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

[cooleddie74]

Think about Kirk's last sacrifice in the Prime Timeline. He gave up virtual immortality in the Nexus - as unreal as it was - to help save the lives of 300 million pre-industrial humanoids he didn't know of, had never met and never would meet and he did it with a smile on his face knowing he was doing the right thing. The best Trek characters are willing to sacrifice themselves for a higher purpose and I could see Michael doing something similar at the end of her life.

 

[Amaris]

Think about Kirk's last sacrifice in the Prime Timeline. He gave up virtual immortality in the Nexus - as unreal as it was - to help save the lives of 300 million pre-industrial humanoids he didn't know of, had never met and never would meet and he did it with a smile on his face knowing he was doing the right thing. The best Trek characters are willing to sacrifice themselves for a higher purpose and I could see Michael doing something similar at the end of her life.

All of this.

 

[Tuskin38]

The music at the start of the very first scene of the episode sounded very TOS to me

 

[ThreeEdgedSword]

Oh, poor Booker.

I must admit that in the opening sequence, I was knda on the side of the butterfly people...

I love the President. Firs of all, great to see civilian leadership!

I think her assessment of Burnham was mostly right, and I'd add a touch of "less hubris and insubordination, a bit more maturity". But hey - "I wouldn't have taken the captaincy anyway, nana-nanaana!" Up to that scene, I was positively impressed with Burnham. I mean, I know I'll be proven wrong and the President will probably apologize to her soon - or maybe it'll turn out she'ss EVIL - , but it was nice that at least she didn't die in this episode. And I think the Pres is right, it doesn't matter if she lied to the officer who had freaked out, but I assume it's to alert us to her nefariousness.

Spoiler alert: It's the Flux.

All in all, entertaining. Nice to hear about the new Voyager, I hope we'll get to see her. Nitpicks: Those annoying fast camera movements, and at times there was a bit of overacting (Tilly, Adira).

 

[Yistaan]

I love the President. I think her assessment of Burnham was mostly right, and I'd add a touch of "less hubris and insubordination, a bit more maturity". But hey - "I wouldn't have taken the captaincy anyway, nana-nanaana!" Up to that scene, I was positively impressed with Burnham. I mean, I know I'll be proven wrong and the President will probably apologize to her soon, but it was nice that at least she didn't die in this episode.

Even the President was pulling punches. After all Burnham started the Klingon war centuries ago and the President didn't even go there or into her conviction.

Time to bring in Admiral Clancy from Picard to tell Burnham "The sheer beeping hubris!!!"

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

.

Spoiler alert: It's the Flux.

I had the exact same thought.

 

[Jadeb]

I really enjoyed the set design in this. The Kaminar chamber had a very cool art nouveau influence. The new AR wall is a great addition.

Also appreciated the effort to add fun in the beginning. Nice to see Burnham enjoy being captain.

Was mixed on the story. The cold open just seemed forced and silly. The conflict didn’t ring true, and it didn’t make a lot of sense that the fairy people could hardly fly yet kept up with a 32nd century shuttlecraft. (Good call to whoever mentioned they were like a modern take on the Menoptera.) Then we got a lot of speechifying. The subsequent stuff with the space station was an OK runaround enlivened by some interesting design work.

I liked the conflict with the president at the end, I guess. Again, seemed kinda forced. And they’ve toyed with this type of armchair analysis of Burnham’s psyche before without a lot of payoff. Kinda wish they’d drop it, as I don’t have faith this season will deviate from the template of the past ones. But I’d be happy to be proved wrong.

 

[Yistaan]

Spoiler alert: It's the Flux.

I had the exact same thought.

Grrr... Why are we having a galaxy ending threat again? Why is Burnham the only one to be able to save the day? Worst show ever!!! (TM)

"The Flux"

And with those 2 words, I'm suddenly reminded of another tv show which has galaxy ending threats way too often long before Disco with an overused character who's been the only one who can save the day far more often than Burnham (to put it mildly), and suddenly Star Trek Discovery doesn't seem so bad anymore.

