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

[137th Gebirg]

that wouldn't make him a King, as he is still governed by someone. an admiral no?

Depends on what kind of chain of command he reports to. There seems to be a considerable amount of flexibility and latitude afforded to him for this particular mission, for the sole purpose at winning the war at all costs. There may be ostensibly a Commodore or Admiral out there, but I suspect their command style in this case is very much on the "hands off" side. The fact that he ordered the destruction of a sister ship without first consulting Starfleet (a massive waste of material and resources otherwise) indicates he has broad unilateral authority that we haven't ever seen before.

Is Lorca a king? Not exactly in the strictest sense of the word, but he is definitely the undisputed master of his domain.

 

[guyute03]

 

[GeekUSACarl]

Depends on what kind of chain of command he reports to. There seems to be a considerable amount of flexibility and latitude afforded to him for this particular mission, for the sole purpose at winning the war at all costs. There may be ostensibly a Commodore or Admiral out there, but I suspect their command style in this case is very much on the "hands off" side. The fact that he ordered the destruction of a sister ship without first consulting Starfleet (a massive waste of material and resources otherwise) indicates he has broad unilateral authority that we haven't ever seen before.

Is Lorca a king? Not exactly in the strictest sense of the word, but he is definitely the undisputed master of his domain.

Yes, with this I would agree.

Especially in an isolated space, there would be little challenge to his "decree"

ON the other hand, there is a rule book, and presumably could still be removed by the medical officer, and if documented and provable, that he is violating the rules could be subdued by his crew, in perhaps not a "legal" fashion but a justifiable one.

Im not all up on the federation code of conduct. But I think I have that kinda right.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yes, with this I would agree.

Especially in an isolated space, there would be little challenge to his "decree"

ON the other hand, there is a rule book, and presumably could still be removed by the medical officer, and if documented and provable, that he is violating the rules could be subdued by his crew, in perhaps not a "legal" fashion but a justifiable one.

Im not all up on the federation code of conduct. But I think I have that kinda right.

This is true, yes, but only if said doctor feels that Lorca is medically (either psychologically or physically) unfit for command. He/she would be required to provide irrefutable proof of such a lapse in order to force Saru to relieve him from duty and place him under guard. McCoy tried and failed because he didn't have the proof against Commodore Decker in "Doomsday Machine". It wasn't until after Decker tried to do a suicide run with the Enterprise on the planet killer that Spock relieved him on that basis.

You are right, but the burden of proof to do that legally is SUPER high.

Have we seen Discovery's medical officer yet? I honestly can't remember.

 

[BillJ]

We know these spores work when transporting people. Why wouldn't you do away with the energy intensive transporter?

 

[Michael]

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.

That's actually a nice idea. Even though I don't think that's supported by anything they said in the episode.

By the way, when does the new After Trek episode arrive on Netflix?

Have been wondering about that as well. Last week it was available after 24 hours, I think. But this week it's nowhere to be seen.

It's as if the people behind the show aren't familiar with Star Trek at all.

Comments like this have me scratching my head. The love these people have for the history of the franchise is so apparent to me.

Some better quality screen grabs I took. Really like the design of her character.

Loved the mess hall set! Although it also looks like a redress of Burnham's and Tilly's quarters. Oh, and I think that's the woman in the lower right corner some are seeing as Denobulan. Don't think that's the intention, though.

It's a pretty ship but I still don't know why you need 2 saucer sections

Apparently the outer ring actually will rotate around the inner ring. Seems like it will have something to do with the Shroomdrive. Kinda silly idea, but at least they seem to have some in-universe rationale for the two rings.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yes, with this I would agree.

Especially in an isolated space, there would be little challenge to his "decree"

ON the other hand, there is a rule book, and presumably could still be removed by the medical officer, and if documented and provable, that he is violating the rules could be subdued by his crew, in perhaps not a "legal" fashion but a justifiable one.

Im not all up on the federation code of conduct. But I think I have that kinda right.

Every Starbase in Kirk's time seemed to have a commodore or admiral running things, and more often than not Kirk granted them the courtesy of a subspace message to glean what his orders were supposed to be in that sector or region of space, but they interfered little other than Commodores Stone and Stocker, the former because Kirk had been charged with the negligent death of a shipmate and the latter because most of the senior officers had become afflicted with an aging disease that compromised their abilities to perform their duties. Commodore Wesley told Kirk that the Enterprise was going to be participating in the war game tests for Dr. Daystrom's M5 computer, but other than that didn't interfere with the way Kirk ran his ship or conducted himself during the duration of the games.

Starfleet flag officers of this era didn't hesitate to pull rank and kick some ass when necessary, but they seemed to give starship captains a fair amount of leeway in how they did their jobs. Were Lorca to issue some sort of wacky order or "decree" in a sector that was parsecs away from the nearest Starbase and commodore it's hard to see who'd be around to punish him or even find out he'd given such a bizarre series of orders to his crew.

