Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x07 - "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad"

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

• There's a lot of making-out on the party going on! Which is nice for them. But really, this party did absolutely not felt like a wartime party at the front lines. This was a lot more "drunk college kids" after a science project. Which is fine for Trek. But not fine with regards to the larger war-arc in the background going on.

Actually the party felt like a party that would be on a U.S. Navy ship at war. Most of the crew are about college age or just shy of leaving high school, so they do throw parties like the one on Discovery. Of course, on a real USN ship booze is forbidden... but off ship they party hardy like in Discovery. But they do get wild and frat-like on board a USN vessel (see the PBS docuseries Carrier.)

 

[Tuskin38]

Yeah, If you don't like the abbreviation 'DSC', then call it 'DIS', you know, like 'VOY' and 'ENT'.

Memory-Alpha calls it 'DIS' to keep it consistent with 'VOY'

 

[Nyotarules]

^ That argument is bunk. It's like trying to defend "reappropriating" the Swastika .

You need a refund from your school teachers

 

[Noname Given]

I get that we were seeing Mudd adapt and change his tactics after each loop. But showing us a bit more would have helped. I think showing us how Mudd got control of the computer would have helped a lot.

They did show one loop where as soon as he's in a hall (supposedly at the start of a loop) he's using a hand held device to access/override Discovery security protocols (at least that's what is was displaying on the corridor panel as he did it - he was also yawning and doing it fast as if he's done it MANY tines previously.)

 

[Tracer Bullet]

Also, why isn't ST:V and ST:E not appropriate? Aside from the fact ST:V is Star Trek V.

They just never have been. If you referenced "STV" people would most likely think you were talking about The Final Frontier, and STE I don't think they would know what you meant at all.

I imagine this is related to the way Deep Space Nine was abbreviated as "DS9" to match the three-letter abbreviations of TOS and TNG. When it came time to come up with abbreviations for Voyager and Enterprise, they just took the ship name and didn't include the Star Trek part.

 

[Charles Phipps]

You need a refund from your school teachers

100 million dead is the same as a acronym which might offend some people or be used pejoratively.

 

[Psion]

You pronounce it like 'Disk'. You hear it said over the Shuttle comms in Episode 3.

The shuttles call sign is DSC-01

Interesting. I heard it as "DISCO-1"

 

[Tuskin38]

Interesting. I heard it as "DISCO-1"

The 'oh' is the zero in the callsign. DSC-01, Disc-Oh-One

DSC-01 is written on the side of the shuttle as well.

it is common to say 'oh' instead of zero in certain circumstances. Happens all the time in Trek and IRL.

When Tasha reads out the Ent-C's registry in 'Yesterday's Enterprise' she reads it as 'One-Seven-Oh-One', I believe Scotty does the same in 'Relics', and it is commonly used when officers are reading out course numbers at the helm.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

Yes, agreed, I blocked that moment out of my mind. There are so many reasons why people wouldn't be bound to wheelchairs in the 23rd century that it's not even worth addressing. The Orville's practical joke with the leg makes more sense than wheelchairs centuries from now.

What reasons?

It would be an imagination of science to "assume" any and all leg and spinal injuries could be fixed in the future, it's possible there would still be certain limits to medicine.

In my head I don't think it's that odd. Now someone could "choose" to have their legs lobbed off and use advanced prosthetics but, many people would have a hard time accepting a loss of even a useless limb.

 

[XCV330]

many people would have a hard time accepting a loss of even a useless limb.

You're embarrassing Voq/Tyler

 

[Rahul]

Actually the party felt like a party that would be on a U.S. Navy ship at war. Most of the crew are about college age or just shy of leaving high school, so they do throw parties like the one on Discovery. Of course, on a real USN ship booze is forbidden... but off ship they party hardy like in Discovery. But they do get wild and frat-like on board a USN vessel (see the PBS docuseries Carrier.)

