Spoilers Strange New Worlds 1x02 - "Children of The Comet"

[UssGlenn]

For me you can draw a pretty clear distinction between an intervention that the local pre-warp population would never even know about (such as nudging a comet) and what Nikolai Rozhenko did in Homeward or Data did in Pen Pals. In both of those cases the locals may have had their cultural development influenced by the intervention, in particular becoming awar of alien life or the impact on their culture of having their stars and geography change by being moved to another planet.

In Pen Pals, Picard was still able to quietly intervene to help with the planet's geological problems.

Even the Pen Pals case might not be undetectable. It's possible that their geologists in the future could figure out that the dilithium had been shattered and it could only have been done by an artificial outside force.

The issue with redirecting natural phenomena is that if the planet is advanced enough to notice the change (but didn't see you,), then you have either performed miracle, which will influence their religion, or you have screwed up the data on their scientific measurements, which could set back their discovery of physics. And if it doesn't then they will realize there was an outside intelligence at work.

So basically it's only possible to redirect a comet without it being discovered if the planet hasn't started recording precision data on stellar phenomenon yet.

 

[brandnewfan]

I must say, I enjoyed the heck out of this episode.

I know serial storytelling is "in" right now, but episodic tv is where Star Trek achieves greatness. Strange New Worlds is only 2 episodes in, but its crew are far more likable than anyone on Discovery and the writing has far surpassed anything we've seen in 4 seasons of that show.

I haven't been this excited for new Star Trek in quite some time. I love it.

 

[StarMan]

I'm going to re-watch this next week. I'm all for being a curmudgeon but I do like *some* company (didn't dislike it, but wasn't nearly as wowed as most of you). I don't think I was in the mood to watch much of anything last night and kept stop / starting it. But you know, New Trek - Must Watch.

 

[Lord Garth]

Rated 6. It gets the mood of Trek very well - humour, crew interactions, touch of philosophy.

Unfortunately the story is quite predictable. We have seen multiple variations of this before. I am hoping with just 10 episodes per season the writers can think of fresher storylines. Because they are getting so many other things just right.

I'm sticking around for the characters and the visuals.

The plots? It's following hundreds of episodes of episodic Trek on a starship between TOS, TNG, VOY, and Early-ENT. So I'll go easy on that portion of it and just look at the angle they tackle it from.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Not really: it’s just that we are used to certain things and not to others.

Is this statement based on a research paper or anything or just your intuition?

You make it sound like Greek mathematicians just arbitrarily picked a random music scale kept playing them until people started enjoying them out of habit.

 

[Spider]

Being a Star Trek fan since the original, which I watched on NBC while in high school, I find it a little surprising that I have to complain about this show for having to much Star Trekieness to it. But unfortunately modern Star Trek spends way to much time being Star Trek instead of just telling us stories.

This episode about the comet was for the most part very good and an enjoyable episode with a nice scifi puzzle and a good solution. But there's just to much "I want to be a good Star Trek show" and not enough "I want to be a good TV scifi/drama show" for me.

I'll keep watching though. It's still the best Star Trek series in a very long time, and most certainly the best of CBS Trek.

 

[eschaton]

I'm sticking around for the characters and the visuals.

The plots? It's following hundreds of episodes of episodic Trek on a starship between TOS, TNG, VOY, and Early-ENT. So I'll go easy on that portion of it and just look at the angle they tackle it from.

I honestly think there are a finite number of plots, for a sci-fi series, which is considerably cut down when you also consider the limitations of the Trekverse as well.

It's generally going to be some variation on the following:

• Anomaly of the week
• Ship is in danger due to hostile aliens of the week
• Away mission gone awry putting some members of the main cast in danger
• Crew needs to rescue a planet/starbase/settlement
• Relatively low-stakes episode focusing on an individual character

There are a few more options out there, but I think this covers like 80% of the episodes of TOS and Berman Trek, with most of the exceptions from DS9.

 

[gvn2fly]

I honestly think there are a finite number of plots, for a sci-fi series, which is considerably cut down when you also consider the limitations of the Trekverse as well.

It's generally going to be some variation on the following:

• Anomaly of the week
• Ship is in danger due to hostile aliens of the week
• Away mission gone awry putting some members of the main cast in danger
• Crew needs to rescue a planet/starbase/settlement
• Relatively low-stakes episode focusing on an individual character.

There are a few more options out there, but I think this covers like 80% of the episodes of TOS and Berman Trek, with most of the exceptions from DS9.

Right - I mean even Voyager/Enterprise was having a hard time telling stories that hadn't been done before in Trek. I felt like this episode still had enough unique elements to feel really fresh.

 

[Mudd]

Star Trek can never escape the "I want to be good Star Trek" now - that's baked in. The reason being, it's a brand. Coke can't be "I just want to be a good soft drink." It has to taste like Coke.

This is the best attempt to split the difference between being "just good TV" and "giving the brand-loyal what they're paying for" that I think Trek has managed since the TOS cancellation, and I'm shocked that they're doing this well. I don't expect it will happen again.

I mean, they just delivered a science fiction episode, grounded in some actual (albeit very simplified) science. How often did that happen, even in the original series?

The test for me - one, anyway, is this: would I find this story interesting even if I knew nothing about Star Trek? Episode One - probably not so much. "Children of The Comet" - there's a good chance I would, yeah.

 

[cooleddie74]

Enjoy it while it lasts. Hopefully it'll last a good long while.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

No one makes it to command level without at least a 50% untimely death ratio in their family.

Yeah, I realized this morning that it's more like - who hasn't lost most of their family to some tragedy in Trek world. Right now in the primary trek verse the Kirk boys still have parents, but tragedy's coming. I'm thinking peripheral characters like Lt Kyle don't require the motivation of tragedy to answer the recruitment call.

