Spoilers General Disco Chat Thread

[XCV330]

The question is why do they put plasma conduits behind consoles? Looks like a major design flaw to me. One would think that given their dangerousness, they'd be extremely parsimonious with these conduits. You don't expect the fuel line of your car to go through your seat for example.

depends on your vehicle. There were about 14 million Ford Model T's built where one essentially rode atop the gas tank (no fuel pump, it had to be higher than the carb.. curiously this also meant it couldn't drive up extremely steep hills unless going backwards.. I digress).
Millions of motorcycle and scooter riders commute with a gas tank under their butts or between their legs every day without exploding.

I figure due to Romulan hacking or some other problem with traditional electronic computers, the duotronic architecture and later variants Starfleet used on their ships did have super-capacitors that could short out in dangerous explosions.

I think I would have just got a remote console app and stood a few feet away from my duty station using a PADD to do my job function

 

[SJGardner]

Nhan: "I didn't find Capt. Georgiou, but I did see a large blue police box on the hangar deck. It's gone now though. Weird".

Does that mean the S31 series is going to be a co-production between CBS and the BBC?

This might be just what it takes for my stubbornly Whovian sister to start watching Star Trek

 

[XCV330]

Does that mean the S31 series is going to be a co-production between CBS and the BBC?

This might be just what it takes for my stubbornly Whovian sister to start watching Star Trek

Try implying that the red angel MAY be Ashildir or Clara

 

[Discofan]

...

Depends on where you live, tbh... I grew up in the former Eastern Bloc and for a few years after the Wall fell, the roads continued to be littered with old Trabants. Its gas tank had to be placed on top of the engine because it didn't have a fuel pump, so they had to resort to gravity instead... frontal collisions usually meant the whole car going up in flames. It also had a two-stroke engine, so it needed to use a fuel-oil mix. It produced huge, beautiful black billows of smoke, especially if it caught fire. There was a silver lining though... because the fuel tank was literally in front of the driver's legs, it didn't need a fuel gauge. They just cut a sight glass into the dashboard so that you could look into the tank directly. The bast part? The car's body was built of a cellulose-based organic polymer made of recycled cotton waste from clothing factories. That animals could digest. There are actual videos of pigs eating the car.

Wow! In French slang, we call cars "coffins on wheels". It seems very apt for your old Trabants.

 

[XCV330]

Wow! In French slang, we call cars "coffins on wheels". It seems very apt for your old Trabants.

I love minimalist cars like the model T, Trabi, Topolino, and other "coffins on wheels" (I love that, never heard that term), but my favorite has always been the Citroen 2cv. A beautiful-ugly French design coupled with ruthless efficiency. There should be one sent into space for aliens to find and go "Ah.. yes THIS species gets it"

 

[SJGardner]

Wow! In French slang, we call cars "coffins on wheels". It seems very apt for your old Trabants.

Well, there was this East German joke that basically said the only difference between a Trabant and a coffin is that a coffin is ordered after a person dies and a Trabant is ordered after a person is born.

You didn't buy cars in commie land. You had to apply for one and you were given a delivery order number based on a first come, first served basis weighed by how much you were willing to pay (both officially and unofficially), your social status, party membership and so on. Even Trabant deliveries had a waiting period of about 10-15 years. This had the hilarious side effect of used cars being sold for 2-3 times the price of brand new ones on the black market.

 

[Discofan]

Well, there was this East German joke that basically said the only difference between a Trabant and a coffin is that a coffin is ordered after a person dies and a Trabant is ordered after a person is born.

You didn't buy cars in commie land. You had to apply for one and you were given a delivery order number based on a first come, first served basis weighed by how much you were willing to pay (both officially and unofficially), your social status, party membership and so on. Even Trabant deliveries had a waiting period of about 10-15 years. This had the hilarious side effect of used cars being sold for 2-3 times the price of brand new ones on the black market.

I am guessing that could only order one car at a time or you could make a fortune reselling them.

 

[SJGardner]

I am guessing that could only order one car at a time or you could make a fortune reselling them.

Basically, yes. Of course, with those waiting periods and the fact that you had to pay 50% of the price up front when you applied, it would've been impractical for most people. Needless to say, most communist countries weren't world leaders in motorization... Hungary had 135 cars per 1000 people in 1985, when the US had 745.

