Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x06 - "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail"

[Akiraprise]

9/10
I thought this was a good action episode. A few contrivances caught my attention though.

The ship (USS Skullgreymon I like it ) was massively overpowered until it wasn't. Enterprise's phasers did nothing and the ship was captured easily. It destroyed an entire planet in moments. It has a crew of 7K and they only send 2 people to start scavenging the Enterprise. Speaking of only 2 crew where is the Enterprise's crew? The Enterprise is wrapped in tentacle like things and suffered virtually no hull damage. Why didn't they blast a tentacle through the bridge's huge window? Skullgreymon's final destruction was then pretty easy. As another poster noted what Spock targeted with the torpedoes was not clear in either dialogue or VFX. Everything is always so dark. Yeah it's space and it should be dark but we the viewer need to see damnit.

Why was Pike not killed? You're telling me these scavengers have been marauding for centuries and never hurt other humans during that time? We're told they have attacked colonies but only alien colonies? The clearly have sensors and just crippled a Federation starship full of humans. They offed that red shirt with no qualms.

So they soured the milk with the energy extractor. Sounds familiar... But I didn't buy the scavengers just yanking the extraction tube without sending more crew to ascertain what the issue was.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Why was Pike not killed?

In that instant, he reminded them of somebody they once knew (friend/family resemblance, or perhaps something in his facial expression)

 

[cooleddie74]

The TARDIS goes where it needs to be.

Wobbly wobbly, Trekkie Wekkie stuff.

 

[Firebird]

The TARDIS goes where it needs to be.

It’s its own Room of Requirement.

 

[Tuskin38]

What is the ship class of the Farragut?

Bellerophon-class according to the Fanhome booklet.

 

[JohnCrichton1999]

It’s its own Room of Requirement.

I prefer the Room of Reasonable Comfort!

 

[Mr Awe]

The only part that reminded me of the Planet Killer was the Enterprise's phaser strafing run on the ship.

Well that and the fact that you had to destroy it from the inside using an exploding starship (Klingon D7 set off by the torpedos in this case).

 

[Sam_I_Am]

Didn’t Kirk say in The Menagerie that the first time he met Pike was when Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain?

 

[Tuskin38]

Didn’t Kirk say in The Menagerie that the first time he met Pike was when Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain?

Which we saw happened in Season 2 of SNW

 

[Turtletrekker]

Didn’t Kirk say in The Menagerie that the first time he met Pike was when Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain?

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[Maurice]

How was the Enterprise suddenly free of all the cables wrapped around it when it was time to get out? Did they snap?

I'm also tired of the ship feeling like there are ten people on it. Where's the crew?

 

[drt]

How did Spock even know there was Klingon ship in there? Did he spot it when they got line-of-sight? I just don't feel like that was set up properly.

They Che(c)kov's phaser'd it earlier in the episode, when examining scans of the scavenger ship.

 

[Kraig]

How was the Enterprise suddenly free of all the cables wrapped around it when it was time to get out? Did they snap?

I'm also tired of the ship feeling like there are ten people on it. Where's the crew?

I thought Pike and La'An injected baryon particles in one of them that made them retract. As Pike put it, "stir up a little acid reflux."

 

[HotRod]

I'm also tired of the ship feeling like there are ten people on it. Where's the crew?

The crew was ordered to gather in central areas of the ship due to the loss of power.

 

[Tuskin38]

So, why did this scavenger ship blast this planet and then beat feet immediately after nabbing the Enterprise?

They blew up the planet to get to that stuff they need to power their ship, then left to go to another planet for the same stuff. They explain that in the episode.

How did Spock even know there was Klingon ship in there?

Also explained in the episode. It was on the scans the Farragut took.

As another poster noted what Spock targeted with the torpedoes was not clear in either dialogue or VFX.

I saw the D7 fine on my first watch through, and that was on my phone screen

 

[Noname Given]

I agree about Ortegas. She is one my favorite characters, yet we are getting close to the end of season 3 and she still hasn't had even a single episode dedicated to her.

40% of S3 left. Not all that close to the end of the season left - plus, the first episode of this Season did and set up a lot for Ortegas and I'd be surprised if we don't see more by the season finale.

