Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x03 - "Context is for Kings"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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Dunno - the very same blue-violet blur is there when the other, identical shuttle takes our heroes from their ship to the doomed sister ship at explicit warp.
It's also pretty much what we see when a ship accelerates to warp in TNG or DS9, but the violet-with-white-lightning thing then passes and gets replaced by starstreaks when a ship hits steady speed. Perhaps the shuttles were constantly accelerating? The Shenzhou certainly was depicted as doing so when we first got this effect in the first half of the pilot.
Timo Saloniemi
There is actually two tribbles. There is a live tribble and there is a dissected tribble in Lorca's menagerie. See After Trek.
After Trek is good for these little bits of behind the scenes. The fawning over the cast and crew of this show is nauseating.
The shuttle was operating at sub-warp when it encountered the storm. I would like to think the pilot was saved by the Discovery.
After Trek is good for these little bits of behind the scenes. The fawning over the cast and crew of this show is nauseating.
The shuttle was operating at sub-warp when it encountered the storm. I would like to think the pilot was saved by the Discovery.
Wouldn't that be the Orville?
I'm pretty mixed.
I liked watching every scene of this episode. But it didn't feel like a finished episode. There was no single, unifying narrative for this episode. And as such, was pretty light on plot development or plot twists. It's "Burnham get's introduced to Discovery". Pretty much without any real story or plot surrounding it. Basically all set-up, no resolution (what's up with this alien thingy?). Also, I'm not overly fond of the level of gore. Nothing too bad. But I thought it wasn't really necessary for this type of story either.
What was great was the character stuff this episode. This was the first time I got a good grasp on Burnham. The upstanding officer that fell from grace but works her way back up suits her. Even tough I don't really buy the mutiny. Saru was super great this episode. His relationship with Burnham makes both characters much richer. This was our introduction of Lt. Stamets as well. The grumpy scientist. A great character as well, with great potential for development. I like what they're doing.
On the other hand, Cpt. Lorca (and his Indian sidekick) are SO gone at the end of the season! This time, Burnham and Saru are going to stage a mutiny together, to stop evil McBritish-surprise villain at the last second from wiping out the klingon race. Jason Isaacs plays him just fine. I just think the character is too much of a walking trope (Evil starship Captain instead of mad admiral this time).
Nitpicks:
-Star Trek has probably never been this poor with science. Even one-off stuff from, say, Voyager, was better than the subspace-mushroom network/biology-IS-physics stuff from this episode
-This episode went through ALL the clichés: Away mission, alien monster, klingon boarding party, sister ship. This series got rid of their sister ship faster than TNG in their time
-The main ship is still ugly. But I'm warming up and start tolerating it more. Having finished CGI certainly helps.
-The technology level surely is off the rails (Intraship site-to-site beaming, warp-capable shuttles)
-The "mutineer-pariah" stuff makes not much sense. Hell, even the crew of Archer mutineered ("Hatchery") once or twice, and I lost count of how often Star Trek characters stood pointing phasers at each other on the bridge
Stuff to notice:
-There was a classic GORN sceleton in Lorca's chamber!!!! The one that Kirk fought in the desert!!!
-First look at the new shuttles. They're....okay
-LOVED the look of the human starbase at the end of the episode! Very TOS retro-scifi-feeling!
Generally, this episode felt like a fast-track through various sci-fi and Star Trek clichés. It tries to be way too hard to be serious and 'dark', while still being way too lightweight on the science stuff and pretty much by-the-numbers on plot. I can't rate this episode alone, this one is purely watchable as part of an "arc", as a big "set-up" episode, not a self-contained story. And the plot itself looks way trope-y. Luckily the character work is pretty good, so I'll keep watching just for that, and hope for more interesting and exciting adventures for them to have in the future.
I liked watching every scene of this episode. But it didn't feel like a finished episode. There was no single, unifying narrative for this episode. And as such, was pretty light on plot development or plot twists. It's "Burnham get's introduced to Discovery". Pretty much without any real story or plot surrounding it. Basically all set-up, no resolution (what's up with this alien thingy?). Also, I'm not overly fond of the level of gore. Nothing too bad. But I thought it wasn't really necessary for this type of story either.
What was great was the character stuff this episode. This was the first time I got a good grasp on Burnham. The upstanding officer that fell from grace but works her way back up suits her. Even tough I don't really buy the mutiny. Saru was super great this episode. His relationship with Burnham makes both characters much richer. This was our introduction of Lt. Stamets as well. The grumpy scientist. A great character as well, with great potential for development. I like what they're doing.
