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Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x11 - "Su'Kal"

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definitely one of the best in that regard.
some of the visuals were movie-level, however I found those of the nebula very confused and the internals of the holodeck being quite drab, since the usual blue-grey that seem to show up everywhere on discovery once again dominated
 
I give this episode a 7/10 - some viewers are losing their minds over the relatively banal Burn cause and ease of the Discovery hijacking, but I was entertained and satisfied (with the Kelpian cause still having enough mystery around it still, even if it felt rushed).

Also I'm kinda impressed at the change of appearance in the Emerald Chain enforcers who invaded the ship - they look both intimidating and hedonistic.
 
And no alarms of any sort go off when tons of people suddenly beam aboard your ship, and the new Starfleet protocol is to just stand around looking goofy. This wouldn't happen on The Expanse.. There'd be a brawl
Also, it's usually a bad idea to start a brawl with someone pointing a gun at your face. Just finished rewatching the episode, no one was standing around looking goofy. A few tried to resist (Rhys and Detmer) but were "discouraged".
To be fair, there are already examples in Star Trek where an intruder alert should've gone off but it didn't. They were caught completely off guard by the Borg infiltrating the ship in First Contact, for example. Of course, you could say that's the Borg and that's different, but the thing is, the alarm will go off when the plot requires it and will not when it requires that. Like the unauthorized phaser discharge alarm from The Undiscovered Country that only seemed to exist in that movie and nowhere else.

And yes, there were multiple instances where small groups intruders were able to conquer the entire ship with next to no resistance. I'd argue that Su'Kal was actually better in this regard because Osyraa actually showed up in overwhelming force, and probably had even more reserves just in case the crew tried to resist more. At least this wasn't a few dozens of Ferengi using three barely spaceworthy surplus Klingon ships to conquer the Federation flagship with no resistance from its 1000-strong crew including hundreds of security officers after boarding it.

The bottom line is, and this is what I find most infuriating about the matter: we're at the point where common Star Trek clichés and even follies of TV writing are being blamed upon Tilly's inexperience/incompetence. What was she supposed to do? Break the fourth wall?
 
To be fair, there are already examples in Star Trek where an intruder alert should've gone off but it didn't. They were caught completely off guard by the Borg infiltrating the ship in First Contact, for example. Of course, you could say that's the Borg and that's different, but the thing is, the alarm will go off when the plot requires it and will not when it requires that. Like the unauthorized phaser discharge alarm from The Undiscovered Country that only seemed to exist in that movie and nowhere else.

And yes, there were multiple instances where small groups intruders were able to conquer the entire ship with next to no resistance. I'd argue that Su'Kal was actually better in this regard because Osyraa actually showed up in overwhelming force, and probably had even more reserves just in case the crew tried to resist more. At least this wasn't a few dozens of Ferengi using three barely spaceworthy surplus Klingon ships to conquer the Federation flagship with no resistance from its 1000-strong crew including hundreds of security officers after boarding it.

The bottom line is, and this is what I find most infuriating about the matter: we're at the point where common Star Trek clichés and even follies of TV writing are being blamed upon Tilly's inexperience/incompetence. What was she supposed to do? Break the fourth wall?


I'm not picking on Tilly, I'm a huge Tilly fan.... She did the best she could given the circumstances, and so did the crew the scenes just looked a bit off, too easy.
 
We had the USS Enterprise-D allow its captain swept out of his private quarters by alien transporter without triggering a full alarm, just curiosity from Worf.

I wasn't super mad about the hijacking of the Discovery either and some viewers got in their heads that their could've been several layers of automatic/robotic defence (ie. forcefields automatically try to snap around intruders beaming in or hovering security drones materialise to kick ass before the crew can anything, etc).

But alas, this is still Star Trek, we have cool gadgets and settings, but it is television theatre with things needing to happen or be resolved within 40+ minutes.
 
I'm not picking on Tilly, I'm a huge Tilly fan.... She did the best she could given the circumstances, and so did the crew the scenes just looked a bit off, too easy.
Yes, if there was one thing about that scene that could leave me with a bad taste in my mouth is that it was the same old cliché once again about the ship being easily taken over. It would've been a bit better to see them exchange a few phaser shots before getting completely swarmed.
 
Yes, if there was one thing about that scene that could leave me with a bad taste in my mouth is that it was the same old cliché once again about the ship being easily taken over. It would've been a bit better to see them exchange a few phaser shots before getting completely swarmed.

But that would also mean that some of them would have died. I doubt the pirates' phasers were on stun.
 
Next week looks like the Die Hard episode.
No thanks. I don't need a repeat of TNG's "Starship Mine". Although I could buy Tilly passing herself off as the ship's hair stylist.:angel::nyah:

But that would also mean that some of them would have died. I doubt the pirates' phasers were on stun.

I would actually disagree. The Emerald Chain seems to make great use of a slave workforce. Here they have 180+ well trained slaves all ready to be sent to some mines somewhere.
 
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Do we have to? I see no need for three "Black Box Adventures".

I'm not suggesting we need a whole episode dedicated to it. But setting it up properly earlier ensures that it pays off well later in the season. Only bringing it up when it's convenient to serve as a plot device is shoddy writing. When Michael boarded Discovery after they arrived, that would've been the perfect time for her to mention to Saru that during her travels, she found a few black boxes with some information about the burn on there.
 
Find it so hard to rate this episode. Could be anything between a 6 and 9 depending on how it plays out. I did love the low-key Alice in Wonderland feel on the planet, which was genuinely surreal and unnerving. The monster was creepy. The idea of the abandoned child raised in a holodeck essentially is a good one (if basically nabbed from “Future imperfect”). Cause of the Burn, however? Doesn’t make sense to me yet...I’m hoping this will be better explained. At least no one can claim this twist was predictable! I liked the way they addressed the orphan’s broken psychology; he was a whole lot less well adjusted than if this had been a TNG instalment.

The ease of Discovery’s takeover is pretty much up there with TNG’s “Rascals”, although that was the damned Ferengi, so nothing can ever be on that level of stupidity. I don’t feel Saru and Tilly are doing a good job as Captain and XO...I don’t see them still in those positions by season end alas.

Great cliffhanger —best we’ve had in a long time.
 
I'm not suggesting we need a whole episode dedicated to it. But setting it up properly earlier ensures that it pays off well later in the season. Only bringing it up when it's convenient to serve as a plot device is shoddy writing. When Michael boarded Discovery after they arrived, that would've been the perfect time for her to mention to Saru that during her travels, she found a few black boxes with some information about the burn on there.
At the end of the very first episode of the season they showed Burnham receiving a black box from someone. Why do they need to mention it explicitly when they're showing it explicitly on screen?
 
And no alarms of any sort go off when tons of people suddenly beam aboard your ship, and the new Starfleet protocol is to just stand around looking goofy. This wouldn't happen on The Expanse.. There'd be a brawl
I've mentioned DS9's "One Little Ship." I don't remember if the Defiant's alarm sounded when the Jem'Hadar beamed aboard, but no one got into a tussle with them when it happened, not even Worf.
 
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