• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 2x08 - "If Memory Serves"

Hit it!


  • Total voters
    281
So history didn’t record that Discovery and S31 ship made it to Talos. The S31 ship part is obvious, as nothing they do get officially recorded. As for Discovery, S31 probably erased that too, or maybe Pike didn’t log it.
 
tellarite admiral!! :D
D1IuYYvWkAAPywu.png
 
So history didn’t record that Discovery and S31 ship made it to Talos. The S31 ship part is obvious, as nothing they do get officially recorded. As for Discovery, S31 probably erased that too, or maybe Pike didn’t log it.

Probably the later.
 
I thought that! Knowing what we do about the Talosians, there's a zero chance she actually wiped them out, they just made her think she did.

Unless Mirror Talosians are rubbish telepaths?
I never thought of that, but you're right, it's possible she only thinks she wiped them out in her Universe. That said, Talosians Illusions weren't 'All Powerful as evidenced in te Discovery Shuttle landing sequence; and in the original TOS "The Cage/The Menagerie" episodes Pike manages to hold on to a Talosian who's projecting the illusion of being a powerful alien creature and then there's the line from Pike of:
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/1.htm
PIKE: On the other hand, I've got a reason. I'm willing to bet you've created an illusion this laser is empty. I think it just blasted a hole in that window and you're keep us from seeing it. You want me to test my theory out on your head?

(A hole then appears in the window)

COLT: Captain.

(They all leave through the hole and get into the elevator to the surface)

So yeah Talosian illusions came be overcome. I do like to believe if she did wipe them out, it was NOT as easy as she seems to claim in this episode, and a lot of ships/lives were sacrificed.
 
Last edited:
I find it continuing to be fascinating how Pike is just as a 'Context is King' as even Mirror Lorca was. One minute he's giving his newly cheekily snarky first officer a dressing down and telling him to 'go by the book' in future and by the end of the ep he's disobeying a direct order. Are we sure this isn't Mirror Pike ;).
He didn't lick his lips when talking to Saru, so no.
 
Too much nostalgia for me to properly judge this. Burnham and Spock's estrangement was a bit of a let down. Expected they could think of something more. They used Kirk's Enterprise during the flashback at the beginning. The music was too TOSy too. They could have edited a more serious flashback from 'the Cage'.
 
So enlightened Vulcan has a dangerous sect of racists who inflict harm on non-Vulcans? Logic- fundamentalists.

Wow. Future imperfect. We know one tried to blow Sarek to smithereens last year, but to think they exist at all is...illogical.
Think logically, would not it be dangerous for a society based on logic to share the same planet with emotional beings? Vulcans can always twist the logic any way they want
 
TOS Stardates? No they didn't. They were random the entire run.

TOS Stardates were decided in the writing stage, and generally stagger upwards as the series progresses. There's some wonkiness, as some scripts were held over and some rushed into production.

TAS Stardates were a little more crazier, with one date in the 1000s and one in the 7000s, but outside of these unexplained extremes, follows the TOS style.

The TOS movies are pretty sequential, going from the 7000s to the 9000s over the course of six movies.

The TNG era was when they came up with a pretty solid system that is somewhat decipherable. These are the stardates used in all 24th century shows and movies and most online calculators.

Enterprise didn't use stardates, just regular Gregorian dates.

The Kelvin movies also use Gregorian dates, just in a Stardate format, which is by far the easiest way to convert.

Discovery, though, goes back to a TOS style, but is much more randomized than TOS ever was. METMTSMGM was in SD 2137, but next week, SVPPB, was in SD 1308. The show began on SD 1207, but Point of Light a few weeks ago was SD 1029. The show is written and produced in sequential order, and could have had a solid clad system, but chose a more chaotic, indecipherable one to "match" TOS.
 
TBH, the first season felt, at times, like it was ashamed to be Star Trek, particularly in terms of design and tone. This ep, on the other hand, felt like it was embracing the franchise and its rich history. I wouldn't want this sort of fanservice every episode, but I thought it had value here.

Indeed. I think the reason this opening resonated so much, was precisely because of how much a statement it is. The direct, hard cut from Jeffrey Hunter's Pike to Anson Mount has probably done a more effective and better job at putting this entire show into the larger Star Trek tapestry than all the previous episodes and references before combined. We now know exactly how this show relates to the other ones - not just on a story level, but even it's approach to canon and aesthetics.

Also - it's completely bonkers and unexpected. The absolute opposite of "playing it safe". And I like that. Now let's have a musical episode down the line. :guffaw:

As for the future - I still have a hard-time reconciling Burnham as a "real" step-sister with Spock. When re-watching TOS, this part will probably not go into my larger head-canon considerations - Nimoy-Spock will for me stand on it's own, not connected to Burnham (even though Burnham clearly exists). But everytime we see Pike and Vina? I'll absolutely include this episode into their larger history. Head-canon is weird, and I make my own rules.;)
 
Even The New York Times reviewed last night's episode...
“If Memory Serves,” which is a convoluted but absolutely delightful episode, has several bits of catnip for Trek aficionados. The one that I appreciated most was near the end of the episode, when Pike says to Spock, “Is that a smile I see on your face?” In “The Cage,” the original pilot, the episode’s tone was much different and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock is seen smiling, something we rarely, if ever, see again.

and
But overall, now that we’re finally moving forward with the season’s central mystery, the episode worked for me. Peck is acquitting himself just fine as Spock. It’s clear that the Vulcan loses faith in the human side of himself as he gets older, and the underlying anger in Peck’s portrayal is subtle but clear.
 
Too much nostalgia for me to properly judge this. Burnham and Spock's estrangement was a bit of a let down. Expected they could think of something more. They used Kirk's Enterprise during the flashback at the beginning. The music was too TOSy too. They could have edited a more serious flashback from 'the Cage'.

I did think the TOS theme became jarring as the recap went along. I'm a sucker for anything TOS, but the jazzy theme wasn't really the right tone for clips from a serious episode. Kinda undermined the drama. (And could give people who haven't seen the Cage the wrong idea about what it's like.)
 
So, does showing the TOS Enterprise in her original glory put the whole "DSC has to be 25 percent different because of reasons, the Illuminati and chem trails" thing to rest?

That said, I'm usually reluctant to award a 10, but this was a solid 10. When an episode pivots me so much between screaming, tears and laughter ... well, just take a bow, DSC.

This 70s-era Trekkie was very happy.
 
Last edited:
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top