Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x03 - "Context is for Kings"

[Jayson1]

I really liked this episode and the fact that it didn't feel like old Trek works for me for 4 reasons:

1 I consider the show a reboot so I am not holding it to the old rules. I did read that spoiler earlier in the thread about what might happen with alternate universes and if that is true then I might consider it canon but even if not I don't care. Still the idea presented in that spoiler sounds like fun.

2 I like all of the new characters. People say they come off like assholes but what is wrong with watching interesting assholes who we will most likely find out to have more traits to them so they also have good sides to them. Lorca,TIlly and Taru are my early favorites. Each has a strong specific trait to build on from, military type, ecentric newbie and intelligent and passive.

Burnham is also good in that she is kick-ass and strong willed but I hope they start to break away her Vulcan traits and let her humanity take over. Stammet was also the kind of prick nerd more than the lovable nerd we are use to seeing but I expect we will see more. I do wonder if my early idea I had in a thread along time back might happen in that this show runs the risk of becoming the Captain Lorca show. It wouldn't be the first time a intended serious lead ends up sharing or loosing ground to a more popular character. President Bartlett/West Wing, McKay/Atlantis, or even Spock/KIrk from TOS. I also got to admit when I think of the characters I think of another tandom from a show completely different and that is Liz Lemon/Jack McDonahue from 30 Rock, I could see Burnham becoming his friend and he becomes another mentor.

3: While this might be a war series I got vibes that it might actually just be a action based show much like the "Stargate" shows only with a effort to be a little more gritty which I guess is what "Universe" tried to do. I would enjoy seeing a action based show because I like action.

4: We all know this isn't the last Trek show we will ever see. I am content with the idea of Trek shows exploring many different ways of stories. I just don't want this idea for "Discovery" to be repeated in the next show. I would love a Meta show or a comedy Trek series and then someday a old school new version.

One concern is the monsters. Not only are the Klingons now monsters but so is the worm monster from this episode. I really don't want the show to relay on monsters for the crew to fight just so the show won't offend more prudish types. I am beginning to suspect one of the reasons the Klingon might have been stripped of their humanity is so people might feel more comfortable watching them be killed in all the action stuff. Makes me think of the Jaffa on "Stargate" back when it was kind of clear the show would be very relucant to show human on human murder but you could kill as many Jaffa as ones heart might desire.

Jason

 

[Prax]

Im not sure if Lorca killed the shuttle pilot.

I just think that was horrible timing. Im not sure why they didn't just stop the shuttle to do the repairs, nor am I sure what only one pilot was transferring 4 prisoners..... alone......

He's at least guilty of manslaughter, or reckless negligence resulting in the death of an officer.

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

I noticed the Obelisk there, as well as the high-rise "Starbase" buildings in another one of the places Lorca shows her.

I'll have to look again, but I thought the last shot from her "grand tour" looked a lot like the pergium mining facility on Janus 6.

 

[Timo]

Interestingly enough, it isn't as if people in the ep are accusing Burnham of actually igniting the war, right? They just think she specifically botched up the battle in the second half of the pilot somehow, causing those 8000+ first-day deaths. Nothing about launching a war was included in the charges, either.

Indeed, Lorca is the only one to make a halfhearted swipe at the war (and everything else down to rainly days) being "thanks to" Burnham. And it's not as if the comment warrants a comeback there.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[NigellaDeanna20]

just watched it. really loved it. spore drive propulsion? Intersting concept. Really liking the vibe between Burham and Tilly so far.

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

Im not sure if Lorca killed the shuttle pilot.

I just think that was horrible timing. Im not sure why they didn't just stop the shuttle to do the repairs, nor am I sure what only one pilot was transferring 4 prisoners..... alone......

When you have only one person who could testify to receiving orders to divert the shuttle, well... one loose end is easier to clean up than two.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

He's at least guilty of manslaughter, or reckless negligence resulting in the death of an officer.

Applying my level of understanding, with modern law, not being a lawyer or a member of law enforcement that still doesn't sound right to me,

The shuttle was on it's way somewhere, I can't link that the person they were on their way to would be responsible for the shuttle in transit.

Aint sayin you're wrong my brain aint makin the connection.

 

[Michael]

I haven't seen anyone mention this, but I just realized that Lorca actually killed the shuttle pilot just to get Burnham on board "mysteriously." He could've just had her transferred to his ship. She said she was transferred for no reason, then the shuttle changed coarse. Surely not all visits to the Discovery have to happen this way.

Why do people assume the shuttle pilot is dead? Sure, we see her drifting away from the shuttle and don't see her being saved, but seconds after that the shuttle is rescued by the Discovery. So why wouldn't they also save the pilot? I just assumed they beamed her aboard the ship.

