Perceptions of Hoshi

[CoffeeCat]

I know - that story was near perfect because of her use of humor, the way she stayed in character, and the fact that it was fast paced.

[Rigil Kent]

So - character developement too abrupt?

I wouldn't say that. I'd probably say "lack of believable character development", which was, unfortunately, a problem for pretty much all of the characters with the, IMO, notable exception of T'Pol and Tucker. As with the other characters, TPTB forgot about the scaredy-cat angle except when it was dramatically appropriate (ala Vanishing Point ... which made no sense at the time 'cause she should have been past that by that episode) just like they forgot about T'Pol's pa'nar after Stigma until the "Super!Archer and Sidekick!Polly's Amazing Desert Adventure" in season 4, or how they completely forgot about T'Pol's martial arts ability after Marauders, or Reed's allergies after Sleeping Dogs, or...

You get the point.

The thing with Hoshi suddenly revealing that she was a super martial artist is that it clashed with what had occurred previously. If, for example, they suddenly revealed that it was Trip who was a fourth degree black belt in aikido in OE, wouldn't that have seemed just as out of left field? Or if they revealed that Travis was a surgeon? As long as something doesn't clash with previously established canon (ala Reed's involvement in Section 31), a sudden surprise reveal works. Take Demons/Terra Prime, for example. If they had revealed that, in his youth, Archer had been a member of TP, it would have been totally believable given his bigoted views toward Vulcans in season 1 & 2.

Hoshi as a card shark? I can totally buy that as reading body language falls within her area of expertise. Suddenly Ninja!Hoshi? Not so much.

[evcake]

Sleeping Dogs and Vox Sola didn't advance her character?

[Rigil Kent]

But that's not what I'm talking about. It's the martial arts aspect that is so egregious to me. It comes out of nowhere and seems to clash with the way they originally introduced her character in Broken Bow & Fight or Flight which is basically the Shrinking Violet template. And that's not even taking into account the cliched stereotype of the Asian individual being a martial artist.

By the end of season 1, she had evolved somewhat as a character. Both Sleeping Dogs & Vox Sola work to advance the character somewhat ... but then are ignored during Vanishing Point (aka, the Minor Reset Button episode) where the Shrinking Violent aspect makes a less than triumphant return.

There were numerous instances throughout the first three seasons where martial arts ability on Hoshi's part would have come in handy (not the least of which when she's trying to flee from Dolum) ... but, since she wasn't Ninja!Hoshi yet, such proficiency is no where to be seen. After OE, it's promptly forgotten again (I'd have loved to have seen Trip show up on the bridge in Bound to discover that T'Pol and Hoshi had beat the crap out of the OSGs instead of having both characters reduced to Damsels in Distress.)

Consistency is all I'm asking for.

[evcake]

On television?

[evcake]

I know - that story was near perfect because of her use of humor, the way she stayed in character, and the fact that it was fast paced.

Did you read Puzzling Connections, and if so, what did you think?

[Rigil Kent]

On television?

Well, they've managed it so far on the best show on television (Heroes), so I don't think it's asking too much ...

Although given their track record with VOY, maybe it is.

[evcake]

You recommend Heroes? I'm hoping for DVD - it's on on I night I work late, so I haven't been able to follow it, but it looks great. Anything else you'd recommend?

[Rigil Kent]

Right now, Heroes is the only thing I'm watching on network television. If you have Sci-Fi, they're showing the entire season (except for the finale which is on Monday, of course) all day on Saturday. For an old comic book geek such as myself, this show is near perfection. Highly, highly, highly recommended.

I'm also watching The Tudors on Showtime. It's pretty good, although I have caught a couple of historical inaccuracies so far.

[Linda]

I'm to the point where I don't watch anything on TV anymore except my DVDs and VHS tapes. I read a lot though. But I will take a look at Heros since Rigil recomends it.

[evcake]

Do you think there would be interest in a "what you're reading" thread? Lots of the time I'm lterally too tired to watch what little TV I can get since I cancelled cable. So I like to get seasons on DVD and watch 'em that way. I colleague of mine is watching "Rome" that way now. He's a Roman history buff, and its driving him crazy.
But he says its so beautiful he puts up with the inaccuracies.

[Rigil Kent]

Sure, it'd be interesting, I think.

(He's right, by the way. Rome was excellent, IMO.)

[starwatcher]

Heroes is excellent, Lost is also good (although I think that might havae finished in the US now), wasn't keen on Rome although Kevin McKidd rocks! (check him out in an uber-Brit flick called Dog Soldiers about werewolves in Scotland!)

Anyway, back to the thread!

I find Hoshi a very difficult character to get a handle on - she oscillates between Damsel in Distress to more Take Charge Hoshi. I'm writing a very MnH centric fic and I have Hoshi in Take-Charge mode in that. Hopefully I've been keeping her in character but, who knows! Also, going on from what Distracted said earlier, I would really like to see more about her background - we KNOW that she's extremely intelligent and gifted - I'd like to know more about her background - her family relations, for example - how did her parents cope with having a prodigy for a child? I know from experience (a childhood friend was extremely intelligent, almost scarily so) that having a child so intelligent presentsmany problems, between parents, siblings, etc - I'd like to know more about that!

Perhaps I could write a sequel to my current fic . . . .

[Rigil Kent]

Don't forget that, based on Vanishing Point, her dad was something of an ass.

I'm planning on Hoshi being aboard the NC-06 for the whole of Endeavour: Grendel (once I finish Acheron, anyway), so I guess we'll see if I can finally lock down her character...

[CoffeeCat]

I know - that story was near perfect because of her use of humor, the way she stayed in character, and the fact that it was fast paced.

Did you read Puzzling Connections, and if so, what did you think?

Finally got around to reading it real quick last night. Raqua is great. She has a style we can all envy. I read in her notes that she thought the story was a sloppy attempt, but to me it came across as flawless.