I've already gone over this multiple times, so I won't belabor the evidence-Burnham was flat written badly, a waste of the Actress playing her, the character began so far beyond 'flawed' that merely 'flawed' can't be seen from an observatory on a nice clear day (or night) from the pit of idiot-scream-queen level stupidity the character was at by the midpoint of episode one.
They wrote her as unqualified, incompetent, and irrational, but papered it with a reputation her actions don't resemble, and gave her a position a person of her sort would never have achieved without massive external political or financial influence from a sponsor, or blatant authorial fiat applied from off-screen.
I've already gone over this multiple times, so I won't belabor the evidence-Burnham was flat written badly, a waste of the Actress playing her, the character began so far beyond 'flawed' that merely 'flawed' can't be seen from an observatory on a nice clear day (or night) from the pit of idiot-scream-queen level stupidity the character was at by the midpoint of episode one.
They wrote her as unqualified, incompetent, and irrational, but papered it with a reputation her actions don't resemble, and gave her a position a person of her sort would never have achieved without massive external political or financial influence from a sponsor, or blatant authorial fiat applied from off-screen.
^^ This pretty much says it all.
To expound a bit on this (dang you, edit bug), the thing with Burnham is, that she keeps playing the record of her own flawed personality. Like that 1st Officer said: he hasn't changed one iota. They have written her to be allegedly super-smart; but, at every turn (as I said after the 1st Episode) she thinks she knows best, and betrays everything her uniform stands for. No different with the Epohh this time: Ms. Burnham got it in her head she knows best: and that is then what she does. Patrickngo is really right on this: in reality, she wouldn't last a day working within the chain of command.
And no, it doesn't matter whether she's right or wrong. Like the man said, opinions are like a-holes: everyone's got one. What matters is that you follow orders. And if she had truly risen thru the ranks, making it to 'near Captain', she would have learned this on her very first day as a cadet.
Her actions had little to no influence on the course of events - in fact, they slightly improved the situation. Her mutiny lasted about two minutes and she didn't have the time to do anything before Georgiou was back in control.
In fact, it is Captain Georgiou, despite being a sympathetic character, and Admiral Red Shirt, who are to blame in the loss of life of Federation personnel and its defeat at the Battle of Binary Stars. They continued to persist in the whole "we can find a peaceful solution" thing in the situation, where NO peaceful solution is possible. They purposefully ignored the facts and logic, which were telling in capital letters "IT IS A TRAP". Both Sarek and Burnham figured this pretty quickly, but emotion clouded Georgiou judgement - "my crew is not ready for war" - and the result was predictable: she still got the war and many of the crew still ended up dead.
For Burnham to be wrong, they needed to portray the Klingons and their motivations differently. But with ST:D Klingons the ONLY possible outcome of peaceful actions was war.
When faced with a dangerous situation, the instinctive response is "fight or flight". So, why didn't they just leave? Why did they HAVE to confront the Klingons?
When Burnham called her dad, why didn't he (a presumed pacifist) say something like, "Klingons only speak the language of violence. To parlay with them is going to lead to conflict and death. You should GTFO, like, 10 minutes ago." It would be a much easier sell to convince explorers to leave than to murder. Instead, her vulcan dad says, "So you murdered a dude? Well, eye for an eye and all that. You'll have to murderize more of them if you want to begin to talk to them." I wonder if Discovery-era vulcans operate the dilithium prison camps to ensure "maximum efficiency".
The Klingon Bat Signal is clearly inside Federation space. The Klingons have already made aggressive moves. They have a history of "terror raids". Be smart about this. Just leave. Come back with a few more ships and open communications at a distance outside the range of the Klingon's weapons. Why does Burnham feel she needs to make a major decision for her crew and the rest of the Federation when there are clear options? Her response is arrogant and irresponsible (traits she exhibits in every episode thus far), especially considering the extremes she went to.
