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

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Discovery' started by Commander Richard, Sep 24, 2017.

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Rate the episode...

  1. 10 - Awesome!

    16.7%
  2. 9

    15.4%
  3. 8

    27.9%
  4. 7

    14.7%
  5. 6

    9.3%
  6. 5

    5.1%
  7. 4

    2.6%
  8. 3

    3.8%
  9. 2

    1.9%
  10. 1 - Terrible!

    2.6%
  1. Noname Given

    Noname Given Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Star Fleet is at war now, so they're conserving power everywhere? ;)

    Seriously, I think it was don e so no one in the audience would focus or speculate on the Officers who sat in judgement of Burnham's actions. <--- Her conviction is a character and plot element and those who sentenced her don't mater. (I say that because had the production shown/named these characters - some members of the audience would have obsessed over who they really were and why they gave Burnham such a harsh sentence.
     
  2. doublegoodprole

    doublegoodprole Captain Captain

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    I'm still puzzled over the harsh sentence whether they paid their light bill or not.
     
  3. Enterprise1701

    Enterprise1701 Commodore Commodore

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    It felt elitist and unbefitting of a judiciary to me.
     
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  4. rahullak

    rahullak Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    An excellent episode. However, I did have one niggle. Don't know if it has already been discussed up thread, but it didn't make sense to me as to why Micheal didn't just also have the injured T'Kuvma beamed aboard the Shenzhou as per their original plan. That would have resulted in T'Kuvma's shame and ended the war before it started. Instead, everything played neatly into T'Kuvma's hands even though he is dying.
     
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  5. queerTrekker

    queerTrekker Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    This was deffinitly the better of the two, but that was mainly because of the hieght in action. I loved the attention t odeveloping the tensions and battle between the Klingons and the Federation, I like how the second episode showed flashbacks of both Michael and T'Kumva, and while i knew it was only a guest appearnce I was said when both Phillipa and T'Kumva died, there was alot of investment put in them.

    I also throughly enjoyed all moments with Sarek.

    Kudos to the cast and crew who made this possible, thanks guys!
     
  6. Chekov's Phaser

    Chekov's Phaser Waiting to be relevant. Fleet Captain

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    Because her past trauma caused by the Klingons, and what just happened to her Captain, affected her to the point that killing T'Kuvma was revenge. I don't think she thought much beyond a moment of hatred, anger, and vengeance.
     
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  7. Vger23

    Vger23 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It seems clear to me now that I've watched both episodes twice that you really can't / shouldn't judge one without the other. It really should have been shown as a (roughly) two-hour continuous piece.

    Interesting that on "After Trek" the producer said that this was basically the "prologue" and that Ep. 3 is their "pilot / 1st episode."
     
  8. Vger23

    Vger23 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Thank the heavens...buncha candy-asses!
     
  9. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    That's a really good point I hadn't considered. She couldn't take Georgiou because apparently being dead makes you invisible to the transporter. T'Kuvma was still alive, and within reach.
     
  10. rahullak

    rahullak Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I can buy that. Still a trained Starfleet First Officer who also has the benefit of Vulcan emotional training should more focused on the job at hand, and mourn/avenge later. Anyway, it's a small nitpick.

    I enjoyed the pacey nature of both episodes, the ship internal visuals looked good without seeming dated and without seeming to surpass DS9/Voy. The quippy dialogue also is in keeping with this day and age.
     
  11. doublegoodprole

    doublegoodprole Captain Captain

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    Those same candy-asses beat the Dominion! Take it back!
     
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  12. Ometiklan

    Ometiklan Captain Captain

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    Having rewatched the episodes again, I think I like them better than I did the first time around, and i gave them high marks then.

    The biggest problem I had originally was understanding the Klingons and the pacing of their scenes. Looking at the visuals, the design of their ship and costumes, while trying to read their dialogue with the overlapping stilted Klingonee made the first viewing tough (and I don't normally mind subtitles; but then they are generally something like Spanish speakers standing around in an apartment on 21st century earth - I know what Spanish speakers and an apartment look like so I can focus on the dialogue). The second time around it was all much better, I didn't have as much problem with the pacing and the motivations, positions, and emotions of the Klingons came through better. The stilted Klingonee is still an issue.

    Biggest takeaway the second time through - I am really looking forward to seeing the characters again (Saru, Michael, and hopefully Georgiou in flashbacks) and seeing the new Discovery crew. While everything else is nice (the visuals, the Federation designs), the best parts so far for me are the main characters.
     
  13. Vger23

    Vger23 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I agree that, upon a re-watch, I liked it much better (even though I enjoyed it the first time).

    Now that I was just focused on the characters and the story...and not trying to absorb every little detail, it was a much smoother, easier experience.
     
