Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x03 - "People of Earth"

[Lakenheath 72]

Just to throw this out there - the scanning range of Earth in the 32nd century is less than that of the USS Voyager in the 2370s.

Saturn is about 7 AU from Earth.
In "Emanations", the USS Voyager did a high-end scanning range with a radius of 10 AU.
In "People of Earth", the USS Discovery landed at the Saturnian system, which lay outside the scanning range of Earth

 

[fireproof78]

Yup, it is. That one AU made all the difference.

 

[DigificWriter]

Wasn't sure if I wanted to post this here or in the General Discussion thread, but I love Adira, and it wasn't surprising at all to me that she's* a Trill host.

* Until or unless the series does otherwise, I'm going to use feminine pronouns to refer to Adira even though she's non-binary because while many non-binary individuals use 'they'/'them' pronouns, some continue to use conventional gender pronouns as a personal choice

 

[Go-Captain]

Just to throw this out there - the scanning range of Earth in the 32nd century is less than that of the USS Voyager in the 2370s.

Saturn is about 7 AU from Earth.
In "Emanations", the USS Voyager did a high-end scanning range with a radius of 10 AU.
In "People of Earth", the USS Discovery landed at the Saturnian system, which lay outside the scanning range of Earth

In "Work Force" Kim scans for human DNA at interstellar distances, covering multiple solar systems. In "People of Earth" Discovery arrives maybe 100,000-1,000,000 km from Saturn (I'm eyeballing it), and the Titans can detect its arrival, which is how they knew Discovery has some sort of faster than light drive, and thus, they assume, dilithium. Earth couldn't communicate, nor detect Discovery until it was in low Earth orbit, given the shield raises only once Discovery is in Earth low orbit, not substantially before. That means the Titans have sensors at least 1,000 times better than Earth's despite Earth's apparent wealth and Titan's problems.

Worse, in the first two episodes we have statements by Book and the villain of ep 2 that everyone in the neighborhood is going to have detected the wormholes. That implies either crowded solar systems, or interstellar detection, but in either case cases sensors better than Earth's in ep 3.

 

[fireproof78]

but in either case cases sensors better than Earth's in ep 3.

Which might make Discovery all the more valuable to EDF. So, possibility of drama.

 

[DaveyNY]

Sensors only work if you actually have them pointing in the right direction and tell them to "look" for something.

Isolationist Earth wasn't looking and didn't care to even bother apparently.

Other than the folks from Titan, Earth doesn't expect anybody to show up.

And since Discovery was coming from that direction, the EDF probably assumed it was just another raiding party from there.

 

[SJGardner]

Earth might be so isolationist at this point that their sensors might even be programmed not to give out any actual alerts unless the new arrivals are determined to be a threat, for example if they are armed, on a direct course towards Earth and have entered a certain perimeter that would still give the UEDF enough time to go to battle stations. Otherwise why bother if they might just be passing through? They are not our concern.

Damn, that sounds suspiciously like the Borg. Why am I hearing Michael Eddington saying "told you so?"

 

[UssGlenn]

Much can be explained by Discovery's unorthodox method of FTL. If the sensors are looking for a "drop out of warp" signal they wouldn't find it. So the only thing that is triggered are the proximity sensors on the shield, which are probably mostly used for rogue asteroids.

 

[Mark 2000]

So you must think most of the Star Trek is stupid then.

So you think the sum total of Star Trek is Branan Braga’s odd love of blowing ships up over nothing? That’s a bit histrionic.

 

[jackoverfull]

In "Work Force" Kim scans for human DNA at interstellar distances, covering multiple solar systems

yep. Voyager’s scanning abilities in later seasons stretched believability a lot. Here the stretch goes the opposite way.

 

[AlanC9]

Fair enough. But TOS relied almost entirely on new adversaries from week to week and TNG largely did.

IIRC there was some thought of making Koloth a recurring adversary.

 

[Go-Captain]

Which might make Discovery all the more valuable to EDF. So, possibility of drama.

The problem there is the intention of the writers probably wasn't that at all, otherwise it would have been pointed out as something worth trading.

yep. Voyager’s scanning abilities in later seasons stretched believability a lot. Here the stretch goes the opposite way.

