Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x02 - "Anomaly"

[Amaris]

NEM was wrong. He had hair when he was stabbed by the Nausicaan in 2327 and still had receding hair when Jack Crusher was killed in 2354. The original photo of Tom Hardy made for that scene showed Cadet Picard with hair but the producers stupidly jettisoned it, showing how little research they did before completing the film.

This. Sometimes too much visual shorthand is a bad thing, and this was one of those cases.

 

[fireproof78]

Shaving your head is a thing.

 

[Fateor]

Speaking more broadly, it is interesting that even though body modification tech seems easy/free, we don't see a bunch of perfectly idealized people wandering about. The only real ways to deal with this is to either accept the headcanon people are less shallow or to admit it's a concession to the realities of casting.

I tend to think if humanity could easily alter our appearance most would be dreadfully shallow - though what that means would vary from person to person.

See... You say that... But 98% of the people we saw on screen were hollywood level beautiful/handsome.

 

[Tuskin38]

You do understand how large a 5 light year black hole actually is, right? The black hole at the center of Holm 15, considered an ultramassive black hole, and the largest one ever recorded, is approximately the size of our solar system.

It takes light from our Sun roughly 5 hours to reach Pluto.
The black hole in the episode is 5 light years, and not only moves unpredictably, but moves faster than light.

Sagittarius-A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, is 44 million kilometers in size, roughly the distance from the Sun to Mercury.

This black hole is roughly the distance between our Sun and Alpha Centauri B, with enough distance leftover to make it halfway to Barnard's Star. That's not counting the gravitational effects a 5 light year across black hole would create.

And again, it moves.
It moves faster than light.
Randomly.

If you don't consider that potentially galaxy destroying then I guess that's fine.

Massive thread to local space sure, but not galaxy destroying.

 

[Amaris]

Massive thread to local space sure, but not galaxy destroying.

What would a ricocheting bullet, at constant speed, do to the inside of a B-17, despite the smallness of the bullet itself?

Again, 5 light year black hole, larger than any black hole known in existence today, larger than the black hole at the center of our own galaxy, thousands of times larger than the largest black hole ever found, moving through the galaxy at faster than light speeds in seemingly random directions. What might it be doing to the fabric of the universe itself?

Think big. Don't think in "5 light years isn't that big" terms because a black hole the size of 5 light years is that big, it's truly pants-shittingly enormous, even in the span of our galaxy. The gravitational effects of something that large would do more than just disintegrate planets, it would change the directional pathways of entire solar systems, fling stars away from each other, scatter solar systems. A 5 light year black hole passing Alpha Centauri would obliterate us.

It would be more than just a threat to local space.

Here is a comparison chart of TON 618, the largest ultramassive black hole we currently know about in the known universe. It is 2,606 AU in diameter, which is 0.04 light years. You would need 125 of these put together to equal the anomaly in the episode.

(click it for full size)


The dot in the center represents our solar system, 80 AU across.

If this bastard were roaming the galaxy moving at faster than light speeds, it would be a galaxy wide problem. Honestly, I think the DSC folks went way too large. WAY too large for this thing. A 5 light year wide black hole that moves at faster than light speeds would do a hell of a lot of damage to our galaxy, which is only 100,000 light years across.

 

[Go-Captain]

* Too much reliance on holo this, and synth that. There comes a point where I can no longer connect to events because my brain tells me it will be solved by magic. Now, Star Trek has always been a mixture of fantasy and technology, but they've leaped so far ahead into the future that my brain finds dissonance between capability and ability when it comes to problem recognition and resolution. VOY had a bit of this trouble when it was on, DSC is doing it, too, but with a 600+ year technology jump. I'm having difficulty making those connections in the drama, and the story itself.

I think the problem is there no build up to the technologies we see, and too much reliance on having seen the previous season and other Trek.

Gray being a brain ghost is kind of blink and miss it if you don’t see season 3, and the reason for a body is even less explained, just taken for granted. We have no call back to how unique Gray and Adira’s situation is and why a body is the best solution, or at all relevant to anything going on.

Knowing season 3 we also have to wonder why if the holodeck tech is easily installed in Burhnham’s quarters then why not the med bay? Do they not have an EMH? My point being, it had to be easier to just have the holodeck give Gray a body to communicate directly with Culber.

