I still enjoyed Those Old Scientists when I hadn’t yet watched Lower Decks, granted, I had watched TNG already and so just enjoyed it as TNG-era characters goofing around in the 23rd century.
In fact, after having watched Lower Decks, I don’t necessarily like how Boimler and Mariner are written in this episode - they feel a bit like their basic archetypes than the developed characters they were in the series.
The other good thing about Chain of Command is it gives important context for DS9 without having to stare at scrolling text.
Well, this is from Cast Your Pod to the Wind, which is full of rejects from The Else and random podcast tracks - granted some of them are really darn good rejects like "Brain Problem Situation".
I think my taste is also skewed towards the weird semi-experimental tracks in general - I am a big "If Day for Winnipeg".
Tried that already.
Based on the report, this seems to be an actual bug - it was working fine for everyone before the update and only happens in the presence of FluidSynth.
Ubuntu probably hasn't had this version of PipeWire yet.
My work around is working just fine for now, though.
I could understand a few across the city, but I’d say 50 miles of parkland around a city is a little excessive.
You could also probably at least partially pull off “lush” with more native species, which they don’t seem to do.
Additionally, I imagine there’s some people still enjoying desert off-roading or a newer equivalent in the 23rd and 24th century (probably with regulations, of course).
Granted, I’m a bit biased, considering I live in the Southwest and am a fan of some of the more beautiful deserts. I do hate the climate change-induced annual shattering of heat records, though. Never fun when it’s 110s out, especially when you have to walk to classes…
I’ve done it with ffmpeg before - I think the command’s on the Arch wiki. I preserved subtitles as well. I overall remember it being pretty reasonable since I didn’t set it up to re-encode, just pass through original video.
I think it is in Menageries, but I’ll have to check.
I agree weather controls exist - in fact, they'd probably be needed to solve extreme heat and drought in the city.
However, I don't think terraforming Mojave is the same thing as terraforming a planet - most planets they colonize that aren't already suitable for human life don't have a native ecosystem to begin with. What the pilot seems to depict is the elimination of an existing ecosystem and many habitats, which I feel doesn't seem very Trek-esque. While they would modify the local environment to improve living conditions, I don't think they would be inclined to do this much environmental damage.
Seriousy?! We can have a Klowahkans series but not a Klingons or Vulcans one?
While the VOY crew themselves still wear what you mentioned, we do see their Alpha quadrant counterparts are wearing First Contact Uniforms.
I'll revise to make it clearer who I'm talking about.
For your first question, I'd agree with others that it was a possible future that just didn't happen in the Prime Timeline - there is a timeline out there where "All Good Things" didn't happen and so that's the future there. It was the future until Picard saw it.
As for your second, I would say it was still a false positive. It's just we didn't have enough Borg shenanigans in the TNG era alt future timelines for anyone to care about the difference, combined with Jack Crusher probably never being born.
For the uniforms, my overall theory is that what we saw as the the early 2380s uniform and mid-2380s badge design process started in the mid-to-late 2370's. The overall more peaceful nature of each of the three timelines with the alternate future uniform meant that either the TNG uniform (for "All Good Things" and "The Visitor") or First Contact uniform ("Endgame") lasted into roughly the late 2380s or early 2390s. This gave more time for the concept for what would have been the prime 2380s uniform to develop, slightly changing the uniform shape and getting rid of the black area on top. This uniform design was very persistent against temporal interference, but it was no match for the timeline alterations by Voyager's early return, which caused a faster design cycle on the early 2380s uniform and Starfleet uniforms in general.
I especially see it in this comparison:
Here's some deeper analysis if you want it, contained in spoilers to keep post length down (lots of nitpicking and rants about Klingon-Federation relations):
spoiler
Without a lot of temporal interference, this uniform arises. I think we can infer by Beverly still being in Starfleet that this is a relatively peaceful timeline to, meaning that influential uniform designers have lower change of death or being gripped by despair and making DS9-style uniforms.
There is the breakdown in Klingon relations, but that seems to be a common motif (like in "The Visitor"), and it's more of a cold war status than a Borg, Dominion, etc. kind of threat.
Otherwise, we don't have enough information on this timeline to firmly establish events. However, I infer this might be a timeline where the Dominion War was averted (or delayed) and Martok never became chancellor, as that event was sort of like another Narendra and if it didn't happen, a relationship deterioration with the Empire.
Evidence of this is in LD with Ma'ah's opinion that the Federation "earned its toduj" in the Dominion War, suggesting that event swayed his opinion on the Federation and likely others. This coculd be countered by the actions of Dorg and Bargh, showing that the views aren't universal. However, I think the relative level-headedness Bargh's fellow council members suggest that the brother's views are not a mainstream political view in the empire, at least in the 2380s.
(You could probably use STO stuff as counter to my argument, but I think the timeline of that game is motivated by a desire for a plot amenable to gameplay. I'm primarily going with alpha canon.)
As I said before, we can be certain that the "All Good Things" timeline was averted by Picard being aware of it, and that all timelines after are not that timeline.
spoiler
The fact that the uniform still pops up in this different timeline suggests that it's rather pervasive and takes a lot of temporal interference to get rid of it. Of note is the fact that it appears in 2422, 20-30 years later than either "All Good Things" or "Endgame", which might suggest this uniform becomes the 24th/25th century equivalent of the monster maroons.
