's much
more of a sense of having lost all control over the path you're on, and there's
nothing you can do about it.
Well, I think that's about it. Suffice it to say that I thought Melinda did
a superb job, and heartily recommend it. Now, the ratings, please:
Plot: 10. Terrorism's a tough job, and she did it right.
Plot Handling: 8.5. A large deduction for Riker, but essentially perfect
otherwise.
Characterization: 10. Bev alone gave it a 9, and the others were done just
right.
Technical: 10. The explanation of the dimensional shift hung together
internally very well. That's all we can ask.
TOTAL: 38.5/4==> 9.6. Well worth the wait.
NEXT WEEK:
Q is back, and the E'prise is in trouble. Hey na, hey na, Q is back.
Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy Major)
BITNET: H52Y@CRNLVAX5
INTERNET: H5...@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU
UUCP: ...!rochester!cornell!vax5.cit.cornell.edu!h52y
"He's added another chair to the bargaining table."
"YOU added the chair--I am merely forcing you to sit in it."
Michael Dent
terrorists continue to transport themselves after
the shields went up? Seems like an error to me.
mike
--
Mike Dent e-mail : gal...@csd.uwo.ca
Smail : Dept of Computer Science U.W.O
London, Ont. Canada N6A 5B7
Do you have the feeling your mind is beginning to erode?
William December Starr
Spoilers lurk ahead...
In article <900129181...@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>,
> Bad move--suddenly two terrorists appear, literally out of nowhere,
> and kidnap her. ^^^
You must have been getting really bad reception -- I only saw one of
them. :-)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> ...he decides to get the planet's (and the galaxy's) attention in a
> bigger way: by destroying the Federation flagship.
>
> This attempt, fortunately, fails by a whisker.
^^^^^^^^^^^
Editorializing a little in our synopses, are we, Tim? :-) :-) :-)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Plot: 10. Terrorism's a tough job, and she did it right.
> Plot Handling: 8.5. A large deduction for Riker, but essentially
> perfect otherwise.
> Characterization: 10. Bev alone gave it a 9, and the others were
> done just right.
> Technical: 10. The explanation of the dimensional shift hung together
> internally very well. That's all we can ask.
>
> TOTAL: 38.5/4==> 9.6. Well worth the wait.
No major quibbles, but I'd add a category for "Acting" (distinct from
"Characterization") and give about a 7 at best -- the actress playing
Alexana Devos was _painfully_ bad, and she really dragged down the
score.
Come to think of it, I _do_ have a quibble with your "10" for
"Technical." As near as I could tell, the raid on the Bridge took
place _after_ Red Alert had been called, which means that the nifty
Elway Theory-based dimension-shift transporter can beam stuff
!!!--->through the Enterprise's shields<---!!!
If this is true, it is utterly unbelievable that the whole technology
was abandonded by the Federation back in the 23rd century. I don't
care if it screws up humanoid tissue -- it's still capable of beaming
things into enemy ships. After all, neither near-microscopic spy-eye
bugs nor antimatter bombs have any DNA to worry about...
----
William December Starr <wds...@athena.mit.edu>
Jim The Big Dweeb Griffith
>I agree that it was a good episode. One problem, how did the
>terrorists continue to transport themselves after
>the shields went up? Seems like an error to me.
Data clearly said that forcefields wouldn't stop them. I would take
this to mean that shields wouldn't either. As I understand their
explanation, it is as if they left our dimension, travelled to the
point that is equivalent to their destination in the other dimension,
then re-entered our dimension. It's like trying to stop someone who
can move in three dimensions with a two-dimensional barrier.
Jim
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Griffith /--OO--\ |
...!ucbvax!scam!griffith | "Take my Worf. Please"
BEWARE BATS WITHOUT NOSES! |
Just another theatre geek...
Spoilers lurk ahead...
>In article <900129181...@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>,
>H5...@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU ("Tim Lynch ", Tim the Enchanter) said:
>No major quibbles, but I'd add a category for "Acting" (distinct from
>"Characterization") and give about a 7 at best -- the actress playing
>Alexana Devos was _painfully_ bad, and she really dragged down the
>score.
