Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x02 - "Anomaly"

[Deks]

This is a franchise where a ship named Enterprise is all to often the only vessel within range of a significant emergency and the rest of Starfleet is either 500 light-years away or being overhauled in a garage. I'm not shocked when convenient tech is overlooked to make things harder.

Space is huge... so the Enterprise being the only ship in the area actually makes sense... although I agree it was overused and entirely convenient in some situations.
Disco on the other hand IGNORES well established technology and what could have followed from it for the sake of drama - its taken it to a whole new level.

 

[fireproof78]

This is a franchise where a ship named Enterprise is all to often the only vessel within range of a significant emergency and the rest of Starfleet is either 500 light-years away or being overhauled in a garage. I'm not shocked when convenient tech is overlooked to make things harder.

Nope. DS9 even had a moment where an airlock failed to open and they had to scramble to fix the door due to the shuttle's life support failing, forgetting about the transporter. Some things just are Star Trek.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yep. This is a franchise over 50 years old. It's a miracle the writers have kept this vast universe even THIS consistent.

 

[jackoverfull]

Space is huge... so the Enterprise being the only ship in the area actually makes sense

in the Sol system?!

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Nah. The characters will always be at the forefront of any "problem". Probes are only good for one thing, getting destroyed.

How dare you down play the vital importance of a modified class II probe

 

[Deks]

well, given how many times a probe is lost or destroyed in TNG they might have decided to get rid of them entirely!

Rare instances of probes being destroyed... far more instances of them actually working as intended and providing early warning for the ship/crew (even if they were destroyed as a result... they did the job quite well if you ask me).

we don’t know if there are size or programming limits, though. We literally don’t know at this point in the series.

But we DO know.
A very long tether was created instantly... and programmable matter is able to create maglev hovering ports [a shaft] through which a turbolift carriage can travel (and those ports were formed AHEAD of the carriage]).
Seems pretty fast and capable to me with very few if any limits.
Besides, we're talking about connecting multiple probes with programmable matter... essentially the programmable matter would act as a linkage to each probe and interconnect them all together.

I’d rather avoid countering something I feel is absurd citing something that was even more absurd.

Not really. It makes sense ships would have this kind of capability given molecular manufacturing technology and replicators for example (both of which 23rd century UFP has).

Plus, Disco and Enterprise were both science/exploration ships... so it makes sense they would have a large number of probes and could retrofit large number of them into mini ships to fight Control.

That kinda showcased some semblance of 'proper speed' in terms of construction/modification one would expect from an organisation as advanced as UFP in the 23rd century (especially with a better budget than before).

32nd century thoguh? Eh... nothing works as it should... forget everything... just do DRAMA.

 

[mr.peany]

Was there a reason given why both Stamets and Book couldn’t both use the holographic link?

 

[Yistaan]

Nah. They're doing what Trek writers have always done. Focusing on people rather than tech or the pseudo science.

I like Discovery, but even I will admit that any forum on the show has massive criticism on whether they can even focus on characters properly. Burnham's arc has been all over the place. Book's breakdown isn't really consistent with the fact he already accepted the loss of his people to the Emerald Chain last season and didn't care about them then

 

[The Habs Fan]

Oh, I don’t know about that. Disco had the Klingons in season 1, Section 31 in season 2, the Orions in season 3 and now this... whatever it is for s4. And don’t forget the Pakleds in LDS!

I meant brand new: ie. created new for the show. TNG had the Borg, DS9 had the Dominion, Voyager had Species 8472 and the Kazon (yuck), Enterprise had the Suliban and the Xindi.

So far, Discovery, Picard, and Lower Decks have just re-used alien species as big bads.

 

[Deks]

Was there a reason given why both Stamets and Book couldn’t both use the holographic link?

Yes... 'reasons'.
There, you have your answer (Discovery logic).

 

[fireproof78]

I like Discovery, but even I will admit that any forum on the show has massive criticism on whether they can even focus on characters properly. Burnham's arc has been all over the place. Book's breakdown isn't really consistent with the fact he already accepted the loss of his people to the Emerald Chain last season and didn't care about them then

Acceptance isn't a one time thing.

 

[Deks]

in the Sol system?!

Well technically SOL system IS huge... even at 74 000 km/s of impulse speed, it takes a long time to traverse it or reach a destination within it (if you want to be nitpicky)... and SF limits the use of Warp travel to OUTSIDE of solar system limits... usually (for safety reasons).

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Was there a reason given why both Stamets and Book couldn’t both use the holographic link?

Same reason you can't beam out of every pickle.

 

[eschaton]

IMHO, the feels in this episode - other than the great interactions between Book and Stamets - were a bit too one note. Basically, character A expresses vulnerability, and character B is supportive. This is fine in small doses, but I prefer a more dynamic emotional range.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

It was also hilarious that Tilly couldn't connect their own actions with the anomaly's change in direction given that was the only new variable.

