Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x10 - "A Quality of Mercy"

[Trekker4747]

So, Pike held the wedding in the cargo bay instead of the ship's chapel?

 

[Donald G]

That's a good point. Kirk didn't get command of the Enterprise because of the accident. He already was on the Enterprise when it occurred. Pike was elsewhere.

Kirk got command because Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain.
The accident occurred while Fleet Captain Pike was leading an inspection tour of training vessel.
If Pike doesn't accept promotion to Fleet Captain and remains in command of the Enterprise, he doesn't lead the inspection tour, and he isn't there when the baffle plate failure should have happened. And due to his warnings, the cadets weren't there either to be injured or killed.

 

[Mr Awe]

Both Kirk and Pike's choices during that incident were gambles made with little knowledge of the enemy. It just happened that Kirk's choice was the right one and Pike's was the wrong one. It could've easily gone the other way around.

Pike made a double mistake. He first hesitated. That caused the Farragut to be destroyed and the Enterprise had more severe damage. That caused him to make the second mistake of the big gamble at negotiating. He didn't listen to Spock about the need to destroy them, whereas Kirk did. So, I guess that's at least three mistakes.

 

[Neopeius]

To be fair, though, the rank stripes kinda have to be taken with a grain of salt, since at least one SNW character (La'an) wears the wrong ones.

(For the entire run of the show, La'an has worn LCDR stripes, even though she's only a Lieutenant)

We had discussion about this in the TOS forum, which, since SNW immediately precedes TOS, has some relevance. Spock is another person whose explicit rank was lower than his sleeved rank. That led to some speculation that department heads might get a stripe up in recognition of their status.

 

[cooleddie74]

So, Pike held the wedding in the cargo bay instead off the ship's chapel?

Probably just an example of the producers wanting to use the VR wall to show off a big room in the ship. But yeah, it was a little odd. It's as if a dedicated, separate interfaith chapel wasn't built until before Kirk takes command.

 

[Mr Awe]

I just love how the Romulans outsmart both ships and flip the bird (of Prey) to the Farragut as it tries to get in back of it. The Commander is the sorcerer this time around! Great way to raise the stakes.

The Romulans did the same thing in Balance of Power, but Kirk reacted instantly to avoid being heavily damaged.

 

[Donald G]

I was referring to "Where No Man Has Gone Before"

And if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a wagon.

True, but Scotty's rank stripes in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is gloriously irrelevant to a retelling of "Balance of Terror."

 

[C.E. Evans]

I don't get the Jim Carrey reference to the Kirk actor. He doesn't really look like him other than being a white man with dark hair, at least not to me. From this thread I would have thought Kirk was saying "All righty then" to every statement or when taking off in the shuttle shouting "Somebody stop me!"

I think a lot of the physical comparisons between Carrey and Wesley comes from this "In Living Color" skit...

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I've been a Star Trek fan since 1988, and I don't ever recall hearing or seeing the term Monster Maroon. Is there anything about the monster part? Is this a reference to old actors gaining weight?

I've been hearing the term "monster maroons" to describe the TWOK uniforms for at least a couple of decades now. I think the reference is to how stuffy they look and how hot they are to wear in any place without air conditioning...

 

[Trekker4747]

I'm watching the episode again right now. So much good with this.

In other moments in the season people pointed out Ortegas' snarky, unprofessional, demeanor snd how Pike put up with it aside from the occasional side-glance. Here we see what it takes to push him too far too the point he responds to Ortegas.

 

[Neopeius]

It was nice seeing BoT redone sort of. But, boy, the line readings by the modern actors for the identical dialog just wasn't as good! They lacked ooph and drama.

That was my feeling on seeing the trailer, too. Mount was particularly uncompelling in the scene.

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm watching the episode again right now. So much good with this.

In other moments in the season people pointed out Ortegas' snarky, unprofessional, demeanor snd how Pike put up with it aside from the occasional side-glance. Here we see what it takes to push him too far too the point he responds to Ortegas.

Yeah, Kirk took no crap from Stiles in the TOS episode. The minute Stiles started going off and sounding bigoted Kirk laid down the law. Proof that Kirk hasn't always been the laid-back, warmhearted Captain we often imagine him being after more than 50 years of the franchise.

 

[KennyB]

I had a thought about that. The monks might be more irritated with Pike for cheating the "price" of taking a time-crystal than they are necessarily with the precise state of the galaxy that resulted. The deal was, he takes a crystal, he accepts the fate it shows him, and he defied that. Pretty dishonorable.

Pretty………human

 

[Mr Awe]

Whenever I watch late at night (when the episode drops) I'm usually disappointed.

