Yeah, it's a fine line. I was always angry at how Troi was written, so I interpreted the criticisms as being anti-writer, since that was where I was coming from. But I can see them coming across as anti-Troi if one wasn't coming from that perspective.

@avclub-bca3531762af8a993c4f60c48fd5e33b:disqus I think this comment section is ample evidence that the audience read the episode in a variety of ways. Sometimes people felt sympathetic to the Skrreeans, other times they found them ridiculously unsympathetic. To me that indicates success in complicating the audience's…

Meridian is the Platonic ideal of the shit I'm talking about. "Do those spots go all the way down?" "OKAY ABANDONING MY CAREER NOW"

Oh man, this was actually my favorite thing about the episode. I think it maybe worked a little too well. Why exactly do those things make them less sympathetic? Why do some viewers get so worked up about how "dirty" the Skrreeans seem? It's not relevant to the central Bajor problem or the arguments made by and…

This is basically the problem with every single "Romance of the Week" plot in both TNG and DS9. It's such a box to write yourself into: you have one hour to convince us that this character we know well is madly in love with some nobody we never heard of, GO! For one thing, you know it's going to end before the…

I dunno. People seem to have pretty varied interpretations of whose side the episode wanted them to be on. Maybe that's just what happens when you succeed at presenting both sides as sympathetic.

Or we could just kill our time on the internet instead.

My boyfriend watches it. He's pretty much got a stable of low-impact shows in various genres (NCIS, Grimm, Leverage, etc) that he Tivos up and picks through when he's watching TV by himself. He tends to save more complicated shows for when we watch TV together. I would guess that the majority of TV viewing falls under…

Eric Stoltz's performance as Marty McFly was so magnificent that it permanently improved the cultural status of science fiction actors.

I've been rewatching Mad Men and reading recaps along with it. There was a similar reaction to Vincent Kartheiser at the beginning of that show: many viewers thought he was a really bad, over-the-top actor, until it turned out that he was playing the hell out of a character who's a really bad, over-the-top poseur.

@avclub-bd847fd835b2c6025557898b6aff7b2d:disqus Agreed on The Alternate, and the whole Odo/Mora thread in general. They keep chickening out on the abuse themes and making it more about "oh ho, families not getting along." It's less dramatic, and has disturbing consequences: Odo's friends keep acting like he's being…

I TOO COME FROM THE FUTURE! I'm really pleased at how well things turned out for you and your bottle of champagne.

I think it also has to do with the nature of a capitalist mindset itself. Ferengi aren't particularly evangelical about their beliefs because they see everyone as a customer, and you gotta flatter your customers, not berate them. Besides, you don't want to create competition.

I think it's more the "man" part than the "ambiguity" part. It's pretty refreshing how no-big-deal they make Dax's bisexuality down the line, but then, she's a hot lady.

@avclub-bbb3af3d466d7231aa738ff95762091d:disqus Okay, I've always wondered this: is it the alt-text or the title tag that screen readers use? Because I think most browsers actually use the title tag for mouse-over text, and you can have something different in the alt-text tag. I always thought that was a way to sneak…

VAGUE SPOILERS

Yeah, not developing self awareness is kind of the defining quality of teenagers. Especially when it comes to thinking you have it harder than everyone else.

Had the same experience in high school, also in the 90's. I think the cheerleaders were the kind of girls who were in lots of clubs. Definitely not cool. My guess is that cheerleading lost its appeal as girls got more involved in sports. Is there a sense among The Kids now that cheerleaders are people who didn't make…

One of the reasons I love Fringe is that it strikes such odd tones. One of those odd tones that it often returns to is lush sentimentality undercut by something horrific happening nearby. The purpose may only be to make your experience of the sentimental parts feel strange, and I think as far as that goes it was…

What I'm hearing is that when you see another guy get praised for his looks, you assume there are shenanigans afoot. You can't see it, but I'm steepling my hands under my chin right now.