I rather they be impossibly good than impossibly bad. Space magic is essential to Star Trek, and at worst puts Trek firmly ahead of our time, but being impossibly bad puts them beneath our current abilities. I find that less believable, especially when no explanation is provided, and everything in context points to it being wrong.

Sure, maybe I can come up with my own explanation, but I find I have to do that a little too often with Discovery, and those fan explanations usually aren't satisfying.

 

[DaveyNY]

The problem there is the intention of the writers probably wasn't that at all, otherwise it would have been pointed out as something worth trading.

I rather they be impossibly good than impossibly bad. Space magic is essential to Star Trek, and at worst puts Trek firmly ahead of our time, but being impossibly bad puts them beneath our current abilities. I find that less believable, especially when no explanation is provided, and everything in context points to it being wrong.

Sure, maybe I can come up with my own explanation, but I find I have to do that a little too often with Discovery, and those fan explanations usually aren't satisfying.

What's so complicated or dubious about Isolationist Earth not having their sensors scanning the galaxy 24 hours a day seven days a week.

It's pretty obvious from the episode that at this time, they just don't give a damn about what's going on out there.
They are only concerned when things happen right in their own immediate backyard...

It's their "Get Off My Lawn" attitude that says it all.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

What's so complicated or dubious about Isolationist Earth not having their sensors scanning the galaxy 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Maybe they feel that running active sensors 24/7 would give away their presence?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

How did Zareth know all their names? Did I miss a scene because now that really bugs me, even knew what ship our heroes were from.

Also was that Book's ship that lifted Disco out of the ice? Because I don't recall his ship being big it fit right in their hangar bay.

 

[DaveyNY]

Obviously, tractor beams have been improved upon over the last 1000 years.

 

[fireproof78]

The problem there is the intention of the writers probably wasn't that at all, otherwise it would have been pointed out as something worth trading.

Maybe, maybe not.

Sure, maybe I can come up with my own explanation, but I find I have to do that a little too often with Discovery, and those fan explanations usually aren't satisfying.

At this point I will agree to disagree. I love coming up with my own explanations and have been doing so since I was 8.

What's so complicated or dubious about Isolationist Earth not having their sensors scanning the galaxy 24 hours a day seven days a week.

It's pretty obvious from the episode that at this time, they just don't give a damn about what's going on out there.
They are only concerned when things happen right in their own immediate backyard...

It's their "Get Off My Lawn" attitude that says it all.

I mean, it's obvious to me but apparently other explanations are needed too.

 

[RAMA]

Episode 03x03 People of Earth reaction summary! A weekly rundown of how the world reacted to the latest episode.

Viewers liked this episode quite a bit last week, giving some of the highest grades yet. The site with the largest sample size: TVTalk, had voters gave it a big 9.66/10, a new high for season 3. IMDB viewers were again kind, giving the episode a 7.8/10 with almost 850 votes. TraktTV viewers gave it a 78% with almost 1,000 votes, just off of the first 2 episodes.

Critic ratings are again scarce, Rotten Tomatoes is still at 93% and certified fresh with 29 instead of 28 reviews now. Metacritic is still steady at 75 this season after inching up one point last week.

Metrics are again off the charts!

Parrot Analytics has Discovery at number 6 this week, falling slightly after reaching 5th last week. Over the course of 30 days Discovery has hit the magical 32x popularity mark, which is rated as "exceptional", a mark only .2% of shows reach. It is currently 33.2x more popular than the avg show as of today.

The Netflix aggregator site FlixPatrol has ranked Discovery in the top 10 for 3 straight days around the world and is ranked 15th today. It ranks 6th for the month and finished as high as 5th.

RAMA

 

[Nerys Myk]

At this point I will agree to disagree. I love coming up with my own explanations and have been doing so since I was 8.

It's at the core of this fandom. Perhaps to a fault.

 

[jackoverfull]

Sure, maybe I can come up with my own explanation, but I find I have to do that a little too often with Discovery, and those fan explanations usually aren't satisfying.

amen to that.

Also was that Book's ship that lifted Disco out of the ice? Because I don't recall his ship being big it fit right in their hangar bay.

yep. Was “big” in episode 2, millennium falcon sized in 3.