#sam does star trek

[radicalbears]

This requires no explaination

[im-all-out-of-ideas]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds s2 ep5

our first truly comedic episode of season 2 and i think they knocked it out of the park. the idea of a character of mixed heritage experiencing a splitting of their two sides isn't a new one (look at B'elanna) but doing it with Spock is absolutely something that TOS might've done and i'm shocked it isn't already an episode from the time.

the involvement of T'pring and her family (!!!) is definitely the right choice for this kind of plot. the montages of Spock experiencing human puberty and having to readjust as best he can to his old standards were hilarious. T'pring's mother and father were great, both from a dramatic and a comedic standpoint. i especially love the opportunity we have to let Spock express his anger and frustration at being treated as horribly as he is by his own planet. it was extremely cathartic.

Chapel was also amazing in this episode as i have come to expect from Bush. she plays vulnerability so well and her unwillingness to face her emotions for Spock isn't frustrating, it's just engaging. her arc with the fellowship was also a nice addition. T'pring's frustration with how Spock continues to treat her is also extremely justified and it explains how we get to the point of them being so distant by the point of Kirk's command.

then that leads to the second ever legitimate cliffhanger in the series so far and the implications of Spock and Chapel actually being intimate with each other. i feel confident in the writers to pull us back to the cold distance they eventually have in TOS, but every step along the way just makes the original context even richer.

Peck's Spock deserves the most praise in being able to embody the same entity on two wildly different spectrums of acting. it makes me wonder how Nimoy might've done this episode, though i have no doubt he could've pulled it off just as well. it is also a great episode for recognizing Amanda as Spock's mother and human side, as well as her own person being a human on Vulcan and ostracized by vulcans.

overall, a great comedy episode and very fun for me to watch. surprisingly heartfelt in the right moments. an entry worthy of the green tunic.

[quarks-pussy]

People I will tolerate following me: vaguely conservative patriots who mostly like posts about guns and cars and occasionally star trek

People I will apparently block on sight: Anyone who wishes harm on my fictional wife from another fandom even jokingly

[starfleetspacecadet]

I've just watched TNG Lower Decks for the first time and I'm emotionally compromised, thank you for my sweet kids content <3 love your art of them sm!!

YESS thank you i love that episode and Them.. happy to provide 

[quietwingsinthesky]

something coming together in my brain about a SPN/Star Trek fusion with the vessels as trill hosts and angels as the symbiont

[mostly-functional]

Tendi and Rutherford are lieutenant commanders now??

[plotrelevantfidgetspinner]

Been having thoughts on the Star Trek situation:

Dean’s been watching Star Trek ever since he was a kid, at first occasional reruns of the original series and then when the next generation came out and started airing weekly he’d do his best to catch that. It’s just his thing (clearly cause sam doesn’t know shit about Star Trek).

And then I’m thinking one of the last few times they stay at Bobby’s, despite feeling like he’s too old for it, Dean still makes sure he catches new episodes, except by now TNG is over and deep space nine is the hot new trek show - just out of habit Bobby watches it with him. And by the time they leave again, well, he’s already out the effort into understanding their sci-fi bullshit, might as well keep up with it.

[ollieneedstherapy]

More Shaw pack head cannons

-All of the shifters are allergic to coco and coffee, they still all eat it

-Anytime anyone in the pack says something about their favorite coffee or tea, Ash will bring to the next pack meeting

-David, in his wolf form, does the making biscuits on blankets, just imagine a 150 pound wolf doing that

-Milo when he wakes up, he kisses sweethearts head, gets out of bed and starts breakfast even if he has to leave super early

-When Darlin’ and Sam watch movies together, Sam has his hands on them the whole time not like that, he just holds their hand or is rubbing their head or is kissing them

-Asher listens too K-pop and Hatsune Miku

-During pack parties and BBQ’s the mates will hang out in a corner and chat with each other, their partners just look with love sick looks

-David wants Pitbulls so bad, like this man would kill for these puppies

-Babe has not had the heart to tell Ash they don’t like Star Trek or Star Wars, they didn’t watch T.V as a kid

