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Star Trek Discovery Season 02, Episode 04: An Obol for Charon

mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
I really liked this episode. So far the season is shaping up well.

The interactions between the new engineer and Stamets were great.
The universal translator malfunctioning was really fun, and gives us some hints how it feels to work with it.
I loved the bridge scene with everyone standing up as Saru left.
The scene between Micheal and Saru in his room went on a bit too long and, unlike the bridge scene, did not quite feel deserved. I mean they worked together closely for several years now, but we haven't really seen much, and they still seemed to be a bit in conflict for most of the time. I guess that makes them a bit dysfunctional siblings.
Have the writers decided that Tilly is going to be this show's O'Brien and she has to suffer? Or is that just for this season. ;)

I have to wonder though - did that alien really appear in the Discover's path by "accident"? Or was it put their by the Red Angels or a 3rd party to delay them? It seems like a big coincidence that they would stumble on a dying cosmozoan while on a sensor chase.
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    artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    I really like arc based storytelling but the arc for DSCS2 is so much less interesting than the stand alone stuff. I don't really care about Spock and Burnham's relationship or seeing Spock particularly. The Red Angels don't grip me and the mushroom drive and mushroom universe don't seem to be going anywhere.
    I'm liking the character work and Saru continues to get more interesting.

    However, another line of exposition about why Pike's Enterprise won't have holo-communications. Why? Like the Klingon hair comment last week it's pandering to whining fanbois who got all het up about change. I don't mind them giving the Klingons hair (because it covers up the bloody awful headpeices and ears) or removing the holo-communications but by specifically drawing attention to doing it is pandering to the specific element that will continue to despise DSC anyway because it's not a recreation of the show that exists inside their heads.​​
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

    #TASforSTO


    '...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
    'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
    'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

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    artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    artan42 wrote: »
    However, another line of exposition about why Pike's Enterprise won't have holo-communications. Why? Like the Klingon hair comment last week it's pandering to whining fanbois who got all het up about change. I don't mind them giving the Klingons hair (because it covers up the bloody awful headpeices and ears) or removing the holo-communications but by specifically drawing attention to doing it is pandering to the specific element that will continue to despise DSC anyway because it's not a recreation of the show that exists inside their heads.
    I don't know, trekyards started off hating Disco for all the same stupid reasons, but have liked the attempts of justifying things in S2 so far.

    No doubt because it's been lazy surface level explanations which is what their whole model is. Or at least when it comes to DSC. I tried to get through their DSC D7 analysis, still unwatchable because they still can't bring themselves to measure DSC by the same metrestick they use for all the other series ships.​​
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

    #TASforSTO


    '...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
    'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
    'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

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    khan5000khan5000 Member Posts: 3,007 Arc User
    Enjoyed this episode and this season. Really liked the character work on Saru. Loved the back and forth between Stamets and Reno. The UT malfunction was a really cool scene.
    Your pain runs deep.
    Let us explore it... together. Each man hides a secret pain. It must be exposed and reckoned with. It must be dragged from the darkness and forced into the light. Share your pain. Share your pain with me... and gain strength from the sharing.
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    starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    This episode brings up the question about displays in Star Trek. As far as we know, the Universal Translator only works on hearing not sight. So does the screens only work in English or is there language customization so everyone speaks and reads in their own language? It makes sense for everyone to speak a common language since there is always the possibility of Universal Translators failing and only use Universal Translators for alien races incapable of speaking the common language.

    Personally, I think Tilly is going to be this show's Seven of Nine not O'Brien. Tilly gets changed in some way by her abduction and she will have to cope with being human again. A violent alien race that lives inside the Mycellial network would be a way to stop future use of the Spore Drive.
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    nickcastletonnickcastleton Member Posts: 1,212 Arc User
    starkaos wrote: »
    This episode brings up the question about displays in Star Trek. As far as we know, the Universal Translator only works on hearing not sight. So does the screens only work in English or is there language customization so everyone speaks and reads in their own language? It makes sense for everyone to speak a common language since there is always the possibility of Universal Translators failing and only use Universal Translators for alien races incapable of speaking the common language.
    Well in voyager's year of hell Tuvok could configure the tactical console to be used by a blind person so its likly it can be changed to a persons native language as well.

    0bzJyzP.gif





    "It appears we have lost our sex appeal, captain."- Tuvok
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    mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    starkaos wrote: »
    This episode brings up the question about displays in Star Trek. As far as we know, the Universal Translator only works on hearing not sight.
    I think that is not a given, though we can't really conclude from this episode, since the visual information that was translated was all on computer displays, and it should be no surprise that a console can be configured for a different language.

    But consider that some species might use non-verbal languages, and they would need translation as well.

