Spoilers Star Trek: Short Treks 1x03 - "The Brightest Star"

[pst]

Balul (sp?)

"Ba'ul" according to an interview jones gave to the hollywood reporter. the article specifies that the ba'ul are eating the kelpiens but i'm pretty sure that wasn't made explicit in the episode.

"Mentioned but never seen, the Ba’ul are a race who feast upon the Kelpiens. The prey, in turn, takes this as a natural part of life, all to keep what is called the “great balance” and maintain the lives of those they leave behind. In fact, they’ve turned the recurring culling into a pseudo-religious ceremony. Led by Saru’s father Aradar (Robert Verlaque), the chosen few kneel in a circle of stones, as they await the bright light and noble ending that comes from their sacrifice. Spilling blood is such a norm on Kaminar that their sand is symbolically stained red."

 

[Cyrus]

It thought it was okay, (and I laughed when they showed 'Kelpiens' harvesting Kelp); but ity raises so many questions:

- How did the Kelpians develop their heightened, 'threat ganglia' senses and fighting ability to avoid being prey if the Balul (sp?) have indoctrinated them so well to a religion where they just stand in a circle and are teleported directly onto 'food transports'?

- If there is indeed another Predator species on that planet, where is it?

- What was so extraordinary about Saru that Starfleet would suspend the Prime Direct here? (Sorry the "You figured out how to assemble an off world Communicator doesn't cut it for me.

- Why aren't the Balul (sp?) protecting/guarding the Planet of what I assume is a primary food source more tightly? (IE Lt. Philippa Georgiou just flies a Shuttle right on to the Planet, no fuss/no muss.)

I think Baul are the predator species. Hopefully they will clarify that in the season 2 episode that is supposed to be a followup to this.

I don't think prime directive applies to individuals. People have already mentioned TNG's "Pen Pals" as a similar situation.

 

[Noname Given]

I think Baul are the predator species. Hopefully they will clarify that in the season 2 episode that is supposed to be a followup to this.

I don't think prime directive applies to individuals. People have already mentioned TNG's "Pen Pals" as a similar situation.

Here's the thing about TNG's "Pen Pals" - In the end they DID end up saving the entire civilization. And in BOTH situations the Federation is well aware of what's going on (IE the planets destroying themselves in "Pen Pals" and the Baul eating the Kelpiens in the Short Trek).

But again, my big issue with the Baul being the 'Predators' stands: IE - If the Kelpiens simply submit to being Food because of a Religious aspect that the Baul have introduced to their society - WHERE/HOW did the Kelpiens 'evolve/develop' their 'Prey' instincts and abilities?

Hell, in the 'Food Gathering and Beam up' sequence - no Kelpien's 'Threat Ganglia' were shown going off; and nobody 'sensed' anything. they all just responded to the Baul 'Dinner call' (for lack of a better term) quietly and stood there until they were beamed away.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Did they beam away?

They could be being held in transporter suspension, for months or years, until there's enough Kelpiens in there, to be economically processed in bulk.

I say this because TOS era Transporters don't transport people that far away, and they would need a satellite or ship in orbit extend the line of site of the transport, even though they can transport through the planet.

The Baul would have to be less advanced than the Federation for Pip to do a drive by and steal some cattle, so there could be manual collection at some point, of the stored Kelpiens.

Morlocks.

Maybe they live underground? The Baul meat processing plant could be 50 feet underneath the Kelpien settlement. So the transporter is just because they are lazy... Or photophobic?

The Kelpiens and the Baul may be genetically identical, and what separates them between prey and predator is a religion or political system from a thousand years earlier... Like how Billionaires today hunt poor people and liberals for sport, on their secluded island retreats.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

Then, why do the Ba'ul have ships if they live underground?

The family of Saru understands that the Ba'ul come from the sky, that they are sustained by the Kelpiens who are sacrificed so that others may live.

There are terms I do not understand: the "Watchful Eye" and the "Pain of Vaharai".

I learned from the episode that, accordinng to their beliefs, that when the Kelpiens are harvested by the Ba'ul, the Pain of Vaharai ends for them. What is this pain?

Another episode this one reminds me of is the Enterprise episode where Klingons preyed on miners, demanding a payment or there would be hell to pay.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You mean that Blazing Saddles remake?

Marauders.

Space and underground are very similar.

You create a closed system of livability, and live in it or travel in it.

 

[Jaimito]

Best of three so far. It felt more relevant to the season, and let us see a new alien world.
Love the captain Georgiu return, though was she the captain then (wasn't paying attention to her uniform rank)? Why would a captain go to the surface and make first contact by herself?
Edit: Nevermind, it was then-Lieutenant Philippa Georgiou.

this all makes sense in how important his relationship with Georgiou was and how ultimately her death impacted him. He leaves his home planet as a teenager, going into an alien world without any of his species. He had no mother at the time, so maybe she died or was killed when he was young. Georgiou was probably like a mother to him.