-Milo, in his wolf form, will lay in the sun with Argo on top of him

-Gabe would take Darlin’ and David to Blockbuster ever Friday night to get two movies (David picked action, Darlin’ either picked house movies or horror) and then they’d get wings and pizza

-The first Friday after Gabe pasted, Darlin came over with a wings and pizza, it was the first time David went out of his room that whole week

-Darlin’s parents through them in lake to teach them how to swim, Marie jumped in and saved them

[anewstartrekfan]

Why I like Kirk so much and why I think he didn’t resonate as much with general audiences as Spock did

I think what Gene Roddenberry and the rest of the tos crew underestimated is how powerful knowledge of a character can be when they thought Kirk would be popular over Spock. As season 1 progresses while you do get information about both Kirk and Spock peppered through out, how much and how it’s conveyed is important.

Spock is Stoic yes, but surprisingly he talks about his past and what it means to be Vulcan a lot. And other characters comment on Vulcans too like McCoy describing where a Vulcan heart is. Even moving onto season 2, when Spock truly, desperately, does not want to explain what Pon Farr is or that Sarek is his father, he admits these things under pressure. And all of this information is what’s gives the audience an idea of what informs his actions.

Jim Kirk however, despite being very outgoing and charismatic, very rarely talks about himself. With few exceptions, every time you do learn something about his past it’s because someone else explains it or points it out. You’ve got where no man has gone before where Gary talked about their academy days, The naked time while Spock talked about his regrets, Kirk vents that he wants a personal connection and then is literally the only person who is able to will the virus to stop effecting him (on his own I mean) just long enough for McCoy to give him the cure.

The Android copy of Kirk tells us about Kirk’s brother Sam, in Conscience of the king literally everyone except Kirk explains his tragic tarsus iv backstory, we never find out who the Ruth girl is in shore leave, and it’s Bones that brings up Sam lives on Deneva. Even in season 2 in the worst episode ever, the deadly years, when Kirk is in a room alone with his ex fiancé, she explains their history. Not Kirk.

This man is allergic to talking about himself I love it.

Edit: Whenever Jim does even sorta talk about his past, it’s always in the context of what the other people he’s talking to know about it. Take Tarsus IV. Spock tells Jim that he checked the same library records. So when Jim finally opens up at the end of the conversation, it’s information Spock and Bones already know. “I saw him [Kodos] once, 20 years ago.” Then about 10 minutes later when he’s talking with Kodos and trying to get proof, he gives Kodos a copy of the speech Jim heard him read 20 years ago. Saying that he memorized the words. Again, these are things only the two of them would know about. It’s not something Jim exclusively went through.

Then later in Obsession when Jim is talking about his prior experience with the fog, everything he references was in the report he made after the Farragut disaster that he knows Spock and Bones read. There is no new information he reveals about what happened to him or even how he felt about it. Bones has to be the one to say Jim was wrecked with guilt because at the end of the day, Jim will never willingly talk about his past without knowing or thinking the other person he’s talking to has the same information. He will not reveal anything new 95% of the time.

Anyway back to the old blog.

While I’d argue conscience of the king does most of the work you would ever need to explain why Kirk is the way he is, the fact is we don’t learn much about his past through him. Instead it’s Kirk’s actions that inform our understanding of him. Which on some level I like a lot. It’s rare that a tv series doesn’t lean heavily into some tragic backstory explaining why a character acts the way they do. But it isn’t just he doesn’t have multiple tragic backstories. It’s what we know nothing about his past in general. Ffs we didn’t learn he grew up in Iowa until Star Trek IV. It might not even be Riverside! That town just claimed it for themselves and everyone rolled with it.

Edit: SNW did confirm after almost 40 years that riverside is Kirk’s birthplace.

The audience never truly closes the gap with Kirk because he never willingly opens up (at least where I am in the show idk maybe the movies change this) So comparatively Spock just had more going on.