On the other hand, the male guest star was very good; in fact, I
think his work was a cut above the usual guest star work (BTW, I wouldn't
call her work "painfullY bad; just uninspired--sorta like McFadden's and
Sirtis' usual work.....)
>Come to think of it, I _do_ have a quibble with your "10" for
>"Technical." As near as I could tell, the raid on the Bridge took
>place _after_ Red Alert had been called, which means that the nifty
>Elway Theory-based dimension-shift transporter can beam stuff
>
> !!!--->through the Enterprise's shields<---!!!
>
>If this is true, it is utterly unbelievable that the whole technology
>was abandonded by the Federation back in the 23rd century. I don't
>care if it screws up humanoid tissue -- it's still capable of beaming
>things into enemy ships. After all, neither near-microscopic spy-eye
>bugs nor antimatter bombs have any DNA to worry about...
[WARNING! Arm-waving rationalization time!!]
This, of course, is true....but......if we assume that the Elway
work in dimensional transport was only a precursor...the reasoning might not
apply. If the original jumps were fatal, they were possibly instantaneously
fatal---both to biologic and mechanical structures. That is, you scrambled
the innards on the subatomic level so that it wouldn't be any good in battle.
Now along come these terrorists, who pick up on this dropped research
and work on it until they get a breakthrough which WOULD allow them to live
through a jump. It's then not a question of the Fed's being foolish in
dropping this line of research; the breakthrough was just too far down the
line to be practical (at least in their eyes).
Not that this breakthrough will do any good in a battleground. Trans-
porter and jump technology would probably be useless in a battle, since their
effective range is (or is likely to be) far less than the effective range of
phaser or photon torpedo fire. Really, what's the range of transporters?
About 32-50,000 kilometers? And it takes, say 1-5 seconds to beam something
over? A few milliseconds of warp drive---no, just impulse drive would take
care of that tactic......
Anyway, what's the kicker to all this is that the production crew
for the show more than likely has thought all about this and figured
everything out to the last decimal point----but NONE of it is likely to make
it on the air simply because there's no room to fit it into the script
without long and lengthy explanations. And they'll get nibbled to death
by folks who think they've found a mistake.....
--
Roger Tang, Member
Uncle Bonsai Memorial Fan Club
American Flag Disposal Unit #3245, Chonk Moonhunters chapter
gwan...@blake.acs.washington.edu
Brandon G. Lovested
> place _after_ Red Alert had been called, which means that the nifty
> Elway Theory-based dimension-shift transporter can beam stuff
>
> !!!--->through the Enterprise's shields<---!!!
>
> If this is true, it is utterly unbelievable that the whole technology
> was abandonded by the Federation back in the 23rd century. I don't
> care if it screws up humanoid tissue -- it's still capable of beaming
> things into enemy ships. After all, neither near-microscopic spy-eye
> bugs nor antimatter bombs have any DNA to worry about...
It does seem reasonable to assume that the shields were up for
Red Alert. No transporter technology known to the Fed's can
penetrate it (excepting Commissioner Beale's craft from Sharon, but then
that technology no longer exists. Also I exclude all those bothersome
demi-gods wondering about the universe. I doubt they use "beaming" anyway.).
But, a dimensional shifting thing-a-ma-bob doesn't have to break through the
shields, it just has to "go around them" by jumping around the dimensional
space it inhabits. The Enterprise doesn't have to travel in our 3-space:
it jumps out of it, then jumps back in near its destination.
The point: these new transporters are not based upon the same concept
as conventional transporters. "They cheat."
The method used to shift objects dimensionally may be more closely related
to warp technology (taking an object and shifting it outside normal space).
And, if so, such research would have *led* to moving ships like that
(unmanned, perhaps). This early, powerful advance for such a unadvanced
(compared to the UFP) civilization in "The High Ground" could have
"changed the whole percentage," too. :-)
Such abandoned research was probably the result of trying to use warp
technology for "personnel transportation" (no vessel or portable
warp field generator needed), bypassing conventional beam methods
that are impaired by various things (including shields), or even greatly
increasing the range of current methods.