 

[FredH]

I liked the short quote of Archer's theme from Enterprise during the Archer Spacedock reveal.

 

[XCV330]

I gave it a 5. I normally am a very enthusiastic fan of Discovery but this episode was muddled and confusing. The first half felt like an epilogue to season 3 that didn't need to be there. The latter half introduced Yet Another Galaxy Threatening Threat plus Kai Winn 2.0. Also something about magic maple syrup tree.

I'm losing interest already.

 

[ThreeEdgedSword]

Oh, and I loved seeing Saru.

Also, I think I'm an Owo/ Detmer shipper now.

 

[Jadeb]

Also something about magic maple syrup tree.

I’d forgotten about this already. I like Book, but his character is all over the place. Sometimes he’s a deep-feeling space Druid and sometimes he’s a smirky generic action hero in the Han Solo mold.

 

[fireproof78]

After all Burnham started the Klingon war centuries ago and the President didn't even go there or into her conviction.

No she ing didn't! And even if the record reflected that inaccuracy she also ended the war. I guess that does not make up for her grievous sins. No wonder she has a martyr complex.

Grrr... Why are we having a galaxy ending threat again? Why is Burnham the only one to be able to save the day? Worst show ever!!! (TM)

Haven't even seen the episode yet and I already love it.

 

[XCV330]

I’d forgotten about this already. I like Book, but his character is all over the place. Sometimes he’s a deep-feeling space Druid and sometimes he’s a smirky generic action hero in the Han Solo mold.

So Space Aragorn. Now he just needs to team up with Space Legolas from Picard. And that Tellarite from Prodigy.

 

[fireproof78]

So Space Aragorn. Now he just needs to team up with Space Legolas from Picard. And that Tellarite from Prodigy.

I'd watch it. Fuck yeah, I'd watch the hell out of that show.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I love the fact "shit show" is still a term used in the 32nd century

 

[thribs]

You know the Federation is a lost cause if a Cardassian is the President.

 

[Amaris]

I’d forgotten about this already. I like Book, but his character is all over the place. Sometimes he’s a deep-feeling space Druid and sometimes he’s a smirky generic action hero in the Han Solo mold.

One can be both things.

Sincerely,
Nature loving witch who likes to often tell authority to go fuck itself.

 

[BigJake]

One can be both things.

Sincerely,
Nature loving witch who likes to often tell authority to go fuck itself.

Both aspects of Book's character have been present from the word go. Never seemed inconsistent to me.

 

[Vger23]

This was an interesting episode. I think it was a bit uneven to be honest.

The teaser was fun, but as many have noted, I immediately thought it felt like a combo of the STID and STB openers. But, it looked great and was a lot of fun so I don’t care. The next act was really quite bad. It was hammy/winky/forced/self-congratulatory and the acting was really quite off-putting. The middle portion with the rescue mission was pretty good. It was exciting and felt like typical Star Trek action fare. The station commander was an annoying tool, though, so there is that. It was jarring to jump between Kaminar, Book’s planet, and the rescue mission. It just didn’t flow the way it should have.

I liked the final act, and enjoyed the President beating up in Burnham a bit. To me, Burnham is like Picard in that I like her, but she needs a foil to knock her off her horse at times. I do like her as a captain, though.

A few random notes:
- The episode looked amazing. It’s stunning what they are able to do on a television show. It looked like a feature.
- I couldn’t figure out why rivers of fire were suddenly jetting out on the bridge and on the station during the rescue. That looked bizarre.
- Not enough Stamets!
- Of the newer characters, I like Book a lot. I’m not a huge fan of Adira. I liked the character at first, but they seem to be slipping for me. Their weird quasi-imaginary companion I really don’t like (can’t remember the name). I like the President so far. I was glad to Admiral Vance back. He’s a great “boss” for the crew.

Overall, it was a good episode, but certainly not a great one. It was my least-favorite opener thus far.

7/10