Spoilers Strange New Worlds 1x02 - "Children of The Comet"

[fireproof78]

I don't mean to bag on DIS, but I just realized this thinking about relatively how much effort each of the Trek shows put into developing their characters and that SNW is already doing a good job focusing on their characters in just the first 2 episodes.

Good for SNW.

Let's not bag on DSC. It's got enough of that. If SNW is great then just let it be great all on it's own.

 

[Tuskin38]

That harks back to the feel of TOS with its quasi-military utilitarian design. That's why Pike's quarters stick out like a sore thumb!

And as a couple people have said, actual captains quarters on some ships are luxurious.

 

[Mr Awe]

And as a couple people have said, actual captains quarters on some ships are luxurious.

Naval ships aren't starships. Regardless, it's still my reaction. Just because you like it, doesn't mean I have to. It sticks out like a huge, freaking sore thumb.

However, as I have pointed out multiple times, it's not going to prevent me from enjoying the series.

 

[Paul755]

Liked the episode, although not quite as much as the premiere. They already have the TOS/TNG tone down pretty well.

The take on Close Encounters was kinda funny. Hope Spielberg wasn’t watching. lol.

Pikes hair and Spock’s sideburns are…something.

“so cadet Uhura what are your plans”
“well, I’ve been looking at the communications station on the bridge and I’d love to sit there for the next 35 years or so”

I do like Cadet Uhura so far…still not digging Chapel though. Better than the always pining for Mr. Spock version from TOS but still…eh.

 

[Kaelef]

However, as I have pointed out multiple times, it's not going to prevent me from enjoying the series.

I'm just glad the bridge seems much more reasonably sized and utilitarian than the comparatively cavernous and largely empty bridge on Discovery. As long as they don't do those Wizard of Oz flame effects when there's damage to the ship, I'll consider it a huge win.

 

[cooleddie74]

The shrunken size of the bridge compared to the way she looked in DSC is very pleasing. It's about the right size now and feels proportionate to the action.

 

[Belz...]

Thanks but I don't need reminding.

Well I can't know until I do the reminding. I can only notice that you seemed to have forgotten.

And those categories don't overlap, which is why I used the word "not." A dwarf planet is NOT a comet. A comet is NOT a dwarf planet. Just a friendly reminder about the word NOT.

Well in that case surely you can answer my question: what are the exact limits of what can be called a comet? (I'm not being pedantic here. And I did say "rogue" planet, which implies it's not in a regular orbit, which is clearly not like other dwarf planets... mayhap 'minor planet' would've been a better label.)

And that's why I said I have my hand-wave and you've got yours.

Mine isn't a hand-wave, though, since I explained the mechanism fully. Your criticism of my suggestion is that if it were that big it wouldn't be called a comet, which I later addressed. That's not a hand-wave.

 

[Mr Awe]

The bridge is near perfection!

 

[Belz...]

I'm thinking about how Kirk reacted when he saw his dead brother. Something like: "Um, ok." I'm sure his old Enterprise comrades mourned him more. Seriously, it's interesting how storytelling has changed over the years. Today it would be unthinkable to treat the death of a close relative as an afterthought.

To be entirely fair, between not spending enough time mourning a loved one and spending a whole season in near-depression, I prefer the former.

IMHO there's a couple of different issues that DIS/PIC have had with serialization, but I see two major issues.

1. As everyone would agree, they don't seem to be able to have decent payoffs for the season arcs. In many cases it seems like they began the stories with no idea how they were going to end.
2. I also think the flabby middle section of the seasons is let down by a lack of focus on character. These are the sort of episodes that have the time for deep character studies, but they tend to create plot minutia to fill up time instead.

My main issue with DSC is that it focuses way too much on each character's personal tragedies and melancholies. They overwhelm the rest of the story, and it seems like those characters can't do anything unless they get constant pep-talks.

 

[Belz...]

The bridge is near perfection!

Design-wise, SNW so far hits everything just right.

The shrunken size of the bridge compared to the way she looked in DSC is very pleasing. It's about the right size now and feels proportionate to the action.

I'm just glad the bridge seems much more reasonably sized and utilitarian than the comparatively cavernous and largely empty bridge on Discovery. As long as they don't do those Wizard of Oz flame effects when there's damage to the ship, I'll consider it a huge win.

I think the bridge's the same size; they just removed the corridor around it.

 

[Mr Awe]

Mine isn't a hand-wave, though, since I explained the mechanism fully. Your criticism of my suggestion is that if it were that big it wouldn't be called a comet, which I later addressed. That's not a hand-wave.

Oh, well pardon me your highness! I didn't get the memo that your opinion shall go unquestioned and be the rule of law!

I also appreciate you taking on the role of being the arbiter of which opinions are correct.

