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spirkme915 · 10 months

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I made the decision to be extra-judicious on deciding what constituted a spoiler for the new season of Strange New Worlds and I'm sticking with that.

But I have thoughts and I’ve spent way too much time thinking about them for a season and a half and I can’t hold them in anymore. So here you go.

Definite spoilers for episode 5 and everything before it under the cut. TL;DR at the very bottom of this way too long post.

Episode 5 was an absolute banger of an episode in terms of Hollywood entertainment value. But, and this is a big BUT, what the actual hell are the writers doing?

The Christine/Spock/T’Pring love triangle is tarnishing the gift that was given to Trek fans when Strange New Worlds was announced and it's becoming way too obvious not to comment on.

It’s maddening that they’ve decided to take a thirty second scene of a one-sided crush from the original series (Chapel confessing her love for Spock in The Naked Time) and turned it into a two-sided love affair that's part of a love triangle. It is, quite literally, derailing what is otherwise an incredible show.

I hear you asking… Seriously? Aren’t you being extreme? How could a consensual affair do that? Or.... You're a Spirk blog. Aren't you biased? Oh boy, I wish it were that simple. This is coming from a literal lifelong Trek fan who had Trouble with Tribbles memorized before I had an inkling what romance even was, and who - fortunately - was taught by my Trekkie father what made good writing.

The love triangle is not good Trek or good writing.

For reasons that likely have to do with Spock being arguably the most well known character in Star Trek canon (pop culture wise), the writers have chosen to focus on him. And what kind of storyline can they give us since Spock goes through a massive, decades long character arc in the original series and movies? (Spoiler alert, I answer that at the end and it's not a love triangle.)

For reasons that likely have to do with Peck’s appearance and natural charisma, they’ve decided to give Spock love interests - not just one but two.

Let’s ignore that Spock doesn’t show interest in either Christine or T’Pring in the original series. Really, that’s the least of the problems and easily explained away.

Where the problems arise are two fold - Spock’s emotional journey and the minimization of two strong female characters to love interests.

Spock’s emotional journey - As great as parts of this episode were (looking at you, Amanda), what it achieved was Spock coming to terms with his human side in a way that the Spock we know from the original series hasn’t accepted. It takes original series Spock until The Motion Picture (perhaps not until after The Voyage Home), to be comfortable in being both human and Vulcan. So the ground Spock gained in this episode? Strange New Worlds, if it continues as part of the prime timeline, can only result in character regression for Spock. As a fan of Spock in all iterations, that regression will be a heartbreaking and horrible way to end a hopeful show.

Christine and T’Pring as love interests - Dear god, can these women exist without being defined by a man please? It’s 2023. This shouldn’t be something female characters have to ask for. Sure, there was more about Christine in this episode, but her arc still revolved around Spock. And not only that, but we got the Korby name drop in this episode (her future fiancé). I'd love to think that this isn't headed in a direction where Christine will hook up with Spock then he’ll pull away and she jumps ship to Korby only to be defined again by a man. But for fuck's sake, this last season and a half hasn't given me much hope. Jess Bush is amazing as Christine. Is it too much to let Christine be her own woman? And T’Pring? I adore T'Pring way more in Strange New Worlds than I expected to. So, please, help a Vulcan woman out. T’Pring is already relegated to nothing in the narrative after Amok Time. If there’s going to be an insistence on bringing her into the story can she please not be defined by Spock then Stonn? I'm BEGGING the Strange New Worlds writers - let these characters and actors shine as fully realized women.

But the larger problem is that this single decision for a love triangle has not only fated these three characters to regression and minimization - IT'S DIMMING THE POSSIBILITIES FOR EVERYONE.

When Strange New Worlds was announced, there were so many possibilities. A whole new part of canon to be explored and expanded. NEW CHARACTERS, NEW PLACES, NEW MORAL QUANDARIES, NEW EXPLORATIONS.