You're sitting there with your mind set in omniscient gear. From inside the situation, Burnham was completely wrong. From an in-character perspective (or in-universe perspective) she didn't know what the Klingons' intent was, nor why they were behaving differently, except that they were-from in-universe, it's bleeding obvious that regardless of what she did, because there's no history of Starfleet following the Vulcan example PRIOR to that encounter, and the known example of the vulcan hello requireing MULTIPLE such shoot-first-incidents before they're ready to talk, she was in a no-win scenario and chose to act on her feelings in violation of both the chain of command on her ship, and her express orders.
Exactly from inside the situation they had all the facts to figure out, what is going on and chose not to.
Okay, I'll lay out the facts for you:
1. When they arrive in the system they find the damaged communication array.
After the presence of Klingons in the system is revealed, it becomes apparent that the satellite was damaged by the Klingons
on purpose.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 1. Disrupting enemy communications is military 101.
2. They find something in system hidden by the dampening field.
It's then revealed to be Klingon artifact on the Federation territory - you don't hide something on your adversary's territory if your intentions are peaceful and pure.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 2.
3. When Burnham is doing a reconnaissance mission, she is immediately attacked on sight by a Klingon warrior, without any prior warning. It's a clear attempt at silencing the enemy scout and preventing the information about the artifact getting out before it's planned, at which the Torchbearer fails.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 3.
Here at this point Burnham's actions started slightly improve things for the Federation:
- the death of Torchbearer clearly was not part of T'Kuvma's plan. As a result it postponed the activation of the Klingon beacon as he wasted time on electing a new Torchbearer and preparation for the weird burial ritual. It gave the Federation more time for figuring out what's going on and what to do. Including more time to bring in reinforcements.
- the Klingon presence in the system was revealed ahead of T'Kuvma's plan, which forced him to change the course of action.
4. After they target the Klingon artifact and only after that, a cloaked Klingon warship reveals itself and puts itself between the artifact and Shenzou.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 4 - hidden military presence in the Federation space.
Moreover, what's they kind of ignoring is that cloaking is previously unseen on Klingon vessels and it means that they could be other Klingon warships nearby waiting in ambush. So putting a small battlegroup straight into a lion's den is not exactly a smart move on Admiral Red Shirt's part.
5. The said warship purposefully ignores any attempts at communication.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 5
6. The Klingon artifact is revealed to be a super-powerful communication device, which the Klingons proceed to activate while on the Federation territory.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 6 - a hostile species most likely calling in reinforcements.
7. General context of Federation-Klingon relationship at the time - on every encounter Klingons invariably demonstrated hostility and opened fire. They conducted numerous raids on Federation objects. They relatively recently conducted an unprovoked attack on Vulcan scientific installation killing a whole bunch of Federation civilians - which makes the words of Admiral Red Shirt about not seeing Klingon warriors complete BS.
They had all these facts at their disposal at the moment of Burnham's mutiny and ... ignored them.
Taken separately any of these facts could have been an accidents. Taken as a whole, however, they form a picture and the picture is the Klingons are there to attack.
They didn't have the facts to figure out that it was all part of the plan to start a war, however they HAD all the facts necessary to figure out that the Klingons planned to ambush the Federation ships, which will come to investigate the situation.
In-universe reasonings aside, there's a another explanation for fans giving them a pass: they were shown to be likable, relatable, well-written characters before the committed these crimes. Burnham, on the other hand, demonstrates high levels of stupidity followed by a suicidal mutiny in the same episode she's introduced in.
How do you define "high levels of stupidity"? The purpose of her committing mutiny wasn't suicide. It was to save her Captain and crew. Did you not watch the show?
I did, and they were massively out gunned, had she succeeded in getting the crew to fire the Shenzhou would have been destroyed. Her plan would have only had a chance of working if the fleet was with them already and opened fire at the same time. Thus, it would have been suicidal, and any belief that it would have saved her Captain is a clear sign of stupidity.
and you can't use the 'best man' argument either-she wasn't, as demonstrated on the Planet, when she was willing to give up and go reveal herself to the locals, while Georgiua already doped out a plan to get them out. a great indicator of intelligence, is the ability to use
Wat ? She gave a logical answer to the hypothetical question, while Georgiou in that particular episode was just being a wise-TRIBBLE.
