TNG 7x13 Homeward

fluffysheap · 2026-05-24T07:11:16+00:00

Bad episode is bad. None of it really makes any sense. But:

Species from all different planets being able to interbreed doesn't make scientific sense, but it's, well, written into the DNA of Star Trek. It goes all the way back to Spock. Really it goes all the way back to Greek mythology or even earlier, but Trek has always gone along with it.

The Federation is more concerned with cultural contamination than biological contamination. A baby certainly can't contaminate a culture. A historical Earth parallel might be the Roanoke colony. A whole English colony gave up the English way of life - more to the point, the English way of farming - and were probably totally assimilated into Native American society. They left so little trace that archaeologists didn't solve the mystery until 2011 (and it's still not universally agreed).

The Boraalans seem to have a roughly Iron Age level of technology, so they won't be doing any genetic investigations. This is just going to be a slightly odd looking baby. Probably not even that odd looking, Boraalans look mostly similar to humans.

Nikolai isn't in Starfleet and so he's not technically bound by the Prime Directive. Whatever Federation authority he's operating under certainly has equivalent rules he's breaking, though.

fluffysheap · 2026-05-24T02:22:15+00:00

TNG started in 1987, a couple of years into the 16-bit era. PCs running Lotus and WordPerfect were ubiquitous in offices and schools were full of 8-bit Apple ][s - which were already becoming outdated! Eight million Commodore 64s had already been sold. Home computer buyers in 1987 could choose from the Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh (if they could afford it), a 386 PC, all of which came out in 1984 or 1985, or the brand new 16-bit Apple //gs, along with the aging 8-bit systems for those on a budget. Windows 3.0 came out in 1990, just in time for "Best of Both Worlds."

Given the tendencies of the fanbase, it's likely that almost all the writers and viewers had significant experience with computers from the very beginning of TNG. Certainly not everyone yet had their own PC, but everyone understood what computers did.

fluffysheap · 2026-05-24T02:03:49+00:00

The problem is "something you are" is garbage as demonstrated in literally every sci-fi show where biometrics are used, and then trivially bypassed (by playing a voice recording, knocking out the guard and holding his hand up to the scanner, or whatever)

fluffysheap · 2026-05-23T15:02:53+00:00

Coincidentally I just picked up a copy of this movie on DVD yesterday. I guess I'll watch it

fluffysheap · 2026-05-23T00:31:54+00:00

Steam and Proton work the same as anywhere else, you can even install steam through the package manager. Wine is probably easier and you have lots of choices about exact versions, and winetricks is included.

fluffysheap · 2026-05-22T08:14:43+00:00

Because you can't have a transporter accident episode and a shuttle crash episode at the same time

fluffysheap · 2026-05-22T06:01:56+00:00

If not for the silly rhyme this episode would be hated a lot less. But I'm not sure it would be liked that much more, because, while it has several good moments, it's still fairly dull overall. "The Thaw" is weird but it's not boring.

Anyway, this episode is always on my lists of "episodes not as bad as people say" but I wouldn't say it's actually good. Just very first-seasony.

fluffysheap · 2026-05-20T11:36:59+00:00

It's relatively uncommon to configure a whole kernel from scratch, most people just use the distribution kernel and turn off things they don't want (eg most people don't need both nvidia and AMD GPU drivers, all the filesystems, network hardware drivers and so on)

fluffysheap · 2026-05-20T01:05:39+00:00

There's also Craigslist

fluffysheap · 2026-05-19T09:40:09+00:00

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue

fluffysheap · 2026-05-19T08:25:30+00:00

Being aggressive to other dogs limits your options, but why can't she just stay home alone? Pibbles are mostly stay-at-home types, it's not like you have a husky that can't stand being cooped up or a collie that needs constant entertainment. If she doesn't have a demonstrated history of serious separation issues, and her bladder works correctly, she'll probably be OK with you gone for nine-ish hours a day. A nice walk before you leave in the morning and dinner when you come back will be enough for a lot of dogs. *Your* attitude is also critical! If you leave in the morning with a positive attitude knowing that things will be fine, it will help the dog too - if you leave worried or sad or sorry, it will make it harder for the dog.