 

[XCV330]

Basically, yes. Of course, with those waiting periods and the fact that you had to pay 50% of the price up front when you applied, it would've been impractical for most people. Needless to say, most communist countries weren't world leaders in motorization... Hungary had 135 cars per 1000 people in 1985, when the US had 745.

Is there any kind of, well not hot rod culture, but people who like to restore the older cars from there and keep them running? I don't know much about East German vehicles except some cool Simson motorcycles. Honestly, with retro bikes like Royal Enfield and Indian doing so well now, I could see Simson making a comeback.

 

[SJGardner]

Is there any kind of, well not hot rod culture, but people who like to restore the older cars from there and keep them running? I don't know much about East German vehicles except some cool Simson motorcycles. Honestly, with retro bikes like Royal Enfield and Indian doing so well now, I could see Simson making a comeback.

Most of these cars don't really hold up well as they're mostly based on pre-World War 2 technology so their owners try to get rid of them as fast as possible. The Trabant, however, actually enjoys a cult status in Germany to the point that they're willing to buy up roadworthy ones from Hungary. Most well-preserved and restored cars are usually older Lada Riva models (the original series were still quite close to the Fiat 124 they were licensed from, have most of the original Italian interior styling etc.) as it's still relatively easy to find replacement parts for them due to how common they were in the '70s. Generally, the older the car, the more likely you'll find restored ones, but even the newer models like the Škoda Estelle have their enthusiasts (the latter in the UK of all places, where it was basically the quintessential cheap car).

 

[SJGardner]

The car's body was built of a cellulose-based organic polymer made of recycled cotton waste from clothing factories. That animals could digest. There are actual videos of pigs eating the car.

Oh my god, seeing it is even better than just reading about it.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

From Emir Kusturica's 1998 movie Black Cat, White Cat.

 

[Discofan]

Will we have a tearful reunion between Michael and her mother? Will that be the first thing in the first third season episode?

 

[SJGardner]

Will we have a tearful reunion between Michael and her mother? Will that be the first thing in the first third season episode?

I'd rather have Mama Burnham only as a plot device to facilitate Michael's character development. She was probably unstuck in time and might not have ended up where the Discovery went... Michael would eventually have to make peace with that and let her go. She might even have some heated arguments with Saru over her mom or make some rash decisions, like taking a shuttlecraft and going to search for her alone after Saru refuses (the Discovery might have more pressing matters depending on where they actually end up), getting herself in serious danger before the Discovery rescues her or something similar. But in the end, I'd just love to see Michael finally start walking her own path without her family baggage holding her back.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

But in the end, I'd just love to see Michael finally start walking her own path without her family baggage holding her back.

I get that, but at least she'd be down to just 1 mom instead of 3!

 

[SJGardner]

I get that, but at least she'd be down to just 1 mom instead of 3!

Damn, I keep forgetting Discovery Rule #1 that stipulates that at the end of each season, Burnham should have one more mom than before. Hmmm, I wonder who the fourth mom will be.

 

[XCV330]

Damn, I keep forgetting Discovery Rule #1 that stipulates that at the end of each season, Burnham should have one more mom than before. Hmmm, I wonder who the fourth mom will be.

The Sisko's Celestial Prophet Wormhole Mom just so everything is linked together. She'll be the Sisko's sister, also.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I'm getting a chuckle out of all this "Burnham and her extra mom's" stuff.

There's her actual mum and then Georgiou, and Amanda so 4 could be anyone.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

I'm getting a chuckle out of all this "Burnham and her extra mom's" stuff.

There's her actual mum and then Georgiou, and Amanda so 4 could be anyone.

Unless you count Prime Georgiou and MU Georgiou as 2 separate people, in which case we have to rethink our initial count of total moms she's had.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Unless you count Prime Georgiou and MU Georgiou as 2 separate people, in which case we have to rethink our initial count of total moms she's had.

Very good point. I'd count them as separate so there's your 4.

BTW why mom and not mum?

 

[Discofan]

Do you realize that if not for Lorca's insistence on keeping her on board in spite of even the Admiral's opposition, Michael would have spent the rest of her life in prison? I mean she sounds like a little ingrate when later she describes him as the essence of evil.