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Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x02 - "Ad Astra Per Aspera"

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Yes, they are.

You can't change your species. Una was born an Illyrian, and she will be one until she dies. Regardless of how 'engineered' she is.

And even if Illyrians, as a race, routinely engage in genetic engineering, that doesn't mean they ALL do. There could be Illyrians who haven't been modified at all.

i mean, you wouldn't say that humans without artificial limbs are no longer human, would you? Same story here. Many, many humans DO have prosthetics. But not all of them.

Una looks nothing like the Illyrians from the Delphic Expanse we saw on Enterprise, who have forehead bumps and creases.
 
The Illyrians from the Delphic Expanse were also genetically engineered at birth, to fit in with whatever that species was (visually).

This is why I hope they eventually depict the Illyrians natural form as completely non-humanoid creatures. It would explain why they need to modify themselves to blend into humanoid societies.

We got something like this on Voyager with Species 8472 modifying themselves to be humanoid Starfleet officers. I've always wanted to see this Trans-species concept followed up on.
 
No.

The Client thought up the "perfect defense" and did not tell their lawyer, for months, and not till after the verdict.

The Client thought up the perfect defense and did not tell her criminal co-conspirators threatened with decades in jail, for months, and not till after the verdict.

The Client thought up the perfect defense and waited 6 months, until everyone was about to go to jail for 2 decades, when she could have told her criminal co-conspirators the night before she turned herself into Starfleet. In fact if her plan was to have accidentally defacto requested for asylum by going through the motions of asking for asylum, without actually asking for asylum, and then her Lawyer noticing at the very last second that she sorta asked for asylum figuratively, before they all go to jail forever, why not just literally have asked for asylum for reals 6 months ago?

Like a conderseding super genius asshole, she laid subtle bread crumbs that a regular non super genius would eventually figure out if she spoke slowly enough with very small words.

More so that the lawyer figured out the dense half way through testimony on the stand, and the bench could see that. Their defense was not seeking asylum from Starfleet 6 months ago when she entered a criminal conspiracy with Pike, their defense was only Asylum as of 5 minutes before the verdict, on the stand, 6 months after she committed actions that had nothing to do with Asylum as far as the lawyer knew.

There was no non-asshole reason to keep the lawyer in the dark about defense strategy. She sounded like a 4 year old with her hand stuck in the cookie jar, making up a fantastic and unbelievable story about how some other kid stole all the cookies.
I'm not sure if you are trolling or if you really don't understand what happened in the episode. It's honestly very simple the tribunal wanted the whole thing to go away. The lawyer have them an out and they took it.
 
Really good episodes that builds on past trek to deliver an interesting message. I liked how the counsellor’s strategy becomes evident at the end and how she saved Una and Pike and also loved the Vulcan “outburst”. The twist about Una revealing herself was great, but I wonder why she did it with no plan at all on how to succeed at the trial.
I found the direction, with some off-putting cuts and those awful flashbacks in the middle of a speak, pedestrian at best.

8.
 
I'm not sure if you are trolling or if you really don't understand what happened in the episode. It's honestly very simple the tribunal wanted the whole thing to go away. The lawyer have them an out and they took it.
I misheard a bit.

It happens.

I might have been doing the dishes at the same time or looking after children.

I came to your conclusion a few pages ago, despite my detour.
 
No.

The Client thought up the "perfect defense" and did not tell their lawyer, for months, and not till after the verdict.

The Client thought up the perfect defense and did not tell her criminal co-conspirators threatened with decades in jail, for months, and not till after the verdict.

The Client thought up the perfect defense and waited 6 months, until everyone was about to go to jail for 2 decades, when she could have told her criminal co-conspirators the night before she turned herself into Starfleet. In fact if her plan was to have accidentally defacto requested for asylum by going through the motions of asking for asylum, without actually asking for asylum, and then her Lawyer noticing at the very last second that she sorta asked for asylum figuratively, before they all go to jail forever, why not just literally have asked for asylum for reals 6 months ago?

Like a conderseding super genius asshole, she laid subtle bread crumbs that a regular non super genius would eventually figure out if she spoke slowly enough with very small words.

More so that the lawyer figured out the dense half way through testimony on the stand, and the bench could see that. Their defense was not seeking asylum from Starfleet 6 months ago when she entered a criminal conspiracy with Pike, their defense was only Asylum as of 5 minutes before the verdict, on the stand, 6 months after she committed actions that had nothing to do with Asylum as far as the lawyer knew.