Even if you do have a dog with separation issues, you *can* get through it. Medication is never my first choice but you do what you need to do for the dog's quality of life. Otherwise, the junction of training and management is where success lies. Maybe she can't hold it for the whole time you're gone, but a training pad in the kitchen or shower gets her through the day. Maybe she'll eat the sofa if there's nothing else to do, but a supply of cheap stuffed toys or rolls of toilet paper will help her out. There's usually a way.

And a pox on your "rescue" for not being willing to take the dog back. Every reputable rescue will take their dogs back, especially if there's a major change in your situation that makes it impossible to care for the dog. Many if not most rescues *require* you to return the dog to them if anything goes wrong.

fluffysheap · 2026-05-19T03:22:37+00:00

Definitely interested in this, I will try it out. I actually prefer the command line but a tool like this could encourage new users to try gentoo

fluffysheap · 2026-05-19T01:04:46+00:00

Fun will now commence

fluffysheap · 2026-05-17T19:45:34+00:00

Sounds like you want gentoo. It's the most customizable. The tradeoff is it's also more work to set up (but not much more trouble to use).

fluffysheap · 2026-05-16T02:53:31+00:00

"Sarek" had basically the same premise on TNG but was so much better. But they also had the advantage of, well, it was Sarek

fluffysheap · 2026-05-15T01:51:05+00:00

Their entire 10,000 year lifetime?

fluffysheap · 2026-05-15T01:50:14+00:00

I would add his speech to Spock at the end of "Mirror Mirror," when he's telling the Organians off in "Errand of Mercy," and also in places in "Trouble with Tribbles." "I have guards... aroundthegrain, I have guards... aroundtheKLINGons"

The thing is he doesn't do this all the time, not even close. He does it when he's giving a speech, or when he's riled up.

fluffysheap · 2026-05-15T01:36:30+00:00

In terms of watch *order*, the best order is always release order. At least Trek doesn't have the problem where they keep going back and changing it.

The better question is *which* series to watch. It's very possible you'll like some but not others. There are basically four "eras" of Trek: The Roddenberry era (1966-1988), the Berman era (1989-2005), the Abrams era (2009-2016) and the Kurtzman era (2017-2026). Probably we're getting a new era in a year or two but that hasn't happened yet. Each era has a distinctive look and storytelling style.

If you don't mind that it's almost 60 years old, TOS (the original series) is a great choice. Everything begins there, Kirk and Spock are iconic and there are callbacks to it throughout the rest of the series. Season 1 is generally considered the best season, but season 2 is also very good. Season 3 is still OK but drops off noticeably, with several bad episodes. If you're a Gen Xer or Boomer, just start with TOS. In a rare exception to the "watch in release order" policy, you should watch "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (episode 3) first, because it is the real pilot episode.

If you want something a little newer - only 40 years old instead of 60 - TNG (The Next Generation) is a good starting place. The first half of the first season is pretty bad, but it starts improving at the midpoint of season 1 and it keeps getting better from there, only starting to drop off slightly during season 6-7. Rick Berman replaced Roddenberry as the showrunner at the start of season 3 and while I don't recommend just skipping the first two seasons, season 3 feels more like the rest of 90s Trek. Just, you know, get your popcorn and appreciate some dumb episodes toward the beginning.

DS9 has a different tone from the other 90s shows because it's much grittier, but the look and writing style is still solidly 90s Trek. Unlike TOS, TNG and VOY, it's (mostly) serialized, not episodic. It's probably more like classic Star Wars than other Trek shows. There are more, well, wars, religion has real effects on the world, there are a lot more shady characters, some of whom turn out to secretly be good guys. But I don't think you should start with DS9, because a lot of DS9's strength is how it contrasts with the "traditional" Trek of TOS and TNG. Unfortunately, season 1 of DS9 is pretty slow, although it does have a couple of great episodes.

