Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x02 - "Battle at the Binary Stars"

The body armour i wear wouldn't stop a direct stab like that either, but it would stop a glancing blow, and remove enough force from some attacks to make them survivable. Starfleet normally doesn't face bladed weapons, either - the body armour could be designed to dissipate energy weapons.

 

Continuing my show notes, part Two:

I love the Shenzhou transporter - they even called out the 'outdated' lateral vector transporter. The Shenzhou is old. (Very old. - Legolas). It looks low tech, hands on. Like it. The transporter effect is good too.
Burnham seems to be joining Starfleet in this scene - did she join as a Commander? Or work her way up in 7 years to Commander?

"That can't be a coincidence!" Well, yes it could be actually.
Consequences to your actions when you defy the chain of command? What? This is Star Trek!
I still love these space shots. God they're better than anything in the Berman era.

The idea of a beacon to summon the houses to face a great threat is cool. ("The beacons of Kahless are lit!" "And Qo'nos will answer!)
T'Kuvma invents/steals the first Klingon cloak? Guess that's interesting. Odd that our crew didn't react more to his decloaking then. I'd wonder if he was in league with the Romulans if they hadn't already ruled out their appearing.
T'Kuvma preaches unity but spends a lot of time slagging everyone off. I like that some houses seem to be like 'No way' and go without getting involved.

Starships aplenty - all new designs by the looks of things although some heavy Miranda style influence I felt.
Ah this is more like old Berman Star Trek. Stuff's offline! Consoles explode! Execute pattern Greek Letter 12! Divert Power! Shields at 47% (Drink!)
USS T'Plana'Hath - I understood that reference!
Klingons have Cylon raiders.
Why does Connor go to the brig?
"We're explorers not soldiers" #trolling
Wow, brutal. Bye bye Connor #bannedfortrolling
Flashback - Vulcan mental CPR. Weird. Shame that didn't work on Pike.
"Major hull breach" yeah I'll say.
"Part of my katra is with you allowing us this form of communication" - OK, no. Bullshit. Instantaneous FTL communication because you linked minds years ago? This is some physics defying action at a distance BS. And completely unnecessary for the plot, too. I hope this turned out to be a delusion or a dream or something and we don't see it again.
"Weapons hot!" - Shenzhou, Galactica Actual, What do you hear Starbuck?
The holoadmiral appears on the bridge and starts giving orders. OK, I don't give two shits about canon, but it was a major plot point in Voyager that the EMH couldn't leave sickbay, but these holograms seem to be able to pop up anywhere.
This episode should be called Slaughter at the Binary Star, or maybe The Ass Whooping at the Binary Star.

Yay, more chanting.
"Live to serve as witnesses" cliché.

Burnham's having an argument about ethics with the computer. Weird, but I kind of like it.
What about the transporter? You use it not 5 minutes later.
Art of War reference cliché
Wow, Burnham recovered from near fatal vacuum exposure remarkably quickly.
I adore this scene between Burnham and Georgiou, it's the best acted so far and gives more depth to their relationship than Picard and Riker had in 7 years. I very much hope we revisit this relationship in future flashbacks.
Bomb in a corpse? Not very Starfleet.
Like the body armour.
Well, she's dead.
Well, he's dead.
Did this courtroom go to the Rura Penthe school of lighting design? Or are we supposed to interpret this a little non-literally, from Burnham's perspective?

In prison forever, series ends. Now a prison drama called Blue is the new Black.

Overall thoughts:
I think this episode was stronger than the first half, but had too much Berman era space combat. I love the scenes between Burnham and Georgiou, they make this whole two parter for me. I morn the loss of the explorer vibe, and I hope we get to see more of that along the way.
I think it's a bit strange having a pilot that is essentially a flashback and not introducing your main ship or crew. But on the other hand, it's a good story and it remains much better paced and more interesting than anything I've seen from Trek TV for years. Not as breakneck bang-bang-pow-rush-rush as the JJ movies but more dynamic than BermanTrek. A good balance, in my view.
I will give this one a 7. Better than part one, still a ways to go to be really something special.

 

The film crew hated it. It was logistically difficult to film, and raised endless practical questions. Plus, they were worried that less ardent viewers might confuse it with the transporter.

 

Liked this more than part one, but truthfully, I have a hard time dividing both parts in my head and I prefer to view them as one movie-length pilot.

I share that sentiment and I hope we'll see more of Burnham's change from stoic to emotional. Could this also be what @David Mack's “Desperate Hours” is about?

Yeah, what's up with the light. That was one shot where even I thought they should just turn the lights on. But then again, perhaps that wasn't meant all that literally.

The part with the phaser setting I didn't get either, to be honest. So she was just angry and wanted to kill T'Kuvma? Will they address this at some point, because I think this is a tough thing to swallow.

Hm, we didn't get any new preview on Netflix.

You know, I find that connection fascinating. Will have to rewatch that Voyager episode one of these days.

Yeah, that didn't work for me either. I appreciate that they are trying to do something new within the material, but this just doesn't ring true to the lore.

Still, a lot to like about the premiere! The characters, the art direction and the overall story have definitely grabbed me. I don't know if this is really “the thinking man's Star Trek” as one reviewer has called it, but I like what I'm seeing. Will be interesting to see where all of this is going from here. Looking very much forward to episode three!

By the way, when the Shenzhou was saved from crashing into that asteroid, I did half expect it to be the Enterprise saving them. With a name like Europa it's interesting to think this might have been the intention at some point in the development. Am I the only one who had that thought?

As I said in the other thread, I like the character of Voq. This could become a really cool character. Also loved the design on the female Klingon house leader.

 

I'm just seeing on Netflix that we will get the new episode on Monday! So will we always get the episode a “day” later than in the US? Kinda sucks, to be honest.

 

I interpreted that as needing stopping power in a hurry to try to save Georgiou. I sort of interpret the difference as taser versus gun. Do you risk stun not working when someone's murdering your captain? There's logic in switching to 'kill'.

Yes - '24 hours behind'. Although I don't think quite a full 24, I think we'll get them in the morning like today.