S01.E05: Choose Your Pain

[starri]

Unless he's a sleeper agent and doesn't know.

[MissLucas]

If he's sleeper with implanted memories of her being his abuser the line would make a lot of creepy sense.

[CanadaPhil]

The good news is that he has been cured of his slow talking speech impediment, so he no longer comes across as a Klingon village idiot.

[starri]

And him being a sleeper agent goes in for a lot of body horror, which is another of Fuller's things.

[Sandman]

On October 22, 2017 at 6:35 PM, starri said:

... in for a lot of body horror, which is another of Fuller's things.

Grrrrrreeat.

[John Potts]

I like Lorca, but if you kill the goose, and it can't lay any more golden eggs. I get the need to "do something!" but driving the ship past breaking point is not useful. Do you really think you can win the war single handed!? Though Saru was just as bad once Lorca got captured.
Yes, bleeding edge technology is fucking cool!

Harry Mudd! Not exactly like he was in TOS, but I think his attitude to Starfleet wasn't unreasonable.
Klingon disruptors are NASTY! Though apparently know which characters are important, so they know which to vaporise and which to leave with just a nasty burn.

Did they just say humans are like mushrooms? Or more specifically, more like mushrooms than any other creature!?

On ‎22‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 4:07 AM, CanadaPhil said:

Saru has Zero redeeming qualities from my point of view. The way in which he demeans his subordinates is beyond contempt. He inspires no confidence at all. I don't see how anyone could follow him.

I think "asking the computer how to be a better Captain" is probably one indication of why you aren't a good Captain.

On ‎16‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 5:19 AM, DavidJSnyder said:

This ship is full of Klingons who are are bad at fighting.

Also, they're in a Klingon cell. The Klingons can have listening devices everywhere.

I will never understand why people who are supposedly utterly ruthless (in general, not just in Trek) seem to regard bugs as beyond the pale (torture they're fine with!). Though if they've planted a fake human in the cell, that would achieve the same effect.

On ‎20‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 6:11 PM, CanadaPhil said:

I see Lorca'a attitude towards Ash as being one of those "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" things..... for now.

"Whoever said that didn't have many enemies!" - Stannis Baratheon

[Eulipian 5k]

On 10/16/2017 at 2:29 AM, KimberStormer said:

On 10/15/2017 at 9:28 PM, starri said:

Riker/Troi to come very close to Miles and Keiko as my favorite Star Trek couple.  Rapp and Cruz have real chemistry.

Here I thought we had some similar taste but jeez man, Riker/Troi, Miles/Keiko??  Yes, Rapp and Crus have chemistry, unlike the aforementioned!  Miles and Keiko could not possibly have less!

I guess Neelix and Kes are closer to the Ash/Klingon Captain realm for creepy "couples".

[marinw]

Sorry, wrong topic!

Edited October 30, 2020 by marinw

[rmontro]

I guess it makes sense to have a gay couple on the show, it fits with the theme and philosophy of the franchise.  But I can't help but feel like I'm about to get hit over the head by a "woke" club somehow.

When they showed the list of decorated captains, the first thing I thought of was "What, not Kirk?".  Then I remembered this was a prequel.  The problem is these shows look more modern than the old shows, so it's hard to remember they're supposed to be taking place in the "past".  The look of this series reminds me more of TNG than anything else.

I also didn't realize that was Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd.  I knew he looked familiar.  He does a great job.

I really expected Michael to be the one to heroically inject herself with the hypospray.  I'm glad they set the tardigrade free.

 

[Tachi Rocinante]

Continuing to watch this on broadcast because I'm not paying CBS.  It's slowly gaining steam, and it hasn't lost my interest yet.

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, Tachi Rocinante said:

Continuing to watch this on broadcast because I'm not paying CBS.  It's slowly gaining steam, and it hasn't lost my interest yet.

Same here, I'm not paying for CBS Access.  This may be the last season I'll get to see because the ratings haven't been good.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the series so far, but I've heard a lot of caustic reviews so I'm expecting the bottom to fall out somewhere along the line.    

[ketose]

On 10/16/2017 at 6:24 PM, tennisgurl said:

I've heard that in some iterations of Trek (especially the early TNG era) the writers and the actors were basically told that, since Federation humans were all perfect and lived in a perfect society, they could never have any real conflict among each other, or any real "negative" emotional responses or flaws. This was, obviously, a huge pain for actor sand writers, who are trying to creative three dementinal characters and dramatic situations, and a big part of drama, is character growth and conflict, Hard to do that when everyone is supposed to be totally absent of flaws (or even emotions like anger or sadness) and get along perfectly with each other. Hence why this has been phased out of more and more Trek over the years, and why, on my opinion, the best Treks are the Treks that allow its characters to have real emotions and conflicts. This show definitely has those!

This is generally referred to as the "Roddenberry box" where writers had to tread lightly when humans expressed biases or bigotry in the future, because the human race had supposedly eliminated that by the 23rd century. Ronald D. Moore complained bitterly about it and eventually left Voyager to make the standard by which "dark" scifi is measured.

 

On 10/20/2017 at 7:53 AM, Lokiberry said:

I think we're just going to have to fanwank around Arne Darvin. I suspect L'Rell's matriarchs have done a much better job on Ash/Voq and he's virtually undetectable (except by tribble). I also don't think he's the only spy. Somebody had to give the Klingons Lorca's flight plan, so they could intercept him.

It's hard to fanwank around him because he was in the Deep Space Nine tribble episode, too.

[ketose]

On 10/16/2017 at 5:49 AM, starri said:

I also have to admit that I was kind of...annoyed, I guess...that Rapp and Cruz were clearly told not to kiss in the bathroom scene.  You could tell they wanted to, and a real couple likely would have.  I guess physical affection is still a bridge too far for Trek.

It depends on your interpretation. Deep Space Nine had Dax in a same-sex kiss with a former spouse. In that case, Dax was male when they were married.

[rmontro]

On 11/15/2020 at 3:07 PM, ketose said:

This is generally referred to as the "Roddenberry box" where writers had to tread lightly when humans expressed biases or bigotry in the future, because the human race had supposedly eliminated that by the 23rd century.

Seriously, if you can't write a good story without including bigotry in it, there's something wrong.