Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 5x06 - "Whistlespeak"

[ananta]

I thought this was a beautifully crafted, compelling episode. There were some pacing issues in the first half, but I ultimately found it very touching, thoughtful and well performed. People are saying it reminded them of TNG but for me, somehow, it was more reminiscent of Stargate at its peak. Thoroughly relished the Burnham and Tilly pairing again, those actors have such chemistry and, as somebody for whom spirituality is extremely important, I really enjoyed Hugh’s subplot. I hope it gets followed up somehow. This season has been a win for me (please don’t fuck it up!)

 

[Nerys Myk]

Asteroids is a game people still play today despite being considered "primitive" compared to modern video games. No reason to think it'll disappear in the next eleven hundred years.

Besides, the whole point was a visual reference, something the audience can look at and instantly recognize, jump up and be like Ryan George saying "that's Asteroids!" Goal accomplished.

This. It was a for the audience thing.

My favorite episode of the season so far! I gave it an 8.

I really enjoyed the interesting planetary adventure and the relationship between Burnham and Tilly. The father and daughter relationship was well done too. It kind of felt like an old TOS story where technology becomes worshipped and, of course, the Prime Directive must be violated!

I usually really like Dr. Culber. And I agree that after what he's been through, he should be having a spiritual awakening. But somehow his plot line didn't ring true. It wasn't terrible, just a meh B plot.

My only question is, would Discovery have been able to solve the clue without knowing the identity of the scientist who hid it? I don't see how it would've been possible!

I can see Culber's private quest dovetailing into the larger quest..

It would take anyone with access to 24th century technology five minutes to design a less intrusive system then the Denobulan came up with.

Eh, 24th Century technology (as well as 32nd, 23rd..) is whatever the writers want it to be. Because it's not real.

 

[SJGardner]

Seriously, if Book played a contemporary videogame that the episode tried to pass off as ancient, it would've come off looking far goofier than what we actually got.

 

[firehawk12]

I feel like I'm mostly vibing with this season more than anything else. It seems very deliberate that they end each episode with a 'hook' but not with an explicit cliffhanger, which I guess is what they meant when they said it wasn't fully serialized. I'm enjoying it, but I'm not sure if I 'like' it like I would the other Trek shows. Certainly I think this is probably going to be the most rewatchable season at least.

I'm not really feeling the antagonists or anti-heroes or whatever you want to call them, because it just feels so trivial in the context of the fate of the galaxy. They want to save their own lives by letting the galaxy burn, which seems antithetical to what they're running away from in the first place. But at least it can't be worse than what they did with the Changelings in Picard I suppose.

That just means this episode could just focus on the problem and didn't have to deal with that, and honestly I think Culber's existential crisis is a more interesting framing device for discovering life changing technology than two star-crossed lovers on the run.

As for the episode itself, the one thing I felt didn't really connect was the whistling. It felt like the ending solution with the song should have been whistled, to tie into that whole "group communication" thing that they seemingly set up. Instead it just ended up being an interesting curiosity that was used as a tag at the very end of the episode.

Also I really don't know if all the legacy bridge crew actors have better gigs or something, but it's so weird that they took them out of the show entirely and introduced half of a new bridge crew. Maybe there's a reason, like they got rid of Nilsson so that they could have the cyborg lady back, but it feels weird when the two people who had spoken lines on the bridge would have been for Detmer and Ososekun (yes I'm trying to remember their names).

 

[Yistaan]

Seriously, if Book played a contemporary videogame that the episode tried to pass off as ancient, it would've come off looking far goofier than what we actually got.

Culber: What're you playing?

Book: Skyrim, the Ultra-Definitive Edition. And Elder Scrolls 6 STILL hasn't come out yet.

 

[Rahul]

Just watched it.
It felt like a traditional Trek episode.
But, like, one of the bad ones.