Maybe she doesn't deserve that Lieutenants promotion then. If she can't figure that out and needs th audience to do that.

While Voyager's crew figured that out pretty fast.

What if a failure is extremely painful?

Even more reason for people to not want to try.

Also... Why is Discovery using a centralized Artificial Gravity Generator instead of Gravity Plating?

Starships used Gravity Plating for the very reason shown in this episode... IE you only get local failures instead of ship wide...

Funny, they were using Gravity Plating in the 24th century and had no issues.

 

[Finn]

It was also hilarious that Tilly couldn't connect their own actions with the anomaly's change in direction given that was the only new variable.

That occurred to me. However, they know absolutely nothing about it, so they couldn't really come to the conclusion that they caused an anomaly 5 light year wide to change direction.... just yet.

 

[Deks]

Maybe she doesn't deserve that Lieutenants promotion then. If she can't figure that out and needs th audience to do that.

While Voyager's crew figured that out pretty fast.

That just goes to show the brains and talent are in the Trek's past (evidently)... not the future then. Courtesy of Disco writers.
Heck even Disco crew behaved smarter in the 23rd century. Maybe time travelling 930 years into the future made them and everyone else in the future... dumber (closer, but not quite at the level of Pakleds it seems).

Even more reason for people to not want to try.

Again, why would the process result in pain? The synth body can also likely be programmed to NOT experience pain at all. Heck, as a precaution, make the synth body numb to feeling pain... then slowly ramp up the sensations to see if the counsciousness is experiecing any or not. If they do, work on the problem and solve it. Fine tune the body effectively and diagnose the problem as they experience it.
Heck that's how the 24th century did things... heck, even in real life that IS how we frequently solve problems (because we track where they originate from - more or less).

Funny, they were using Gravity Plating in the 24th century and had no issues.

Yes (and I know it may seem nuts for me to defend Disco here), but it seems the anomaly affected the WHOLE ship... the thing IS in fact humongous and moved unpredictably... so even a small 'wave' would easily encompass Discovery as a whole ship (not sections of it).

Usually in the 24th century, the gravity problems were isolated to a deck or few... but they hadn't affected each and every deck (the whole ship) simultaneously.
Gravity failed on certain decks yes, but only because it was disabled on those decks.
Doesn't mean Disco isn't using the same system (albeit it would be insane if SF never improved it further to make it even more robust and insulated against problems)... it would impley the whole ship was affected... does it not?

 

[Deks]

That occurred to me. However, they know absolutely nothing about it, so they couldn't really come to the conclusion that they caused an anomaly 5 light year wide to change direction.... just yet.

And yet from their own scans, they were the only new physical variable that was next to the anomaly.
I know they aren't supposed to make assumptions... which is actually good science, but its a correlation at the very least... its odd they would completely ignore it or not see it (a good scientist would take note of that and suggest it as a possibility at least)... especially when in the past SF crews were able to pretty quickly discren the fact that they might be the cause of larger changes or the problem itself (even if they weren't... they at least proposed the possibility).

 

[jackoverfull]

destroyed... far more instances of them actually working as intended and providing early warning for the ship/crew (even if they were destroyed as a result... they did the job quite well if you ask me).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humour

Not really. It makes sense ships would have this kind of capability given molecular manufacturing technology and replicators for example (both of which 23rd century UFP has).

well, until that point everyone accepted that the enterprise and Starfleet ships in general had a limited supply of shuttles...

Was there a reason given why both Stamets and Book couldn’t both use the holographic link?

wondered the same. Steamets was seen blinking a few times, though,I imagine that would be a problem for a pilot.

Well technically SOL system IS huge... even at 74 000 km/s of impulse speed, it takes a long time to traverse it or reach a destination within it (if you want to be nitpicky)... and SF limits the use of Warp travel to OUTSIDE of solar system limits... usually (for safety reasons).

come on, we’re talking about ships with a warp drive!

 

[Nerys Myk]

I agree that as Trek progressed, more dumbing down occurred... but even VOY and TNG retained a level of consistency with technology they had.
Was it perfect? Hardly.
But, come on, its easy to find this info in this day and age.. and write a convincing story to work with the advanced setting.
My word, you have Trek fans that can write better Trek stories than Disco writers.

I'm kinda sick of writers ignoring advanced technology (which is part of Trek) for the sake of focusing entirely on drama and 'feelings'.
There needs to be a decent balance... Disco seems to have ignored that.

Hate to break it to you, but Star Trek isn't about science and technology. It's about people and ideas. It's been so since TOS. There's been no "dumbing down". Drama, especially human drama will take precedence over one tech the tech line in one episode filmed last year, last decade or last century. The balance will always be weighted towards drama and "feelings" and always has been

Most Star Trek fans would write something so steeped in technobabble, pseudoscience, what they think is continuity and lacking in heart as to be incomprehensible,