Star Trek: Discovery 4.12.
Mar. 11th, 2022 03:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which a first encounter takes place.
I'm probalbly not remembering something, or maybe missed it, but as many ST shows and movies exist, I think the encounter with the 10 C in tihis episode might be a first in more than one sense. Oh, Our Heroes in various shows have encountered species before that were more advanced than the Federation on a technological or other powers level, but these tend to be feel like Greek gods (the Q, the Prophets, in a way even the peace-minded Organians) - more powerful, certainly, but also capricious and conforming with familiar tropes. The closest thing to the 10 c so far I can think of is the mysterious probe which tries to communicate with the humpback whales and, not finding any, almost destroys Earth, in ST IV - The Voyage Home. We never found out where it came from or just why it was looking for whales, and mostly the entire plot was an excuse so Kirk & co. could travel to the 20th century and save Earth by saving whales, but even before Spock figured out the Probe was using whalesong as its way of communication, it did not appear malevolent, just incomprehansible, which enhanced its threat, becauses it could not be reasoned with, pleaded or threatened.
10 C is the unknown in this tradition - their actions cause terrible disasters, whether intentional or not was unknown untli this episode, but they are so very alien that trying to figure out how to communicate even on the most basic level is the challenge most of our regulars face. If I have one nitpick, it's that most of the contributions to solving the puzzle come from other regulars and not enough from the guest stars who are, after all, supposed to be top level specialists in this kind of thing. But still, that's in the grand main characters tradition, and among our lot, it was a genuine team effort. Given that one of my main complaints about the s2 finale was "too much action stuff, too little character" - whereas in s3 the balance was far more even - I'm so far thrilled that the show so far really does commit to "communication must come first and finding a way to do it is as heroic as space battles".
Of course, the suspense doesn't just hail from this main challenge but from the fact Book and Tarka, and now olso Ndoye, are still set on plan B (disable the 10c's power source so that Tarka can grab it). Thanks to Jet Reno, and as I hoped last week, she does finally get to do plot as well as sarcastic commentary, Book reconsiders, but this inevitably does not impress Tarka and Book finds out what it means to have had a tech genius in the ship who can reconfigure (almost) eveverything. Fortunately, Jet is also superb engineer, and how much did I love her literally fixed a communication device with licorice? (Also, it reminded me of how in her first appearance we saw she'd used all types of crazy ways to keep enough techonology going to remain alive.) Also that she didn't let on to Tarka she had seen and understood his equations but waited until she had a literall hold on book to spring this news.
Of course, on the downside of things, General Ndoye despite visibly uneasy once data sharing branches out to sabotage continues to remain on Team Action Now, and we end on a cliffhanger, not knowing whether Tarka has just destroyed the barely begun rapport with th 10 c and thus doomed the Alpha Quadrant (at the very least). Given this show despite the occasional dark moments is in general terms optimistic about the ability of dfferent species to come together, I expect the Quadrant to survive, but I also wonder whether Ndoye's actions either mean Earth is going to stay outside the Federation for a while longer or whether this will be the shock moment that ensures they really commit to wanting to join again.
Lastly: I also found it interesting that Zora evidently doesn't "see" in our sense ,i.e. she reads biosignatures (and Jet's was faked to make Zora believe she was still on board), but she doesn't seem to translate the visual of Jet Reno, well, not being there into just this information. It's a reminder that Zora is an artificial intelligence not assimilating data the same way we do.
Daughter of lastly: Michael explaining to Saru why T'Rina is restrained with him in public yet affectionate in private by making a comparison to Sarek made me smile.
I'm in Bamberg this weekend, with the APs, so the Picard review might have to wait.
I'm probalbly not remembering something, or maybe missed it, but as many ST shows and movies exist, I think the encounter with the 10 C in tihis episode might be a first in more than one sense. Oh, Our Heroes in various shows have encountered species before that were more advanced than the Federation on a technological or other powers level, but these tend to be feel like Greek gods (the Q, the Prophets, in a way even the peace-minded Organians) - more powerful, certainly, but also capricious and conforming with familiar tropes. The closest thing to the 10 c so far I can think of is the mysterious probe which tries to communicate with the humpback whales and, not finding any, almost destroys Earth, in ST IV - The Voyage Home. We never found out where it came from or just why it was looking for whales, and mostly the entire plot was an excuse so Kirk & co. could travel to the 20th century and save Earth by saving whales, but even before Spock figured out the Probe was using whalesong as its way of communication, it did not appear malevolent, just incomprehansible, which enhanced its threat, becauses it could not be reasoned with, pleaded or threatened.
