S05.E14: The One Where We're Trapped on TV

[bettername2come]

On 5/27/2020 at 5:57 AM, Starfish35 said:

Best use of Gary and Mona ever I think.  

This. It's been so long since I liked them that I'd forgotten how much I could. But they were perfect Legends sidekicks here. And they worked to well together. And didn't annoy me in the slightest!

Does Behrad have any memory of, let's say, Behrad 1.0's life? Sara remembers both timelines, so maybe?

So, Charlie gave Sara and Ava everything they wanted, including a ship full of Androids in short shorts, so there's nothing wrong with Sara objectifying her crew, yes?

This show has a bunch of great actors. I hope they have as much fun on set as I think they do. 

[Florinaldo]

10 hours ago, quarks said:

Quick detour with Star Trek and the miniskirts: 

Thanks for all that, which corresponds to what I heard and read over the years, and filled a few gaps. GLW was very low on the totem pole and thus would have had little influence over skirt length, even for "empowerment" purposes. I understand why she toed the party line, to remain in the good graces of the producers (which did not prevent her from getting fired mid-season and getting only a few cameos in subsequent titles of the franchise). She certainly did not originate the trend for every female guest character to wear clothing with multiple openings in order to show skin, back and front, as well as the various catsuits or similar tight outfits that were a regular feature of the franchise, as well as the recurring cleavages or overtly showcased bosoms (even female Klingons prominently displayed their breasts). This was all on GR and the network (a similar thing happened on the original Outer Limits; whnever the producers tried something different and did not include the required weekly "bear.' i.e. a grotesque monster of sorts, the network came down hard on them).

On 5/26/2020 at 11:15 PM, tennisgurl said:

I thought she and Gary worked well here

They were very well used as off-action witnesses and commentators. Too bad they probably can't continue to serve as peri-Legends observing and discussing what happens in the main plot, in a quasi-Statler and Waldorf fashion for example.

[Cthulhudrew]

I'm with the minority of posters here that thought this episode felt like filler.

It had a lot of interesting things going on, but ultimately I thought it just threw a "full stop" right in the middle of the escalating tension and action of the past several episodes, all for the sake of a (slightly amusing, but overplayed) gimmick premise. And it really felt like they had to strangle Charlie's character to make the plot fit.

I'm also incredibly biased because I hoped never to see the Mona character again.

[marketdoctor]

I liked the Easter Egg tribute to The Man in the High Castle with Highcastle Abbey.  I wonder if I missed any.  (Maybe a writer snuck in a Redshirts reference, which would have been even more meta.)

The opening credit change was really clever; they've done variations of that, but it was also a callback to ST:  Enterprise.

The giant hand turning out not to be Apollo, but Mr. Parker's Neighborhood, was awesome.

And Charlie's efforts to give them the best of a terrible situation (except Mona and Gary) let the episode be ridiculous and sublime at the same time.

And CL's Shatner was incredible.

 

[MarkHB]

On 5/27/2020 at 1:53 PM, blackwing said:

I really enjoyed the Highcastle Abbey segment, particularly the English accents on Astra and Natalie. 

This reminded me that those two are supposed to be from Newcastle, so in theory they would have Geordie accents. Of course, if the US X-Factor is any indication, the prevailing view among network executives is that that accent is utterly unintelligible to most Americans (cf Cheryl Cole).

The skyline in the Ultimate Buds logo was Boston, which these shows have always used for Star City. And I did notice a pot leaf in the logo.

[legaleagle53]

On 5/28/2020 at 5:36 AM, Florinaldo said:

Anyway, my initial point still stands: having the male crewmen walk around in tight small shorts was an amusing restoration of balance in Star Trip.

And I'll take that as a compliment. I actually am quite proud of my legs and butt (do you know how many squats and lunges I have to do per day to get them to look this good?), and I'll gladly wear tight small shorts every day of the week and twice on Sundays to show them off. Ditto with the skin-tight tank tops to show off my chest, back, arms, and shoulders. 😜

Edited May 30, 2020 by legaleagle53

[Florinaldo]

10 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

I actually am quite proud of my legs and butt (do you know how many squats and lunges I have to do per day to get them to look this good?)

I do, sweetie daaaarling, I do.

