Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x09 - "Terra Firma, Part 1"

[Discofan]

They weren't particularly adept at surgery, much less plastic surgery. They found an alien woman dying in the wreckage of a crashed spacecraft and had never seen a human from Earth. They did the best they could considering their culture had been devoted to illusion for who knows how many generations of their history and left behind most technology when their species almost exterminated themselves in warfare.

We can debate that endlessly without resolution but how were they able to project the illusion of a perfectly proportioned Vina if they had no idea what she looked like?

 

[cooleddie74]

I said they couldn't repair one. They eventually learned to replicate how humans looked in the form of illusion but didn't have the technical skills to physically operate on a human to make them look the right way.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I assume the image of Vina and the other survivors came from the real Vina's mind. It's possible that because of the pain Vina was in they couldn't accurately read her mind when she was first found. Which might tie in to Pike blocking their telepathy with violent thoughts.

 

[Noname Given]

We can debate that endlessly without resolution but how were they able to project the illusion of a perfectly proportioned Vina if they had no idea what she looked like?

Because once she was conscious (she wasn't after the crash) - they could read her mind fully; and see her image of herself.

 

[Lord Garth]

Jammer gave this episode three stars out of four. I'm pleasantly surprised.

 

[Tim Thomason]

You know how if you take a car or watch apart and put it back together, there's a bunch of extra parts you don't know what to do with? Well, the hump is where the Talosians put all the extra human parts they found after the surgery.

 

[dupersuper]

I already guessed on this board that General Order 7 is still in effect in the 32nd century. Discovery's crew will find out the hard way when they go pay homage to the Tomb of Christopher Pike on Talos IV.

Tomb? For all we know the Talosians made him immortal.

Both of these comments remind me of the Marvel Starfleet Academy comic books of the 90s. The cadets (including Nog) wind up on Talos where they meet a still young looking Pike (Really him? Who knows?), then nearly get executed for going there. I like to think this trial served as a reminder to the brass (and civilian population) that this stupid old law was still on the books and that it was revoked soon after. It's really unbelievable to me that people would be that terrified of cultural stagnation stemming from illusionary powers in the era of plentiful holodecks/holosuites.

 

[Noname Given]

Both of these comments remind me of the Marvel Starfleet Academy comic books of the 90s. The cadets (including Nog) wind up on Talos where they meet a still young looking Pike (Really him? Who knows?), then nearly get executed for going there. I like to think this trial served as a reminder to the brass (and civilian population) that this stupid old law was still on the books and that it was revoked soon after. It's really unbelievable to me that people would be that terrified of cultural stagnation stemming from illusionary powers in the era of plentiful holodecks/holosuites.

There's a difference between a device that people know creates false images and is used primarily for training and recreation; as opposed to a race of powerful telepaths who can anytime they wish make you believe what they project as absolutely real, to the point you can't discern where your reality was switched.

That is incredibly dangerous because they could effectively make someone do anything The Talosians wanted. They could make him/her kill others or destroy needed equipment, all while making them believe, for example, that they're at an amusement park, or some other innocuous activity.

The prohibition was there for a reason and it was a good reason.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, we can quibble over the death penalty for travel there but it wasn't something that Starfleet imposed without what it saw as very good reason. If a society like the Federation can still impose one death penalty for one of the most obscure transgressions possible then they didn't come by that punishment lightly.

 

[Bollie74]

That's the whole point of the character. Mirror burnham is a narcissistic and completely unhinged psychopath. Having known someone like that in real life i can tell you SMG did a really good job.

Thank you for the opinion/confirmation, like I said, I felt the same way. But I get so much SMG dislike from my partner and I have not left my house for 7 months - I just can't tell any more. I really wonder how long it is going to take to get back to leaving the house and going to work and being around other people whenever that happens in 2021...

 

[Discofan]

Yeah, we can quibble over the death penalty for travel there but it wasn't something that Starfleet imposed without what it saw as very good reason. If a society like the Federation can still impose one death penalty for one of the most obscure transgressions possible then they didn't come by that punishment lightly.

I think Talos had the last known strain of COVID 19 remaining in the galaxy...

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Just saw it today. I find mirror universe episodes tiresome, but this was not bad. Giving it an 8.

I've probably said this before, but the phrase, "Terran Empire" originated in fanfic. The earliest usage I'm aware of is in Ruth Berman's short story, "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited" (itself a parallel story to Jean Lorrah's "Visit to a Weird Planet"); Berman's story got promoted to "licensed professional" in Bantam's 1976 Star Trek: The New Voyages; Lorrah's is still pure fanfic (and I read it online some years ago).

 

[jackoverfull]

Just saw it today. I find mirror universe episodes tiresome, but this was not bad. Giving it an 8.

this was really good imho. Too bad I found part 2 really bad.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Just saw it today. I find mirror universe episodes tiresome, but this was not bad. Giving it an 8.

I've probably said this before, but the phrase, "Terran Empire" originated in fanfic. The earliest usage I'm aware of is in Ruth Berman's short story, "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited" (itself a parallel story to Jean Lorrah's "Visit to a Weird Planet"); Berman's story got promoted to "licensed professional" in Bantam's 1976 Star Trek: The New Voyages; Lorrah's is still pure fanfic (and I read it online some years ago).

I found "Una" as Number One's name in the 1975 fanfic The Weight by Leslie Fish (although it appears to be fluke) and of course Ni'Var was explictly taken from a poem in one of the early Trek fanzines.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

. . . and of course Ni'Var was explictly taken from a poem in one of the early Trek fanzines.

A poem in an early 'zine? Does it predate Claire Gabriel's short story of that title (about a scientist splitting Spock)?