I think the problem I had was: The crew of DIS that we saw at the party weren't college aged. I could understand yunger people get this wild, especially with the prospect of a war going around. But for adults I expected them to act a bit more mature - DS9 was IMO very good in the portrayal of how officers at wartime spent celebrating events.

It's not that I dislike the portrayal of DIS. I just think there is a disconnect going on - between the fluffier side of Trek, a bunch of nerds going on an adventure (which I absolutely do see partying hard!) vs. a seasoned warship full of combat veterans having a rare celebration at the front lines. The show doesn't seem to be too sure of itself what it wants to be. And turns out to be a weird mix between the two.

 

[Rich]

House of Cards is pretty damned dull after season 2. Also you sound like a pretty miserable person.

No.
The writing on The Americans is great. Or The Crown. Or Transparent. Or Handmaiden's. Or Thrones. Or PoI. Or Stranger Things. Or House of Cards. Or Orange Black. Dexter. BreakingABQ. Or a 100 other examples I could list.

This is sophomoric shit.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I think the problem I had was: The crew of DIS that we saw at the party weren't college aged. I could understand yunger people get this wild, especially with the prospect of a war going around. But for adults I expected them to act a bit more mature - DS9 was IMO very good in the portrayal of how officers at wartime spent celebrating events.

It's not that I dislike the portrayal of DIS. I just think there is a disconnect going on - between the fluffier side of Trek, a bunch of nerds going on an adventure (which I absolutely do see partying hard!) vs. a seasoned warship full of combat veterans having a rare celebration at the front lines. The show doesn't seem to be too sure of itself what it wants to be. And turns out to be a weird mix between the two.

They're letting off steam. In war, not everything is somber. Soldiers, whether real ones or imagined Starfleet ones, need release (insert bad sex joke here). There was no disconnect for me. And I will say it was good to see something other than grim on the show.

 

[tomalak301]

I thought it was ok but the more I thought about it the more I wonder how did Mudd do everything he did in 30 minutes. Ok so he did it at least 50 times but he was able to walk around the ship without being detected? Also the site to site transporter is really becoming a crux this series is dying on. Yeah I know technology has improved but site to site transporting was supposed to be really hard and dangerous. In this series they do it on a whim like normal.

Also I’m not buying the relationship yet and I’m a little mad that we are getting one this early in the series. Let’s get some character development first.

I gave it a 7

 

[Bad Thoughts]

They're letting off steam. In war, not everything is somber.

At least they aren't doing the classic shore leave stuff (as in picking up hookers around the port). Last night's party was dignified by comparison.

 

[Rahul]

They're letting off steam. In war, not everything is somber. Soldiers, whether real ones or imagined Starfleet ones, need release (insert bad sex joke here). There was no disconnect for me. And I will say it was good to see something other than grim on the show.

Again: My problem was that it didn't felt like "leaving off steam". It felt like "college kids experimenting with stuff". Which would be fine in any other Trek setting. But there was a disconnect to how people would behave that have witnessed war first-hand.

 

[Rahul]

I had the same problem with Mudd still being the "humorous rogue", who is foiled by being returned to his wife. While also being a mass murderer, killing every Starfleet officer in it's way, not just Lorca, but also leaving young science officers laying in her own pool of blood. They could be happy he (apparently) didn't kill anyone in his last round. That'd been awkward.

Still, there's a severe disconnect in tone between the two, between campy space opera tropes, and the grim war stuff, and DIS tries to walk both paths, but sadly at the same time. Which just doesn't really work IMO.

 

[XCV330]

Again: My problem was that it didn't felt like "leaving off steam". It felt like "college kids experimenting with stuff". Which would be fine in any other Trek setting. But there was a disconnect to how people would behave that have witnessed war first-hand.

They should quietly applaud the first officer's trombone recital?

 

[Rahul]

They should quietly applaud the first officer's trombone recital?

Naw, man. Just make it a little bit more self-aware. Again: DS9 was pretty good at this stuff.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

They should quietly applaud the first officer's trombone recital?

Ship's scuttlebutt has it that the first officer gives private trombone recitals in his quarters.