Nothing But Tribble

Our second Good 3 Voyager episode is Counterpoint. The Voyager crew is hiding telepaths from the Devore, an alien race who harbor mistrust for telepaths and strangers. Emmanuel and Laura discuss what is regarded as one of the better Voyager episodes.

Our first Good 3 Voyager episode is "Random Thoughts," a flawed but nevertheless thought-provoking episode about a telepathic society with an interesting (confusing?) black market of thoughts. We discuss the episode's take on societal violence, possible parallels to gun violence, and the thorny issue of consent and mind reading. Emmanuel and Laura disagree on their interpretation, a lot, which is actually a plus when discussing the ethical questions the plot brings up.

Before we begin our 3's a Good Number look at Voyager, Laura has some complaints. Emmanuel decides whether or not it's overly harsh to nitpick about Neelix getting dating advice from Paris, or that aliens in a WHOLE DIFFERENT QUADRANT are still looking hella human. We agree to disagree several times.

“A contract is a contract is a contract…but only between Ferengi.” For our last discussion of good DS9 episodes, we take a look at “Body Parts” from Season 4. Although Emmanuel doesn’t think it’s a top-tier episode, he agrees that it would’ve been perfect for the Feel Good series. We discuss the ways in which we identify with Ferengi culture, the interesting insertion of a pregnancy b-plot, and the way that Ferengi characters become more sympathetic to viewers as they abandon their cultural practices. Tangents include questions about pants-making and embarrassing middle school moments.

Continuing with the DS9 episodes for the Three's a Good Number series, we move on to season 2's "The Wire." In this episode, Emmanuel tries to write the description, but doesn't do a good job.

This week we review our reviews, and in some cases even revise them. Laura also tells a sorry tale about a dumb robbery, and Emmanuel makes strange connections.

We’ve made it to the DS9 episodes in our Three’s a Good Number series and already they are blowing every other series out of the water with the Season 1 heavy hitter “Duet.” We can’t stress how amazing it is that DS9 got so good so fast, with stellar performances showcasing powerful monologues about guilt, genocide, and terrorism. “Duet” brings all of this and more while also being tightly scripted and well-paced, which checks all our boxes for a good episode. Emmanuel makes some insightful points, Laura brings in some historical comparisons to dictatorships in Latin America and Spain, and we also briefly discuss Odo in a thong.

On this episode we get back to one of our favorite topics, sexism in the Star Trek franchise. We spend some time discussing Eleanor Tremeer's io9 article "The Sexist Legacy of Star Trek's Progresssive Universe," looking at how women in Star Trek have been treated on and off the screen. It, uh, hasn't been great, but things are getting better! (We think.) We also talk more generally about how sci fi has sexist tendencies, and then we think about whether or not we look for media to represent us. Tangents include a discussion about which platform has a better music recommending algorithm.  

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-sexist-legacy-in-star-trek-s-progressive-universe-1844147116

Just in time for Valentine’s we cover the fun-filled, relationship-focused “Qpid” from season 4 of TNG, the last of our Three’s a Good Number episodes for this Star Trek series. This episode brings back Vash from “Captain’s Holiday,” Picard’s best love interest in Laura’s opinion not least of which because she kills in a skirt suit. We get some excellent Q creeping, and the costuming is generally of the highest order. We argue about Picard being awkward about his personal life, the very silly and fun Robin Hood romp, and are impressed by how much continuity is referenced in the episode. Tangents include getting pierced, Star Trek innuendo, and whether or not anyone can really know anyone else.

In this episode we tackle another mainstay of Treknology, the holodeck. We argue over what a holodeck is even for, and agree that the holodeck kinda sucks as a plot device. Our conclusion: TNG holodeck episodes are some of the worst in the bunch, and Voyager for once comes out on top for interesting explorations of the technology. Tangents include: us processing the inauguration; nazis as bad guys in popular media; Emmanuel's car troubles.