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Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x03 - "Context is for Kings"

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Yeah, no overt mention of S31 in this series so far that I can tell, although it is clearly implied in nearly every aspect of life on Discovery. Only DS9 and ENT talked about it openly, IIRC. I'm sure it's coming, though.
Ok I expressed wrong, it's not a nod, but I think they are moving in that direction with the story. Captain that can do whatever it can, by all means do everything to win the war regardless of starfleet regulations etc.
 
If there is one thing in Star Trek I hate more than the warp salamanders it is the Section 31. But of course they're gonna do it because it's dark and edgy.
 
I want to be there when my son (who is an astrophysics student) sees the conflating of physics with biology. Or as he sees it, science with Mumbo-Jumbo...
 
I wouldn't be surprised if he were conceived as a one-season character, and I wouldn't be surprised if CBS told the producers that this is unacceptable.

I like Lorca a lot. I certainly hope he is not going to be the Ned Stark of Discovery.
 
A few quick caps of when Princess Toadstool was in 'Quantum Sporestream':

04tJaYY.jpg


^ Unidentified planet with cool ruins

bauuqpD.jpg


^ Unidentified planet with Preserver monolith

2It1IKH.jpg


^ Unidentified planet resembling Vulcan a little

tLK92t0.jpg


^ Unidentified planet, possibly a Federation colony/starbase

p92mKNB.jpg


^ Possibly Janus VI mining colony

For comparison:

OFSheiy.jpg


(Actually someone has already put that last one on Memory Alpha, do they know something we don't?)
 
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If there is one thing in Star Trek I hate more than the warp salamanders it is the Section 31. But of course they're gonna do it because it's dark and edgy.
Super mysterious and ominous secret evil government clandestine agency is one of the most overused tropes in all of cinema. "Edgy" is not the adjective I'd use.
 
Like I said, differing opinions. I thought there was plenty of optimism on show. And as for likable characters, Tilly & Lorca I thought were excellent. And Michael was a huge improvement over the first two episodes. I'm really looking forward to next week now.

Yeah this starship may live a bit more on the edge, but it's clear that optimistic spirit we saw expressed so strongly by Burnham and Georgiou at the start of the first episode is still something these characters believe in.

And of course it's not like we didn't see officers be rude or dickish on TOS at times. Lt Stiles' hostile attitude towards Spock in Balance of Terror is one that immediately comes to mind--and that was on the bridge right in front of the captain!
 
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My thoughts on this episode, then.

The Good
The Discovery herself - I was so much more sold on the ship itself seeing it "in the flesh" with proper effects and the tight camera angles. Loved it.
The space shots are still brilliant, I love this aspect of the show, how the uniform starfield is gone and replaced by those lovely views.
Lorca! I really liked this character, a truly different Starfleet Captain. Lots to pick apart there, what is his motivation? What are his true morals and goals? It's he the Captain of a science ship at war, as he tries to tell Burnham, or is he a warmonger on a science vessel like Stamets seems to think? Jason Isaacs did a great performance, too.
The sets - in particular the mess hall and ready room are lovely sets, detailed just enough, with some callbacks to TOS (such as the food slots and the colourful data minidiscs) and some neat designs technology wise, combining buttons and hi tech holoscreens.
The mushroom story - I'm quite taken by this aspect of the story, it's much more interesting than the Klingons arc. Yes it's nonsense, but lots of Trek tech is total nonsense so that doesn't bother me much. I like the peacetime applications of it and the fact it isn't a weapon or an ancient something-or-other to find á la SG-1.
Lorca's attitude to Burnham's past. He, in-universe, had many of the same observations that we had here about Burnham's actual culpability and the ambiguity of whether she was actually right to do what she did. That's a level of grey which Star Trek has struggled with in the past, and it's nice to see that we are getting something more complex.
Saru and Burnham's relationship continues to be a highlight.
Dialogue was improved. Not great, but better.
Cadet Tilly is finally a cadet who actually acts like a new recruit instead of a genius or a twat. Now we just need an Admiral of whom I could say the same ;)

The Bad
The shoot em up on the Glenn was pretty generic, and the giant mole thing was a pretty standard jump scare monster. I was glad this sequence was over quickly.
Landry. Ugh. A horrid cliché of a character. I hope they give her some depth or she dies horribly and quickly. Calling prisoners 'garbage' and 'animals' is a bad caricature which is outdated by today's standards, let alone Starfleet's.
Stamets didn't get much to do but complain and deliver exposition. I'd like to see him have a bit more to sink his acting into, especially since he is bound to feature heavily in the arc.

Overall
Enjoyed this more than the pilot, considerably more of interest and more depth to the story and characters. Really liked Lorca, Burnham, Saru and Tilly. Needed a stronger episodic story, but I liked this one. 8/10.
 
I don't know if I agree with that. The only people we know that like Burnham by the end are the captain (who already had a feeling he would like her since he manipulated the situation so that she would be on Discovery), and Tilly (just because she's super excited to have a friend). Saru just respects her intelligence. No one else was high-fiving her at the end of the episode.
I didn't saying anything about Burnham being liked (or the need for her to be likeable.)
 
so from a production viewpoint did they really make their Act Two 20 minutes? they could've just you know broke that up to make it their act two and three and make their act three act four.
 
Which shows? I was watching stuff like Hill St Blues, St Elsewhere, NYPD Blues, ER and Thirtysomething in the 80s/90s. They could be pretty dark and downbeat. As were genre shows like Twin Peaks and the X-Files. That's pretty good company IMO.
I think he means stuff like "The Fresh Prince, In Living Color, TNG, B5" I do think T.V. in General had a brighter color palette then, practically the 1st half of the 90's was neon green with those little squiggly lightning bolt things all over it.
 
He says she missed Romulus, and the next planet we see is more like Vulcan.

But there's stil an afterimage of fire in the sky, the Romulan Firefalls?
 
This episode will always be special to me... my wife and I watched it while she was in early labor... and as of 17.37 hours today, I became a dad for the third time, of a beautiful baby boy Jorne! Whenever I will rewatch this episode in the future, it will always be connected to my son. And I'm glad it was a really, really great episode!

That's awesome. Congrats!

Are you going to name your son after one of the characters (e.g. Lorca)?
 
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