#st:disc

[ultrawhalnar]

Thinking about discovery again. Like I absolutely adore all the characters and there are some wonderful moments in the show but they're buried in the most excruciating plot and infuriating setting I have ever fucking seen

[fiadorable]

It’s a shame that the actual Kiley 279 mission is probably classified into oblivion because Pike’s decision to say screw general order one is not unlike Janeway’s decision to destroy the caretaker’s array. I think reading Pike’s struggles with Discovery’s fate and the consequences of their actions might have been a comfort to her.

[photog1990-blog]

Klingon Culture in Discovery

I know a lot of people complained about the change in Klingon culture in Star Trek Discovery, but, this sort of aggressive xenophobia coupled with a reactionary, puritanical ideology, hyper-obsessed with genetic purity, actually makes sense in given the context of the augment virus that we saw in Star Trek Enterprise. A side effect of this virus is that it made Klingons appear more human, even adding human DNA to their genetic make up. Something that became hereditary. Who knows what kind of chaos this created in Klingon society since the time of Star Trek Enterprise? 

This religious re-awakening also makes a lot of sense, it provides meaning, and purpose for those who feel lost and directionless. Its not uncommon for socieites in times of extreme stress to dredge up idealized extreme versions past traditions and religious belief.

As far as their look goes, it could be a side effect of continued genetic tampering to “purify” Klingon DNA of all alien influence. Either way I like how it makes them truly alien again.

[dadrek]

Trying to stan Number One on this website is a nightmare

[douxreviews]

Star Trek: Discovery - ‘Brother’ Review

"Space: The Final Frontier. Above us, around us, within us. We have always looked to the stars to discover who we are."

By nature I love brevity: Star Trek: Discovery takes a long, clean breath of fresh air in this big, bold premiere that sheds the burdens of Season One and lets them roll down the hill behind.

Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005. And in the Fall of that year, as shows premiered, fans were faced with a sad reality: for the first time in 28 years, a new season of Star Trek was not among them. And for 12 years, this continued. And then we Discovered a new frontier. Breaking the silence of more than a decade, Star Trek: Discovery was a sign that Trek was not dead.

But of course, it was not without its flaws. Discovery Season One had issues with its tone and its dialogue. The crew, above and beyond their stilted, grandiose speech, rarely seemed like a family, or even a group of people who like each other. And the levels of anxiety and brooding were at dangerously high levels. We're talking Superman from Batman v. Superman levels of anxiety and brooding.

The fans pointed out these issues, though the good parts still remained (excepting the 'fans' who actively went out of their way to be openly hostile towards the series, its creators, and its viewers). And the team behind Discovery listened. 'Brother' benefits from a light and relaxed tone that feels like the lifting of a heavy curtain. The crew speaks in a generally human and natural manner, and they work together like a tight family. Brooding is nowhere to be seen, and the anxiety present is of a different sort than the cloud of deep worry that permeated Season One. Instead the viewer felt more of an empathetic concern about the characters and their lives.

The first and most immediate effect of 'Brother' is, in fact, to distance the show from its past mistakes. Associating these issues with the influence of Captain Lorca makes a lot of sense from a story perspective, even if the creators' insistence that all the darker elements were only a result of him doesn't quite sit right. From the outset, Captain Pike makes it clear that he is very different from Lorca. Everything about his manner and bearing suggests a completely different man from Jason Isaacs' power-hungry warmonger. But Pike is no Kirk, either, as one might anticipate. Anson Mount gives his Pike a humility and a grounded feel that Kirk never quite developed.

The other proverbial elephant on the starship is the presence of Spock. Though the adult version of our beloved half-Vulcan does not appear, his importance in the events of 'Brother' and the impact the mere allusion to the character has on the series is clear. We learn that he and Burnham's strained relationship is the result of her decisions, not his. It's clear she views him and his legacy as an oppressive force in her life, perhaps as a standard she could never live up to? There's a great shot that really sums this up, when young Spock makes his holo-dragon. The dragon moves toward Burnham, and roars at her, and Spock walks in through its mouth. I think that's how she sees Spock.

Sarek and Burnham's conversation about reverence also factors in. This show has decided to include a character that most fans undoubtedly have a lot of reverence for. But to make him a useful character, with an arc and a purpose, reverence is not enough. The massive weight of Spock's impact on Star Trek and the fans' adoration of him will be a problem that Discovery will have to deal with.

Moving to our regular cast, I loved how they were dealt with here. The other side of Lorca's effect on the Disco crew is that such a major and personal adversary has brought them together and made them rely on each other. All of the returning cast felt like a family around each other, and their interactions made the ship feel like a real workplace run by a real team. This is a major improvement from last season.

