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

[Haggis and tatties]

Cracking stuff, 99.999%........BUT!, those pew pew ship phasers just keep it from that full 100%, yes it's a small niggle, but i thought from the previous episodes we had stuck with beam weapons for the ship.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think one of the main points of this episode was that Pike's knowledge of the future is dangerous, and that revealing too much to anyone could have disastrous consequences for the future. Sure, Pike may know about the Romulans and their ancestry with the Vulcans, but revealing that before its time could cause a lot more damage that can't be anticipated.

 

[Tuskin38]

Cracking stuff, 99.999%........BUT!, those pew pew ship phasers just keep it from that full 100%, yes it's a small niggle, but i thought from the previous episodes we had stuck with beam weapons for the ship.

They used burst phasers in the original BoT. Might have been a call back to that

Some of the Romulan ships in this episode used Beams.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Okay, now Captain Pike have information about another inevitable future event. His decision to delete the letters removes the alternate timeline, but does nothing about the actual information he has in the present about the Romulan race, society, war strategy, and the vulnerability of the outposts to Romulan weapons.
It seems that now he alone is more effective than all the Federation intelligence service. Let's see if the writers can chew the piece they took.

Yes and if you change history that millions will die.

It's why Steve stays quiet about Hydra when he's dating Peggy.

 

[wayoung]

I do, so I don't accidentally repeat something.

Same.

Oopphhh honestly that sounds like it would be painful these threads get so long and devolve into such stupid, pointless, and repetitive fights

 

[wayoung]

Yes and if you change history that millions will die.

It's why Steve stays quiet about Hydra when he's dating Peggy.

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[GNDN18]

Yep. You could tell. I think his red sleeve even had the appropriate Lieutenant Commander braids.

How many fingers?

 

[cooleddie74]

Hopefully not just one.

 

[wayoung]

How many fingers?

This post has got me thinking, I'd bet real money that at some point in SNW they'll have Scotty (the character) lose a finger...

 

[Annorax849]

Probably the best episode of Star Trek since "Blink of an Eye" (though still not 10).

I did think it was somewhat striking that what we saw was really the third timeline. The second was with Pike as Captain, but he still had the experience of 2259-2265. I guess there was almost no difference in those events. I also though Ortega standing in for Stiles (?) didn't really work. She's known Spock for 7+ years, when it's likely he hadn't.

 

[blssdwlf]

This is the problem with depicting warp speed to be like hyperspace in SW. The way warp speed in SNW is depicted, you will never see a battle fought at warp, only at sub light speeds. Although battles at warp speeds never made much sense to me anyway, because changing course even a micron would put ships instantly out of weapons range of one another.

We do see in SNW the Enterprise escape the last plasma bolt fired at it by jumping to warp so SNW could've had the Farragut or Enterprise escape by warp and then warp back into range to fire their phasers and then warp back out again. For whatever reason the SNW Bird of Prey wasn't running back home at warp speed.

Regarding warp combat in TOS, I always got a sense that phaser and disruptor ranges were large enough to make maneuvering warp speed combat feasible.

 

[wayoung]

Probably the best episode of Star Trek since "Blink of an Eye" (though still not 10).

I did think it was somewhat striking that what we saw was really the third timeline. The second was with Pike as Captain, but he still had the experience of 2259-2265. I guess there was almost no difference in those events. I also though Ortega standing in for Stiles (?) didn't really work. She's known Spock for 7+ years, when it's likely he hadn't.

Something obviously happened between "present day" and balance of terror. Seemed to be at
lot of hints that the crew had some hardships. Along with Ortegas attitude, Pike did not seem as well liked as before and Spock was much more Vulcan-y. Maybe the way the Una situation plays out differently.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

what we saw was really the third timeline. The second was with Pike as Captain, but he still had the experience of 2259-2265.

Huh?

 

[Rainard Fox]

Was Doohan Scottish? Wikipedia says he was from Canada, and his parents Irish.

Doohan writes in his book that he trained to imitate at least eight different accents but Scotty's success left him no opportunity to show off others.

 

[valkyrie013]

Kurtzman Star Trek has kind of tossed warp speed fighting out the window and treats warp like hyperspace .. Once you warp out your safe.. Humbug..

 

[Jedman67]

Kurtzman Star Trek has kind of tossed warp speed fighting out the window and treats warp like hyperspace .. Once you warp out your safe.. Humbug..

Trek has never been consistent with warp

 

[Annorax849]

Huh?

Basically...

Timeline A: Kirk is Captain of the Enterprise
Timeline B: Pike who belongs in 2266 is Captain
Timeline C: Pike plucked from 2259 is Captain in 2266

 

[Mr Awe]

Everyone is also forgetting that the way Pike handles this situation might be different if he hadn't 'quantum leaped' into it with a terrible foreknowledge that there was some 'end of the world' stuff at stake. I think it hobbled his decision making, in that he was somewhat paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong decision and sparking a catastrophe. I think Anson Mount projected this into his performance in this episode- you can see he is sweating the load, hard.

One thing that surprised me about his decision to go for a peaceful solution was that everyone who was a tactical thinker, including Spock, urged him to attack and destroy the Romulan vessel. They were right. Ultimately, when push came to shove, the Romulans were just not the 'reasonable' enemy Pike was gambling they would be- they did see his efforts as weakness, and that sparked the war.

Yet, we know that when Pike originally lived through the altered timeline the first time (i.e., not a time crystal hallucination and old Pike hadn't come back), he still botched it. And Old Pike confirms that it did indeed start a war. It's just not a good look.

To your second point, I agree. And that fact that he didn't listen says loads. He had his mind up and didn't adapt to new information. And, really, he should've trusted Spock of all people. Kirk did.

Pike also couldn't adapt when the Romulan Commander guessed the plans during the comet incident. When it was clear the Romulans weren't there, there was a palpable pause before Pike reacted. Kirk reacted instantly, which avoided a lot of damage. Again, Pike didn't adapt to the Romulan's actions. The excessive damage forced him to take the gamble with the two hours and negotiations.

 

[Mr Awe]

I did think it was somewhat striking that what we saw was really the third timeline. The second was with Pike as Captain, but he still had the experience of 2259-2265. I guess there was almost no difference in those events. I also though Ortega standing in for Stiles (?) didn't really work. She's known Spock for 7+ years, when it's likely he hadn't.

No, it's just a 2nd timeline. We saw what Old Pike lived through after he changed the timeline so the cadets didn't die. Our Pike never left his present. He's just seeing it via the crystal in his head. So, just one alternate timeline that no longer happens.

 

[fireproof78]

Trek has never been consistent with warp

Yeah, this isn't new to Trek.