Star Trek: Discovery 4.02
Nov. 27th, 2021 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAka the first one watched on Pluto TV live, which wasn't ideal because of the advertising in between, but was definitely better than nothing. It's also upon Amazon Prime as bimo tells me, but I just blew my alloted for Amazon budget by acquiring the remastered B5 seasons (on streaming) for my planned rewatch (I still have the dvds, but the quality isn't best, so I thought, why not?), and so I think I'll use Pluto for a while.
I really liked that we saw the various representatives of both Federation and non-Federation worlds coming together, sharing their resources to face this new natural threat to all. Methinks between climate change and pandemic viruses, ST is offering a pointed comment to the present again. Also, being one of the minority of viewers who actually like the Ferengi (DS9 editions), yay for a Ferengi showing up on DISCO!
Speaking of inner Trek continuity, in this episode we get a lot. Including a big spoiler for the first season of Star Trek: Picard. Which I had watched, and yet it didn't occur to me that this would be how Gray's problem of needing a new body will be solved. Which it should have, because duh, 800 years (from Picard's pov) later. I note that the show is careful enough to let Hugh Culber say this Soong method he's recently learned about only very rarely worked, and hence essentially was given up, which makes sense because otherwise you can make a lot of characters immortal and provide the apocalpytic body hopping scenario from Dollhouse, in a way.
Less surprising is that now that they're centuries into the future, Discovery got equipped with holo technology. It felt poignant that Michael would recreate the landscape of the Vulcan of her childhood (now Nevar) for herself to meditate in, and figures that Saru would recognize it at once. Speaking of Saru, him declining the Captaincy of another vessel in favor of being Michael's First Officer is plainly motivated for Doylist reasons (i.e. the show wants to keep Saru as a regular), much like Riker turning down a lot of captaincies during Star Trek: TNG was, but I'll take it since I want to keep Saru, too, and I definitely can buy he wants to be there for Michael and the crew (and also keep an eye on her and provide balance) right now. The episode immediately goes on to do some showing, not telling, of his First Officer skills not just in terms of Michael by letting him notice that Tilly is depressed and not talking about it (and not just because of her recent experience), and to provide cheer for Lieutenant Bryce on the bridge.
The plot with Book doing a Michael, i.e. insisting on taking a mission that he's really not in a good state for, and Michael being torn between being a Captain and being a partner about this did point out that their relationship will now take a different aspect with Michael in a position of authority where she can't just be Book's partner in not crime, which I thought was a good idea. Putting Book together with Paul Stamets (via hologram) was a good idea on both a Watsonian and Doylist level, too, as they never shared a scene before that I can remember, and they definitely had stuff to talk about. (Then again: what they talked about reminded me that Stamets is surprisingly over Michael's action from last season's finale? Yes, it did make sense at the time, but I'd have thought he'd held a longer grudge.)
Lastly: if the anomaly can randomly change direction, I bet it's not of natural origin.
bimo tells me, but I just blew my alloted for Amazon budget by acquiring the remastered B5 seasons (on streaming) for my planned rewatch (I still have the dvds, but the quality isn't best, so I thought, why not?), and so I think I'll use Pluto for a while. I really liked that we saw the various representatives of both Federation and non-Federation worlds coming together, sharing their resources to face this new natural threat to all. Methinks between climate change and pandemic viruses, ST is offering a pointed comment to the present again. Also, being one of the minority of viewers who actually like the Ferengi (DS9 editions), yay for a Ferengi showing up on DISCO!
Speaking of inner Trek continuity, in this episode we get a lot. Including a big spoiler for the first season of Star Trek: Picard. Which I had watched, and yet it didn't occur to me that this would be how Gray's problem of needing a new body will be solved. Which it should have, because duh, 800 years (from Picard's pov) later. I note that the show is careful enough to let Hugh Culber say this Soong method he's recently learned about only very rarely worked, and hence essentially was given up, which makes sense because otherwise you can make a lot of characters immortal and provide the apocalpytic body hopping scenario from Dollhouse, in a way.
Less surprising is that now that they're centuries into the future, Discovery got equipped with holo technology. It felt poignant that Michael would recreate the landscape of the Vulcan of her childhood (now Nevar) for herself to meditate in, and figures that Saru would recognize it at once. Speaking of Saru, him declining the Captaincy of another vessel in favor of being Michael's First Officer is plainly motivated for Doylist reasons (i.e. the show wants to keep Saru as a regular), much like Riker turning down a lot of captaincies during Star Trek: TNG was, but I'll take it since I want to keep Saru, too, and I definitely can buy he wants to be there for Michael and the crew (and also keep an eye on her and provide balance) right now. The episode immediately goes on to do some showing, not telling, of his First Officer skills not just in terms of Michael by letting him notice that Tilly is depressed and not talking about it (and not just because of her recent experience), and to provide cheer for Lieutenant Bryce on the bridge.
The plot with Book doing a Michael, i.e. insisting on taking a mission that he's really not in a good state for, and Michael being torn between being a Captain and being a partner about this did point out that their relationship will now take a different aspect with Michael in a position of authority where she can't just be Book's partner in not crime, which I thought was a good idea. Putting Book together with Paul Stamets (via hologram) was a good idea on both a Watsonian and Doylist level, too, as they never shared a scene before that I can remember, and they definitely had stuff to talk about. (Then again: what they talked about reminded me that Stamets is surprisingly over Michael's action from last season's finale? Yes, it did make sense at the time, but I'd have thought he'd held a longer grudge.)
Lastly: if the anomaly can randomly change direction, I bet it's not of natural origin.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-27 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-29 08:58 am (UTC)Currently rewatching TNG, I would say that the reference even goes back way further, all the way to TNG's second season episode "The Schizoid Man" in which the dying scientist and Soong mentor Dr Ira Graves takes over Data's body by transferring his memory and personality into Data.(Which actually would have been rather successful if Graves's personality hadn't been so off putting that the Enterprise crew was alarmed in no time.)