S01.E04: Memento Mori

[paulvdb]

Quote

Pike must find unconventional Starfleet methods to deal with a malevolent force that attacks the Enterprise.

Premiere date: May 26, 2022

[paigow]

The Gorn retcon is ridiculous.... Nobody is going to warn Cestus 3 ... The Metrons suddenly have NFTG...

[millennium]

On the next episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the crew is stranded on a planet of primitive tribal people and menaced by a strange creature called the Mugatu ...

Okay, the pilfering from TOS is shameless in this series.   But guess what?  I'm so starved for a Star Trek story that has actual stakes, dramatic tension and characters I like that I am willing to overlook it.   I simply set my phaser to IGNORE, point it at my head and suddenly it no longer matters (as much) that this was a blatant mashup of Arena and Balance of Terror.

What I can't manage to overlook or ignore or just let go, unfortunately, is the maddening insistence of the showrunners to inject MICHAEL FUCKING BURNHAM into a story that has absolutely nothing to do with her.

Stop trying to make Burnham happen, show.  

[cambridgeguy]

I like how they're using Pike's foreknowledge of the future.  Of course he knows the Enterprise will make it as long as he's aboard, BUT he has no idea whether or not any of his crew will survive.

[Llywela]

I'm really enjoying the show so far. I don't care how much it does or doesn't adhere to TOS canon. I even like that it's formulaic, because it is using that formula to establish all of its characters and their dynamics, mixing and matching the pairings to strong effect. After the way PIC completely wasted its entire cast (for which I will always mourn), it's such a relief.

La'an is my favourite, so much vulnerability behind that hard, brittle outer shell. I'm so glad to see Chrissy Chong absolutely killing it in such a strong role after the way she was treated on Bulletproof.

[MissLucas]

handwaves canon, Burnham and physics* 

I love this show!!! It gave me submarine warfare - my favorite form of fictional warfare (just for the protocol: I have no non-fictional favorite)! Nothing beats red alert and pings! 

All the character interactions were great even though Nurse Chapel might have to work a bit on her bedside manner. Not sure what I liked best beyond pings: La'an bringing vulnerability and strength. Pike's pep-talk to La'an and its working (at least for a while) followed by his wry amusement/exasperation at her defiant 'the-glass-is-half-full-the-Gorn-are-coming' moment at the end. Or Ortegas' snark when facing death. Or Pike being everything a Starfleet captain is supposed to be. Or Spock and La'an working together. Or Hemmer explaining to Uhura what pacifism means to him. 

You did good show, keep on exploring!

*This is the way... ahem...

Edited May 26, 2022 by MissLucas

[salaydouk]

"If I recall, you have an interest in archeological medicine. How good are you at sewing?"  Just classic....  

[thuganomics85]

Definitely feels like they are setting up the Gorn to be the biggest threat on this show.  I like that they are holding off on actually revealing what they look like in this version.  One would assume they will look a little different than the one in "Arena" from the original show or the ones in "In a Mirror Darkly" from Enterprise.

La'an still seems to be the one out of the newest characters that is getting a push, which I'm fine with since Christina Chong is doing good work here and they've done a good job with establishing her relationship with the big three.  Obviously her friendship and history with Una is going to be an important factor, but there seems to be some kind of mentorship forming with her and Pike, and now she and Spock will have a connection due to the mind-melt (where she also got a sense of Spock having a sister and it not being on record.)

Hope Ortegas gets to be front and center more, but I'm definitely loving her realistic reactions and snark to all of the crazy stuff that keeps happening to them.

Heh, M'Benga and Chapel busting out that "archeological medicine" to help save the day.

Uhura and Hemmer were a fun duo.

Spock:  "If we go forward, the Gorn will spot us and likely kill us.  But if we go deeper into the cloud, the black hole will suck us in.

Pike:  "Brilliant idea, Spock!  Let's go in deeper!"

Spock:  "Sir, I wasn't suggesting that...."

Never a dull moment on the Enterprise!

[marinw]

"You don't die until you fullfill your life's purpose."

That's a nice idea.

[PurpleTentacle]

Did nobody ever debrief La'an about the Gorn? She seems to know an awfull lot more about them than was known in TOS. Including their language.

"The brown dwarf [..] it's pretty much a gas giant, right?" Why yes Pike, it is. But you are a freaking starship captain. You should know that. I get that they have to give exposition to the viewer but do they have to do it in such a clumsy way?