In that scene on the ST bridge, other details pop up while rewatching, like the various crew members trying to look useful pushing buttons in the background while turning back irregularly to look at the big communication screen, and the oh-so-obviously fake flying up in the air from the explosions; you can almost see the wires pulling up the stunt people.

They did not go for the obvious though, and we had no parody of the classic Trek scene of cast members throwing themselves left and right, almost in sync most of the times,  to simulate being under attack.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Florinaldo

[ketose]

On 5/28/2020 at 10:07 PM, Florinaldo said:

Thanks for all that, which corresponds to what I heard and read over the years, and filled a few gaps. GLW was very low on the totem pole and thus would have had little influence over skirt length, even for "empowerment" purposes. I understand why she toed the party line, to remain in the good graces of the producers (which did not prevent her from getting fired mid-season and getting only a few cameos in subsequent titles of the franchise). She certainly did not originate the trend for every female guest character to wear clothing with multiple openings in order to show skin, back and front, as well as the various catsuits or similar tight outfits that were a regular feature of the franchise, as well as the recurring cleavages or overtly showcased bosoms (even female Klingons prominently displayed their breasts). This was all on GR and the network (a similar thing happened on the original Outer Limits; whnever the producers tried something different and did not include the required weekly "bear.' i.e. a grotesque monster of sorts, the network came down hard on them).

They were very well used as off-action witnesses and commentators. Too bad they probably can't continue to serve as peri-Legends observing and discussing what happens in the main plot, in a quasi-Statler and Waldorf fashion for example.

William Ware Theiss designed most of the revealing costumes for ST:TOS. Whether you believe the GLW story or not, the idea behind the female uniforms were the women in comic books and their costumes. In essence, the skirt was actually kind of a flap. Costumes at the time were also colorful and often heavy on lamé. Color TV was a big factor in the show, with the primary colored sets and large flashing lights.

If you watch the early episodes of ST:TNG, you will see crew members in skirts, both male and female. Of course, Troi stood out like a sore thumb because she had this strange position as a not quite commissioned member of the crew.

I find it kind of funny that showing some leg is so much worse than the skin-tight pleather that's a staple of the Arrowverse.

[Florinaldo]

17 hours ago, ketose said:

I find it kind of funny that showing some leg is so much worse than the skin-tight pleather that's a staple of the Arrowverse.

As was mentioned, showing legs was part of a whole continuum of costume design practices all over the ST franchise. Female characters often dressed in what amounted to daytime negligees and there were an abundance of skin-tight outfits rivalling those in the Arrowverse (I was watching a ST:Enterprise episode while making dinner Friday and even in this relatively recent chapter in the franchise the female Vulcan crew member was wearing a suit that left little to the imagination as to her mammary equipment).

Of course such an approach is not limited to ST; you find it in other genre comic-books, movies and TV shows. Usually, male superheroes or heroic fantasy warriors choose a costume that adds on protection to their body, even a body armour. Their female equivalents (like Wonder Woman, Xena, Red Sonja, and even the new Stargirl on CW) tend to bare even more skin, exposing more surface area vulnerable to ennemy attacks.

17 hours ago, ketose said:

If you watch the early episodes of ST:TNG, you will see crew members in skirts, both male and female.

I remember the grumblings from some fan(boy)s at the time regarding the demeaning costumes those male crew members had to wear. When it was pointed out that it was the equivalent of a kilt, something Scotty would certainly have approved, they replied that since James Doohan was never showed wearing a kilt (Tsathoggua be praised!), these do not exist in the ST universe. The practice was of course quickly abandoned.

[Aeryn13]

Somehow I felt let down by this. Some of the show bits were amusing, especially the Downton Abbey one, but it just felt a lot like treading water.

The 1984 world reminded me of the Series Finale of the show "Librarians". 

Nate and Zari still just feel so forced. It is like the writers smooshing two dolls together.

And more Captain Ava propping all over the place where yet again she neurotically freaks out and Sara had to give her a pep talk. Some things never change. Not to mention that Sara is barely allowed to be an individual person anymore but has to be joined with Ava at the hip constantly. 

[lurker22]

William Shatner saw the episode 🤣

 

 

Edited June 6, 2020 by lurker22

[lurker22]

And now Caity has replied. I love that even in tweet, she's channeling Captain Kirk 😂

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by lurker22