10 C is the unknown in this tradition - their actions cause terrible disasters, whether intentional or not was unknown untli this episode, but they are so very alien that trying to figure out how to communicate even on the most basic level is the challenge most of our regulars face. If I have one nitpick, it's that most of the contributions to solving the puzzle come from other regulars and not enough from the guest stars who are, after all, supposed to be top level specialists in this kind of thing. But still, that's in the grand main characters tradition, and among our lot, it was a genuine team effort. Given that one of my main complaints about the s2 finale was "too much action stuff, too little character" - whereas in s3 the balance was far more even - I'm so far thrilled that the show so far really does commit to "communication must come first and finding a way to do it is as heroic as space battles".
Of course, the suspense doesn't just hail from this main challenge but from the fact Book and Tarka, and now olso Ndoye, are still set on plan B (disable the 10c's power source so that Tarka can grab it). Thanks to Jet Reno, and as I hoped last week, she does finally get to do plot as well as sarcastic commentary, Book reconsiders, but this inevitably does not impress Tarka and Book finds out what it means to have had a tech genius in the ship who can reconfigure (almost) eveverything. Fortunately, Jet is also superb engineer, and how much did I love her literally fixed a communication device with licorice? (Also, it reminded me of how in her first appearance we saw she'd used all types of crazy ways to keep enough techonology going to remain alive.) Also that she didn't let on to Tarka she had seen and understood his equations but waited until she had a literall hold on book to spring this news.
Of course, on the downside of things, General Ndoye despite visibly uneasy once data sharing branches out to sabotage continues to remain on Team Action Now, and we end on a cliffhanger, not knowing whether Tarka has just destroyed the barely begun rapport with th 10 c and thus doomed the Alpha Quadrant (at the very least). Given this show despite the occasional dark moments is in general terms optimistic about the ability of dfferent species to come together, I expect the Quadrant to survive, but I also wonder whether Ndoye's actions either mean Earth is going to stay outside the Federation for a while longer or whether this will be the shock moment that ensures they really commit to wanting to join again.
Lastly: I also found it interesting that Zora evidently doesn't "see" in our sense ,i.e. she reads biosignatures (and Jet's was faked to make Zora believe she was still on board), but she doesn't seem to translate the visual of Jet Reno, well, not being there into just this information. It's a reminder that Zora is an artificial intelligence not assimilating data the same way we do.
Daughter of lastly: Michael explaining to Saru why T'Rina is restrained with him in public yet affectionate in private by making a comparison to Sarek made me smile.
I'm in Bamberg this weekend, with the APs, so the Picard review might have to wait.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-12 10:16 pm (UTC)Also Book's still an idiot and not making enough preparation for Tarka's inevitable continuation of the plan by any means. Even though Tarka has past history on exactly this.
I agree this was a really food episode for Reno. I think it's the most main plot relevant she's ever been. After seasons of just being there to snark and fix Stamet's relationship, it's good stuff. Though tbf her previous focus on character makes her more fleshed out and consistent than the bridge crew that gets interests and hobbies doled out at random.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-12 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 01:51 pm (UTC)In the same vein, a life-threatening crisis with severe time constraints is really not the place for an awkward romantic sub-plot IMO and I don't have too much patience for that kind of thing to begin with, but I do love Saru and Michael&Saru, so, again, I'll take one for the other and certainly liked her acting as translator - of course also thematically fitting in with the main communication plot - and the spotlight shone on their friendship in general. (Even if I sometimes wish the letters the show uses to spell things out were a little bit smaller.)
no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 04:17 pm (UTC)Anyway: this truly was a fantastic first encounter episode, and I‘m glad you enjoyed it as much as I did!