Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x04 - "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry"

[Succubint]

It's in the dialogue that it's taken the Klingons months to repair their ship to almost functionality. Voq was showing all the ship debris points they'd scavenged from on that holomap. Did you notice how intricate the lines were? Searching through salvage and enacting repairs takes time. It wasn't that they just needed one part only and stubbornly waited around doing nothing for six months until Voq changed his mind. There's no evidence that the dilithium processor was anything more than a standard part for dilithium warp drives. Yes the part was valuable and critical to Voq's ship, but only because they hadn't been able to find a salvagable one elsewhere in the debris field.

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

I still find it odd that an antique optical telescope could let them see something that the ship's equipment could not.

The only thing I can figure is that whatever they use that's like present-day charge-coupled devices (like your phone's camera) for optical imaging was getting scrambled by the MacGuffin radiation being given off by the Klingon bat signal while it was in sleep mode. Since the captain just happened to have a handy antique in her ready room, voila. Old school tech that told them absolutely nothing about the Big Mysterious Thingy.

I wonder if Georgiou kept an astrolabe or sextant lying around in case their navigation computer crapped out?

 

[137th Gebirg]

It's in the dialogue that it's taken the Klingons months to repair their ship to almost functionality. Voq was showing all the ship debris points they'd scavenged from on that holomap. Did you notice how intricate the lines were? Searching through salvage and enacting repairs takes time. It wasn't that they just needed one part only and stubbornly waited around doing nothing for six months until Voq changed his mind. There's no evidence that the dilithium processor was anything more than a standard part for dilithium warp drives. Yes the part was valuable and critical to Voq's ship, but only because they hadn't been able to find a salvagable one elsewhere in the debris field.

Curious how any piece of Starfleet tech would be in any way compatible with Klingon systems. It took a lot of work for Scotty to plug the TOS Romulan cloak into the Enterprise's systems and the Klingons managed to retrofit the Shenzhou's dilithium thingy into their ship right ricky-tick. Speed of plot, and all that...

 

[BillJ]

It took a lot of work for Scotty to plug the TOS Romulan cloak into the Enterprise's systems...

It took him less than five minutes. Trek Tech being able to talk to any and all computers is just something that has been embedded in the franchise for a long time. No sense in crying over spilled milk now...

 

[F. King Daniel]

Curious how any piece of Starfleet tech would be in any way compatible with Klingon systems. It took a lot of work for Scotty to plug the TOS Romulan cloak into the Enterprise's systems and the Klingons managed to retrofit the Shenzhou's dilithium thingy into their ship right ricky-tick. Speed of plot, and all that...

So what you're saying is Voq > Scotty

 

[Spot261]

It's in the dialogue that it's taken the Klingons months to repair their ship to almost functionality. Voq was showing all the ship debris points they'd scavenged from on that holomap. Did you notice how intricate the lines were? Searching through salvage and enacting repairs takes time. It wasn't that they just needed one part only and stubbornly waited around doing nothing for six months until Voq changed his mind. There's no evidence that the dilithium processor was anything more than a standard part for dilithium warp drives. Yes the part was valuable and critical to Voq's ship, but only because they hadn't been able to find a salvagable one elsewhere in the debris field.

Which if you think about it makes no sense at all really.

Firstly it relied on the part being compatible with their tech, which is pretty unlikely given two entirely alien deign lineages which haven't even crossed paths for years.

Secondly it doesn't explain why on earth the rest of the (now combined) empire decided to wage war for six months whilst leaving the single most powerful vessel in their fleet (plus the almost unheard of cloaking tech on board) just floating in space, leaving Voq et al to salvage that standard part rather than simply supply them with one.

 

[137th Gebirg]

So what you're saying is Voq > Scotty

Was it Voq? I thought Kol took it before he marooned Voq back on the Shenzhou and one of Kol's nameless engineers got it running. I don't know...my memory on such minutia is fuzzy these days.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

The telescope is a minor 'offense' compared to the really huge plot hole of the episode.

You have a ship fitted with a top secret cloaking device drifting helpless in space for six months and neither the Klingons nor Starfleet do anything about it?! They simply forget about it and let it float in the battle scene?! Even though it could turn out to be almost as important in the war effort as the Federation’s spore drive?!

 

[F. King Daniel]

Was it Voq? I thought Kol took it before he marooned Voq back on the Shenzhou and one of Kol's nameless engineers got it running. I don't know...my memory on such minutia is fuzzy these days.

Ah, my bad. I was thinking of Voq and whats-her-name removing it from the Shenzhou.

 

[BillJ]

Ah, my bad. I was thinking of Voq and whats-her-name removing it from the Shenzhou.

Were we ever given any indication that Voq was an engineer?

 

[Agony_Boothb]

Were we ever given any indication that Voq was an engineer?

What, did you want him to whip out the diploma he got from Qo'nos community college?

 

[BillJ]

What, did you want him to whip out the diploma he got from Qo'nos community college?

Not exactly.

 

[Michael]

I'm wondering if it was Saru who took the telescope and kept it on board Discovery. Maybe he decided to hang on to it considering Burnham was headed to jail. I'm thinking Saru gave it to Tilly to give to Burnham, considering the friction between he and Burnham.

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. No seriously, I love that idea and hope to see it confirmed in a later episode.

It's extendable, hence the different lengths. That there is no tripod simply means that they left behind the tripod or it was broken in the attack. The one on the Shenzhou had the same corrosion marks as the one given to Burnham. The gift loses its meaning if it's simply a duplicate telescope. This was a family heirloom passed down for centuries. You don't just buy another one, and you certainly don't give someone a corroded one as a gift unless its age is part of its charm or value to you.