 

[Mudd]

Hey, what kind of people decide to go off into careers that take them to the other side of the Universe with a high likelihood of getting killed?

People who don't got people, that's who.

 

[jackoverfull]

Is this statement based on a research paper or anything or just your intuition?

history: just look at the vast variety of musical systems that have been developed over the millennia and across the continents.

Now of course biology has an impact and provides a starting point: for example we can only hear within a certain frequency range (aliens will likely be different, though, as many animal species are!) and any musical system we develop will start from there.

It’s like saying that the western style of clothing is the only logical one…It really isn’t, it’s what we’re used to. But sure, it does start, as all styles, from the necessity of protecting yourself from the elements.

 

[Mudd]

You know, the Shepherd should be the last image we see under the end credits.

There was a real "Balok" vibe to him - and the interaction, given that it was entirely on the main viewer (as the truly non-human aliens on Trek often have been).

 

[Saumyajit]

Right - I mean even Voyager/Enterprise was having a hard time telling stories that hadn't been done before in Trek. I felt like this episode still had enough unique elements to feel really fresh.

What Voyager did well was introduce alien races with distinct motivations/philosophies to keep things interesting. Kazon, Viidian, Hirogen, 8472 etc. each had their mini plotline as the ship moved through the quadrant. And of course the Borg were there.

I think so far SNW is going the TOS and to a lesser extent TNG (they had the Klingon and of course the Borg storyline) way with alien/problem of the week. But it's early days, hopefully they will also introduce some parallel threads spanning across a season perhaps. Just a weekly problem can get repetitive also.

I hope they haven't taken the feedback to make it episodic to literally. Apart from TAS/TOS none of the shows were purely episodic. It was always a combination of episodic stories blended into a parallel multi episode theme.

 

[gvn2fly]

I hope they haven't taken the feedback to make it episodic to literally. Apart from TAS/TOS none of the shows were purely episodic. It was always a combination of episodic stories blended into a parallel multi episode theme.

I think TNG was almost entirely episodic with a just very few exceptions of course. Even Voyager had some exceptions here and there, but like 8472 only appeared in 2 more episodes after their introduction 2 parter so not really much of an arc. Even the borg storyline on TNG consisted of only 6 episodes over the course of over 170 episodes - 7 if you count "Family"

I feel like the writers can't win really. People begged for episodic stories for years, but I wouldn't be surprised if after 1-2 seasons of episodic plots people will start asking for more multi episode stories and there will be more posts like yours.

 

[eschaton]

What Voyager did well was introduce alien races with distinct motivations/philosophies to keep things interesting. Kazon, Viidian, Hirogen, 8472 etc. each had their mini plotline as the ship moved through the quadrant. And of course the Borg were there.

I think so far SNW is going the TOS and to a lesser extent TNG (they had the Klingon and of course the Borg storyline) way with alien/problem of the week. But it's early days, hopefully they will also introduce some parallel threads spanning across a season perhaps. Just a weekly problem can get repetitive also.

I hope they haven't taken the feedback to make it episodic to literally. Apart from TAS/TOS none of the shows were purely episodic. It was always a combination of episodic stories blended into a parallel multi episode theme.

The most important thing to do in a first season is introduce us to the characters. That's what I want them to focus on now. They can go more high-concept in season 2.

 

[eschaton]

I think TNG was almost entirely episodic with a just very few exceptions of course. Even Voyager had some exceptions here and there, but like 8472 only appeared in 2 more episodes after their introduction 2 parter so not really much of an arc. Even the borg storyline on TNG consisted of only 6 episodes over the course of over 170 episodes - 7 if you count "Family"

I feel like the writers can't win really. People begged for episodic stories for years, but I wouldn't be surprised if after 1-2 seasons of episodic plots people will start asking for more multi episode stories and there will be more posts like yours.

TNG had recurring characters, but they were also for the most part episodic. You didn't really need to remember what Q, Lore, Lwaxana, or Ro Laran had done the last time you saw them. The only exception really was Worf's character arc with the rivalry with the House of Duras. That was like some proto-DS9 element which somehow was ported onto the series.

VOY was entirely episodic other than the awful attempt they made at an arc in the second season with Cullah, Seska, Jonas, and the rest.

 

[Saumyajit]

I think TNG was almost entirely episodic with a just very few exceptions of course. Even Voyager had some exceptions here and there, but like 8472 only appeared in 2 more episodes after their introduction 2 parter so not really much of an arc. Even the borg storyline on TNG consisted of only 6 episodes over the course of over 170 episodes - 7 if you count "Family"

I feel like the writers can't win really. People begged for episodic stories for years, but I wouldn't be surprised if after 1-2 seasons of episodic plots people will start asking for more multi episode stories and there will be more posts like yours.

Yes, that's why I mentioned TNG along with TOS although the former had some running themes.

I think what people are looking for really is a mix. That way Discovery I think got it right from season 2 onwards. It had episodic elements. But yeah, many people demanded a purely episodic treatment, which I think largely came from Discovery season 1.

 

[Saumyajit]

TNG had recurring characters, but they were also for the most part episodic. You didn't really need to remember what Q, Lore, Lwaxana, or Ro Laran had done the last time you saw them. The only exception really was Worf's character arc with the rivalry with the House of Duras. That was like some proto-DS9 element which somehow was ported onto the series.

VOY was entirely episodic other than the awful attempt they made at an arc in the second season with Cullah, Seska, Jonas, and the rest.

I think the 8472 and Hirogen plotlines continued across multiple episodes even if we don't call them exactly serialized. Also in both TNG and VOY the Borg plotline was not purely episodic. Neither show were purely episodic in the way TOS was.