It looks like Burnham's journey this season will be thoroughly intertwined with Spock's. I look forward to seeing her relationship with him and how it develops, but I do hope they give her a role to play apart from and outside of the shadow of her foster brother. Likewise, Stamets seems overshadowed by the impact of someone else. Everything around him reminds him of his lost love Dr. Culber, and he's having a very hard time dealing with it. It seems like the end of this episode was enough to get him at least a little bit excited about science again, though it's unlikely that this is the end of his plotline about leaving the ship. With Wilson Cruz brought on as a full cast member for this season, it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Tilly and Saru don't seem to have much in the way of an arc yet, but I'm sure this will change. I expect most of Tilly's story this season will have something to do with her enrollment in the Command Training Program. Saru mentioned his sister Siranna, from the Short Trek 'The Brightest Star,' and the showrunners have stated that we may see other Kelpians this season, so expect to see a visit to Saru's home planet of Kaminar sometime in the future. Maybe siblings will continue to be a theme this season.

Overall, 'Brother' was a pretty epic way to kick off the new season. It's fun and engaging, with a lot of potential. I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Strange New Worlds:

This section will record the planets the Disco visits and the places they go. Not a whole lot of that in this particular episode.

New Life and New Civilizations:

Here I'll keep track of all the new species, ideas, and cultures the crew encounters. Again, nothing in the way of that here.

Pensees (Thoughts):

-Mia Kirshner (Amanda) looks a lot like Amy Adams. She also really resembles Amanda from TOS, so that's nice.

-Stamets has a botanist friend aboard the Enterprise.

-In keeping with the Trek tradition of altering the intro, we have some brand new graphics added to the opening theme.

-Regulation 19, Section C allows a higher-ranking officer to take command of a starship in one of three contingencies: 1. An imminent threat; 2. The lives of Federation citizens are in danger; 3. There is no more qualified officer available to deal with the situation.

-I love Doug Jones' Saru walk. It's just so much fun to watch.

-That's the first shot we've gotten of a turbo lift running through a starship in all of Trek, if memory serves. Pretty cool, too.

-Another Alice in Wonderland nod. Also, holo-candles.

-Sarek mentioned that he's reached out to Klingon High Chancellor L'Rell (Mary Chieffo), and she had no explanation for the red bursts either.

-The Captain goes on the away mission, in true Trek tradition.

-There was a bit of Spock's Jellyfish ship from Star Trek (2009) in the design of the pods they flew.

-How cool was the pod sequence? Also, it was admittedly rather satisfying to see Olson Connelly get his comeuppance when he failed to pull his chute crashed and died because of the dumb risk he took.

-One of the ads loaded at the wrong time when I watched this the first time. The long ad break split a shot in half.

-I liked Reno (Tig Notaro). The idea of using an engineering approach to medicine is interesting, although I wouldn't want to be one of the first patients it was tried on.

-The Red Angel is still very much an unknown. I partially expect it will have something to do with the Klingons, if not only because they seem from the trailers to have a big role to play.

-The asteroid material wouldn't beam up. That's intriguing. It may be the key to fixing the spore drive, too, as it looks from the trailer that we'll be jumping again this season.

-'Not every cage is a prison, nor every loss eternal.' That's very interesting, and it has a lot of significance for Pike.

-It makes sense that the crew of the Enterprise would have issues with sitting out the war while on their five-year mission.

-The Disco's new Doctor is named Dr. Pollard.

-One of the names in the credits was 'Matt Decker.'

-A lot of references to faith/religion and related subjects in this episode. I don't think it's necessarily significant, but I thought it was worth noting.

-Alex Kurtzman directed this episode. I thought he did a great job; maybe he should stick to that instead of the whole coming up with ideas thing. I'm still baffled by the seriously weird and unsettling bits about Klingon anatomy from Season One.

Quotes:

Amanda: "I bless you, Michael... all my life."

Pike: "Do not covet thy neighbor's starship, Commander."

Pike: "Why didn't we think of that, Connelly? Think of all the syllables that gave their lives."

Pike: "Sometimes it's wise to keep your expectations low, Commander. That way we're never disappointed." Advice to the audience, perhaps?

Tilly: "I put her in a Utility closet, and I put you in there. I'm drunk on power."

Stamets: "Tilly, you are... incandescent. You're going to become a magnificent Captain because you do everything out of love. But I need you to repeat after me. I will say..." Tilly: "I will say..." Stamets: "Fewer things." Tilly: "Fewer thi- okay."

Sarek: "Spock has great reverence for his mother, but reverence tends to-" Burnham: "Fill up the room." It's the shot of Burnham's fairly empty quarters just as she interrupts that sells this one.

Pike: "Detmer - fly... good."

Pike: "I was expecting a red thing. Where's my damn red thing?"

