Podcasts about kelpiens

Set Phasers: A Highly illogical Star Trek Discovery Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 2, 2021 24:47

The second-last episode of Star Trek Discovery Season 3 "There is a Tide" plays a little like Die Hard in space, but it also adds some serious depth to our villain Osyraa. There is a fantastic negotiation scene between her and Admiral Vance. So let's dig in and talk about it. -- Get my space opera book Jewel of The Stars for just 99 cents at books2read.com/jewel ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings The author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd This is episode 49 of the podcast Today we’re talking about Star Trek Discovery There Is A Tide. And Happy New Year. By now, the whole world has switched over to 2021. So far it’s been a great year. No major tragedies. Of course, much of the world is still suffering the effects of that pandemic that turned last year upside down. I’m really lucky here in Tasmania. We don’t have any cases at the moment. The description on memory alpha reads After capturing the USS Discovery, Osyraa seeks a meeting with Admiral Vance while Burnham and the crew must overcome unimaginable odds as they attempt to regain command of their ship. This episode was written by Kenneth Lin It was directed by Jonathan Frakes And it first aired on the 31st of December 2020. Make it so. After I upload each episode of Nerd Heaven, I go and check out what other youTubers and podcasters are saying about the episode. It’s interesting to compare notes and see where we agree and disagree. I never watch before I finish my own review because I want to keep my opinions my own - as un-influenced by others as I can. But I noticed the thumbnail of one last night said (“Die Hard in Space”) And that’s not a bad way to describe this week’s episode. It’s an action movie with Michael Burnham trying to rescue the hostage crew of Discovery from terrorists who’ve taken over the ship. Last week, we learned the cause of the burn was basically a shockwave sent from a Kelpien, genetically modified from living on a radiation-soaked planet, having a tantrum. The general consensus from people was “Is that it?” I didn’t really comment too much about it, other than my relief that Michael Burnham wasn’t the cause (although I also saw a thumbnail with a depressing theory that she is indirectly responsible because she freed the Kelpiens from the Ba’ul, but let’s just leave that one aside) No, I wanted to wait until this week, to learn more, before I said too much about my thoughts on it. Except we never re-visited the planet in the verubin nebula this entire episode. The whole thing was centred on Discovery and Starfleet headquarters. I wasn’t expecting that. So we’ll talk more about the burn next week. This week, in addition to giving us a pretty cool action thriller, also does some very interesting things with Osyraa’s character, which I’m looking forward to talking about. But let’s start at the beginning. Osyraa is playing a dirty trick. She has her own ship, the Veridian, firing on Discovery, to make it look as though the two ships are locked in combat, and that the Discovery crew are still in control of their own ship. Vance is hesitant to Discovery in through the shields immediately. I guess to lower the shields would be to potentially allow the Veridian in as well. We actually get a decent amount of Vance this episode. He’s doing more than just giving Discovery their mission. And that was great. The bridge crew are being held in the mess hall. That seems to be standard procedure when you take over a Starfleet ship. It’s always the mess hall. Remember Zareh, from episode 2 of this season? He was the thug that broke into the pub and terrorised the local township. The bartender threw him out into the ice, to survive if he could. Well, turns out he worked for the Emerald Chain, and he survived. He’s here now, Osyraa’s second in command for this mission. Poor Tilly isn’t happy to see him again. This episode makes a couple of references to Tilly’s ineptitude which lead to the ship’s capture. A lot of it comes from Zareh, who was already trying to belittle her back at the beginning of the season. To be honest, this is fair. Don’t get me wrong. Tilly performed admirably for an ensign put into the big chair during a very difficult situation. But I’m sure the chain took over quick and easier than they would have if there had been an experienced captain in charge. No shame against Tilly for that. For the first time, We actually see some point to this morphing thing that Book’s ship does. They’re travelling through a transwarp conduit, and we finally get an understanding of why they are considered so dangerous. They’re full of debris from other ships. Book’s vessel is constantly morphing into different shapes to avoid hitting all this stuff. Okay. That actually makes sense. Nice to finally get answers to two outstanding mysteries in this scene. Strangely, there’s a big ship in the way. Book says “There’s no morphing our way around that.” and then the ship morphs its way around that. Vance is going to have to let Discovery in before their shields fail. So he orders a window just large enough for that ship. But orders security on alert. Something is weird with all of this. And then Book’s ship arrives. But Michael can’t get through to federation HQ for some reason and is unable to warn them. So Discovery is let in. Michael decides the only hope now is to board Discovery. So book’s ship morphs again into a long thin sharp kind of shape. At first, I thought they were forming into a breaching pod. Something that could pierce the hull. That makes sense. But then I realise, as usual, Discovery’s shuttle bay doors are open and they just have the forcefield in place. So….forming into a sharp thin shape allows the ship to get through the forcefield? I find that harder to buy. And in fact, these forcefields are generally designed to hold in oxygen, but allow shuttles to pass through, so why would they need to do anything special to go through anyway? Osyraa mentions something about them getting in while Discovery’s shields re down, which does make sense. Shields should prevent anything from getting into the shuttle bay. But why are discovery’s shields down? Maybe to allow the tractor beam to pull them in, but why the need for a tractor beam? Discovery has thrusters. It’s all a bit messy. But let’s move on. This is where we meet Aurellio. He’s a scientist working for the Emerald Chain. One of the best in the galaxy, apparently. He’s confined to a hoverchair because of a genetic defect he has. It’s another little element to add some interest to his character. And it’s nice to see people of different abilities on the show. The interesting thing here is that Aurellio is plated by Kenneth Mitchell who played Kol in season 1, and then Kol’s father in season 2, as well as the child of Voq and LaRell. He’s fast becoming the new Jeffery Combs. In fact, he’s now played just as many distinct Trek roles as Combs. But this is the first non-Klingon role he’s had. But what I didn’t realise when I was watching, is that Kenneth Mitchell is currently suffering from Motor Neurone Disease and is confined to a wheelchair. And that’s really sad. My heart goes out to him. But isn’t it nice that they were able to create this character for him to play. I love how Book’s first priority when getting back onboard Discovery is to find and secure his cat. He went all the way to sickbay and then back to the shuttle bay. A little far-fetched perhaps, but cute. Book has a life-sign masking device which Michael can use to get around the ship undetected. He has to turn himself in because they’ll be expecting a pilot for the ship that just breached them. With some luck, they won’t even know Michael is on board. And there’s a nice little moment when they say “I love you” to each other. This relationship has played out so much better, and more naturally than the Tyler relationship in season 1. Even though Michael wasn’t able to warn Vance, he figures it out himself, which is good. It shows he’s got some brains on his shoulders. Michael makes her first kill but gets a knife in her leg for her trouble. I like this. It’s showing she’s a capable fighter but she’s not Superman. She takes the regulator’s badge but it won’t transport. Probably coded to his bio signs. But why does she need his badge to transport? She has her own Starfleet insignia badge on her uniform. Why can’t she just transport with that? Certainly, no reason I can think of. Osyraa hails HQ and Vance chats with her. She’s releasing all the Discovery crew, except the bridge crew, who she’s keeping as leverage, but keeping them in good health. She’s here to talk and hopes that things will go well. If so, Vance will have the bridge crew back shortly. This is an unexpected development. We were expecting invasion, not negotiation. Michael is hiding out in the Jefferies tube. At first, I was confused about the phaser she was using. Did she get it off the regulator she killed? It seemed holographic, projected by a wrist band. Turns out, this is the new Starfleet phaser, as seen in the opening credits. This is what the Discovery crew use now. But they don’t have holsters. The phasers are constructed from programmable matter. They just wear a little thing on their wrist. This is really cool. I’m surprised the comm badge doesn’t create the phaser actually. It does everything else. There’s a nice moment where Michael records a touching goodbye message to her mother, as she knows this might not end well. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gabrielle shows up with the cavalry next week. I like that Osyraa calls out the absence of the Federation president. The type of negotiations she’s about to enter into really should include the Federation president. This has been an issue in the past for Star Trek. How many decisions did Sisko make on behalf of the entire Federation that really should have been above the pay grade of a captain? Vance explains that to have the president sit down with a known terrorist at this time would be a security breach, which makes perfect sense, so he’s been authorised to negotiate on behalf of the Federation. He’s Starfleet Chief of Staff so he’s pretty high up there. And he’s not gonna make the final decision anything. Nicely done. I like the scene where the bridge crew overcome their guards. They work together, anticipating each other’s ideas, with the distraction of the morse code tapping. It shows these people have worked together for a long time now. They know each other well and make a good team. Tilly immediately takes charge. Again, doing the best she can under the circumstances. Zareh has managed to locate the intruder with the badge she took from the regulator, who’s death has now been discovered. Aurellio wakes Stammets so they can discuss the spore drive. They bond over opera music, which Stammets has slowly come to appreciate because Culbert loves it. Stammets identifies, that Arellio has children, and that his partner is Orion based on the traditional piercing behind his ear. And Stammets admits he has a child too. Adira. At this point, I’m speculating that Arellio is actually Osyraa’s husband. She was acting very protective of him at the beginning of the episode. They seemed to have a personal connection. The episode never says it outright, but I think it’s strongly implied. What do you think? We learn that sadly, the tardigrades are long-extinct in the 32nd century. (unless he’s lying to Aurellio) But Aurellio thinks he can grow new tardigrade cells from Stammet’s DNA, thereby making other people able to navigate the mycelial network. Michael takes out her second regulator, in another thrilling action movie sequence. It’s not just a fight scene. It makes good use of the fact they’re in space. It’s a triumphant moment. Although I suspect Michael should be facing more unpleasant consequences from the cold alone, when the tube is exposed to open space. I also like how they have an EMH serve as a lie detector during negotiations as standard procedure. So far, Osyraa is being truthful. She wants the Emerald Chain to unit with the Federation in peace. And she’s being genuine. Her reasoning, the chain can’t go on the way they are without dilithium. So realises she has to make changes to how her organisation works if it is going to survive. The spore drive is a big bargaining chip. So why does she need the Federation? The Federation was always a symbol of hope. The Emerald Chain will never earn the trust of the people like the Federation once did. What the chain needs most now, is legitimacy. Remote parts of the former Federation, who no longer have contract with headquarters, are already engaged in trade with the chain, because they have no choice. This is really interesting stuff. A fruit platter is brought in and Vance mentions that their replicated food is made from human feces. But he doesn’t say feces. That’s the base material they use in their replicators. They break it down to the atomic level and then reform the atoms. This, of course, is a total load of … well….. Feces. That’s not how replicators work. Replicators work on a similar principle to transporters. It’s all based around the conversion between energy and matter. Replicators don’t create matter from other base matter. They convert energy into matter. And then, when you recycle leftovers, that matter is turned back into energy. They don’t stick base matter into them. This might have been the case for the more primitive “food synthesisers” back in the 22nd century. But not of the 24th century onwards. Modern Star Trek has a real problem with replicators. In Picard, they looked like 3D printers. They even built up the food item layer by layer like a 3D printer. But it’s not how it’s supposed to work. This annoys me. The emerald chain, apparently, don’t use replicator technology. Not sure why. I mean, you don’t need dilithium to power a replicator. Dilithium is just a catalyst in creating the matter / anti-matter reaction in a starship’s warp core. Osyraa wants trade with the chain legalised, and she wants to establish an embassy at Starfleet Headquarters. That will send a powerful message. This is a big issue for Vance. The Emerald Chain engage in morally reprehensible acts. Slavery. Oppression. Interference with pre-warp civilisations. Surprisingly, Osyra is making changes to the way the chain operates. She’s outlawing slavery. She’s even pulling back from worlds like Kwijan, at considerable financial expense, over a 15 year period, to prevent causing chaos. She’s even got an armistice written up, a treaty that the president can sign. And Eli, the EMH confirms she is being completely genuine about all of this. This is very interesting to me. This is taking Osyraa from being a moustache-twirling villain to something much much more interesting. She is now by far the most interesting villain we’ve had on Discovery. Now she has depth. She’s still very dangerous, but she’s a reasonable woman who is willing to make significant changes for the good of her people. I’m kinda loving this. Aurellio seems to have a very rosy-coloured view of Osyraa and the chain. He’s surprisingly blind to the horrific things she’s done. Stammets tries to open his eyes to the reality of it all. Vance is impressed with the armistice. Osyraa has made a lot of concessions. She really is wanting to plot a new course for the chain. One free from the immoral acts of the past. But Vance needs more. He can’t just ignore the past. So he asks Osyraa who will be the public face of the chain for this alliance. The implication is that it can’t be Osyraa. She’s a known terrorist and criminal. Not somebody that the Federation can legitimise. As soon as he asks that question, I think Osyraa is reasonably sure that a deal is not going to be reached. She wants to be the public face of the Emerald Chain, or at least be the controlling power in the background. But Vance wants her to give herself up to trial for the crimes of her past. Vance can’t just forgive the crimes of the past. He can’t just overlook it. Osyraa says the past cannot be undone, And Vance says “but it can be made right.” This is a very interesting dilemma, and I’m curious where people sit on this. One the one hand, Osyraa has made a genuine commitment to change her ways from now on. And since the burn, the Federation hasn’t had completely clean hands. They’ve done their best to continue living the ideals they have always represented, but this is a messier universe than it once was. Maybe the concessions Osyraa is making are worth wiping the slate clean and forgiving the crimes of the past. One the other hand, Osyraa may have made some promises regarding policy, promises that I believe she is willing to honour, but at her core, her values haven’t changed. She’s offering to be good, not because she’s had a change of heart or any true repentance, but out of political necessity. This will be confirmed at the end of the episode where we see what kind of person she is deep down. Vance asks his people to die for Federation moral values on a daily basis. How can he ask that of them and then just forgive Osyraa with no consequence for her crimes. So what do you think? Should Vance just accept the armistice and let go of the past, or is he right to push for this? And what about Osyraa? Is she letting her pride talk her out of a deal that will be good for her people? The federation has a very just legal system and quite humane and generous treatment of the convicted. The penal colony in New Zealand where Tom Paris did his time looked like a beautiful paradise. Osyraa could do worse than to accept punishment for her crimes for the sake of her people and live out a comfortable life as a Federation convict. It’s funny, but I see a lot of theological parallels here that connect with me on a spiritual level. It’s these deep and interesting ideas that make this a really great episode of Star Trek. Sadly, these two can’t find any common ground on this issue so the negotiations break down and Osyraa returns to Discovery, where Book and Rin have been captured. Michael arrives to rescue Stammets. But Michael and Stammets have a profound disagreement on how to proceed. Michael wants to get Stammets off the ship. The Emerald Chain can’t be allowed to learn the secrets of the spore drive from him. So he needs to be removed. But he wants to jump straight back to the nebula to rescue Hugh and Saru. And then he learns that Adira is there too. As he says, his whole life is in that nebula. It’s wonderfully acted. So much raw emotion. Michael admits that they’ll likely die back there, but she has to make the tough call. True to her word. She told Vance she’d never hesitate again, like she did with Arium. She renders him unconscious Osyraa asks Aurellio to leave the bridge. She doesn’t want him to see what she’s about to do. But he wants to stay. Stammets words have impacted him. He wants to see who she really is when he’s usually not around. Ryn gives a nice speech about how he’s no longer afraid of Osyraa because he’s seen real bravery. It’s great. He won’t fix the sensors so she can locate Michael, Stammets and the bridge crew. So she’s about to shoot him. But in a potentially foolish attempt to save Ryn’s life, Book volunteers information about the dilithium planet in the nebula. So that’s where Saru is. But she kills Ryn anyway, and Aurellio is watching. She’s going to get the information from Book using truth serum. Michael has put Stammets into an emergency escape field. She’s going to eject him out of the ship so Federation HQ can rescue him, getting him away from Osyraa’s grasp. He begs Michael no to do this. Without him on board Discovery, Hugh, Sar and Adira will die a horrible death. It’s a heartbreaking scene, and so well acted by Anthony Rapp. He reminds her that the Discovery crew gave up everything to follow her here into the future, so she wouldn’t have to be alone. They did that for her. And now she’s going to let those three die. She’s doing this to save the Federation from being destroyed by Osyraa. So many hard choices being made in this episode. Michael has been captured, but she’s accomplished what she set out to do. The bridge crew have armed themselves and are ready to re-take the ship. Tilly is being pretty awesome. And then the dot robots show up, possessed by the sphere data. Otherwise known as Zora. It’s hard to take these robots seriously, as they look so cute, but despite that, it’s a great ending to the episode. They have a cool new ally. Who’d have thought, when we first saw the sphere data back in early season 2, they’d be paying it off like this? This wasn’t just a great episode of Discovery. This was a great episode of Star Trek. I loved it. And I’m very much looking forward to seeing how it all resolves next week in the season finale. Next week’s episode is called “That Hope is You Part 2” calling back to the very first episode of this season. Interesting. I wonder if that name will stay. A lot of these episodes have been getting new names from what was originally announced. It was cool to see Zareh come back this week, but you know who we haven’t seen since episode 1, that I really expected to be a recurring character throughout the whole season? That lone Federation representative serving faithfully on that outpost. I’m disappointed we never saw him again. Is he still there? Has Discovery even mentioned him to Vance? But with next week’s episode title making it a direct sequel to the first episode, I’m wondering if this is when we’ll see him again. It’ll be interesting to find out. I’m still doing my walk to Mordor Challenge that I started in April last year. I’ve passed the gates of Moria. I’m now back at work on Jewel of The Stars season 3, and am looking forward to getting it out in the world when I can. Hard to believe there’s only one more episode of Discovery to talk about this season. We’ll be launching into Stargate Universe very soon. I’ve already recorded a couple of episodes. I hope you’ll all stick around for that. I’m looking forward to it. But first, I’ll see you next week for the season finale of Star Trek Discovery. Have a wonderful week. Live long and Prosper. Make it so.

