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Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x10 - "A Quality of Mercy"

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This isn't specific to this episode, but more the Balance of Terror and the whole 'never saw a Romulan until then' thing...

I really find it a bit odd that Romulans are presented as so combat-oriented, yet somehow they signed a TREATY with the Federation and 'somehow' their identity was never revealed. To see them presented this way and then reconcile that with 'willing to sign a treaty' one would theorize they had to suffer a significant amount of losses in order to sign that treaty. It really seems strange that they could suffer so many losses and never once was wreckage or a body able to be recovered.
 
This isn't specific to this episode, but more the Balance of Terror and the whole 'never saw a Romulan until then' thing...

I really find it a bit odd that Romulans are presented as so combat-oriented, yet somehow they signed a TREATY with the Federation and 'somehow' their identity was never revealed. To see them presented this way and then reconcile that with 'willing to sign a treaty' one would theorize they had to suffer a significant amount of losses in order to sign that treaty. It really seems strange that they could suffer so many losses and never once was wreckage or a body able to be recovered.

In TOS, the weapons described had no option for lower power settings back in the day. Even when the Romulan commander self-destructed at the end of "Balance of Terror" the ship was completely vaporized. So if the earlier war was fought with those weapons against primitive ships and defenses then it would make sense that there would be nothing left to recover. IMHO

It's only in later series do we see wreckage that bodies could be recovered from (better special effects and/or budget).
 
You don't think a Fleet Captain can recommend someone to take command of the ship he formerly commanded prior to being promoted to Fleet Captain; or that the Admiralty wouldn't immediately honor such a request?

Remember - Pike spoke to Sam Kirk about his brother James and had doubts about Jim Kirk going into the Romulan situation. Pike got to see first hand the type of Captain Jim Kirk is - and now very much likes what he sees, has confidence in Kirk, and would probably do all he could to make sure Kirk is in the Chair of the 1701 when this Romulan incident occurs. Hell, Pike may hear of it just prior to the accident, and will certainly know how events played out with Kirk in command when he's in his life-support chair on Starbase 11.


^^^
That could affect and change the timeline; and that's one thing Pike now has zero intention of doing as his future self stated that there's no variation where Spock survives. If Pike lives, Spock dies and Spock has great Galaxy saving things to do.

Pike has 100% accepted what his own fate will be.
Yes it seem like his fate has been seal. But, that's 6 or 7 seasons from now. Who knows what the writers would think of by then. I think they should have Pike resign his commission, then hand over command to James Kirk and retire on Talos 4. Or figure out what cause the accident in the first place. Beside it was a training mission, there shouldn't have been a accident in the first place, someone goof. If it was a defected engine? Then he can order everyone out and have the blast door shut, just before the event take place.. Which in turn, he will have to give up his command of the Enterprise.
 
They said in BoT that the treaty was signed over subspace radio.
I know that. I was referring to the Romulans being 'willing' to sign a treaty. That means their culture would have been acknowledging the strength of the Federation. The 'somehow' never revealed is from my belief the Romulans would have had to have suffered A LOT of destroyed ships in order to be willing to sign a treaty and how despite all of that there was never a recovered body.
 
Also, while admittedly a lot can happen in twenty years, but Burnham completely failed to do anything of consequence and got the whole Klingon War blamed on her, while Pike actually screwed the pooch on his mission and ended up making Admiral and having enough pull to consult with the Klingons on whether or not betraying his pact with their magic time-crystals might've backfired on him.
Dear Starfleet Command:
Aggressive war-oriented cultures don't respect peace-loving cultures. On the surface, it represents weakness to exploit, or destroy.
If you want respect, show that you can blow them to kingdom-come without breaking a sweat. Then offer them something mutually advantageous, such as not blowing them up, not because you're nice but because you just don't want to. At this time.
xoxoxoxo
Romulans & Klingons & Cardassians & Breen etc etc etc
 
There is what I assume was meant to be a singularity core diagram on the bridge of the BoP.
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A great end to the season, so a big fat 10.

I liked how the episode allowed Pike to experience a future that he wouldn't. Boy, it was such a dark timeline, as well. I liked his tack with the Romulans, which was a more human approach to the battle-weary Commander. His use of the Balance of Terror line, "In another life, we could have been friends," was the perfect nod to the classic episode.

Then it all went horribly wrong, it was so much fun seeing Pike team up with Kirk. I'm really looking forward to having Paul Wesley as a full-time cast member next season. :bolian:

Poor Una. What a stinger to be left with until next year. :scream:
 
The TMP uniforms were in use in 2273 and the Monster Maroons show up in 2278. There's not much wiggle room there so I'm guessing the Monster Maroons are still 19 years away unless the changed timeline sped up their introduction.
 
Burnham attempted to mutiny; she would have fired the first shot as a warning or even blown up the dead-body-ship; this show of strength would have shown the Federation to be a worthy adversary
 
There's just no way that the Romulans are ignorant of Fed's capabilities, strength, or even what their ships are like. The Fed doesn't know what the Romulans look like but I'm positive the Romulans have always known what the Fed and humans look like. Realistically Fed probably had tons of Romulan spies posing as Vulcans long before Balance of Terror. Spock obviously wasn't one of them but come on.
 
I don't know if it has been mentioned yet, but Mitchell and Ortegas swapped duties of helm and navigation. This placed Ortegas in the navigation position that Styles had in Balance of Terror, and she also had the same prejudiced view point as Styles did on Romulans and Vulcans based on physical appearance. I wonder how many family members Ortegas lost in the Earth-Romulan war.

Yeah, that's an untold story I wonder if we'll ever get. It'd be interesting to learn.
 
Dear Starfleet Command:
Aggressive war-oriented cultures don't respect peace-loving cultures. On the surface, it represents weakness to exploit, or destroy.
If you want respect, show that you can blow them to kingdom-come without breaking a sweat. Then offer them something mutually advantageous, such as not blowing them up, not because you're nice but because you just don't want to. At this time.
xoxoxoxo
Romulans & Klingons & Cardassians & Breen etc etc etc


So the “Vulcan Hello” …
 
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