It tries to be fun, but some of the jokes didn’t land. That said, I’m not going to fault them for trying “The Hangover” in Space as it feels like at least it’s something different and not so much by committee, and I still enjoyed most of the episodes. This is probably the best of the very rare “Ortegas Episodes” and I particularly liked seeing an “It’s green” scene yet again.

I think the only ones who wouldn’t inherently trust a Star Trek fan over a Star Wars fan are the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit circa 2005.

Ah, yes. We’ve all asked for this.

That awkward moment when you lock eyes and see the driver slowly back up out of the crossing.

Considering her half Lanthanite heritage with a long lifespan, I was left wondering why Ake also didn’t stay to raise Sam in the time dilated planet. They never address it, but I suppose it’s just unspokenly weird to suggest to co-parent a child with your subordinate coworker.

The Deus Ex Transportia near the end felt like a copout, like they couldn’t really figure a proper ending for the incident’s culmination before showing some aftermath.

It doesn’t matter that I love Doctor Who so much that it’s been inspiring my username for a decade and a half, that reference in this episode felt too out of pocket.

I didn’t like the time loop with such big stakes, but overall I liked this episode and the diplomatic A-plot. The scene regarding Translator mishaps was my favorite.

Also, I know feathers on Dinos is a bit of a hot button issue, but was it even the case for therapods?

Yeah, the T-Rex thing could’ve just been convergent evolution, like with cough cough all the humanoids. Plus, how’d they know about the Martians after the Enterprise was tethered?

Usually Star Trek takes a little more than the first season to get good but this did it somewhat early.

The B-plot with the ambassadorial dinner thing felt a bit incomplete, and too comic-relief without quite landing. I guess it might keep going with the next episode, but overall this one was a decent exploration about the expectations of life and bearing being thrust into a role.

Thok moving of the piece of clothing to the side had me really chuckling.

I see they decided to address the more foul Language in this show compared to other Star Treks. I would have liked if it was addressed as a cultural shift regarding the evolution of language over centuries but instead they “Effed it up.”

I never really took debate in school, but is that really how it goes? One student winner debating everyone for practice until they “lose?” Constant citations of things like they were called out anime punches? It seemed more like it school debate as written by someone who never did a debate club/class, but I never took one neither so I felt I should ask.

I think I might have liked this series more if it came out like 15 years ago. Right now it just comes off as immature and overly quirky/comedic.

Protostar mentioned! A little too much Shakey Cam. A little too much swearing. Cuss words still feel weird in Star Trek. Sound mixing in the Xenomythology scene of Episode 2 felt off. So, did they forgo green makeup for some of the Orions(?) because it’s hard to apply? Some of those looked digitally colored. Apparently, they heavily considered making Gamora blue instead of green because of such problems with application, so I don’t blame them. Episode 2 got real cheesy near the end. I’m glad to see a love for what seems to be all of trek, with cameos of species like Brikar from Prodigy, the Exocomp, old style Klingons, DS9, and so on. Overall though, it just seems like the priorities are skewed and much of it looks kind of cheap.

Finally an Ortegas episode that isn’t a simple “I fly the ship.”

I was worried that a high five was relegated to habits of the ancient past when the Lanthanite was initiating with no reciprocation, but then the post credits scene with Spock teaching human mannerisms showed it’s still a thing.

When I noticed that this week’s intro was being done in a Vulcan manner, I was hoping they would take the opportunity to fix the infamous grammatical mistake¹ and say “to go boldly” with an unsplit infinitive just this once.

Vulcan Pike’s hair reminds me of my old Dark Eldar figures.

I was wondering if the federation ban on advantageous genetic manipulation would have been implemented as a rule to stop the “four Vulcans” from choosing to remain Vulcan, but the episode didn’t go there.

I found the use of bacon/cheese/animal products a little un-Trek-like in this episode. Comments against veganism felt a little weird in an era of food synthesizers and the general vision of “we don’t enslave animals for food.” It’s not like vegan food is disgusting. Spock confirmed humans still eat inordinate amounts of cheese and meat with implications that it’s often to the point that it’s unhealthy. Is it still illogical to have some animal protein if it’s problems regarding ecological efficiency are a solved issue (beyond the saturated fat and caloric arguments)? IDK, something felt off.

I didn’t appreciate that despite the extra long (and extra long feeling) runtime of this one they had three of the Vulcans return to human off screen. I was kind of hoping for a Steven Universe type situation where they emotionally explore the core of these beloved characters and get reminded of who they are.

Overall, this episode was pretty cringe inducing. I’m kind of shocked to say I straight up did not like this episode. The secondhand embarrassment was too much for me to handle. Painfully unfunny scenes went for too long. The conflict resolution wasn’t to my liking, feeling like a missed opportunity to explore character instead going for cheap gags—dinner with the boss sitcom, overbearing girlfriend, lie holding up more lies until the lies implode, pretending to be married, “we want our jerk back”—stuff we’ve seen thousands of times. I wasn’t a big fan of the previous episode either so I’m just kind of put off that they’ve had two “duds” in a row where SNW usually had bangers in my opinion. Maybe I’ll be kinder to this one upon a rewatch.

What even is he eating? A taco?

I was hoping they’d “fix” the infamous grammatical error and say “to go boldly” for this one.

Bold choice to have an in universe documentary made by an in universe bad/unprofessional documentarian. It makes the episode feel bad.

Also feels like 10 or so minutes were redacted considering the short length.

The first time in a decade where the sci-fi protagonists were wearing visored helmets that weren’t transparent and lighting up their faces – at least until the visor magically folded away.

Minor pet peeve to have, I know. I imagine the choice wasn’t director induced and more something regarding stunt coordination but I wouldn’t rule out thematically mirroring the faceless unempathic enemy.

add +2 to the “some sort/kind of” count

La’an saying “fascinating” makes me wonder if Spock is rubbing off on her.

For some reason I knew Pelia was going to say “heebie jeebies”