Burnham was clearly aware that Georgiou had some plan for getting out, and she was just nagging the Captain by sarcastic Spock-style comments to get her to reveal what the plan was.
On the whole, the Planet episode was just an example of the show's dubious writing:
- basically, they've already partially violated Prime Directive, because they were seen by the locals when they were clearing the well with a phaser
- the Shenzou finding them by somehow detecting Starfleet insignia on the sand dunes didn't make any sense. They can't detect their signatures, communications are disrupted, the ship is unable detect them visually, but they somehow managed to see a SIGN on the SAND through THE CLOUDS ??? Really ? If the ship cannot detect them by all these means, it should have also failed to detect the sign on the sand.
- why Georgiou was being a wise-TRIBBLE and didn't reveal her plan to Burnham ?
- how did she managed to draw a giant and almost perfect sign on the sand using their footprints ? how did she managed to navigate so precisely ?
- why exactly the ship can't actually detect them, but can a sign on the sand ? what happened to infra-red imagery in future for instance ?
Excellent character interaction, but really dumb portrayal of the situation - just for the visual "wow" effect.
In-universe reasonings aside, there's a another explanation for fans giving them a pass: they were shown to be likable, relatable, well-written characters before the committed these crimes. Burnham, on the other hand, demonstrates high levels of stupidity followed by a suicidal mutiny in the same episode she's introduced in.
How do you define "high levels of stupidity"? The purpose of her committing mutiny wasn't suicide. It was to save her Captain and crew. Did you not watch the show?
I did, and they were massively out gunned, had she succeeded in getting the crew to fire the Shenzhou would have been destroyed. Her plan would have only had a chance of working if the fleet was with them already and opened fire at the same time. Thus, it would have been suicidal, and any belief that it would have saved her Captain is a clear sign of stupidity.
^^ Hear, hear!
Her whole 'sign of strength' thingy was idiotically self-indulgent, misplaced, and mistimed. When you're one-on-one with a Klink, it *might* have worked, and they might have backed off. But when you're seriously outgunned, it's the first and clear sign of the onset of your tragic space dementia.
Captain Georgiou (who I really liked, and thought was maybe the first real plausible female Fed Captain) had it right: Feds don't start wars. Period. Burnham, and her massive, self-righteous ego, should have known this. Mind you, a war was likely to break out regardless, as the Klink were cruising for one; but the fact remains that a Federation Captain does not start a war. Again, period.
Her actions had little to no influence on the course of events - in fact, they slightly improved the situation. Her mutiny lasted about two minutes and she didn't have the time to do anything before Georgiou was back in control.
In fact, it is Captain Georgiou, despite being a sympathetic character, and Admiral Red Shirt, who are to blame in the loss of life of Federation personnel and its defeat at the Battle of Binary Stars. They continued to persist in the whole "we can find a peaceful solution" thing in the situation, where NO peaceful solution is possible. They purposefully ignored the facts and logic, which were telling in capital letters "IT IS A TRAP". Both Sarek and Burnham figured this pretty quickly, but emotion clouded Georgiou judgement - "my crew is not ready for war" - and the result was predictable: she still got the war and many of the crew still ended up dead.
For Burnham to be wrong, they needed to portray the Klingons and their motivations differently. But with ST:D Klingons the ONLY possible outcome of peaceful actions was war.
When faced with a dangerous situation, the instinctive response is "fight or flight". So, why didn't they just leave? Why did they HAVE to confront the Klingons?
Because there were colonies and bases within short distance, and if they let a Klingon ship (or anything intentionally blowing up their satellites) go unchecked there, it could mean another raid. And this time, it wouldn't hit Starfleet officers aboard an armed vessel capable of self-defense, but civilians.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
I've already gone over this multiple times, so I won't belabor the evidence-Burnham was flat written badly, a waste of the Actress playing her, the character began so far beyond 'flawed' that merely 'flawed' can't be seen from an observatory on a nice clear day (or night) from the pit of idiot-scream-queen level stupidity the character was at by the midpoint of episode one.