Star Trek Discovery S3 E 11 "Su'Kal"

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 28, 2020 39:02

Season 3, Episode 11. This episode begins one ways and end the other. We can’t bear to talk about, but... we will. We will talk about pregnant Kelpiens, planets made of dilithium, and the most jacked-up holodeck episode in Trek history; we will talk about Tilly having the con, Book having some chutzpah, and Stamets having a hard time; finally, we will talk about Michael getting to the bottom of The Burn, Ossyra getting away with Discovery... and Saru and Dr. Culber getting left behind. gah!Become a patron and join us January 3rd for our monthly Netflix patrons-only watch party!https://patreon.com/setphasers

netflix discovery burn trek star trek discovery saru stamets culber kelpiens

Star Trek Discovery "Terra Firma Part 2" - Detailed Analysis and Review

Discovering Trek: A Star Trek Discovery Companion

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2020 26:18

Today we discuss the conclusion to "Terra Firma Part 2" in Star Trek Discovery Season 3. We see the culmination of Georgiou's character arc, which I felt was nicely done. This two-parter has definitely change the way I see Mirror Georgiou and I'm loving it. So let's dig in and see what we can find to talk about in this episode. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd This is episode 47 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about Star Trek Discovery “Terra Firma Part 2” And big news. It’s just been announced that Star Trek Lower Decks has an international distribution deal. It’ll be arriving on Amazon Prime in the U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, and more on the 22nd of January. This has been a long time coming, but we’re finally going to be able to see it. Of course, at this point, I’ve pretty much had the entire first season spoiled for me, because, you know….I have access to the internet. Still, it’s good news. So let’s talk about Terra Firma Part 2. The description on memory alpha reads Georgiou uncovers the true depths of the plot against her, leading her to a revelation about how deeply her time on the USS Discovery truly changed her. The teleplay for this episode was written by Kalinda Vazquez Based on a story by Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt & Alan McElroy It was directed by Chloe Domont And it first aired on the 17th of December 2020. Make it so. We pick up where we left off, in the mirror universe, onboard the ISS Discovery. We won’t see our prime characters until this whole thing with Georgiou is over. .Michael is dragged kicking and screaming into the brig. Begging to be killed. That’s the honourable way out for a failed traitor. The Terran empire have a lot in common with the Klingons when you think about it. And that’s nothing new. Michael says “every moment you keep me alive proves further how weak you’ve become. We learn the reason Lorca moved against her, the reason he got to Michael is because Mirror Georgiou was already being considered weak. She was losing her harsh edge, even before she met prime Michael. It turns out half of her biography opera was a lie. One thing I forgot to mention last week was how the story portrayed Georgiou as a peasant who rose up the ranks to emperor. I wonder if this part was true or false. This is a fascinating insight into her backstory, and while it may be a little bit of a retcon, it helps to make sense of the arc the character has been on. Now that she's back in the mirror universe, Georgiou is learning just how much she’s changed. And Micahel is noticing. Rescuing Kelpiens, fretting over artists. Interestingly, Gorgeous is starting to see what mirror Spock ultimately saw, with a little help from prime Kirk. The Terran Empire is not sustainable. They can’t go on like they are forever. Its downfall is inevitable. She tries to explain this to Michael. Georgiou is only holding on to her power, at present, because of the loyalty of those who still serve her, like Owo and Killy. But how long will she be able to hold on to their loyalty if she really pursues peace? Michael mentions an alliance is forming against them. This is the coalition we saw in season 1. Vulcans, Klingons, Andorians, Tellarite. Michael mentions a bunch of other races including the Denobulans, which was cool. I have to assume the coalition of this time will eventually morph into the alliance that we saw in the mirror universe during Deep Space Nine. At that time, the empire had fallen and the alliance ruled the galaxy with almost as strong a fist as their predecessors. The main powers behind the alliance were the Klingons and the Cardassians. The first thing Killy asks when she has a minute alone with Georgiou is “Why is Michael Burnham still taking up oxygen on my ship?” Killy already has her doubts about the emperor. Could Michael be right? Is Georgiou weak? I’m sure Killy has seen it. She knows Georgiou has changed. The only question she needs to wrestle with now is “what do I do about it?” Which option will best serve Captain Killy? She remains loyal, and I don’t think it’s because of anything Georgiou says here about trying to reforge a broken michael into a loyal subject. It’s because Killy doesn’t currently have the resources she needs to lead a revolution of her own. Terrans don’t really care about loyalty. They look out for number one. And she still thinks it’s in her best interest to support Georgiou. I also think she is genuinely enamoured with the idea of being given the job of breaking Micahel. That sounds like a fun challenge to her. One she will embrace. Apparently, there is no greater interrogator than Killy. And that scares the hell out of me. And then we get mirror universe opening credits. Just like Enterprise did with In a Mirror Darkly. Though they’re not as changed as what Enterprise did. The inverted colours work for me. The upside-down imagery not so much. I don’t really get that. Had it been me, I’d have changed the starfleet logos to Terran empire logos. That kind of thing. But that would have taken a lot more work than just turning everything upside down. Michael is pretty confident they won’t break her. At least, that’s what she says. I imagine that Terrans have a higher tolerance for pain than we do. I understand it was a little bit like that in the middle ages. When pain is a normal part of life, it’s not pleasant, but it’s accepted more readily. At least, so I’m told. Killy’s interrogation doesn’t last long. She asks Michael to pledge her loyalty. Then zaps her with the agoniser booth. And then says “we’ll try again tomorrow. You don’t mind sleeping in there do you?” And this is pretty horrifying. She’s left in the booth all night. And every now and then, when she’s least expecting it, it will fire up and put her into incredible pain. The agnoiser technology itself is horrific. The human body eventually shuts down to protect itself from pain, but this technology is designed to circumvent that, so the victim continues to feel the agony. So Detmer comes to see Michael. They all know these two were working together. Detmer tries to convince her to give in, because she won’t be able to cope with uch more. Plus, nobody has heard from Lorca. Which means he has abandoned Michael. There is no sense remaining loyal to him. And all of this makes a lot of sense. Lorca knows his rebellion is beaten. He can’t do it without Michael. That’s why he went through so many hoops to bring prime michael into the mirror universe. This also means they don’t have to bring Jason Isaacs back again. Which is a shame. It also makes sense that Michael gives into Georgiou at this point. IF she is being offered a chance to redeem herself she’d be stupid and stubborn not to take it. Then there’s a rather sweet scene as Georgiou shares a memory of walking with Michael through her night terrors to see the fireflies. She leaves a jar of fireflies on Michael's bed. And we get the impression that Georgiou is finally getting through to Michael. And I think she actually is. It’s obvious that Georgiou loves Michael as a daughter, and always did. And so she presents herself. I’m ready to pledge my loyalty to you. But there’s a question here we’re all asking. Is she genuine, or is this all just part of Michael’s plan? Michael goes and kills all her co-conspirators. (at least, those who are nearby. Lorca and his offsider are gonna be harder to find. There’s a cool shootout with Landry. When Michael and Detmer come in with the badges of all the dead conspirators, it becomes clear that the forgiveness Georgiou is showing Michael doesn’t extend to Detmer. The kitchen is no longer serving Kelpien. Another of Georgiou’s changes. She can no longer stomach the idea of eating sentient beings. She no longer sees them as animals. She’s gotten to know Saru. I think Michael is being honest when she says she no longer loves Lorca, and is willing to kill him. He abandoned her. The culmination of Georgiou’s transformation comes when she tells Saru the truth about vahari. Essentially she frees the Kelpien people by revealing this information to him and telling him to share it with others. Goergiou’s transformation has been accelerated by coming back to the mirror universe. Had she not come here, it would have remained the slow and steady change we’ve seen over the last few years. Sometimes you have to be reminded to who you were, in order to appreciate and embrace who you are becoming. This is all very well done, and is the heart of this two-parter. And Georgiou says this world is her home. She vows to remain here and re-shape it into what it needs to become. Much as Spock will later on. So now they’re on the hunt for Lorca, and they’re going to find him through his off-sider, Duggen. They find him in orbit of Risa. And this is really cool. LAst week, we saw the return of Hannah Cheesman, who played Arium in season 2. She was just in the background, wearing a Terran uniform, but it wasn’t made clear exactly what role she was playing. Was this just an easter egg, like how they got all the alien actors to play humans in Vic’s bar in the final episode of DS9? Now, we get confirmation she is indeed playing Arium. Remember, Arium was human, but she was injured in an accident and made into a cyborg in order to survive. It seems that the mirror arium had no such accident and remained human. This also confirms that her name was Arium even when she was still human. I love this. Very nice touch. So they beam Duggen aboard to question him about Lorca. And this is when the surprising but inevitable betrayal happens. Nice little nod to Firefly for you. All through this episode, I’ve hoped that Georgiou was successful in rehabilitating mirror Michael - turning her into something new. But deep down, always knowing that at any time, she may turn on Georgiou. So we’re really not surprised when it happens. Gorgeous isn’t surprised either. She’s become a lot more soft-hearted but she’s not stupid. She knew this was a likely scenario when Michael pledged her loyalty. She hoped for the best but she prepared for the worst. Michael knew, the minute Goergiou spared her life, that she could never respect her mother again. I love it when Georgiou says “I have changed. I have seen another way to live. Another way to rule.” The prime universe has really had an impact on her. So the battle begins. And again, it’s a cool fight. Discovery has always done action well. Michael had a lot of people loyal to her. Were Culbert, Nilsson and the others co-conspirators all along, that Michael chose not to kill, or has she recruited them since her false return to grace? I suspect the latter. Sadly, Georgiou is left with no other choice but to kill her daughter. Again. Georgiou wakes up back on Dannus 5 with Michael and Carl. She’s been in the mirror universe for months. From Michael’s perspective she passed out for less than a minute, but her wrist monitor has recorded 3 months of bio-readings. She wasn’t transported bodily. She shared the body of an alternate Georgiou. Carl has essentially spun off a new timeline off the mirror universe we know. A timeline that Georgiou has affected greatly. One where the Kelpiens may gain their freedom from the terran empire. Where some good has been done, at least. Michael and Georgiou keep asking Carl, who are you really. The same question we’ve been asking. And finally, he answers. I am the Guardian of Forever. And they use the original voice recording from the original series. I thought the guardian was voiced by James doohna. I know he did a lot of alien voices, but no, the guardian was played by Bart LaRue. Apparently Doohan voiced the Guardian in the animated series, though. But I haven’t seen that episode. I really need to finish watching the animated series. It’s not great, but it’s still Star Trek. Sadly, I didn’t feel anything much from this reveal, because it was spoiled for me. I woke up Friday morning, and within minutes, I saw this big reveal spoiled on Instagram. I was quite unhappy. Spoilers are an interesting thing. I think there’s some responsibility on both sides. I’ve seen people on social media who’ve said things like “I plan to see this movie months after it releases, and heaven help anyone who spoils it for me.” That seems unreasonable. If you’re gonna wait that long, you have to take a little responsibility for protecting yourself, and understand that spoilers likely will happen during that time. But for a spoiler like this to be posted before the episode has even gone live on most of the planet, well, I think that’s a bit unfair. But, those who posted it have apologised and are going to hold to a 24 hour grace period, which I think is a really good idea. Lower Decks is an interesting case. I’ve had much of that spoiled for me, because I move in the Star Trek circles online. I mean, that’s how I market this podcast. I don’t blame those who have posted spoilers. You can’t expect them to wait 6 months to talk about anything. I can’t even fully blame CBS. COVID kinda messed up their plans for releasing Star Trek. Anyway, the door breaks apart and re-forms into the familiar stone portal from City on the Edge of Forever. I’m kinda surprised they went there. There was always a lot of controversy and disagreement around the use of the Guardian of Forever in Star Trek while Harlan Ellison was alive. I guess some agreement was met between CBS and his estate. But this reveal is kinda like the reveal of Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness. It’s played as this big dramatic reveal, but it means nothing to Michael and Gaorgiou. It’s all just for the audience. Personally, I would have dispensed with the artificial suspense and just revealed the guardian properly in part 1. There’s no real reason for it to disguise as a door. A slight reason, perhaps, given it’s in hiding, but then why reveal itself now? So we get some backstory of what’s happened with the guardian since TOS. When the temporal wars began, everyone kept trying to use the guardian as a weapon to kill each other. It wasn’t pretty. I can well understand the guardian not wanting to be used like that. So, it hid. It removed itself from its original location and hid here on Dannus 5. That makes sense. I kinda like how they tied the guardian into the temporal wars. But what do I really think of this reveal? Well, it’s cool to see the guardian of forever again. No questions. It was one of my favourite things introduced in TOS. In fact, City on the Edge of Forever is my favourite TOS episode. But is this a good use of it? I like the character of Carl. He’s cool. He has a fun personality. But, that’s not a personality I associate with the guardian of forever. The appeal of the guardian was it’s mysterious nature. Part mechanism, part being. Both and Neither. That big booming voice. And part of it’s appeal was also it’s setting. That mysterious ancient alien city left in ruins. Where did it come from? How and why was it created? As much as I like Carl, I feel that he humanises the Guardian of Forever too much. I don’t want it to be humanised. I want it to remain mysterious and alien. That doesn’t mean I don’t want answers to some of the questions about it, but …. I don’t want it to be turned into a pleasant gentleman from the 1930s. So ultimately, I think this was a mistake. I think they should have either: Made it obviously the guardian from the beginning and do away with Carl altogether. Or Forget the guardian, and just have Carl be a Q (which I still think really fits his personality) or have him be something new. Some new alien with Godlike powers. I’ve always wanted to see the Guardian of Forever again, but just not like this. But all of that aside, let’s look at what is explained next, because I do really like it. Georgiou is still dying. She wasn’t sent back to be cured. She was sent back to be weighed. To be tested. To see if she was worthy of the Guardian’s help. Would she make different choices? Has her time in the prime universe changed her? She doesn’t belong here, but sending her somewhere else could cause a lot of problems. The guardian doesn’t want to inflict another time or place with the dangerous Emperor Georgiou. But is she still dangerous? What’s interesting is that Georgiou assumes she’s failed the test. She killed her daughter. Again. Carl is more interested in her heart than the outcome. And I like that. Georgiou doesn’t want to go back to the mirror universe. Why would she? But that’s not carl’s plan. He’s going to send her to a time when the prime and mirror universes were still aligned, where her cells won’t fall apart. He doesn’t say exactly where or when. And we’ll talk about that shortly because I have some thoughts. Carl believes Michael is just where she needs to be, so she can’t go with Georgiou. It’s nice that Geirgiou wants her, though. So we have a very touching farewell between these two characters. It was wonderful. We get a brief mention of Husan, the name mentioned in Georgiou’s episodes. She still doesn’t explain who he is, or what he meant to her. Michael tells her to tell the people she’s about to meet. So I guess this backstory will be revealed in the section 31 show. okay. Georgiou has one final word of wisdom for Michael. This century is more Terran than the 23rd. Saru has navigated the change admirably but he’s not the only one suited for the captain’s chair. I’m not sure exactly what they’re trying to imply, but I thought we were done with the whole, will Michael take the captain’s chair thing. The way I see it, the only way for Michael to become captain of Discovery in any way that I'll accept is to get Saru out of the picture. Either kill or promote him. And frankly, I don’t want that, because Saru is one of my favourite characters. And then she steps thorough, and is gone. It’s funny. I really liked the prime Georgiou character, but never quite warmed to mirror Georgiou in the same way. But now, well, I’m really going to miss her. So …. Where has she ended up? For a long time, fans have been saying that Georgiou has to return to the 23rd century so she can star in the section 31 show. Now while I’ve never dismissed that possibility, my response has always been “Why are you assuming the section 31 show will be set in the 23rd century. We’ve never been told anything that would suggest that.” But people have been treated that as gospel. I always thought there was at least an equal chance that the section 31 show would be set here in the 32nd century. Georgiou would leave Discovery to work with section 31 as she had in the past. Well, we know that’s not the cast anymore. The most obvious answer to the question is that she has returned to the 23rd century, as so many fans always assumed. And that’s a very likely scenario. But is it the only possibility? Carl said he was sending her to a time when the prime and mirror universes were aligned. We know they were closely aligned in the 22nd, 23rd and 24th centuries, and on into the 27th, that was the time of the last incursion. So Goergiou could be going anywhere within that window. Here’s a wild theory for you. What if she’s going to the 24th, or early 25th century? That’s the time where we first learned about section 31, in Deep Space Nine. That’s where section 31 was used most effectively in story-telling. This newly changed mirror Georgiou would fit in well with 24th-century section 31, and might even make them a little more moral than they are. What if the setting of the Section 31 show is just after DS9, or more likely, around the time of Star Trek Picard? I can see that making a lot of sense, and I’d definitely be up for that. Here’s an even wilder theory. She has been sent back to the time of Enterprise, and she ends up being the founder of Section 31. I really like what they’ve done with Georgiou’s character. I used to complain that she was not evil enough, given who she was. But now, I have a different perspective. I see now that her time in the prime timeline has gradually changed her. Made her better., And I love that. And I really like the person she has ended up being. I think the arc could have been done a little smoother. I think they were kinda making it up as they went, rather than planning it from day 1, which is a shame. These things always work better for me when they’re been planned in advance. So .. I’m not totally ready for a Michelle Yeoh lead spin-off. My only concern about the show is how they’re going to treat section 31. I felt that Discovery season 2 kinda ruined section 31. They didn’t handle it well. Have they learned from this? Will the section 31 we see in the new show be more like the section 31 we saw in Deep Space Nine? I can only hope. But I’m very eager to learn more about the show now. I’m especially keen to learn what the setting will be. I’ll probably be disappointed if I learn it’s back in the 23red century. Strange New Worlds has that era covered. And honestly, I’m not pinning to have Tyler back. I didn’t like this character in season 2, so I don’t think he needs to be part of the new show. Time will tell. We finally return to Discovery, to see what our other characters are up to. Adira and Stamets are still trying to hack into the Kelpien ship’s sensors. But they’re having trouble. Book turns up with a device that will help. It’s emerald chain technology. So they finally check in with Vance, who is very concerned about using Chain technology on a Starfleet ship. It could be dangerous and Starfleet can’t afford to risk having their only ship with a spore drive compromised. Book is absolutely convinced it is safe. But I’m still concerned. They’re obviously setting something up here. I think it’ll become problematic in the next couple of episodes. So this whole thing of Saru delaying his report on the Kelpien ship. I’m not fully following that. Saru hasn’t seen another Kelpien in a long time, and this is a Kelpien ship. But ….. So what? It’s not like the Kelpiens are extinct. They’re a Federation member. Kaminar is still out there. I don’t quite understand Saru’s reason for not reporting the information to Vance as soon as he knew it. Did he think Vance would not want them to rescue it? I just don’t get it. I don’t know what the writers are getting at here. Then we get another touching scene. It’s not quite a funeral, it’s just a little get -together to remember their friend who they’ll never see again. It was a lovely scene. And this ends the story of Phillipa Gaorgiou, closing a story that began with the first episode of season 1. In a way, this two-parter has seemed a bit like a distraction from the greater season plot, but I’m totally cool with it. The character arcs are just as important to this season as the burn story is. And I, for one, have really enjoyed Terra Firma Parts 1 and 2. We’re getting close to the end now. Just 3 episodes to go. Next week we’ll be talking about episode 11 “The Citadel.” I’m excited to see what happens as the season’s plot arc goes into top gear. It should be cool. And I’ll be watching that episode on Christmas day. But I’ll be on holiday by then.I plan to get my podcast out Monday morning, Australian time, as always. I’ve revamped the books page on my website, so if you’re interested in trying out some of my fiction, you can see it all nicely laid out at AdamDavidCollings.com/books I’d encourage you to check it out. Until I see you next, have a great week, Merry Christmas, live long and prosper.

