Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x09 - "Terra Firma, Part 1"

[Lord Garth]

At the beginning of the episode, Kovich directly said that Georgiou could go back in time, or back to her home universe. My guess is that the Guardian dude is letting her see that she can't go home again, and then will offer her the ability to go back to the 23rd century again by the conclusion of Part 2, setting up for Section 31.

Something about this seems off. The Guardian is more likely to offer something they didn't think of and is probably offering it right now.

The Mirror Universe being brought back into closer alignment with the Prime Universe might mean that Georgiou will be able to survive in DSC's new setting. Don't ask me how that works, but it sounds like the realities drifting further and further apart seems to be what's causing Georgiou's condition, so bringing them closer together would solve that. It sounds more sci-fi/fantasy-ish, so that's what I think they'll go with.

Granted, this is what I want to happen because Tyler really rubbed me the wrong way during the second season and I'd prefer not to have him back. Honestly, I'd much rather have Georgiou working with Kovich than Tyler. So would, I suspect, everyone else.

 

[DarKush]

Personally, I really liked Carl. He reminded me of the Ascended Beings in the Stargate episode "Threads" where they are reading the newspaper with events from the galaxy. If Carl were just some higher order being, I'd be fine with that. He seems like a very interesting character. I quite liked the whole scene with Carl and the door. And other than the hint in the newspaper, there was nothing to suggest Carl is the Guardian of Forever. Maybe Part 2 will make it more explicit like showing Carl morph into the Arch we are familiar with. I hope not. I would prefer it if Carl were just another mysterious higher order being that we've never met before. Saying that Trek is ruined forever would be an overreaction but I do think that it is super dumb if Discovery makes Carl into the TOS Guardian.

As far as the rest of the episode is concerned, I don't care much for the Mirror Universe in Discovery. The problem I have is that Discovery makes the Mirror character too one dimensional. Yes, I get that the Mirror Universe is sadistic, treacherous and evil but Discovery writers just play the same note over and over again. This entire episode was just the MU characters shouting that they are evil and will stab everybody in the back non stop. It gets repetitive and boring.

Clearly, the writers feel that MU Georgiou and Prime Michael is a story arc that needs to be resolved and apparently this two parter is a back door pilot to the S31 show. But I am more interested in the origin of the Burn arc and new Starfleet. So I see it as a distraction to what I really want to watch.

I also wish Discovery had used a better villain than the Emerald Chain. I am guessing we will see a big space battle that will show how powerful they are but so far, they have not been a very menacing threat IMO. I think a military Pact between Romulans (who refused to join Ni'Var), Breen, Klingons, for example, would have made a more menacing threat to Starfleet.

I like the Emerald Chain but I do think they could be beefed up more. So far they've been more on the margins of Season 3, an oft-mentioned, kind of looming threat. I would like them to go beyond some of the species we already have seen as major threats in other Treks though. I wouldn't mind them really making good on the Ferengi as villains (I mean a crime syndicate like the Emerald Chain seems tailor made for them). I liked what Lower Decks did for the Pakleds so I wouldn't mind seeing DISCO do the same for the Ferengi. If not them, perhaps the Remans or the Son'a. I also would like to see the Tholians and Gorn really get the loving special effects treatment that DISCO does better than just about any other Trek series. I saw speculation that the Bajorans could be involved with the Emerald Chain and I would be fine with that as well. DS9 forgot about the Hunters, so what are they up to in the 32nd century?

There's also some VOY species out there like the Vaadwaur, Swarm, Voth, and Species 8472 that I would like to see again. And for ENT, the "Silent Enemy" aliens, Sphere Builders, Na'kuhl, Suliban, or Xindi (again).

 

[KepperC]

An aside, but I wonder how they filmed the scenes for MU Michael, with such a different haircut?

SMG wears wigs. Her real hair is a buzz cut with brown hair colouring. Even when Michael has short hair, like in the premiere episode, it’s a wig with weaves and braids added.

 

[Jadeb]

Hrm, now that I think of it, I wonder if the door is a Twilight Zone reference. It’s a very TZ setup.

 

[eschaton]

SMG wears wigs. Her real hair is a buzz cut with brown hair colouring. Even when Michael has short hair, like in the premiere episode, it’s a wig with weaves and braids added.