They wrote her as unqualified, incompetent, and irrational, but papered it with a reputation her actions don't resemble, and gave her a position a person of her sort would never have achieved without massive external political or financial influence from a sponsor, or blatant authorial fiat applied from off-screen.
She asked him how the Vulcans were able to keep the Klingons at bay. He told her Vulcans learned to fire on them first (zero mention of blowing them up) with the caveat that this same strategy might not work for humans.
Nicely ambiguous and pointless. "Well, murdering lots of them worked for us, but may not work for you". A meaningless caveat, especially since Sarek is so ambivalent about her murdering one already.
Irrelevant. Burham chose to mutiny to FIGHT rather than RUN AWAY.
Starfleet and the Federation are pacifists. If she felt so strongly that the life of the crew was in danger, she should have had the ship GTFO as soon as she used non-lethal methods to incapacitate her captain. Captain Georgiou is clearly conflicted, as she believes her crew are not soldiers and they are not ready for a fight. She is not commanding a warship. Burnham can prove that the Klingons are violent and dangerous. The choice to run away is far more reasonable than going in guns blazing.
Burnham decided that opening fire on a Klingon warship in her tiny exploration vessel was the "best" course of action based on nothing. If she fired, the crew would have to deal with the negative results of Burnham's actions. If she ran away, she would be the only one to suffer the consequences. Altruism vs ego.
Because there were colonies and bases within short distance, and if they let a Klingon ship (or anything intentionally blowing up their satellites) go unchecked there, it could mean another raid. And this time, it wouldn't hit Starfleet officers aboard an armed vessel capable of self-defense, but civilians.
The Shenzou would be, at best, a speedbump when facing an actual warship. It was established multiple times during the episode that the Klingons "only speak the language of violence" while the crew of the Shenzou are "just explorers" or "unready for war".
The only thing the Shenzou would do for those colonies is slow down a serious Klingon warship, especially given it's size. Captain Georgiou is stupid so is Micheal. In fact, everyone in any level of command seems incompetent. Why didn't anyone up the chain say "That is a massive ship made by a species that fetishizes war and conflict. You need to fall back and rendezvous with the fleet so we can meet this threat on a unified front."
So many fan missinterpretations, but also so many bad wrtiting moments...
Missinterpretations:
First the Klingon burring ritual is only held by the House of T'Kuvma. No other Klingon does burry their death.
"Klingons have no hair.§ They acutally have. Look on the sarcophague of the first torchbearer. The stylized klingonhead on it has hair.
Klingon suits. ...are actually spacewalk suits, as we learn in episode 4.
Fight or flight before the battle of the binary stars. If the Shenzhou would fly away, the Klings would have invaded the Federation space. The war would begin no matter what. Just in another place.
Shoot first, talk later, does not mean destroy the Klingons. It means, Klingos accept only peeople on their level who show strenght. "We come in peace" ist the worst 'hello' you can get them. Do not misinterprete this with anihilating the Klings is the right answer. They are a warror race and are extremly traditional. Showing strength has to be done in a special way, or you engage them in a fight.
Michael did not start the war, but her efforts lead to the bad decisions Georgiu made.
Klingons and Federation had no direct contact aside from some deadly skirmishes for about 90 years. Even before that the Humans had little knowledge of the Klingon culture overall. Klingons are a snowflake, when it came to first contact with them. There is not even one positve first contact with them!
Bad showrunner decisions
"Who was 'that guy' that just goit killed", "why nobody cared he was killed". Why did the showrunners killed Commander Landry? Why did the showrunners choose so weird names for the maincast? Why do Klingons always speak klingon, and does not change some time to english for better understanding? How was Georgius telescope salvaged, and why did anyone had time to do so? The most unsympathetic protagonists ever in any Star Trek show so far. It have to past 4 episodes for us to get from, "ugh!" to, "maybe ok". 'Dark Trek' and by that I mean, blood, gore and awfull things, as well as untypical behavior of Starfleet. On one side they are the ignorant spacegooders, on the other side they do atrocious things, as well as war crimes in the name of the Federation. Also so many unneded changes of the prime Star Trek design and lore.