The hologram-Stamets comes out of no where because it’s easy not to make the connection to the holodeck tech in Burnham’s quarters or the interfaces. We also lack context for the mind machine interface allowing the setup to work. We don’t have context for the programmable matter either, with just season 4, so when Burnham wants the gravitational wave hologram made into programmable matter interface it muddies the utility of solid holograms even with the context of season 3 involved with 4.

They at least explain the PIC body to some extent, but that came off more like fan service, while simultaneously invalidating the technology.
I know Trek is infamous for introducing one off technologies, but never encountering something again is different from a statement of impossibility.

They go to the future for a fresh start and don’t even embrace cool culture changing technologies like immortal robot bodies.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The dot in the center represents our solar system, 80 AU across.

If this bastard were roaming the galaxy moving at faster than light speeds, it would be a galaxy wide problem. Honestly, I think the DSC folks went way too large. WAY too large for this thing. A 5 light year wide black hole that moves at faster than light speeds would do a hell of a lot of damage to our galaxy, which is only 100,000 light years across.

What if it's only moving at STL while in our universe and just dives into what-ever realm it came from and occaisionally pops out into our realm randomly for reasons we haven't figured out yet?

 

[fireproof78]

hey go to the future for a fresh start and don’t even embrace cool culture changing technologies like immortal robot bodies.

Here is my own personal observations and what I think currently plagues new Trek. They are terrified of the fans and so steer in to tried and true conventions, similar to how Enterprise played largely with TNG style conventions, but under the auspices of a prequel. You had "phase pistols" that were pretty much phasers, and hull plating that still had shield style percentages. It lacked a punch to it to make its stamp in terms of distinction of a prequel period.

Now we journey to the future, arguably to avoid criticism, but the future tech is the same to engage familiarity. Phasers are still phasers, shields still shields. The transporter is slightly different, and technology pretty much works as the plot dictates. It is presented as inoffensively as possible, while trying not to exposit the audience to death because they also fear pursing away new comers and making these series feel inaccessible as past Trek has felt to outsiders.

Now, this creates an interesting conundrum. On the one hand, it is highly appealing to someone like me who prefers the character interactions, how people engage, emote and explore with each other over technological word salad. On the other hand, it is by and large ignoring the portion of the fan base who love the technical explanations, who would prefer the long technical explanations outlining the way things work in favor of character moments, which can appeal to casual goers and people who don't speak technobabble speak daily. On the other, it has not fully formed this era's identity to make the technology stand out.

It is trying hard for the middle ground of inoffensiveness and that is a dangerous game to play.

 

[Amaris]

I think the problem is there no build up to the technologies we see, and too much reliance on having seen the previous season and other Trek.

Gray being a brain ghost is kind of blink and miss it if you don’t see season 3, and the reason for a body is even less explained, just taken for granted. We have no call back to how unique Gray and Adira’s situation is and why a body is the best solution, or at all relevant to anything going on.

Knowing season 3 we also have to wonder why if the holodeck tech is easily installed in Burhnham’s quarters then why not the med bay? Do they not have an EMH? My point being, it had to be easier to just have the holodeck give Gray a body to communicate directly with Culber.

The hologram-Stamets comes out of no where because it’s easy not to make the connection to the holodeck tech in Burnham’s quarters or the interfaces. We also lack context for the mind machine interface allowing the setup to work. We don’t have context for the programmable matter either, with just season 4, so when Burnham wants the gravitational wave hologram made into programmable matter interface it muddies the utility of solid holograms even with the context of season 3 involved with 4.

They at least explain the PIC body to some extent, but that came off more like fan service, while simultaneously invalidating the technology.
I know Trek is infamous for introducing one off technologies, but never encountering something again is different from a statement of impossibility.

They go to the future for a fresh start and don’t even embrace cool culture changing technologies like immortal robot bodies.

Yes, I think you've hit on some of the issues I have with not only this episode, but the way DSC handles the future of the future. For me, some of it isn't even necessary, like hologram Stamets. Just have Stamets there. Yeah, Booker knows he's actually alone, but it's played as a one note, and whiffed (in my opinion) because Booker's right, and Stamets life isn't in any danger at all, only the data. So when Stamets says "we're all here with you" it's like, yeah, I get the sentiment, but no, Booker really is the only one who will die if something goes horribly wrong.

