Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x02 - "Ad Astra Per Aspera"

[TimeIsAPredator]

I will admit that the one part of the episode that I had to suspend disbelief was that the Starfleet Uniform Code Of Justice was a book and not on a Padd. That took it from a 10 to a 9

The book was probably just better for the lawyer from a theatrical point of view.

 

[ashleytinger]

Love the attention to detail the set designers brought to the two golden murals in the courtroom (which was a brilliant re-use of the Federation council set from Discovery). Anyone know if this references some original, perhaps historical, piece of art? Looks to me like a bunch of Trek aliens in togas, styled like ancient Romans.

The Murals were based on ones hanging in the US Supreme Court and were hand-crafted per the set designer. They have him on Ready Room talking about it.

 

[Amaris]

The book was probably just better for the lawyer from a theatrical point of view.

Yep. I saw it as a representation of the voluminous weight of the law. Sometimes it works as a silent emotional appeal.

 

[Nerys Myk]

6

We've seen this kind of procedural episode before. Important for character/plot development, but not very engaging.

I wish the camera wouldn't move so much, or at least have people move a bit more when they're on screen. It looks weird.

I was riveted myself. High marks for the director, actors and writers. Wasn’t sure where it was going other than Una getting off. Thought maybe the lawyer had outed Una for a chance to make stand on Augment Rights. But that would require her knowing Pike would come to her. So that wouldn’t track. That Una outed herself came to me slightly before it came up in the episode.
10+

 

[UssGlenn]

My question is how come Una is getting prosecuted for being genetically modified but nobody says anything about La'an being an augment, and not just an augment but apparently a direct descendent of Khan

Not to mention La'an is explicitly noted in this episode to be a direct descendant of Khan, to have his genes yet...somehow she's not an augment? I guess because it's a bit diluted after centuries

"A bit"? By my math she shares about 2% of her DNA with Khan. She'd be maybe 5% if her 4x great grandma was also augmented.

And I still think that genetic modifications should be examined on a case by case basis. For example, modifying your genes to cure a disease is very different than modifying your genes to get superstrength.

Bashir's episode clearly states that medically necessary gene therapy is allowed.

 

[Amaris]

I was riveted myself. High marks for the director, actors and writers. Wasn’t sure where it was going other than Una getting off. Thought maybe the lawyer had outed Una for a chance to make stand on Augment Rights. But that would require her knowing Pike would come to her. So that wouldn’t track. That Una outed herself came to me slightly before it came up in the episode.
10+

Same. For me, when she said something to the effect the person who did it would have to have access to command files, I thought it had to be Una. The question was then resolving why she would do it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Right but these were treated as aberrations and not as the expected status quo.

Have you met The Federation’s Diplomatic Corps? I think marking yes in the box next to “Asshole” is required.

 

[NCC-73515]

It's likely something that developed so that Starfleet captains could have the power to grant asylum to people and groups they encounter while out in space without having to travel all the way back to the Federation to have an asylum tribunal.

Like Saru, Hugh, Timicin, Quinn...

What the fuck did I just watch? This has got to be the single best episode of Star Trek in … what, twenty or so years. Certainly the best of the show yet. Everything in this was pitch perfect – the dialog, the acting (Yetide Badaki especially was brilliant), the sets, the costumes … heck, even the music was on point – I don‘t think I would change one thing about it. It‘s good to know that this show is gifted with a set of writers that gets that Trek can deliver some of its best, most engaging and most meaningful stories even without any kind of action scene or special effect spectacle. Everything in this story rings true for me and I like how very obviously it‘s an allegory for the treatment of trans people in the US right now, right down to mentioning how anti-trans legislation leads to more open hatred and violence towards them in the general public. Scary just how topical all of this unfortunately is.

10 / 10
More of this, please!

I'd watch a whole show like this one, no need for Asterix potions or lengthy battles... give us Star Trek JAG

Neither do Courts in Germany ... people need to remember that Starfleet/The Federation is not the present time USA!

We do have lay judges (Schöffen)

I don't see any new land, it looks like the base of the building was built into the existing rock.

Around the lighthouse, near the Nike missile museum and the youth hostel?
(It's a great place, but access to the bridge to get to the lighthouse is not always open, like during a government shutdown -.-)

 

[Nerys Myk]

That must've been some real hard core land filling to get all that new rock and land.

San Francisco is well acquainted with building on landfill.

 

[Mudd]

Why the fuck did DS9 do an episode codifying this bullshit into Federation-wide law, anyway? It makes no sense; it made no sense then.

Of course, the people who wrote the U.S. Constitution kowtowed to slave holders (some of the authors were them), so it's not without real-world precedent.

 

[shivkala]

No reason Batel couldn't be both a starship captain and a qualified attorney.

As for why Batel was also the arresting officer, probably just dramatic lcense.

Edit: I would TOTALLY be up for a prequel episode with April in command.

(I wonder if they would rebuild the DSC version of the bridge...I liked it better anyway!)

April is one of the best parts of SNW. I liked him in the first episode. I would welcome such a series. A prequel to the prequel, as it were.


She was ordered, which officers can be, and had security personnel to back it up.

If you want a justification then Batel could have been a former security officer who moved in to command. Starfleet rarely employs attorneys all the time.

