Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x01 - "That Hope Is You, Part 1"

[TimeTravellingWhale]

Sadly, Netflix didnt release the ShortTreks Season 2 with DSC S3 like they did with season ShortTreks S1 when DSC S2 came out, so it looks like ill have to buy them on BluRay or wait for Paramount+ to (finally) come to europe

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Michael's weird "talking to herself" spell when she crash-lands on the planet.

Soliloquy is a conceit of drama, no?

 

[cooleddie74]

Hell, I'd be talking to myself if I were in a panic and worried I were stranded and my friends were lost or dead.

 

[KennyB]

• Michael's weird "talking to herself" spell when she crash-lands on the planet. This scene had two big issues for me. One, real human beings don't talk like that. People sometimes mutter under their breath and the like, but we typically don't go into extended internal monologue telling ourselves to walk and the like. Two, it was entirely unnecessary. One of the few key things in scriptwriting is less is more, and the scene would have been just fine with almost no narration (except when Michael was talking back to the computer). SMG is a powerful enough actor to get across a feeling without words after all. So it just seemed like completely inept scriptwriting.

YOU don't do things like that.........some do. And a serious question, because I don't know you IRL. Are you a professional writer?

 

[fireproof78]

But by Michael's own perspective, she just said goodbye to everyone minutes ago. But what kinda messed up weirdo just repeats their name, rank, and serial number over and over? Is it supposed to be some kinda centering process?

A person trying to keep their grip on reality. Yes, I have done that.

 

[Isaac Lawrence]

I dunno, I'm willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt when it comes to worldbuilding and the status of interstellar travel. That part of this episode didn't bother me at all. There were two things that really, really continue to bother me about the episode though.

• Michael's weird "talking to herself" spell when she crash-lands on the planet. This scene had two big issues for me. One, real human beings don't talk like that. People sometimes mutter under their breath and the like, but we typically don't go into extended internal monologue telling ourselves to walk and the like. Two, it was entirely unnecessary. One of the few key things in scriptwriting is less is more, and the scene would have been just fine with almost no narration (except when Michael was talking back to the computer). SMG is a powerful enough actor to get across a feeling without words after all. So it just seemed like completely inept scriptwriting.
• The scene almost immediately following it, where Michael goes from fighting Book, to begging him for help and tagging along in like a total 180. She has a survival kit on her...why not at least try and walk and see who else she can find? Look, I get it, the writers wanted to find some way to railroad Book and Michael together. But I have to believe there was some less clumsy meet-cute than this.

If those two scenes were fixed, I think I would have enjoyed the remainder of the episode much more. But since they were a major portion of the first act, it kinda broke my immersion in the episode, and made me look at everything that followed in more of a critical lens, rather than just getting swept up in the story.

I read it as, she crashed-landed 1000 years into the future, her ships not there to meet her, and so she's trying not to totally lose it.

So, name, rank, serial number. I gotta compose myself, get myself together, I don't want to die here.

It was pretty straight-forward to me.

And the meeting with Book, I read it's she got a sense that he's not going to be hostile towards me, so let me try and get some answers from him. And if I can, great, if not, I'll move on.

I remember once running out of gas driving through Pennsylvania going to New York. I drove up to a gas station off the expressway only to find that it was closed and boarded up. I got back in the car and that's when I was completely out of gas. I walked down into the little town and a guy in a truck asked me if I needed help and he drove me to another gas station. You take those kinds of chances sometimes.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Soliloquy is a conceit of drama, no?

That is the question...

 

[eschaton]

Soliloquy is a conceit of drama, no?

True enough, but...

• Stage plays are a different things from TV/film. The two biggest differences being the viewer is much closer to the action, allowing for more subtle acting (minor facial expressions and the like) along with directorial choices allowing for many things stage doesn't allow for (camera angles, cross cuts, etc).
• A soliloquy generally works best if it's profound. And to some extent it breaks the fourth wall - the actor is addressing the viewer, not talking to themselves.

If it was absolutely necessary to let us know Michael's internal state via monologue at this point, I think some sort of "personal log" which was recorded further in the future would have been preferable.

 

[eschaton]

And a serious question, because I don't know you IRL. Are you a professional writer?

Not really, but I've read a lot of literary and scriptwriting criticism over the years.

 

[fireproof78]

It was pretty straight-forward to me.

Same here.

 

[Lord Garth]

Book, when the Andorian Guard questions him and Burnham, "You know those antique venders who like to live in the past? This stuff's like a holy grail to them. I know Andorians don't do fun, but there's a real market for this stuff. Your bosses are watching. Are you telling me you want to tell them you drove away a prime supplier? Fine."