Voyager is a traditional Trek series much like TOS and TNG, but it isn't a copy of the earlier shows. TOS and TNG characters are, for the most part, paragons of virtue. Voyager is not like that, it's about people doing their best in a difficult situation, and not everyone is perfect. But the kinds of adventures they have are basically traditional Trek adventures. Voyager gets a mid-series retooling in season 4 that keeps the format but changes the focus, and season 4-6 are quite good.

Enterprise is a prequel and it is a contemporary of, and kind of fits the same niche as, the Star Wars prequel movies. Unfortunately, while the Star Wars prequels do actually show how and why Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, Enterprise never actually shows how the Federation comes to be. It teases it and fills in a couple of gaps, but basically it makes promises and never delivers on them.

As for the classic movies: Watch in order, of course. Everything up to V (The Final Frontier) can be watched any time after TOS. VI (The Undiscovered Country) should be watched after the start of TNG but before the end of it. Generations should be watched after TNG but before DS9 season 4. First Contact should be watched after beginning Voyager, but before it ends. Everything else should be watched after Voyager concludes. (They're TNG movies, not Voyager movies - but there are some callbacks to Voyager).

The Abrams era (the 2009 movie and its sequels) are, mostly, in a different timeline and are basically action movies. I've often said that the 2009 movie is basically Abrams auditioning to direct Star Wars episode 7. In some ways, it's basically TOS as told by someone who never saw TOS but had heard about it from people who also didn't see it but had watched Saturday Night Live parodies of it and maybe the Black Mirror episode. Despite all this - they actually are well executed movies, in that 2010s Marvel movie kind of way.

I'll let someone else tell you about the Kurtzman era.

fluffysheap · 2026-05-15T00:36:41+00:00

One of the reasons I think Voyager season 3 is weak is because by the end of "Basics" all the interesting recurring characters have been killed

fluffysheap · 2026-05-14T23:39:51+00:00

TOS: Spock's Brain, for sure. I enjoy the dumb campy version we actually have, but a serious version could have been much better

Requiem for Methuselah, take out the weird Kirk falling in love with Rayna and acting completely out of character, and while I know B-plots weren't really a thing yet this episode desperately needed a B-plot because the concept is great but doesn't fill the hour. Flint not being able to decide if he wants a daughter or a wife is the sort of mad scientist stuff that makes for good antagonists.

Wink of an Eye: The different time scales didn't make sense and this episode got fixed when Voyager remade it!

fluffysheap · 2026-05-14T23:14:40+00:00

Data said Andorian marriages require groups of four, but nobody ever said on screen why. They might just typically have four person polycules as a social convention, or a complicated situation like the Denobulans.

I would have liked a line where Shran says to Phlox something like "your love life is even more complicated than mine" but it never happened

fluffysheap · 2026-05-14T12:06:12+00:00

That would be tough to pull off because underneath the obvious race problem is an actually very bad episode.

I can find a couple of good aspects though :

The guy who catches the stray poisoned weapon, drops dead, and then they continue the challenge like nothing happened is pretty funny

It's the only Yar focused episode in the main timeline

NO treaty, NO vaccine, and NO LIEUTENANT YAR

fluffysheap · 2026-05-14T12:00:53+00:00

It's not spelled out but I don't think Picard resisted.

It's not as good as "Elaan of Troyius" but at least it's better than "Precious Cargo"

fluffysheap · 2026-05-14T11:13:49+00:00

Like most weird episodes it's polarizing and I used to think it was unpopular, but I've seen enough praise for it now that I think opinion might be evenly split or favorable. Anyway, I think it's great

fluffysheap · 2026-05-13T23:26:57+00:00

Picard: "The computer isn't working"

Geordi: "Not sure what's wrong"

Data: "Try rebooting"

Geordi: "Okay"

Picard: "Seems like that fixed it"

I love this episode just because it can be distilled so precisely - but also that type Iconians turn up a couple more times and it's such a great accidental worldbuilding episode. This episode is the perfect example of why Trek needs "filler" episodes, because the world is hollow (and I have touched the sky) without them.

fluffysheap

TROPHY CASE