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

[Timo]

We know Klingons love body armor. We see it doesn't stop knives (except for the heavy space-proof version, that is). Supposedly, then, it's mainly useful against rayguns - but obviously not 100% or even 50% proof. That's no reason not to wear it, though: helmets and flak jackets today can't stop bullets, either, but they do try hard.

I think there's a pretty obvious point being missed with all this talk about the life sentence. The Federation believes in therapy, and people get sent to "penal colonies" not as a form of freedom-deprivation punishment but to facilitate their brainwashing. But that's the Federation. Burnham is Starfleet. And for all we know, Starfleet still flogs its sailors. It most definitely has rules of its own, including that Prime Directive thing that civilians don't have to mind at all.

As for "no mutiny in recorded history", that's a common trope, heavily dependent on the "recorded history" bit. Kirk was forging his logs left and right: nobody would have learned of the dozen mutinies under his command. There's no reason to think other skippers would be different, or that their superiors would wish for news of the actual mutinies to spread.

Getting headaches from only being able to counter-nitpick for now. This sounds like good stuff mixed with meh-meh, which in my math works out to positive, or at least something worth watching for a Trek fan. And there seem to be intriguing bits of continuity there that the writers certainly weren't obligated to give us... Looking forward to more of that, along with the plots and whatnot.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[mattman8907]

If this is supposed to have been a prologue and not a "Pilot" then it should've been one long 80+ minute movie. truthfully im hoping they combine the two together if they ever do a DVD release.

 

[cultcross]

So, was there a point to the body armor that couldn't even stop a d'k'tahg?

The body armour i wear wouldn't stop a direct stab like that either, but it would stop a glancing blow, and remove enough force from some attacks to make them survivable. Starfleet normally doesn't face bladed weapons, either - the body armour could be designed to dissipate energy weapons.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

This was important, so that I could fit four episodes of enterprise and a 30 minute sitcom (minus ads, minus credits) on a 3 hour tape, which i could not do with DS9 or tng, without cutting off the tail end of the sitcom.

Why the sitcom? Four episodes of Enterprise and a sitcom. Was it like a palate cleanser? Surely you saw the humor I did in early Enterprise.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

People used to think the armor worn by knights would slow them down and give them decreased moblity. Wrong.

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What slows down the warrior is their health, their morale, and environmental conditions.

 

[cooleddie74]

Did Captain Georgiou mention at one point prior to the battle with the Klingons that the Shenzhou was armed with phase cannons? Specifically the word "phase"? She did tell Burnham when she first came aboard that the ship was old and had been around a good long while.

She may have been one of the last Federation starships still equipped with defensive systems partly designed in the mid-to-late 22nd century and never retrofitted with modern phaser banks and arrays.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Why the sitcom? Four episodes of Enterprise and a sitcom. Was it like a palate cleanser? Surely you saw the humor I did in early Enterprise.

This was before dvd box sets or streaming.

I was stowing media away for my retirement in 30 or 40 years.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Did Captain Georgiou mention at one point prior to the battle with the Klingons that the Shenzhou was armed with phase cannons? Specifically the word "phase"? She did tell Burnham when she first came aboard that the ship was old and had been around a good long while.

She may have been one of the last Federation starships still equipped with defensive systems partly designed in the mid-to-late 22nd century and never retrofitted with modern phaser banks and arrays.

This is the kind of stuff that's making me happier and happier we didn't see her blow up.

 

[cultcross]

Continuing my show notes, part Two:

I love the Shenzhou transporter - they even called out the 'outdated' lateral vector transporter. The Shenzhou is old. (Very old. - Legolas). It looks low tech, hands on. Like it. The transporter effect is good too.
Burnham seems to be joining Starfleet in this scene - did she join as a Commander? Or work her way up in 7 years to Commander?

"That can't be a coincidence!" Well, yes it could be actually.
Consequences to your actions when you defy the chain of command? What? This is Star Trek!
I still love these space shots. God they're better than anything in the Berman era.

The idea of a beacon to summon the houses to face a great threat is cool. ("The beacons of Kahless are lit!" "And Qo'nos will answer!)
T'Kuvma invents/steals the first Klingon cloak? Guess that's interesting. Odd that our crew didn't react more to his decloaking then. I'd wonder if he was in league with the Romulans if they hadn't already ruled out their appearing.
T'Kuvma preaches unity but spends a lot of time slagging everyone off. I like that some houses seem to be like 'No way' and go without getting involved.