Hey, maybe I just got them out of a sling...
Or maybe myself in to one... :-)
+ * +
*
+ *
- - - - -------======<<<<<{{{{{{[[[[[[ BRANDONIUS bran...@amadeus.WR.TEK.COM
+ +
* * *
John Michael Denune
The problem I had with this one is why couldn't the Enterprise locate Bev
on the planet or why couldn't Bev contact the ship? She never even tried!
If some sort of shielding was involved, why was the rescue team able to
beam down, and presumably, contact the ship for beam out? If there was some
shielding involved, it couldn't have been too much because Wes et al were
able to pinpoint the source of the "nuclear flux" or whatever it was
when the terrorists used their 'transporters.' Also, why such
a small rescue force? They should have beamed down tons of heavily armed
personel. It was just plain stupid to go in with such a small force
against an unknown number of well armed terrorists.
One more thing, has the Federation ever heard about camouflage? I mean
beaming down wearing red or blue uniforms (and rather wimpy uniforms at that)
in a combat situation is just asking for trouble. They should have worn
black with their faces blackened to blend into the shadows. Also, some
sort of flak jacket and helmet would be good even if it would be useless
against phaser fire, it would protect against all sorts of sharp, flying
debris from explosions, etc. And of course, only the professional, trained
security personel should be on a mission like this-- certainly NOT the
the high-ranking bridge crew.
I usually try to watch this show without being too critical, but this one
really bugged me. Good potential, lousy execution.
Bob DuBose
In article <1990Feb4.0...@athena.mit.edu>, wds...@athena.mit.edu (William December Starr) writes:
> Come to think of it, I _do_ have a quibble with your "10" for
> "Technical." As near as I could tell, the raid on the Bridge took
> place _after_ Red Alert had been called, which means that the nifty
> Elway Theory-based dimension-shift transporter can beam stuff
>
> !!!--->through the Enterprise's shields<---!!!
>
> If this is true, it is utterly unbelievable that the whole technology
> was abandonded by the Federation back in the 23rd century. I don't
> care if it screws up humanoid tissue -- it's still capable of beaming
> things into enemy ships. After all, neither near-microscopic spy-eye
> bugs nor antimatter bombs have any DNA to worry about...
This brings up a point that been nagging at me for the last few episodes.
There've been a couple of instances of 'new technology' introduced as plot
devices that I think we'd be better off without (people evading
transporters, 'dimension-shifting', enemies popping up facing the right way
to blast someone with a phaser, etc.) It's almost as if they're replacing
the Omnipotent-Being-Of-The-Week with the Invincible-Technology-Of-The-Week.
But overall the shows are getting better and better.
I also wish Worf wouldn't take the fall so often -- maybe have him take a
phaser shot in the chest, stumble backwards, shake it off with a growl and
zap the surprised intruder.
Bob DuBose dubo...@wums.wustl.edu
b...@agar.wustl.edu
Allen P Jr Haughay
>terrorists continue to transport themselves after
>the shields went up? Seems like an error to me.
>
The dimensional shift mechanism using the subspace field coil must
allow this to happen since they are in an alternate dimension when
transporting. I guess ship's shields don't work in parallel dimensions.
Skip Haughay
ACIT-University of Delaware
Allen P Jr Haughay
>
>The problem I had with this one is why couldn't the Enterprise locate Bev
>on the planet or why couldn't Bev contact the ship? She never even tried!
>If some sort of shielding was involved, why was the rescue team able to
>beam down, and presumably, contact the ship for beam out? If there was some
>shielding involved, it couldn't have been too much because Wes et al were
>able to pinpoint the source of the "nuclear flux" or whatever it was
As I recall, they mentioned that her communicator was either being jammed,
or had been deactivated. They explained it. Watch the show again.
Any jamming equipment being used to cover communications was probably
taken out when they blasted the generator, too.
Also, why bother sending in a huge security team? Logistically that is a
little silly. They knew where the prisoners were...Beam in, a small group,
take out the generator and lights, and beam out with the people.
'Nuff said.