Both factors add to the unsympathetic view of the show. We love Star Trek, no matter what, but this show is putting even the most forgiving Trekkie to the test. it forces us a abstract view of the show compared to the prior build up lore of Star Trek.
So many fan missinterpretations, but also so many bad wrtiting moments...
Missinterpretations:
First the Klingon burring ritual is only held by the House of T'Kuvma. No other Klingon does burry their death.
"Klingons have no hair.§ They acutally have. Look on the sarcophague of the first torchbearer. The stylized klingonhead on it has hair.
Klingon suits. ...are actually spacewalk suits, as we learn in episode 4.
Fight or flight before the battle of the binary stars. If the Shenzhou would fly away, the Klings would have invaded the Federation space. The war would begin no matter what. Just in another place.
Shoot first, talk later, does not mean destroy the Klingons. It means, Klingos accept only peeople on their level who show strenght. "We come in peace" ist the worst 'hello' you can get them. Do not misinterprete this with anihilating the Klings is the right answer. They are a warror race and are extremly traditional. Showing strength has to be done in a special way, or you engage them in a fight.
Michael did not start the war, but her efforts lead to the bad decisions Georgiu made.
Klingons and Federation had no direct contact aside from some deadly skirmishes for about 90 years. Even before that the Humans had little knowledge of the Klingon culture overall. Klingons are a snowflake, when it came to first contact with them. There is not even one positve first contact with them!
Bad showrunner decisions
"Who was 'that guy' that just goit killed", "why nobody cared he was killed". Why did the showrunners killed Commander Landry? Why did the showrunners choose so weird names for the maincast? Why do Klingons always speak klingon, and does not change some time to english for better understanding? How was Georgius telescope salvaged, and why did anyone had time to do so? The most unsympathetic protagonists ever in any Star Trek show so far. It have to past 4 episodes for us to get from, "ugh!" to, "maybe ok". 'Dark Trek' and by that I mean, blood, gore and awfull things, as well as untypical behavior of Starfleet. On one side they are the ignorant spacegooders, on the other side they do atrocious things, as well as war crimes in the name of the Federation. Also so many unneded changes of the prime Star Trek design and lore.
Both factors add to the unsympathetic view of the show. We love Star Trek, no matter what, but this show is putting even the most forgiving Trekkie to the test. it forces us a abstract view of the show compared to the prior build up lore of Star Trek.
This is gonna end up like Highlander 2: The Renegade Version.
Irrelevant. Burham chose to mutiny to FIGHT rather than RUN AWAY.
a) At the point, when Burnham starts her mutiny, running away is not an option already - other Federation ships are already on the way. Escaping with Shenzou at this moment means leaving others behind to be slaughtered.
At that point only Admiral Red Shirt really could have commanded retreat - but he was too self-confident in Starfleet's ability to handle the situation. Moreover, after re-watching that particular segment, his decision seems even more reckless - he understands that the communication array was most likely destroyed to lure Starfleet in that remote system, where opportunities for getting reinforcements are limited, but still puts his own head and the heads of the fellow officers straight in the wild lion's mouth somehow hoping that it can be tamed. He adopts the passive defensive strategy giving up the initiative, which Starfleet at even greater disadvantage than it already is.
Federation captains never shied away from using violence when necessary. Hell, Sisko used weapons of mass destruction on the planet with civilian population (and got away with it). This is the case when using violence became necessary.
b) Opening fire on the Klingons was an order, which the crew at this point was more likely to carry out in the limited time she had before anyone else but Saru decides to challenge her. Especially considering point a) about other Starfleet vessels coming in and the fact that leaving at this point meant leaving behind their comrades.
Was that ever expressly stated? I'm fairly sure Burnham did say it was very old in terms of construction, however that doesn't necessarily mean it has always been there. It could have been towed there for all we know.
Yeah, I think T'Kuvma bringing that thing with him is more likely variant. I very much doubt that Starfleet somehow missed a giant-TRIBBLE artificial object in the system when placing the communication array - I'm pretty sure they looked around before doing that.