 

[SJA]

I really hope not. She starts mind melding with people and things and this place will turn chaotic.

Ha! I meant more from an empathetic standpoint - 'nasty creature is actually misunderstood' rather than actual mind-meld thing! Now I would';t want that either - This place is chaotic enough as it is mate!

 

[Longinus]

Oh, and I think that's the woman in the lower right corner some are seeing as Denobulan.

No, not her. The suspected Denobulan with white skin and blue hair appears a few seconds earlier.

 

[cultcross]

We know these spores work when transporting people. Why wouldn't you do away with the energy intensive transporter?

Well we don't yet - all we know is that they can show Burnham multiple worlds. But certainly if they could harness it for travel, that would be a major application. Something tells me they never do though......

 

[137th Gebirg]

Apparently the outer ring actually will rotate around the inner ring. Seems like it will have something to do with the Shroomdrive. Kinda silly idea, but at least they seem to have some in-universe rationale for the two rings.

My guess is that it's for crew safety. Saru said they can do over 200 independent scientific experiments on the ship, which is officially a science ship before it's a warship. If any one of those more caustic or unstable experiments goes sideways, could cause a cascading failure effect across other neighboring experiments taking out huge portions of the ship and killing a ton of people. I suspect that if there is a catastrophic problem that arises from this, the outer ring (where most of the experiments may be kept) is jettisoned to preserve the rest of the ship. Much in the same way that the Enterprise can do a saucer separation from the engineering hull in the event of a warp core breach. We really don't know the particular internal layout of the ship, so it's not really possible to ascertain the purpose of the different sub-modules yet.

 

[Spider]

This episode has "different" written all over it when compared to the first two. I'll take it. If they continue to do more like this one, and less like the first two, then me and Discovery are going to get along just fine.

 

[Michael]

No, not her. The suspected Denobulan with white skin and blue hair appears a few seconds earlier.

Ah, then I think I know the one you are talking about. Here's a screengrab …

(Didn't notice before that the images on the wall seem to show ships from the Battle at the Binary Stars. I recognize the Shenzhou and the ship with four nacelles.)

 

[guyute03]

That looks like a Cardassian Vole, or two. And an autopsy table.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
She does look like a bit like a female Denobulan. Females of Phlox's species did have less pronounced facial spikes and ridges. She might not be one, but she sure looks like she could be.

 

[Longinus]

Ah, then I think I know the one you are talking about. Here's a screengrab …

Yep, that's her!

 

[137th Gebirg]

That looks like a Cardassian Vole, or two. And an autopsy table.

Yep - they mentioned it (and a dissected tribble) in the After Trek post-show show. The Gorn skeleton was my favorite.

 

[gblews]

Liked this episode from the very start. And like most, liked it better than the first two. But, if this had been the pilot, we'd have needed flashbacks or (god forbid) a character telling us about how Burnham got herself into her predicament.

The introduction of the Discovery was well worth the wait. This show continues to look incredible.

After the electricity gobbling creatures attacked the shuttle and the poor pilot was lost, it appeared evident that Burnham, though maybe not "seeking" death, appeared to have been "cool" with it. Burnham just sitting there while the other prisoners tried to get loose in order to save themselves was a good example of 'show us, don't tell us', about a character's mental state.

I was kind of hoping that the pilot had gotten grabbed by the tractor beam, but then thought, this isn't 90's Trek. She gone.

I liked Lorca a lot. He goes his own way with a purpose and doesn't mind big footing when he has too. Reminded me a bit of Sisko. Anyone else think Isaaks as Lorca, looks a bit like Jon Hamm?

Well so much for the question of whether or not there'll be any interpersonal conflict between crewmen. There were some posters here who'd made up their minds that after seeing the first two episodes that DSC wouldn't have any of that.

The Beatles reference was interesting. Considering that this is the 23rd century, only 200 years from now, I can see the band still having a profile. Keep in mind, the Beatles debut is over 50 years old even today.

Love Tilly, although I can understand how she might get on the nerves of some. I laughed out loud when she told Burnham she was going to call her "Mickey". Yes, she does provide some comic relief, but I believe she will evolve. Also keep in mind, she is a cadet, not an Ensign so basically a kid.

LOVED Landry. Bet I wasn't the only one who yelled "Tori" when she appeared. Her termination of Burnham's ass whip session was perfect. Just point the phase pistol and calmly state your wishes.

I understand now why that critic said the 3rd episode was the one that got him even though the show 'got me' from Vulcan Hello.

Really looking forward to next week's episode.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Sorry, I don't expect Star Trek to break the fourth wall.

Humor and breaking the fourth wall aren't the same thing.

 

[Longinus]

(and a dissected tribble)

That was their first attempt at neutering a tribble. The second one was more successful.