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Have you ever considered that the Prime Directive is not only not ethical, but also illogical, and perhaps morally indefensible?

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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • This is a pretty average episode, and I don’t have a good sense for what people think of it in general, but I’ve always been fond of it for one reason: the domestic approach.

    Eddie Connolly is an absolute cartoon character, but he’s a type of stock character that I like a lot. A petty tyrant in his own home, clearly a product of older times that are coming to an end, likely having experienced a fair amount of wartime trauma, who ultimately gets his comeuppance. Jamie Foreman’s performance is a little over-the-top, but in a way, that makes it work even better for me. He’s got so much impotent bluster, it really paints a picture. To a lesser extent, this expands out to the overall setting - this is a society in transition, and there’s a palpable tug-of-war between the old and the new that I find compelling.

    The core plot with the Wire? Adequate. It does what it needs to do, and not much more. Maureen Lipman plays the character well, and the notion that the Wire was “executed” by their own people is interesting, but there’s not a lot to chew on.

    Mark Gatiss seems to have a really good grasp of who the Tenth Doctor and Rose are - their dialogue, both together and separately, has a lot of energy. A fun random bit that I’m not sure I noticed before: when the Doctor is cornered by the police and does the bit about wrapping your hand around your elbow, the goon in the background tries it while Detective Inspector Bishop is trying to act intimidating.

    Using an historic television signal to transmit to the masses is a good idea. Maybe the Doctor should keep that one in mind.













  • Well, I thought that was quite enjoyable.

    The black-and-white gimmick was well-used, and I felt it in service of the story, and not just a gimmick.

    The story itself was an enjoyable noir caper, and it was fun to see Una getting her hands dirty, Uhura learning about spycraft, and M’Benga being entirely too comfortable with the whole thing. The guest cast was pretty great, too - I last saw Andy McQueen as Jesus Christ himself in “Mrs. Davis”, a show that no one seems to have watched, and it was cool to see him in a very different role here.

    Demore Barnes was very compelling as Kor…but the gravitas he brought to it was so reminiscent of Michael Ansara to me, I almost wonder if he should have played Kang instead.