Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x03 - "People of Earth"

Maybe it is too harsh. 3 out of 10.

Either way its very very sloppy writing and misses some very basic science concepts. Very JJ eisque.
I know it star trek but its still meant to be Sci fi not fantasy.

 

I actually liked Threshold... and when you factor in all the ridiculous anomalies that affected crews in 23rd and 24th centuries through their shields no less, travelling at infinite velocity (with the warp engines powering themselves from subspace) and affecting Tom Paris to mutate (but not 'evolve') into a salamander isn't a huge stretch... basically environment shapes expression of genes in real life... its possible that (from within Trek universe at least) when occupying all of the universe simultaneously (for a while no less), she shuttle's interior (and by that extension, Tom Paris) would have been thrown into a proverbial 'soup' of anomalies that could have affected Paris genome in the way it did.

 

You know that wouldn't be a bad idea at all if that did happen and it was a beautiful station.

 

I'm leaning towards that, or Starfleet building its own Dyson Sphere and making THAT its' new HQ.

 

Maybe Earth just stopped looking?
Perhaps they are so caught up in not being found, that they don't go searching either?

 

OK, but hasn't it always been that way? The same ship that can go from one edge of the Federation to the other but cannot sustain warp 9 more than an hour are part and parcel of the franchise.

This may be a case in which the writers are adjusting the parameters of the universe in order to tell a useful story. Every series should be given some leeway to do so. Indeed, things like the strengths of sensors and shields is really pretty small stuff to worry about with regard to continuity.

 

Yes, one of my quibbles was the location and distance of Titan, and why they were not able to scan each other or why only one attempt at communication was made, and my observations pointed out it was a real-world political point...the complete lack of communication and disregard between two parties (guess which ones in the US).

So on Titan, their desperation makes them take on a guise of alien attackers, one that strikes fear into Earth. Earth ironically has gone full UFP utopia mode...in order to preserve what they have, they take what used to be the ideal socio-political situation of it universally, and sought to be insular and turn itself into a microcosm of what was.

While it worked, and they still have a lot of advanced technology, they also are probably becoming somewhat stagnant...progress slows. The willingness to look outward diminishes.

So yes, technically moving Titan to Alpha Centauri made a bit of quick writing sense, but the rationale for the Earth-Titan conflict still works.

Also, do I need to point out such inconsistencies have existed throughout Trek and certainly did not start in the 21st century? TOS had many, including just off the top of my head: The Planet Gideon recreating an Enterprise in full detail to fake out Kirk, or the Romulans being an inerstellar species with no warp drive, hell, there was a whole series of books covering this: https://www.amazon.com/The-Nitpickers-Guide-Classic-Trekkers/dp/0440506832

So 1 star out of 10? Nah. Is your thinking always so binary?

RAMA

 

Star Trek is a franchise that used spores from advanced mushrooms to allow a starship to interdimensionally "jump" from one part of the galaxy to another and has had a race of hot women in go-go boots immobilize another starship and steal its first officer's brain to use as a planetary computer system. I think I can handle the Titan thing.

 

As I've pointed out before, in terms of likelihood, a spore drive is really no more or less impossible than crystal focused warp drive.

RAMA

 

I would assume that the former would be better for a magical trip.

 

One might say: a Magic Carpet Ride.

 

One thing to remember is early on in the episode Discovery decides to warp in "outside scanning range" and we then see them appear by...Saturn.

I can't decide if this was intentional on the part of the showrunners or not. Was it meant to be an early tell that Discovery somehow knew Saturn was outside of scanning range, and even to give us a little hint regarding Titan? Or did the VFX department read the script and just decide Saturn was a cool background image.

 

I think it is the realistic stuff that ultimately trips up Trek. It has a lot of silliness, but the silliness mostly doesn't have real world analogies. A failing colony on Titan that Earth simply doesn't know about in a reality where they can scan thirty sectors for ships seems a bit silly and ill thought out on the part of the writers.

Just because there are silly conceits to the concept that we live with, doesn't mean more plausible real-world scenarios should also get a pass when they drop the ball. In Trek's (and probably our) 32nd century, we should be able to count the hairs on a mule's balls on a terraformed Pluto from Earth.

 

And this right here makes any other argument very difficult to take seriously. I'm not saying Titan's wasn't a poor choice, or that better choices couldn't be made. But, Star Trek has always played fast and loose with science. Mileage will vary as to impact on enjoyment, but is hardly just part of Abrams' Trek.

Indeed yes. It's not like sensors can't have counters or limits or things like that. Or if ships are not scanning for that particular item of the week.

 

Oh, I know, but we're a fanbase that gets tied up in virtual fistfights over whether the TOS Era Enterprise is about 300 meters in length or the length CBS claims it is now that DSC exists. We can't even settle on a size for our fictional starships much less subjects like scanning our solar system for other life signs in a galaxy that's experienced a major technological disaster.

I'm a legendary nitpicker but even I can live with this Titan thing.

 

It didn't "ruin" the episode, but it does make me wonder what the scientific advisor gets paid for?

 

It's Star Trek and CBS All Access-Era Star Trek. It's a miracle we don't have mile-long starships powered by unicorn farts and a hamster on crack cocaine running inside a wheel. I learned long ago to just sigh and accept that's how the "science" works from time to time in the Trek franchise.

 

Same thing historical advisors get paid for. Standing around, say stuff and ultimately get ignored.

 

the season isn’t over...

 

Dammit, Kurtzman, you monster!!