I feel like there was a kernel of a good episode in there, or maybe kernels of several episodes. I’m not opposed to the documentary angle per se, and it fits in with SNW’s general willingness to experiment, but I have a difficult time imagining that a documentarian would actually edit the finished product that way, on top of the other stuff. There’s definitely room to critique Starfleet and the Federation, but this episode really feels like it was missing some important chunks.
I think the writers were too committed to the documentary format but since documentaries don’t switch their mind half way, they got the worst of all options. the format does not work and they lost the opportunity to use a good story and critique starfleet in an interesting way.
I feel like there was a kernel of a good episode in there, or maybe kernels of several episodes. I’m not opposed to the documentary angle per se, and it fits in with SNW’s general willingness to experiment, but I have a difficult time imagining that a documentarian would actually edit the finished product that way, on top of the other stuff. There’s definitely room to critique Starfleet and the Federation, but this episode really feels like it was missing some important chunks.
I think the writers were too committed to the documentary format but since documentaries don’t switch their mind half way, they got the worst of all options. the format does not work and they lost the opportunity to use a good story and critique starfleet in an interesting way.