>One more thing, has the Federation ever heard about camouflage? I mean
>beaming down wearing red or blue uniforms (and rather wimpy uniforms at that)
>in a combat situation is just asking for trouble. They should have worn
>black with their faces blackened to blend into the shadows. Also, some
>
Ah well, that's Star Trek. But then, with sophisticated scanning and tracking
equipment, tricorders, and stuff, camo is kind of moot.
>I usually try to watch this show without being too critical, but this one
>really bugged me. Good potential, lousy execution.
Watch closer. Some of your points were explained.
Hal Chambers
>It does seem reasonable to assume that the shields were up for
>Red Alert. No transporter technology known to the Fed's can
>penetrate it (excepting Commissioner Beale's craft from Sharon, but then
>that technology no longer exists.
> Also I exclude all those bothersome
>demi-gods wondering about the universe. I doubt they use "beaming" anyway.).
^^^^^^^^^
Maybe that's why they're only DEMI-gods! :-)
--
Hal Chambers
h...@newton.physics.purdue.edu
h...@physics-newton.arpa
Kyle Jones
> >I agree that it was a good episode. One problem, how did the
> terrorists continue to transport themselves after
> the shields went up? Seems like an error to me.
Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith writes:
> Data clearly said that forcefields wouldn't stop them. I would take
> this to mean that shields wouldn't either. [...]
...which means those little gadgets would make incredible weapons. All
that's needed is a bit of automation and the things could deliver bombs,
plague, spy devices, radioactive fruitcake, anything...
That this simple fact went totally unnoticed by the Enterprise crew, the
terrorists, and the local government killed this episode for me. I've
said it before: Pile on more technology and the plot holes will become
unbearable.
kyle jones <kjo...@talos.uu.net> ...!uunet!talos!kjones
"Now do you see?" screamed Mrs. Carmody.
Kyle Jones
shifting:
> This, of course, is true....but......if we assume that the Elway
> work in dimensional transport was only a precursor...the reasoning might
> not apply. If the original jumps were fatal, they were possibly
> instantaneously fatal---both to biologic and mechanical structures.
> That is, you scrambled the innards on the subatomic level so that it
> wouldn't be any good in battle.
Yes, it would. Beaming a stream of radioactive goop into a vessel's life
support system would be useful indeed. And cheap. Forget going through
the trouble of building bombs, just shovel excrement into the thing; out
the other end comes a variety potentially dangerous substances. Even if
what came out the other end wasn't intrinsically dangerous, just being able
to send mass would be useful. Imagine the results of shifting an asteriod
sized mass into the middle of an enemy vessel.
Michael Gaines
Why couldn't Beverly beam the injured people up WITH HER??????
I guess there wouldn't be a plot then.
Mike
mg5...@mars.njit.edu
"What the hell's a gigawatt?"
John Pimentel
>Spoilers lurk ahead...
>In article <900129181...@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>,
>H5...@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU ("Tim Lynch ", Tim the Enchanter) said:
>> Technical: 10. The explanation of the dimensional shift hung together
>> internally very well. That's all we can ask.
>
>Come to think of it, I _do_ have a quibble with your "10" for
>"Technical." As near as I could tell, the raid on the Bridge took
>place _after_ Red Alert had been called, which means that the nifty
>Elway Theory-based dimension-shift transporter can beam stuff
>
> !!!--->through the Enterprise's shields<---!!!
>
>If this is true, it is utterly unbelievable that the whole technology
>was abandonded by the Federation back in the 23rd century. I don't
>care if it screws up humanoid tissue -- it's still capable of beaming
>things into enemy ships.
Humm... sounds like an answer to the Borg problem for that matter any problem
the Enterprise comes along.
Worf: "Captain...Ten Romulan Warbirds on both sides of us as well as
another foward and aft, and if that's not enough there's other
batch above us and below us."
Data: "Captain it would appear we are surrounded."
Captain: "Understood. Riker give them an anti-matter present."
Riker: "Can't sir, there shields are up."
Captain: "Mr. Crusher (boy for short) you know how to save the day, so get
to the Main Transporter Room, adjust the transporter to run on
`Inter-dimensional' and send them the presents."