Something getting sucked into a black hole takes millions of years. It certainly won't be in an hour and 45 minutes.

Number ones genetic engeniering doesn't seem to be that great as it was implied last week. Tougher skin and better healing should be the bare minimum. A bunch of animals on earth can do that.

So, considering how close the Enterprise got to the black hole, they are now millions of years in the future. Wondering how that will impact continuity. Or are we just going to ignore physics for cheap spectacle? K then...

I like the characters and actors on this show (except the helmswoman, she talks way too casual to the captain, for my liking), but the scripts are getting very discovery. *shudders*

[millennium]

56 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Did nobody ever debrief La'an about the Gorn? She seems to know an awfull lot more about them than was known in TOS. Including their language.

They could have avoided questions like this altogether if they had come up with a story about a world that was, oh I don't know, strange and new.

Since my last post I also realized this episode was a re-do of the Mutara Nebula scene in Wrath of Khan.

Can you imagine being given an opportunity to write NEW STAR TREK and you just completely squander it by serving left-overs?

1 hour ago, PurpleTentacle said:

but the scripts are getting very discovery. *shudders*

Even when the episode's okay enough that the foul taste of Discovery fades for a minute or two, they go and invoke the shade of Michael Burnham.   Idiots.

[Starchild]

This show is a delight. I don't care about the recycling, TNG did it and we all got over that. So far I'm handling the odd retcons and contradictions, it's worth it to get the rest. Although I did find myself weirdly distracted by Spock seeming to sweat more than everyone else, when it should have been the exact opposite: he was always cold on the Enterprise, since Vulcan is much hotter than Earth.

But everything looks so bright and shiny and beautiful, and most of the characters are lovely at best, tolerable at worst, so fuck it.

[Sandman]

I enjoyed the episode, especially the submarine warfare angle (even if it is a little Mutara II, Electromagnetic Boogaloo), but “phenomenons,” Spock, really? You disappoint me. 

[Frozendiva]

I enjoyed the ep. Sure, it had nods to the Wrath of Khan and other eps, but it was a good watch that held my interest and I barely looked at any devices. Granted, most are charging, so....

Too bad we didn't get a one second flash of the Gorn during the mind meld. Makeup and prosthetics and creature design have come a long way since the original series and a reimagined Gorn should be impressive. Like a Jurassic Park dinosaur.

Wonder if No. 1 will need some plastic surgery fixing to help hide the stitching work. Archaeological, indeed.

The show is pushing La'an. She is an interesting character, but the show has just started and others also need some backstory. She did have some idea how the Gorn communicate (which is new and wasn't in the OS) and that should be valuable when they meet again. Don't know if the Gorn will be this season's enemy - maybe a few more eps of exploring and meeting new aliens and exploring other planets before setting up something.

Something is rotten on the Enterprise with the Burnham mention. Didn't see the need for it.

I liked Pike listening to the creative ideas and making them work in his own way. He certainly has a way of looking at things and sort of doing the opposite but it works. I was reminded of an old Stargate ep where the team used a black hole  and launched the stargate into it to ultimately blow up a sun. That was about 20 years ago.

Uhura and Hemmer did manage to work together well and there was some nice character development.

[millennium]

2 hours ago, Frozendiva said:

oo bad we didn't get a one second flash of the Gorn during the mind meld. Makeup and prosthetics and creature design have come a long way since the original series and a reimagined Gorn should be impressive. Like a Jurassic Park dinosaur.

[Zaffy]

8 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

 but the scripts are getting very discovery. *shudders*

Yep, that's my feeling too...it makes me worry a bit...

[AmigaJoe]

Is La'an Drummer's twin sister?

[MissLucas]

26 minutes ago, AmigaJoe said:

Is La'an Drummer's twin sister?

Yeah, I noticed that during the pilot. The styling is striking enough to make me suspect it's intentional. And it's not just the styling, the Cara Gee and Christina Chong have similar bone structures. 

Edited May 27, 2022 by MissLucas

[marinw]

The Gorn are the Borg of SNW. The idea of useing people to hatch eggs is horryfying. I'm glad they didn't get too graphic about what that would actually look like.

Edited May 27, 2022 by marinw

[Zaffy]

Of course La'an is based on Drummer. Also in the previous security officer in Orville, Alara. Visually, La'an is  Drummer's lost sister from another universe.

[DavidJSnyder]

I hope they beamed up the dog at some point.

