Yeah, I think you’re right. On paper, this should be the show’s bread and butter. But the execution of this one is dull as dishwasher.

Okay, I haven’t watched this one yet. Mainly, I haven’t had time, but I have to admit, I haven’t gone out of my way to make time.

It’s bad. I think it’s probably the worst episode of the revival. It commits what for me is the cardinal sin, which is to be boring. Really, really boring.

In a way, I’m looking forward to revisiting it, just to try to figure out how and why it’s so boring. But it likely won’t be today.

That’s a good question. There have been two attempts at targeting younger viewers in recent years, and neither seems to have made enough of an impact to stick around.

And I don’t think it’s a question of quality - Prodigy and Academy were both quite enjoyable.

I think an important difference is the characters’ motivations, though - for Reeger, it’s personal, while Ramsey in “Crimson Tide” is merely hawkish and reckless.

Holy false equivalency, Batman!

At one point, it sounded like Paramount+ was pretty high on the idea.

Unfortunately, that was 2 or 3 regime changes ago.

It also lays a foundation for his actions to (arguably) come back to bite him in the ass in “Balance of Terror,” when (presumably) the same Romulan ship reappears and starts wiping out colonies. I’ll leave it up for debate whether this is a good thing.

I’m guessing this episode drawing from old war films, in particular I am getting flavours of submarine hunts, chasing after wakes, and handling big questions of WMDs, the sanity of the chain of command.

Maybe it’s just because the writers of the (alleged) next Trek film have been talking about it, but I did think of “Crimson Tide” several times during this one.

A’Sha leaving is fine, I guess, she didn’t feel very present throughout the season anyway.

I can’t help but think there’s still more to come with her - they haven’t dropped her off yet, after all. Something about it seems unfinished, somehow.

A pretty good episode that got a lot more interesting in the final act.

For the most part, it came off as a story that we’ve seen before, albeit a well-told one. But the reveal that Kirk drugged Reeger in order to make him unfit for commend is a genuinely compelling idea, as is the idea that M’Benga just torpedoed his career to cover it up.

The B-plot was decent, too - it was good to see Uhura do some ass-kicking.

They sure do like to talk about the Klingon War as if it’s ancient history when it only ended about five years ago, though.

Indeed, it’s the name of the entire video series. I think he’s done three of them now?

Until next year.

We are, but I don’t think any country on Earth believes that drones are the solution to every problem. Ukraine has revolutionized drone warfare, but even they are actively working to get new planes.

I don’t believe there is a kill switch, but the basic truth is that they don’t need one - the Americans control the maintenance pipeline, which is just as effective.

As much as I love the Arrow, I think there’s a case for the cancellation - the tide was starting to turn against dedicated interceptors, as the article notes.

But there’s no excuse at all for the absolute gutting of the domestic industry that followed.

Quarries.

I’m NOT a defense analyst, professional or amateur.

Me neither, not by a long shot. From the various analyses I’ve consumed over the last few months, the suggestion is that the F35 is superior if you’re attacking another country, but the Gripens just might have the edge defensively.

Our airstrips, maintenance facilities, fuel depots, all of it would be targeted and destroyed first.

This arguably gives the Gripen an edge, since its most famous feature is that it can be deployed relatively easily from highways and other non-standard surfaces.

But yeah, if you set aside the issue of American relations, there are some pretty big questions of doctrine to sort out.

I saw an article a few days ago that said that sales of physical media (specifically CDs, IIRC) are up significantly, but there doesn’t seem to be a corresponding decrease in streaming popularity.

That piece suggested that the “collectible” factor may be greater than any streaming backlash.

BRB renaming the instance

“I like ‘Love & Monsters’” might be the most unpopular unpopular opinion of all time, but…dammit, I like “Love & Monsters.” You know, mostly.

It might actually be the most RTD episode of all time, for better or worse.

It’s silly. I think the comedy works quite well, through a combination of the writing and the casting. I feel like RTD has a real knack for making the supporting characters of a story seem like real people, rather than plot devices. Every single member of LInDA seems like a living, breathing person to me, and I care about this band of weirdos almost immediately. Even Victor Kennedy has a slimy charisma to him. Marc Warren plays Elton perfectly as a dopey doofus stumbling through life. The madcap farce of it all works incredibly well for me.

It’s tragic. The episode is packed with ideas about found family, and about not realizing what you have until you’ve lost it. The evolution of LInDA from a group of people with a single goal to a tight gang of friends, which is then disrupted by a newcomer with bad intentions, is great to watch play out. Elton stumbling through it all, realizing too late that he’s become a villain in his manipulation of Jackie Tyler is great, too. The members of LInDA are eliminated one by one in a classicly bloodthirsty RTD fashion. It toys with the idea of people who touch the Doctor getting burned in general, and lays the groundwork for Rose’s impending doom in particular. In the process, it gives Rose perhaps her finest moment to date, turning from furious to sympathetic as she begins to understand some of what Elton has experienced.

And then it’s almost entirely undermined by the terrible decision to have Ursula…survive, I guess? And then tack on a pretty gross joke at the end.

Cut out the last three or four minutes, and I think we’d have a classic on our hands. In the end, it can be nothing more than a guilty pleasure.

Bit of a mixed bag.

reduce duplicative work

Never a bad thing.

and operative costs

Red flag when you’re not also talking about the efficiency and quality of the work being done.

strengthen digital sovereignty and security

I don’t think anyone’s going to argue with that.