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Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 2x03 - "Point of Light"

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Well, Burnham was the main character in one plot and a secondary character in another so she was at least the most prominent character. While I agree there is more of an ensemble feel this year, Burnham is still pretty front and centre.

I thought the subplot about Spock started off as Burnham's but then it became more Amanda's bit-by-bit until she made the decision that she would be the one to look for Spock. I'd probably call it half-and-half because Amanda stepped up to pick it up.

Amanda's the one with the grand entrance. Amanda's the one who stole the files. And she's the one who has to still love Burnham but make sure she knows she's not going to be the one who takes care of finding Spock. Burnham let Amanda know what was going on, now Amanda will do the rest.
 
Other people may treat it more like it's a grade for a paper though, where anything below a six is a "failure," an average episode gets a seven/eight, and any episode which exceeds expectations gets a nine or 10.

That's basically how I do it, yeah. I gave this week's episode a 6/10 because it wasn't all bad even though it still had plenty of badness in it. Basic competency in stuff like audio, visuals, production value, acting, etc, stop a show like this from getting something like a 1 or 2 out of 10 from me – no matter how inept the writing, a professionally produced series is never going to be as unwatchable as something like, say, Birdemic.
 
People seem to interpret 1-10 scores in different ways. I'm of the opinion that a five is an average episode, a 0 is no redeeming qualities, and a 10 is near perfection that maybe a dozen episodes across all of Trek have reached. FWIW I don't think - despite my issues with the series - I've rated a single episode of Discovery lower than a four, and not rated any higher than eight to date.

Other people may treat it more like it's a grade for a paper though, where anything below a six is a "failure," an average episode gets a seven/eight, and any episode which exceeds expectations gets a nine or 10.
I use a slightly modified version of ratings.
  • 10: Perfect. As you say, maybe only a dozen Trek episodes reach this. All aspects from writing, plot, characterization, SFx, etc are superb. It's very rare that all aspects of an episode are top-notch.
  • 9: Almost perfect but something prevents it from reaching perfection.
  • 8: Very good. Definitely entertaining. Not a classic or near classic--but very solid. Complaints are still relatively minor.
  • 7 is the lowest score where the good out weights the bad. Mildly entertaining.
  • 6 is where the bad starts to outweigh the good. At this point, I can still find enjoyable aspects but I can't say that the episode as a whole is enjoyable. I'm likely to stop thinking about the episode the moment it's finished.
  • 5 and below are increasing decreases of bad!
 
Still love Tilly, and I can’t believe I hadn’t foreseen that May was the shoulder spore – I guess I was so focused on that being Culber I didn’t consider other options. Tilly and Burnham’s relationship continues to be such a strong partof this show, their mutually supportive trust of each other is great. Wonder where Shoulder Spore will go though – will it just be alien of the week next week, or does that tie in somehow to everything else? It certainly seems connected to the asteroid which was in turn linked to the Angels.
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I thought SMG had some of her best acting with Tilly in this one, as well as with Amanda (Mia Kirshner was really good in the data forensics scene.) .
I loved Saru's almost parental call down of Tilly. "Ensign Silvia Tilly!".. reminded me of a kid. When my mom took the time to include my middle and last name, I was in real trouble.
 
except that the D7 was shown in Enterprise, Tyler didn't create it
This is one of the very few times where the BTS information takes on a much greater meaning for my particular head-canon.
It is well known that the D7 K'Tinga shown in ENTERPRISE was a huge (and stupid) mistake by the Producers and I hope someday if they ever decide to upgrade the Sp-Fx for that show it gets corrected.
But in the mean time, I'm willing to imagine each time I watch that episode that John Eaves D4 is actually being shown.
YMMV :cool:
 
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I thought it was the bird of prey seen in Enterprise that was the big mistake? Or were there multiple ENT Klingon mistakes? I wasn't watching all that hard.
 
This is one of the very few times where the BTS information takes on a much grater meaning for my particular head-canon.
It is well known that the D7 shown in ENTERPRISE was a huge (and stupid) mistake by the Producers and I hope someday if they ever decide to upgrade the Sp-Fx for that show it gets corrected.
But in the mean time, I'm willing to imagine each time I watch that episode that John Eaves D4 is actually being shown.
YMMV :cool:

Its also technically a K'Tinga, not a D7. But all true.
 