But we only get 10 episodes a season, right? Not the 26ish we got with the original series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. (Discovery, I'm looking at you and weeping too.)

So, why are the writers insisting on episodes focusing on an unnecessary love triangle when they could be doing this:

Uhura - Hello? SHE'S RIGHT THERE AND CELIA IS INCREDIBLE. The original series is notorious for brushing Uhura under the rug and other people can speak way more intelligently on Uhura meta than I can. But, I mean, she didn't even have a canon first name until 2009. So. Yeah. Good news, Strange New Worlds can change all of that. Build her history, show us her successes, her fears, her failings, glimpses into her past. Give her a chance to have a dalliance with the "alien of the week." Uhura is a beloved character for so so so many wonderful reasons. Give us the stories about her that deepen that love.

Erica - Oh, Erica. My beloved Erica. Paramount PR keeps saying that last week's episode was "Erica's Big Moment" and if it truly was her biggest moment of the season, then I weep for her and Melissa Navia. All we learned in that episode was that she's Erica Ortegas and she flies the ship (and, well, that Navia has a depth in her they haven't let her show with Erica so far). Erica does pilot and flies really goddamn well, but we already knew that. What about her time in the Klingon War? What about her family? Her friends off the ship? What was it that either made her determined to become the best pilot or that happened in her past that inspired her to become that pilot? How does she feel about being on the Enterprise? How does she feel about soup or carpet or art? There's nothing, literally NOTHING, in future canon about her and right now her Memory Alpha entries for her life before Strange New Worlds is seven sentences. SEVEN SENTENCES. All of this for a fan favorite character. *sigh*

Sam - The potential for this character is limitless and all we've really gotten is him touching something he shouldn't have, being xenophobic to Spock, and that he doesn't pick up his dirty dishes. Seriously? We know more about Jim Kirk in Strange New Worlds and he's not even on the Enterprise or in the same timeline! When we rewatch Operation Annihilate, give us a reason to mourn with Jim. Make that episode a billion times worse because Sam is a character that we know and care about outside of being Jim's brother.

Pike - Okay, so admittedly, Pike is probably the most fleshed out character besides Spock in canon and they're not shying away from the future he knows is coming. That's been handled really well. And they've also done a great job of showing how much Pike cares. But, what makes Pike one of the "great captains" and how has his past turned him into who he is today (the canon pieces with his father have so much possibility) and what is he doing behind the scenes to fight for his crew and his ship? I feel like we got more of the "great captain" in Discovery than we've gotten in Strange New Worlds. And, dear god again with the "romance," can his love interest get a canon first name please? Hard to buy he loves her when he calls her Captain Batel even in his personal log.

Una - She was pretty much a canonical blank slate going into Strange New Worlds and they've done some incredible episodes with her, but I'd love to see her actually be the XO? Making that a question because she absolutely is, but we have yet to really see that in practice. The relationship between Pike and Una deserves so so much more screen time. Let them be captain and first officer. Explore Pike mentoring her, and give way more of her mentoring crew. Let her be more than Illyrian. What are the unique challenges she faces as the highest ranked woman and non-Human on the ship? Is she a fighter or a negotiator or some secret third thing? Does she have an intricate knowledge of some space anomaly or ship function that no one else on board does? What are her future goals and plans? I'm rambling now, but the point is that she's a character who disappears from canon after Strange New Worlds and she's the goddamn FIRST OFFICER OF THE ENTERPRISE. Let her be that until she isn't anymore.

La’An and M'Benga - Honestly, I'm not going to put much here for La'An because out of all the "new" characters in Strange New Worlds, La'An has been fleshed out the most. And, out of all the "barely exists in canon" characters, M'Benga is the same. But I'm listing them because they make my point. La'An and M'Benga are good examples of what happens when the writers focus on characters who either don't exist in canon or barely exist there. We know pieces of their backstory and their motivations. We know what keeps them up at night. Both actors have given performances that tie the audience to their characters emotionally. And yet, there's seasons worth of more material for both of them.