 

[Maurice]

They blew up the planet to get to that stuff they need to power their ship, then left to go to another planet for the same stuff. They explain that in the episode.

Their ship is at best a couple of miles across. It's like a speck of dust to the Sphere in Las Vegas. How much of this material can they even carry? Anyway, the energy to blow a hole like that in a planet is so great that the energy potential in a ship like the Enterprise is like a watch battery to a power plant. Admittedly, the Doomsday Machine suffered the same problem of scale.

Also explained in the episode. It was on the scans the Farragut took.

I took it that Scotty spotted a Klingon komponent on the scans, which I thought were on the exterior. The computer then displayed what kind of ship it was from, not the ship itself inside.

I saw the D7 fine on my first watch through, and that was on my phone screen

Well, I didn't. I saw it in an earlier shot but not chasing the torps.

 

[Firebird]

I'm also tired of the ship feeling like there are ten people on it. Where's the crew?

Maybe the pattern budget didn't have enough room left over for extras.

 

[Farscape One]

A variation of Kirk's "risk is our business" speech in the beginning. Used well, though.

I was dreading this was going to be some ripoff of "THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE" (that episode was flawless and should NEVER be touched), but I was happy to discover it was like a giant Pakled ship. Scavenging to 'make themselves go'.

I thought it was a pretty good transition from Kirk as the cocky officer to an acting captain who is not fully confident in himself. Also quite a different person right now, needing 'space to clear his head'. TOS Kirk wouldn't say that out loud to the crew. (He also clearly loves playing 3-D chess with Vulcans, which makes sense. What better way to learn to think multiple steps ahead than playing 3-D chess with a species known for thinking a dozen steps ahead at any given time.) Spock talking to him was a good scene... we can see the beginning of how they worked together here.

While I do like the Kirk situation here, I still think SNW should be about Pike's command, not Kirk getting his command skillset built up. I don't think the captain of a STAR TREK series has been sidelined as much as Pike has been. (Outside LOWER DECKS, anyway. But even there, the series is mainly geared to be about the junior officers, not the captain. And Freeman got more development and spotlight of her being in command than Pike has gotten, anyway.)

I love Pelia. She is just so much fun to watch. And she gets really serious stuff at the end, two episodes in a row. Carol Kane is just fantastic.

Never thought I'd see an Atari used in an episode of the franchise. It was insane, but the kid in me just loved it.

Una being awesome again, using her quick thinking to blow the airlock to give the ship that push to the side that was needed. (Also reminds me of "Cause And Effect" with Riker's suggestion that saved the day.)

7,000 people in 200 years... we've seen a similar thing in DS9's "CHILDREN OF TIME". 8,000 descendants at the time of the episode from a 48 person crew were the result of 200 years' time.

Nice twist at the end. I was thinking about the Equinox from VOY and STAR TREK: BEYOND with Krall. (Their suits reminded me of FOR ALL MANKIND.) Clearly, that original crew went through some hardships. What they were, who knows. I think that our imaginations can fill in those blanks better than what we see or hear on screen. And despite Pelia's claim that those people were the "best of us', there's no way to really be certain of that. Some of them certainly could be, but others may not be as driven by higher ideals. Pelia could also be seeing them through rose colored glasses, especially after surviving WWIII.

Considering that the scavenger ship had been operating outside Federation space for so long, I'm actually not surprised they might not have seen another human, which explains why the guy didn't kill Pike.

Pike was being a great mentor at the end. He is helping Kirk see an important lesson about leadership, something I miss seeing from Pike. (Reminds me of the multitude of great leadership scenes with Sisko.)


While there were a few flaws in this one, the episode was done well overall. I give it an 8.5... so here, it will round up to a 9.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

While I do like the Kirk situation here, I still think SNW should be about Pike's command, not Kirk getting his command skillset built up. I don't think the captain of a STAR TREK series has been sidelined as much as Pike has been. (Outside LOWER DECKS, anyway. But even there, the series is mainly geared to be about the junior officers, not the captain. And Freeman got more development and spotlight of her being in command than Pike has gotten, anyway.)

I don't know. DS9 was pretty balanced between the ensemble. There were quite a bit of episodes that barely had any appearances by Sisko.