Yeah, it's a hand-wave saying that in actuality the comet was really a icy dwarf that has about a billion times the volume of a comet. Comets and dwarf planets are different things. For example, they suspect that comets accreted to form Pluto, hence it's a dwarf planet and not a vastly oversized comet. Pluto has the properties of about 1 billion comets according to a recent study. If Pluto somehow got dislodged from our solar system, it would be a rogue dwarf planet and not comet. Just like the Earth would become a rogue planet rather than an asteroid.

I was offering you an olive branch, but you continue to seem really intent on "proving" to me that my opinion is wrong while your opinion is somehow "fact." I don't get that. Maybe some underlying insecurity?

Hey, if icy dwarf planet works for you, I'm happy. But don't go knocking me just to feel better about it. I don't have to agree with you about that.

 

[fireproof78]

To be entirely fair, between not spending enough time mourning a loved one and spending a whole season in near-depression, I prefer the former.


My main issue with DSC is that it focuses way too much on each character's personal tragedies and melancholies. They overwhelm the rest of the story, and it seems like those characters can't do anything unless they get constant pep-talks.

As a person who needs pep talks DISCOVERY scratches an itch I didn't know I had.

 

[Belz...]

Oh, well pardon me your highness! I didn't get the memo that your opinion shall go unquestioned and be the rule of law!

There you go again, throwing away our hard-earned peace! I demand you return that tribute I sent you!

I also appreciate you taking on the role of being the arbiter of which opinions are correct.

I didn't say it was correct. I said it wasn't a hand-wave.

Yeah, it's a hand-wave saying that in actuality the comet was really a icy dwarf that has about a billion times the volume of a comet.

Well, no, it wouldn't be a hand-wave because that isn't what a hand-wave is. A handwave is an insubstantial argument, essentially. My point is that there is no actual size limit to what a comet is and that it could either be some sort of rogue minor planet or a very large comet. None of those options are insubstantial, since they entirely resolve your issue with this episode. And yeah, I've already conceded that dwarf planet was not the correct term.

Comets and dwarf planets are different things. For example, they suspect that comets accreted to form Pluto, hence it's a dwarf planet and not a vastly oversized comet.

At which precise point during this accretion process did it stop being a comet and started becoming a dwarf planet? See, that was the crux of my point about overlapping categories.

I was offering you an olive branch, but you continue to seem really intent on "proving" to me that my opinion is wrong while your opinion is somehow "fact."

Well that's what a debate is. It'd be pretty boring and silly to debate things we already agree on or think we're wrong about!

 

[Belz...]

As a person who needs pep talks DISCOVERY scratches an itch I didn't know I had.

I wouldn't mind it if Tilly was the only character like that... but it's basically every character... and when they ran out they decided that the computer should need pep talks, too!

 

[fireproof78]

I wouldn't mind it if Tilly was the only character like that... but it's basically every character... and when they ran out they decided that the computer should need pep talks, too!

*Shrugs*

That's what some people need. I get it's not for everyone but good grief I will not hold it against the show because it isn't for everyone.

 

[eschaton]

My main issue with DSC is that it focuses way too much on each character's personal tragedies and melancholies. They overwhelm the rest of the story, and it seems like those characters can't do anything unless they get constant pep-talks.

That's really only an issue which arose last season. We'll see if it continues.

I did love that Uhura wasn't a sadsack about her tragic backstory this episode, and had more mundane sorts of emotional turmoil which was driving her.

 

[zenophite]

I did love that Uhura wasn't a sadsack about her tragic backstory this episode, and had more mundane sorts of emotional turmoil which was driving her.

I hate to keep repeating the word "refreshing" but.... It is nice to see that if trauma absolutely has to be a factor in character backstories that at least some of the time they are shown to have already come to terms with it and are centered well-put-together people. I'm just not a fan of the 'we are all broken' theory that seems to pervade so much of storytelling.

 

[Jag2112]

Screencaps gallery is now online for your viewing pleasure...

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/sc-SNW1-2.php

Enjoy-

 

[Trekker4747]

IMHO there's a couple of different issues that DIS/PIC have had with serialization, but I see two major issues.

1. As everyone would agree, they don't seem to be able to have decent payoffs for the season arcs. In many cases it seems like they began the stories with no idea how they were going to end.
2. I also think the flabby middle section of the seasons is let down by a lack of focus on character. These are the sort of episodes that have the time for deep character studies, but they tend to create plot minutia to fill up time instead.

For me, At least with Picard the season arc was kind of intetesting but the telling of it was chaotic, disjointed, went in several directions and generated several threads. I've still not watched the last one but there's just no way they ended all of their little stories and arcs AND the major one.

 

[Noname Given]

Precisely. The 1958 film "Run Silent, Run Deep" served as inspiration for "Balance of Terror".

Actually it was: "The Enemy Below (1957)", with the ending a bit different in that the Romulan (Kirk's enemy) declines the offer of rescue.

(In the film Robert Mitchum saves Kurt Jurgens.)