Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x02 - "Anomaly"

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Dot robots look barely large enough to carry a handheld tricorder much less a sophisticated sensor package.

It's not the size of your sophisticated sensor package, but what you scan it with...

TMP - a G-rated movie in its original theatrical cut - had Ilia killed by V'Ger and replaced by a lookalike probe and later Decker when he merged with the probe. I mean, a G-rated Trek had 2 fatalities even if Kirk's official log entry listed them as "missing."

TMP ended in the most climatic space sex scene ever and it still got only a G rating! That's the power of Roddenberry's Vision.

 

[cooleddie74]

That doesn't work in the local bars, no matter how much I show off my handheld scanner.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yep, sleeve braids are something even SNW is sticking with because it leads into TOS and later TMP.

 

[Mudd]

Stripes on the sleeves were always the best.

Stripes make more sense that Trek's other variations.

 

[cooleddie74]

The pips looked best as the larger silver squares on the ENT uniforms.

 

[Garak234]

I personally thought that was an incredibly mediocre episode. Nothing actively awful, just...there.

I'll start with what I liked: That the frame of reference for the episode was away from Michael, and placed firmly on Book and his trauma. It was appropriate given his entire homeworld was unceremoniously fridged last week. It would have been nice if he at least referenced in passing not just the death of his nephew, but his entire species (I think - it's one of those weirdly unpopulated Trek planets) but this is a small issue with the centering on grief. Book got a coherent character arc from start to finish, and I can't ask for much more in an episode of Trek.

The downside was...basically everything else? The entire first half of the episode was an example of why you should show, not tell, with almost all of the run time given over to expository dialogue. I know this is a very old trope in Trek (TOS episodes had dialogue so expository you could follow the action just by hearing the bridge narration) but it didn't make for effective drama - at least for me. The scene at Starfleet HQ in particular felt like sitting through a powerpoint presentation, with the writer explaining what was happening to me via interchangeable cast surrogates. The other side of this episode was some of the character beats, but (IMHO) everything is just a bit too loving and supportive - as if everyone is just so afraid not to be the perfect listener. This is part of why the interaction between Stamets and Book stands out so well - Stamets may be trying to do the right thing, but he's not always succeeding, and he's working through his own shit as well.

Regardless, this would have been a much, much better episode if it was told almost entirely from the frame of reference of Book and Stamets. Every time the story lost this focus, my interest waned.

Wasn't everyone complaining about the lack of dialogue compared to DS9, the speed of the show,Burnham worship and centeredness the previous episode? Why is everyone wanting the previous errors of the show back? In my opinion this episode if the trends of slower pace,No Burnham worship, ECT if build upon might go along way towards fixing the shows problems (the other ST series once they became more grounded got better in a similar manner). This episode was closer to DS9(early season 6) then it ever has been. It wasn't perfect but it is a positive development for the show overall in terms from it's footing and texture.(worldbuilding wise not as bad as I expected(was expecting Burnham Galaxy saving, and shock/cry porn for another Galaxy ending threat(that in this particular season would suck all the world building in) science will give discovery time to explain in future episodes)

 

[Vger23]

The revamp and rescue of this show is going to be one of Star Trek's great stories. All Trek shows except TOS have had a tough first two years. Discovery had a disasterous first year, a solid second year, but the third and now especially the fourth have been what the show should have been all along. While the melodrama is just so agonizing to watch sometimes (who actually likes that shit?), it really felt like Star Trek again.

Interesting, I view it precisely the opposite. I thought S1 was bold and extremely interesting. S2 was fun, but was a little less interesting and was uneven at times due to the creative shifts behind the scenes. S3 and 4 have been fun, but not nearly as uniquely entertaining to me.

I liked that it didn’t “feel like Star Trek.” I prefer a franchise that moves in different directions and tries different stuff. I’ve got 750 hours of stuff that “feels like Star Trek.” That’s plenty. I preferred DSC trying a completely different tone and take on the universe.

But a lot of people agree with you…so it’s certainly a valid take.

 

[SJGardner]

I'll scrap the entire huge rant about the wide array of negative emotions reading through this whole thread has caused in me... it reminded me of the exact reasons I've come to find discussing Discovery completely unsatisfying ever since the pandemic started... it's as if positive discussion of this series doesn't even exist anymore, topics are always exclusively raised by people wanting to criticize something and anyone who actually likes the series is forced to stay on the defensive all the time. I just don't have the emotional strength for it right now with my own issues regarding my gender identity making it hard enough as it is.

