Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 Review Thread *spoilers*

[Crazedwraith]

Rather than discussing it under spoiler tags in the news thread, I thought you might like a thread to talk about the new series in.

[bilateralrope]

Discovery season 2. In which we learn that the prominent gay couple from season 1 enjoy watching women commit ritual suicide. And since the prima donna was her entire life for that one performance, I have to question if she was ever in a position to give informed consent.

As for the plot, I'm willing to wait and see where it goes.

[Darth Lucifer]

Pike's permanent disability happens after "The Cage" in the TOS timeline, so if the show really wants to put him in a wheelchair it'd either be temporary or there'd be some retconning or whatever masssaging on the timeline. Which I'm personally ok with as long as the story is good.

Oh yeah, I forgot. The show has done a decent job aligning with Trek canon, so I could be wrong.

...since the prima donna was her entire life for that one performance, I have to question if she was ever in a position to give informed consent.

They touched on suicide in TNG, namely when Worf had a broken back. I think we got a speech about respecting other cultures or something, so I imagine it would be by choice.

[bilateralrope]

I can see the Federation letting a non-Federation culture raise girls and brainwash them into suicide performances. After all, the Federation is pretty strict on letting others do as they please in their territory.

What I find hard to believe is those performances being popular enough among Starfleet personnel that people openly talk about watching it. What I find worrying is that the Discovery writers chose the two openly gay characters to be the ones who enjoy these snuff shows.

[Darth Lucifer]

I think the point would have gotten across if they had said the singer would never again be able to hit that special note as opposed to outright killing themselves. Also, I'd think Dr. Culber as a physician would be opposed to such a thing. At least that's how I would have written that part.

[bilateralrope]

That would have been better.

One thing that took me a while to realize is that it was one of the ships doctors who promoted the snuff opera to his partner. That makes me worry about the standard of ethics training Starfleet doctors recieve.

It's the little details in Discovery that keep bothering me. Like Pike ordering them to transmit a standard greeting instead of reciting it himself. I wonder which captain was on the recording. A message recorded by Pike on a different ship, or a message from Lorke ?
Lucky there was nobody to recieve it.

[Lord Revan]

In terms of pike's injuries was it ever say clearly how long has it been since he got those injuries. Pike's unjuries are after all more serious then "is forced to use a wheelchair", the thing in the 2-parter is more like mobile ironlung then the wheelchair.

[Batman]

In 'The Menagerie Pt 1' Commodore Whatshisname of Starbase 11 says 'there's been subspace chatter about it for months' indicating that while it was a while ago, it was long after Discovery's timeframe. Indeed Kirk had not yet heard about Pike being injured.

[Lord Revan]

In 'The Menagerie Pt 1' Commodore Whatshisname of Starbase 11 says 'there's been subspace chatter about it for months' indicating that while it was a while ago, it was long after Discovery's timeframe. Indeed Kirk had not yet heard about Pike being injured.

Yeah that suggests that it was indeed a recent incident (relatively speaking) and not something that happened nearly a decade ago (which it would have to be to happen during DSC era).

[Darth Lucifer]

I just recently discovered that Commander Nhan looks exactly the same as the Barzan lady from TNG "The Price." Memory Alpha also lists her species as Barzan, though I can't find a canon source for this. They may have mentioned this in "After Trek," but I've never seen that show. Pretty cool!

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

I just recently discovered that Commander Nhan looks exactly the same as the Barzan lady from TNG "The Price." Memory Alpha also lists her species as Barzan, though I can't find a canon source for this. They may have mentioned this in "After Trek," but I've never seen that show. Pretty cool!

I guess it's an Easter Egg so it wasn't stated in the episode?

There's unfortunately no After Trek for Season 2, as they switched to Facebook Live for show commentary and I haven't watched it. If they really wanted to break the trope of redshirts they really should've let Commander Nhan do all the "I have this no problem" talking I also quite liked the way she showed up in the transporter room, standing sideways to the welcome party like in some alert mode.