So. To come back to my original point - why are the writers focusing on a love triangle that tramples on canon and minimizes female characters when they are wealthy af with primo characters?

I mean, there are so many other ways they could have gone with Christine (making her bisexuality more than a one-off line, having her struggle with what happened on the Farragut, exploring her role during the Klingon War, family, friends, facing moral quandaries in her research...), and Spock (his relationship with Sarek, Vulcan rituals and practices we've never seen ((double parentheses here to emphasize that to us, as viewers, Vulcan *is* a strange new world and there's still a hell of a lot of Vulcan stuff that's veiled in mystery)), and MICHAEL ((remember Michael, his sister, who got a one line mention in the first episode then nothing?? Yeah, that Michael)), Spock's grief over losing Hemmer and Michael so closely together, etc...). Poor T'Pring is pretty much relegated to love interest and plot device at this point unfortunately. Instead of the love triangle route, they could've cut the sex scenes and made her a cool, calculating advisor to Spock and the Angel/Sybok plotline could've still happened. But alas, was not meant to be.

I've written a lot of words and taken up way too much of my day with this, but I seriously couldn't hold it in any longer. Look, I love Strange New Worlds, but I also seriously grieve for the show that it could've been and I seriously hope it will become that show in future seasons.

Strange New Worlds is gorgeous, the sets and special effects are A+, the actors are all pretty too and know how to command a scene. There's a lot to work with. But let's not forget that the original series was put together with styrofoam, glitter, and a prayer and it birthed this 60 year franchise. What kept people coming back to Trek were the relationships and a found family working together to explore, not a forced love triangle.

TL;DR

The insistence on the Christine/Spock/T'Pring love triangle is dooming all of their characters to massive character regression and minimization *and* cheating us out of learning about and loving the characters who are practically unknown in canon.

#star trek #strange new worlds #snw spoilers #strange new worlds spoilers #star trek meta #strange new worlds meta #this is about as contentious as i'll get on this blog #because it's supposed to be a happy place for me #but damn #i couldn't NOT say something #it's driving me bananas #adding tags because i have more thoughts #this isn't even getting into that the writers fundamentally DON'T KNOW who spock is #like they really really don't #and vulcan emotions are more powerful than human's but he couldn't control the human emotions?#i don't get it #but they don't either so #adding one more #the bacon was a big wtf moment too #spock is a vegetarian because of respect for life not biology #but again #fundamentally misunderstanding spock seems to be the flavor of the day #fuck #adding more tags #how did i forget to mention that we’re wasting episodes on an unnecessary love triangle that’s DOOMED FROM THE START ON ALL SIDES #so it’s extra extra unnecessary #i just #i’m so tired #this episode was just BAD all around

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futurebird · 2 years

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The Glorious Complexity and Mysteries of Galls, Wasps, Ants, and Aphids

Plant galls are structures of plant tissue that grow in response to the actions of arthropods, bacteria or fungi. These living things hijack the plant and "make" it grow something they find useful.

An "oak apple" type gall created by a parasitic wasp by laying an egg in the leaf as it was growing.

The shapes and structures of galls vary wildly, and often have no obvious correspondence to any of the other parts of the plant. (If you you have a strong trypophobia response be careful googling images of galls some make my crawl, others are etherial)

Some galls seem to be optimized to foil parasitoids who try to lay their eggs inside the pupae of other insects. A wasp would need a very long ovipositor to get to this larva suspended in the center! Somehow the wasp egg induces the tree to grow this complex structure! Amazing!

Although ants are closely related to wasps who play a large roll in the formation of plant galls, ants are *normally* only secondary fauna of galls and not gallmakers.

This is surprising to me since so many plants roll out a welcome mat for ants: extrafloral nectaries as cafeterias, hollow stems& thorns as dormitories. A resident colony of ants can be a plants personal private security detail.