That's basically how I do it, yeah. I gave this week's episode a 6/10 because it wasn't all bad even though it still had plenty of badness in it. Basic competency in stuff like audio, visuals, production value, acting, etc, stop a show like this from getting something like a 1 or 2 out of 10 from me – no matter how inept the writing, a professionally produced series is never going to be as unwatchable as something like, say, Birdemic.
Take your "Like" for mentioning Birdemic, use for solah panehlz.:beer:


I use a slightly modified version of ratings.
  • 10: Perfect. As you say, maybe only a dozen Trek episodes reach this. All aspects from writing, plot, characterization, SFx, etc are superb. It's very rare that all aspects of an episode are top-notch.
  • 9: Almost perfect but something prevents it from reaching perfection.
  • 8: Very good. Definitely entertaining. Not a classic or near classic--but very solid. Complaints are still relatively minor.
  • 7 is the lowest score where the good out weights the bad. Mildly entertaining.
  • 6 is where the bad starts to outweigh the good. At this point, I can still find enjoyable aspects but I can't say that the episode as a whole is enjoyable. I'm likely to stop thinking about the episode the moment it's finished.
  • 5 and below are increasing decreases of bad!
It's a good scale. I'll admit mine might sometimes be one point exuberantly too high, and maybe with time some will go up or down.
As chaotic as this thing I jokingly call my brain is, I did give it 9 for a reason. I just felt the acting was top notch across the board. The camera work was well done too (seems like maybe they're getting more comfortable working in this studio) not flashy but if you really look while its on, there are some great pan shots. I liked how they managed to start to fix some of Fuller's Follies quietly while making (gasp) Klingons kind of interesting for the first time in a long while. Also it filled my Michelle Yeoh check box. It's not one of my all time favorite episodes, it just seems to have done everything about as well as could be done. 9 Fake Klingon Baby Heads!

So CBS if you want to send me a check, that's fine, but you can fix the damn Closed Captioning instead. The hell is up with that?
 
People seem to interpret 1-10 scores in different ways. I'm of the opinion that a five is an average episode, a 0 is no redeeming qualities, and a 10 is near perfection that maybe a dozen episodes across all of Trek have reached. FWIW I don't think - despite my issues with the series - I've rated a single episode of Discovery lower than a four, and not rated any higher than eight to date.

Other people may treat it more like it's a grade for a paper though, where anything below a six is a "failure," an average episode gets a seven/eight, and any episode which exceeds expectations gets a nine or 10.
You're right, everyone sees the grading system differently and will set the bar for 'average' somewhere different. For example, my average score given to season 1 was just over 6, the same score I gave this week. Do I consider this to be an 'average' episode of DSC? Yeah, pretty much - so that's at least consistent.


It's difficult to measure one person's score against another's on a given week but the spread of scores trends to give an idea of the overall impression of an episode - last week we were up with the 9s and 10s, this week, peaking nearer 7 to 8. As long as roughly the same people vote using roughly the same personal criteria each week, the polls are comparable week to week.
 
Its also technically a K'Tinga, not a D7. But all true.
I went back to listen to hear if TyVoq said the word "K'Tinga" when he was presenting the D7, but it seems like he didn't. The subtitles said "D7", but that's arguably a translation of ideas, not actual words. I don't know Klingon well enough (i.e., I don't know it at all) to be able to tell what he actually called it.
 
On first viewing, going to give it a 7, and I think that score won't get much better from me. I'm treating it essentially for what it was, a bridging episode, kind of stopping to update where some characters are, and then we continue next week with moving forward in the arc.

One thing I do wish they would do is show or have more of how Burnham is trying to figure out what's going on with Spock or where he is. That and I want to see Pike get good and pissed off, screw regulations and just go all out to recover Spock and get to the bottom of everything. One of the most decorated Captains in the fleet at this time, command of the most celebrated Starship in the most honored class of ship, yet last night he got treated like someone trying to get information on their insurance policy.
 
I went back to listen to hear if TyVoq said the word "K'Tinga" when he was presenting the D7, but it seems like he didn't. The subtitles said "D7", but that's arguably a translation of ideas, not actual words. I don't know Klingon well enough (i.e., I don't know it at all) to be able to tell what he actually called it.

I was talking about Enterprise and "Unexpected." Link.
 
I was talking about Enterprise and "Unexpected." Link.
Ah -- thanks. I didn't follow the conversation thread properly. :techman:

That said, my question still stands for anyone who has some idea of Klingon sentence syntax. That question being, "What word(s) did TyVoq actually use when referring to the D7 in that scene?"
 
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