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

[Noname Given]

Star Trek - Discovery, if it keeps the darker tone that is building up right now, will share the same fate like Stargate Universe. The idea wasn't bad, but the whole dark theme was too dark, and not what people were used / wanted to see with that franchise. Star Trek simply isn't meant to go dark.

What Battlestar did, with the re-imagined series, made it even cooler and also somewhat dark, which was not what the original was made like, but it least it was cool. There was an insane amount of complexity. Star Trek can never reach that, and shouldn't even try.

nuBSG2003 was tripe garbage masquerading as a 'psychological thriller". Sorry but while I'm sure the bean counters were happy because Cylon interior spaces were large empty sets with the occasional hot tub setup, the constant and ridiculous "existential cylon' and the whole "who is a Cylon" bit (which even RDM admits in the later seasons was practically just throwing darts at a dartboard to pick them.

But I guess the producers were in a bind when at the effective last minute, they were told to scrap the idea to show 'colonial fleet life' by the suits. Hell, in the end even RDM admits there was not 'plan' (and the "..and the have a plan" line (which many fans inferred to mean RDM had plotted out the whole arc in advance) was added to the opening at the last minute because it sounded cool.

That said, do I think Star trek Discovery is 'high art"? No. It has a number of standard 'dark' tropes that we've seen before - but I do find it both entertaining and enjoyable and DON'T miss any of the over-moralizing and sermonizing that was a TNG 24th century era staple of Berman-era Star Trek.
^^^
It really does hearken back to why I found (and still find) TOS the most entertaining Star Trek incarnation. The characters a Human, and not perfect - but when the chips are down still put aside their differences to work together and get thorough a problem (as was evident with the U.S.S. Glenn Engineering Room situation. They don't completely trust Burnham - BUT they trusted her enough to toss her a Hand Phaser once she stated what her plan was <--- And that helped them complete the salvage recovery and get back to the shuttle.

 

[Mr Awe]

I noticed that on the second watch which is why I seemed to like the episode a lot better. I still think Stamitts is a bit of a douche though.

He does seem like that at first but really listen to his grievances and imagine yourself in his situation. I know I'd have a chip on my soldier. Then imagine someone forces a mutineer on you. I'd be more than a little pissed! I think that is coming through loud and clear. There was some softening later in the episode. We'll have to see if that continues.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

I chalk it up to the writers not reading every single article of the Geneva convention.

I would think transporting a bomb onto the body of a dead combatant is a violation that doesn't need much perusal of the articles!

 

[BillJ]

...and DON'T miss any of the over-moralizing and sermonizing that was a TNG 24th century era staple of Berman-era Star Trek.

I have a feeling we'll get that before the end of the season.

 

[Jadeb]

I liked this way more than the first two, but it's really just a standard sci-fi runaround, albeit with big-budget effects. The spore thing worked better in execution than it sounded, though it's still kinda goofy. I liked Michael's interactions with Saru, and Stamet's opposition to Lorca is interesting. That Lorca needs him provides a reasonable rationale for how he can get away with gross insubordination.
I'm tempted to rank the episode high, because it's so much better than what came before (and doesn't have the interminable Klingon scenes), but once the novelty wears off, I expect it will be a five or a six. I can't see it having a lot of rewatch appeal. Still, nicely suspenseful for a single viewing.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Hey, did anyone else think that they got the inspiration for the shuttle color scheme from the A-Team?

 

[Long Syntax]

I would think transporting a bomb onto the body of a dead combatant is a violation that doesn't need much perusal of the articles!

This was the best use of a dead body that I could imagine.

 

[Udat]

Hey, we're actually about to meet this guy.

And he was scary.....

 

[Noname Given]

I have a feeling we'll get that before the end of the season.

Oh, don't get me wrong there was some moralizing and the occassional sermonizing in TOS too; but (except for an episode here and there like say TOS - "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield"); I never found it as over the top or as sanctimonious as in became in Berman Era Star Trek. (YMMV)

Time will tell.

 

[Prax]

My guess is that shuttlecraft of prisoners (minus Burnham) will never make it to their destination. An unfortunate accident will happen.