 

[Ometiklan]

...Breath scan is lame. But I guess DNA scan would have made it harder for Burnham to break into the lab....

Whatever mechanism they chose to use (and I too thought it was odd), Burnham would find a way around. But still, Lorca knew all along.

After watching this episode, I feel they have messed up with the first two episodes. In film making they say start late and end early, and if they had used this episode as the pilot, they would have done that. The first two episodes really added nothing except unnecessary backstory that could have been revealed later in a much more dramatic way without dragging down the series from the start.

I liked having the first two episodes not be filled in with backstory. I liked being there and seeing the crew before the events so dramatically changed them. And I think it would have been weird to try to get to like Georgiou only through flashbacks knowing all along she was to die. I don't think it would have worked as well.

The shuttle with the boarding party was far away from the Discovery, since they were traveling at warp for a bit of time. So they couldn't have been beamed out by the Discovery.

Right. I forgot that part. I think that was a good decision on the show's part. If the hero ship is always around, you can always get beamed out of any trouble spot. This way you can't.

I liked it a damed lot. We also got a confirm on the Crossfield being a brand new class.

Like another poster said, we got evidence that it is a new ship, but it's not clear that it is a new class.

I think the "Burnham is a pariah" period is officially over. Everyone has warmed up to her by the end.

Not everyone, and especially not Saru.

...Tilly is not yet my cup of tea. I liked that they have cast an atypical actress for the role who doesn't fit the sexy goddess profile. But so far I found her annoying rather than endearing. She feels Wesley Crusher and Harry Kim-ish. I've never been too keen on the brilliant cadet trope so I hope the character doesn't go down that road. Plus why is a cadet working on a top secret experiment and why is she going on dangerous away teams missions when there is an entire ship of better train officers?...

I agree with most of what you said, however on Tilly, I disagree. Besides personal preferences on whether she is fun or annoying, why can't cadets be brilliant? Or why can't most cadets be brilliant? I think it is fairly widely recognized that the most brilliant of people make their major contributions to science (etc.) when they are young, often in their 20s. And isn't the whole point of the Starfleet entrance exam to find those most brilliant of the most brilliant and get them into Starfleet? (Though it was a little unrealistic that there were so few slots available for Wesley in his first attempt at the exam. Starfleet probably needs on the order of 500,000 new recruits per year to cover retirements and deaths.) As for the experiment and the away mission, Tilly said she was their most promising new theoretical (?) engineering student and she knew the tech and could identify and collect from the Glenn what was most important.

...Seriously, the mushroom warp is 'Threshold' level idiotic, and instead of being just one episode we can forget, it seems to be one of the basic foundations of the series. Furthermore it is yet another überwarp technology that will be later forgotten. Star Trek really didn't need more of those.

I think I would have liked a Shenzhou series about Captain Georgiou and her crew exploring strange new worlds, at this point I am not at all convinced that I will like Discovery.

First, we haven't gotten a full explanation of the technology, so calling it "Threshold-level idiotic" is stretching it too far. As for being a technology to forget, unlike Voyager's "Threshold" tech where the only drawback (the "rapid evolution") could easily be cured by the doctor after the problem was identified, we don't yet have any idea if this technology will be fully successful, or what the drawbacks could be. It could turn out that the sporedrive works and can transport a ship 100 lightyears in a single jump, but it could also turn out that 99% of the time the whole crew and maybe even the whole ship itself gets turned into taffy. I think that would be a technology Starfleet would gladly put aside (like the Omega particle).

Doesn't Burnham bring up the Geneva Convention, after helping Georgiou clearly break it the episode before?

I still haven't seen any discussion of how the Shenzhou's crew violated any Starfleet rules or laws of war in their fight. If you have something to actually back it up, I would like to see it.

Yeah, he was setting that up from the start.

It really didn't matter what Burnham did, T'Kuvma was out for war right from the beginning and he was going to have that war no matter what.

The only thing Burnham did wrong was letting her anger control her and killing T'Kuvma.

This I totally agree with. I think Federation people are looking to Burnham as a scapegoat for the start of the war and all the loses they have sustained. Burnham didn't start anything (though she tried). She tried to end it before it even began. But the "first Starfleet" mutineer present at the start of this disastrous war? She is definitely getting the blame for it; at least for now. I predict she will redeem herself and Starfleet will pardon her, thus making Spock's claim of "absolutely no record" of mutinies in Starfleet (from "The Tholian Web") technically true.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

I'll have to look again, but I thought the last shot from her "grand tour" looked a lot like the pergium mining facility on Janus 6.