Terra Firma, Part 1

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2020 63:47

This week, Dan, Bill and Sara discuss the ninth episode of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, "Terra Firma, Part 1". Georgiou and Burnham beam down to a strange planet in the hopes of finding a cure to Phillipa's condition. They come across a strange man named Carl sitting next to a large door. When Phillipa steps through, she is returned to the Mirror Universe to a time before the USS Charon was christened and her adopted daughter Michael was still alive. But is Michael the loyal subject and daughter she appears to be or is she part of a grand scheme to take over the throne with Lorca? Meanwhile, on Discovery, Staments and Adira access the distress signal from the ship in the center of the nebula where The Burn originated. To everyone's surprise, especially Saru, it is from Kelpiens!! Will Georgiou survive the assassination attempts being planned against her? Will she be able to bring a new way of ruling to The Empire? Will Saru's judgement be compromised with seeing this new information from a member of his own species? We hope you'll join us for a great discussion on Discovering Trek! FIVE YEAR MISSION Music for Discovering Trek is provided by Five Year Mission. They’re writing one song for each episode of The Original Series! Plus, check out their podcast right here on the Trek Geeks Podcast Network! Find out more and download all 6 of their current albums at FiveYearMission.net

empire discovery burn lorca burnham original series saru star trek discovery season phillipa mirror universe georgiou terra firma adira five year mission kelpiens staments

Discovering Trek: The Star Trek Universe Companion Terra Firma, Part 1

Trek Geeks Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2020 63:47

This week, Dan, Bill and Sara discuss the ninth episode of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, "Terra Firma, Part 1". Georgiou and Burnham beam down to a strange planet in the hopes of finding a cure to Phillipa's condition. They come across a strange man named Carl sitting next to a large door. When Phillipa steps through, she is returned to the Mirror Universe to a time before the USS Charon was christened and her adopted daughter Michael was still alive. But is Michael the loyal subject and daughter she appears to be or is she part of a grand scheme to take over the throne with Lorca? Meanwhile, on Discovery, Staments and Adira access the distress signal from the ship in the center of the nebula where The Burn originated. To everyone's surprise, especially Saru, it is from Kelpiens!! Will Georgiou survive the assassination attempts being planned against her? Will she be able to bring a new way of ruling to The Empire? Will Saru's judgement be compromised with seeing this new information from a member of his own species? We hope you'll join us for a great discussion on Discovering Trek! FIVE YEAR MISSION Music for Discovering Trek is provided by Five Year Mission. They’re writing one song for each episode of The Original Series! Plus, check out their podcast right here on the Trek Geeks Podcast Network! Find out more and download all 6 of their current albums at FiveYearMission.net