So that Burnham is technically listed as dead?

 

[Gonzo]

I guess that's going to be part of the endgame-plan of evil Starfleet ̶Ad̶̶m̶̶i̶̶r̶̶a̶̶l̶ Captain Lorca:
Open a portal between the klingon homeworld and some other place with nasty stuff (alien monsters, biological viruses), to defeat the klingons in one big swoop.

Nah...

Weaponised Tribbles.

Job done.

 

[Kemaiku]

So we have a captain who will have convenient deaths to essentially legally kidnap people, have them forced under threat to work on war crime level tech, to win a war purely to...win and kill an opponent with no moral scale, has his own personal gimp den with personal restraint jail cell.

Okay, this is the first time we're really getting to know one of these utterly insane Starfleet captains so up close. And it's even more disturbing than TOS.

 

[Admiral Bear]

I noticed that on the second watch which is why I seemed to like the episode a lot better. I still think Stamitts is a bit of a douche though.

He comes across as a blatant stereotype of a bitchy, whining, queen. If I was a non militant homosexual and wasn't bothered about representation for the sake of it, I'd probably find him offensive.

On the other hand, one could take the view that Stamets, along with everyone else in STD, is so woefully underwritten as a character, that Rapp's just playing himself purely because he's not been given any character to play.

Only because it would've livened proceedings up a bit, I was rather hoping we'd see Rapp butt naked in the bath with his lover, shouting "Infamy, infmay, Lorca's got it in for me!"

 

[Gonzo]

So that Burnham is technically listed as dead?

I am really liking Lorca, I haven't even seen the 3rd episode yet.

Devious & secretive, I like the cut of his jib.

Somehow I doubt T'Kuvmas plan would have worked if Lorca had been in command.

Sorry Georgiou I wasn't impressed with you at all.

 

[Mr Awe]

Regarding the argument over The Orville and Discovery ... I’m watching both. I like both, for different reasons. There’s zero conflict there.

I love both, and I consider myself lucky because of that. I can certainly understand that one or the other might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm glad I've got two ship based SF series to watch and enjoy that are on right now.

 

[MvRojo]

I'm glad so many of you greatly enjoyed the show, because if I am being honest, I would hate to rely on myself to make sure that the series succeeds. The acting is strong--I still like Saru and Burham, and Tilly was interesting, although I found Lorca's enigmatic side to be forced. I like the ideas. There are things that are very Fullleresque that I like.

However, the pacing and the feel of the episode feels off. In one episode, Burnham goes from being completely shunned to being an insider on a major project that might not just win the war, but might change what peace looks like? That's a few episodes of development that were just blown through. And a lot of the episode was taken up by generic dialogue. Stamets and the security officer displayed a lot of pettiness: they may have been annoyed to work with Burnham, but we needed more of their characters to come through. We needed to see more interaction between them and other characters, not just Burnham.

I don't know if I agree with that. The only people we know that like Burnham by the end are the captain (who already had a feeling he would like her since he manipulated the situation so that she would be on Discovery), and Tilly (just because she's super excited to have a friend). Saru just respects her intelligence. No one else was high-fiving her at the end of the episode.

 

[MvRojo]

Well, we know that there was a andorian colony six light years and a starbase 3 light years from the binary star system. Maybe some Klingon ships conducted raids on one or the other. It would not have taken hundreds of Klingon ships to inflict losses of 8,000 in two days especially if they were attacking a lightly defended colony that was too far for starfleet to get to quickly.

Yeah, maybe the Klingon ships that left the battle went to attack other targets.

 

[Mr Awe]

Am I missing something, or is it not obvious to the SF people that T'Kuvma intended to aggress the Federation, regardless of what Burnham did?

Yes, that would be Lorca, and possibly his superiors who he convinced to let him prosecute the war his way.

 

[Jarvisimo]

Not so secret a lab anymore

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[Ruufio]

Wow. I know people are always going to have differing opinions, but if you didn't like this episode, then I don't know what you want from this series!

Speaking with my friends who all watch trek, this was a great episode, and a huge improvement over the pilots. It only seems to be the vocal minority that seem to not enjoy it so far.