Official "Diplomatic Relations 1x03" review thread Options

[TheWriter]

The long-delayed third episode of Star Trek: Diplomatic Relations has finally been released!

Please share your thoughts and reviews for this episode, and be sure to vote in our poll!

[awayteam]

Just finished listening. Alex did a great job of writing this ep.

It always amazes me that people flung far and wide can step into character and deliver performances that exactly matches the writers intent and mood.
It pays tribute to clarity and skill of the writer.

To that let me say . Writing A+

Mr. Hill... Great job mixing and editing. A+

I won't comment much on the acting, as I voice Kree Ho, but... Damn, I loved hearing it all together.

Love and kisses to all the players in ST:DR

Mike

[BlueCatShip]

Prior to listening to 103, a comment on 102.

Episode 102, "Agrément," gives us a look into the backstory and tells us a little about the characters and the groups, Federation embassy and Tahn'Los people alike. This starts filling in from the two-part first episode.

During all the other goings-on, I had to smile at the fan reference, as a sick little boy says, "I want my mummy. Have you seen my mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Where's my mummy?" Of course, it's a nod to Doctor Who and Torchwood, one of their best and most effective episodes. When I got to the credits at the end and discovered the boy's named Ben Hudson, Michael Hudson's son, I had to smile again, since I'm another Ben.

Fan series have to be careful about references like that, to keep from breaking the fourth wall, mostly, but it was very fitting for the episode. Of course, most kids say almost the same thing when they don't feel good.

The two-part 101 and then 102 do a fair job of setting up the world and characters for us.

I'd add, I like the point of having a continuing Vulcan character who has a differing opinion and can be right or wrong. It's a good counter to the archetype of Spock. (Likewise, the ambassador in Enterprise, or Sarek or T'Pau from TOS.)

I'm about to listen to 103!

[BlueCatShip]

Wow, good episode. A lot in there and only a few places it could've moved a little more evenly or faster.

Plot -- Thickens quickly. This begins tackling the messy subject of what to do when this new Federation member planet doesn't adhere to Federation laws in a major way, but it's too late to extricate from the situation. There are claims from those in power and those ruled, owned, that aw, gosh, we're really not being oppressed...much...maybe. The teenager might be a char. to revisit later. What he felt then, what he actually feels, and what he may feel later, are not all the same.

I liked seeing that these people have skills beyond what's on their résumé, such as the official who cites his misspent youth, while hacking into the building's communications. Good bit.

Big reveal at the end of the episode. Oh my!

Cooperation by Second Rep. Ti'Maat during the crisis, interesting, gives dimension to the interactions.

The angry political group (terrorists) killing innocent people they claim to support? Spot on.

It might seem like the gender issues and servitude (or slavery) (or second class citizens and glass ceilings) are an overdone trope -- except that, aside from the subtle way this happens in our own culture, it is going on in a much more severe and outright fashion in other places right now, all in the names of politics and religion.

I would wonder, too, for the sake of future episodes: In a matriarchal society, powerful women, men held subservient, how does this affect friendships, lovers, marriage, children, any of the aspects of daily life? Are some things in their way of doing things markedly different from how we do things?

So far, we see a modern society holding on to royalty and privilege, and we see they have differing claims on whether those old royals/nobles keep slaves or not. We see that apparently, most of the rest of society still retains sexist attitudes about women versus men, where men are deemed lesser. We saw in the prior episode, there are people who still hold to nomadic lifestyles, partly for religious and philosophical reasons.

But otherwise, in terms of making these people truly alien, hmm, it's a problem Trek and scifi have long had, and to be fair, this is only the third episode in, fourth part.

I only had one quibble sound-wise. During the first part of the episode, Amb. Kingsley is speaking at a podium over a microphone. We are supposed to be right there with her. So we should have the "microphone" and "public address system" depth/echo to her voice when she's at the mic. My quibble is that, instead of also having her voice "right there" on full, overlaid with the microphone effects, it sounds like we are off at some distance from her, out in the auditorium. When we're supposed to be "right there," with her as the P.O.V. char., we should hear that. I'm not sure how that's achieved in sound mixing, but it's my complaint. When we are at a distance, such as when we cut to her embassy assistants talking, then yes, we should hear her more distantly.

The other was that during the big reveal at the end of the ep, the bad guy over communicator channel was a little hard to understand in spots. The effect overrode it just a little more than you'd want.

However, the point in the show where the ambassador's speech is interrupted and we enter the main conflict (outside force interrupts and takes over transmission) -- That was perfect. So were the sound effects when they try to regain control and then the threat forces play control games. Very well done there.