Starships aplenty - all new designs by the looks of things although some heavy Miranda style influence I felt.
Ah this is more like old Berman Star Trek. Stuff's offline! Consoles explode! Execute pattern Greek Letter 12! Divert Power! Shields at 47% (Drink!)
USS T'Plana'Hath - I understood that reference!
Klingons have Cylon raiders.
Why does Connor go to the brig?
"We're explorers not soldiers" #trolling
Wow, brutal. Bye bye Connor #bannedfortrolling
Flashback - Vulcan mental CPR. Weird. Shame that didn't work on Pike.
"Major hull breach" yeah I'll say.
"Part of my katra is with you allowing us this form of communication" - OK, no. Bullshit. Instantaneous FTL communication because you linked minds years ago? This is some physics defying action at a distance BS. And completely unnecessary for the plot, too. I hope this turned out to be a delusion or a dream or something and we don't see it again.
"Weapons hot!" - Shenzhou, Galactica Actual, What do you hear Starbuck?
The holoadmiral appears on the bridge and starts giving orders. OK, I don't give two shits about canon, but it was a major plot point in Voyager that the EMH couldn't leave sickbay, but these holograms seem to be able to pop up anywhere.
This episode should be called Slaughter at the Binary Star, or maybe The Ass Whooping at the Binary Star.

Yay, more chanting.
"Live to serve as witnesses" cliché.

Burnham's having an argument about ethics with the computer. Weird, but I kind of like it.
What about the transporter? You use it not 5 minutes later.
Art of War reference cliché
Wow, Burnham recovered from near fatal vacuum exposure remarkably quickly.
I adore this scene between Burnham and Georgiou, it's the best acted so far and gives more depth to their relationship than Picard and Riker had in 7 years. I very much hope we revisit this relationship in future flashbacks.
Bomb in a corpse? Not very Starfleet.
Like the body armour.
Well, she's dead.
Well, he's dead.
Did this courtroom go to the Rura Penthe school of lighting design? Or are we supposed to interpret this a little non-literally, from Burnham's perspective?

In prison forever, series ends. Now a prison drama called Blue is the new Black.

Overall thoughts:
I think this episode was stronger than the first half, but had too much Berman era space combat. I love the scenes between Burnham and Georgiou, they make this whole two parter for me. I morn the loss of the explorer vibe, and I hope we get to see more of that along the way.
I think it's a bit strange having a pilot that is essentially a flashback and not introducing your main ship or crew. But on the other hand, it's a good story and it remains much better paced and more interesting than anything I've seen from Trek TV for years. Not as breakneck bang-bang-pow-rush-rush as the JJ movies but more dynamic than BermanTrek. A good balance, in my view.
I will give this one a 7. Better than part one, still a ways to go to be really something special.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

The holoadmiral appears on the bridge and starts giving orders. OK, I don't give two shits about canon, but it was a major plot point in Voyager that the EMH couldn't leave sickbay, but these holograms seem to be able to pop up anywhere.

This one got me.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The hologram in discovery was soft light, and probably needed one parabolic projector.

The doctor was a shitload of forcefields, that were projected from hundreds of holoemitters from the walls, floor and ceiling, painted with a holographic image, carefully not attempting to cut any one in half, or trip any one up into falling on their face, if they intersected an invisible force field beam connecting the Doctor to all/some of his holoemitters.

Um.

Strings?

The Doctor was a fricking puppet!

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

The holograms reminded me of DS9 "For the Uniform". Great, great episode. Except there's this random thing where the writers desperately try to introduce us to a new piece of tech -- a hologram... pad... thing! -- where other characters can pop up right in the middle of the bridge, inside a little perimeter. Early in the episode, the crew's like "isn't this great?!" "Yeah!" And then later on, Eddington pops up on it.

And then it's like never seen again.

Someone went back and time and also pilfered the mobile emitter. To some nefarious end.

Admiral Anderson is Future Guy confirmed.

 

[cultcross]

And then it's like never seen again.