Click to enlarge:


Big view:

Thinking some more about this and rewatching the episode I think you are actually right: It is supposed to be the same telescope.

I still find it odd that an antique optical telescope could let them see something that the ship's equipment could not.

Yup, I still have a hard time buying that as well.

Rewatching this back-to-back with “Context is for Kings” made me readjust my rating for this. I now think this episode was actually better than the so-called “second pilot”. While it was refreshing to have (almost) no Klingons in “Context” and I enjoyed meeting Discovery for the first time, Burnham's arc of caring about the tardigrade and working together with Tilly and Stamets to get the spore drive working in “Butcher's Knife” were much more rewarding and enjoyable to watch.

Watching this “live” as it happens and being so hyped for it makes it hard to objectively compare this to earlier Trek, but right now this feels like some of the best Star Trek I ever watched. Here's hoping future episodes will be equally great!

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

Ah, my bad. I was thinking of Voq and whats-her-name removing it from the Shenzhou.

Voq got back to the IKS Dead In Space and proudly proclaimed, "We found a thing to make us go. We are smart!" It was soon apparent he had no idea where the engineering deck of his own ship was. He farmed out the work to someone else and spent the rest of the time walking around, saying, "I knew Tacoma! You know I knew T'Pumba, right? Me and T'Mushmouth, we were tight. Yeah, I remember the time T'Whatshisname told me..."

 

[Tarek71]

Lots of those months were probably consumed by the painfully slow, surgically enunciated, ponderous way these Klingons speak. It probably took days just explain what they needed. And Torch guy is completely useless. Not only a dud as a leader, but when he is understandably ousted from command he cant think of anything to turn it around. He needs whatshername to come up with a plan to save his life and get him back from the abyss. It wasn't even his idea to mine the Federation ships for parts. He needed that explained as well. T'Taliban saying he is the torchbearer is the only credential he has, and that guy wasn't all that impressive either. His main accomplishment was speaking so tediously that he put even more people to sleep than Georgiou did.

 

[Search4]

Kol arrived in his own ship. We should have seen two Klingon ships warping out. We saw one. Not sure if that’s Kol’s or Vaq’s. Any number of permutations here including Kol stripping Voq’s ship and taking the dilithium tech.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

I'm wondering if it was Saru who took the telescope and kept it on board Discovery. Maybe he decided to hang on to it considering Burnham was headed to jail. I'm thinking Saru gave it to Tilly to give to Burnham, considering the friction between he and Burnham. Also, it's mentioned in the second episode that the reason Sarek arranged for Michael to serve under Georgiou was because she was someone who had suffered great loss, but maintained hope. I'm wondering if Georgiou lost her entire family hence why The telescope was given directly to Burnham. I can imagine that if Georgiou had any biological family they may have been unhappy that a family heirloom would be given to Burnham and contested the will.

I feel like we'll get an explanation about the telescope down the track.

This brought me many a warm feeling. I'm hoping that the plot thread of Saru and Michael's relationship will be as satisfying as this idea.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. No seriously, I love that idea and hope to see it confirmed in a later episode.


!

This brought me many a warm feeling. I'm hoping that the plot thread of Saru and Michael's relationship will be as satisfying as this idea.

Thanks guys! I have to admit I was confused about the telescope and saw it as a plot hole. I hope my theory is the explanation that we get, however even if we don't it wouldn't be the first time that i've head to create my own head canon to explain a discrepancy in Star Trek.

Saru and Burnham have a sibling rivalry. It's clear that they both idolised Georgiou and during episode 1 and 2 they reminded me of a brother and sister vying for their mother's attention. I think it's a great dynamic. I think Saru thinks very highly of Burnham but he's also hurt and deeply disappointed in her. I'm looking forward to these two making amends.

 

[unimatrix7]

Apologies if this has been posted before (it's hard to know if I've read anything in this thread or if I've missed a few dozen posts), but Jammer has finally posted his review

Really is great to be reading him again

 

[Ometiklan]

I think the traffic about the telescope is like the canary in the coal mine. There were serious plot issues with the latest episode. Here is the latest review, from Trekyards...

+

Trekyards, for me, is the last place I go any more for anything Star Trek related. It's more cringe-worthy than DSC's first 2 episodes.

I concur with the others that TrekYards is not the place to go to get good reviews of Discovery.

Which if you think about it makes no sense at all really.

Firstly it relied on the part being compatible with their tech, which is pretty unlikely given two entirely alien deign lineages which haven't even crossed paths for years.

Secondly it doesn't explain why on earth the rest of the (now combined) empire decided to wage war for six months whilst leaving the single most powerful vessel in their fleet (plus the almost unheard of cloaking tech on board) just floating in space, leaving Voq et al to salvage that standard part rather than simply supply them with one.

Well, we don't see anything about how they plan on using the converter (?). They just need it. They will probably have to do a heck of a lot of adaptations to get it to work, but at least it is better than nothing. I imagine it is a little like how you process nuclear material into weapons, you can do it one of a few ways and maybe someone else's centrifuge doesn't fit your system, or you use electromagnetic separation so it doesn't fit in at all, but as long as you can get it working to produce some uranium/dilithium, you can proceed.

Edited to add: I watched the episode again, and I liked it even better this time. Knowing what happens I was able to concentrate on more of the little details, and I found a lot of them answered the little niggles I was wondering about. The defense force destroyed around the mining location, the telescope from the shenzhou with the left-behind mounting bracket, Landry waiting for the Ripper's life signs to drop to low levels before opening the pen, etc. I even found the Klingon scenes to not be boring this time as I watched the performances more. I am liking Discovery more and more as I rewatch it. There is just so much packed into these brand new episodes that it is hard to catch them all and put them in the proper context without my preconceived notions or instant assumptions/conclusions getting in the way.