There was no non-asshole reason to keep the lawyer in the dark about defense strategy. She sounded like a 4 year old with her hand stuck in the cookie jar, making up a fantastic and unbelievable story about how some other kid stole all the cookies.

It's pretty clear that Una wanted to be convicted and get the maximum possible sentence, both because she was tired of hiding her true self and to make a point about the Federation being a bunch of genocidal Nazis under their thin veil of altruism.

As much as she claimed she didn't want her lawyer turning the case into a platform for Illyrian rights, that was exactly her intent and the one thing she did not intend was for her lawyer to win.

And basically Una lost. The Asylum asspull means that she can't appeal to a constitutional court, can't force Federation to make a definitive ruling on Illyrian rights one way or another. The brutal Apartheid regime that the Federation installed on her homeworld is still in charge and isn't going to to be challenged.

The Klingons treat their conquered subjects better than the Federation treats Illyrians, and the Illyrians asked to be let in. Heck, Klingon subjects don't have to lie about their race to join the KDF.
 
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I'm not necessarily trying to justify anything that happened to the Illyrians, but the fact is, they actively sought out membership in the Federation - knowing full well that they would have to give up their routine genetic engineering of subjects. If they refused to comply with Federation law, how is this the Federation's fault?

If the Illyrians wished to continue their genetic practices, then why would they seek membership in an organization that has banned it?

And as many characters have pointed out - Admiral Javas in this episode, and Admiral Bennett in DS9, for starters - the Federation ban on genetic engineering exists for a very good reason. Why should they risk another Khan Singh? Another set of Eugenics Wars? The more that genetic enhancement becomes legal, the greater the risk it will become mandatory. Gattaca, anyone?

Although Javas does make another excellent point, each individual case must be examined on its own merits. So the Federation is also clearly willing to listen to reason and adjust the letter of the law when the situation calls for it. So I'm really not seeing why they are all of a sudden so EEEEEEEEEEVIL.

In the end, Una received a just verdict under the law. Her actions were rightly interpreted as a request for asylum. The Federation wasn't trying to sweep her under the rug, they listened to her story and gave her the justice she sought. Again: NOT EVIL.
 
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And as many characters have pointed out - Admiral Javas in this episode, and Admiral Bennett in DS9, for starters - the Federation ban on genetic engineering exists for a very good reason. Why should they risk another Khan Singh? Another set of Eugenics Wars?

Why should they risk another Adolf Hitler? Another World War II? Why should they allow Germans to exist? Why should they risk another Colonel Green, another World War III? Why not just kill all Americans? Why should they risk another Napoleon Bonaparte? Why not just exterminate the French to be sure?

When you start blaming an entire race of people for the actions of one person, you leap off the slippery slope.
 
Thinking back on it, I liked that there was no action at all in this episode. I like that they were brave enough to just run with the drama and make Una's story the centre of the episode.

It was perfect. Better than last week and I loved last week.

Plenty of action, just all from the neck up!

I know what you mean, though. ;)
 
Why should they risk another Adolf Hitler? Another World War II? Why should they allow Germans to exist?

None of the examples you gave were the result of deliberate action. They are all natural, pre-existing races. German, American, Austrian, whatever. They were not specifically created. They simply are.

Genetic engineering, OTOH, is a deliberate attempt to alter the natural course of human evolution. And historical events, such as the Eugenics Wars, have shown that it inevitably leads to disaster.

And as I said....the more legal that genetic enhancement becomes, the greater the risk that it will become mandatory. You HAVE seen Gattaca, have you not? A world where the only way to have any relevance to society is to be genetically enhanced? Where genetic 'normals' have no rights whatsoever? You want to talk genocide? THERE'S your fucking GENOCIDE!
 
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Though the Ilyrian enhancements (that we’ve been told) are an enhanced immune system, and ‘reverse terraforming’ instead of changing the planet, they change themselves to be able to live on normally inhospitable planets.

We haven’t ween any examples of Khan like enhancements.
 
Though the Ilyrian enhancements (that we’ve been told) are an enhanced immune system, and ‘reverse terraforming’ instead of changing the planet, they change themselves to be able to live on normally inhospitable planets.

We haven’t ween any examples of Khan like enhancements.
IDK...Una held her own pretty well against La'an when they physically fought in the engine room in SNW S3 Ghosts Of IIlyria

And while doesn't have full Khan level abilities like 5x human strength; I believe she still has 2x to 3x human strength, Etc.

So yeah, Una isn't your typical "human' either.
 
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