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

[Cap'n Calhoun]

Not to mention that Burnham's lucky to even be considered at all being from 900 years in the past. This would be like us granting captainship of a modern military prototype submarine to a Byzantine Empire general, which would be controversial no matter how much catching up they did.

And shortly after getting a significant reprimand for insubordination from her commanding officer, no less. Not even accounting for the many other oddities on her record, such as her return to Starfleet only being due to a sketchy pardon she got while on her way to prison for an act of mutiny that started a war.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

At least one Kirk went from Cadet to Captain in the space of a single movie!

As for the tribble, we saw in the TAS episode that the big pink ones were more like colony creatures, being already filled with fully formed fuzzballs. If the DSC tribble (which I'm guessing was a re-use of a CG tribble model they had from a Short Trek) is in fact a crew member, what does that mean for the species if it's edible on one hand and a fully sentient being on the other?

Mark

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

The U.S.S. Kirk(?) gets a name drop. Amusing since the Discovery crew wouldn't even know who Kirk was unless they got a history primer after arriving in the 32nd century and know his significance. I hope they did.

Think that may have been the USS Curry.

 

[fireproof78]

Am I imagining things or is the President half or quarter Cardassian - there's definitely a spoon on her forehead but it's not the full makeupt...

Based upon the photos I would say Cardassian and Bajoran.

Of all the Kelvin movies, I really really like Into Darkness, but the Kelvin movies as a whole I have a problem with. If I was watching 'Star Trek Discovery' in a theater I might look at it more positively or forgivingly but as a series I'm just wondering, who is the audience? It's supposed to be the prime timeline but everything about it, especially the tone and the action just screams Kelvin timeline. It comes across as "generic Sci-fi show" than a Star Trek show.

See, I don't understand this at all. "Generic sci-fi" is such a nebulous term to me. What am I comparing it to? How is Discovery deficient? What makes it more Kelvin when there is definitely an aesthetic feel completely different to the Kelvin films?

This is the new XO.

This is the way.

At least one Kirk went from Cadet to Captain in the space of a single movie!

Well, he was also a lieutenant and moved in to the chain of command by a superior officer too.

 

[Kelso]

Is it a true Tribble? We've never seen one move before!

There was a walking Tribble in "The Trouble With Tribbles." IIRC, it had a mechanical toy dog inside.

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

Am I imagining things or is the President half or quarter Cardassian - there's definitely a spoon on her forehead but it's not the full makeupt...

I think she's part-Cardassian and part-Bajoran judging from the ridges on the nose.

Based upon the photos I would say Cardassian and Bajoran.

At the NYCC panel for Discovery they said Rillak has Cardassian, Bajoran, and Human heritage.

 

[Vale]

Why was Book on a Federation diplomatic mission with Burnham? What is his official role? Does he just get to do whatever he wants because he's sleeping with the boss?

 

[Romulan_spy]

Why was Book on a Federation diplomatic mission with Burnham? What is his official role? Does he just get to do whatever he wants because he's sleeping with the boss?

Maybe it was "take your partner to work" day. LOL.

 

[Yistaan]

At the NYCC panel for Discovery they said Rillak has Cardassian, Bajoran, and Human heritage.

Hmm, Shaxs being accused of sleeping with the enemy is probably the kind of humor that Lower Decks would go for.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Why was Book on a Federation diplomatic mission with Burnham? What is his official role? Does he just get to do whatever he wants because he's sleeping with the boss?

He's an empath and familiar with a lot of worlds that the Federation hasn't been in contact with for over a century, so I assumed he was an advisor.

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

He's an empath and familiar with a lot of worlds that the Federation hasn't been in contact with for over a century, so I assumed he was an advisor.

I agree. It isn’t crazy to see him working with them on official diplomatic missions for that reason, and last season we saw Book first talk to Michael about wanting to work with the Federation, and then approach Saru directly about it. ‪‪I think it’s a reasonable assumption that he’s serving in a legitimate advisory role as a civillian consultant.

 

[mswood]

Why was Book on a Federation diplomatic mission with Burnham? What is his official role? Does he just get to do whatever he wants because he's sleeping with the boss?

Book likely has three functions (outside of just keeping him around because Michael likes him). One he is well travelled probably more so then most people in Starfleet, thus knowledgeable about races and cultures that the Federation had lost contact with (see Neelix on Voyager), he can control the spore drive and its derived from an ability that seems somewhat common on his planet. Thus its absolutely in Starfleet and the Federations interest to make sure he thanks Starfleet and the Federation is the place to be (thus show him what we thank is the more noble aspects of the Federation, keep him active and not tied to a desk or a research facility, and keep him with people that make him happy). That would give him the best reason to have a positive attitude and then be able to share that attitude with his own people with the hopeful intent that more would want to work with Starfleet and the Federation. I assume that for this mission specifically (if they knew anything upfront about the species before, and dialogue seems to indicate they did) that Michael would consider his abilities something that might have use.

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

he can control the spore drive and its derived from an ability that seems somewhat common on his planet.

‪‪‪‪‪‪I agree with your reasoning above about why Book would be on the mission, though one point that might be worth mentioning, last season Book said outright that his empathic abilities are fairly rare in his species, so I don’t believe they’re commonplace.

 

[Yistaan]

Interesting they go through the trouble of saying that the President is newly elected. The president last year was Kovich wasn't he?

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

Interesting they go through the trouble of saying that the President is newly elected. The president last year was Kovich wasn't he?

No, Kovich was never named the President, some people guessed he might be, but that wasn’t the case.

Kovich will be back this season, and in a recent interview Cronenberg said that Kovich’s job at Starfleet was that of historian, and he was their resident Terran Empire/Mirror Universe expert.

 

[Brobdingnag]

I thought the butterfly people were missing on purpose, it turns out it was because of a malfunction. That reminds me of MIB two when Kevin (aka K) blows Tony Shalhoub's head off and Will Mith says. Hey, you remembered that his head grows back, great! and Kevin says: "His head grows back?!"...Anyway, that was funny.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Think that may have been the USS Curry.

Correct, per the subtitles. I wonder if it was a deliberate nod to the USS Curry from DS9, once named the "Shelley-class" by certain fans of the time (still here on this forum, I believe). Alternatively, perhaps the shooting script mentions a USS Curie after the scientist(s), and the CC person just got it wrong.

Mark

 

[Brobdingnag]

Correct, per the subtitles. I wonder if it was a deliberate nod to the USS Curry from DS9, once named the "Shelley-class" by certain fans of the time (still here on this forum, I believe). Alternatively, perhaps the shooting script mentions a USS Curie after the scientist(s), and the CC person just got it wrong.

Mark

I prefer the USS Jalapeno, a little bit spicier.


Anyway, I think "Curie" makes more sense or some.

 

[Markonian]

Correct, per the subtitles. I wonder if it was a deliberate nod to the USS Curry from DS9, once named the "Shelley-class" by certain fans of the time (still here on this forum, I believe). Alternatively, perhaps the shooting script mentions a USS Curie after the scientist(s), and the CC person just got it wrong.

It is curious, because background material have already established that there's a Merian-class USS Curie-J at FedHQ. On the other hand, there was early Eaglemoss promotion material that showed a Merian-class USS Currie.

 

[Brobdingnag]

It is curious, because background material have already established that there's a Merian-class USS Curie-J at FedHQ. On the other hand, there was early Eaglemoss promotion material that showed a Merian-class USS Currie.

It's Mugato, Mugatu, Gomatu, all over again!