For all the many symbiotic parings of ants and plants there are only a few ants that induce their own galls. As secondary fauna of galls (often created by their creepy cousins, the parasitoid wasps) ants may also act as pest control.

This raises the question: Could plants "allow" gall wasps to make these otherwise energy intensive and potentially harmful structures in hopes of attracting ants as secondary guests? It's a complex web of ecological relationships! Read more here.

Another potential player in this story of galls and wasps and ants are aphids. Aphids are the other main insect that can induce galls. The aphids live in these galls for generations (they don't live long so this is only several months) Of course, ants are famous farmers of aphids.

(Some gallmaking wasps get attacked by hyper parasitoid wasps who only lay their eggs in other gall wasps galls. To prevent this some gallmakers make the galls attractive to ants... who can deter the invaders.)

Glorious Complexity!

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witchofthesouls · 3 months

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I feel like Megatron in the doner clause au has to acknowledge Phase 7, a widely heald urban myth, which makes it a legitimate thing. There is a memo that excepting emergency doner donations or couples with ne sparks below a certian afe while the carrier still needs suport, as explained under clause number blah bla blah, birth control is now mandatory. we have not actually reached Phase 7 yet.

It's required for all Deceptacons. Even ones like Sunstorm and Kaon who will just end up frying it.

The Autobots are so confused when the Deceptacons start raiding and stealing every piece of cybertronian reversible BC they can get their hot little hands on. To the exclusion of more tacticaly useful suplies.

Oh no, I actually had thoughts about it.

Everyone is on birth control. Even if few are able to support a full carriage, there's not enough resources to maintain a constant source of lab-cultured sentio metallico for potential sparklets. While sparklets are relatively easy to terminate, there still runs the risk of them maturing enough to cause spark burnout as they pull on their carrier's spark to sustain themselves.

Every single mech has baffles inserted his spark chamber. It ensures that spark energy can't reach a certain pitch and contains its perimeter. Because mechs with One Point Percenter sparks and sigma abilities have far higher outputs, they need a far more powerful blocker to go along with the baffle. It's easier than constantly changing a standard set out. Baffles also significantly reduces the spark charge that's naturally carried inside transfluid.

That's why Deadzone ran. He didn't expect to sire upon the pretty Camien that went with him. Sure, you have a violet spark, but he has a baffle!

And your high-energy spark burnt out the standard, and Deadzone freaked out with not one. Not two. But three potential newsparks.

Unfortunately, you and Tarn were so compatible in the aftermath of the "fake" wedding ceremony, Tarn's own dense and stupid-high energy resistance baffle was crispy black when Nickel fished it out. It crumbled to dust in her servos.

(And you were crying because what the hell?! You literally measured your own spark capacity after the first carriage! Tarn shouldn't have been able to spark you unless he carries that much charge to overcome your low state!)

So yeah, even Cybertronian birth control can fail with the right conditions...

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cloudyswritings · 4 months

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Of Whispers and Wyrms

I’ve just escaped the trenches(Ie cleaning aquariums) so y’all get to listen to my headcanons about Wyrms.

So by the events of Canon Wyrms(specifically those in their first bodies/incarnations) are extinct. In fact the pale king may have been the last to die according to Bardoon.

On that Bardoon quote actually, he says that the world is smaller with the Wyrms like gone. If my theory about the Wyrms effectively creating the wastes with the death of their larger selfs is right the pale king being the last to die could mean the wastes won’t expand anymore.

Most Wyrms are born gods or at very least higher beings, those that aren’t tend to be devoured in the nest by their clutch-mates.

Wyrms tend to have relatively large clutches, numbering in the hundreds to the thousands. However the young will generally consume eachother until only a few dozen remain and leave the nest. This kind of competition is fostered by the Wyrm-Dame who guards the nest until the young emerge fully.