My problem wasn't with her being the arresting officer. The beginning of "A Quality of Mercy" set her up as being in the area, so it made perfect sense to have her arrest Una. My issue is with her serving as the prosecution, especially when it seemed she was just cover for Vulcan guy (I should learn his name) who seemed to be quietly orchestrating the prosecution, especially as the episode went on. A line that she started in the JAG office or specialized in Federation law would have made it a little better.

We successfully lobbied for this series based on Discovery Season 2, so now we have to work on getting the Robert April show. I'd settle for an episode, but I'd rather a full series, given the brief look into his career.

Also, given this show, with April and Pike preceding Kirk, I hope this show sets up why he is worthy to succeed both of them. I don't mean I don't believe that he was worthy, TOS makes it clear he certainly was, but I want SNW to show why Starfleet believes he is the best choice. I'm not sure "A Quality of Mercy" sets that up well, since Pike doesn't have any reason to believe that it would be Kirk to succeed him. I hope that showed him that Kirk is a worthy officer and causes Pike to take him under his wing, fighting for him to be the next guy in the chair, someone worthy to follow both him and April.

 

[eschaton]

Why the fuck did DS9 do an episode codifying this bullshit into Federation-wide law, anyway? It makes no sense; it made no sense then.

Because they thought Bashir was too boring and his character needed "spicing up."

The downside of character-based writing taken to the furthest degree is it can wreck worldbuilding.

 

[Aeolusdallas]

At the beginning her actions actually hurt the case so, yeah.

Her actions never hurt the case everything she did was part of that masterful plan she had.

 

[Greg Cox]

The argument made seems to be 'she was a victim who was forced to be augmented against her will by her parents and then suffered massive persecution because of it, hence why she needed asylum'.

She wasn't portraying herself as a victim who was Augmented against her will. She was simply arguing that she had been persecuted for being Augmented.

At no point did Una's (proudly Illyrian) lawyer suggest that being Augmented was a bad thing, or that Una's parents were to be blamed for her situation. Una needed asylum from persecution because of the prejudice and discrimination faced by Augmented folks within the Federation, period.

(Laan is a different case because any Augmentations in her DNA she inherited the "natural" way. She wasn't tinkered with in utero or infancy or whenever. She's not an Augment, just distantly descended from an Augment.)

 

[TerryTrek]

This was a good episode, as I previously mentioned a few days back. 7/10 for me. Not a classic, but at least on par with some court episodes of Trek's past.

Robert Meyer Burnett and others who got the early screeners seemed to like this one best of them all. It aimed to have some kind of philosophical and intellectual discourse, using allegory. It deserves some points for actually aiming for that.

Measure of a Man; All-Women edition. The actress from American Gods was quite effective in the role. The applause at the end was a bit much, but I'll allow it.. considering the ideal target audience of this show are those new to the franchise. Some hand-holding with the plot is fine. I liked the performances in this one.

How would I have improved this episode? It just needed a bit more of a punch. The best TV court procedurals (and I love SVU) have very memorable, shocking or thought-provoking endings that stick with the audience.

I think if we saw what Illyrians truly look like naturally and it looked like this (for example);

A non-humanoid alien that would not be accepted by humanoid societies, including Starfleet... It would really stress how necessary Una's genetic modification was when trying to join a humanoid organization, while also shedding light on Starfleet's preconceptions and biases about intelligent, sentient life.

 

[Rahul]

A very good, but not perfect episode.
Acting & writing was great, I like how April & Patel fell "on the other side" while still keep integrity. I love the solution of getting off on a technicality.

What hurt the episode was the case itself - Trek isn't really consistent or logical about genetic engineering, it's a much weaker case than "Data's rights". The issue should have been about "dismissal due to lying on application"/not being eligible, so only about her Starfleet career. Introducing all of minority persecution in muddled the message by making it too black & white. Also the entire premise is IMO too similar to Julian Bashir.

Anyway, SNW manages to greatly capture all types of different Trek style stories, this time the classic tribunal, and manages to make good, modern entertaining episodes out of it, with great character work and little wrong with it.

 

[Greg Cox]

The book was probably just better for the lawyer from a theatrical point of view.

Exactly. The actual text is surely available in digital format as well, but a hefty hardcover tome (with a ribbon) carries more symbolic weight when delivering an oral presentation.

Heck, even today, I don't think courtrooms swear people in on Kindles.

 

[Rahul]

Why the fuck did DS9 do an episode codifying this bullshit into Federation-wide law, anyway? It makes no sense; it made no sense then.

Of course, the people who wrote the U.S. Constitution kowtowed to slave holders (some of the authors were them), so it's not without real-world precedent.

I just wish Trek was more specific on the difference between "genetic modification" and "genetic augmentation".

As in, make it very clear that treating genetic diseases and so on is fine. But creating super humans is not. Especially considering TOS, where every meta human goes mad, it makes sense. It's also a nice dunk on superhero movies.

As is presented, it's too muddled and breaks immersion. Like any time on TNG when they were debating the prime directive - which is meant to be "absolutely anti-colonialism and protection from exploitation, also from others" - and somehow mangled it into "don't interfere in god's/destiny's perfect plan".

 

[fireproof78]

A line that she started in the JAG office or specialized in Federation law would have made it a little better.

Again, this is perfectly in line with past Trek so as far as "better" I see this being flavor text.

 

[Gilora]

Wow. 10.