[Colorado David]

was that red shift explanation of spock's about the black hole accurate? just curious.

[CarpeFelis]

19 hours ago, marinw said:

"You don't die until you fullfill your life's purpose."

That's a nice idea.

My life’s purpose is Spoiling All the Cats and there’s never a shortage of cats, so I should get to live forever!

I thought I spotted Atticus Mitchell (Pippin in Killjoys) in the crew, had to pause on the credits to confirm that since IMDB didn’t list him. I hope Ensign Todd is around more.

17 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Number ones genetic engeniering doesn't seem to be that great as it was implied last week. Tougher skin and better healing should be the bare minimum. A bunch of animals on earth can do that.

I had the same thought. I was expecting some miraculously fast healing at the very least!

Did anyone else think La’an’s brother had a really evil grin the first few times she imagined (hallucinated?) him? I thought he was going to turn out to be someone who tried to throw her to the Gorn to save himself. I guess maybe her subconscious pictured that expression to try to warn her off of trying to remember him.

15 hours ago, Sandman said:

… “phenomenons,” Spock, really? You disappoint me. 

THIS! That really bugged me. Spock would know better. Whenever a grammatical error like this or a mispronunciation occurs in a show I always wonder why absolutely no one in the cast or the crew caught it.

[paigow]

4 hours ago, marinw said:

The Gorn are the Borg of SNW.

The Retcon trifecta will be completed when Pike convinces the Klingons and Romulans [whom no human has ever seen until TOS!Kirk] to join forces against the Gorn.

[tennisgurl]

I don't even mind that this episode shamelessly took from a number of classic Trek episodes, most obviously The Arena, that was still a really great episode. It had action, a lot of nice character interaction, some humor, a classic "something wrong with/attacking the ship" bottle episode, it was probably my favorite episode so far. Honestly it didn't even feel too derivative of the episodes it was inspired by, its not like Pike was out in some quarry beating up a guy in a rubber lizard outfit. There are certainly some retcons happening here, but most of the ones here either aren't too bad or have been retconned ages ago anyway, like how in TOS no human has ever melded minds with a Vulcan but in later Trek it happened every Thursday. Its certainly nothing compared to some of the more infuriating retcons, like Spock's countless never before mentioned siblings or the ever changing timeline of the eugenics war. It looks like the Gorn are being set up as this seasons new big bad, not a bad choice of villains. God knows I'll take them over the Borg randomly showing up or more damn clones. It also really struck me this week how bright and shiny this show is, even when the ship is in danger, its such a nice break from the constant dark colors and lighting from a lot of current Trek.

I'm glad I am not the only person who noticed that La'an is a dead ringer for Drummer from The Expanse, right down to the sexy deep voice and the angry eyeliner. I like her a lot so far, she has an interesting backstory and I like her intense energy. 

The brief mention of Michael didn't bother me, I think its pretty understandable that Spock would still be thinking of her. I also thought Pike wearing a remembrance pin for the Discovery was a nice gesture. I continue to really like Pike's style as captain, he's a very creative thinker but not as much of a maverick as someone like Kirk, he tries to play by the rules but will bend them just a bit for the greater good. He also has a very warm but authoritative way about him, I can see why the crew would feel confident serving under him. 

I hope that Ortegas gets an episode soon, I really like her and her reactions to all of the weirdness that happens around her. Yes, "space wants to kill us" is the plot of an alarming number of Trek episodes. 

[marinw]

I know that she is still a cadet, but it still feels weird that somneone else is at Communications while Uhura does cadet things.

Hemmer is getting more and more interesting all the time.

Edited May 28, 2022 by marinw

[Starchild]

59 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I continue to really like Pike's style as captain, he's a very creative thinker but not as much of a maverick as someone like Kirk, he tries to play by the rules but will bend them just a bit for the greater good. He also has a very warm but authoritative way about him, I can see why the crew would feel confident serving under him. 

Very much agree with this. He seems to effortlessly switch back and forth between being authoritative and approachable. He's fine with Ortegas joking around as a pilot, but as soon as she got negative he shut that down, using La'an as a proxy to enforce what he'd just advised her, so an effortless twofer. Great job.

[CarpeFelis]

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I'm glad I am not the only person who noticed that La'an is a dead ringer for Drummer from The Expanse, right down to the sexy deep voice and the angry eyeliner. I like her a lot so far, she has an interesting backstory and I like her intense energy. 