  14. Roald

    Roald Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Loved both episodes so much.....! Watched them last night, and it was so much to take in... loved the visuals, loved the acting, the characters, the rendition of the Theme during the scene where the Klingon bodies are being brought back to the Klingon ship, so so much.. I'm guessing the real story (on the Discovery) is yet to unfold, and this was all set-up... loved it!!
     
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  15. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I don't think that's a reasonable thing to say. The entire premise of Season One's arc is that it is about a war, and about a woman who helped start that war and her journey towards redemption. You don't do a war story without, y'know, combat.

    You mean like when Spock hijacked the Enterprise to return Captain Pike to Talos IV?

    I think that's a really elitist argument to make. There is plenty of nuance to Burnham's character already, and the fact that the character chose to act instead of giving a hackneyed fifteen-minute speech does not mean that this is bad writing.

    Let's be real here: This is the era of prestigue television whose quality far surpasses what used to be accomplished on TV. To say that "modern audiences don't care for nuance" is to totally ignore the impact of such complicated, nuanced, thoughtful programs as The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Handmaid's Tale, Downton Abby, or Game of Thrones.

    Name me another show where the central emotional conflict of the very first episode is between a jingoist and a diplomat, and the jingoist is depicted as being in the wrong.

    Star Trek: Discovery is living up to Star Trek’s progressive legacy just fine.

    Burnham is not a perfect person, and her lasting emotional trauma over what Klingon raiders did to her family has a very real impact on who she is and what choices she makes—and comes to regret.

    It does seem excessive. On the other hand, so does sentencing someone to death for going to Talos IV. On the other hand, maybe if the Federation is facing a war that could kill billions of people because of Burnham’s actions, to them it feels proportionate.

    I don’t think we know enough to say that she didn’t have due process or counsel. We only saw the very end of the hearing; it is entirely possible that she had counsel and chose to waive most of the hearing and go straight to sentencing after pleading guilty.

    I’m curious about your remark re: a board of flag officers vs. proper court and panel of members. Isn’t the use of a board of flag officers consistent with what TOS, TNG, and DS9 all depicted of Federation Starfleet courts-martial?

    Targeting weapons and getting ready to fire may well have been what set T’Kuvma off and made him decide to fire first. We (and the characters) will probably never know.

    Mutiny is a perfectly reasonable charge; she attempted to usurp control of the ship from its commanding officer and to issue orders directly in conflict with the standing orders the captain had given.

    Others have pointed out the numerous times TOS had already depicted mutiny before that episode. I’ll just add that this is an incredibly minor continuity violation that really doesn’t matter.

    I mean, we could have started Game of Thrones with Joffrey already on the Iron Throne and the War of the Five Kings already underway. That’s not the story they wanted to tell. And I suspect that the story we see unfolding in episodes 3 through 15 will be far more meaningful for having learned so much about Burnham and Georgiou and life aboard the Shenzhou.

    The fact that she has unresolved trauma from losing her family to Klingon raiders, obviously. She’s not being rational; she’s just pretending she is.

    Yeah, the lighting scheme in the court-martial sequence makes no sense if we take it as a Realistic/Naturalistic depiction of what that courtroom looked like.

    I don’t. I take it as symbolic of Burnham’s internal emotional state. She’s all alone, the harsh light of judgment cast upon her by shadowy and unsympathetic strangers.

    I think that’s generally the best way to watch any work of televisual or filmatic art. ;)
     
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  16. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    That's funny. My thought is they understood it too well and at times the pilot was a little too "inside baseball" for the general audience. :lol:
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2017
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  17. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    This. Granted, it's on a streaming service so it can afford to cater, but still, very much inside Trek.
     
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  18. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Yeah, almost the entire episode is a set up for Michael's mutiny. A lot of discussion between Burnham, Anderson and Georgiou about how to handle the Klingons. Michael talking with both mentors/surrogate parents. Backstory about her relationship with the Klingons. Not really seeing how anyone could say there was no wrestling.
    In contrast, Spock's mutiny was set up in the teaser. The wrestling was a line or two of dialog.
     
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  19. cooleddie74

    cooleddie74 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The first two episodes mentioned phase cannons, Donatu V, Kahless the Unforgettable and the founding species of the Federation. That's not aiming at the JJ audience. That's aiming at the longtime and hardcore fan who knows what the hell a phase cannon and Donatu V are to begin with.

    Sure, the effects and many of the sets are more in line with the Kelvin timeline but that was just an aesthetic choice to make the show look more snazzy and give modern audiences what they expect in modern Hollywood productions about human space travel set in the future. The meat of the scripts, though, was very much catering to the longtime fan who's been watching for years if not decades. It wasn't "Dumb Trek." It was Star Trek on a modern budget.
     
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  20. theblitz

    theblitz Commander Red Shirt

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    Anyone else feel that the new Klingons resemble the Sycorax?