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

The Horta race has dies out many times over millennia. The race obviously existed, and carcases could be recovered. That some of us (IE the audience) know it's a Horta doesn't mean the ST: D characters know it as such; it's an alien carcas of an unidentified alien with interesting properties.

 

Guys, relax. They didn't hire the continuity gurus until after episode 6 was filmed. Then it will all get better!

 

They would cartainly learn that it was a silicon based lifeform, which was completely unknown to the Enterprise crew.

 

I disagree.

 

As I said in another thread

They're not doing episodic done in one TV. If made today, the Ultimate Computer would probably be an arc/thread that would be spread out over several episodes, if not an entire season. Daystrom would be a regular or semi-regular character/ We'd delve more into his background and character. We'd see more about how M-5 was developed.
Conversely if the "Ultimate Drive" was made in the 60's-90's: it would probably go like this
Teaser: Captain's Log Stardate 12345.6 The Enterprise has been diverted to Starbase 12 to pickup noted Federation scientist Paul Stamets, who claims to have a discovery that will revolutionize space travel. Starfleet has instructed us to give Stamets full access to our engineering systems and our complete cooperation.
In the transporter room KIrk, Spock and Scotty discuss Stamets. Scotty poo poos the idea and doesn't want Stamets anywhere near his engine room. Spock gives Stamets ideas support saying how everything is connected at the quantum level.
Stamets beams in with his assistant, Michaela Burnham. Kirk eyes go wide and he whispers "Michaela..." as the camera zooms in on her face in all of it's soft focused glory.
ACT ONE
Scotty is pissed, Stamets has taken over his engineering room and is keeping things secret. Michaela turns out to be an old classmate/lover of Kirk's, who left the Academy under a cloud. Kirk and Burnham reconnect and as his his wont, Kirk falls back in love with Burnham. So we see them walk the corridors of the ship, Kirk saying some lovey dovey Kirkian dialog. He broaches the subject of why she left the Academy, but she refuse to answer.

ACT TWO
They begin testing the drive with several short jumps. Scotty doesn't like it. Something feels wrong to him. Spock to begins to feel uneasy about it, too. He's getting psychic flashes of pain. Kirk is of course focused on Burnham. McCoy takes him aside and reminds him of his duty to the ship. Spock staggers into sickbay, screams and collapses.

ACT THREE:
Spock wakes up. McCoy does his crazy Vulcan physiology schitck. Spock responds with some Vulcan mumbo jumbo. Something is reaching out to him. Something on the ship. Down in engineering Stamets and Scotty are fighting. Scotty wants to know what Stamets is hiding. Burnham tries to intervene. Spock McCoy and Kirk arrive. Spock's psychic trail has lead them to engineering. Spock leds them to a closed room in engineering. Kirk tries to open the door but Stamets has a special security code on it. Kirk appeals to Burnham, and she open the door to reveal the tardigrade. Burnham explains the tardigrades connection to the jump drive. Everyone is shocked. Stamets goes mad activates the drive. The tardigrade screams in pain. From the bridge Sulu informs them they've jumped to middle of Klingon space!!!
ACT FOUR
Klingon ships surround the Enterprise. The tardiarade is upset. They need it calm so they can jump. The Klingons fire, the Enterprise is hit, Shields weakening, The Enterprise fire back. Scotty tries to figure out how to work the drive. Spcok communicate with the tardigrade. The creature has bonded with Burnham and with Spock help they calm it down. Just in time the jump drive works as a fleet of Klingon ships are about to destroy the Enterprise.
The drive only works with the tardigrade so it it scrapped on ethical grounds. Stamets faces charges. Burnham goes to help the tardigrades on their homeworld.

We never hear of Burnham, the jumpdrive or the Tardigrade again.

It's no more moronic than 90 % of what we've seen in Star Trek over the last five decades.

 

Procedural dramas are still alive and thriving. The soap has not won the war yet.

 

Most have soapish threads that tie a season together.

 

^^ Oh I don't think the show is moronic, just deadly dull and full of pointless changes (some of them self-defeating )

 

Agreed; so far Lorca has demonstrated no behavior I'd consider inappropriate or wrong-headed. The only thing I can possibly point to is his manipulating the prison transport and indirectly causing the death of it's pilot. Otherwise, he's been perfectly capable and morally justified. Whether that continues to be the case is another story.

Despite how little I liked her, I was intrigued by Landry's relation to Lorca; that "anytime, anywhere" line from "Context is for Kinds" suggested more than simple duty. Then again, she was an idiot, so who knows what she was thinking.

 

Think of it this way:

Do you genuinely believe that Lorca is the kind of captain who is truly dedicated to his crew?

It's not enough to want to complete the mission. I've no doubt that Lorca really does want that. But there's just something about him that suggests he would, at a moment's notice, discard any member of his crew that he considered a liability. I don't see Lorca as the kind who would 'leave no one behind', as most other Trek captains have been.

I mean, how else would you interpret Lorca lines like "Universal law is for lackeys, context is for kings", or - worse yet - "I will use you, or anything else I can, to achieve my mission"? How can anyone with even an ounce of compassion or empathy, possibly talk like that?

And yes, I'm well aware that this is wartime. But that doesn't give people an excuse to shed their humanity. Even Ben Sisko kept his. (There's no way Lorca would have felt even an ounce of guilt after "In the Pale Moonlight". Hell, Lorca would openly gloat about it.)

In the end, it boils down to this: Is there anything Lorca would NOT do?

 

He didn't exactly breakdown after Landry died. He also tormented the crew and Stamets with the audio.. sent Michael on a fun first 'mission'. Episode Oblivion he'll be stuffing the lot of them in the warp drive.

 

In the preview that we got for next week's episode on After Trek, there is some dialogue between Lorca and Admiral Cornwell that suggest he's the subject of much criticism from other flag officers. My feeling is that Lorca may have been on his way out. The Klingon war happens and Starfleet Command gets jumpy and decides to aim a loose cannon at the Klingons. Lorca is the officer they need right now, a man who will do whatever it takes to win the war and then provide command with a convenient scapegoat should they be subject to criticism.

 

And I agree with your agreement. But I would that we don't know the pilot is dead. They didn't seem to be at warp and she was swept away right before Discovery showed up. Totally plausible that she was rescued offscreen; it just wasn't important to the story to cover.

 

So Lorca is Harvey Dent--not the hero Starfleet deserves, but the hero it needs right now.

 

"fake it till you make it"

It's a time of war, there's no time to get shit down pat before you are on the front line.

 

Wait.

Hold on a minute.

Captain Gabriel Lorca is Lando Calrissian?

 

It will be far from the only thing on the ship which was completely unknown to the Enterprise crew.

 

He sounds more like tommy lee jones though....

 

Great. That means I'll have to buy the White Album again.

 

I suppose we shall see in the fullness of time...