The film crew hated it. It was logistically difficult to film, and raised endless practical questions. Plus, they were worried that less ardent viewers might confuse it with the transporter.

 

[spinagogue]

Was that comedic actor Jon Daly shown in the previews (with a big beard) at the end of this episode?

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Nope, it was [comedic actor] Rainn Wilson. He's Harry Mudd.

 

[Michael]

Liked this more than part one, but truthfully, I have a hard time dividing both parts in my head and I prefer to view them as one movie-length pilot.

I think we need to in order to get the background on Michael's character because the Michael we saw when Sarek brought her on board and the Michael that commmitted Mutiny are not the same person so we need to see how she got from point A to point B.

I share that sentiment and I hope we'll see more of Burnham's change from stoic to emotional. Could this also be what @David Mack's “Desperate Hours” is about?

That tribunal at the end was odd, in that it felt so... un-Federation.

Yeah, what's up with the light. That was one shot where even I thought they should just turn the lights on. But then again, perhaps that wasn't meant all that literally.

I can't help but feel that an Starfleet First Officer of 7 years experience wouldn't switch her phaser to kill in anger. That and her mutiny undermined the character for me.

The part with the phaser setting I didn't get either, to be honest. So she was just angry and wanted to kill T'Kuvma? Will they address this at some point, because I think this is a tough thing to swallow.

Where did you watch it? On All Access, there was a 2-minute long "this season on Discovery" preview

Hm, we didn't get any new preview on Netflix.

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.

You know, I find that connection fascinating. Will have to rewatch that Voyager episode one of these days.

The "leaving part of my katra" bullshit? No. Not accepting that.

Yeah, that didn't work for me either. I appreciate that they are trying to do something new within the material, but this just doesn't ring true to the lore.

Still, a lot to like about the premiere! The characters, the art direction and the overall story have definitely grabbed me. I don't know if this is really “the thinking man's Star Trek” as one reviewer has called it, but I like what I'm seeing. Will be interesting to see where all of this is going from here. Looking very much forward to episode three!

By the way, when the Shenzhou was saved from crashing into that asteroid, I did half expect it to be the Enterprise saving them. With a name like Europa it's interesting to think this might have been the intention at some point in the development. Am I the only one who had that thought?

As I said in the other thread, I like the character of Voq. This could become a really cool character. Also loved the design on the female Klingon house leader.

 

[Michael]

I'm just seeing on Netflix that we will get the new episode on Monday! So will we always get the episode a “day” later than in the US? Kinda sucks, to be honest.

 

[cultcross]

The part with the phaser setting I didn't get either, to be honest. So she was just angry and wanted to kill T'Kuvma? Will they address this at some point, because I think this is a tough thing to swallow.

I interpreted that as needing stopping power in a hurry to try to save Georgiou. I sort of interpret the difference as taser versus gun. Do you risk stun not working when someone's murdering your captain? There's logic in switching to 'kill'.

I'm just seeing on Netflix that we will get the new episode on Monday! So will we always get the episode a “day” later than in the US? Kinda sucks, to be honest.

Yes - '24 hours behind'. Although I don't think quite a full 24, I think we'll get them in the morning like today.

 

[Ridcully]

Heh...liked it...more than enough to hook me up!
If it was old 80's and a decade or so after Trek, they would still be talking about everything from ethics to how we need to evolve, while carving it out so obvious that even a 7 year old would understand it, talking everyone to death!

And yes I like that it does not look like anything from the 60's!
Anyways when she said the word Martyr about that Klingon.....his dead was certain.....had hoped that they would not kill off the Captain...but they love to kill the Captain in Trek...so......
Like the poor guy in the 2009 film...stabbed with something nasty and pointy....

She should have used more Kung-Fu
Well there will be flashbacks!
I like that they do not carve it all out, that some thinking is left for the audience....

Slow and ponderous does not equal intelligent, sometimes that is just fillerwords to cover up the vast emptiness!
And love the humour too.
This is modern Trek!
Well I am not all that adversed against it....will tune in next week!

 

[CorporalClegg]

I think that's kind of lame. Not only is it unfair to you guys, it's unfair to Netflix. They're paying for the damn thing. It's like buying your buddy a nice meal and then he makes you sit and watch him eat before you can.