Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
So I'm just going to come out and say it: My favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation is "Conundrum." It's episode fourteen of season five, and I just deeply love it.
I don't know if it's because I literally just assumed Erich Anderson's Commander McDuff was a random Enterprise officer of the week (which we saw quite often during the show) when I watched it as a kid during the original run, so the twist actually worked on eleven year old me. I don't know if it's because I just like a good "everyone has amnesia" story. I don't even know if it's just because it's a good Ro Laren episode. I don't know if it's just because we learn that Starfleet doesn't give a crap about lasers.
I just like it. It's neat.
And I rewatched it last night, and feel that it holds up -- which is why I found it deeply weird that the folks who wrote the episode actually think it's not that good. My favorite episode of the entire seven season run of the show was a failure according to the folks who wrote it.
And maybe, as a writer and creator, I should remember that.
Like the hardest part of releasing creative works to the public is that often, after a while, I'll start to judge those things far more harshly than when I first made them. Or I'll compare it to the potential I thought an idea had in my head. And if I don't reach that potential, I'll think of it as "bad" -- when it might just be slightly different than that idea. I have one hundred percent published stories that I thought were just sort of okay and later had someone tell me how much it meant to them to read it.
*cough*I Hate November*cough*
So I should make sure I remember Conundrum. That one of my favorite things to rewatch is considered one of those failures by its creators. That the things I make might have value, just not in the way I originally thought they should.
It's just sort of how things work out.
Remember that on April 5th at 11AM Eastern/10AM Central you can join me for the Critical Thinking Witches' Collective's April Brew virtual event! Attendance is free, and you can register here!
![Nerd & Tie[dot]Social Forums](https://www.nerdandtie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/natsocial-nicepreview-square-300x300.png)
That doubt-related benefit I’ve been giving you is fading, Terrence!
‘We have several potential locations, but we won’t know which one is appropriate to use until we know when it will be, and what sort of stuff we’ll need to display, not to mention how much of it. ‘When’ will be some time after we have things donated. Which at the current rate will be sometime in the 23rd century. Promotion will depend on when and where it’s held, and what sort of stuff we’re promoting.’
Not sure I’m getting what most people are from this arc. Frankly, as much of an ass as Terrence is I’m more thinking that if I was him my reply would be something like, “K… you realize that I knew jack shiat about this stuff, no idea what I’m doing, where, how, or anything else – and y’all have been off in your own little corners doing other shiat so….. you were expecting WHAT again?”
Sure, he’s a jackhole, but when you grab someone, toss them into a pool and yell “Swim!” and walk away – well don’t be disappointed if they don’t do well at all.
(Safety note: make sure to avoid any cameras/witnesses, you don’t want extra evidence for the inevitable wrongful death lawsuit.)
I need to install “like” buttons on comments here…