So I'll just say that the whole idea of mixing up the trans allegory of choosing and customizing what you want your body to look like with the story of a canonically trans character who's at the same time also talking about his actual transitioning in the past... it was just so meta and folding in on itself in Ogre-like onion layers I couldn't help but chuckle, I loved it. The concept just feels so hopeful, as unrealistic as it seems from a 21st century viewpoint.

And that being said, yes, I would be ecstatic if this kind of medical technology existed. I've said it on this very forum twice: I would do unspeakable things for getting a customized synth body that matches my gender identity or some programmable-matter-powered remolding of my body into such a form. But. Big but. I refuse to even consider sacrificing the representation of 21st century trans performers in this series just because the extent to which our current medical technology allows us to transition simply doesn't match the imagined possibilities of 23rd-24th or 32nd century advancements.

By all means, if we were thinking "realistically", trans people in Star Trek's future could and should have access to medical procedures that could make them indistinguishable from cis people of their gender, up to and including fertility. But this would inevitably mean cis performers playing trans characters. Should we really sacrifice all the progress we made on achieving the – still meager – levels of LGBTQ representation we have in visual media today simply because having actual trans actors portray canonically trans characters in speculative fiction would ruin the viewer's "immersion" akin to a bad matte background and styrofoam rocks revealing that the planet Spock beamed down to is actually a soundstage? Simply because imaginary android bodies, bio-nanotech or magic fantasy shape-shifting potions could achieve far more than IRL medical technology?

And yes, I've said it before, others have said it before as well, don't forget that there is not one single unified trans narrative. Not everyone wants to transition in the same way or to the same extent, and there are many who wouldn't want to medically transition at all. But even then, restricting trans performers to playing characters who merely didn't have access to 32nd century "magic-complete-sex-change" tech, because the imagined end results of those would presuppose a performer outwardly indistinguishable from a cis person of that gender... how exactly would that be different from the actual transphobic diatribes leveled today against trans people not fitting societal expectations of femininity or masculinity? Portraying a utopian future for trans people through an explicitly transphobic BTS practice, now that would be true progress.

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

Was there no Ready Room episode this week?

They only seem to be doing them with premiers and finales.

Which seems odd considering they just built a whole net set for the show.

I had come to the same conclusion last week as well, but now I’m thinking they must’ve had a delay releasing it because of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. at the end of last week.

As of today, both StarTrek.com and Paramount+ have the new Ready Room covering S04E02 Anomaly posted.

 

[Scionz]

Interesting, I view it precisely the opposite. I thought S1 was bold and extremely interesting. S2 was fun, but was a little less interesting and was uneven at times due to the creative shifts behind the scenes. S3 and 4 have been fun, but not nearly as uniquely entertaining to me.

I liked that it didn’t “feel like Star Trek.” I prefer a franchise that moves in different directions and tries different stuff. I’ve got 750 hours of stuff that “feels like Star Trek.” That’s plenty. I preferred DSC trying a completely different tone and take on the universe.

But a lot of people agree with you…so it’s certainly a valid take.

So here's the thing. I think in a different world, I would agree with you. Like 15+ years ago during the height of "Enterprise sucks and Battlestar Galactica is sexy", I wrote a "fan pitch" for a entire TOS reboot (with a lot of inspiration from BSG) that Discovery S1 and S2, in many ways was similar to. The Klingons were the big villain, new designs for everything, recast the original crew, keep Pike around, throw in a few TNG-era characters in this new continuity. It wasn't very good but it was a departure from Berman Trek was we knew it. I posted it here (on my old account) and people liked it for what it was.

I think there is TREMENDOUS value in doing things different.

That said, Discovery is not the show to be that for two reasons. First, it's the only live action show on the ship - the flagship so to speak and the first new show of the "third era" of Star Trek, which means it sets the baseline like TNG did before it for "what Star Trek is". That's been the most frustrating part of Discovery because it's creative upheavals, it's fucking with 23rd century canon created a very unstable baseline that the show has been constantly trying to repair. Moving to the 32nd century and many changes to the show resolves much of that. Secondly, and related, the flagship Star Trek show should be an entryway to all things Star Trek, not the show that did things different. DS9 (my favorite Trek) was allowed to flourish, in part, because TNG and Voyager were the "baseline Trek" shows.

