• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

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

Rate the episode...


  • Total voters
    373
It would seem Burnham has a sentimental streak. The book is a tangible connection to both her adoptive mum and a more innocent time.

She's definitely gone down the rabbit hole now. The looking glass won't happen until the Mirror Universe episode.
The impression I got was that it the one surviving momento she had from her birth parents, and Amanda connected with young Michael with it. I may have misunderstood the line through.
 
Really enjoyed this episode.

The Spore Drive isn't so unplausibe for an universe with dilithium crystals, which exist partially in subspace and warpcapable lifeforms like the crystaline entity imo.

I also like the appearance of some Tos planets during the spore transport sequence like the preserver moon and the horta planet (Janus VI) for example.

I'm already a fan of Captain Lorca, who reminds me strongly of Luther Sloane. I'm sure he's also Section 31. Maybe the security chief is also a member.

Cadet Tilly is also a character i really like. Really sympathetic and nice. I understand her nervousness and insecturity, as she's apparently fresh from the academy.

Saru's also way more likeable and sympathetic than in the first two episodes imo.

By the way, when does the new After Trek episode arrive on Netflix?
 
It's also more of a science fiction adventure series. :)

Of course it's sci fi and adventure but the CHIEF difference, in context, between it and Trek is that it's a comedy show by a career comedy writer. In fact I would say it's MORE of a comedy series, that seems to be it's main focus. Everything in it, almost everything is a MacFarlane style joke, which I love,

but clearly it's being sold on the comedy angle.
 
...So it would take three nights to read that book (including the rest of the rituals/routines for putting a child down) to Sybok and Michael, and then what? Either Amanda read the same book to these kids three times a week, over and over again for years, or it's the only book she read to ever, and only the once... So why then the sentimentality of carrying around a hard cover to a novel you'd already memorized?...

I don't understand what you are getting at here. No one says that Amanda reads for 20 exactly minutes a night (ignoring that is takes longer to read out loud than it does silently) and no on says that she only reads "Alice in Wonderland". Amanda probably read 100s of books to her kids. Also, any single book might be carried around due to its sentimentality. I have one book that I read about once a year (it is too long for me to memorize as I am not a Greek epic type memory guy) and I would probably carry that book around with me if I was only going to carry one. And that makes sense in a future of digital books, that you might only have 1 physical book, if any.

Finally, I think the other child is Spock, because Sybok is the son of Sarek and a Vulcan princess, but Burnham says "her (Amanda's) son".
 
Of course it's sci fi and adventure but the CHIEF difference, in context, between it and Trek is that it's a comedy show by a career comedy writer. In fact I would say it's MORE of a comedy series, that seems to be it's main focus. Everything in it, almost everything is a MacFarlane style joke, which I love,

but clearly it's being sold on the comedy angle.
Exactly so. And, that's just fine. It's nice having two series that are different. They don't have to be the same, and probably shouldn't be the same.

Discovery does its thing well while The Orville does its thing well. It's NOT a competition between them. I think you get that but some posters seem to view it as a competition.

Those of us who love both are particularly lucky! :techman:
 
The actors playing the three other prisoners on the shuttle had all been in The Expanse at least once. Though both shows are shot in Toronto. Wouldn’t be surprised if we see more crossover.

You’ll notice the same thing watching shows filmed in Vancouver
 
Of course there've always been books floating around in the background, in Star Trek. Georgiou had a shelf full.

Remember that ridiculous TOS episode Court Martial? Kirk's lawyer was an eccentric who never used a computer and kept physical books. It was established as not unknown in this era. Frankly, Tilly not having ever seen a book struck me as more unusual. Although maybe her allergens meant that her parents kept them away from her.
 
Discovery does its thing well while The Orville does its thing well. It's NOT a competition between them. :techman:

For real

Competition among franchises is tiresome, geeks already nitpick enough about what they like, to do the ST vs SW, or Discovery vs Orville, or Friends vs Seinfeld or whatever one wants to VS is just, I don't got the energy for it.

So far I'm happy to have both, they both sure beat the hell out of Enterprise.
 
Remember that ridiculous TOS episode Court Martial? Kirk's lawyer was an eccentric who never used a computer and kept physical books. It was established as not unknown in this era. Frankly, Tilly not having ever seen a book struck me as more unusual. Although maybe her allergens meant that her parents kept them away from her.
Cogley was indeed an eccentric and everyone else thought he was weird for his neo-luddism. No one said books were unknown, just that to only use books and exclude computers was odd. To say the least.
 
Science vessels are designed to science, and warships are designed to war.

Sure you can jigger one into the other, but all the power points and closets end up being exactly where you don't need them, when you're trying to science or war.
One in the same, most times. Some of our greatest technological advancements came from wartime research.
 