Star Trek Discovery "Terra Firma Part 1" - Detailed Analysis and Review

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2020 24:18

Today we talk about the first part of Star Trek Discovery's first traditional two-parter. It's a character study of Georgiou and it takes us back to the mirror universe. Meanwhile, Stamets and Adira continue to uncover new information about the source of the burn. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a nerd. This is episode 46 of the podcast. Today we’re talking about Star Trek Discovery Terra Firma Part 1. But just before we launch into that, did you hear about all the new Star Wars shows that Disney+ just announced? They announced 7 new TV shows. Combined with The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi, that’s a total of 9 shows. We currently have 6 Star Trek shows either already on the air, or in various stages of pre-production. That’s a whole lot of sci-fi entertainment. Now … if only we can get an official green light on the new Stargate show they have in the works. That would be awesome. But as I said, today, we’re talking Star Trek. The description on memory alpha reads The USS Discovery crew journeys to a mysterious planet in hopes of finding a cure for Georgiou's deteriorating condition. Stamets and Adira make a stunning breakthrough with the newly acquired Burn data. The teleplay for this episode was written by Alan McElroy based on a story by Bo Yeon Kim, Erika Lippoldt & Alan McElroy It was directed by Omar Madha And it first aired on the 10th of December 2020. Make it so. This episode has a big Georgiou focus.We open with Culbert seeking advice from the Starfleet interrogator. The one that was questioning Georgiou a few episodes back. Apparently, the character’s name is Kovich, although I don’t think that’s ever been said out loud in-universe. A lot of people have been referring to him by the name of the actor playing him. A guy named David Cronenberg. He sounds like a big deal. I’m not familiar with him myself. I actually thought he reminded me a little of British actor Bill Nyee. Some people have even theorised that he’s section 31, which is a reasonable theory, but certainly not yet canonised. Why Culbert goes to Kovich, I’m not sure. But it turns out, he has all the answers we’ve been looking for. It turns out to be a case of temporal displacement. Our molecules like to remain in the time they were created. But the whole crew have travelled 900 years into the future, and they’re all fine. But Georgiou not only travelled in time, she’s also from another universe. A universe which has been growing ever further apart from ours. Every molecule in her body is screaming to return home. So the hologram theory is out. And then Kovich activates a holographic image of Lieutenant Commander Yor, a deceased time soldier from the Temporal War. And he’s wearing a Next Generation season 1 uniform, with the shoulder stripes. IT was delightful to see this nostalgic old uniform on Discovery. Do you notice that Discovery is paying a whole lot more respect to TNG than it ever did to TOS? But I was all set to have a good old nitpick about this. You see, I’d seen images from an episode preview, that they show in America, which clearly showed Tor in this uniform, but with a Voyager-style com badge. That com badge didn’t come into effect until 2371, which would have been the 8th season of TNG. It was never worn with this particular uniform. Now Kovich says something that can explain it shortly, which we’ll get to in just a sec. But I noticed in my second watch of the episode, that they’ve edited it. They’ve put in the proper TNG com badge that matches this uniform. That must have been a digital effect. It’s a silly mistake that should never have been made, but I’m glad they sorted it out. But Kovich explains that Tor is from the year 2379. Okay. So that means the Voyager com badge was correct, but the uniform was dead wrong. 2379, the year Star Trek Nemesis was set. But then he says something that changes everything.Tor came from an alternate universe created by a temporal incursion caused by a Romulan mining ship. Whoa. So Tor is from the Kelvin universe. This is huge. This is the first outright acknowledgement of the Kelvin universe from the prime universe. This is also our first canon look at someone from the TNG era of the Kelvin universe. So apparently, over there, they didn’t change uniforms near as often as they did here in the prime. They skipped the TNG season 3 uniform, the Voyager/deep space nine uniform, and the First Contact uniform. This is really interesting. So this also means that the Kelvin universe was involved in the temporal wars. Which kinda makes sense. That war was all about temporal incursions and creating new timelines. Although Enterprise used a different concept of time-travel than what Star Trek 2009 did, but let’s just leave that aside. So yeah, wonderful to see that uniform, and fascinating to get a connection with the Kelvin timeline. Sadly, things didn’t turn out well for poor old Tor. He ended up in so much pain the Federation petitioned for euthenasia. They couldn’t send him back to his own universe, because to do so would violate the temporal acords, which were taken very seriously. That doesn’t bode well for Georgiou, because it means Starfleet won’t allow her to return home either. Kovich doesn’t want Goergiou to know of her fate. A dying Terran’s instinct is to find a way to die in battle. Much like a Klingon. Nobody wants that loose on Discovery. He recommends sedation and locking her up. But Culbert, the good doctor as ever, asks the computer to find another solution, combining all additional data that Discovery had, which obviously includes the sphere data. And, much to Kovich’s surprise, it’s found another option. Meanwhile, Gorgeous can’t even pick up a glass, because her hand goes straight through it. I kinda like how Georgiou refers to Tilly as Saru’s walking command blunder, echoing what a lot of people have said, that her promotion makes no sense. Tilly is awesome, but she’s not ready for first officer yet. The sphere data says the solution is on Dannus Five. A world near the border between the alpha and gamma quadrants. It’s still only a 5 percent chance for her, but better than zero. I like the way Discovery has been using the sphere data this season. Remember back in Voyager ,when an alien entity put gigaquads of information about the universe into the ship’s computer, and it was never mentioned again? That was an absolute travesty. Discovery is still probably under-selling the usefulness of this data but it’s doing a significantly better job than Voyager did. Saru is inclined to not ignore Goergiou’s plight. The Emerald Chain are conducting exercises near Federation space and Starfleet are on yellow alert. But Vance is willing to authorise the mission on one condition. That Michael assures him she can let go of Georgiou when the time comes, because the odds are not good. She hesitated when she had to sacrifice Arium. Vance wants to know that she won’t hesitate again. And she gives him her word. This has got to be one of the hardest parts of being a starfleet officer. The willingness to sacrifice a life to save a crew. I don’t think I could handle being in a situation like that. I don’t think I have what it takes to make a tough call like that. Especially when it’s somebody you care about. We see a very good conversation play out between Vance and Saru. Saru is trying really hard to be the good reliable captain. He doesn’t want to let Vance down. He wants to prove that he can be trusted to serve the needs of this new Starfleet. That’s why he was willing to sacrifice Georgiou and forgo the mission altogether. Vance explosions a little of his backstory. He made a lot of mistakes over the course of his career. One thing he’s learned is that if a crewmember is drowning, and you let her, the crew will never look at their captain, or the Federation, the same way again. The hard pragmatic choice is not always the right one. You have to have heart and compassion. You have to treat your crew as people. Any captain needs a little bit of Kirk in him. I love this scene. I’m loving Saru’s arc through this season as he learns to be a better captain. And I’m really liking Vance as a character more and more. Georgiou’s vulnerability is really poking through the cracks of her bravado. We’re seeing past the tough emperor to the scared little girl inside her. She doesn’t see much hope for success in this plan. She wants an honourable death. She wants Michael to kill her. But Michael’s having none of it. This episode is really showing us what Michelle Yeoh can do as an actor. We also get a little backstory about mirror Burnham. Apparently Georgiou picked her up from a rubbish heap. We get a pretty heart-warming farewell to Georgious from both Saru and Tilly. Georgiou has come a long way so that she can look Saru in the eye and call him captain. When they first met, she saw him as nothing but dinner. So they beam down to the planet. It’s a pretty icy place. And I love the visible rings in the sky. I doubt it’s scientifically accurate, but it looks awesome. As much as I like their trek through the snow, why didn’t they beam directly to the coordinates? Why beam down close and then walk, following the tricorder’s directions? Now we cut back to the overall season plot with the burn. Honestly, I was expecting this two-parter to be all about the burn. Learning what was in the centre of the nebula. I wasn’t expecting a character study of Georgiou, or a re-examination of the mirror universe, although, given the episode title, I probably should have connected Terra with the mirror universe. Anyway, Adira is still trying to use the algorithm to decipher the starfleet distress call. Stammets notices that Adira is exhausted and has made a silly mistake, which has cost them hours of wasted effort. Adira is really frustrated by this. It’s the same old story. Starfleet officer becomes obsessed with a task and refuses to sleep. But in this case, we see realistic consequences. And I really like that. As a computer programmer, I often make stupid mistakes like this which take hours to hunt down. And that’s when I’m not sleep-deprived. It happens. Gray is still not speaking but Adira is apparently not angry, although facial expressions may suggest otherwise. Stammets points out that Gray wanted Adira to make more ties with the outside world. Friends. Maybe that’s why he’s hiding. Adira makes a good point. “He doesn’t get to decide what’s good for me.” It feels a bit manipulative, especially for the disembodied spirit of a dead person. And the algorithm has finished. While on his way to find out what Stammets and Adira have uncovered, Saru has a chat with Book. Books wants in. He wants to help the crew of Discovery. But he wants to do it on his own terms. Saru isn’t interested in that. I’m not sure exactly what Saru is expecting. Putting on a Starfleet uniform and joining the crew perhaps? Which may require training at whatever the equivalent of Starfleet Academy is these days. I think it’s going to take a while for Book to really find his place, and it’ll take a little bending on both sides. It turns out, the ship stuck in the nebula is Kalpien. So a few years before the burn, their ship got stranded in the nebula. Another ship was coming to rescue them. The end of the message is sadly lost. A lot of people were theorising that it was actually discovery in that nebula, trying to tie it into the short trek Calypso. That made a lot of sense, but I’m kinda glad that’s not where the show is taking us. That would have just been another case of “The red angel is actually michael.” I used to enjoy that trope, but it’s getting a bit old, to be honest. This Kelpien thing is interesting, because it’s an unexpected development. I’m keen to learn more about that happened, and what they may have had to do with the burn. Gorgeou keeps comparing Michael to her mirror counterpart. The reason she picked Burnham from that rubbish pile was that she was the only one not begging for help. She was prepared to be her own salvation, and Georgiou respected that. It’s interesting. Georgiou clearly had a desire to experience motherhood. So there was always some form of humanity in her. She probably wasn’t able to have children biologically. But her choice to pick someone from a rubbish heap is interesting. She wasn’t there to do charity work. If she’d really cared about helping kids out of poverty, she’d have rescued the mall. She certainly had that within her power as emperor. But she ignored all the pleas and just took Michael. But why not adopt some other way. I don’t think we have enough insight into her character to really understand this yet. This is where things get … interesting. They find a wooden door just sitting in the snow, and a man dressed in 1940s style clothes, smoking a cigar and sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper, which claims “Emperor Georgiou dies horribly painful death. The newspaper is called The Star Dispatch. Who is this bloke? He offers Georgiou a doorway into her own past. Back into the mirror universe. I can only assume he is a Q. This is totally their style. The episode keeps the truth of this character pretty close to its chest. We will probably learn the truth next episode. I’ll probably be disappointed if it’s anything other than the Q. Because I can’t see anything else making sense. Anyway, the guy calls himself Carl. He tells a few really punny dad jokes, and then makes it clear the door is for Georgiou to walk through. He makes an interesting statement. The door doesn’t lead. It follows. Does that mean that Georgiou plays a big part in determining what she’ll experience? Her past in the mirror universe, and her relationship with mirror burnham are clearly on her mind, so it makes sense she’d lead the experience where it goes. I tried to pause the episode and read some of the other headlines in the newspaper, but it was too blurry. Michael wants answers, but Carl says the question needs to proceed. It’s dangerous to go the other way around. Now, apart from giving me some Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy vibes, this suggests to me that Georgiou is not yet sure what exactly she’s seeking, or what question she needs to answer. She’s about to go on a journey of self-discovery. Michael rather illogically wants to return to Discovery. This is what they came down for. This is what the sphere data lead them to. So she steps through and finds herself in the mirror universe. Onboard the USS Discovery. Being welcomed by captain Killy. This is actually the first time we’ve seen Mary Wiseman play Killy. We’ve seen prime Tilly try to impersonate Killy, but that’s all. It takes Georgiou a moment to adapt to her settings, but she quickly realises she’s in the past. This is the day they christened the Charon. The day Lorca and Michael betrayed her. Now I’ve been complaining a little bit that over seasons 2 and 3, Gorgeous just doesn’t seem evil enough. She’s the mirror universe emperor. She’s ruthless and cares nothing over taking lives. She eats Kelpiens. But I’m seeing through this episode that they’re taking her character in a new way. They’re showing that her time in the prime universe has changed her. More than she had realised. And that’s cool. So they’ve actually won me over. I mean, they could have done a better job of portraying her as a little more evil throughout season 2, but I’ll buy that he time in the prime universe has slowly made her a better person. I just felt like it happened too rapidly and suddenly. But this episode is really highlighting how she’s changed. She misses her own Michael, regrets killing her. She tells Tilly she wants to bring Michael back into the fold. But as we’ll soon learn, in Michael’s eyes, Georgiou was already becoming weak. Not as ruthless as a Terran emperor should be. Even before she met anyone from our universe, she was already softening. Initially, we saw her from the perspective of the prime characters, so she looked like a monster. But now, seeing her through mirror Michael’s eyes, she is an old softy. It’s fascinating. And it’s pretty well done. This episode is also the first time we see mirror burnham. Sonequa Martin Green plays her wonderfully ruthless. And it’s also an excuse to bring back Landry from season 1, played by BattleStar galactica’s Rekha Sharma. Mirror brnham really hates Kelpiens. When she calls for Saru to be killed and cooked for dessert, Georgiou intervenes. This is the moment we realise just how much Georgiou has changed. She can’t just sit by and watch while Saru, a man she seems to have come to respect, is treated like meat. The Terrans have basically taken on the role of the Bau’ul in the mirror universe. They kill kepliens before they can finish going through vahari. That makes them much easier to enslave, obviously. And Saru ends up being a useful source of intelligence for Gergiou. But Georgiou has a problem. We’ve learned the reason Michael and Lorca tried to overthrow her was because of her weakness. But now, given the way she’s changed, she’s more weak, not less, (at least in the way that the mirror universe defines weakness) Gorgeou keeps trying to drop hints about the importance of loyalty. I think Michael knows she knows. It turns out that mirror stamets was in league with Lorca and Michael. But Georgiou knows this. She kills Stamets, which is the first major change to history. So we have to ask. Is she actually in the past, changing the timeline? Or is this all one big illusion, as the Q often like to play with? We won’t really know until next week. Given how much ambition she’s supposed to have, I’m surprised Killy hasn’t tried to overthrow Georgiou. But she’s smart. She probably figures she can gain more power by siding with the emperor against Lora and Michael, cementing herself as a trusted captain. Georgiou offers to let Michael live, if she’ll confess. This is why Michael tried to kill her in the first place. The weakness she has seen in her mother. Gorgeous says don’t confuse weakness with growth. And this is actually how we’d see this from a prime universe perspective. We don’t see compassion as a weakness. We see it as a strength. A virtue. Something to be applauded. Georgiou has learned that from us, but it’s a lesson that won’t serve her well in the mirror universe. She’s not really sure what she’s supposed to be accomplishing here. But she’s been given a chance to go back and do things differently. And she’s taking it. And now we get to understand Michael’s adoption from her own perspective. She was a master of that rubbish heap. But now, she’s forever in her mother’s shadow. Lorca loves her for her. But, of course, he doesn’t. She’s just a tool to get at Georgiou. When goaded into executing Michael, Georgiou can’t do it. She spares her daughter. As of this moment, their future is unwritten. I think Owo is unconvinced. She may be the next one to turn. I spent the whole second half of this episode waiting to see if Jason Isaacs would return as Lorca. I really expected to see him in the last few minutes. But that didn’t happen. So what do you think? Will he turn up part 2? This was not what I was expecting from Discovery’s first traditional two-parter. I really didn’t think we’d ever be going back to the mirror universe. But I enjoyed it. It was kinda cool to see it again and to get to see some of the characters we’ve heard about but have never seen. I think in a lot of ways, this episode is setting up Georgiou to be ready to helm the section 31 series. Making her a better person, so she can believably be the hero that we root for. A lot of people have been assuming she has to go back to the 23rd century because they assume that’s when the show will be set. But I’ve never been convinced of that. I mean, the reason they brought Discovery into the future was so that the show didn’t have to trample all over TOS canon. If they go back and do section 31 in that time, it kinda defeats the purpose. I know Strange New Worlds will be set in that time, but its exploration focus will make it a lot more insular. It’ll be less likely to stomp all over canon. I have mixed feelings about the section 31 show. I love Georgiou, and I love section 31, but I’m not a fan of what discovery did with the organisation in season 2. So I suppose I should clarify that I love section 31 as it was portrayed in Deep Space Nine. Can this show redeem what discovery season 2 did? Maybe. We’ll see. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to next week. It should be fun to see how things are going to be resolved. Next week, of course, we’ll be talking about Terra Firma Part 2. We’re getting close to the end of the season. It’ll all be finished in early January. I’m looking forward to the Christmas holidays. It’s been a long year and I’m exhausted. I’m gonna have 3 weeks off work, which will be nice, and should allow me some time to catch up with my writing. At present, this podcast basically takes up all of my creative time and energy. And I really need to get Jewel of The Stars book 3 out soon. Speaking of which you can grab book 1 for just 99 cents at books2read.com/jewel. It’s basically Star Trek but on a cruise ship. Well, I’m tired and I can’t think of anything else to say, other than Live long and prosper. Make it so.