I hope that Ortegas gets an episode soon, I really like her and her reactions to all of the weirdness that happens around her. Yes, "space wants to kill us" is the plot of an alarming number of Trek episodes. 

La’an is definitely a dead ringer for Drummer. She also reminds me somewhat of Jennifer Garner. Since we have a Drummer clone, I could definitely see Shohreh Aghdashloo as a Starfleet admiral or planetary leader. And Keon Alexander as Khan—too bad Khan couldn’t show up here unless there was a really massive retcon.

I was thinking there are probably plenty of people who found Ortegas’ wisecracking annoying, but I loved it and hope there’s an episode centering on her too. Too bad there’s no chance of ever hearing her trade snark with Reno.

ETA: This just occurred to me. Since the Gorn already knew where the Enterprise was, why not power up the transporter to get Hemmer and Uhura to safety before jettisoning the contents of the cargo bay?

ETA again: Never mind… on rewatch I was reminded that the transporters were down, and also powering down was because of the brown dwarf, not the Gorn.

Edited May 28, 2022 by CarpeFelis

[millennium]

1 hour ago, CarpeFelis said:

I was thinking there are probably plenty of people who found Ortegas’ wisecracking annoying, but I loved it and hope there’s an episode centering on her too. Too bad there’s no chance of ever hearing her trade snark with Reno.

Chekov wisecracked too.   Not quite the same but he did provide some comic relief.

Edited May 27, 2022 by millennium

[paigow]

1 hour ago, millennium said:

Chekov wisecracked too.   Not quite the same but he did provide some comic relief.

It was inwented in Russia

[marinw]

4 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

I could definitely see Shohreh Aghdashloo as a Starfleet admiral

She was an Commandore in Star Trek:Beyond

[historylover820]

On a CinemaSins podcast, when they were reviewing the pilot episode, one of the contributors (I think Ian) suggested that the Gorn would be this show's Big Bad, even with its episodic nature, and he said that during this time, the Federation and the Gorn were at war. 

.... I think I need to watch Arena again. I think (?) I remember a offhand mention about that, although then why did no one ever see them.

Anyway....

I didn't mind the nods to Arena, Wrath of Khan, Balance of Terror. As long this show feels like Star Trek, I'm going along for the ride. And, honestly, I had to remind myself that Uhura would be just fine. So, when you have to remind yourself that a legacy character would be just fine, it's doing something right.

I really could have done without the reminder of Discovery and especially of Michael Burnham. And I was watching it going "Is Star Trek doing Memorial Day because this is Memorial Day Weekend?" Answer is probably yes. Was it needed? Definitely not. But, that's probably the reason why Spock was thinking of Michael. I'm pretty sure both he and Pike was wearing a Discovery pin. But, yeah, pretty sure it was written in due to Memorial Day weekend.

While this one had good things about it, overall, it's the weakest of the episodes so far, in my opinion. Probably because I do think the Gorn was just a one-off villain in TOS. Even if McCoy helped a Gorn give birth to triplets in the Kelvin timeline (and he says that those suckers bite). But, again, that's the Kelvin timeline.

[AmigaJoe]

11 hours ago, Colorado David said:

was that red shift explanation of spock's about the black hole accurate? just curious.

-Actually, yes. According to Theory, an object crossing the event horizon should leave highly red-shifted image seemingly frozen just above it, as the trapped light slowly bleeds back into space...

Edited May 28, 2022 by AmigaJoe

[paigow]

14 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I hope that Ortegas gets an episode soon, I really like her and her reactions to all of the weirdness that happens around her. Yes, "space wants to kill us" is the plot of an alarming number of Trek episodes. 

She is the TOS!McCoy proxy... Chapel is like a Whedonverse character that wandered in from the studio next door....

[paigow]

8 hours ago, historylover820 said:

Probably because I do think the Gorn was just a one-off villain in TOS.

The  Metrons [Q-Type entities] intervened to create a truce that lasted all the way through TNG because no further conflicts occurred.

[WildPlum]

Like I said, it's been so long since I have seen any episodes of TOS that the various retcons of those episodes don't bother me. I'd forgotten what the Gorn even were. Did not like Discovery and didn't watch more than a couple episodes and don't particularly want to see plots/themes from Discovery in this show. Watched most of TNG and a little bit of DS9 when they were on the air and haven't watched any of the other spin-odds.

