cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/792370
I think Under the Cloak of War has broken into my top 10 episodes of all time.
Seeing Chapel and M’Benga’s struggle with having the Klingon responsible for one of the most traumatic moments in their life aboard the ship was tough to watch.
The performances from Jess Bush and Babs Olusanmokun were absolutely perfect in conveying their deep hatred for man they are being told by Starfleet is now an ally.
I wasn’t a fan of M’Benga but after today he, along with Chapel are possibly my favourite characters on the show. I still can’t got on board with Ortegas though, sorry.
I don’t understand, what’s hard to like about ortegas? She’s exactly what I’d expect a hotshot pilot to be like.
100% agree. She’s got a confidence that is often annoying, but I think that’s the point. She thinks she’s hot shit (and maybe she is – she’s at least a competent pilot).
I see her as a kind of version of (early) Tom Paris.
She’s a more seasoned pilot by far than early Tom Paris.
But she’s exactly what I expect and know experienced combat pilots to be like. Some are sober and subdued like Sulu or Detmer, but the in your face types are common and tolerated.
She’s a human being, starfleet has very few of those.
@darth_helmet @47_alpha_tango I like Ortegas a lot, but I think it is kinda silly that a huge starship would need (or could use) a hotshot pilot. The ship is like an aircraft carrier, which generally don’t make fancy moves.
This is something that’s been a problem with space combat in media forever. It’s the size of an aircraft carrier, but combat is more exciting if we pretend that everything in space maneuvers like a fighter jet.
Pretty much only The Expanse gets that stuff right.
I mean, it’s a ship with shields, inertial dampeners, and a super fusion power source. It can maneuver and is fast.
The astronauts in the ISS predominantly conduct science research and maintain the station. The only maneuvering it does is orienting itself for thermal management, orbit raising and occasional collision avoidance. A ship like Dragon 2 is highly automated. Yet a lot of astronauts are still pilots and many from the military.
Nobody would be surprised to travel on a commercial aircraft flown by an ex-military pilot.
Star Trek space combat doesn’t seem very realistic but I can understand the value of having an experienced pilot who can function under pressure. It makes a hell of a lot more sense than handing the helm of the flagship full of families over to an unqualified teenage Wesley Crusher. Picard was fortunate there aren’t more mountains in space or that could have turned out like Aeroflot 593.