On the other hand, Cpt. Lorca (and his Indian sidekick) are SO gone at the end of the season! This time, Burnham and Saru are going to stage a mutiny together, to stop evil McBritish-surprise villain at the last second from wiping out the klingon race. Jason Isaacs plays him just fine. I just think the character is too much of a walking trope (Evil starship Captain instead of mad admiral this time).
Nitpicks:
-Star Trek has probably never been this poor with science. Even one-off stuff from, say, Voyager, was better than the subspace-mushroom network/biology-IS-physics stuff from this episode
-This episode went through ALL the clichés: Away mission, alien monster, klingon boarding party, sister ship. This series got rid of their sister ship faster than TNG in their time
-The main ship is still ugly. But I'm warming up and start tolerating it more. Having finished CGI certainly helps.
-The technology level surely is off the rails (Intraship site-to-site beaming, warp-capable shuttles)
-The "mutineer-pariah" stuff makes not much sense. Hell, even the crew of Archer mutineered ("Hatchery") once or twice, and I lost count of how often Star Trek characters stood pointing phasers at each other on the bridge
Stuff to notice:
-There was a classic GORN sceleton in Lorca's chamber!!!! The one that Kirk fought in the desert!!!
-First look at the new shuttles. They're....okay
-LOVED the look of the human starbase at the end of the episode! Very TOS retro-scifi-feeling!
Generally, this episode felt like a fast-track through various sci-fi and Star Trek clichés. It tries to be way too hard to be serious and 'dark', while still being way too lightweight on the science stuff and pretty much by-the-numbers on plot. I can't rate this episode alone, this one is purely watchable as part of an "arc", as a big "set-up" episode, not a self-contained story. And the plot itself looks way trope-y. Luckily the character work is pretty good, so I'll keep watching just for that, and hope for more interesting and exciting adventures for them to have in the future.
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I liked it quite a bit actually. It's an improvement over the first two episodes at least.
the Mushroom expert that Stemets was named after seemed ok with it.
Interesting insight... unfortunately I have to take issue with one assertion:
Archer was under the influence of alien biology, the crew did not mutiny.
Archer was under the influence of alien biology, the crew did not mutiny.
I was cautiously optimistic with the pilot episodes, although it did feel somewhat off to me. I thought I could look past the overtly militaristic tone and general un-Trekness of it.
I can't. I hated this episode.
Sentencing people to life imprisonment rather than rehabilitation? Referring to prisoners as "garbage"? Fights in the mess hall? A lack of professionalism that would make Pawn Stars blush? These people and their society is worse than *ours*, if this is how their best and brightest act under pressure. This is the Ronald D. Moore cynical version of Trek that I never liked and have already seen in the insipid love letter to mysticism and Luddism that was neo-BSG.
And frankly it's cliched and preposterous even if you squint and pretend it isn't Trek. Rebellious mutineer gets recruited out of prison by a maverick captain. Sudden generic bug hunt. Burnham reciting Alice in Wonderland for no reason and making silly superhero-accurate drop onto a moving shuttle's roof hatch (which exist now, I guess). And yet another instantaneous travel technology, this time based on the most ridiculous New Age drivel I've heard in ages. Fungal spores connecting the universe? This is like someone looking at George Lucas doing midichlorians and thinking "that, but to the 1000th power".
The whole "biology IS physics" spiel was offensively stupid and reductive. Biology is the study of systems. Just because the systems are composed of quarks and electrons doesn't mean you can adequately describe biological systems by describing their constituent particles.
Anyway, glad some people are enjoying this, and I won't be one of those annoying people who show up week after week complaining about a show I don't like. I'll be over there talking about that other show.
I can't. I hated this episode.
Sentencing people to life imprisonment rather than rehabilitation? Referring to prisoners as "garbage"? Fights in the mess hall? A lack of professionalism that would make Pawn Stars blush? These people and their society is worse than *ours*, if this is how their best and brightest act under pressure. This is the Ronald D. Moore cynical version of Trek that I never liked and have already seen in the insipid love letter to mysticism and Luddism that was neo-BSG.
And frankly it's cliched and preposterous even if you squint and pretend it isn't Trek. Rebellious mutineer gets recruited out of prison by a maverick captain. Sudden generic bug hunt. Burnham reciting Alice in Wonderland for no reason and making silly superhero-accurate drop onto a moving shuttle's roof hatch (which exist now, I guess). And yet another instantaneous travel technology, this time based on the most ridiculous New Age drivel I've heard in ages. Fungal spores connecting the universe? This is like someone looking at George Lucas doing midichlorians and thinking "that, but to the 1000th power".
The whole "biology IS physics" spiel was offensively stupid and reductive. Biology is the study of systems. Just because the systems are composed of quarks and electrons doesn't mean you can adequately describe biological systems by describing their constituent particles.