Wyrms in the wild tend to communicate via low frequency growling and grinding noises. These noises travel vast distances through stone until they reach other wyrms. Moreover these noises are created by the grinding of specialized teeth in the throat of Wyrms, these teeth are also used as crushing teeth for processing denser mafic stones and some metals.

Wyrms mark their territory with both their light and extremely long lasting pheromones. They essentially impart their light into the edges of their territory by carving specific paths over and over until they’ve built i up a specific “afterglow”. This afterglow is the same one the godseekers comment on when you see the pale kings throne in godhome.

Wyrms are technically omnivores but in practice tend towards being carnivorous. They carve paths through the wastes that lesser beings(ie common bugs) use to traverse the wastes. However these paths are traps and Wyrms generally swallow entire caravans. Wyrms are also actually capable of deriving nutrition from the various stones, soils, and metal they consume when burrowing.

The outer shell of Wyrms are actually composed of a unique blend of metals accrued throughout its lifetime. In the case of the Pale King this metal was called pale ore and gave off a deep chill when handled. The composition of these metal amalgams varies wyrm to wyrm, but the metal itself is always deeply soaked in Light from the Wyrms.

When undergoing a molt Wyrms must split open this metal shell, this becomes more difficult with age, size, and thickness of the shell. Often times the way Wyrms die is actually becoming trapped within their own shells, unable to molt.

Generally after a successful molt a wyrm will consume its sloughed shell to reclaim its metals.

The reason Wyrms make kingdoms generally isn’t out of any desire to become a fair and just ruler. Most of the time when an wyrm creates a kingdom it has suffered a death recently and been forced to metamorphose into a smaller form(ie pale fork). Instead Wyrms make kingdoms as a means to feed their immense hunger. They grow the kingdom and ensure its prosperity before demanding sacrifices. Moreover once a kingdom has reached its peak size a wyrm will often begin the process of gathering soul and create a cocoon from which they can be reborn into a full sized wyrm once more. Once this is complete they “reap” or consume their kingdom in full and move on to richer hunting grounds.

The pale king was very much averse to this process and thought himself above the bestial hunger of his kin.

He was wrong of course…

Wyrms have a higher rate of Pale beings compared to other “species” of god. For example a Pale Moth higher being might be one in a billion while a Pale Wyrm is only one in a million.

The pale king consumed every single one of his clutch mates and incorporated their lights into his. It’s one of his biggest regrets, though his Dame was very proud indeed.

Each Light has a different quality and range to it. The Pale kings light is terribly cold but it falls far and deep. Spreading across even the wastes to a degree and burrowing deep into anything capable of holding it. In person exposure to his light can cause subtle mutations and the development of foresight to differing degrees, his light feels like being skewered and dissected but without the pain. It’s the feeling that something has changed in yourself, like someone rearranged your mental furniture and moved it all to the left by an inch. In theory I his light is even better equipped for fighting the shadows than the radiances. In theory.

Wyrms usually consume Roots on sight due to some half remembered incident during the beginning of the era of Bright Gods.

Wyrms might have a genetic memory of sorts? With the Wyrm-Dame taking the memories she wants from herself and the Sire and blending them to be passed on to her children.

Wyrms are very territorial and are only willing to share territory during mating. Once the Dame is sitting on her clutch all males, including the Sire are chased off. During this time period she won’t eat, but she may capture or kill weaker gods from the fringes of her territory to feed them to her clutch in hopes of making their lights stronger.

the Pale Kings Dame killed her partner, so in part the Pale King consumed his Sire, he doesn’t really remember this though, as he wasn’t even really sapient at that point.

Wyrms sometimes have a preference for what types of higher beings they feed their clutches, this can influence the resulting young and influence them towards certain qualities, depths, and ranges of Light.

The process of refining and defining the light of a Wyrm clutch is called prisming. Any offspring with muddled or weak lights are culled, generally by their siblings.

#hollow knight #hk pale king #speculative biology #headcanon #wyrms #worldbuilding #what do you think?#entomology #Damn another long one

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