[tezunegari]

There was a flub with shown on-screen information and spoken information:
In the scene where Stamets comments about the sturdiness of the Constitution class, the background console shows the stats of the Enterprise with a crew complement of 430.
Burnham states moments later that the Enterprise has a full complement going by lifesigns counting 230.

And the CGI for the turbolift scene was atrocious. The one shown in the window above the hallway where Pike goes "Don't covet your neigbours starship" as well.
It implies enormous hollow spaces inside the Discovery and the Turbolift system being closer to a roller coaster which is insane. (No wonder they had to scale the ships up if that's the case)

In Old Trek there were mistakes as well, but at least those were minimal (Nemesis with the Deck 26 error) or could be seen as a gag (ST5 with the turbolift deck numberung during the rocket boos scene).

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

This is more or less of what I thought . Though I was thinking in terms of anime giant robo scenes where the characters have to take some small transportation to their vehicles, like Voltron.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ_6LvJ97OQ[/youtube]

[bilateralrope]

This is more or less of what I thought . Though I was thinking in terms of anime giant robo scenes where the characters have to take some small transportation to their vehicles, like Voltron.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ_6LvJ97OQ[/youtube]

Weren't they in the shuttlebay at the start of that sequence ?

Meaning they didn't go out through the nearest part of the hull.



As for episode two, it's the first Discovery episode that feels like a Trek episode. A mystery to solve, a dilemma where they don't pick the easiest solution. And some possibly godlike beings.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Well that latest episode does give us an upper limit for Discovery-era warp cruising. Pike says it'd take them a hundred and fifty years to reach the beacon light on warp drive, a stated distance of just over fifty thousand light years, so averaging 300c or so, though that probably would include stops for refueling along the way if possible.

And then they have the fucking spore drive do it in one jump. Urgh. The early season one episodes said they were getting jumps up to about a hundred light years, not fifty thousand. I thought the supercharged jump drives from my BSG/SG fanfic were impressive but damn.

And it runs on mushrooms. I think this is another splendid example of Star Trek writers having no sense of scale. Especially since in the previous episode Pike says the seven red bursts are spread out over only thirty thousand light years.

Last weekend I was doing a public talk on the scientific reality of Star Trek (I'm a geek with an audience, sue me) and someone asked me specifically about the spore drive. I just turned and banged my head on a wall. Got a good laugh at least.

[Feil]

Is there any chance your talk was being video recorded?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Alas no. One of my earlier ones is, but that was a completely different subject (the life cycle of stars, to be precise).

[tezunegari]

The

Especially since in the previous episode Pike says the seven red bursts are spread out over only thirty thousand light years.

The red burst from "New Eden" is not part of the seven red bursts from "Brother". It's a new one.
The original seven bursts disappeared with only the Hiawatha Burst being traceable.

Well that latest episode does give us an upper limit for Discovery-era warp cruising. Pike says it'd take them a hundred and fifty years to reach the beacon light on warp drive, a stated distance of just over fifty thousand light years, so averaging 300c or so, though that probably would include stops for refueling along the way if possible.

51.000 ly in 150 years.

That'S 340 c or around Warp 7 with some change on the TOS warp scale.

Considering that the TOS Enterprise is rated for Warp 8 cruising speed, does that imply an engine refit? Or did they skimp on the Discovery Warp drive?
Sadly they never meantioned distance or travel time in "Brother" for Warp 5 to be viable.

So I'd assume the Red Burst they could lock on was close enough to them to not require the Spore drive.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

I think I missed some dialogue or treknobabble, how come Burnham could hold a piece of the rock sample, while the one on the Discovery weighs in tonnes?

[bilateralrope]

The

Especially since in the previous episode Pike says the seven red bursts are spread out over only thirty thousand light years.

The red burst from "New Eden" is not part of the seven red bursts from "Brother". It's a new one.
The original seven bursts disappeared with only the Hiawatha Burst being traceable.