Boy: "Aye sir."
[Two seconds later boy modifies and calls the bridge.]
Boy: "Captain all set."
Captain: "Send over ten presents ear-marked for immediate opening, the
balance of 50 set for `Do Not Open until X-mas'."
Boy: "I don't understand."
Captain: "Don't you read the script or are you just interested in your
lines? It says right here...oops, I was suppose to tell you
that I wanted the first 10 set on a time-delay of 20 seconds
and the 50 set on a time-delay of 30 seconds."
Boy: "Well Captain, maybe someday you'll be as perfect as I am ;-)"
Captain: "Maybe he should beam over there and help them explode it."
Boy: "Excuse me Captain? What was that?"
Captain: "Nothing. Energize. Data, plot course straight ahead and I
want emergency warp in xx seconds, you fill in xx, you're
smarter than me."
Data: "Who isn't :->"
[The ten foward ships explode. The balance wait just a bit too long
- due to shock - and the Enterprise...]
Riker: "Engage."
Captain: "Isn't that my line?"
Riker: "Not in this script sir...maybe next time."
Worf: "The Romulan garbage is persuing (major explosions aft)...
well they were..."
"Next time on an all new episode of Star Trek The Next Generation..."
Captain: "Who is that?"
Troi: "I sense a powerful being..."
Boy: "Hey, everybody, look at what we're doing next week..."
Riker: "Captain, sounds like another unofficial parody... hope
nobody minds on rec.arts.startrek."
Captain: "What's that?"
Data: "A late 20th Century version of a super human beings who
sit around terminals and watch us."
Captain: "Didn't know that was possible?"
Boy: "Captain, maybe you should stop asking questions... I
would like to go home tonight."
Captain: "You're boy...ah, I mean Mr. Crusher. You out there feeding
me these stupid lines, this is unauthorized access, I
DID read it on your group about some guy who thought he
was speaking for the group, when in fact he wasn't, says
that what you're doing is not allowed. Even in the
group dedicated to talking about anything related to
MY ship and this show."
Worf: "Arrrggh...sometimes this guy just rambles on."
Riker: "What was that?"
Boy: "Not another question..."
Riker: "Hey so-so writer out there..."
ME: "Y E S W H A T I S I T ! !"
Riker: "May we go home now?"
ME: "Sure, go ahead, but leave Troi..."
---
Take care and have a good day. John.
STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLIES.
UUCP: ...!mit-eddie!\ Internet: jp@frog
....frog!jp
......!decvax!/
Ryan D Mathews
(Kyle Jones) writes:
> Roger Tang rationalizes about the Feds ignorance of the uses of dimension
> shifting:
>
> > wouldn't be any good in battle.
>
> support system would be useful indeed. And cheap.
Cheap? The substance you're zapping over may be cheap, but maybe the zapping
itself wouldn't be cheap.
Maybe it killed people on the originating end.
Maybe the government decided they had better ideas.
MAYBE GOD TOLD THEM NOT TO USE IT!!!
Kee-RYST! There's probably a million possible reasons why they didn't use it!
I've said it once and I'll say it again: if you squint hard enough at any
episode, you're gonna see lots of holes. I wasn't too bothered with this one;
I just assumed that there was some perfectly good reason why the technology
wasn't used, and that the crew had more imporatant things to do than give me
an extended hiastory lesson, like, getting Beverly back.
---------- Ryan Mathews
Internet : mat...@cs.buffalo.edu
Bitnet : mathews%cs.buffalo.edu@ubvm
UUCP :{apple,cornell,decwrl,harvard,rutgers,talcott,ucbvax,uunet}!
cs.buffalo.edu!mathews
Kyle Jones
> Beaming a stream of radioactive goop into a vessel's life
> support system would be useful indeed. And cheap.
Ryan D Mathews writes:
> Cheap? The substance you're zapping over may be cheap, but maybe the zapping
> itself wouldn't be cheap.
?
If it's cheap enough that a small, oppressed group of rebels can use
it, surely an organization that builds ships like the Enterprise can
manage it.