I didn't know how to react to this literal BoT. I felt kind of... cheated? And Wesley's Kirk seemed to lack charisma, that spark that underlies even the most serious moments in TOS. I know Shatner is not the greatest actor, but there was something about him that brought energy to the character that felt lacking here. I believed Wesley's Kirk was a good captain, creative, wily, clever, but he didn't feel like James Kirk. Maybe that could also be attributed to the change in timelines if I squint.

I actually cringed in embarrassment at some of this. Obviously, I'll need to watch again.

Pretty much my reaction. I will give a rewatch to see if that's my outlook.

 

[Timofnine]

I found this episode *really* complicated. I don’t know what to say about it at the moment. But in the Interim I will give it my final rating.

I give Star Trek: Strange New World’s, episode 10 ‘A Quality of Mercy’, 20/10. For the sake of this grading thread I will give it a 10/10.

Hopefully I can put this all in to words soon but woooooooow….

 

[Trekker4747]

Pretty………human

I find that remark, insulting.

 

[DaveyNY]

"you have completely lost a large part of what being a fan of Trek has been about since its inception" is exactly saying that I'm not a big fan of Trek. You can't pretend that you didn't say it.


Leaving aside that you just made the same accusation again, that would require using an antiquated definition of the word, from "fanatic", while the current use of "fan" -- as you well know -- is much broader.


That's rich considering that you're the one who just one post ago was looking down on fans that don't enjoy the franchise in the precise way that you do by telling them that they've "lost" the large part of their status as fans.

Face it: me saying that I no longer want to waste time trying to reconcile real world creative decisions with in-universe continuity doesn't make me not a fan, nor does it mean I've "lost" anything of my enjoyment for the franchise. Nor, of course, does that mean that you can't engage in such fanwanking, yourself.

Again, you are interpreting my post's in a manner that suits your purpose.
Not in the manner in which they were delivered or intended.

I am pretending nothing, I'm simply stating how I see your posted reactions and how they apparently do nothing to improve your supposed entertainment value in watching Star Trek.

Going on about whether or not you feel your are a fan of Trek, has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm saying. You are the one who keeps bringing that up.
I'm describing how you seem to always find nothing but negativity in the shows using events from previous Trek episodes, and the fact that you use derogatory remarks like "Fan-wank" to describe how other's choose to enjoy their Trek experience.

THAT is where your holier-than-thou attitude becomes most prevalent.
Apparently, according to you, those of us who engage in making things fit, are somehow lesser for doing so.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

department heads might get a stripe up in recognition of their status.

That's...actually a really good idea.

It wouldn't explain Hemmer, though.

Hemmer wore the rank stripes of a Commander, but Uhura calls him Lieutenant in "Memento Mori". I suppose that can be explained by just saying that Uhura (being a cadet) misspoke.

 

[DaveyNY]

Probably just an example of the producers wanting to use the VR wall to show off a big room in the ship. But yeah, it was a little odd. It's as if a dedicated, separate interfaith chapel wasn't built until before Kirk takes command.

Heh ... refits upon refits.

 

[wayoung]

I think the 10 episode seasons are wrong for this series.

I thought the plot was a clever way to redo one of the best ST episodes ever. And if the season was 24 episodes long, great.

But I'm just so tired of the fan service.

Instead of "Strange New Worlds" we get "Star Trek Fan Service Of The Week" and it's killer because the show is so good it doesn't *need* to rely on TOS so much.

From having so many characters from TOS to having the non TOS characters have connections to TOS to having the plots connected to TOS. If there were full seasons 20+ it would be better because they could spread it out within new material. But with ten episode seasons it's just *so much* of the show.

It's a really good show. I wish the writers would let it *be* its own show.

Also, I get the point is to make Pike accept his fate but damn, everyone else in Star Trek gets to change the timelines for their benefit, but for Pike it always ends in interstellar war? Poor dude.

 

[Neopeius]

That's...actually a really good idea.

It wouldn't explain Hemmer, though.

Hemmer wore the rank stripes of a Commander, but Uhura calls him Lieutenant in "Memento Mori". I suppose that can be explained by just saying that Uhura (being a cadet) misspoke.

Lts. Com. Finney and Giotto have the same situation -- explicitly O4 with sleeves for O5. Now, there are certainly Doylian explanations for all three, but at that point, you've got more than enough points to make a line.

As for Hemmer, might it be possible that department heads can get two stripes even if they are just Lieutenants? Or perhaps Hemmer had just been promoted to O4 and Uhura had forgotten?