Moreover, I really would not trust T'Kuvma on his word, when he tells that it was Klingon territory previously, considering that T'Kuvma and his followers are sort of Klingon ISIS.
Was that ever expressly stated? I'm fairly sure Burnham did say it was very old in terms of construction, however that doesn't necessarily mean it has always been there. It could have been towed there for all we know.
Yeah, I think T'Kuvma bringing that thing with him is more likely variant. I very much doubt that Starfleet somehow missed a giant-**** artificial object in the system when placing the communication array - I'm pretty sure they looked around before doing that.
Moreover, I really would not trust T'Kuvma on his word, when he tells that it was Klingon territory previously, considering that T'Kuvma and his followers are sort of Klingon ISIS.
Even if it is true, does it even matter if it was Klingon territory for a few months a thousand years ago?
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Comments
^^ This pretty much says it all.
To expound a bit on this (dang you, edit bug), the thing with Burnham is, that she keeps playing the record of her own flawed personality. Like that 1st Officer said: he hasn't changed one iota. They have written her to be allegedly super-smart; but, at every turn (as I said after the 1st Episode) she thinks she knows best, and betrays everything her uniform stands for. No different with the Epohh this time: Ms. Burnham got it in her head she knows best: and that is then what she does. Patrickngo is really right on this: in reality, she wouldn't last a day working within the chain of command.
And no, it doesn't matter whether she's right or wrong. Like the man said, opinions are like a-holes: everyone's got one. What matters is that you follow orders. And if she had truly risen thru the ranks, making it to 'near Captain', she would have learned this on her very first day as a cadet.
When Burnham called her dad, why didn't he (a presumed pacifist) say something like, "Klingons only speak the language of violence. To parlay with them is going to lead to conflict and death. You should GTFO, like, 10 minutes ago." It would be a much easier sell to convince explorers to leave than to murder. Instead, her vulcan dad says, "So you murdered a dude? Well, eye for an eye and all that. You'll have to murderize more of them if you want to begin to talk to them." I wonder if Discovery-era vulcans operate the dilithium prison camps to ensure "maximum efficiency".
The Klingon Bat Signal is clearly inside Federation space. The Klingons have already made aggressive moves. They have a history of "terror raids". Be smart about this. Just leave. Come back with a few more ships and open communications at a distance outside the range of the Klingon's weapons. Why does Burnham feel she needs to make a major decision for her crew and the rest of the Federation when there are clear options? Her response is arrogant and irresponsible (traits she exhibits in every episode thus far), especially considering the extremes she went to.
Okay, I'll lay out the facts for you:
1. When they arrive in the system they find the damaged communication array.
After the presence of Klingons in the system is revealed, it becomes apparent that the satellite was damaged by the Klingons
on purpose.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 1. Disrupting enemy communications is military 101.
2. They find something in system hidden by the dampening field.
It's then revealed to be Klingon artifact on the Federation territory - you don't hide something on your adversary's territory if your intentions are peaceful and pure.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 2.
3. When Burnham is doing a reconnaissance mission, she is immediately attacked on sight by a Klingon warrior, without any prior warning. It's a clear attempt at silencing the enemy scout and preventing the information about the artifact getting out before it's planned, at which the Torchbearer fails.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 3.
Here at this point Burnham's actions started slightly improve things for the Federation:
- the death of Torchbearer clearly was not part of T'Kuvma's plan. As a result it postponed the activation of the Klingon beacon as he wasted time on electing a new Torchbearer and preparation for the weird burial ritual. It gave the Federation more time for figuring out what's going on and what to do. Including more time to bring in reinforcements.
- the Klingon presence in the system was revealed ahead of T'Kuvma's plan, which forced him to change the course of action.
4. After they target the Klingon artifact and only after that, a cloaked Klingon warship reveals itself and puts itself between the artifact and Shenzou.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 4 - hidden military presence in the Federation space.
Moreover, what's they kind of ignoring is that cloaking is previously unseen on Klingon vessels and it means that they could be other Klingon warships nearby waiting in ambush. So putting a small battlegroup straight into a lion's den is not exactly a smart move on Admiral Red Shirt's part.