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    lordgyorlordgyor Member Posts: 2,820 Arc User
    > @somtaawkhar said:
    > artan42 wrote: »
    >
    > However, another line of exposition about why Pike's Enterprise won't have holo-communications. Why? Like the Klingon hair comment last week it's pandering to whining fanbois who got all het up about change. I don't mind them giving the Klingons hair (because it covers up the bloody awful headpeices and ears) or removing the holo-communications but by specifically drawing attention to doing it is pandering to the specific element that will continue to despise DSC anyway because it's not a recreation of the show that exists inside their heads.​​
    >
    >
    >
    > I don't know, trekyards started off hating Disco for all the same stupid reasons, but have liked the attempts of justifying things in S2 so far.

    Exactly, there is a middle ground between TRIBBLE superfans and TRIBBLE superhaters.
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    lordgyorlordgyor Member Posts: 2,820 Arc User
    > @starkaos said:
    > This episode brings up the question about displays in Star Trek. As far as we know, the Universal Translator only works on hearing not sight. So does the screens only work in English or is there language customization so everyone speaks and reads in their own language? It makes sense for everyone to speak a common language since there is always the possibility of Universal Translators failing and only use Universal Translators for alien races incapable of speaking the common language.
    >
    > Personally, I think Tilly is going to be this show's Seven of Nine not O'Brien. Tilly gets changed in some way by her abduction and she will have to cope with being human again. A violent alien race that lives inside the Mycellial network would be a way to stop future use of the Spore Drive.

    No, just no, Tilly can't pull off being the shows Seven of Nine. Tilly is more like the shows Lt. Barkly.

    The Seven of Nine type character will end up being either Lt. Commander Airiam, Lt. Keyla Detmer, or Commander Nhan. Or maybe Commander Burnham herself.

    Btw is just me or is it kind of weird how many Commanders this show has? I mean TNG had 2 (Riker and Dr. Crusher), DS9 kind of had two at a time (Coronel Kira was of simular rank, Sisko was a commander at first, then became Captain, later there was Worf ), Voyager only had one Commander at a time.

    Discovery has Commander Nhan now, Commander Saru, Commander Burnham, and a Commander who was mentioned, but not shown.
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    mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    Wasn't the Science Officer Picard was dating also a Commander? Or was she "just" Lt.Cmdr? ANd I am not sure that any number of Commanders is to be expected. I seem to remember that the Enterprise A had a very high ranking bridge crew.

    However, they have basically combined the command stuff of two ships on the Discovery, with Pike taking some of his staff aboard. And of course, Lorca had some special dispensation in recruiting people for his task - he might not have just gotten a young cadet like Tilly in, but also some more experienced officers that he believed could help the Discovery complete its mission.

    Saru also mentioned in the episode introducing the Discovery that the ship had the capability to run more science experiments than any previous Starfleet ship. It could be that this also leads to more high-ranking officers aboard, as more distinguished and experienced people were transferred to Discovery to run the science department(s).


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    lordgyorlordgyor Member Posts: 2,820 Arc User
    > @mustrumridcully0 said:
    > Wasn't the Science Officer Picard was dating also a Commander? Or was she "just" Lt.Cmdr? ANd I am not sure that any number of Commanders is to be expected. I seem to remember that the Enterprise A had a very high ranking bridge crew.
    >
    > However, they have basically combined the command stuff of two ships on the Discovery, with Pike taking some of his staff aboard. And of course, Lorca had some special dispensation in recruiting people for his task - he might not have just gotten a young cadet like Tilly in, but also some more experienced officers that he believed could help the Discovery complete its mission.
    >
    > Saru also mentioned in the episode introducing the Discovery that the ship had the capability to run more science experiments than any previous Starfleet ship. It could be that this also leads to more high-ranking officers aboard, as more distinguished and experienced people were transferred to Discovery to run the science department(s).

    All of that does make sense.
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    starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    lordgyor wrote: »

    Exactly, there is a middle ground between TRIBBLE superfans and TRIBBLE superhaters.

    Except for Klingons, who would hate Tribbles?
    lordgyor wrote: »
    No, just no, Tilly can't pull off being the shows Seven of Nine. Tilly is more like the shows Lt. Barkly.

    The Seven of Nine type character will end up being either Lt. Commander Airiam, Lt. Keyla Detmer, or Commander Nhan. Or maybe Commander Burnham herself.

    Tilly has been abducted by a weird alien race. If she returns modified, then she is Discovery's Seven of Nine. If she is only slightly traumatized by the event, then she is Discovery's Barclay.
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    starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    azrael605 wrote: »
    The UT is also tied into the computers, so if it goes haywire why wouldn't it mess up displays? Makes more sense than the ephasia virus on DS9.

    Is there any instance in a Star Trek episode where alien text is translated to English? As far as this episode goes, it was a virus attack that affected every system on Discovery. So just because the Universal Translator and displays were malfunctioning doesn't mean that the Universal Translator was causing the displays to show random languages.