[doyouknowthischaracter]

You've been asked before about 2 weeks ago, but I'm wondering if, with the new submissions, there's any new characters who've been sent in more than once (Hopefully by multiple people). Are there any who've been submitted more than twice now

For reference, I'm not going to list the ones that were repeated in previous submission batches, unless they show up again with the latest one, in which case they'll be added to the overall count. Previous list here if anyone's interested.

Let's see:

Ronan Lynch, The Raven Cycle x3

Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece x3

Sans, Undertale x3

Jessica Fletcher, Murder, She Wrote x3

Five Pebbles, Rain World x3

Crowley, Good Omens x3

Granny Weatherwax, Discworld x3

G'raha Tia, Final Fantasy XIV x3

Sam Vimes, Discworld x3

Haruhi Suzumiya, The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya x3

Murderbot, Murderbot Diaries x3

Captain Jack Harkness, Doctor Who / Torchwood x2

Data, Star Trek x2

Link, The Legend of Zelda x2

Tsukino Usagi, Sailor Moon x2

Eileen the Crow, Bloodborne x2

Zagreus, Hades x2

Olivia Dunham, Fringe x2

Jane Doe, Ride the Cyclone x2

Sylvain Jose Gautier, Fire Emblem: Three Houses x2

Mollymauk Tealeaf, Critical Role x2

Wallace Wells, Scott Pilgrim x2

Daan, Fear and Hunger: Termina x2

Alphinaud Leveilleur, Final Fantasy XIV x2

Nanami Kiryuu, Revolutionary Girl Utena x2

Gladion, Pokemon x2

Sylvanas Windrunner, World of Warcraft x2

Leo Fitz, Agents of Shield x2

Francis Crozier, The Terror x2

Maedhros, The Silmarillion x2

Vergil, Devil May Cry x2

Alex, Oxenfree x2

Tsume, Wolf's Rain x2

Niko, OneShot x2

Halt O'Carrick, Ranger's Apprentice x2

Dirk Gently, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency x2

Qifrey, Witch Hat Atelier x2

Schmendrick, The Last Unicorn x2

Pamitha Theyn, Pyre x2

Dracula, Dracula x2

Gideon Nav, The Locked Tomb x2

The Audio Tour Guide, The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality x2

N, Pokemon x2

Ginko, Mushishi x2

Hawkeye Pierce, M*A*S*H x2

Merlin, BBC Merlin x2

Vislor Turlough, Doctor Who x2

Roronoa Zoro, One Piece x2

Ishigami Senku, Dr. Stone x2

The Little Prince, The Little Prince x2

Soren, Fire Emblem x2

Blindspot, Marvel Comics x2

Tahu, Bionicle x2

Luo Binghe, The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System x2

Hercule Poirot, books by Agatha Christie x2

Sakura Kinomoto, Cardcaptor Sakura x2

Beatrice, Umineko x2

Jerome Valeska, Gotham x2

Klaus Hargreeves, The Umbrella Academy x2

Abed Nadir, Community x2

Dick Grayson, DC Comics x2

Dante Sparda, Devil May Cry x2

Utena Tenjou, Revolutionary Girl Utena x2

Johan Liebert, Monster x2

Siffrin, In Stars and Time x2

Foo Fighters, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure x2

Snufkin, Moomins x2

Mae Borowski, Night in the Woods x2

Haruhi Fujioka, Ouran High School Host Club x2

Anders, Dragon Age x2

Wen Kexing, Faraway Wanderers x2

Hopefully, I didn't miss any! You'll see some of these sooner rather than later as they're already in the queue, and a couple have already been posted before.

[radicalbears]

I couldn't tell you why I made this

Based on this image:

[t0ast-ghost]

Watching Star Trek TOS for the first time, and here are my thoughts on episode three (Charlie “X”)! (I didn’t do episode two cause I just wanted to watch it but I love Bones)

- so far I really like the kid

- Kirk shut up, let Charlie talk

- oh no he’s frightened by the door :(((

- girls do not look THAT different, getting some bad vibes from you Charlie

- BONES!!! (Why does he stand like that, it’s so curved)

- “I want people to like me” oh god they gave this boy anxiety

- He’s learning about the patriarchy, like Ken

- Kirk making Bones tell Charlie about puberty, he looked so defeated

- SPOCKS EYESHADOW!!!