Pike: "Spock asked the most amazing questions. It's completely logical, yet somehow able to make everyone see that logic was the beginning of the picture and not the end."

Burnham: "There are so many things I wish I'd said to you; so many things I want to say now. I'm too late, aren't I? I can only pray I don't lose you again... brother."

A strong, solid premiere. 5 out of 6 damn red things.

CoramDeo is interested in things.

[trek-tracks]

Q: What’s the new Voyager spinoff called?

A:

Happy Threshold Day

[vialacteas]

I tend to assess people in the here and now.

[aubreysmaturin]

MIRRORVERSE?!!!!!!

[r3ally-bad-url]

Things learned from desperate hours: saru has a crush on number one

[startswithabang]

Star Trek: Discovery's 'Choose Your Pain' Finally Feels Like Star Trek; Season 1 Episode 5

“Meanwhile, other officers rise to the challenge. Stamets uses himself as a guinea pig to test his human-based spore drive idea. Culber makes his position known and advocates strongly for doing the right thing, telling the Commander the futility of attempting to de-hibernate the tardigrade. And Saru, initially so unsure of himself that he had the computer monitor his decisions to stack them up against the computer's 20/20 hindsight, recognizes the value that others bring, and realizes the greatest thing of all from being in a position of power: the ability to learn from your experience to do better as time goes on. For the first time, we've had an episode of Discovery where the entire crew can be proud of themselves.”

Star Trek has always been a way for us to look at the best and worst aspects of humanity, often through our confrontations with alien races. Different aspects of our fears, our personalities, and our sense of ethics play out on the stage of futuristic science fiction. Our frailties are exposed, and the crew is challenged to rise to the occasion, and to demonstrate the best of humanity, often in the worst situations. For the first time in five chances, Star Trek: Discovery at last succeeds in the latest episode, ‘Choose Your Pain.’ The tardigrade responsible for the spore drive starts to degrade, but the crew refuses to let it die, despite it putting the Captain’s life and even their own lives at risk. The Captain is captured by the Klingons, but acts in the best interest of his captured cellmate, Lieutenant Ash Tyler (from the Shenzou!), putting his own life at greater risk. Saru, the first officer, confronts his leadership shortcomings, and is pleased to be humbled and learn a lesson. And perhaps most impressively, Burnham follows orders, even when she knows she’s right and her superiors are wrong.

It’s not a massive payoff, but it’s a very big step in the right direction, and it gives me hope for the next installment of Star Trek: Discovery. Come get the review, and the science, of the latest episode today!

[trekxfiles]

I feel bad but I’m glad it was people we didn’t know who died, not stamets or saru or someone.

[fiadorable]

Ah, fuck it. I said I wasn’t going to watch Discovery because of some personal Dumb Reasons but every time I try to watch just a clip or two for SNW references I end up watching the whole damn episode so I guess I’m going to watch Discovery and we all know what’s going to happen.

[absedarian]

Finally got around to episode 3 of ST:Disc and ... let’s just say I was prepared to be disappointed after that awesome pilot but I still sort of liked it?

I love Michael Burnham still as much as I did in the two pilot episodes. 

The captain? Eh. Another male who makes questionable choices. been there, seen that, don’t really care. Not much of a fan but that was to be expected after I absolutely loved Captain Georgiou. Also, none of these types have ever seen Alien on re-runs apparently ...

The Chief of Security has potential (I do love a woman who can wield a gun as well as sarcasm.)

Saru ... is a good character, I think. I might grow to like him. Loved the way the hairs at the back of his head literally stood up when Michael stayed on board. 

The chief engineer is snarky enough that I might grow to enjoy him but so far ... meh. Has potential though.

But my God do I wish they had killed off that red-headed roommate, Tilly or whatever her name is, because she was annoying the hell out of me and was getting on my last nerve five minutes in - and it really didn’t get any better.  

[douxreviews]

Star Trek: Short Treks - ‘Calypso’ Review

Zora: "Craft? On your world, if we were lovers, would you tell me your name? Your true name?" Craft: "If we were lovers on my world, you would give me my true name." Zora: "Oh. Well, then, I already did."

By nature I love brevity: A thought-provoking, engrossing story that has a lot going for it. It also raises some very intriguing questions that may have serious repercussions for the entire Star Trek franchise.

'Calypso' opens mysteriously, with countless unanswered questions. Craft (Aldis Hodge) is floating in a propulsionless shuttlecraft, adrift and alone, with nothing but Betty Boop to watch for a month. He's tractored in by the U.S.S. Discovery, at which point he awakes in the ship's sick bay. As Craft wanders around the Disco, it's clear there isn't anyone around, yet the lights and other systems are clearly being controlled by someone. That someone reveals herself with a voice; she calls herself Zora (Annabelle Wallis), and she's an Artificial Intelligence.

