Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x01 - "Kobayashi Maru"

[Yistaan]

I find it even more odd when thinking that even Spock never took the Kobayashi Maru, despite being in Starfleet Academy, being a science officer like Burnham, and then becoming captain of the Enterprise. Bob Orci said that this is because he programmed it in the Prime universe, but that's never been canonized.

So now I'm really wondering under what circumstances Burnham took it, as everything we know about her onscreen says she never had formal Starfleet Academy education but that Sarek used his influence to let Starfleet accept her Vulcan Science Academy training as a replacement.

 

[Saul]

The opening of this episode screamed Star Wars (prequels). The rest was very very meh but the last 10 minutes set up a bit of a character arc for Burnham that is more compelling than all the action crap and patting themselves on the back stuff.

 

[Yistaan]

The opening of this episode screamed Star Wars (prequels).

Book and Burnham were so bad at diplomacy that even Barclay would have handled that meeting better.

 

[thribs]

Reminded me of the beginning of Star Trek Beyond

 

[Saul]

Reminded me of the beginning of Star Trek Beyond

That too and Into Darkness.

 

[the Sisko]

I loved it. I always felt like Burnham's character's story was deeply connected to Federation politics with Sarek as the Vulcan ambassador and her birth parents involved in it's secret intelligence agency. Her style felt very TOS both in disdain for non-military influences and presence on away missions. Scotty also didn't like Federation politicians involved in military decisions. I had the feeling of horror about Book's home world the second it was mentioned as being close to the station.

I liked the president as a mentor/foil for Burnham. What's interesting is, she was elected president of a Earthless/Vulcanless federation, which means that both logic and human initiative may be less universally accepted celebrated compared to maintaining order and other values.

I loved the dress uniforms. As much as red/yellow/blue has been great, having the captain wear purple felt as right as Kirk's green tunic and Picard's swede. I like the idea of the ships carrying a few cadets.

Could have used 3-4 episodes of doing more star trek (like the first few minutes dropping off dilithium) before getting into the galaxy destroying event of the season.

 

[Kelso]

I enjoyed this quite a bit. The opening was reminiscent of a Kelvin movie and I'm thrilled that they are giving us some strange new worlds in addition to visiting familiar places.

Rellik was interesting. I like her dynamic with Captain Burnham.

Hopefully Saru will become the new Voyager captain.

I can't say that I really care about Book's planet. Although I suppose it neatly eliminates everyone who might've been able to operate the spore drive aside from Book and Stamets. Perhaps those guys on the Sanctuary planet are still there.

 

[cooleddie74]

We got our first faint glimpse at the new Ferengi(or Ferengi hybrid) makeup in this episode. One of the Academy Cadets in the very back row was either Ferengi or a Ferengi hybrid.

 

[Yistaan]

I can't say that I really care about Book's planet. Although I suppose it neatly eliminates everyone who might've been able to operate the spore drive aside from Book and Stamets.

Good observation! Next episode the possibility of an intentional attack for this very reason should at least be mentioned.

 

[Markonian]

And Daniels himself in ENT said that the Temporal Cold War sometimes erupted into open warfare and violence between factions. So they happened. The question is: has the last shot fired yet impacted?

For what it's worth, the 3188-set DSC novel "Wonderlands" explores the impact the Temporal Wars had on ripping the Federation apart even before the Burn.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Burnham dealing with a politician on the ship felt very TOS. Kirk often dealt with a lot of
bureaucrats interfering with his command.

I thought it was okay. You can tell they really had no interest in doing anything with Suru on his home planet. They just needed him out of the way for a minute so Burnham could become Captain.

This has been my big problem with Disco since it started. They set interesting threads up but don't really want to spend the time to develop them or pay them off. Instead, they just hand wave it away, like Suru on Kaminar. The Klingon-Federation War.

Instead of dealing with the consequences. They just move on quickly to the next new shinny thing.

I feel the show was at it's best doing the action. Which I would be happy with if this show just embraced being a action show because I loose interest when they try an do to much character development. The show has fully embraced it's Kelvinverse spirit at this point even if it keeps trying to technically be a Prime Universe show.

Yeah, I like that the show has leaned more into it being more action-adventure than anything else. Burnham getting into the action is very TOS. Also, it's the era she was born to! This show would've been better as a Kelvinverse spinoff from the start.

 

[cooleddie74]

I was thinking that as I was watching the episode. Kirk and Spock were usually right in the middle of the action so Burnham piloting the pod herself was routine 23rd century Starfleet Captain behavior. I wouldn't have expected anything less from the TOS cast.

 

[eschaton]

I'd say fridging an entire planet for character growth is a cheap move, but then again, Trek already did this in ST09 didn't it?

 

[cooleddie74]

Twice.

Romulus in the Prime Timeline to give Nero the motivation for revenge and Vulcan in the Kelvin Timeline to affect both Spocks.

 

[eschaton]

Burnham dealing with a politician on the ship felt very TOS. Kirk often dealt with a lot of bureaucrats interfering with his command.

The banter reminded me more of Sisko with Kai Winn early on (before they Flanderized her)

 

[WarpFactorZ]

That too and Into Darkness.

"Why is there always a cliff?"

Funny line, but awful writing for most of the episode.

 

[fireproof78]

That too and Into Darkness.

Into Darkness' beginning is amazing. That sounds like high praise.

 

[Yistaan]

I'd say fridging an entire planet for character growth is a cheap move, but then again, Trek already did this in ST09 didn't it?

Which itself was ripped off from the original Star Wars film, which ironically despite being the most famous movie of all time has the worst portrayal of someone who just lost their home planet, with Leia barely grieving onscreen.

 

[eschaton]

Which itself was ripped off from the original Star Wars film, which ironically despite being the most famous movie of all time has the worst portrayal of someone who just lost their home planet, with Leia barely grieving onscreen.

I don't technically know if that counts as fridging, because of how uninterested Lucas was in Leia's reaction. It was about showing that Vader was a stone-cold killer, and how powerful the Empire was, nothing less, and nothing more.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Every time I hear "President Rillak", I mishear it as "President Rellik" and think that she must be the evil murdering mastermind behind everything.

I think Burnham probably took some Academy courses, or maybe just the Command Training Program, and went through the Kobayashi Maru (remotely?) at that time. Spock may have skipped the CTP and was appointed a command officer by Pike and/or Spock after years as a science officer.

But, if Spock actually wrote the Kobayashi Maru (or adapted it from another program), perhaps at the Academy, maybe he wrote it in correspondence with his sister? The interpersonal timeline doesn't really work out though. Maybe she still took the test in her spare time to get a feel to what her brother was up to.

Of course, it would be very Spockian for him to say "I never took the test" when he damn near wrote it. And for Kirk not to realize or remark on that fact.