- Charlie gets a Kirk assigned father, it’s not Kirk himself but he did assign Bones to do it, can’t you see the man is tired Jim?!?

- why is she being mean to Spock in verses? Nvm this is fun and he’s enjoying her singing

- HE SLAPPED KIRKS BUTT WHAT

- “there’s no right way to hit a woman.. you know man to man.. uhh… you understand, Charlie?” That was the worst way to try and explain anything, Kirk

- “I put meatloaf in the ovens, now there’s turkeys, real turkeys” then Charlie’s little laugh

- aww they’re playing chess together, normal husband activities

- “you smell like a girl” “I feel hungry… all over” back the fuck up Charlie

- stop trying to get Bones to explain stuff to him, Kirk

- this episode is just so icky, one issue is that they can’t just have an adult conversation and they can’t explain anything properly to him, they’re just telling him no and that he’s wrong. It’s a good example of how concealing information doesn’t allow people to find their own morals but instead creates a bunch of rules which can be easily broken if the person doesn’t believe in them because they don’t understand the logic behind them. (Not saying that the boundaries they’re setting for him are wrong, he just can’t understand them because they’re not explaining shit)

- SHUT UP SAM HE’S TRYING- oops Sam’s gone

- damn that German expressionist lighting tho, like something out of metropolis

- I FUCKIN DARE YOU KIRK, PICK HIM UP SEE WHAT HAPPENS

- okay Kirk saying it’s his choice is good cause at least he’s teaching him that these things he does are his own actions

- “short tempered, because he doesn’t understand” cause you won’t explain shit without mind games and metaphors

- Spock and Bones DO NOT want to get involved

- when Charlie’s explaining what he did to the Antares Bones looks absolutely terrified (Bones sitting like that on the table is… I have many thoughts)

- OH NO UHURA!

- Don’t you dare call Spock Mr. Ears

- “Teenager with supernatural abilities realizes his full potential and decides to use it for evil NOT CLICKBAIT”

- Why would you do that, why would you turn her into an iguana

- GET HIM!!! Wait no! Janice!

- “I love you” “you don’t know what that means” good for her, fuck you Charlie

- He gave Kirk period pain

- “cause you need me to run the ship, and I need him” Spirk? It’s more likely than you think

- this slide from Bones

- “I don’t think you can handle anymore, you’ve reached your limit” Spock and Bones start fucking shit up immediately for Kirk

- Kirk was so ready to punch a bitch

- nice fucking try Charlie- oh Kirk is defending him- nvm he still gets yoinked

- imagine if Charlie becomes Q lol (is that a thing? Are they related?)

- well that’s done now… where’s Scotty, Sulu, and Checkov? (Sulu appeared shirtless in the credits as I wrote that)

Thanks for sticking around again :)

Here’s a link to the first ramble

And all the other rambles

Below the cut is some thoughts I had on the second episode

Some thoughts on episode 2 (The Man Trap):

- it was kinda funny seeing Jim be like “she’s old as fuck, just like Bones”

- I didn’t realize that was where “he’s dead, Jim” came from and my dad quotes it all the time

- it was interesting that even the creature referred to themselves as an animal

- McCoy in the ending where he really didn’t want to kill somebody he loved even if they were just the image

- would not want to be the person to explain what happened to her to Bones

[lol-jackles]

Have you rewatched Supernatural since the show ended. I have watched the odd episode here and there but just haven't gotten around to starting the show again.

I don't rewatch any shows in its entirety, my memories do that work for me.  There are some shows that I'll rewatch if I come across them while channel surfing, with some caveats.  For example, If it's a Star Trek: Next Gen episode, I check to see if Riker has a beard or not.  No beard = keep channel surfing.  A beard present means the episode has a greater chance of being good.  If Sam Winchester has a prince Valiant hairstyle without bangs, then it's season 10  and that's a "no".

