StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Since it was kicked around in the main sci-fi thread, and since Star Trek is most of what he does, an attempt to make a permanent thread to post and discuss Chuck Sonneburg's ST video reviews at His own site. Or on blip tv.

A couple days ago Chuck put up Clues. TNG's mystery episode with a Data-centric conspiracy. Sort of.

Before that, he reposted his old review of Voyager's [quote=http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/v821.asp]Initiations.[/quote]

Chuck redid his old review of Maneuvers though if there's any changes made I didn't see them.

Improbable Cause is up. 'The Die is cast follows in two days.

Part II comprising the end of Improbable Cause and the beginning of The Die Is Cast is up. Final part in II days,

Chuck address the whole planet blasting issue in this one, Which I guess is of interest to fans but sucked up time I thought could have been better used.

Chuck address the whole planet blasting issue in this one, Which I guess is of interest to fans but sucked up time I thought could have been better used.

You know when I was watching it I thought exactly the same, it seemed like padding for me, hardly a major issue that needed discussion really (imo).

Other than that looking forward to part 3, the rest of it has been excellent, he's even seemed to cut back on the "skits" he was trying too hard to insert in recently.


edit: clarification

I don't mind, with a three part review he has time to kill. Plus, taking 5-6 hours to blast away most of the planet really is overkill.

It never occurred to me til I watched this episode for the first time, but Odo plays an excellent straight man.

Die is Cast up! Before Chuck's review I hadn't really thought about the parallels with Caesar. In hindsight it seems really, really obvious.

Errand of Mercy is up.

I didn't watch much of the original series, but even I know the episode that introduced the Klingons, the Federation's first official war, and the resolution forced upon them by the Organians.

Plus, it has Kor, and Chuck is going through his appearances throughout the franchise.

I do wonder why he didn't do this one first and save Blood Oath for next.

Redid Alliances.

Sword of Kahless up.

There's an old movie, the Treasure of Sierra Madre, this episode always reminds me of. If you know it, it's probably for the stereotypical Mexican bandits:


but it's actually about a trio of gold miners, and how as their take grows they become steadily more paranoid about the safety of their share, and begin to wonder how a 50/50 split, or full hog likes them better. I suspect this episode was heavily inspired by the movie, even the end: a sword beamed into space, the gold dust scattered to the wind, is similar.

Once More Unto the Breech is up.

"Long live the Empire!" What a great way for Kor to go out.

Speaking of Cameos, Chuck shows up in Linkara's 200th episode
At the 14 minute 50 seconds mark in part 2, just a quick twenty second cameo. It's notable for only three reasons
(For context watch from 13 minutes 30 seconds for the start of the bit)
1. It's funny
2. Linkara has been talking up Chuck in his videos for about six months now and given TGWTG's history of crossovers I was wondering how long before he showed up in one of Linkara's videos
3. Cameras steal you soul

Chuck redid his review of Investigations. Don't know there was much of anything to add.

Every time I see Neelix's kitchen it makes me cringe. When does he ever look competent?

When standing next to an offscreen juggler?

Actually, it was pretty slick of him to remember the engineering override he heard and use it to his advantage. Or what seemed like his advantage at the time.

That doesn't say much about Federation computer security, however.

This is the TNG era. They forgot about computer security a very long time ago. A goodly fraction of TNG couldn't have happened if they hadn't.

Isolder74 wrote:That doesn't say much about Federation computer security, however.

I don't know. I went to a college where everyone was issued laptops, and the IT crew had their own password for when students would inevitably forget theirs. That much makes sense. Using the voice interface and saying the override code out loud all the time does not.

Ahriman238 wrote:

Isolder74 wrote:That doesn't say much about Federation computer security, however.

I don't know. I went to a college where everyone was issued laptops, and the IT crew had their own password for when students would inevitably forget theirs. That much makes sense. Using the voice interface and saying the override code out loud all the time does not.

Yeah, but I believe that the override codes is tied to the user's voice. When Data's "father" triggered him to come home, AFAIK, Data managed to use the override codes successfully because he also mimicked Picard's voice.

What we see with Neelix is an admin password not requiring a username to use it. That just lowers the level of security to a very low level. If it is imprinted to the user's voice then that means that Neelix was officially cleared to have it which makes it worse, not better. What makes it weirder is Neelix whispers the code when he uses like he's trying to hide that he knows it.

I work in IT so I know how the admin password system usually works and this is mind-numbingly poor security. It's like giving the grounds keeper general access to all of the campus systems. Hackers would love to have an admin system that only needs a password to get in.

What we see here means that there is basically no point in locking a workstation because anyone can just open it if they want to.

Isolder74 wrote:What we see with Neelix is an admin password not requiring a username to use it. That just lowers the level of security to a very low level. If it is imprinted to the user's voice then that means that Neelix was officially cleared to have it which makes it worse, not better. What makes it weirder is Neelix whispers the code when he uses like he's trying to hide that he knows it.

I work in IT so I know how the admin password system usually works and this is mind-numbingly poor security. It's like giving the grounds keeper general access to all of the campus systems. Hackers would love to have an admin system that only needs a password to get in.

What we see here means that there is basically no point in locking a workstation because anyone can just open it if they want to.

Only people who work in engineering (and perhaps security) and anyone competent enough to suss out the password. Of course, that list includes Neelix so... yeah. Everyone.

Carbon Creek is up. The touching tale of a pair of Vulcans who crash land on 21st Century Earth, get a job at a coal mine, and learn what it means to be human. As relayed by T'pol to a skeptical Arcehr and Tucker.

Chuck's redone Basics part 1 up. AKA, the episode with a Kazon suicide-bomber and the end to the Seska arc.

Whispers is today's episode

I'm sure we've heard exactly the same comparison about VGR/DS9's approach to filling in run time before.