I'll be starting my reviews of the Star Trek Discovery episodes with the third episode as it's still fresh in mind. This was pretty bad. It's as if the people behind the show aren't familiar with Star Trek at all. One gripe I have is that the error that started with the Abrams movies is reproduced in this show: The viewscreen. As the original Star Trek Writer's Guide stated: "This is not a window" (and which was alluded to the TNG writers), still every ship we see has a window. A minor, but annoying, issue.

We also see at least two or three androids though Data was the first android in Starfleet (TNG: Encounter at Farpoint).

What I've found to be the most objectionable so far is that Star Trek always has painted an optimistic picture of the future. I think what's being served here is yet another borderline dystopian vision of the kind that most franchises are made with today and I think some optimism really is what is needed now.

As for the episode itself...***SPOILERS***

What I liked:
  • The engineering set: Quite reminiscent of the TOS era ships
  • Captain Lorca: I was positively surprised by the character
  • Tilly: I believe she has the potential to become an interesting character
  • The Klingon acting like a coward (by Klingon standards) was quite amusing. No Sto-Vo-Kor for him! :D
  • Less lens flare than in the "prologue"
What I found questionable/disliked:
  • The Discovery. We finally got to see her. While I'm glad that the Adams/McQuarrie's design was used as a basis, I must say I found the ship a bit strange with its wheel-like design. For example, what's the point of having windows along the inner rim?
  • The open xenophobia displayed by Michael's fellow prisoners. I thought that was a thing of the past?
  • Another gripe: Since when does the Federation use hard labor? TOS established that criminals are treated rather than punished (although there are allusions to Federation penal colonies such as that Tom Paris served time in). With only ten years removed from TOS...
  • Starfleet uses breath scans for highly sensitive areas. Right... :whistle: Even though it can be construed to have been a ruse for Michael, that would have seemed far too obvious.
  • Some damage to the Glenn's CG model wouldn't have hurt...
  • The spore drive. Obviously it didn't work as we never hear about it again, but "Oh my!" as Captain Kirk said as he breathed his last... I guess the monster was a byproduct of the drive.
Not an awful, but pretty bad (and dumb) episode. As there are a few things to like, I rate it 4/10.

I don't mind that they've modernized the look and feel of the series compared to the old shows(to some degree, holograms have not been used in earlier shows), but I think the creators should drop all pretense that this is set in the Prime universe as it departs far too much to the classic Star Trek shows (they feel disregarded) and doesn't feel like Star Trek to me.

I might have to rewatch the first two episodes before I review them.
 
Or his mother, whom he didn't even hate, despise, fear or otherwise avoid.

Vulcans just aren't great speakers. Or even great listeners.

Timo Saloniemi
Vulcan's don't relate personal information until it's logical for them to do so. Hell, Kirk and the majority of Starfleet Command didn't know anything about Vulcan "Pon Farr" in 2267 and Vulcan had been interacting DIRECTLY with Human society since 2063. :eek:
 
...As the original Star Trek Writer's Guide stated: "This is not a window" (and which was alluded to the TNG writers), still every ship we see has a window. A minor, but annoying, issue.
...
We also see at least two or three androids though Data was the first android in Starfleet (TNG: Encounter at Farpoint).
...
  • The Discovery. We finally got to see her. While I'm glad that the Adams/McQuarrie's design was used as a basis, I must say I found the ship a bit strange with its wheel-like design. For example, what's the point of having windows along the inner rim?
  • The open xenophobia displayed by Michael's fellow prisoners. I thought that was a thing of the past?
  • Another gripe: Since when does the Federation use hard labor? TOS established that criminals are treated rather than punished (although there are allusions to Federation penal colonies such as that Tom Paris served time in). With only ten years removed from TOS...
To your points:
- On the TOS Enterprise, it wasn't a window (though it seems to be in "Requiem for Methuselah"). Nor on the Ent-D. But on the Shenzhou and the Discovery it is. Discovery ≠ NCC-1701.
- The androids might not be androids at all. Since we have no background for them, and I don't think we have any dialog from them at all, maybe they are cyborgs with biological cores (like brains) and robotic bodies, or some other combinations. If you really want to be concerned about it, what about the "androids" in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" or "Mudd's Women" or...
- windows on the inner rim: so that more ship spaces can have windows? Because a saucer design while good for continuous living space is bad for window space per square meter.
- Xenophobia: mostly it is in the past, also crime is mostly in the past. Mostly.
- hard labor: TOS has a mixed record (heck Star Trek in general) has a mixed record on treating criminals. I would think Trek would always go with detention as needed and treatment/training until success. With half-way houses or other "outpatient" options for lighter offenses or long duration treatment. But it hasn't gone that way. Similarly, Trek has rarely treated mental issues as ideally they should: see Barkley and his ostricization, etc.
 
On the viewscreen/window thing, the idea was that it wasn't just a window. The JJ sets and now DSC have windows which can be overlaid with the traditional viewscreen elements, so you get the best of both. Everyone understands this, I don't see why it should be a problem.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top