Now there are shows that stay with me for years, decades even, that I think about, especially as I get older and suddenly the context of arcs or lines hits differently.  Will Supernatural be one of them?  Well actually due to its longevity, it already has.  I didn't like how it was  implied in season 5 that Chuck was God and I kept trying to push a round Chuck through a square shaped Judeo-Christian hole until it hit me that Chuck is actually a Demiurg who merely shaped the material reality.  In Gnosticism, the Demiurge acts antagonistic to the will of the One True God or to all things spiritually pure.  Similarly the angels in Neil Garman's books are also Demiurges that created the universe and Earth. 

I sometimes think about Sam’s hero journey-ing through the dark hearts of the American gothic roads with his brother who is his greatest ally, best friend, and sometimes his enemy.  Like how soulless Sam Winchester was unintentionally Dean’s ideal brother on paper, but Dean didn’t want him because soulless Sam wasn’t Dean’s.  Like how new mothers want their baby even though there are probably better options in the hospital nursery ward.  Newborn babies are all the same at that stage, what differences does it make to pick one over the other?  For the new mothers, the answer is obvious.  

A hero's journey is often about death and rebirth. The death of an aspect of a character and the birth of some new ways of life. Sam cycle through this a few times, with Dean being both death of an aspect of Sam's character and then his actual deaths gave Sam new ways of life, both bad and good, and finally good. Or I'm just thinking about it too much at random and unexpected times.

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Character voice

Thanks @elsie-writes here, @willtheweaver here, @mk-writes-stuff here and here, and @illarian-rambling here!

Rules: rewrite the given line in your characters' voices

Got long, under the cut

“Are you okay?”

Lexi: "Omigosh are you okay? What happened???" [Probably panicking herself]

Maddie: *squints, tilts head* "What's wrong with you?" (Genuine worry)

Ash: *tries to read them telepathically* "You're upset. Why?"

Gwen: "Hey, are you feeling alright?"

Robbie: *clears throat* "You good dude? Been worried about you."

Akash: "Are you okay? Been worried, man."

Jedi: "Are you feeling alright?"

Carmen: *pretends she doesn't care, even when she does* "What happened?!"

“I overslept!”

Lexi: "WHAT?! What time is it?? Oh no oh no oh no I overslept my alarm! How is that possible?! Now I'm gonna be late oh no --"

Maddie: "Hm? It's [time]? Hm. Overslept I guess."

Ash: "Wow. I was more tired than I thought."

Gwen: "Oh, no, I overslept!! Guess I have to go to bed earlier or set more alarms next time."

Robbie: "What time is it?! Huh. Guess I needed the rest."

Akash: "There's no way I overslept--guess I didn't set my alarm. *Checks* I did?! Oh no, what are they going to think?!"

Jedi: "I overslept? Oh, dear, this never happens... I rarely sleep as is."

Carmen: "Did someone turn off my alarm? Change it?? There's no way I forgot to set it or slept through it. I don't do that. I don't need the sleep. I made sure I got my schedule working to get the maximum amount of work done. And now, I won't be able to do everything today." (This may continue)

“No, I don't want to eat that [insert food]!”

Lexi: "No, thank you. I'd rather not eat that. I ate too much already, and am full. Also not the hugest fan of it--it isn't your cooking."

Maddie: "I don't like that food. The texture is all wrong."

Ash: "I don't want to eat this--I don't care for it."

Gwen: "Sorry, not that hungry for it. Thank you for offering, though."

Robbie: "Nah. Not in the mood. Thanks, though."

Akash: "I, uh, hate to disappoint you, but I don't like this food. Nothing to do with you or your cooking abilities, it's all me."

Jedi: "Thank you for considering me when offering this, but I am afraid I am not fond of this particular dish."

Carmen: "Ugh, it's disgusting, I'm not eating it."

"That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen someone wear."