Notably, Commander Nog appears with a TNG uniform and DS9 combadge... in 2389. This suggests that this timeline at least skipped First Contact, early 2380s, and mid-to-late 2380s uniforms, opting to keep the TNG uniform in for decades. This is kind of weird considering "Endgame", which I'll reconcile later. Anyhow, perhaps uniform designers had been toying with something like the prime early 2380s design; due to its longer time for development, when it was finally rolled out much later than prime, it manifested differently from its closest prime counterpart.
I think we can infer once again that the Dominion War was averted. For one, there's the reasons I provided above. I also think DS9 would sort of be sacred ground for the Klingons and it would feel almost wrong to them to take it outright if the Dominion War had happened like prime. The suggestion is further made by the fact that the Federation withdrew from DS9 in 2374, which would have been during the Dominion War in the prime timeline; this never would have happened with the wartime Alpha Quadrant alliance.
Additionally, we can tell the war never happened like prime because the Defiant was never destroyed - we can tell because they needed the ship to be basically the same to replicate the accident, and it was, judging by Jadzia's nostalgic reaction in the episode. If it were the second Defiant, there would have been differences as noted in DS9's "The Dogs of War".
Thus, basing on the first two timelines, it would seem like this uniform tends to arise when there are few mysterious threats, only regular ones.
spoiler
"Endgame" is unique in that it is the only timeline where the uniform appears and the Dominion War did happen, based on the chronology. What makes it weird is that this timeline did have the First Contact uniforms, meaning a possibly different design lineage for the future uniforms here.
To reconcile, it might be possible that in this timeline, the First Contact uniform roughly replaced what would have been the expanded life span of the TNG uniform (with error bars of a few years or so due to butterfly effect) instead of being slowly phased out in the early 2380s. Once again, the uniform concepts for what would have been the prime early 2380s uniforms were festering in the designers' heads as early as the mid-to-late 2370s and went through a similar development cycle to "The Visitor"'s timeline.
The state of Klingon relations in this episode is further evidence pointing to the role of the Dominion War in Federation-Klingon relations - B'Elanna's role and influence as a Klingon liason (based on Janeway's request) as well as Janeway's initially relatively easy dealings with Korath suggest relations are in a good state in this timeline with the Dominion War.
Despite the Dominion War happening, this timeline seems like it's also somewhat peaceful (only based on vibes, not canon analysis), considering that everyone on Voyager is either still in touch or dead - if this was one of those Picard-y timelines, at least would be a moody vigilante ex-Starfleet officer in some far off corner of the quadrant where no one can contact them.
I'd also say the anti-Borg/acquired Borg technology in this timeline might give an explanation for why the other timelines are so peaceful: the more organic technological development improved Fed security in all of them.
The fact that this uniform never appears again after this timeline suggests the early return of Voyager was the final straw for this uniform. We can't pinpoint exactly what happened, but I can think of a few different scenarios. The most likely one is something about Voyager's early return triggered a shorter design cycle of the future uniforms, leading instead to the early 2380s uniforms. Perhaps the early introduction of Borg defense tech to the prime timeline through Voyager's return caused a sudden leap followed by stagnation that either weakened Starfleet defenses in the long term, or Starfleet just wasn't ready to handle this stuff in 2378. Alternatively, maybe some key designers of that uniform got butterflied into a shuttle accident, or the timeline got so depressing that they decided to pump out DS9-looking uniforms instead.
John Henry has its 30th birthday tomorrow!
What are your favorites off this album? Thoughts in general?
Personally, I think it’s a crime Mrs. Train and Welcome to the Jungle were excluded from the final album. Still waiting for Superfueld Freaksicle. 😉
Also, the TMBG merch shop’s having a sale, including a free download of the mastered demos and 20% off anything with the code TMBGWORLD, if anyone’s interested.
I like both "Maine" and "Louisiana". "Maine" has John's classic unreliable, evil narrator, while "Louisiana" just feels like a fun take on a hostage situation.
"The Songs of the 50 States" is also dear in my heart as it gets gradually crazier.
Here’s a bigger bugbear (than the Vulcan question): how does it all work in Ferengi society?
I’ll split order my post by my pre-Rom and post-Rom thoughts.
Pre-Rom:
Post-Rom:
Questions:
Do you have TMBG songs that you like but don’t necessarily want on your everything playlist?
I’d say “Love is Eternity” off Venue Songs is one for me. I enjoy it but simultaneously find it a bit sappy. It also brings up difficult emotions since my grandmother died this May.
I've often pondered about how Vulcans view gender and sexuality.
I think pre-Surak/logic, they may have demonstrated homophobia and transphobia, but modern Vulcan Society would probably be chill with it under the reasoning that discrimination would reduce a person's efficacy as a functional member of Vulcan Society. For instance, given a choice between allowing a person to contribute verses driving them to the brink of suicide, Vulcans would probably tend to lean towards the first option.
There could very well still be stigma (Vulcans are far from a perfect society; some may have views that it is illogical to have a romantic relationship without a child), but it's dampened by the logic from the previous paragraph.
There's also the Pon Farr to keep in mind. Not only would it be hard to fight a person in the Ponn Farr, but also you'd literally be killing them by trying to prevent expression of their orientation.
I don’t know, but I do have to applaud how they did Data. First few scenes were enjoyable, and when it got annoying I felt it was purposeful.