5. The said warship purposefully ignores any attempts at communication.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 5
6. The Klingon artifact is revealed to be a super-powerful communication device, which the Klingons proceed to activate while on the Federation territory.
It is proof of hostile intentions No 6 - a hostile species most likely calling in reinforcements.
7. General context of Federation-Klingon relationship at the time - on every encounter Klingons invariably demonstrated hostility and opened fire. They conducted numerous raids on Federation objects. They relatively recently conducted an unprovoked attack on Vulcan scientific installation killing a whole bunch of Federation civilians - which makes the words of Admiral Red Shirt about not seeing Klingon warriors complete BS.
They had all these facts at their disposal at the moment of Burnham's mutiny and ... ignored them.
Taken separately any of these facts could have been an accidents. Taken as a whole, however, they form a picture and the picture is the Klingons are there to attack.
They didn't have the facts to figure out that it was all part of the plan to start a war, however they HAD all the facts necessary to figure out that the Klingons planned to ambush the Federation ships, which will come to investigate the situation.
I did, and they were massively out gunned, had she succeeded in getting the crew to fire the Shenzhou would have been destroyed. Her plan would have only had a chance of working if the fleet was with them already and opened fire at the same time. Thus, it would have been suicidal, and any belief that it would have saved her Captain is a clear sign of stupidity.
Burnham was clearly aware that Georgiou had some plan for getting out, and she was just nagging the Captain by sarcastic Spock-style comments to get her to reveal what the plan was.
On the whole, the Planet episode was just an example of the show's dubious writing:
- basically, they've already partially violated Prime Directive, because they were seen by the locals when they were clearing the well with a phaser
- the Shenzou finding them by somehow detecting Starfleet insignia on the sand dunes didn't make any sense. They can't detect their signatures, communications are disrupted, the ship is unable detect them visually, but they somehow managed to see a SIGN on the SAND through THE CLOUDS ??? Really ? If the ship cannot detect them by all these means, it should have also failed to detect the sign on the sand.
- why Georgiou was being a wise-TRIBBLE and didn't reveal her plan to Burnham ?
- how did she managed to draw a giant and almost perfect sign on the sand using their footprints ? how did she managed to navigate so precisely ?
- why exactly the ship can't actually detect them, but can a sign on the sand ? what happened to infra-red imagery in future for instance ?
Excellent character interaction, but really dumb portrayal of the situation - just for the visual "wow" effect.
^^ Hear, hear!
Her whole 'sign of strength' thingy was idiotically self-indulgent, misplaced, and mistimed. When you're one-on-one with a Klink, it *might* have worked, and they might have backed off. But when you're seriously outgunned, it's the first and clear sign of the onset of your tragic space dementia.
Captain Georgiou (who I really liked, and thought was maybe the first real plausible female Fed Captain) had it right: Feds don't start wars. Period. Burnham, and her massive, self-righteous ego, should have known this. Mind you, a war was likely to break out regardless, as the Klink were cruising for one; but the fact remains that a Federation Captain does not start a war. Again, period.
they didn't - that beacon was there LONG before the federation even existed, so that made that system KLINGON territory
the federation were the ones in the wrong by claiming the system as theirs
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
I feel sorry for Spock......
Nicely ambiguous and pointless. "Well, murdering lots of them worked for us, but may not work for you". A meaningless caveat, especially since Sarek is so ambivalent about her murdering one already.
Irrelevant. Burham chose to mutiny to FIGHT rather than RUN AWAY.
Starfleet and the Federation are pacifists. If she felt so strongly that the life of the crew was in danger, she should have had the ship GTFO as soon as she used non-lethal methods to incapacitate her captain. Captain Georgiou is clearly conflicted, as she believes her crew are not soldiers and they are not ready for a fight. She is not commanding a warship. Burnham can prove that the Klingons are violent and dangerous. The choice to run away is far more reasonable than going in guns blazing.