A wig is different from a weave. You need some length (about two months growth) to have a weave.

 

[NCC-73515]

Wished they had used that uniform for ST: Picard instead.

That would be 20 later, after the TNG S3-7, DS9, FC uniforms

 

[thribs]

Makes you wonder why they corrected the commbadge when he’s from the JJVerse anyway

 

[Yistaan]

Empress Georgiou is basically Trek's Vader or Palpatine. I'm not sure why the entire crew, including Commander in Chief Vance, is waxing lyrical about trying to save her. Empress Georgiou's committed so many intergalactic crimes that would make Osyraa look as threatening as Lucy from the Peanuts comic.

Remember this is the same Federation that decided it's too much risk to continue helping Romulans, the majority of who weren't nearly as bad as Empress Georgiou. That in TNG lets entire planets die from natural disaster in the name of the Prime Directive.

I'm actually more curious about Vance's career and the "bad calls" he made in his time that he was talking about. I looked up Oded Fehr and he's only about 50, so if Vance is the same age he's not really that old (Mirror Georgiou would be older at 56, if she was born in 2202 like Prime Georgiou, and Pike was also implied to be the same age as Georgiou, being an Academy classmate).

 

[Iconian]

Weakest episode so far. Everything after the Q-type fella kind of sucked. The MU part, which engulfed most of the ep, felt like a regurgitated s1 story minus Lorca.

That said, it would be interesting to know more about Dannus V, located in the Gamma Quadrant, and "Carl". Not the Guardian of Forever nor Time Planet, it seems.

Which begs the question, why didn't the Sphere data also mention the GoF and Time Planet, located in the nearby Alpha/Beta Quadrant, as a possible solution to Georgiou's problem?

New information we learned this week regarding the s3 plot: a Kelpian ship, not Calypso Discovery, is broadcasting the signal from the nebula, which was described as a dilithium nursery.

6/10

 

[thribs]

I do t think he was a Q. Maybe a M or N being

 

[Tuskin38]

I was confused while looking at this episode. I didn't get who "Carl" was (expecting the Guardian of Forever to be tied into this) and thought it would've been great if John DeLancie had also done a cameo on DISCO like he did for Lower Decks. Hopefully Carl is a Q.

There are hints in the episode that he is a Guardian of Forever.

Strangely enough, Kelvin timeline is a in universe name for that as it is used by Daniels in STO. That’s where the name comes from.

The name of the Kelvin Timeline was created by Mike Okuda for the Star Trek Encyclopedia. That STO content that mentions it just happened to released first.

 

[tomalak301]

The Orion stuff has struck me as pretty limp this season, so I’m not bothered by this detour like some. I’m sure we’ll get back to the Burn soon enough.

I am finding the stuff with the Emerald Chain really really dull so far so this detour into the Mirror Universe has given the show a bit of a personality that I feel has been lacked in the last couple of the episodes.

 

[tomalak301]

The planet Discovery visits is in the Gamma quadrant, so it's not the guardian from TOS.

When they mentioned the Gamma Quadrant, I was really really hoping for a Dominion Mention. After rewatching DS9 recently, a nice update on the Jem'Hadar or the Vorta would have been nice.

 

[Tuskin38]

Not the Guardian of Forever nor Time Planet, it seems.

He could still be a guardian of forever. I don’t think they’d have him reading the newspaper from COTEF if there wasn’t a connection.

 

[KepperC]

A wig is different from a weave. You need some length (about two months growth) to have a weave.

Yes, I know. The weave would be fitted onto her wig, which would be glued down to her scalp.

 

[KepperC]

Makes you wonder why they corrected the commbadge when he’s from the JJVerse anyway

Because they have a game they need to be in sync with.

 

[Tuskin38]

Because they have a game they need to be in sync with.

Nothing you’ve said about that mobile game has been true. I’ve looked myself, I’ve asked other people who have played it.

And they don’t need to sync up with a non-canon game.

 

[Kzinti]

my first 10 this season that episode was highly enjoyable and i'm really looking forward to the next part and carl is totally the guardian which is super neat also i'm glad the distress signal isn't the discovery that would have been a bit bleh

 

[KepperC]

Tuskin38, I don’t believe you.

 

[guyute03]

Just watched it. Trying to process what's happening.