How did you end up quoting me there ?

[tezunegari]

The

Especially since in the previous episode Pike says the seven red bursts are spread out over only thirty thousand light years.

The red burst from "New Eden" is not part of the seven red bursts from "Brother". It's a new one.
The original seven bursts disappeared with only the Hiawatha Burst being traceable.

How did you end up quoting me there ?

HIghlighted the sentence from Eternal's post but accidentally hit the quote button on your post instead.

[Darth Lucifer]

I have to say, I have really enjoyed season 2 so far. I liked season 1, but if the first two episodes are any indication, this season will be far superior.

I loved seeing an Earth-like away planet, it gave me vibes of classic Trek - something I feel the series has been missing so far. Frakes' direction really captured the mood of classic Trek.

I know some people miss the Stamets of old but I actually like how he has actually become a more relatable character, as opposed to the intolerable, pedantic asshole he was for most of last season. Just don't take it too far the other way is all I'm sayin'. Tilly has been over the top of couple of times, but there has never been a character in Trek like her...quirky is fine, I don't want to see her go into full-blown cheese mode.

I really loved Detmer's delivery when she said "I had my pilot's license since I was 12!" So gleeful. And Owosekun was pretty cool, plus she didn't die! They're even giving Airiam more lines, I want more of her, dammit! On a side note, I noticed she's being played by a different actress...maybe the combination of sitting in the makeup chair for hours just to be window dressing for all of Season One didn't sit well with the original player. A cynical part of me fears that they're developing the bridge crew more so that we will feel devastated if/when one of them bites it eventually, but in general I appreciate that they are giving everyone more characterization.

I also really love Captain Pike. I know he'll have to return to Enterprise at some point, but I really hope he sticks around as long as possible. I really enjoy him as a character, and I think the chemistry he has with Burnham is the best that she's gotten on the series. They've even given Pike a bit of Kirk-like swagger and charm... and frankly, none of the season 1 characters had an abundance of charm.

I'm glad that Jacob was actually a reasonable and realistic character. I kept thinking “please don't pull a gun on the landing party”, and was so relieved when he didn't do the obvious, stupid TV reaction. I'm tired of shows like The Walking Dead, where every stranger, without fail, turns out to be a hidden, evil psychopath. Another interesting thing, and I don't think this was coincidental, is that the man in village with issues of faith had the same name as the man in the book of Genesis who wrestled with God (Gen 32:24-28).

Season 1 was hit and miss for me, but I am really loving season 2 so far. If the writers keep the show heading in this direction, Discovery will become some truly awesome science fiction, worthy of being part of the Star Trek family.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

I kind of liked the Klingon Court drama. The Sarek family drama was a bit meh. And Section 31 is so over the top and interesting with all that advanced technology.

However I kind of felt it difficult to accept that Tilly, despite at least one example of her being admitted in the sickbay, was hosting a big blob of fungal spores this whole time. But, I guess its for the sake of some subplot considering that the story was initiated in a scene during last season.

Oh and we get to see more of Jett Reno and Number One makes her debut next week!

[bilateralrope]

An unknown thing is causing a crewmember to experience specific hallucinations that are having conversations with her. Do you:
a: Talk with it to see what it wants.
b: Go to sickbay to see what the doctors suggest.
c: Hook the crewmember up to the brainscanner and try to suck it out of her chest without giving any of the ships doctors a chance to prepare for it going wrong.

Are there any other Trek crews who would have thought that c was a good idea ?

[Lord Revan]

An unknown thing is causing a crewmember to experience specific hallucinations that are having conversations with her. Do you:
a: Talk with it to see what it wants.
b: Go to sickbay to see what the doctors suggest.
c: Hook the crewmember up to the brainscanner and try to suck it out of her chest without giving any of the ships doctors a chance to prepare for it going wrong.

Are there any other Trek crews who would have thought that c was a good idea ?

depending on the characters involved pretty much every single one of them.