Lexi: "Oh... Um, here's the thing: I think we can do better. With the outfit. It's, like, cute and all in a... Unique way. Grotesque maybe. It's the color, I think. We can fix it though! I'll help."

Maddie: "What are you wearing? Are you going to the town in that old Dr. Seuss movie? Or like a Star Trek vacation spot?" *Grins at joke*

Ash: "Why would you wear that? It doesn't really look good."

Gwen: "Oh wow. Um. Sorry, I--your outfit. It's... Interesting. Haven't really seen anything like it."

Robbie: "Oh my GOD! Sorry. Your outfit just took me by surprise. It's...dude, I can't -- it's awful. For your sake, please go change?"

Akash: "Um..." *runs hand through hair* "Look, buddy, I love you, but *grimaces* I think you can do better. Frankly, it's not good. It's...bad? For you. How about I help you pick out something that's more...you?"

Jedi: (silent for several moments) "That is certainly a very interesting choice of fashion. I have certainly not seen anything quite like it, that's for certain."

Carmen: "What in the world made you get into that - it's hideous. Never seen anything worse in fact."

Bonus for this one, because I have a couple specific fashion oriented characters I wanted to react to this--

Rose: *several seconds of panicked crisis* "Okay, we can make this work. Let's spruce up this outfit."

Alex: "Oh honey...darling. Babe. Sweetie. Treasure. Sweetheart. Sunshine. Baby. I'm running out of synonyms. We need to help your look. It's not that good."

Sam: "...this is weird for me, I usually have something to say here. Well, uh, that outfit isn't working for you. Sorry. Don't want to hurt your feelings. But I think your feelings might be more hurt by others. You're glad you're with me. I'll help you."

Niri: *several seconds of contemplating what to say, if anything, he can't talk, he has an excuse, but oh no they're expecting a response, any longer and he will be rude!!!* (hesitant signing): "I don't want to be rude, but I...don't like it. Sorry. Do you want me to help you? I'm good with fashion."

"I hope you stub your toe."

Lexi: "Y'know what? I wouldn't care if you stubbed your toe." (She thinks this is an insult)

Maddie: "I really hope you stub your toe. Cause that hurts. A lot. You've done it before, right? It's bad."

Ash: "Leave me alone and go stub your toe."

Gwen: "You're such a rude person - I hope you run into something and stub your pinky toe. Maybe that will teach you." (Akash: Gwen, babe, how would that teach them? Gwen: I don't know, it sounded better in my head.)

Robbie: "You wanna know what I think about you, Jason? You're a pompous prick bus stop. And the next time you turn a corner, I hope you slam your tiny toe right out of the joint. God, that's painful. And maybe you can get the nail caught on something too. And I hope someone wearing shoes steps on your bare toes as well. And I also hope--" *Akash probably pulls him away*

Akash: *gets as close as possible* "Why don't you go stub your toe or something. I hear that it hurts."

Jedi: "If you were to stub your toe, I will not make a promise to not enjoy it."

Carmen: "I cannot describe how much I want you to STUB YOUR TOE RIGHT NOW!"

Woo, that was a lot!

Tagging @foyle-writes-things @drchenquill @monstrouswrites @mysticstarlightduck @talesofsorrowandofruin @sleepyowlwrites @sleepywriter00 @sarandipitywrites @theeccentricraven @leahnardo-da-veggie + anyone else!

Y'all's sentence is, "Is anyone going to drink this?"

TSP intro

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites

[sparklychaosandotherthings]

Headcanons for Sam AND Dean Winchester that are true because I say so:

- sams a Star Wars fan, dean is a Star Trek fan; the two of them fight and bicker about which is better constantly. There has been every argument IMAGINABLE regarding who’s winning in a fight.