As for Ortegas' quips - it is up to Pike to set the tone on his ship. If it bothered him or he wanted more strict decorum, he'd reprimand her. As he hasn't, he is fine with it and thus I am too.

Having said earlier that I like the more optimistic tone of this show, there is optimism and then there is mindless optimism ("Well, that's a shame, sir, because I was planning on playing the mindless optimism card very strongly" for Blackadder fans (ie: old people like me)). A little too much hand-waving optimism from Pike in this one for me. Counting on his crew to perform well is one thing, counting on them to perform unspecified miracles is another.

This show is also suffering from what I think of as the "modern movie pacing" problem. There has to be a Big Issue/explosion/near-death moment every 10-15 minutes  instead of a smoother 48 minute (or however long the episodes actually are) main issue with minor issues/character moments along the way. My attention span is not that short and I'd prefer a little more in-depth development to a lot of science-y hand waving because of lack of screen time.

Edited May 28, 2022 by WildPlum

[Stardancer Supreme]

On 5/26/2022 at 8:55 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

Number ones genetic engineering doesn't seem to be that great as it was implied last week. Tougher skin and better healing should be the bare minimum. A bunch of animals on earth can do that.

Well, it's easy to heal yourself if there is no shrapnel in the wound. Una had pieces of the ship in her guts, and she slowly got to sickbay all the while telling everyone that she was fine...

On 5/27/2022 at 2:55 PM, CarpeFelis said:

Did anyone else think La’an’s brother had a really evil grin the first few times she imagined (hallucinated?) him? I thought he was going to turn out to be someone who tried to throw her to the Gorn to save himself. I guess maybe her subconscious pictured that expression to try to warn her off of trying to remember him.

I was right there, too! Especially since it turned out that he sacrificed himself to ensure she would make it out alive.

Sweaty Speck can totally get it. *shallow*

On 5/27/2022 at 4:42 PM, tennisgurl said:

The brief mention of Michael didn't bother me, I think its pretty understandable that Spock would still be thinking of her. I also thought Pike wearing a remembrance pin for the Discovery was a nice gesture. I continue to really like Pike's style as captain, he's a very creative thinker but not as much of a maverick as someone like Kirk, he tries to play by the rules but will bend them just a bit for the greater good. He also has a very warm but authoritative way about him, I can see why the crew would feel confident serving under him. 

I hope that Ortegas gets an episode soon, I really like her and her reactions to all of the weirdness that happens around her. Yes, "space wants to kill us" is the plot of an alarming number of Trek episodes. 

I agree. Remember, SNW picks up not that long after Discovery's trek to the future. This version is not the Nimoy version of Spock; this is the journey to that older version. I would like to see where his brother comes into the picture without clubbing the continuity fairy to death.

I love Ortegas' snark, especially at Speck. The way he cut his eyes at them and repeated what he just said in "English" tickled me.

Hemmer is that crew member that works well with everyone, no matter how grumpy he can be about it.

[Joimiaroxeu]

"Some things in this universe are just plain evil." Timely dialogue.

Quote

Keon Alexander as Khan

Oh he'd be perfect. I loved him on The Expanse. I used to refer to the character he played as Space Prince because of his luscious wavy hairstyle and eye makeup, and the way he'd strut around like he was going to break out into a karaoke version of Purple Rain or Little Red Corvette.

SNW out here still winning, despite the Burnham mention.

[Affogato]

On 5/27/2022 at 11:31 AM, marinw said:

The Gorn are the Borg of SNW. The idea of useing people to hatch eggs is horryfying. I'm glad they didn't get too graphic about what that would actually look like.

Larry Niven has an interesting set up with the Puppeteers where one of their three sexes is implanted and eaten. If I remember correctly the one that is implanted isn't actually genetically of the same species. The Niven Known Universe is connected to Star Trek, the Kzin showed up in one of the animated shows.

I was distracted in the middle, but I thought they were having the hatchlings practice hunting and killing with the humans, more like a preschool snack. If they are sentient it is also a learning experience!

[paigow]

1 hour ago, Affogato said:

I was distracted in the middle, but I thought they were having the hatchlings practice hunting and killing with the humans, more like a preschool snack. If they are sentient it is also a learning experience!

If true, Gorns would be both Aliens AND Predators... 

[millennium]

8 hours ago, WildPlum said:

("Well, that's a shame, sir, because I was planning on playing the mindless optimism card very strongly" for Blackadder fans

Now I want to see Admiral Blackadder.