Anyway, glad some people are enjoying this, and I won't be one of those annoying people who show up week after week complaining about a show I don't like. I'll be over there talking about that other show.
Didn't that episode with a big "...or WAS it? dun dun duuun" And the characters just decided to move on for the greater good of the mission? Not so sure anymore about it...
A few things I'd like to know...
* Why was the shuttle travelling through the Nebula instead of over it like the Discovery was? why not get out and stop the ship when the bugs were draining the ships power. The entire opening just like in episode one with the Captain & Michael felt so forced and contrived.
* If the Klingon's boarded the sister ship then where was their ship and why didn't they attack the shuttle/Discovery?
* The Monster of the week bit was a little weird, I assume it was already onboard then why wasn't it killed like the crew? Also the laser to cut the door open would of been a better weapon to use against the creature instead of the weak ass phasers, why are they so weak?
They need to be very, very careful with this whole new way to travel beyond Warp AKA Spore Drive as you're potentially changing a core fundamental rule of Trek with the usage of the Warp drive. I presume the experiment will NEVER work though I would love them to link it to the technology of the Iconians.
Lorca is a very interesting character and clearly not the standard Starfleet Captain. I really hope they link the Captain, ship & it's mission to Section 31 who as we've seen in DS9, come to the forefront in times of war. Also Michael is the first mutineer within Starfleet in the 100 years+ of the Federation existence
oh please! Why do writers feel the need to write such silly lines in episodes.
Episode One - 6/10
Episode Two - 7/10
Episode Three - 5/10
* Why was the shuttle travelling through the Nebula instead of over it like the Discovery was? why not get out and stop the ship when the bugs were draining the ships power. The entire opening just like in episode one with the Captain & Michael felt so forced and contrived.
* If the Klingon's boarded the sister ship then where was their ship and why didn't they attack the shuttle/Discovery?
* The Monster of the week bit was a little weird, I assume it was already onboard then why wasn't it killed like the crew? Also the laser to cut the door open would of been a better weapon to use against the creature instead of the weak ass phasers, why are they so weak?
They need to be very, very careful with this whole new way to travel beyond Warp AKA Spore Drive as you're potentially changing a core fundamental rule of Trek with the usage of the Warp drive. I presume the experiment will NEVER work though I would love them to link it to the technology of the Iconians.
Lorca is a very interesting character and clearly not the standard Starfleet Captain. I really hope they link the Captain, ship & it's mission to Section 31 who as we've seen in DS9, come to the forefront in times of war. Also Michael is the first mutineer within Starfleet in the 100 years+ of the Federation existence
oh please! Why do writers feel the need to write such silly lines in episodes.Episode One - 6/10
Episode Two - 7/10
Episode Three - 5/10
I did get a Doom feeling to this Trek episode so that wouldn't surprise me but that makes the creature seem like another forced and contrived moment from the writers. Just so random when you could of had more Klingon action instead...
The Klingon hushing them was quite funny IMO.
I have the feeling Battlestar Galactica changed sci-fi more than we thought it would.
Hell, back in the day, they basically axed Stargate:Atlantis to make room for Stargate:Universe (aka "Stargate: BSG-rip-off). "The Expansion" looks like it took a lot of cues as well. The difference is: BSG was first, and fully went through with it. It worked, because it was great in it's own right. But I don't think it's that good as an influence on other sci-fi.
This Star Trek series clearly tries to be "somewhat-BSG-ish" as well, in being darker and more serious. Luckily, they didn't went the whole way through, I think it's still undeniably recognizable as Trek.
But it's a little sad to see Star Trek imitating other stuff, instead of doing it's own thing and being an influencer in it's own right.
I think the market for a purely optimistic, still serious-but-lighthearted, colorful version of Star Trek, primarily focused on "boring" stuff (exploration, science, discovery) is still there. If nothing else, 'The Orville' pretty much proves that.
My guess is that shuttlecraft of prisoners (minus Burnham) will never make it to their destination. An unfortunate accident will happen.
Someone, Landry, I think, said it was a storm.
I didn't get that impression. By the end of the episode he was "I said nice things because I thought you'd be gone on the next shuttle. But now that you're here permanently, I got my eye on you".
It's why the show exists. It's a promo piece, not a hard hitting exposé .
The BTS stuff they show is great though, they had close ups of the stuff in Lorca's "Menagerie'
If we could get a BTS show that was just those bits I'd be happy.
We don’t always get what we want. I moved to a new town a year ago for my wife’s new job. Worked for my old job remotely for six months and have been unemployed the other six. I don’t have what I really want in life at the moment but you don’t see me whining about it at every turn. I continue to try I make the best of it.
Just putting things into context. (No pun intended.)
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