Star Trek Discovery "Die Trying" Detailed Analysis & Review

Star Trek Podcasts: Trek.fm Complete Master Feed

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2020 29:14

In the newest episode of Star Trek Discovery, the crew finally locate Starfleet headquarters, in what is a fanboy extravaganza. We see Voyager J and the USS Nog. I love the back and forth between Admiral Vance and Saru and Burnham. Can they convince him to trust them, and is coming back to Starfleet, after so many centuries all they hoped it would be? Another great episode of Star Trek. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd. This is episode 42 of the podcast. Yes. 42. A very significant nerd number. Let’s just take a moment to appreciate life, the universe, and everything. Ok. on with it. Today, we’re talking about Star Trek Discovery season 3 episode 5. Die Trying. The description on Memory Alpha reads After reuniting with what remains of Starfleet and the Federation, the USS Discovery and its crew must prove that a 930 year old crew and starship are exactly what this new future needs. The teleplay was written by Sean Cochran based on a story by James Duff & Sean Cochrane. It was directed by Maja Vrvilo And it first aired on the 12th of November 2020. Make it so. The episode opens with Saru giving a captain’s log. And that’s awesome. I believe it’s the first time we’ve heard him utter those iconic words. The interesting thing is, it’s a supplemental log. Last week started the same way, with Doctor Culbert giving a supplemental log. A supplemental log is just that … it’s a supplement. The original series used supplemental logs as a little catch-up for those viewers coming in part-way through the broadcast who might have missed the beginning of the episode. In-universe, it’s like an addition to the day’s log. Now it’s conceivable that we would open a story with them supplementing their log, but the things they say just don’t feel very supplemental. They feel like the main content of a log. The first two seasons of this show often used supplemental logs to good effect, because it meant they didn’t have to quote a stardate, and they had no good system for stardates in the pre-TOS era. But we’re now in the 32nd century, and we have a good Stardate system. In fact, a stardate is mentioned later in the episode. So why are doing all these supplemental logs at the start of episodes? Feel a little weird. But anyway, Saru is giving a captain’s log. And I love that. Discovery is about to arrive at the coordinates where they’ll find the headquarters for both Starfleet and The Federation. And it’s nice to see that the writers are finally understanding the distinction and relationship between those two entities. There’s a hint of misgiving in Saru’s voice. They don’t know what the Federation or Starfleet look like in this century. Will they be eager to see a 930 year old ship? Will the Discovery crew have a hope of fitting in with this version of Starfleet? Will the common ideals remain enough to bind them together? As they were in the fantastic crossover novel Star Trek Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens. Great book. Check it out if you haven’t read it. Michael doesn’t just want to know what’s become of Starfleet in this universe. She wants to find out what happened to her mother. Maybe there will be some answers here. So, headquarters is contained in a distortion field meant to hide it. I’m not sure it’s very effective. It’s this big glow blob thing that must raise a few eyebrows, both visually, and on sensors. But anyway, Discovery flies in. Have you noticed that the shuttle bay doors always seem to be open these days. I know they have a forcefield to hold in the atmosphere, but that’s just meant to be up while the doors are open for ships to come in and out. It’s kind of weird that they just fly around with it open all the time. Very odd. I mean, it looks cool on screen, but it’s not very practical. This opening sequence is just a massive Star Trek geek-out. We get to see a bunch of 32nd century Starfleet ships, but we don’t get a really good look at them. The lighting in this shot seems designed to obscure them, more than show them off, which I think is a terrible shame. I want to get a sense of these ships. One of them seems to have really long nacelles, like Discovery. Another seems to be shaped like a donut. The looks on everyone’s faces is priceless, and kind of matches how we’d all feel if we were suddenly in the heart of Starfleet territory, surrounded by ships. The crew notice ships with neutronium alloy fibres, organic hulls, ships that are entirely holographic, a new USS Constitution that can sleep a crew of two thousand, detached nacelles, and a flying rainforest. And then we see the USS Voyager. NCC 74658-J Which is really cool. Not all Starfleet ships that re-use the name of a previous vessel get the letters in the registry. Often, they just get a brand new number. It’s only special ships that retain that registry number and add a letter on the end. Enter Enterprise was one example. It seems Voyager is another. And that makes sense. Voyager’s journey home from the Delta Quadrant would be the stuff of legend in this day and age. We don’t get a great look at the new Voyager, but its primary hull seems to follow a similar shape to the original. It’s the eleventh ship to bear the name. Memory Alpha has said that Voyager J is a 32nd century intrepid class vessel. But that doesn’t make sense. The intrepids were a class of ships used in the 24th century. Starfleet doesn’t re-use the class name like that. If it were intrepid class, it should look exactly like the original voyager. Anyway, this isn’t on-screen canon. And then the big moment, we fly past the USS Nog. NCC-325070 This is a blink and you’ll miss it moment, and honestly, you’ll probably miss it even if you don’t blink. You can barely read the name with all the lense flare going on. This particular moment was spoiled for me by the internet, because I don’t get Discovery until Friday night, here in Australia. So I spent the whole episode waiting for the USS Nog to show up. I expected it to be a significant part of the story. It wasn’t. It was just a quick visual easter egg. But, it’s an awesome one. I love that they did this. Alex Kurtzman has confirmed this ship is named after the character Nog on Deep Space Nine, who was the first Ferengi to join Starfleet. And he’s said this is an Eisenberg class ship. This, of course, honours the late Aron Eisenberg who played Nog, and who tragically died just over a year ago. In my opinion, Nog was one of the greatest characters in all of Star Trek. He had the greatest character arc the show has ever done, and by all accounts, Mr. Eisenberg was a wonderful human being. So I’m thrilled that Discovery honoured him in this way. After Discovery hails headquarters, letting them know the USS Discovery is reporting for duty, they ask for the Captain, First office and Tal to beam aboard. Their sensors can detect the presence of the symbiont. As they are snatched away by a transporter beam, the musical score goes full-on fanboy, which honestly was appropriate for this moment. We get a decent look at the new Starfleet uniforms. They’re similar, but not quite identical to what we saw in Tal’s memories last episode. They look like a decent continuation of the style we’ve seen on the USS Relativity, and from the temporal agents in the temporal cold war. There’s a bunch of different uniforms. The admiral uniform is different, obviously, as it always is. Then there are light grayish blue uniforms with a stripe going up them in traditional TNG-era department colours. But there is another uniform, light dray on the bottom with dark blue shoulders, in a shape I’m not sure how to describe in words. This is worn by the chief of security and at least one other officer. This particular uniform looks the least Starfleet and seems to be out of place among the others. Oh, and the com badges are not identical to the one worn by Admiral Sena Tal. I actually prefer Tal’s com badge, because the Starfleet delta is a bit more visible. But anyway. And we meet Admiral Vence, commander-in-chief of Starfleet. Saru is delighted to learn that Kaminar joined the federation. We learn about The Omega Chain, a coalition of Andorian and Orions. And we learn of someone called Osyraa, who is becoming more brazen every day. I imagine we’ll learn more of him and his organisation in future episodes. The omega chain gets name-dropped again later. The admiral knew Sela Tal, but makes it clear that he and Adira are strangers to one another. And then Adira is taken off for a medical diagnostic. And that’s the last we see of her in this episode. I wonder what all of that is about. Maybe they just want to make sure that the symbiant and the human host are healthy with one another. But the Trill themselves would have been better equipped to determine that. I’m really curious what that’s all about. I noticed, on my first watch, there was a little visual easter egg, a mention of the Kazon on a computer monitor. I imagine that before the burn, the Federation’s influence extended into the Delta Quadrant. Maybe even the Gamma Quadrant as well. Distances that were insurmountable for Voyager were probably considered “just next door” before the burn. This season, and this episode in particular, are making me feel the same way that I first felt when I started watching TNG. This is Star Trek, but it’s a whole new Star Trek. It’s a great feeling. I enjoyed the first two seasons of this show, but I’m loving this season way more than I was expecting to. But then we learn about the Kili. Some refugees of a cool-looking new alien race are sick with some kind of disease which is plaguing their world. Burnham is immediately keen to help with that problem, but Vance wants to hear their story first. And I’m pleased to see they are finally telling someone the truth about their situation. The whole truth. Control, the sphere data, the spore drive. The red angel. All of it. And I’m glad about that. The whole hiding who they were thing was starting to get a bit old, and well...strange. The rather annoying EMH notes that Saru may be the last Kelpien who still retains biochemical traces of Vahar’ai. Which is odd, because Vahar’ai is basically a stage of development, like puberty. So we are to say that the offspring of Kelpiens who have gone through Vahar’ai and shed their ganglia, are born without ganglia of their own, they are are born as “evolved Kelpiens” as the second season episode rather incorrectly called them. That’s weird. Remember, long ago, there were “evolved Kelpiens,” but the Ba’ul forced them back into their pre-vahar’ai state. None of this has been explained very well. There are currently 38 member worlds of the Federation that Vance is aware of. There may be other worlds out there that still consider themselves members, but have lost all contact. There were 350 member worlds at the Federation’s peak. I wonder when exactly that peak happened. And I do still love the floating tables and chairs. They’re cool. The EMH, Eli has confirmed that Saru and Michael are not lying. But Starfleet records hold no references to Control, a red angel or a spire drive. Thanks, Spock. So he’s understandably skeptical. He can’t corroborate their story. And the Federation spent most of the 30th century fighting a war to uphold the temporal accords. We, of course, know this as the temporal cold war. Time travel is outlawed. Which means, the Discovery crew’s presence here is by definition, a crime. This all makes perfect sense. Given their past, the present-day Starfleet would be very uncomfortable with time-travellers, even if they claim to have come from a time far predating the temporal war. Are the discovery crew here as an attempt by somebody to change the future? He can’t rule that out. And he shouldn’t. He can’t afford to trust them without evidence. You’ll notice that Starfleet, and Vance in particular, is the antagonist of this episode, because he opposes Saru and Michael’s goal. He stands in the way as an obstacle to what they want. Note, that doesn’t make him a villain. This isn’t evil Starfleet. I think a lot of fans have had enough of evil Starfleet lately. No. This is Starfleet being cautious, as they should. Vane plans to requisition Discovery for analysis and retrofit, and split up the crew. This immediately gets our heckles up. That sounds terrible. The crew of Discovery are a family. (and yes in this season, they have earned that descriptor). The reason they all left their lives behind to come into the future was so that Michael wouldn’t have to be alone here. If they are split up now, it defeats that whole purpose. They might as well have remained in the 23rd century and let Michael fly Discovery on auto-pilot as she originally planned. This is really upsetting to all of them, and not something any of them are going to want to take sitting down. And I’m totally on their side in this. However. What Vance is saying makes sense from his point of view. If the Discovery crew are here for some nefarious reason, it decreases the probability of them being able to carry out whatever it is they intend by breaking them up, separating them randomly. It seems harsh, but I understand why he’s doing it. Vance asks Saru to put the needs to Starfleet ahead of the needs of his crew. That’s hard. There’s a fantastic scene between Saru and Michael, back in Discovery’s ready room. Michael is all worked up about this, and understandably. She makes some good practical points why Vance is wrong. Why the crew should be kept together. They know this ship. They know the spore drive, and if this family is broken up now, some may never recover. All true. But Saru rightly points out that it’s Vance’s call. He’s the admiral. He’s the commander in chief. They chose to rejoin Starfleet. They could have just stayed out there as a rogue element, like so many others in the galaxy. They chose to come back and submit themselves to Starfleet’s chain of command. The balanced, two-sided conflict here is delicious. Michael is all set to steal information about the Kili, so they can help cure the disease and prove their worth. Saru has to remind her that Starfleet officers don’t operate that way. A lesson he thought she’s learned by now, after her ill-fated mutiny on the Shenzhou. And I think she had, but she’s been living as a free spirit in this century for a year. She admitted she’d let go of a lot of things. She needs to be reigned in by Saru, and she knows it. Her humble realisation of that is nicely portrayed. While the crew are interrogated, with various levels of cooperation, Saru and Burnham attempt to request the roster of planets the Kili visited through official channels. They’re starting to get through to Lieutenant Willa. Burnham’s unique knowledge of the past helps her to solve the mystery of the Kili Illness. The only way to cure it is to get a hold of some pre-mutated plants from Urna. The only place to find this is a Federation seed vault ship, which still exists today. The USS Tikhov. It holds samples of every plant in the galaxy. It’s like a vast seed library. The problem is, the Tikhov is four months away. The spore drive is the obvious solution. But the only crew-member Vance needs is Stammets. He’s gonna put a new crew of trusted officers on Discovery. Burnham makes some valid points in argument, but as usual, her tone is insubordinate. It takes Saru to find the diplomatic middle-road. He’ll remain on the station, kind of like collateral. Burnham will command the Discovery, but Willa and two security officers will accompany them. You see, Vance is not completely unreasonable. But he does need to be convinced. So they jump to the Tikhov’s coordinates, but the ship is stuck in an ion storm. They have to reach in and tractor them out. And this is where we get another great Detmer scene. As things get tense, she starts to blank out. She’s going all distant again. Because once again, the pressure is all riding on her shoulders. But Owo notices she's freezing and gives her some reassuring words. “You have time. You can do this.” And it’s enough to pull Detmer back, now that she’s being honest. I really liked this. I can see a real friendship growing between those two characters. Kind of like a Geordi / Data thing, or a Tom and Harry thing. The most interesting part of the interrogations is definitely the Georgiou stuff. The bit where she shuts down holograms by blinking at them is kinda weird. The guy who questions her is kind of interesting. He wears glasses because he thinks they make him look smarter. (Remember even in the 23rd century glasses were mostly a thing of the past, unless you’re allergic to Retinax V like Kirk) He reminds me a little of Bill Nighy. He’s fascinated by Georgiou and the Terrans in particular. They build an empire based on the maxim, because we feel like it. So why did she join a Starfleet crew? He figures out she has a personal stake. She cares, personally, for Michael. He also figures out that the only way he’ll glean information from her is by the questions she asks him. Nice. She wants to know who is really calling the shots in the galaxy today. Who caused the burn? Are they the same? You can see that she’s already planning her next move. Is she wanting to take over the whole thing for herself? Maybe set herself up as an emperor again? It’s in her nature. But she learns that the terran empire fell centuries ago, which we know from Deep Space Nine. It’s all thanks for mirror Spock’s preaching of peace, as motivated by Kirk. but as Kirk pointed out, the empire could not stand forever. It would fall eventually. This really seems to have rattled her. WE also learn that the distance between our universe and the mirror universe started expanding after she crossed over. I wonder what caused that. Kirk’s encounter there? Something else? There hasn’t been a crossing in over 500 years. That puts the last crossing at no later than the 27th century. He said over 500, so I wonder exactly how much earlier it was. And I wonder what the mirror universe looks like now, in 3189. Different Federation worlds take turns looking after the seed vault. At present, it’s a Barzan family. Nahn is excited to learn that her people joined the federation in the 25th century. The Tikhov is overgrown with plants, which is a little weird. It’ll be explained later, of course. They find a holo recording of the Barzan family. Someone is humming a tune. The same lullaby that Adira was playing on the cello. This appears to be quite the mystery, and we’ll come back to it at the end of the episode. Don’t let me forget. While looking through the logs, Nhan learns that something terrible happened here. A light hurt the wife and kids. The husband hoped a cure could be found in the vault. He’s been growing the plants from the seed vault, searching for answers. Culbert finds the wife and kids dead in stasis. The husband, Attis is in a weird state. He appears and disappears. He’s out of phase. Nahn says that Barzans don’t have the same concept of death as humans. But she doesn’t really explain what that means. Attis clearly believes he can find a way to bring his dead family back to life. I wish they’d explored this concept a little more. Because at face value it doesn’t make sense. What exactly do Barzan’s believe about death? They can’t get into the seed vault without Attis’s password. So they have to find a way to reason with him. Stamets, Reno and Tilly figure out that the ship was hit by a coronal mass ejection. Attis was beaming at the time, which is why he survived, but also why he’s out of phase, kinda mid-transport. But they cure him of this with the transporter. And Michael manages to get through to him. He gets her the seeds she needs to save the Kili. But Attis won’t leave the Tikhov. He won’t leave his family. I don’t understand. Can’t they beam his family on board with him, while he gets medical treatment. Is this just a suicidal thing because he can’t bear to live without his family? Michael wants to force him to come, because if he stays, the seeds will be lost? A valuable part of Federation history. I guess, she assumes if he stays, he’ll keep taking the seeds and growing them, depleting the supplies from the vault. So Nahn decides to stay behind and watch the seeds, fulfilling the Barzan watch. She’s suddenly feeling very connected to her people. Somehow, Nahn again connects this, emotionally, to Arium’s death. I still don’t quite understand the connection. I was shocked that Nahn was leaving the ship here, because they’ve only just promoted her character to the opening credits of the show. So, I’m convinced we haven’t seen the last of her. Anyway, it was nice to see her so happy. So it seems that Michael has proven herself and the Discovery crew to Vance. He is willing to put them back on the active duty roster. But Starfleet doesn’t have 5-year missions anymore. Exploration is a luxury they can no longer afford. Saru argues, via a historical anecdote, that their unique position, from a revered time, might help the Federation to look up, to regain some parts of itself that it has lost. Vance agrees that Starfleet has been in triage for a long time. He’s willing to let the crew stay together, but they’ll go where he says, when he says. There’s still a way to go to making the Federation what it once was. As for exploration, well, everything in this century is a new frontier for the discovery crew, so in that sense, they are exploring. It’s nice to see them all come to an agreement. Burnham really wants to know more about the burn. There are a lot of theories about what caused it. They’ve never found sufficient evidence to support one over the other. He feels there are no further conclusions to draw unless someone can find additional evidence, but there are more important concerns right now. I like how Burnham takes this as a personal challenge to find new evidence, but at the same time, acknowledges that right now, it’s not the highest priority. She’ll keep her eyes open, but she’ll follow orders. This feels like a big turning point in the season. They’re now accepted into Starfleet. No longer are they doing their own thing. They’ll be receiving missions. It’s a nice little status -quo shift. Now, back to that music. Lieutenant Willa says half the people here know some version of that music, including he. Barzans, a Trill living on Earth. They all know this mysterious piece of music, but don’t know why, and yet, they’re separated by vast distances due to the shortage of dilithium. Willa can’t explain it, but isn’t going to lose any sleep over it. But it’s got Michael intrigued. And it’s got me intrigued too. I really hope they can pull off a satisfying conclusion to the mysteries they’re raising this season. The resolution of the red angel thing last season was not all I had hoped for. But I’m feeling optimistic. Gorgeous is acting really weird. She doesn’t even notice Michael for a moment. I think she’s in grief that the Terran empire fell, and that she’s so far from her home, probably never to see it again. But I also think she’s plotting. And that worries me quite a bit. But at the same time, I’m pleased that they’re being honest with her character. As she said, she’s wicked, even for a Terran. In season 2, I think the writers forgot that. Saru needs to remind Michael to choose her words more carefully with the Admiral in future. If he’d been a less reasonable man, things might not have ended up so well. I’m excited to see where this new status quo is going to take us. What mission will Vance send the Discovery on next week? It’ll be exciting to find out. Most Star Trek shows find themselves in their third season. It was true of TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise. It seems to be true of Discovery as well. They’ve found a good balance that I think will appeal to a wide variety of Star Trek fans. The tone feels way more Star Trek than previous seasons, but there’s still enough character focus to satisfy me. And while I enjoyed the darker tone in season 1, I don’t think they’ve over-compensates. They found a tone that I’m still good with. After all, I already liked Star Trek before it got dark with DS9, Discovery, and Picard. Personally, I think there’s room for lots of different types of Star Trek, but what they’ve hit this season is the type that will have the broadest appeal, I think. I’m hoping it wins back some fans who had previously been anti-discovery. Next week’s episode is called Scavengers. That’s all we know about it so far. Last year, I wrote a Christmas sci-fi short story, set in my Jewel of the Stars universe. I put it up on Wattpad, where you can still read it for free, but I’ve just published it on all the major eBook retailers, where you can find it for 99 cents. So whichever way you prefer to read it, I’d encourage you to check it out. It’s a nice little story to get you in the festive mood. Because Christmas does seem to be coming a bit early this year. After a very strange year, I don’t blame people for wanting to hold onto something happy and fun. Anyway, my story is called The Christmas Star Disaster. You can find it at Books2read.com/christmasstar and that’s the number 2. See you next week. Live long and prosper. Make it so.

