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Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x08 - "The Elysian Kingdom"

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A life that has weeks/days/hours left to it if he cannot find a cure, which he is failing at, and he knows it.

That is a painful call, but not a difficult one.
Yep. From the narration, M'Benga indicates that she has, maybe, hours outside of the transporter buffer.
 
Something has taken over the people on the ship. M'Benga's daughter is dying, and now she's disappeared from her life-support system.

Those are the problems he has to solve.
 
M'Benga's accent is about as big an issue for me as M'Benga's shoe size.
Yeah.

There are a lot of Trek actors who use different accents for their roles, undoubtedly at the behest of the show runners. Jason Isaacs comes immediately to mind. His slightly southern American accent was pretty convincing.

The worst: Shazad Latif's nasally American English and, sorry to say, Karl Urban. Karl was great as Dr. McCoy, but I could hear his natural accent seeping through a lot in the first movie. Maybe it's me.
 
I mean, technically M'Benga was an African crew member in TOS. Booker Bradshaw just happened to be an American actor from the middle of America so he didn't sound like he had an African accent. If anything this is a closer interpretation of the TOS producers' original character design.
 
I mean, technically M'Benga was an African crew member in TOS. Booker Bradshaw just happened to be an American actor from the middle of America so he didn't sound like he had an African accent. If anything this is a closer interpretation of the TOS producers' original character design.

If you consider Richmond, Virginia part of Middle America, sure. In a couple of Bradshaw's lines as M'Benga, I thought I heard him use non-rhotic R's in a few of his words as perhaps an attempt to subtly imply that M'Benga had learned English from a Brit, but I could've just imagined it.
 
We need to find out that Runa is actually La'an's dog, not just Christina Chong's. :hugegrin:
What happened to Runa at the end? Did she return to the nothingness from which Debra conjured her?

I guess she’s playing with the fantasy women from Deja Q.
 
What happened to Runa at the end? Did she return to the nothingness from which Debra conjured her?
I don't think you'll see this advertised on Paramount channels much but according to Christina Chong's social media pages Runa's full name (as in the Chong's real dog who played the part in the show) is Runa Ewok. As in those ewoks from that other star franchise. Admittedly Runa was probably named before Chong realized she was going to get a job on Trek... :lol:
 
I'm enjoying the show overall, but I hope we get to see a more commanding side of Captain Pike as well. Thus far he has been mostly chummy (or downright silly, like this week). That style of command can generate really intense loyalty. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, Saru, etc. had playful moments on the bridge, but with all of them you could also see when the time for fun and games was over. They got serious, and the crew had to hop to it or get barked at. We haven't seen that much with Pike, although perhaps I'm forgetting some stuff from Disco S2. Obviously there are different command styles, but I would think all captains would need to display this mode from time to time.

There was one point in Discovery where he barks at Burnham in S02E01: Brother. He gets tired of dissenting voices without solutions, or at least needless or obvious statements from people who like the sound of their own voice. He definitely has that 'tool' in his locker, though it rarely needs to come out. It's probably deemed a failure of his preferred methods when it does come out. He is a leader who leads by a mixture of competence and example and, when your subordinates respect you, you can go a long time before having to use other leadership styles or methods/tools. It's when you're challenged at the wrong time or in the wrong way, and lines are crosses, that you sometimes have to use other methods. At least in my experience.

For me, I don't need to see him 'barking' at people, but I would like to see more of him giving strong leadership, which can be shown in a number of different ways without barking. He did it in SNW - S01E01: Strange New Worlds, where he displayed that whilst he had the biggest stick, it was his diplomacy, credibility, and reasoning that won the day. He also did it in S01E04: Memento Mori, in which he used his experience and intuition against the Gorn. I think these mesh well with his performances in Discovery and the Short Treks - S02E03: Ask Not (especially at the end, which I thought showed his ability to act as a mentor). He is statesman-like at times, and I love how that comes across. Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy the times he is 'buddy-buddy' with the crew, he lives with them pretty much, so that can happen. I also like it when he 'flips the switch' and gets to business. That's where he's so strong, in my view.
 
Delightfully old school Trek.

Emotional gut punch + a kind of sweet closure at the end.

Just...wonderful.

10
 
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