Discovery going truly off the beaten path would have worked under one of the two following conditions (1) it was declared to be a clear reboot in a new universe and not a continuation of a specific canon or (2) It was the 2nd live action show on a ship, not the flagship show, while the franchise flagship was basically TNG++ in the 25th century or something.

The way Discovery is now makes me want to stick with the 32nd century like we stuck with the 24th. In fact, I'm less interested in a potential post-Picard 25th century show than I am a post-Discovery 32nd (or 33rd) century show. We wanted Trek to move forward to the future... well it moved forward a lot more than we expected. But the consequence to this is that it's made, for me at least, S1 unwatchable and S2 only somewhat watcable, in a way that simply isn't the case for other Trek shows.

 

[Scionz]

Don't embed images from Wikis, they don't work.

fixed

 

[fireproof78]

Interesting, I view it precisely the opposite. I thought S1 was bold and extremely interesting. S2 was fun, but was a little less interesting and was uneven at times due to the creative shifts behind the scenes. S3 and 4 have been fun, but not nearly as uniquely entertaining to me.

I liked that it didn’t “feel like Star Trek.” I prefer a franchise that moves in different directions and tries different stuff. I’ve got 750 hours of stuff that “feels like Star Trek.” That’s plenty. I preferred DSC trying a completely different tone and take on the universe.

But a lot of people agree with you…so it’s certainly a valid take.

I tend to agree. Discovery S1 is by and large my favorite because it felt more new. The outer space felt wild and wooly and challenging, while the characters struggled greatly in finding their own center. Burnham had a great fascinating arc that I find valuable to this day. Season 4 is shaping up to be similar, but Season 1 is still my favorite. I would have preferred they stick with that style than the shift to the 32nd century. Little about the 32nd century is appealing.

 

[Scionz]

Here's the problem with the Tricombadge design: you can get this close with the prop and a cellphone and still have to look carefully to see the Starfleet logo and the rank.

Hopefully they change it in a future season. Because it's a bad design.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, it's the worst thing about the new uniform design.

 

[eschaton]

Interesting, I view it precisely the opposite. I thought S1 was bold and extremely interesting. S2 was fun, but was a little less interesting and was uneven at times due to the creative shifts behind the scenes. S3 and 4 have been fun, but not nearly as uniquely entertaining to me.

I liked that it didn’t “feel like Star Trek.” I prefer a franchise that moves in different directions and tries different stuff. I’ve got 750 hours of stuff that “feels like Star Trek.” That’s plenty. I preferred DSC trying a completely different tone and take on the universe.

But a lot of people agree with you…so it’s certainly a valid take.

I've never been a hater of the show, but I tend to rate every episode of Discovery maybe 1-2 points lower than the consensus.

Regardless, my two cents are even though my overall enjoyment of the series hasn't changed much, it's been "smoothed out" in a way that has eliminated many of the negatives, but a lot of the positives as well. It's like in Season 1 there were a lot of things I enjoyed, some I respected due to their ambition, and some choices I absolutely hated (particularly closing out of seasons, which Discovery has had big issues with). Now when I don't enjoy an episode...it just doesn't do it for me. But in the end, I'd rather feel a mixture of enjoyment and frustration than general indifference.

 

[Lord Garth]

Season 1 is my favorite. Maybe not necessarily the best, but my favorite. It'll never be like that again.
Season 2 is a creeper heat. I didn't know what to make of it at first, but I liked it more, the further it went along.
Season 3... I wanted to like it more than I did. 10 episodes of set-up, three episodes of rush. It should've been longer.
Season 4 is looking like it'll probably be the best, but not necessarily my favorite. It's the reverse of Season 1.

But I definitely have a tier system for Disco now. I put Seasons 1 & 4 above Seasons 2 & 3.

 

[Go-Captain]

Most of Trek hasn't really been interested in the science fiction part of the premise. But it isn't until large time jumps (Enterprise or Discovery seasons 3+) that it really becomes noticeable. Makes me wonder what ENT or DIS S3+ could have been with a showrunner/show creator who did care. ENT could be a cool mix of NASA/Apollo 13/Star Trek: First Contact ship tech and developments really showing the first iffy steps out into the wider galaxy. DIS could show some amazing developments in technology alleviating a lot of day to day concerns and allowing greater focus on characters and interactions, but they are still stuck in a starship-exploring-anomalies paradigm.