The Edge : 88: Mumble Mumble . . . Our Fault . . . Classified!

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2020 71:25

Unanswered Threads. When a television show creates large, elaborate storylines that are weaved throughout a season, some of the smaller plot points that were developed may never get finalized. What on Kaminar is happening now with the Kelpiens and Ba’ul? The logic extremists came and went pretty quickly, and what’s going to happen with L’Rell’s chancellorship? In this episode of The Edge, hosts Liam Smart, Brandi Jackola, and Nick Collinson discuss some unanswered questions and speculate on the logic extremists, briefly discuss the lost potential of Airiam, and explore what’s happening on Qo’noS and Kaminar now that the USS Discovery has left the 23rd century. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Feedback! (00:04:25) News (00:10:50) (Il)logic(al) Extremists (00:15:05) Wasted Airiam (00:30:33) What’s Happening on Kaminar? (00:40:00) L’Rell the Boss (00:49:25) Final Thoughts (00:58:01) Closing (01:01:34) Hosts Liam Smart, Brandi Jackola, and Nick Collinson Production Liam Smart (Editor) Brandi Jackola (Producer) Nick Collins (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Ryan Maillet (Associate Producer) Chris Tribuzio (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art)

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88: Mumble Mumble . . . Our Fault . . . Classified!

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2020 71:25

Unanswered Threads. When a television show creates large, elaborate storylines that are weaved throughout a season, some of the smaller plot points that were developed may never get finalized. What on Kaminar is happening now with the Kelpiens and Ba'ul? The logic extremists came and went pretty quickly, and what's going to happen with L'Rell's chancellorship? In this episode of The Edge, hosts Liam Smart, Brandi Jackola, and Nick Collinson discuss some unanswered questions and speculate on the logic extremists, briefly discuss the lost potential of Airiam, and explore what's happening on Qo'noS and Kaminar now that the USS Discovery has left the 23rd century. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Feedback! (00:04:25) News (00:10:50) (Il)logic(al) Extremists (00:15:05) Wasted Airiam (00:30:33) What's Happening on Kaminar? (00:40:00) L'Rell the Boss (00:49:25) Final Thoughts (00:58:01) Closing (01:01:34) Hosts Liam Smart, Brandi Jackola, and Nick Collinson Production Liam Smart (Editor) Brandi Jackola (Producer) Nick Collins (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Ryan Maillet (Associate Producer) Chris Tribuzio (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art)

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73: That's Only Evolution in the Pokémon Sense

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2019 78:51

Biology in Discovery. Star Trek has a long history of weird science and alien biology, and Discovery continues this tradition well. More so than previous series, Discovery is able to portray things that feel a bit more truly alien. It's obvious that the writers have a love for weird biology and want to show something different from what we've seen before. A lot of thought has been put into fleshing out these species, and it's these small details that really make the world feel deep and real. In this episode of The Edge, hosts Amy Nelson and Patrick Devlin are joined by Nicholas Paul Collinson to discuss alien biology in Star Trek: Discovery. We delve into the mycelial network and its inhabitants, the JahSepp, as well as the yeel tree and the mycelium itself. The cosmozoans—life forms that live mainly in the vacuum of space—that we have seen include the tardigrade and the gormagander. Finally, we look at the biology of the Kelpiens and the transformation they undergo. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Mycelial Network (00:06:10) Tardigrades (00:23:04) Gormagander (00:30:39) Kelpiens (00:38:26) Final Thoughts (01:03:41) Closing (01:11:30) Hosts Amy Nelson and Patrick Devlin Guest Nicholas Paul Collinson Production Patrick Devlin (Editor) Amy Nelson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Ryan Maillet (Associate Producer) Chris Tribuzio (Associate Producer) Brian Meloche (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

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STDP 041 – Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 (S2E14, 3 of 3)

Star Trek Discovery Podcast, featuring Picard and Lower Decks

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2019 117:58

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 2, Episode 14: Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 – Feedback and News (3 of 3) For episode 41 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I complete our discussion of Season 2 Episode 14 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2. This episode was written by Michelle Paradise & Jenny Lumet & Alex Kurtzman, and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. For this episode, we go through voicemails and other general feedback, our notes, and news. Third of three This is our third and final podcast covering this episode. We recommend that you start our coverage of the season finale by listening to episode 39, and then listen to episode 40. In episode 39, we go over feedback from the previous episode, and also ratings and Yeses. In episode 40, we cover Nos and Hold Your Horses. Fred’s Pics! Like the last episode, the images were chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We let Fred’s pics do the talking for us! We have a supersized amount of pics for this episode, divided between this episode and last week’s episode 40, with a few pics in episode 39. These pictures cover the second half of the episode. What we thought about Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2… After a week, I still love the episode, but I am more sensitive to its flaws and maybe it’s not quite as good as I originally thought. Why couldn’t they beam out Cornwell? Why would Control break down after Leland is neutralized? For that matter, why didn’t Control go after Burnham? How was Ash able to be on the Chancellor’s ship, leading the fight? How did the Kelpiens go from their primitive state to piloting fighters in such a short time? These are all nitpicks to me, though, and don’t affect my ultimate rating, at least that much. Ford Pinto! A couple of things I mentioned in the episode were the Ford Pinto and the AVE Mizar. But one thing I didn’t realize about the AVE Mizar during the recording was that the inventors of the “roadable aircraft” were killed in a test flight. I don’t feel so great about making fun of it anymore, because of knowing those unfortunate circumstances. That’s it for Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2! We are taking a well-deserved hiatus. We plan to be back sometime in June. At that time, we plan to do a Season 2 roundtable episode. We’ll cover other feedback we haven’t had a chance to answer yet, and any other feedback we get on these last three episodes after that. While you can respond to this episode or the previous two, so we will not be covering any feedback received until episode 42 at the earliest, but probably not until episode 43 or 44. Send in your feedback! You can submit feedback via the feedback page

STDP 041 – Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 (S2E14, 3 of 3)

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2019 117:58

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 2, Episode 14: Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 – Feedback and News (3 of 3) For episode 41 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I complete our discussion of Season 2 Episode 14 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2. This episode was written by Michelle Paradise & Jenny Lumet & Alex Kurtzman, and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. For this episode, we go through voicemails and other general feedback, our notes, and news. Third of three This is our third and final podcast covering this episode. We recommend that you start our coverage of the season finale by listening to episode 39, and then listen to episode 40. In episode 39, we go over feedback from the previous episode, and also ratings and Yeses. In episode 40, we cover Nos and Hold Your Horses. Fred’s Pics! Like the last episode, the images were chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We let Fred’s pics do the talking for us! We have a supersized amount of pics for this episode, divided between this episode and last week’s episode 40, with a few pics in episode 39. These pictures cover the second half of the episode. What we thought about Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2… After a week, I still love the episode, but I am more sensitive to its flaws and maybe it’s not quite as good as I originally thought. Why couldn’t they beam out Cornwell? Why would Control break down after Leland is neutralized? For that matter, why didn’t Control go after Burnham? How was Ash able to be on the Chancellor’s ship, leading the fight? How did the Kelpiens go from their primitive state to piloting fighters in such a short time? These are all nitpicks to me, though, and don’t affect my ultimate rating, at least that much. Ford Pinto! A couple of things I mentioned in the episode were the Ford Pinto and the AVE Mizar. But one thing I didn’t realize about the AVE Mizar during the recording was that the inventors of the “roadable aircraft” were killed in a test flight. I don’t feel so great about making fun of it anymore, because of knowing those unfortunate circumstances. That’s it for Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2! We are taking a well-deserved hiatus. We plan to be back sometime in June. At that time, we plan to do a Season 2 roundtable episode. We’ll cover other feedback we haven’t had a chance to answer yet, and any other feedback we get on these last three episodes after that. While you can respond to this episode or the previous two, so we will not be covering any feedback received until episode 42 at the earliest, but probably not until episode 43 or 44. Send in your feedback! You can submit feedback via the feedback page

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37 | The Truth Has Survived

Discovery Debrief: A Star Trek Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2019 73:20

Our panel of STAR TREK franchise explorers — Chris Clow (Movies.com, Comics on Consoles), Rachael Clow (Biology PhD candidate), Zaki Hasan (Zaki's Corner, MovieFilm Podcast), and Cicero Holmes (Spawn On Me Cast) — returns to talk about the confrontation between the Kelpiens and the oppressive Ba'ul! But...who has actually oppressed who? We discuss "The Sounds of Thunder," episode 6 of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY's second season! Plus, the panel discusses the renewal of DISCOVERY for a third season, and continues to speculate on the identity of the mysterious Red Angel! Next time, the panel will double up to talk about one of the most canonically significant set of stories to come along in the STAR TREK franchise since...1964! Music by Bensound.com. STAR TREK trademarks and related elements are owned by CBS Studios Inc., and are used expressly under "fair use" guidelines.