As Craft and Zora talk, details come out about their pasts. Zora and the Disco have been adrift for a thousand years; Craft has been away from his family and his planet for ten. Craft left because he was fighting a war against his enemies the 'V'draysh,' who he says are "In love with old things." The thing is, both Craft and Zora are also in love with old things.

Craft's mind remains on his wife and child on his homeworld. Even when he becomes distracted during the episode and he forgets, his priority always remains with them. And Zora, longing to make any sort of human connection, watches wild romance movies of the past in the hopes of feeling something. It's not only Zora that needs a human connection, though. Craft, after ten years of life away from his family, has forgotten what it's like to be human.

What Craft and Zora give each other is precisely what they both need. Zora has never been anything but alone, and Craft has been alone for too long. Unlike the previous 'Runaway,' however, things aren't perfect or wrapped in a tidy bow. What Zora really longs for, Craft can't provide; Zora's real hope is to find love, no doubt fueled by the exaggerated romance of movies like Funny Face. Craft is still tied to his family, and he can't stay to give Zora the permanent connection she desires.

Zora is a parallel for Calypso of 'The Odyssey,' and Craft is Odysseus. In the myth, Calypso is doomed to perpetually seek her soul mate. Every once in a while, the man of her dreams will arrive on her island, and she will attempt to convince him to stay. But in every case, for one reason or another, the person she longs to be with has to go, and she cannot leave with him. Her curse is to make connections, to fall in love, and to have those connections severed right away. They say that it's better to have loved and lost, than never loved at all, but what if that was your life? What if you were doomed to always love and to always lose?

But there's one important difference here. It's a clever sci-fi twist. Zora is a computer, and there's no reason she can't make the connection last forever for her. In the final shot, as Craft's shuttle goes to warp, we see Zora's holographic representation of herself dancing with a holographic representation of Craft. For a computer, all that is real is its memory, and as long as Zora can remember Craft, he is with her. Craft leaves a lasting impression on Zora more than Odysseus ever did for Calypso. And Zora's impression on Craft is the same way. When Odysseus returned to Penelope, he probably forgot all about all the things he had done on his trip. At the very least, they didn't matter to him anymore. But Zora showed Craft how to be human. He will not forget that.

And there's one last element of this Short Trek, one you might not have noticed. This is a fan theory that was actually confirmed by the writer of 'Calypso.' Craft's enemies are the V'draysh, who are in love with old things. On instagram, Michael Chabon confirmed to a fan that 'V'draysh' is a syncope of 'Federation.' This raises huge questions about Star Trek canon. For one thing, 1000 years past the final mission of the U.S.S. Discovery, whatever that mission may be, is way past anything Star Trek has done before. Even if the Discovery were to be abandoned in that nebula at the end of DIS S2, that puts this story in at least the 33rd Century. Daniels from Enterprise is from the 31st Century. The final scene of VOY: "Living Witness" is 'many years' after 3074, but there is no indication of how many years.

All in all, this was a moving and poignant short film, a literary adaptation with a sci-fi twist. I love it..

Strange New Worlds:

We hear about, but do not visit, Alcor IV.

New Life and New Civilizations:

We don't know much about the V'draysh, but they seem to be a new variation on an old civilization. Also, in the culture of the humans on Alcor IV, you receive your name from someone who loves you.

Pensees:

-Was I the only one waiting for an 'I'm afraid I can't do that, Craft' moment from Zora?

-I liked the moment when Craft tries to put on a shirt in sickbay and it doesn't fit. That was funny.

-Betty Boop's Snow White probably qualifies as torture when it's played on a loop for a month straight.

-So far, both Short Treks have focused on two people meeting and having a positive effect on the courses of each others' lives. We'll see if that trend continues into 'The Brightest Star.'

5 out of 6 Taco Tuesdays

CoramDeo is in love with old things and happy with it.

[starfieldcanvas]

does anyone know who this bridge crewperson is played by? for a second I thought it was Lupita Nyong’o but of course it’s not. pls halp

[ur-cute-so-i]

I have a theory

Discovery spoilers underneath cut

Time Travel. They are gonna go so fast they break the laws of time. Stop this war at all costs in any way possible? Time travel to the future and stop it before it begins. 

It fixes the really weird narrative choice of killing both T’kumva and Phillipa. It fits in with the rumors of time travel that circulated about when the show was first announced, and it could be fun!

Perhaps they get stuck a bit too far in the past, maybe if they fix one thing itll ruin another. They discuss the morals of time travel and breaking starfleets rules. It might work!

And then section 31 is either started or lorca and the time travel join up with section 31. or he always was section 31. I don’t know. just section 31

This might be waaaay of base but I like it and it fits with what they’ve got going so far.