The annoying thing about ENT is the writers fully intended to have only warp drive as a hold over from other Treks: no transporters, replicators, phasers, etc. By the 2150s Earth has had warp for almost 100 years, and space flight for almost 200, so designs would be fairly mature. But imagine if the real speed breakthrough is deflector technology and Earth only just figured it out/got it reverse engineered. Before that they could have used massive physical bow shields.

I just wish DIS' first season had been based around the Sheliak War mentioned in TNG: "Starship Mine". Also the Burnham story could have been about her working her way up from fresh Ensign to Captain. Imagine if each season had been the story of how she works through each rank. We sort of got it, but more like disaster magic going from no-rank instantly back to Lt. commander or what ever, then jumping to Captain.

 

[Ometiklan]

The annoying thing about ENT is the writers fully intended to have only warp drive as a hold over from other Treks: no transporters, replicators, phasers, etc.

I hadn't heard that particular bit before, but I would have loved it. I know Braga's original idea was that they wouldn't even get into space until the finale of season 1, but the suits nixed it and we got 3 years of same old Trek stuff. As fireproof78 said above, danger is the element that is most interesting in Season 1 of DIS and in a few of the more interesting episodes of ENT, and I think with the lack of all these advanced techs everything would have felt more properly dangerous.

And conversely, I think that the 32nd century should feel a lot less dangerous; with advanced technology akin to magic and with the long shared history of the Federation (2160-3190) it would almost be nice to just have the challenges be who to next integrate back in the Federation or what rebuilding priorities you should pursue rather than another shoot-em-up with space pirates or another galaxy-threatening anomaly. Maybe a kind of Trek West Wing?

Also the Burnham story could have been about her working her way up from fresh Ensign to Captain. Imagine if each season had been the story of how she works through each rank.

Now this is a great idea for a show: with time jumps between, and possibly within a season, you could cover a single character's career (or just the ensign to captain portion) over the course of a show - with related updates to background info like politics, tech development, etc. You could see other officers' career advancements and occasional reunions, etc. That would be a cool show! And something different.

 

[Lord Garth]

I really appreciate The Burn. If everything hadn't been knocked down a peg (or 10), it would've made the third and fourth seasons of DSC a lot less interesting. Discovery would've been decommissioned on the spot, the crew would have no use, end of series. Unless you want to see scientists and historians studying them.

But, that having been said, a West Wing type show with the new President they introduced could be interesting. But not as the main Star Trek show. As a spin-off in Star Trek's multi-show rotation, it might be interesting to see.

EDITED TO ADD: But if it were based on today's politics, I'd have to give it a hard pass. Joe Manchin frustrates me enough as it is. Last thing I want to do is turn on a Star Trek show and think to myself, "Oh! This is the Joe Manchin character!" Just as an example. Insert any other politician of your choice you might not like and it would essentially be the same effect.

If they were to do it, I'd like to see them create what a real future political environment would be like. Not just one lifted directly from Today with all the names changed. There's being a reflection of the times, and there's just being a little bit too on the nose. It's a fine line. There were moments of TUC that take me right out of the film when they were referencing Current Events, especially now that we're 30 years removed from it.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I really appreciate The Burn. If everything hadn't been knocked down a peg (or 10), it would've made the third and fourth seasons of DSC a lot less interesting. Discovery would've been decommissioned on the spot, the crew would have no use, end of series. Unless you want to see scientists and historians studying them.

But, that having been said, a West Wing type show with the new President they introduced could be interesting. But not as the main Star Trek show. As a spin-off in Star Trek's multi-show rotation, it might be interesting to see.

EDITED TO ADD: But if it were based on today's politics, I'd have to give it a hard pass. Joe Manchin frustrates me enough as it is. Last thing I want to do is turn on a Star Trek show and think to myself, "Oh! This is the Joe Manchin character!" Just as an example. Insert any other politician of your choice you might not like and it would essentially be the same effect.

If they were to do it, I'd like to see them create what a real future political environment would be like. Not just one lifted directly from Today with all the names changed.

I'm glad you enjoy "The Burn".

I'm not particularly fond of it, but I'll deal with it / put up with it because I have to.

Even from a Head Canon perspective, I can work around it and I already have a solution to solve it moving foreward for my personal 26th century Head Canon universe that I want to focus on.