tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post8410923588149873200..comments2024-03-17T13:46:21.353-04:00Comments on The Armchair Squid: Star Trek: Samaritan SnareThe Armchair Squidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-53811061959601620372020-07-12T10:58:40.110-04:002020-07-12T10:58:40.110-04:00I'm not ready to call "Samaritan Snare&qu...I'm not ready to call "Samaritan Snare" the worst of the season but only because I hated "The Schizoid Man" more.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-29296520802304477042020-07-11T08:06:18.821-04:002020-07-11T08:06:18.821-04:00I hated this episode and have probably not watched...I hated this episode and have probably not watched it in many years. That being said I sort of have the view that it was the Enterprise crew falling short on the situational intelligence.<br /><br />I vaguely remember Danna warning everyone that the apparent lack intelligence of the Pakleds was just the clumsiness of their language skills and/or a problem with the universal translator. That she could feel their language shortfalls hid a better than average intelligence trying to steal more advanced tech from any species they could take advantage of. <br /><br />A strategy terroristic in nature but with super-advanced starships warping all over the galaxy and more than eager to help the less fortunate, I could see humans pulling the same con-job.<br /><br />As for the Picard heart issue and Wesley's exams, those plot lines makes this one of the worst Star Trek episodes in the whole franchise for me. Star Trek: Enterprise caught a lot of crap by many fans for being terrible but I honestly do not remember any episodes on it being as bad as this one and the first season episode involving Tasha Yar and the all black planet. Commander Zaiushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11000824454124236774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-28582899597762806762020-07-10T22:53:13.176-04:002020-07-10T22:53:13.176-04:00That's it exactly. I feel like the Pakleds ar...That's it exactly. I feel like the Pakleds are meant to resemble the developmentally challenged and that's not cool.<br /><br />Goldenberg! Don't go thinking I haven't wondered. Here's what I found on Memory Alpha:<br /><br />Writer Robert L. McCullough explained the names of Grebnedlog and his subordinate Reginod: "These were names I learned in junior high school," McCullough explained. "My last name used to be Goldenberg and my best friend's was Donager, and we had a code of calling each other by our last names backwards."The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-74121880947213900742020-07-10T22:50:12.762-04:002020-07-10T22:50:12.762-04:00Certainly nice enough to get and keep steady work....Certainly nice enough to get and keep steady work.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-72636367430986820282020-07-10T22:12:40.185-04:002020-07-10T22:12:40.185-04:00I always had the uncomfortable feeling that the lo...I always had the uncomfortable feeling that the look and sound of the Pakleds were based on the mentally challenged character "Benny" from L.A. Law.<br /><br />But I had NO idea that Mr. Burns and Moe underwent a change in voice actors on the Simpsons! I watched that show religiously for its first 5 or 6 years. Hank Azaria stepped right in there seamlessly.<br /><br />But... who was Goldenberg?!Cygnushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10394890573443379954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-90535860696534710922020-07-10T20:16:18.073-04:002020-07-10T20:16:18.073-04:00Hank Azaria certainly has been.Hank Azaria certainly has been.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-48115685352747047252020-07-10T10:05:36.593-04:002020-07-10T10:05:36.593-04:00Geo! Always delighted to hear from you.
Agreed. ...Geo! Always delighted to hear from you.<br /><br />Agreed. The episode's saving grace is the conversation between Wes and Picard on the transport. The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-59926708371250157382020-07-10T04:54:24.227-04:002020-07-10T04:54:24.227-04:00Dear Squid, there was a subtlety to the writing on...Dear Squid, there was a subtlety to the writing on this episode that escaped me until I saw it in reruns. The deceptive simplicity of the Pakleds was off-set by some pretty impressive dialogue on the Enterprise:<br /><br />Ryker: Didn't I just say that?<br />Data: Yes sir, but not quite as perspicuously.<br /><br />I was born the same year as Grebnedlog but never caught the backward spelling (Good job on that, Squid!) but did finally run across the word, "perspicuously" in the dictionary. Picard's line to Wesley,"Open your mind to the past --art, history, philosophy--and all this may mean something." is pure gold. Geo.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16221314320558128986noreply@blogger.com