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62: A Lot of Hand Holding

Shuttle Pod - The TrekMovie.com Star Trek Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2019 66:07

The Sound of Thunder. The quest for the Red Angel continues as we witness another appearance of the mysterious entity, this time through the ultra-sensitive eyes of Saru. The encounter takes place on Kaminar, Saru's homeward first seen in the Star Trek: Short Treks episode “The Brightest Star.” Once again we meet Saru's sister, Siranna, but a new face also appears: that of the menacing Ba'ul. In an unexpected twist, we learn that the Kelpiens were once the dominant species on Kaminar, the predators that nearly caused the extinction of the Ba'ul. Can these two species co-exist peacefully and find a new Great Balance? In this episode of The Edge, host Amy Nelson is joined by Christopher D. Littlefield to discuss the transformations of Saru, Culber, and Tyler. Each must decide who they will be their “new” life. We also question Pike's decision to activate Vahar'ai in all Kelpiens and whether the desire to save them from imminent destruction outweighs the violation of Starfleet's highest order. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Transformation in Saru (00:03:53) Seeding (00:15:43) Moral Implications (00:24:36) Nitpicks (00:34:24) Culber's Transformation (00:39:14) Tyler's Transformation (00:48:06) Random Thoughts (00:51:20) Final Thoughts (00:52:11) Closing (00:59:00) Host Amy Nelson Guest Christopher D. Littlefield Production Patrick Devlin (Editor) Amy Nelson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Ryan Maillet (Associate Producer) Chris Tribuzio (Associate Producer) Brian Meloche (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

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At The Disco – Season 2, Episode 6 “The Sound of Thunder”

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2019 73:25

This week the full Shuttle Pod compliment of Brian, Jared, Kayla, and Matt was aboard to talk about Saru’s big episode. Beautiful performances from Doug Jones and Hanna Spear carried the episode through the exciting adventure. While he wasn’t given much time this week, the small moments with Wilson Cruz as Culber were also nicely done. The Shuttle Pod crew was rather flabbergasted at the ease with which Pike and the Discovery crew decided to transform all the Kelpiens, plus they discuss a number of questions they had about the science of the episode.

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At The Disco – Season 2, Episode 6 “The Sound of Thunder”

Shuttle Pod - The TrekMovie.com Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2019 73:25

This week the full Shuttle Pod compliment of Brian, Jared, Kayla, and Matt was aboard to talk about Saru’s big episode. Beautiful performances from Doug Jones and Hanna Spear carried the episode through the exciting adventure. While he wasn’t given much time this week, the small moments with Wilson Cruz as Culber were also nicely done. The Shuttle Pod crew was rather flabbergasted at the ease with which Pike and the Discovery crew decided to transform all the Kelpiens, plus they discuss a number of questions they had about the science of the episode.

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115 - Goth Kelpiens

The Nerd Party - Master Feed

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2019 68:49

"The Sounds of Thunder" Analysis The trio dives into the sixth episode of "Star Trek: Discovery" season two. Sue joins them to learn everything the sphere has learned about the Kelpien race. Amazing technology, pillars of red light and a good look at the elusive Red Angle. This week's episode bends the redress of the transporter room but does it break it? What was your favorite part of this episode?

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Trek Trek: Discovery — Episode 22 — The Sounds of Thunder

Trek Trek - A Star Trek Discovery Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2019 22:45

This time on Trek Trek, Justin and Randy survive the vahar’ai to review Star Trek: Discovery season two, episode six, “The Sounds of Thunder”. Spoiler alert: The Kelpiens were once the predator species on their world. Join us every week as we recap another episode of the latest Trek adventure. If you’re enjoying this voyage, … Continue reading Trek Trek: Discovery — Episode 22 — The Sounds of Thunder

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115 - Goth Kelpiens

Ceti Alpha 3: A Star Trek Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2019 68:49

"The Sounds of Thunder" AnalysisThe trio dives into the sixth episode of "Star Trek: Discovery" season two. Sue joins them to learn everything the sphere has learned about the Kelpien race. Amazing technology, pillars of red light and a good look at the elusive Red Angle. This week's episode bends the redress of the transporter room but does it break it?What was your favorite part of this episode?

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The Sound of Thunder - Star Trek Discovery 02x06 - Disco Night 026

Disco Night: A Star Trek Discovery Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2019 67:42

Another signal appears, this time over Saru's home planet, Kaminar. Discovery immediately gets caught between the plight of the Kelpiens and the seemingly predatory species, the Ba'ul. But like most things, there's more going on than meets the eye. Hannah Spear returns as Siranna, Javier Botet plays the Baul, and David Benjamin Tomlinson returns as Linus and as a random Kelpien. The Sound of Thunder was directed by Douglas Aarniokoski and written by Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lipoldt.

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'The Sound of Thunder' - S2 Ep. 6

Star Trek: Age of Discovery

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2019 25:06

Today's episode features an analysis of Episode 206, “The Sound of Thunder.” The appearance of a red signal near Kaminar gets the attention of The Discovery. Saru is conflicted about the Discovery’s mission simply to investigate the red signal sighting and any possible knowledge of the elusive Red Angel. The Ba'ul, have subjugated the Kelpiens with their superior technology and killed them before they experience Vaha'rai, an experience Kelpiens are taught they do not survive. Saru is the only member of his people who has survived Vaha'rai. His discovery is that, although painful, it is a natural part of their evolutionary process to reach a more mature stage of development. This information - and the revelation about life among the stars and the miracle of the Red Angel - puts the entire Kelpien people in danger of extinction. How to watch Season Two: Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on Space and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else. Star Trek: Age of Discovery is a fan podcast for the CBS All Access show STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Subscribe to Star Trek: Age of Discovery in iTunes by CLICKING HERE. Email the show at startrekaod@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at @StarTrekAoD and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StarTrekAoD/. Visit our website at http://startrekaod.net where we offer additional articles on Star Trek canon, interesting sidebar issues and aspects of the show. 2019 © Star Trek: Age of Discovery

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206 "The Sound of Thunder"

Discovery: A Star Trek Podcast by Phantastic Geek

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2019

The third mysterious Red Angel signal brings the Discovery to Saru’s home world of Kaminar, where the truth about the relationship between the Kelpiens and the secretive Baul is revealed. Matt and Pete keep an ear out for episode 206, “The Sound of Thunder.”Thanks as always to everyone who supports the podcast by visiting Patreon.com/PhantasticGeek.Share your feedback for Star Trek: Discovery by emailing PhantasticGeek@gmail.com, commenting at PhantasticGeek.com, or tweeting @PhantasticGeek.MP3iTunes

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Discovering Trek: A Star Trek Discovery Companion The Sound Of Thunder

Trek Geeks Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2019 60:40

SPOILER ALERT One of the mysterious Red Bursts shows up over Saru's home planet of Kaminar which allows him to go back to the home he thought he would never see again. His return is not as positive as he hoped as the Ba'ul show up and threaten the crew of Discovery as well as the entire population of Kelpiens on the surface! Plus, Dr. Hugh Culber is dealing with the fact that he is alive...again...and he seems to be having trouble accepting what has happened to him! Joining Dan and Bill to examine this episode is our dear friend Kasey Shafsky, who helped co-produce the acclaimed web series Star Trek Continues and had the honor of playing a mirror universe Vulcan who gets vaporized in Episode 3! We will discuss the Ba'ul, Saru's reunion with his sister Sarinna and the huge ramifications the Red Angel has on The Great Balance! We’ll also give you predictions as to what we think could happen both next week and during the season, and we'll reveal what we discovered about our own humanity in this latest episode of Star Trek Discovery. =/= Music for Discovering Trek is provided by Five Year Mission. They’re writing one song for each episode of The Original Series and their brand new album, Year 4, is AVAILABLE NOW! Find out more and download all their albums at FiveYearMission.net

The Sound Of Thunder

Discovering Trek: A Star Trek Discovery Companion

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2019 60:40

SPOILER ALERT One of the mysterious Red Bursts shows up over Saru's home planet of Kaminar which allows him to go back to the home he thought he would never see again. His return is not as positive as he hoped as the Ba'ul show up and threaten the crew of Discovery as well as the entire population of Kelpiens on the surface! Plus, Dr. Hugh Culber is dealing with the fact that he is alive...again...and he seems to be having trouble accepting what has happened to him! Joining Dan and Bill to examine this episode is our dear friend Kasey Shafsky, who helped co-produce the acclaimed web series Star Trek Continues and had the honor of playing a mirror universe Vulcan who gets vaporized in Episode 3! We will discuss the Ba'ul, Saru's reunion with his sister Sarinna and the huge ramifications the Red Angel has on The Great Balance! We’ll also give you predictions as to what we think could happen both next week and during the season, and we'll reveal what we discovered about our own humanity in this latest episode of Star Trek Discovery. =/= Music for Discovering Trek is provided by Five Year Mission. They’re writing one song for each episode of The Original Series and their brand new album, Year 4, is AVAILABLE NOW! Find out more and download all their albums at FiveYearMission.net

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STDP 029 – An Obol for Charon (S2E4)

Highly Logical: A Star Trek Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2019 111:11

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 2, Episode 4: An Obol for Charon For episode 29 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie is out sick, but I was able to get emergency guest co-host Wes Huntington from the Minnesota Star Trek Nerd Podcast to fill in, as we discuss Season 2 Episode 4 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, An Obol for Charon. The teleplay was written by producer Alan McElroy (I got his name wrong during the recording – it’s Alan, not Adam) & co-executive producer Andrew Colville, the story was written by co-executive producer Jordon Nardino & showrunners Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts (who were still showrunners at the time). It was directed by Lee Rose. She also directed S1E5 Choose Your Pain. Fred’s Pics! We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post. A Tough One for Saru… It was a tough episode for Commander Saru. It looked like we would be losing the first and only Kelpien in Starfleet during this episode, and they sold that death. I had myself questioning it. Could they kill him off? Would this be the right time to do that? I knew we see his sister Siranna in the last trailer, but I thought that maybe it could end up being a flashback or a hallucination before death. When it looked like he was going to die, though, he didn’t die. He evolved. One of his most problematic traits, his threat ganglia, are gone for good, and he feels like he’s never felt before. I loved the Burnham/Saru scenes, showing that the bickering we had seen early on was the behavior of brother and sister. It took a tragedy for them both to admit it to each other, and to themselves. So, what will become of Saru, and the Kelpiens, who were being culled, seemingly as a part of a big lie. Time will tell. STDP 029 – Saru in Full Makeup I liked Saru’s quarters, by the way. Very idyllic. STDP 029 – Saru’s Quarters A Tough One for Tilly… This was also a tough episode for Tilly, and looks like the next one will be, too. The blob formerly seen as May has attached itself to Tilly, and isn’t going to easily let go. Tilly gets a drill to the head to facilitate communications, which had to hurt. At the end of the episode, we see Tilly’s been consumed by the blob. For what purpose, we cannot know. STDP 029 – A Distressed Tilly

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016 - "An Obol for Charon" / "Force of Nature"

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2019 61:24

Angelo and Nicole pair DISCOVERY 2x04, ""An Obol for Charon," with THE NEXT GENERATION's season 7 episode "Force of Nature." Topics discussed include: space travel, the ethics of warp, the evolutionary potential of Kelpiens, and accessibility in space, including a discussion of a recent DGC panel on design in STAR TREK: DISCOVERY.

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STDP 029 – An Obol for Charon (S2E4)

Star Trek Discovery Podcast, featuring Picard and Lower Decks

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2019 111:11

For episode 29 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie is out sick, but we have special guest co-host Wes Huntington of the Minnesota Star Trek Nerd Podcast to co-host in her place, as we discuss Star Trek: Discovery - S2E4, which is titled, An Obol for Charon. The episode's teleplay is by Adam McElroy and Andrew Colville. The episode's story is by Jordon Nardino & Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts. It is directed by Lee Rose. The search for Spock (no pun intended) hits a snag, as the Discovery encounters a big entity in space, the size of a small moon. The entity seems to bring on vaharai, the final cycle of life for Saru's species, or so we think. Meanwhile, Tilly, Stamets and Reno work in Engineering, as May has retaliates.

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STDP 029 – An Obol for Charon (S2E4)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2019 111:11

For episode 29 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie is out sick, but we have special guest co-host Wes Huntington of the Minnesota Star Trek Nerd Podcast to co-host in her place, as we discuss Star Trek: Discovery - S2E4, which is titled, An Obol for Charon. The episode's teleplay is by Adam McElroy and Andrew Colville. The episode's story is by Jordon Nardino & Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts. It is directed by Lee Rose. The search for Spock (no pun intended) hits a snag, as the Discovery encounters a big entity in space, the size of a small moon. The entity seems to bring on vaharai, the final cycle of life for Saru's species, or so we think. Meanwhile, Tilly, Stamets and Reno work in Engineering, as May has retaliates.

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STDP 029 – An Obol for Charon (S2E4)

Star Trek Discovery Podcast, featuring Picard and Lower Decks

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2019 111:11

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 2, Episode 4: An Obol for Charon For episode 29 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie is out sick, but I was able to get emergency guest co-host Wes Huntington from the Minnesota Star Trek Nerd Podcast to fill in, as we discuss Season 2 Episode 4 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, An Obol for Charon. The teleplay was written by producer Alan McElroy (I got his name wrong during the recording – it’s Alan, not Adam) & co-executive producer Andrew Colville, the story was written by co-executive producer Jordon Nardino & showrunners Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts (who were still showrunners at the time). It was directed by Lee Rose. She also directed S1E5 Choose Your Pain. Fred’s Pics! We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post. A Tough One for Saru… It was a tough episode for Commander Saru. It looked like we would be losing the first and only Kelpien in Starfleet during this episode, and they sold that death. I had myself questioning it. Could they kill him off? Would this be the right time to do that? I knew we see his sister Siranna in the last trailer, but I thought that maybe it could end up being a flashback or a hallucination before death. When it looked like he was going to die, though, he didn’t die. He evolved. One of his most problematic traits, his threat ganglia, are gone for good, and he feels like he’s never felt before. I loved the Burnham/Saru scenes, showing that the bickering we had seen early on was the behavior of brother and sister. It took a tragedy for them both to admit it to each other, and to themselves. So, what will become of Saru, and the Kelpiens, who were being culled, seemingly as a part of a big lie. Time will tell. STDP 029 – Saru in Full Makeup I liked Saru’s quarters, by the way. Very idyllic. STDP 029 – Saru’s Quarters A Tough One for Tilly… This was also a tough episode for Tilly, and looks like the next one will be, too. The blob formerly seen as May has attached itself to Tilly, and isn’t going to easily let go. Tilly gets a drill to the head to facilitate communications, which had to hurt. At the end of the episode, we see Tilly’s been consumed by the blob. For what purpose, we cannot know. STDP 029 – A Distressed Tilly

time netherlands berg babel pics pike spock star trek discovery entity doug jones starfleet burnham tig notaro charon saru michael burnham sonequa martin green stamets obol babel fish captain christopher pike mary wiseman lee rose universal translator kaminar kelpien jett reno kelpiens spore drive star trek discovery podcast aaron harberts sylvia tilly ensign tilly gretchen j berg commander saru siranna commander burnham

'An Obol for Charon' - S2 Ep. 4

Star Trek: Age of Discovery

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2019 42:54

Captain Pike’s first officer from the Enterprise – known only as #1 – boards the Discovery with records of the warp drive signature of Spock’s shuttle so the Captain should attempt to follow him. Pike gives the crew orders to intercept the Vulcan’s shuttle; however, they do not get very far before their progress is stopped by a multiphasic stasis field emanating from a sphere that is over 100,000 years old. The presence of the sphere also triggers a lethal condition in Saru known as the Vahari. He confides in Michael that all Kelpiens face this untreatable malady if they do not first find themselves chosen for slaughter by the Ba’ul. However, Saru finally realizes the sphere is not malevolent, but like him, it is trying to prepare for death by transferring its knowledge to the Discovery. Pike reluctantly accepts Saru’s theory and allows the sphere to access its communication system. After downloading its knowledge, the sphere pushes the Discovery away to safety just as it meets its end in a fatal explosion. In a weakened state, he asks Michael to hasten his death by cutting off his ganglia. Although greatly distressed, she agrees to his request and find that all of the ganglia fall from his head as she attempts to cut one off. Instead of dying, Saru finds himself with renewed vigor and courage. Meanwhile, Starfleet engineer Jett Reno comes to the science lab where Lt. Stamets and Ensign Tilly are working to reroute systems that may endanger the facility. The mycelial alien called May escapes from its quarantine chamber and attaches itself to Tilly’s arm. To learn what it wants, they restrain Tilly and plant a device in her brain to allow May to speak through the Ensign, who says the Discovery crew’s use of the spore drive has damaged her species’ ecosystem in the mycelial network. Stamets agrees to May’s request. However, she will not let go of her hold of Tilly, because she states she has other plans for the Ensign. The blob grows in size and engulfs Tilly. At episode’s end, Stamets and Reno open the blob, but do not see the missing Ensign.