I saw that as well! In fact, most of the shots looked like TOS places! I did think of Janus 6 when I saw that, too!

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Why do people assume the shuttle pilot is dead? Sure, we see her drifting away from the shuttle and don't see her being saved, but seconds after that the shuttle is rescued by the Discovery. So why wouldn't they also save the pilot? I just assumed they beamed her aboard the ship.

CUT TO: Ship's Mess. SHUTTLE PILOT is at a table, shaken, but OK. She's enjoying a bowl of cream of mushroom soup...

 

[Timo]

The pilot ventured out while the shuttle was still at warp. How dumb is that? But it does make the odds of rescue pretty much zero.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[GeekUSACarl]

Why do people assume the shuttle pilot is dead? Sure, we see her drifting away from the shuttle and don't see her being saved, but seconds after that the shuttle is rescued by the Discovery. So why wouldn't they also save the pilot? I just assumed they beamed her aboard the ship.

It's bad writing if she isn't dead. I won't do the writer's job for them and imagine every inch of everything that could happen.

I think it's pretty clear that the writer's intended for us to believe she died. The writing on the show is well crafted, as in it flows pretty seamlessly. But the writing isn't particularly clever or imaginative.

 

[Nyotarules]

Just started to watch this

8 minutes in the show
1. If this is a science vessel then the USS Enterprise was a cruise ship
2. Why are civilian prisoners travelling with a military prisoner?
3. Thanks for recognising that when black women are in prison, relaxers are not available for use.
4. Still too Terrancentric for my tastes. I would have made Tilly (get rid of that spot!) an Andorian or a Telllarite crew member. So far the United Federation of planets seems less 'Federation' and more 'benevolent Terran empire'.

18 minutes in the show
5. This is creepy shit...
6. If the writers want me to care about the Federation so far they are doing a piss poor job. I don't care who wins this war lol

33 minutes into the show
7. Folks we have Star Trek - Aliens without Sigourney Weaver

 

[Tuskin38]

Didn't like how that was handled.

The romantic subtext was obvious and fine, however they played to stereotype a little too much imo

Pretty sure they were just good friends.

 

[Ometiklan]

...One concern is the monsters. Not only are the Klingons now monsters but so is the worm monster from this episode. I really don't want the show to relay on monsters for the crew to fight just so the show won't offend more prudish types. I am beginning to suspect one of the reasons the Klingon might have been stripped of their humanity is so people might feel more comfortable watching them be killed in all the action stuff...

I don't think they have been stripped of their humanity. Yeah, the designs have been changed to make them more alien, and they are being given (apparently) more differences in background and outlook. But the problem with making this kind of claim now is that we haven't yet seen them much. A few scenes from the pilot episodes where they rally the troops and discuss "remaining klingon" doesn't yet tell us all the nuances the showrunners apparently have planned for them.

The pilot ventured out while the shuttle was still at warp. How dumb is that? But it does make the odds of rescue pretty much zero.

Timo Saloniemi

Maybe the species that lived off absorbing electromagnetic energy was disrupting the shuttle's systems such that they couldn't drop out of warp? I need to rewatch the scene again because I don't even remember when they dropped out of warp such that the Discovery could tractor them, or maybe Discovery grabbed them at warp?

 

[Tuskin38]

I'll have to look again, but I thought the last shot from her "grand tour" looked a lot like the pergium mining facility on Janus 6.

Another user on here posted an album with all the locations she saw/travelled to

https://imgur.com/gallery/9GJRM

 

[Prax]

Why do people assume the shuttle pilot is dead? Sure, we see her drifting away from the shuttle and don't see her being saved, but seconds after that the shuttle is rescued by the Discovery. So why wouldn't they also save the pilot? I just assumed they beamed her aboard the ship.

Have others made the assumption, too?
I guess I was just following Hollywood logic: Person gets sucked out into the void yelling and screaming(possibly at warp?)during a storm, they're a goner.

So I wrote earlier about the Burnham is a Pariah thing and a few people have disagreed citing Sara... He's one of the main reasons I say this. At the start, he's all "That's 1ST OFFICER Saru to you, missy may!" and "You're way dangerous, dude. I will protect my captain from u, better than you protected YOUR captain."(Burnham burnnn..) By the end, he's buddy, buddy with her again.

 

[Amasov]

Okay. Can you provide some evidence that what I said isn't true.

Remember - The producers have made a big deal out of the fact that the show is the prime universe, and they're not going to violate any canon.

No, I'm saying you're speaking for the audience by saying we don't believe it's going to work. Can you provide evidence of that? Because I can assure you, that's not what this audience member thinks.

 

[Prax]

Pretty sure they were just good friends.

We may be seeing the hand of the studio there.