Next short looks cool too . Many wandered how he got in the klingon jail in the first place.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Lieutenant Georgiou.

She said that she talked to Starfleet about coming to rescue Saru, does that mean she sent word back to Earth, or that her shuttle lived in a bigger ship with a Captain, who she talked to?

I think Pip went fishing.

She got her permission months earlier, and then she dropped a few hundred of those Baul suitcases near many Kelpien farms, and waited for a smarter than the average Kelpien to bite.

This means two obvious things, 1. The Baul suitcase was a simple puzzle to turn the device into a communicator that anyone at a specific level of sophistication should have been able to solve, 2. Pip wanted a Kelpien.

 

[Cyrus]

Bo and Erika are good writers. They wrote the best first season episode ("Into the forrest") and this short. Probably wrote the second season episode that is the sequel to this short.

trekmovie review;
https://trekmovie.com/2018/12/07/re...n-appetizing-backstory-in-the-brightest-star/

They make a good point with this line: "The relationship with the Ba’ul seem to be less gazelle and lion and more cattle and human".

 

[jespah]

I suspect the callback in S2 will be Saru feeling the need to be harvested, and explain the 'Pain of Vaharai' in more depth although helfino I tend to stink at predicting these sorts of things.

 

[dinzy]

I liked it. I found the fact that the Kelpiens were harvesting Kelp to be a bit ridiculous, but whatever. It's a good back story and I wonder if it was originally intended to be a back story / flashback in an episode but then carved out to make a short when the opportunity to do so arose.

I must say these shorts make me think we need a series that is classic style episodic Trek that is just the A-plot running about 30 minutes per episode.

 

[Noname Given]

Bo and Erika are good writers. They wrote the best first season episode ("Into the forrest") and this short. Probably wrote the second season episode that is the sequel to this short.

^^^
Can't agree with you there - in fact I thought it was one of the weakest ST: D episodes of the first season. (YMMV of course.)

For me the standout episode of S1 was: "Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad".

trekmovie review;
https://trekmovie.com/2018/12/07/re...n-appetizing-backstory-in-the-brightest-star/

They make a good point with this line: "The relationship with the Ba’ul seem to be less gazelle and lion and more cattle and human".

^^^
I'll agree with that definitely, but that said, please show me a Cow that's developed "a sense for death" or "Threat Ganglia" as a result of being 'humanly' farmed.

 

[Vger23]

^^^
Can't agree with you there - in fact I thought it was one of the weakest ST: D episodes of the first season. (YMMV of course.)

For me the standout episode of S1 was: "Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad".


^^^
I'll agree with that definitely, but that said, please show me a Cow that's developed "a sense for death" or "Threat Ganglia" as a result of being 'humanly' farmed.

"Into the Forest I Go" was my personal favorite as well. Like you say, YMMV.

 

[rahullak]

Perhaps they were preyed upon by some other species of their own planet, which gave them the "sense for death" and "threat ganglia". This predator species was then destroyed by the Ba'ul. A possible theory.

 

[Vger23]

I'm kind of bummed to say that this one didn't do much for me. I thought there was a lot of potential, but it really left me feeling underwhelmed. The whole idea of (SPOILER) Captain PG coming to pick Saru up felt a little off to me. I didn't really make the connection between the unseen species that was taking the Kelpians with the stories of being a "prey species" that Saru had told during S1. I felt like the relationship between Saru and his family was under-developed.

I don't know...seems like a lot of you really liked it. I'll go back and check it out again I'm sure!

 

[DaveyNY]

I get the impression that the "sense of death" was developed long before they became a regulated food source.
I'm not really sure that their natural predator is the Ba'ul.
I think that the Farmer/Cattle relationship may have developed after the Kelpians become a loosely developed society.

Either that or both species started out long, long ago as a natural predator/prey relationship and as they both developed toward their respective society's the "livestock farming" thing developed with them.


I'd liken it to if Polar bears and Seals were the two dominant species on Earth and they developed over the millennia in a similar fashion.

 

[LS650]

Putting aside the whole Prime Directive interference aspect, I thought it was actually a half-decent story.

 

[brandnewfan]

Anyone care to take a guess as to how many years before Discovery this episode was set?

 

[MSPpete]

I liked the double sonic boom when the shuttle arrives. Like an STS shuttle returning. Nice touch.

 

[Cyrus]

^^^
Can't agree with you there - in fact I thought it was one of the weakest ST: D episodes of the first season. (YMMV of course.)

For me the standout episode of S1 was: "Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad".

I feel the reverse. Magic was my least favorite episode.