It's like Discovery seems to clap on the 1 and the 3 instead of the 2 and the 4 beats.

What if it's only moving at STL while in our universe and just dives into what-ever realm it came from and occaisionally pops out into our realm randomly for reasons we haven't figured out yet?

Well they know its actual heading because they can track it, and unless the nearest star system is only a few light days away, they shouldn't be in a panic to evacuate star systems near any of the affected areas. I honestly think they made it too enormous, and forgot the actual distances between star systems in our galaxy. So you have "evacuate the area," but it's like, most star systems are, on average, about 5-6 light years apart in this part of the galaxy, so it has to be actually moving through space at FTL speeds to warrant that kind of urgency.

So I think they made the black hole far, FAR too big, and made the distance between solar systems smaller than they actually are, which kind of messes with the scenario for me.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Well they know its actual heading because they can track it, and unless the nearest star system is only a few light days away, they shouldn't be in a panic to evacuate star systems near any of the affected areas. I honestly think they made it too enormous, and forgot the actual distances between star systems in our galaxy. So you have "evacuate the area," but it's like, most star systems are, on average, about 5-6 light years apart in this part of the galaxy, so it has to be actually moving through space at FTL speeds to warrant that kind of urgency.

So I think they made the black hole far, FAR too big, and made the distance between solar systems smaller than they actually are, which kind of messes with the scenario for me.

I think the Spatial Anomaly pops back into whatever realm it came from, and is able to move at FTL speeds relative to our realm and then pop back out whenever it wants to do it's thing.

Which causes massive damage to a Star System.

But until you can figure out what direction it's generally going or how to track it, it becomes a major issue since it seems to be a unknown spatial phenomena as of this moment.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The anomaly is the Kelvin Universe trying to seep into the Prime. Crossover baby!!!!

 

[NCC-73515]

The blue hair, the leather-looking jacket, the ear piercing.. It looks like someone from an alternative Japanese band from the early '00's...

His new body will look different

Spoiler

It would be interesting if Adira doesn't like the changes... that's what their reaction hinted at, that it's a little overwhelming to see the person you fell in love with change physically, knowing that's how they wanna be, but preferring their look they had when you fell in love. Could be great scenes coming up, let's hope they do it well...

 

[Lord Garth]

His new body will look different

Spoiler

It would be interesting if Adira doesn't like the changes... that's what their reaction hinted at, that it's a little overwhelming to see the person you fell in love with change physically, knowing that's how they wanna be, but preferring their look they had when you fell in love. Could be great scenes coming up, let's hope they do it well...

The new look is an improvement. It has more character.

 

[Roald]

The new look is an improvement. It has more character.

True! Totally forgot about that promo pic..! Like it!

 

[137th Gebirg]

I like the new look too. Definitely a step-up.

 

[cultcross]

I also like the new look, a much better style for the character.

Too many emotional shortcuts, IMO, like Michael's speech before they went to black alert. Didn't like it.

Yeah that speech was straight out of the Star Trek dialogue generator and got an eyeroll from me.

They go to the future for a fresh start

If ever there was evidence that the "era" is irrelevant to Star Trek storytelling it's Discovery's future jump. Or put another way:

Time progression in Trek has always been somewhat... token. It can be any period across two hundred years, but we're going to be running around in starships set up like old Earth naval vessels with a bridge laid out the same way and carrying a version of a phaser, tricorder and communicator. The ship will also fire phasers and torpedoes although we might tweak the names slightly. It's basically all the same stuff with some small window dressings changed. I'll be interested to see whether this new future of the future of the future is any different to that.

It wasn't.

 

[thribs]

Stanmets’ hologram needed an H on his forehead. To make it clearer he was a hologram

 

[Tim Thomason]

Stanmets’ hologram needed an H on his forehead. To make it clearer he was a hologram

He had a diode on his left temple.

 

[jackoverfull]

The new look is an improvement. It has more character.

agreed!

 

[Andyliini]

I liked this episode more than the first one. This one seemed to have more heart and character to it. I liked Saru coming back to Discovery and how he now acts like a mentor to Burnham again, while serving as his XO. The anomaly mystery has me intrigued, so hoping to see more next week.

Have they announced how many episodes there are on this season? Anyway, 8/10 from me for this episode.