SFdebris

I always preferred: "Ba'al? As in bocce?"

-lets knife fly-

I love all the puns that this show got to make with the names "Ba'al" and "Yu".

And then how by the end of the show, everyone had gotten sick of them. XD

His comeback to that should have been "No. Ba'al as in Ba'alezabub."

Speaking of Ba'al, the word is sometimes used to mean "false god." So at the end there when Ba'al was the only System Lord left and had a bunch of clones meant that all False gods left were Ba'als.

Distant Origin

What is it with Trek writers and having a pre-schooler's understanding of evolution?

Well for one, they are writers and not bio majors.

Do they not teach evolution in American High Schools? I mean it's almost impossible to cover biology at all without covering evolution.

There's your answer.

(More seriously, you are referring to the country where some states until recently had laws on their books requiring teachers to either minimize the role of evolution or just gloss over it as "just a theory".)

edited 21st Nov '15 2:46:10 PM by SabresEdge

Most writers can't even get math right, so why would anyone expect science accuracy?

Specially since Math is a pretty easy science.

Ah, sc-fi writers of The '80s and The '90s had very little grasp of that "science thing".

After the Vietnam War and the various environmental disasters of the mid XXth century, science was suspect.

A lot of writers came up from more liberal arts programs and a lot of Star Trek writers had no sci-fi experience at all.

Now those theater and liberal arts majors can write a good plot with good science (see "A Civil Action", environmetal and law). And geeks can write good stories (see Michael Chriton's body of work).

But Bragga and co. are idiots. A lot of TV science fiction from the 80's and 90's is drek. Creative writing exercises gone horribly wrong, scientists as villains and of course a 3rd grader's understanding of science.

It was just a trope of that era, the Internet was still years away from saturation, the general public knew of evolution, the big bang etc. But they didn't know the fine details. So many hack writers could wing it.

Now a days scripts with glaring scientific errors can be called out even in production. Horkers that many writers could get away with stand out like a boy scout at an S&M bar.

Sometimes writers can get by on Rule of Cool, but the script better be good.

Bragga and Co never had a chance.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Imperial Agent Class Quest 1

Chuck takes on a brilliant story buried within a mediocre MMO.

Good on Chuck getting a level 27 to help him record Black Talon.

edited 23rd Nov '15 6:25:41 AM by lrrose

So he's blind, but he can simulate sight through super powers, and from the symbol keeps appearing he's playing mostly Light Side. So basically, Chuck's playing Daredevil.

Judging from how Keeper complimented his methods, he's currently neutral. If you're light side, Keeper goes all Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids! on you, while if you're dark side, Keeper chews you out for your lack of subtlety. The Agent story rewards you for pragmatism, not picking an alignment. Which caused problems for me back when I played SWTOR, as there are/were (not sure if this is still the case) special cosmetic goodies for having max alignment and none for remaining neutral.

I spent hours grinding the Black Talon flashpoint for light side points because I really wanted an awesome looking Light V-alignment restricted speeder bike.

O'Neill: "Sorry I'm late, I was enjoying a nice lunch."

Ba'al: "Impudence"

O'Neill: "No. Tuna."

My favorite is when Jackson is explaining Yu to Weir

Jackson: "I was just going over some research material on the delegates they're sending. Camulus was the one who sent the original message. Then there's Amaterasu, Japanese Sun Goddess, and the last one is Lord Yu."

Weir: "Yu?"

Jackson: "Don't. Every joke, every pun, done to death, seriously."

edited 23rd Nov '15 11:27:32 AM by CobraPrime

Ah, that's the one I was thinking of. XD

TIL (or was I reminded...) that there was a show called "Cadillacs And Dinosaurs."

...

I must now go sell a kidney to ensure that Chuck reviews this.

Imperial Agent, Part 2

Agent Part 3 went up on Friday. I would link to it, but all of the SWTOR videos are on the same page, so just look at my above post.

Anyway, December calendar is up:

• 30 Nov, 2 Dec, 4 Dec: SWTOR
• 5 Dec: VOY: Dragon's Teeth
• 7 Dec: Atlantis: Critical Mass
• 9 Dec: SG1: In the Line of Duty
• 12 Dec: TAS: The Pirates of Orion
• 14 Dec: Korra 1 (Not sure which seasons these Korra reviews will cover)
• 16 Dec: Dune Miniseries 1
• 19 Dec: TNG: Justice
• 21 Dec: Korra 2
• 23 Dec: Dune Miniseries 2
• 25 Dec: Christmas Episode
• 28 Dec: Korra 3
• 30 Dec: Dune Miniseries 3
• 1 Jan: Korra 4

There are indications that despite its weaknesses, the Imperial Agent storyline is one of the better-written ones in TOR.

Personally, I think that the Agent storyline is one of the best Bioware has ever written. It's companions are pretty flat though. The companions are an interesting bunch, but one of SWTOR's writing weaknesses is that it can't do too much with its companions for game balance reasons. As such, with a handful of exceptions Kira and Scourge from the Jedi Knight story, Nadia from the Jedi Consular story, Risha from the Smuggler story, Jaesa from the Sith Warrior story, and Khem Val from the Sith Inquisitor story companions are basically just there outside of the planet where you recruit them.

I wonder what this years Christmas special is? Is it finally going to be the worst of TOS or is it again a non-Trek episode?

Also, Justice. Another journey to the wasteland of TNG season 1.

He already did Spock's brain so the worst TOS episode is out. He also already did Emancipation so the worst Stargate ep is out of the question too.

edited 30th Nov '15 6:51:23 AM by Memers

He didn't rate Spock's Brain a 0. I think he's waiting for 2016, Trek's 50th anniversary, to do the worst TOS episode.

Since Christmas 2015 falls on a Friday and there's no Saturday Trek review that week, I think he's going to do the worst TAS.