    It would make sense that the majority of Starfleet personnel speak English and the Universal Translator is only used for communicating with aliens that can't speak English. So if everyone on a ship speaks English, then there is no point in turning the Universal Translator on until encountering an alien ship.
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    artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    reyan01 wrote: »
    Well, having seen the preview for the next episode, it appears the USS Discovery is going to take quite a beating:
    (WARNING - PREVIEW FOR UPCOMING EPISODE):

    It seems a LOT like they're going to show us EXACTLY why the spore drive disappeared and was never spoken of again

    Have to say though, with the fact that we know that the spore drive was never further explored or mentioned post DSC, I wonder why they kept Discovery (the ship) looking the way it does. I mean, with the spore drive out of the picture it doesn't need the 'spinning saucer', and it would kinda make sense for them to refit the ship to resemble the original design:


    But we know that doesn't happen, thanks to the Short Trek episode "Calypso".

    Because retcons have never happened in Trek before.
    Or maybe they abandon Discovery and pick up a new Crossfield and name it the Discovery A then refit that or it already comes looking like the trailer version or like one of the Planet of the Titans prototypes.​​
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

    #TASforSTO


    '...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
    'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
    'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

    Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
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    starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    reyan01 wrote: »
    artan42 wrote: »
    reyan01 wrote: »
    Well, having seen the preview for the next episode, it appears the USS Discovery is going to take quite a beating:
    (WARNING - PREVIEW FOR UPCOMING EPISODE):

    It seems a LOT like they're going to show us EXACTLY why the spore drive disappeared and was never spoken of again

    Have to say though, with the fact that we know that the spore drive was never further explored or mentioned post DSC, I wonder why they kept Discovery (the ship) looking the way it does. I mean, with the spore drive out of the picture it doesn't need the 'spinning saucer', and it would kinda make sense for them to refit the ship to resemble the original design:


    But we know that doesn't happen, thanks to the Short Trek episode "Calypso".

    Because retcons have never happened in Trek before.
    Or maybe they abandon Discovery and pick up a new Crossfield and name it the Discovery A then refit that or it already comes looking like the trailer version or like one of the Planet of the Titans prototypes.​​

    Well, to be honest, I feel it would make sense for Starfleet to refit Discovery. As I understand it, it was built the way it was to facilitate the spore drive. Since it seems it'll never be using the spore drive again, it'd make sense that they remove the whole 'spinning saucer' thing.

    Replacing the spinning saucer requires a major overhaul. So it would make sense to have it during the mid-Season break or the Season Finale. Replacing it for no reason makes no sense.
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    starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    reyan01 wrote: »
    starkaos wrote: »
    reyan01 wrote: »
    artan42 wrote: »
    reyan01 wrote: »
    Well, having seen the preview for the next episode, it appears the USS Discovery is going to take quite a beating:
    (WARNING - PREVIEW FOR UPCOMING EPISODE):

    It seems a LOT like they're going to show us EXACTLY why the spore drive disappeared and was never spoken of again

    Have to say though, with the fact that we know that the spore drive was never further explored or mentioned post DSC, I wonder why they kept Discovery (the ship) looking the way it does. I mean, with the spore drive out of the picture it doesn't need the 'spinning saucer', and it would kinda make sense for them to refit the ship to resemble the original design:


    But we know that doesn't happen, thanks to the Short Trek episode "Calypso".

    Because retcons have never happened in Trek before.
    Or maybe they abandon Discovery and pick up a new Crossfield and name it the Discovery A then refit that or it already comes looking like the trailer version or like one of the Planet of the Titans prototypes.​​

    Well, to be honest, I feel it would make sense for Starfleet to refit Discovery. As I understand it, it was built the way it was to facilitate the spore drive. Since it seems it'll never be using the spore drive again, it'd make sense that they remove the whole 'spinning saucer' thing.

    Replacing the spinning saucer requires a major overhaul. So it would make sense to have it during the mid-Season break or the Season Finale. Replacing it for no reason makes no sense.
    Yeah - I didn't suggest when it might happen, just that it kinda makes sense that everything related to the spore drive (which it seems they'll be both unwilling AND unable to use soon) would be removed at some point.

    Of course, there is the possibility that the spinning saucer is involved in more than just the Spore Drive since the Discovery is supposed to be working on more interesting projects than just the Spore Drive. Then there is the problems that the Enterprise has with its holographic systems. Taking out the Spore Drive and spinning saucer could create its own set of problems.
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    jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,366 Arc User
    It's also quite plausible that the existing systems are left in place, useful or not. Refits are time-consuming, and even a post-scarcity society would have limitations on exactly how quickly all those resources are cranked out (and besides, post-scarcity apparently doesn't hit until sometime after TOS, because they used credits and spoke of pay). It's easier and cheaper to leave the current saucer the way it is, until and unless the spinning system somehow becomes a problem even when it's not in use.
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