Burnham decided that opening fire on a Klingon warship in her tiny exploration vessel was the "best" course of action based on nothing. If she fired, the crew would have to deal with the negative results of Burnham's actions. If she ran away, she would be the only one to suffer the consequences. Altruism vs ego. The Shenzou would be, at best, a speedbump when facing an actual warship. It was established multiple times during the episode that the Klingons "only speak the language of violence" while the crew of the Shenzou are "just explorers" or "unready for war".
The only thing the Shenzou would do for those colonies is slow down a serious Klingon warship, especially given it's size. Captain Georgiou is stupid so is Micheal. In fact, everyone in any level of command seems incompetent. Why didn't anyone up the chain say "That is a massive ship made by a species that fetishizes war and conflict. You need to fall back and rendezvous with the fleet so we can meet this threat on a unified front."
Missinterpretations:
First the Klingon burring ritual is only held by the House of T'Kuvma. No other Klingon does burry their death.
"Klingons have no hair.§ They acutally have. Look on the sarcophague of the first torchbearer. The stylized klingonhead on it has hair.
Klingon suits. ...are actually spacewalk suits, as we learn in episode 4.
Fight or flight before the battle of the binary stars. If the Shenzhou would fly away, the Klings would have invaded the Federation space. The war would begin no matter what. Just in another place.
Shoot first, talk later, does not mean destroy the Klingons. It means, Klingos accept only peeople on their level who show strenght. "We come in peace" ist the worst 'hello' you can get them. Do not misinterprete this with anihilating the Klings is the right answer. They are a warror race and are extremly traditional. Showing strength has to be done in a special way, or you engage them in a fight.
Michael did not start the war, but her efforts lead to the bad decisions Georgiu made.
Klingons and Federation had no direct contact aside from some deadly skirmishes for about 90 years. Even before that the Humans had little knowledge of the Klingon culture overall. Klingons are a snowflake, when it came to first contact with them. There is not even one positve first contact with them!
Bad showrunner decisions
"Who was 'that guy' that just goit killed", "why nobody cared he was killed". Why did the showrunners killed Commander Landry? Why did the showrunners choose so weird names for the maincast? Why do Klingons always speak klingon, and does not change some time to english for better understanding? How was Georgius telescope salvaged, and why did anyone had time to do so? The most unsympathetic protagonists ever in any Star Trek show so far. It have to past 4 episodes for us to get from, "ugh!" to, "maybe ok". 'Dark Trek' and by that I mean, blood, gore and awfull things, as well as untypical behavior of Starfleet. On one side they are the ignorant spacegooders, on the other side they do atrocious things, as well as war crimes in the name of the Federation. Also so many unneded changes of the prime Star Trek design and lore.
Both factors add to the unsympathetic view of the show. We love Star Trek, no matter what, but this show is putting even the most forgiving Trekkie to the test. it forces us a abstract view of the show compared to the prior build up lore of Star Trek.
This is gonna end up like Highlander 2: The Renegade Version.
At that point only Admiral Red Shirt really could have commanded retreat - but he was too self-confident in Starfleet's ability to handle the situation. Moreover, after re-watching that particular segment, his decision seems even more reckless - he understands that the communication array was most likely destroyed to lure Starfleet in that remote system, where opportunities for getting reinforcements are limited, but still puts his own head and the heads of the fellow officers straight in the wild lion's mouth somehow hoping that it can be tamed. He adopts the passive defensive strategy giving up the initiative, which Starfleet at even greater disadvantage than it already is.
Federation captains never shied away from using violence when necessary. Hell, Sisko used weapons of mass destruction on the planet with civilian population (and got away with it). This is the case when using violence became necessary.
b) Opening fire on the Klingons was an order, which the crew at this point was more likely to carry out in the limited time she had before anyone else but Saru decides to challenge her. Especially considering point a) about other Starfleet vessels coming in and the fact that leaving at this point meant leaving behind their comrades.
Moreover, I really would not trust T'Kuvma on his word, when he tells that it was Klingon territory previously, considering that T'Kuvma and his followers are sort of Klingon ISIS.
Even if it is true, does it even matter if it was Klingon territory for a few months a thousand years ago?
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"