My biggest gripe was actually the "planet Hollywood friendly tribe". Like - have you ever met people from the country side? They will treat you like an outsider for wearing the wrong type of lumberjack shirt!
Running into alien natives in the jungle should be a little bit scary. Instead, Burnham & Tilly were greeted like the new kids at a holiday camp.
The rest of the story felt equally out of touch & just weirdly off.

 

[Fateor]

Eh, 24th Century technology (as well as 32nd, 23rd..) is whatever the writers want it to be. Because it's not real.

In a vacuum sure, the writers of Discovery could just claim whatever they wanted and we would have to believe it.

But past writers in the Universe have already decided what technology existed in the 24th Century. And that technology could have easily solved the problem, as it was portrayed to us, without going to the "this is obviously the work of a god" extreme that the Denobulan went to.

And that gives us three options.

1) The Denobulans wanted the natives to think it was done by a god.
2) The Denobulans and Discovery crew were idiots.
3) The writers/directors fucked up in one of a number of different ways.

 

[SJGardner]

Culber: What're you playing?

Book: Skyrim, the Ultra-Definitive Edition. And Elder Scrolls 6 STILL hasn't come out yet.

Unfortunately, Skyrim for EMH Mark One was a definitive bust, despite all the lofty claims that "it just works".

 

[Elaise]

Not ok

Why?

 

[Nerys Myk]

n a vacuum sure, the writers of Discovery could just claim whatever they wanted and we would have to believe it.

But past writers in the Universe have already decided what technology existed in the 24th Century. And that technology could have easily solved the problem, as it was portrayed to us, without going to the "this is obviously the work of a god" extreme that the Denobulan went to.

Nah. The list of "forgotten" tech that could solve problem X is almost as long as the list of Star Trek episodes.

1) The Denobulans wanted the natives to think it was done by a god.
2) The Denobulans and Discovery crew were idiots.
3) The writers/directors fucked up in one of a number of different ways.

4) None of the above

 

[SJGardner]

Oh for Pete's sake, civilizations tend to believe the rain is caused by the supernatural anyway. No one develops sentience with a complete knowledge of the scientific method from the beginning. I mean, the Aztecs literally believed they had to spill the blood of thousands of people every day or the Sun will stop and never rise again.

 

[Lord Garth]

We're seeing what I predicted over five years ago play out. Not that it hadn't been true earlier, but it's especially obvious these days.

January 7th, 2019

Nothing will change the minds of people who are dead-set determined to hate the series no matter what. They'll just double-down and triple-down on their position, reach further and further to justify their dislike, or just not say anything at all rather than admit to liking any of it.​

So if people in the middle start liking the series more, and people who hate it become more rigid than ever and have less and less of a case, then that's how we'll know how much overall opinion of the show has improved or hasn't.​

 

[fireproof78]

Like - have you ever met people from the country side? They will treat you like an outsider for wearing the wrong type of lumberjack shirt!

Biased. I live in the country.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Biased. I live in the country.

As do I. Never encountered a "your shirts wrong" type.

 

[cooleddie74]

And that gives us three options.

1) The Denobulans wanted the natives to think it was done by a god.
2) The Denobulans and Discovery crew were idiots.
3) The writers/directors fucked up in one of a number of different ways.

And none of them hold water.

[*Rimshot*]

 

[Markonian]

That was a relaxing, enjoyable episode.
Vibing is a good way of putting it.
The Whistlespeak language seemed to vanish after the first third of the episode. Thought it would matter more.
I didn’t know Book played an existing game. I thought it was just a generic far future video game.
I watched the episode on the Paramount-YouTube combo. The Spanish dialog lacked Closed Captions. Was that intentional? It was nice to listen to but I don’t know what Abuela and Culber discussed.

 

[Fateor]

Nah. The list of "forgotten" tech that could solve problem X is almost as long as the list of Star Trek episodes.

4) None of the above

Replicators aren't forgotten tech.