I liked that we get down and dirty with the byplay between characters. The dialogue lets them have real arguments, fights. The same with the back and forth, politicos versus terrorists, politicos versus politicos. Not everyone plays nice, nobody holds back, and we get real conflict. We even see there are a range of views among the planet's native people, instead of merely two sides. It's messy and complicated, instead of all black and white.

Yes, a few spots could've moved faster or tighter or more evenly. But overall, a winner.

As a restart and taste of what's to come, very fine.

[DHillMSP]

I only had one quibble sound-wise. During the first part of the episode, Amb. Kingsley is speaking at a podium over a microphone. We are supposed to be right there with her. So we should have the "microphone" and "public address system" depth/echo to her voice when she's at the mic. My quibble is that, instead of also having her voice "right there" on full, overlaid with the microphone effects, it sounds like we are off at some distance from her, out in the auditorium. When we're supposed to be "right there," with her as the P.O.V. char., we should hear that. I'm not sure how that's achieved in sound mixing, but it's my complaint. When we are at a distance, such as when we cut to her embassy assistants talking, then yes, we should hear her more distantly.

The other was that during the big reveal at the end of the ep, the bad guy over communicator channel was a little hard to understand in spots. The effect overrode it just a little more than you'd want.

However, the point in the show where the ambassador's speech is interrupted and we enter the main conflict (outside force interrupts and takes over transmission) -- That was perfect. So were the sound effects when they try to regain control and then the threat forces play control games. Very well done there.

I liked that we get down and dirty with the byplay between characters. The dialogue lets them have real arguments, fights. The same with the back and forth, politicos versus terrorists, politicos versus politicos. Not everyone plays nice, nobody holds back, and we get real conflict. We even see there are a range of views among the planet's native people, instead of merely two sides. It's messy and complicated, instead of all black and white.

Yes, a few spots could've moved faster or tighter or more evenly. But overall, a winner.

As a restart and taste of what's to come, very fine.

Decided to get to the points I could speak to with some authority.

The script didn't call for a POV of Kingsley when she was at the dais. We tried an effect similar to the one you suggest and...yeah. Didn't work so well. This is one of those times where a judgment call had to be made and it wasn't an easy one. Effectively, those scenes had a single point of view, where we would either pull in for the "non-reverb close-ups" or pull back and take a "wider" view of the scene where things would get echo-ey and you'd hear Kingsley being "amplified", unless we were focused on characters close-in (like at the end of the teaser), where we could push her into the background.

I thought it was an effective technique, but obviously, your mileage may vary.

As for the "bad guy over communicator"...yeah...that was about as good as we could get it. This is one of those times where I will grizzle things up a bit to overcome a otherwise noticeable flaw in a set of recorded lines. It's possible I went overboard a bit. Again, your mileage may vary.

As for the "takeover" scenes - I have to admit I'm pretty proud of my work there. I always have fun when I have to create new sound effects out of old ones. I wound up adapting some of those techniques in the forthcoming HMD trilogy.

I also have to admit that while I think we (as in the production team) would have preferred original music for this episode, it was kind of fun working with some established pieces. While there was some debate early on about which pieces to use, how much and when, I think we hit things pretty much where they needed to be.

You seemed to enjoy, overall - which is always good to hear.

[BlueCatShip]

I definitely enjoyed it. My critical comments above? Nitpicks; mostly food for thought, and when you're putting together that much, it's bound to be a judgment call and trying things to see what works. Nothing seriously bugged me about the episode.

I'm thrilled to see, er, hear the show returning.

[sffilk]

I heard only one flub - the name of one of the new actresses is Milojevic, not Milosevic. But then, I've "worked" with her before, so I've heard her name pronounced often enough, unless it's a totally different person.

Otherwise, I cannot comment on the episode, as I play a part in it. I'm more than slightly biased.

edited to make a slight change

This post has been edited by sffilk: May 8 2012, 10:22 AM

[dark_phoenix]

no, it's Tanja, alright. I did comment on that but it might have been too late, and it wasn't THAT big a thing, as long as she is creditted correctly in the wiki and whatnot.

[Wicked Wonder]

I went on a mini audio binge today, and finally had the chance to listen to this episode. I thought it was very well done- the pacing was good and I could visualize everything clearly (a big stumbling block I have with audio). Kudos to all involved!
(I realize this isn't the must substantial of reviews, but I'm off to Henglaar MD!)