Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x02 - "Battle at the Binary Stars"

[Nerys Myk]

Were we given the date of first contact between the Vulcans and the Klingon Empire? Burnham said that the Vulcans had to fire on a Klingon ship in the year 2016, thus setting the standard for contact between the two peoples for the next 240 years. This begrudging respect between Vulcans and Klingons would seem to be in play in ENT when the former agree to serve as the go-between to return Klaang to Qo'noS after he crash lands on Earth. They clearly have a more stable relationship with the Empire than humans and that seems to carry over into the era of the Federation.

They were on T'Kuvma's list.

 

[MvRojo]

Yes, this. They've raised a serious emotional issue with Burnham that they dare not drop. My question: has the influence of Vulcan philosophy at an emotionally vulnerable time in her life robbed Burnham of the inherent necessity to mourn her parents' death? Has she tried to control those feelings by effectively denying them, to her obvious detriment? She definitely has serious abandonment issues, as well. I'm curious to see where they go with her.

The clip from the next episode definitely looks like she's dealing with the aftermath...appearing somewhat shell-shocked, stating exactly how many people died because of her, getting into altercations, etc.

 

[cooleddie74]

The Vulcans meet the Klingons in 2016 and officially make contact with Earth humans in 2063. No wonder they have a superiority complex.

 

[Xerxes82]

PART TWO: "Battle At Binary Stars" (SPOILERS)

CONS:

* Ramming another ship was awesome in Nemesis, so apparently they chose to use the same strategy here. It works, just as it did there, because clearly the commanders of those ships are morons who act far too slowly to move their faster than light capable vessel out of the way of this 100 mph ramming speed taking place in 3-Dimensional space.

I got the impression from the last line of T'kuvma's dialogue that the ship which rammed the Europa was cloaked prior to the collision. Can't dodge what you can't see.

 

[MvRojo]

That was a MASSIVE improvement over the pilot. Why CBS didn't air the two parter to attract new viewers is beyond me.

I didn't see them imprisoning Burnham and thought we'd somehow get a happy-ish ending wrapped up in a shiny bow where she somehow makes her way on to the Discovery as an advisor on Klingons or somesuch, which can still happen but not without a lot of potential conflict. Unlike the pilot, I largely didn't have any problems with the pacing of this episode or any plot points aside from the incredibly dumb Shenzhou boarding party of two whole officers on an enemy ship packed with a race of warriors.

The season preview looked appealing enough so I hold out hope the pilot was the anamoly and the rest of the arc is strong like the second episode was.

Yeah, it probably would have been better to air them both. I wonder if they thought the end of Ep. 2 was too conclusiony...like it could be viewed as a tv movie set in the Star Trek universe.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

The Vulcans meet the Klingons in 2016

What a rough year that was.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Burnham assaulted her captain then tried to use a massively powerful ship to fire on a foreign nation and potentially start a war. Yeah she went to jail for that.

Jail makes sense. Life imprisonment is a step too far. Even Sweden doesn't usually do life imprisonment. Drum her out of the service (of course) and send her to prison for a decade or two.

 

[cooleddie74]

What a rough year that was.

Thanks a lot, T'Obama.

 

[Nerys Myk]

What a rough year that was.

They actually stopped by Earth, caught a few newsfeeds and went "pass".

 

[cooleddie74]

The Empire would have invaded and conquered us but they picked up transmissions from Infowars and vowed never to return unless they had to.

 

[Amaris]

I got the impression from the last line of T'kuvma's dialogue that the ship which rammed the Europa was cloaked prior to the collision. Can't dodge what you can't see.

That is true, the ship was cloaked. I'm guessing Georgiou never told Starfleet about the cloaked Klingon vessel, or maybe they would have been on the lookout for it. Still, if my ship starts crumpling up in the middle like a ship cutting through it, I'm getting my ass out of there, or at least doing something other than staring and watching.

Also, I'm guessing the Europa lowered its shields?

 

[BeatleJWOL]

I got the impression from the last line of T'kuvma's dialogue that the ship which rammed the Europa was cloaked prior to the collision.

Correct. The Europa is hit. the Admiral is confused and communication is lost. You see the ship starting to crumple, and then the Klingons decloak.

 

[MvRojo]

I totally did not connect T'Kuvma with the kuvah'magh prophecy from Voyager. I mean, kuvah'magh is said to mean "savior of the people", so I guess there might be an etymological thing here, with T'Kuvma being named a contracted version of it. I don't know if we can as yet say that Kohlar's people were T'Kuvma followers who left the Empire in search of him after his death.

I was thinking maybe T'Kuvma's dad was just really thinking big and named his son something similar to kuvah'magh, which is a prophecy predating the events in Discovery. Those Klingons in Voyager could have just been out looking for the real one, not knowing about T'Kuvma or something.

 

[The Super Brando]

Jail makes sense. Life imprisonment is a step too far. Even Sweden doesn't usually do life imprisonment. Drum her out of the service (of course) and send her to prison for a decade or two.

Nah, you try to start an interstellar war that could end with me, my family, everyone I've ever loved, and really my entire species murdered or enslaved, then I'm ok if you go away for life.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

The Empire would have invaded and conquered us but they picked up transmissions from Infowars and vowed never to return unless they had to.

Too busy fighting the Martian slave children.

 

[Sakonna]

That death of Ensign Connor was staged so horrifically, it was really effective. They got you feeling that "promising young life tragically cut short" thing, with very little space to build to it.

I love Maulik Pancholy, seen for a few seconds as the Shenzhou doctor. I hope we get more of him in the flashbacks I assume we're getting down the line.

 

[CorporalClegg]

The issue with the end wasn't just that she was given life, but that, in an a supposed enlightened society, her rights of due process where thinly adhered to--even for a military. [Serious this time.]

She had no JAG representative when she offered her plea. And she gave it to a judicial bored of flag officers and not in front of a proper court and panel of members.

And let's not forget, saying her actions started a war is BS. The only thing she did was defend herself. Georgiou and Admiral Numbnuts where actually far more responsible than she was. The only thing Burnham was guilty of was attacking a senior officer. (Even mutiny is a hard sell.)

 

[Nerys Myk]

And let's not forget, saying her actions started a war is BS. The only thing she did was defend herself. Georgiou and Admiral Numbnuts where actually far more responsible than she was. The only thing Burnham was guilty of was attacking a senior officer. (Even mutiny is a hard sell.)

This.

 

[Jayson1]

That was good. Both episodes were good, but I'd say this was a bit better. Good acting, great production values, some memorable and topical moments. The directing wasn't always the best, and some of the dialogue was stilted. But we're at the beginning here. It'll get there.

More importantly, we just watched the first new episodes of Star Trek in 12 years.

Not 12 years if you count "Orville"

Jason

 

[Amaris]

The issue with the end wasn't just that she was given life, but that, in an a supposed enlightened society, her rights of due process where thinly adhered to--even for a military. [Serious this time.]

She had no JAG representative when she offered her plea. And she gave it to a judicial bored of flag officers and not in front of a proper court and panel of members.

And let's not forget, saying her actions started a war is BS. The only thing she did was defend herself. Georgiou and Admiral Numbnuts where actually far more responsible than she was. The only thing Burnham was guilty of was attacking a senior officer. (Even mutiny is a hard sell.)

Also, someone forgot to pay the electric bill in the JAG office.