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STDP 023 – Short Treks Episode 3 – The Brightest Star

Star Trek Discovery Podcast, featuring Picard and Lower Decks

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2018 31:22

Star Trek: Discovery - Short Treks, Episode 3: The Brightest Star Ruthie and I are back with the third Short Trek! We recorded episodes for the first three Short Treks on Tuesday, December 18th in back to back to back fashion, and this is the final...

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STDP 023 – Short Treks Episode 3 – The Brightest Star

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2018 31:22

Star Trek: Discovery - Short Treks, Episode 3: The Brightest Star Ruthie and I are back with the third Short Trek! We recorded episodes for the first three Short Treks on Tuesday, December 18th in back to back to back fashion, and this is the final...

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STDP 023 – Short Treks Episode 3 – The Brightest Star

Star Trek Discovery Podcast, featuring Picard and Lower Decks

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2018 31:22

Star Trek: Discovery – Short Treks, Episode 3: The Brightest Star Ruthie and I are back with the third Short Trek! We recorded episodes for the first three Short Treks on Tuesday, December 18th in back to back to back fashion, and this is the final episode that we recorded that night. This Short Trek is titled The Brightest Star. It was written by executive story editors Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt, and directed by co-executive producer Douglas Aarniokoski. Finally, an origin story! This is the first Short Trek that I would consider an origin story. This one focuses on our favorite alien commander, Saru! Well, he’s at least the favorite alien for one of us. As such, Ruthie didn’t care for this episode as much as I did, as she’s not a big fan of his character and/or species, which she finds confusing. I understand that sentiment, as I was expecting more backstory on the prey aspects of his species, and his height, super speed, strength and especially his threat ganglia. I came up with a theory on how this evolved. His species was hunted, probably by the Ba’ul, but that Mirror Universe saying about scared Kelpiens make tough Kelpiens plays in here. The hunt made Kelpiens less tasty, so a system evolved to make them live in a more idyllic surrounding, and that they didn’t live with that fear their whole life. As I’ve said on the podcast many a time, I HATE the term “headcanon”, so I’d prefer to consider this speculation and not anything that can be used as “gatekeeper” material. Speaking of an origin story, are we to believe that the reason why Saru’s species are called Kelpiens because they eat and/or harvest kelp? Really? That’s a little on the nose, don’t you think? Why did she take a shuttlecraft? I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that Lieutenant Georgiou was the one that rescued Saru from Kaminar, and that totally fits the Saru/Georgiou/Burnham dynamic, and why he was so hurt that he didn’t get to serve as the first officer under her. The appearance of Michelle Yeoh was very unexpected in any of these Short Treks, so I was very happy to see her. However, with that in mind, I did not understand part of that aspect of the story. Was there a reason why she took a shuttlecraft down to pick up Saru and not beam down to get him? This seems like the Prime Directive is under effect here, as the Kelpiens are not a warp-capable species, and we see Siranna see the shuttle as it leaves the planet, so this didn’t make sense to me. Fred’s Images As promised, I’ve included images Fred from The Netherlands sent us from his trip to Toronto last year, which showed scenes used in this Short Trek! STDP 023 – Fred from The Netherlands – Images from The Brightest Star 1: Fred’s photo taken on the 25th August 2017 2: Scene from Orphan Black 3: The Opening scene from Short Trek Episode 3 “The Brightest Star”

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STDP 023 – Short Treks Episode 3 – The Brightest Star

Vulcan Hello (Star Trek Discovery, Picard, Short Treks)

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2018 31:22

Star Trek: Discovery – Short Treks, Episode 3: The Brightest Star Ruthie and I are back with the third Short Trek! We recorded episodes for the first three Short Treks on Tuesday, December 18th in back to back to back fashion, and this is the final episode that we recorded that night. This Short Trek is titled The Brightest Star. It was written by executive story editors Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt, and directed by co-executive producer Douglas Aarniokoski. Finally, an origin story! This is the first Short Trek that I would consider an origin story. This one focuses on our favorite alien commander, Saru! Well, he’s at least the favorite alien for one of us. As such, Ruthie didn’t care for this episode as much as I did, as she’s not a big fan of his character and/or species, which she finds confusing. I understand that sentiment, as I was expecting more backstory on the prey aspects of his species, and his height, super speed, strength and especially his threat ganglia. I came up with a theory on how this evolved. His species was hunted, probably by the Ba’ul, but that Mirror Universe saying about scared Kelpiens make tough Kelpiens plays in here. The hunt made Kelpiens less tasty, so a system evolved to make them live in a more idyllic surrounding, and that they didn’t live with that fear their whole life. As I’ve said on the podcast many a time, I HATE the term “headcanon”, so I’d prefer to consider this speculation and not anything that can be used as “gatekeeper” material. Speaking of an origin story, are we to believe that the reason why Saru’s species are called Kelpiens because they eat and/or harvest kelp? Really? That’s a little on the nose, don’t you think? Why did she take a shuttlecraft? I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that Lieutenant Georgiou was the one that rescued Saru from Kaminar, and that totally fits the Saru/Georgiou/Burnham dynamic, and why he was so hurt that he didn’t get to serve as the first officer under her. The appearance of Michelle Yeoh was very unexpected in any of these Short Treks, so I was very happy to see her. However, with that in mind, I did not understand part of that aspect of the story. Was there a reason why she took a shuttlecraft down to pick up Saru and not beam down to get him? This seems like the Prime Directive is under effect here, as the Kelpiens are not a warp-capable species, and we see Siranna see the shuttle as it leaves the planet, so this didn’t make sense to me. Fred’s Images As promised, I’ve included images Fred from The Netherlands sent us from his trip to Toronto last year, which showed scenes used in this Short Trek! STDP 023 – Fred from The Netherlands – Images from The Brightest Star 1: Fred’s photo taken on the 25th August 2017 2: Scene from Orphan Black 3: The Opening scene from Short Trek Episode 3 “The Brightest Star”

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Star Trek: Discovery Short Treks #3 Review: "The Brightest Star" (TeeVee 513)

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2018 27:25

Scott and Jason return to discuss the third “Short Trek” preceding the return of “Star Trek: Discovery,” in which we learn Saru’s origin and why Kelpiens are not commonly seen in Starfleet. Along the way we discuss hovering murder cylinders, food courts and gazebos, and the recently released final trailer for season two. Host Scott McNulty with Jason Snell.

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513: Star Trek: Discovery Short Treks #3 Review: "The Brightest Star"

TeeVee

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2018 27:25

Scott and Jason return to discuss the third “Short Trek” preceding the return of “Star Trek: Discovery,” in which we learn Saru’s origin and why Kelpiens are not commonly seen in Starfleet. Along the way we discuss hovering murder cylinders, food courts and gazebos, and the recently released final trailer for season two. Host Scott McNulty with Jason Snell.

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513: Star Trek: Discovery Short Treks #3 Review: "The Brightest Star"

Jessica Jones - TeeVee podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2018 27:25

Scott and Jason return to discuss the third “Short Trek” preceding the return of “Star Trek: Discovery,” in which we learn Saru’s origin and why Kelpiens are not commonly seen in Starfleet. Along the way we discuss hovering murder cylinders, food courts and gazebos, and the recently released final trailer for season two. Host Scott McNulty with Jason Snell.

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DISCO BONUS #6 - Short Treks #3: The Brightest Star (with Barm)

Jack's Silly Little Friendly Neighborhood Star Trek Discovery Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2018 50:34

Barm’s back again for a trip, a Short Trek if you will, to Kaminar, to see the long awaited origin of Saru. And now that we’ve seen it… well. Just listen to the episode. We’re talking about kelp, kelp farming, Kelpiens, Final Fantasy X villages, classic haphazard Discovery storytelling, Stargate, The Predator, JJ Abrams-style Mystery Boxes, and most importantly, Saru, his family, and his abduction at the hands of the ruthless, bloodthirsty Philippa Georgio. Oh, and CGI Hummingbird Bug Things.

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54: Living Their Faith

Literary Treks: A Star Trek Books and Comics Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2018 53:22

The Brightest Star. Saru played a critical role in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. Doug Jones's brilliant portrayal of an alien who must suppress fear to achieve Starfleet's mission of exploration added new layers to the franchise. But his species, the Kelpiens, are new to Star Trek and Discovery's freshman season gave us limited information about them. Short Treks remedies this with “The Brightest Star,” in which we get to see Saru's culture, religion, and family. In this episode of The Edge, hosts Amy Nelson and Patrick Devlin discuss the beautiful themes of compassion, hope, and curiosity found in “The Brightest Star.” We see an inquisitive Saru question the harvest and defy his father, leading to a very different first contact situation for Starfleet. While we do not see a hunter in a traditional sense, we do learn that religion plays a major role in the lives of Kelpiens. When Saru questions these traditions, his father orders him not to upset the Great Balance. This pushes Saru to ask more questions about the universe and forces him to choose between the stars or staying with his race. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Initial Thoughts (00:03:13) Questioning Your Traditions (00:08:25) Ba'ul (00:13:38) Lieutenant Georgiou (00:20:29) The Prime Directive (00:24:04) Siranna (00:29:32) Making Contact (00:35:15) Compassion (00:35:55) Final Thoughts (00:43:45) Closing (00:46:38) Hosts Amy Nelson and Patrick Devlin Production Amy Nelson (Editor) Patrick Devlin (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Ryan Maillet (Associate Producer) Chris Tribuzio (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

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234: The Seed That Never Gets Any Water

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2018 75:13

James Swallow: Fear Itself. For many fans, the breakout character of Star Trek: Discovery has been Saru, the Kelpien science officer aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou. Kelpiens are a prey species, driven by instinct to heed their natural fear response and be hyper-alert to any danger present in their surroundings. Saru is no exception to this, and when a rescue mission begins to spiral out of control, he must learn to temper his fear if he has any hope of getting himself and his team out alive. In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson are joined by James Swallow, author of the new Discovery novel, Fear Itself. We discuss the process of writing the novel, getting inside Saru's head, the various species involved in the story, Saru and Burnham's relationship, Captain Georgiou's leadership style, overcoming fear, and what other projects James has on the horizon. We also briefly talk about the current troubled state of Pocket Books' Star Trek line, and what might be in store for its future. In the news section, we preview a new book coming next year from Dayton Ward: Kirk Fu Manual: An Introduction to the Final Frontier's Most Feared Martial Art! News Kirk Fu Manual (00:02:39) Feature: James Swallow The Latest Discovery (00:05:47) The Process (00:06:22) Inside Saru's Head (00:13:04) Two Races (00:17:18) The Tholians (00:21:25) The Gorlans (00:25:07) The Hub (00:29:10) Burnham and Saru (00:31:51) A Novel About Fear (00:40:28) Beginning and the End (00:42:21) The Return of Trek Novels? (00:55:22) James Upcoming and Online (01:02:19) Final Thoughts (01:06:49) Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Guest James Swallow Production Matthew Rushing (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Bruce Gibson (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer)

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42: A Little Dab Will Do Ya

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2018 93:11

Saru. The first Kelpien in Starfleet, Saru served admirably aboard the USS Shenzhou and the USS Discovery, ultimately earning the Starfleet Medal of Honor. Although his rank was lieutenant when we first saw him in “The Vulcan Hello,” he was promoted to commander and first officer by the time of “Context Is for Kings.” He also served as acting captain multiple times when Captain Gabriel Lorca was away. In this episode of The Edge, hosts Patrick Devlin and Amy Nelson are joined by John Krikorian of Trek Profiles on The Tricorder Transmissions Network to discuss this new Star Trek species. Kelpiens are known to sense the coming of death through their threat ganglia, but what else do we learn about Saru's species? We deep-dive into his relationship with Michael Burnham, how he lives in continual fear, and his competency to be captain. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) A New Species (00:04:35) Brother–Sister Dynamic (00:06:00) One-Dimensional? (00:09:20) His Station in Starfleet (00:14:25) Fight or Flight (00:18:25) Pahvo (00:28:36) Mirror Universe (00:50:49) Captain Saru (01:09:26) Final Thoughts (01:17:06) Closing (01:26:13) Hosts Patrick Devlin and Amy Nelson Guest John Krikorian Production Patrick Devlin (Editor) Amy Nelson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

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Vaulting Ambition

The Pensky Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2018 54:11

Burnham reveals the truth to Emperor Georgiou, and Lorca reveals the truth to the audience in "Vaulting Ambition"! While Burnham struggles to come to terms with the "ghost" of her former mentor, Stamets explores the mycelial forest and discovers the horrible condition of its stability. It's the shortest episode in Star Trek history, but the frantic pace of the show continues. Clay and I discuss eating Kelpiens, being unsure of who is who, and unfair writing! Are you looking for older episodes? Find this and every other episode at The Pensky Podcast! Thanks for listening. Stay connected: • https://thepenskyfile.com/links/ • e-mail: thepenskyfilevideo(at)gmail.com

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STDP 010 – Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (S1E8)