A lot of good information right there.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

If it was absolutely necessary to let us know Michael's internal state via monologue at this point, I think some sort of "personal log" which was recorded further in the future would have been preferable.

She might be an aural learner. Speaking things out is a legitimate way to process information.

 

[Therin of Andor]

To be fair, Book said that for him to use Slipstream, he'd need Benamite crystals...

Sisko sends them from the Bajoran Wornhole.

 

[Lord Garth]

Dilithium is the standard of currency here. Listen to Book around time-stamp 23:30.

Makes sense. If dilithium is in short supply, then demand for it -- and its value -- will be sky high.

 

[thribs]

Sadly, Netflix didnt release the ShortTreks Season 2 with DSC S3 like they did with season ShortTreks S1 when DSC S2 came out, so it looks like ill have to buy them on BluRay or wait for Paramount+ to (finally) come to europe

You’re not missing much with the short treks.

 

[Vger23]

I've always found that to enjoy TV sci-fi in general, and Star Trek in particular, you just have to forgive some ridiculous plot contrivances from time to time.

Just imagine if everyone were this reasonable.

It astounds me to this day.

IDIC.

I didn't think that there was. But, to expect some sort of scientific excellence with a universe with Q, with human psionics, with katras and on and on, dilithium burning up doesn't even make my top 10 of "Weirdest things in Trek" list, and that's a long list!

Not to mention warping around the sun to time travel, energy barriers surrounding the galaxy, power fields that are 82 AUs in diameter, alien cultures that resemble earthlings and speak English....but hey...dilithium exploding is where I draw the line.

And someone earlier accused me of being an asshole for suggesting that people who don’t like DSC are focusing in on inane trivialities to justify their distaste for the series....

 

[JirinPanthosa]

To be fair, Book said that for him to use Slipstream, he'd need Benamite crystals... which Voyager was able to synthesize on its own in the 24th century.
Its about 811 years into the future from that point... and VERY difficult to imagine that benamite crystals couldn't be whipped up on demand in a blink of an eye or that they wouldn't be widespread for Slipstream use.

Harry Kim mentioned it would take years to synthesize more (but Voyager had limited resources)... I'm guessing that since Starfleet analyzed the QS technology in detail when Voyager got back (and them having massive resources and ridiculously advanced technology), not only would they be able to find a way to create the benamite crystals in less than a decade, in about a decade after that, they'd probably figure out to synthesize the frigging things with ease and speed.

I mean seriously, sometimes I hate it how the writers ignore the fact that science and technology evolve exponentially as time goes on... so what... Starfleet has been sitting on its rear end for 700 years not making new breakthroughs?
Give me a break... In Trek, that garbage just wouldn't happen... however, the writers apparently MADE it happen that way.

As for using something else apart from dilithium to create Warp... well, dilithium crystals are used to stabilize antimatter reactions.
There's also Soliton Wave technology which doesn't need warp drive... you simply need a method to generate a soliton wave and ride it... which technically can be done with other methods (which again requires power).

Also, I'm actually surprised that Warp as technology wasn't phased out by the 32nd century...
Scratch that... I'm surprised that Dilithium crystals and anti-matter weren't phased out by that time frame - oh wait, they were... and were largely replaced by temporal technology (which was destroyed and then banned after the Temporal Wars).

How many different things did the crews of Enterprise-D and Voyager encounter that they said could be used as alternate energy sources?
I'm thinking plenty... just never revisited.
In Voyager's case, I can understand it was lack of resources... but Starfleet had that data and analyzed it thoroughly when the ship came back.

You're making the same assumption people make in 2020, that just because we've had rapid development recently that the trend of development is forever.

Who is to say that in the late 24th century they weren't approaching a limit? The only area we have evidence they rapidly advanced in the future was time travel. And ablative armor (They should have ablative armor in Picard). Just like we, in 2020, have no reason to assume faster than light travel exists, we have no reason to think in this universe, in 2399, that better technologies exist.

What faster technologies do we really know exist in the future of this universe? Slipstream, telepathic super-warp, whatever the Borg use. The freaking Dominion couldn't figure out anything better. Prime Factors and Nth Degree, I guess maybe, but how do we know it doesn't also assume dilithium?

Maybe there's a major plateau, dilithium is the best we can efficiently do without evolving into an energy being.

 

[Vger23]

I swear, some people will bloody their fingernails scratching and clawing for mundane shit to be pissed off about.

 

[MisterD]

Hell, I'd be talking to myself if I were in a panic and worried I were stranded and my friends were lost or dead.

I know people who comment themselves while they clean their room or cook.

In universe that could be a technique in stress situations because your brain remembers stuff better when you speak it out...and also it might release stress and help to focus.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yep to everything you just wrote.