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Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x02 - "Anomaly"

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The Xindi superweapon threatened only individual planets but was considered so dangerous an entire season of television episodes was dedicated to finding and stopping it.
Yes but a weapon can be aimed at targets. This anomaly could trundle along for years before it hits something again.
It's not even comparable
 
I wasn't comparing to begin with, just pointing out that you can build an entire year of story around a more limited threat from a galactic perspective. ANY weapon or threat can work if you know how to write it to be compelling.
 
I think the Spatial Anomaly pops back into whatever realm it came from, and is able to move at FTL speeds relative to our realm and then pop back out whenever it wants to do it's thing.

Which causes massive damage to a Star System.

But until you can figure out what direction it's generally going or how to track it, it becomes a major issue since it seems to be a unknown spatial phenomena as of this moment.
That's why I think they made it too big. It doesn't do damage to a star system, it eliminates it entirely, swallows it whole, and possibly any other star systems within a 5 ly area. Like in the image I posted, TON 618 is 2,606 AU. Our solar system is 80 AU, and the anomaly is 125 times the size (let alone the mass) of TON 618. That means the anomaly is 325,750 AU across.

It's just too big to be anything other than devastating to everything in the galaxy. It doesn't damage planets in solar systems, it entirely obliterates whole solar systems, and could do it to several at once. If I were in the Delta quadrant, I'd be like "fuck that shit, I'm moving to Andromeda."

And therein lies a problem with not just DSC but other series and films: compelling threats that can keep your attention for the entire duration.
This. I've already lost interest in the 5 ly wide black hole. To me it's just one more massive external threat that has to be, and will be, solved.
 
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On a more terrestrial note, think of the threats in horror films. Michael Myers at most will kill just a handful of people in a film but the more limited scope and personalization of the story make the threat of one psychotic murderer seem almost cosmic in proportion. Everything depends on stopping Michael and he eventually is stopped.

At least until the next story. ;)
 
This. I've already lost interest in the 5 ly wide black hole. To me it's just one more massive external threat that has to be, and will be, solved.

I mean, if they want to make it a COVID analogy, they have to spend a lot more time looking at the ramifications of the anomaly than the anomaly itself.

IMHO though, it's a bad idea when it comes to timing, because the biggest effect would probably be less interstellar travel (because if you're moving around it would be more likely to "get you"). Only people have had over a century to get used to limited interstellar travel following The Burn, so I don't see why it would be a big deal.
 
On a more terrestrial note, think of the threats in horror films. Michael Myers at most will kill just a handful of people in a film but the more limited scope and personalization of the story make the threat of one psychotic murderer seem almost cosmic in proportion. Everything depends on stopping Michael and he eventually is stopped.

At least until the next story. ;)
Exactly. One man in an apartment complex with a gun can be a hundred times more frightening than some superweapon being aimed at an entire planet. It's all about framing, and narrative. DSC seems to take the easier method, which is to create a doomsday scenario every season.

I mean, if they want to make it a COVID analogy, they have to spend a lot more time looking at the ramifications of the anomaly than the anomaly itself.

IMHO though, it's a bad idea when it comes to timing, because the biggest effect would probably be less interstellar travel (because if you're moving around it would be more likely to "get you"). Only people have had over a century to get used to limited interstellar travel following The Burn, so I don't see why it would be a big deal.
The only part I can see is that if you stay where you are, and it shows up, you're dead. Which, of course, is also an issue because they made it so damn big that people are actually describing it as something that can be avoided.

For example, Earth is 16 ly from Vulcan.
That's 3 anomalies wide.
Not much room for error if one of them gets hit.

They made it too big and it lost all meaning.
 
This season should have been about the squabbling and warfare between Federation worlds and how it threatened to ruin the post-Burn political environment. I'd be more interested in the Andorians rejoining the Federation but the Orions getting mad about the defeat of the Emerald Chain and attacking Andorian ships and bases because they want to abandon their old allies.
 
Which is stupid since they have had ways to almost insta cure most mental health issues since TOS.

By definition, a mental health issue cannot, and will never be, instantly cured.

Burnham wanted Detmer to pilot.

I just got to the part where Book said he doesn't want Detmer to pilot his ship because he says she doesn't know the first thing about it. But hasn't Detmer already piloted Book's ship? I seem to remember a previous ep where she did.
 
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I just got to the part where Book said he doesn't want Detmer to pilot his ship because he says she doesn't know the first thing about it. But hasn't Detmer already piloted Book's ship? I seem to remember a previous ep where she did.
He's overly-emotional and not thinking straight, but he probably also doesn't care because he doesn't think Detmer knows the ship like he does and he's being possessive. I wouldn't take what he said literally, since he was so distressed. It probably just came right out of his mouth when he was trying to convince Burnham why he should be the one to pilot.

Kind of like Kirk's "Let them die!"
 
By definition, a mental health issue cannot, and will never be, instantly cured.

We're talking about a fictional universe where flashing a light over someone's leg for 5 seconds fixes it. I don't think we can make any declarative statements regarding whether similar treatment of the brain is possible within the Trekverse - or would eventually be possible IRL for that matter.

That said, it's lousy storytelling to just have internal conflict fixed at the press of a button. Hell, regular treatments for mental health today - like medication - don't work well within the confines of a traditional narrative. Stories about mental health often focus on talk therapy - even in scenarios where it isn't always therapeutic - because hearing the characters talk about their own emotional issues helps make the story more relatable.
 
And medication alone is not as efficacious as talk therapy combined with medication, at least according to current research. It's why I find cures in narrative unbelievable.

I mean, if you hold to strict materialism - that the mind is completely a reflection of the physical structure and energy states of the brain - than it stands to reason with enough knowledge of how the brain works and the right tools a doctor should be able to "fix" essentially anything within the brain.

Though if the change was drastic enough I suppose it would become an open question whether the patient remained the same person.
 
I mean, if you hold to strict materialism - that the mind is completely a reflection of the physical structure and energy states of the brain - than it stands to reason with enough knowledge of how the brain works and the right tools a doctor should be able to "fix" essentially anything within the brain.

Though if the change was drastic enough I suppose it would become an open question whether the patient remained the same person.
Kind of like Whom Gods Destroy?
 
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