- Dean used to read stories to sam to get him to sleep at night, but as Sam got older, he started to read to DEAN. (Dean was very grateful for this change, reading for too long hurts his head, and sams reading voice is very soothing)

- the two of them wanted to start a band as kids (deans idea); Dean was on lead vocals and lead guitar, and Sam was on drums. John snagged them small versions of the instruments they wanted to learn. Sam gave up after a week, Dean quit after a month. (Dean can still play “smoke on the water” and “seven nation army”) the guitar is no longer with us (john used it to smash over a demons head; to this day Dean harbors an insane desire to repeat this action, as he fully believes it was the most rock and roll thing he’d ever seen)

- Sam isn’t the biggest fan of loud noises. When they were kids, Dean used to cover his ears, and eventually spent all his arcade money on a pair of headphones for him

- when Dean struggled in school, Sam would always tutor him (John Winchester was always the kinda dad to make u cry while doin homework at the table, and Dean is a sensitive soul)

- Sam always wants to watch those movies about the dogs that r always actually sad, he never cries. Dean hates those movies, and cries every time he watches one.

- Sam never really gets sick, and when he does it’s always nothing. When Dean gets sick it’s basically the apocalypse all over again, hes completely down for the count.

[thewomancallednova]

Some spoiler-y obervations on today's SNW episode, "Hegemony":

I'm really glad we got to see an adult Gorn that looks more humanoid. When Sam found those anomalous human readings I was really concerned they'd go with a "TOS Gorn a weird Human-Gorn hybrids" thing.

ERICA GOT TO SAY MULTIPLE SENTENCES IM SO HAPPY

I was 100% sure Batel was gonna die when she made a log entry at the start :D Pleasently surprised by how that went

I kinda wish the Gorn weren't such a drawn-out plot with SNW. The feeling I'm getting is that they're just doing "Arena" but with eight episodes scattered over three seasons and I don't really see how that's gonna be better than "Arena". For what it's worth I'd love to get a closer look at how Gorn society in SNW actually works, like how did y'all build those spaceships if you keep cannibalising everyone. And to this episode's credit they did tease in that direction.

Definitely more on board with Scotty by the end of the episode than at the start. I really hope we can keep Carol Kane next season and have her mentor Scotty. I like what SNW has done with Spock, Uhura, Chapel and M'Benga; so I'm optimistic about Scotty, but my first instinct whenever a new major TOS character appears is generally to groan.

How exactly does a demarcation line within a solar system? Like, I'm no physicist, but don't planets usually rotate around stars? Wouldn't that shift planets in and out of Gorn/Federation territory depending on the time of year? Incidentally, there's a Trek novel (by Peter David of course) that explores that exact situation, where a planet is in (IIRC) Tholian territory for two days every year.

Pike's voice when he says "Spock" after seeing the destroyed Caygua is just TT

Seeing Pike interrupt Battel's mission here with a subspace phone call, I wish we'd see that more often the other way around. "Sorry honey, can't talk right now I have to make the pirates revolt against their captain, I'll call you back later okay?"

Love the music cues reminiscent of TOS. And I'm glad in general that the post-Berman Trek shows got to recover from the "sonic wallpaper" directive.

The Starfleet delta pattern on the space suits is really distracting. Like, I know I'm supposed to look at how they're hand-holding but wow, that is a lot of deltas!

It kinda rubs me the wrong way that Spock and Chapel killed the Gorn on the Cuyaga, just when the planetside story gets all about how maybe we can talk with the Gorn. Probably doesn't help that the Gorn took like ten seconds to suffocate and seemed to be in excruciating pain throughout. Like, c'mon Chapel, shoot him already, it's be more merciful.

I think SNW is actually quite clever with connecting its Gorn continuity to that of TOS. The SNW Gorn ships like very different from the TOS ones, which is great because in "Arena" no one recognizes the new ship. The Gorn are only revealed as the perpetrators in conversation with the Metrons, so I think it's feasable that Kirk just doesn't know of them (as long as his relationship with La'an doesn't get any further) and the rest of the crew didn't want to interrupt during the conversation with the seemingly very powerful Metrons. After Kirk is teleported by the Metrons Uhura screams, because 60s show (she should be used to teleportation right, being in Starfleet), but the SNW retcon that she knows of the Gorn and their horrors really gives that moment new depth and makes it less silly.