46 minutes ago, paigow said:

If true, Gorns would be both Aliens AND Predators...

And velociraptors.

[thecdn]

As a former Canadian soldier I was surprised and very pleased to see the show use the term Remembrance Day. It gets kind of tiring watching shows and reading books about the future with international or even intergalactic crews using nothing but American terminology.

[PurpleTentacle]

23 hours ago, AmigaJoe said:

-Actually, yes. According to Theory, an object crossing the event horizon should leave highly red-shifted image seemingly frozen just above it, as the trapped light slowly bleeds back into space...

But the event horizon is the point where light can't escape anymore. The Enterprise never got close to that point and if it did, it would have never gotten out without warp. Plus then they should have been spaghetificated (actual term physicists use). Let's not even talk about the time dialation.

I'd really like if Trek writers (and most scifi writers in general) would keep their hands off of black holes. They clearly can't handle them.

[salaydouk]

On 5/27/2022 at 1:42 PM, tennisgurl said:

I continue to really like Pike's style as captain, he's a very creative thinker but not as much of a maverick as someone like Kirk, he tries to play by the rules but will bend them just a bit for the greater good. He also has a very warm but authoritative way about him, I can see why the crew would feel confident serving under him. 

On 5/27/2022 at 2:44 PM, Starchild said:

Very much agree with this. He seems to effortlessly switch back and forth between being authoritative and approachable. He's fine with Ortegas joking around as a pilot, but as soon as she got negative he shut that down, using La'an as a proxy to enforce what he'd just advised her, so an effortless twofer. Great job.

I very much agree with this as well.  

From the first 4 episodes of SNW it seems the show is  really attempting to "draw" Pike as a "full" human being instead of playing an archetype.  It seems that they are going to allow us to see all sides of him - his control, confidence, vulnerability, pain, happiness, relief, and sadness.  And we are going see him fulfill his full role as captain for his senior staff(which is actually quite junior) and crew - to hold complete command of his ship, collaborating to find solutions, taking advice from his staff, and training of his crew - via encouraging and reprimanding.  For me it seems that this show is going to provide us with such an intimate character study of Pike, that when the training accident occurs(if we get to see it) that we are all going to be left completely devastated. But that would be fitting since we, the fans, literally willed this show into existence because of the strong positive reaction we had for Anson Mount as Pike, it will be the show's "revenge" on us - give us this awesome fully realized character that we love and then pull the rug out from under us.  

All that said, what I still wonder is if it is the show, ie TPTB, that are giving us this full character or is it just how amazing Anson Mount is and the decisions/choices that he is making for his character when he is filming?  I mean his facial expression movement from despair/sadness to relief/happiness when he though Hemmer/Uhura were dead to when they were alive was freaking unbelievable.  He wasn't over the top the reactions were all normal but extremely subtle.  Just perfection, imo.  

Edited May 29, 2022 by salaydouk

[salaydouk]

On 5/26/2022 at 8:27 PM, Sandman said:

I enjoyed the episode, especially the submarine warfare angle (even if it is a little Mutara II, Electromagnetic Boogaloo), but “phenomenons,” Spock, really? You disappoint me. 

On 5/27/2022 at 11:55 AM, CarpeFelis said:

THIS! That really bugged me. Spock would know better. Whenever a grammatical error like this or a mispronunciation occurs in a show I always wonder why absolutely no one in the cast or the crew caught it.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, with the note that it applies to North American English, and to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an acceptable plural form for Phenomenon is in fact Phenomenons.   Now I would not personally use it and currently even this site's spell checker is telling me the spelling is wrong, but if both dictionaries are telling me it is an okay variant who am I to judge.  

What I think is more interesting is the way that Ethan Peck pronounced the word "sensor" for this entire episode,  He is saying it in the same manner that Leonard Nimoy did.  If urban legion is to be believed Nimoy said "sensOARS" instead of normal American "senSERS" to avoid his Boston accent coming out.   That attention to detail allows me to forgive his usage of "phenomenons".  :) 

Regarding mispronunciations not getting caught, that is really going to depend on who is being filmed, who is around, and who is filming.  In this same episode, to me,  La'an pronounced the word "resources" is a really strange way - it seemed she said it closer to the Canadian way instead of the US/American or British way.  It would have made total sense for her to say it the British way since, Chong herself is British, and it seems like the character is being played as British, but she didn't and it should have been caught.  But since the cast is primarily US/American they would assumed the different pronunciation was correct for her accent and the Canadian film crew would not have blinked because to them she was saying it the way they themselves did.  

