Spoilers Star Trek: Short Treks 1x01 - "Runaway"

[Rahul]

Where this is in the timeline is a mystery, atm. Tilly's an Ensign, and Michael is nowhere to be seen (does she have her own quarters now? Tilly has a second bed still). Time will tell whether there's room for this adventure before they pick up Pike, or even if Pike is commanding the ship during this short trek.

My guess is "during the S1 finale" - after the Paris ceremony, when the ship is back in space for routine missions, but before the teaser where they got the call from the Enterprise.

IMO the Federation isn't at war at the moment of this short - and apparently Tilly is an ensign now (I'm bad at spotting ranks), which she wasn't during S1. But the Discovery doesn't seem to be on a critical mission to explore the galaxy spanning mystery of red sparks either. It seemed like very day-to-day business.

Michael is nowhere to be seen (does she have her own quarters now? Tilly has a second bed still).

At the time of these events, Michael Burnham is somewhere staring at a wall and having heavy-handed internal monologues about the burden of responsibility

 

[dahj]

The problem is that, much like the entirety of Season 1, the episode was plot-driven, instead of character-driven.

Did we watch the same short?
The entire thing was about Tilly and Po overcoming their inner doubts and accepting challenges of Command Training and Queendom...

 

[Rahul]

Did we watch the same short?
The entire thing was about Tilly and Po overcoming their inner doubts and accepting challenges of Command Training and Queendom...

Was it though?
because a whole lot more emphasize was put on each and every reveal "Oh, McGuffin", "oh, backstory reveal", than the actual motivations of the characters behind those reveals. Was there ever andy doubt that the Po would return to her people? Did TIlly convince her to do so? We don't know - because they were talking about dilithium crystals instead of personal choices. It really could be either way.

Same for Tilly - did she decided to continue her officers training despite her breaking protocol? Or because? Or didn't it matter for her at all, and she chose so solely because she was impressed with Po? (And then: why? what exactly did she "learn" from that encounter apart from the mere facts?)

I mean I appreciate that a lot of work that was done with the characters - more so than Tilly had ever to do in S1! - but there is still a whole lot missing, and basically everyone has to fill in the gaps how one likes. Not because the motivation is ambigious. But because it's barely there at all.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

This is a details question. What caused the food synthesizers to vomit food as they did during the episode?

Another details quesiotn, Most of the items had recognizable shapes, based on what we were told about them, with one glaring exception. One of the items is lycopene, which is the red color pigment in tomatoes. How did the machines vomit this?

I am a little fuzzy about what happened on Xahea. I know they got warp drive, I know the female's parents and brother were killed, and I know she is about to be coronated. What I do not get is what happen to her family and how that ties to her people getting warp drive?

For a species with a larva stage, I would have thought the Xatheans would have looked more insectoid.

 

[Krandor]

I enjoyed it. As people have pointed out a few elements were implausible on a starship setting but I thought the story and Tilly were interesting and enjoyable.

Can't wait for the next one written by a pullitzer prize winning author.

 

[dahj]

Was it though?

Yes, it was.

 

[Rahul]

Yeah, no.

"Basic character motivation" is a liiiiitle bit more than "details", and lot more important for a story than how exactly McGuffins or machinery work.

 

[dahj]

Yeah, no.

Yeah, yes.

 

[Rahul]

Yeah, yes.

Dayum... before, I was on the fence. But now your continuous arguments have completely convinced me!

 

[Tuskin38]

It was pretty clear to me what the episode was about.

 

[Lord Garth]

I don't like the "Battlestar Galactica-ization" of the Trek-verse. This show seems a lot more militaristic and brutalistic than any Trek iteration before, and characters needlessly must have secrets from their superiours. In TOS, if McCoy met a strange alien that sneaked aboard, he could call Kirk anytime, and Kirk would have treated the alien with the same respect and caution like him. Here, Tilly has to hide the whole encounter from her superiours in fear of getting demoted/fired or punished for it. That's NOT how you run a science organization! That's not even how you run a good military organization. The whole ship (and especially the computer voice) seem cold and un-caring.

This is a fair point. But, in Tilly's defense, assuming she didn't intern on any other ships, her only field experience is serving on Discovery under Lorca's command. And Saru, as an XO, is rigid to a fault. So that command structure is all she's familiar with in terms of practical experience. We've seen the rest of Star Trek but she hasn't.

One of the things I'm hoping with Pike joining the show in S2 is that he'll show them how it's done.

 

[USS Excelsior]

The transporter room had more TOS sounds, including the background noise.

 

[Tuskin38]

Preachy and do goody rubbish

So Star Trek?

The transporter room had more TOS sounds, including the background noise.

Season one had a bunch of TOS background SFX, mostly on the bridge, dunno if it was also in the transporter room.

 

[NeoStar9]

Where this is in the timeline is a mystery, atm. Tilly's an Ensign, and Michael is nowhere to be seen (does she have her own quarters now? Tilly has a second bed still). Time will tell whether there's room for this adventure before they pick up Pike, or even if Pike is commanding the ship during this short trek.

I think during the finale. Time jumps around in those ending moments. What we can determine is that it's after the award ceremony. Tilly is an ensign and Michael in the picture on her desk has her rank back as well. The ship isn't damaged or really going anywhere. Likely resupplying. We don't know how much time passes between that ceremony and when the ship leaves to go get their new captain. I would imagine several days would pass in between those scenes or could be retro actively placed there with everyone having some time to do something else. Just because we don't see a planet or other ship doesn't mean one isn't there behind the camera.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

How many of these will there be? I'm not signing up for All Access just to watch 15 minute episodes. I'm patient enough to wait until S2 starts and I re-sign to binge watch them.

 

[Ronald Held]

It was just all right for a budget short. Transporter sounds may have been the high point. I suppose Po never shared here recrystallization technique with the federation? Is anyone concerned about brother and sister being
king and queen?

 

[Ovation]

It was just all right for a budget short. Transporter sounds may have been the high point. I suppose Po never shared here recrystallization technique with the federation? Is anyone concerned about brother and sister being
king and queen?

Brother is dead. She is succeeding him on the throne. Not joining him.

 

[Ronald Held]

Brother is dead. She is succeeding him on the throne. Not joining him.

Oops did not listen carefully enough

 

[Tuskin38]

How many of these will there be? I'm not signing up for All Access just to watch 15 minute episodes. I'm patient enough to wait until S2 starts and I re-sign to binge watch them.

3 more after this

 

[Roald]

Liked it! Still not too fond bout the name ‘Short Treks’... it’s just so obviously simple, and not in a good way.. But I do love that these get made and they’d make a great addition to the DSC season 2 blu ray set..!