 

[Nyotarules]

Not the best episode, it lost my attention, I read a Trek novel instead. I gave it a 6

 

[Yistaan]

That was a relaxing, enjoyable episode.
Vibing is a good way of putting it.
The Whistlespeak language seemed to vanish after the first third of the episode. Thought it would matter more.
I didn’t know Book played an existing game. I thought it was just a generic far future video game.
I watched the episode on the Paramount-YouTube combo. The Spanish dialog lacked Closed Captions. Was that intentional? It was nice to listen to but I don’t know what Abuela and Culber discussed.

The actual Asteroids game was a 2-dimensional game. It's only identifiable in the show as Asteroids by the graphics, but Book's version is a full 3D ship which the actual Asteroids (at least the official versions anyway) don't have. Thus it's not actually Asteroids but there's no 3d unofficial version of Asteroids I'm aware of that keeps the 2D wireframe graphics. Probably the closest you get to playing Book's game is https://store.steampowered.com/app/1553110/Meteoroids_3D/ or https://asteroids3d.sourceforge.net/ , and both of these are 3d remakes of Asteroids that did away with the wireframe graphics that Book's version kept (i.e. they have the same gameplay as Book's game from what I can tell but much better graphics).

I'm not sure they actually could call it Asteroids as the game despite it's age and how many unofficial remakes there have been is still very much copyrighted and sold by Atari (indeed you can buy it at https://store.steampowered.com/app/1700890/Asteroids_Recharged/ ). Though even if Trek did, I'd fail to see how Atari could get upset given as how it's free advertising for them.

EDIT: Just found this, may be the closest to Book's game in looks and gameplay https://store.steampowered.com/app/2023210/Meteorites_3D/

 

[Farscape One]

There were a lot of things that were predictable here. The race, Burnham finding the correct area, the priest having the ability to do things with the summit.

The episode description really gave away the answer... winning the race actually means you die for the people. (At least it wasn't another take on "Justice", which the description just sounded like.) But even without that, I already figured that was what the end result of the race would be... the story the priest told basically pointed a neon sign at that. When the end of something is telegraphed that easily, it's difficult to maintain interest.

Same with Burnham figuring out the moss. It dulled the edge, for lack of a better term, of what Tilly was doing.

The priest knowing how to use the lever and such is straight out of "THE PARADISE SYNDROME", where Salish said Medicine Chiefs carried the secret of using the obelisk and taught their children and so on and so on. Clearly, this is a not only a nod to that episode, but it's what Ravah will be learning soon.

I love how Rayner helped give confidence back to Adira. He's a very good leader... easy to see how he was a captain for so long.

Culber's story was nice, though I find it odd that the zhian'tara is what brings this existential crisis more strongly than coming back from death. His final scene with Book was really good, and I like what Book said about someone else not needing to understand your experience... it doesn't diminish what you feel.

Speaking of Book... it sure looked like he was playing Asteroids. Going old school... I like that about him, and I totally get it. I find more joy and fun from an old NES game than a vast majority of newer ones. They are called 'classics' for a reason.

This episode felt very much like it was from TNG or VOY, and that can be a good AND a bad thing. On the good side, those kind of stories were the meat and potatoes of the franchise. On the bad side, some of them could just drag on. I feel like this one did drag on a bit. I think the episode was a bit too long... which is in complete contrast to how I feel about streaming shows and not needing to adhere to a specific length of time for airing. The irony is not lost on me here.

Nice nod to Marina Sirtis, because I can't see any other reason why the Betazoid scientist would be named 'Marina'.

Kovich is always great to see. Could he be a Lanthanite? It would certainly explain a few things.

Three weeks straight of no Saru... that just feels wrong. At least we have an equally awesome character with Rayner.

One thing I did find irritating... they got the next piece offscreen. These pieces are literally a key component for the season, but they grab it offscreen? It gives the impression that it isn't important, despite the season (and the episode itself) screaming at the top of their lungs 'THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT'. It messes with the overall tone of the season, in a very bad way.

I want to like this more than I do, but I feel that I can only muster up a 6 for this one... and I feel like I'm being generous.