[Sandman]

13 hours ago, salaydouk said:

Now I would not personally use it and currently even this site's spell checker is telling me the spelling is wrong, but if both dictionaries are telling me it is an okay variant who am I to judge.  

Oh, I’m perfectly okay with judging. 😇 

I feel fairly certain that Nimoy used the -a plural ending in TOS, as well. I suspect that’s part of why it struck as much as it did. (Of course, in the mid-to late Sixties using the -s plural probably was less established than it is now. What can I say? I’m a throwback.)

La’an’s pronunciation of “resources” didn’t register for me at all … maybe because I’m Canadian?

Edited May 29, 2022 by Sandman

[cambridgeguy]

8 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

But the event horizon is the point where light can't escape anymore. The Enterprise never got close to that point and if it did, it would have never gotten out without warp. Plus then they should have been spaghetificated (actual term physicists use). Let's not even talk about the time dialation.

I'd really like if Trek writers (and most scifi writers in general) would keep their hands off of black holes. They clearly can't handle them.

You should talk to their science advisor. 

8 hours ago, salaydouk said:

For me it seems that this show is going to provide us with such an intimate character study of Pike, that when the training accident occurs(if we get to see it) that we are all going to be left completely devastated.

It will also help explain why an older and more logical Spock was willing to break all the rules and risk the death penalty just to get him to Talos IV. 

[Starchild]

9 hours ago, salaydouk said:

I very much agree with this as well.  

From the first 4 episodes of SNW it seems the show is  really attempting to "draw" Pike as a "full" human being instead of playing an archetype.  It seems that they are going to allow us to see all sides of him - his control, confidence, vulnerability, pain, happiness, relief, and sadness.  And we are going see him fulfill his full role as captain for his senior staff(which is actually quite junior) and crew - to hold complete command of his ship, collaborating to find solutions, taking advice from his staff, and training of his crew - via encouraging and reprimanding.  For me it seems that this show is going to provide us with such an intimate character study of Pike, that when the training accident occurs(if we get to see it) that we are all going to be left completely devastated. But that would be fitting since we, the fans, literally willed this show into existence because of the strong positive reaction we had for Anson Mount as Pike, it will be the show's "revenge" on us - give us this awesome fully realized character that we love and then pull the rug out from under us.  

All that said, what I still wonder is if it is the show, ie TPTB, that are giving us this full character or is it just how amazing Anson Mount is and the decisions/choices that he is making for his character when he is filming?  I mean his facial expression movement from despair/sadness to relief/happiness when he though Hemmer/Uhura were dead to when they were alive was freaking unbelievable.  He wasn't over the top the reactions were all normal but extremely subtle.  Just perfection, imo.  

A few days ago I read a really good article on this very topic.

https://collider.com/anson-mount-captain-pike-star-trek-masculinity-explained/

[paigow]

Biggest Retcon of all.. Paperless Bridge!!!

[Colorado David]

18 hours ago, Stardancer Supreme said:

Hemmer is that crew member that works well with everyone, no matter how grumpy he can be about it.

Hemmer is everyone's grumpy smart alecky uncle.

13 hours ago, thecdn said:

As a former Canadian soldier I was surprised and very pleased to see the show use the term Remembrance Day. It gets kind of tiring watching shows and reading books about the future with international or even intergalactic crews using nothing but American terminology.

Agreed. Or even new holidays, as we are in the future. One relating to alien races would be cool.

12 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I'd really like if Trek writers (and most scifi writers in general) would keep their hands off of black holes. They clearly can't handle them.

That was the reason for my question, as I know things go loopy around black holes and things that are supermassive (cue the tune, fans.)

1 hour ago, paigow said:

Biggest Retcon of all.. Paperless Bridge!!!

And no more of those little 3.5" plastic cartridge things Spock used to use to record things. And no bee-hived yeoman (bummer) for the captain so far.  I do like how friggin huge the bridge is - I wonder what the logic is for all that space? Just a luxury treatment because they can? I get the captain's room is huge, that makes sense - go up the chain, you get the nicer amenities.  I wonder what an admiral's room looks like in this time. (And SO YES to the earlier person who wants an admiral Rowan Atkinson - tho not an admiral, IMO he could actually work as a scientist type, maybe a foil to Hemmer's personality.)