> Maybe it killed people on the originating end.
>
> Maybe the government decided they had better ideas.
>
> MAYBE GOD TOLD THEM NOT TO USE IT!!!
>
> Kee-RYST! There's probably a million possible reasons why they didn't
> use it! I've said it once and I'll say it again: if you squint hard
> enough at any episode, you're gonna see lots of holes.
And for each of these million holes, you have a "maybe" lined up, no
doubt. This is fine for a Trek role playing game, but I expect more
from a complete story.
For God's sake. I could understand your complaint if I were pulling up
niggling details from a TOS episode that invalidates the plot of this
story. But I'm not. I'm talking about a story that doesn't hang
together technically in and of itself, because of a hole big to drive a
Conrail locomotive through. It didn't take any squinting to see this
hole, unless perhaps you were already blinded by the post-production
sheen that TNG has.
My argument has always been that piling on technology without a care
makes a story weak as far as sf is concerned. I appreciated the social
commentary presented in "The High Ground", but that appreciation doesn't
excuse everything. If TNG isn't trying to be good sf or even sf at all,
then so be it... but it's a shame.
Scott Gibson
>
>Kee-RYST! There's probably a million possible reasons why they didn't use it!
>I've said it once and I'll say it again: if you squint hard enough at any
>episode, you're gonna see lots of holes. I wasn't too bothered with this one;
>I just assumed that there was some perfectly good reason why the technology
>wasn't used, and that the crew had more imporatant things to do than give me
>an extended hiastory lesson, like, getting Beverly back.
Which, of course, does nothing to explain why they did not examine this
new technology *after* the situation was resolved.
Scott
Ryan D Mathews
(Kyle Jones) writes:
[Kyle I and go toe-to-toe over the "why didn't the Federation use the
dimension-zap technology" question]
> And for each of these million holes, you have a "maybe" lined up, no
> doubt. This is fine for a Trek role playing game, but I expect more
> from a complete story.
You expect a 45-min TV episode to fully and completely explain every
little detail about every new thing that they introduce. I'm sorry, but
that would bore me; I'd rather spend the time developing the plot. I
think most viewers would agree with me ('though of course you won't).
> For God's sake. I could understand your complaint if I were pulling up
> niggling details from a TOS episode that invalidates the plot of this
> story. But I'm not.
Yes you are. Not from TOS, but you're haggling over details that aren't
central to the plot.
> I'm talking about a story that doesn't hang
> together technically in and of itself, because of a hole big to drive a
> Conrail locomotive through.
I think the trouble here is that you are confusing a plot-device with the
plot itself. The fact that the UFP did not use this techology has
absolutely nothing to do with the plot, which, if you recall, is about
terrorism. All you had to do was assume that there was a good reason that
it wasn't used and everything made sense. Even if you didn't make that
assumption, everything taking place on the screen made sense. I'm sorry,
I'm just having trouble believing that you said "My GOD! That's stupid!
If such technology existed, [blah blah blah]...therefore THE ENTIRE PLOT
DOESN'T STAND UP!"
> It didn't take any squinting to see this
> hole, unless perhaps you were already blinded by the post-production
> sheen that TNG has.
The time-honored argument: if a guy doesn't agree with you about an episode
poor quality, accuse him of bad taste. Yes, Kyle, I stare at TNG and say
"Wow! Neat phasers! Wow! Neat transporters!" I also leave the room when
Picard and Bev get yukky.
> If TNG isn't trying to be good sf or even sf at all,
> then so be it... but it's a shame.
TNG has never tried to be anything other than Trek. Trek and SF are not
always one and the same.
Ryan D Mathews
> In article <17...@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> mat...@cs.Buffalo.EDU (Ryan
D Mathews) writes:
> >
didn't use it!
>
> new technology *after* the situation was resolved.
>
> Scott
Er, well, you've got a point there. It didn't upset me too much for this
episode, but
if they fail to even acknowledge the existence of this technology for
the remainder
of the series run (which they probably will) I'll be a little peeved.
Scott Gibson
>always one and the same.
Sad, but true...
Scott