Star Trek Discovery: Short Treks

[Bort]

Ahead of Star Trek: Discovery‘s season 2 premiere, CBS All Access will stream four short “treks” across the universe.

 

 

Discuss the four Short Treks episodes as they air here!

[Starchild]

Has this aired in the US? Can we discuss yet? Saw it here in Canada a couple of hours ago. 

[Bort]

Yes, you can talk about it. 

[aemom]

22 minutes ago, Starchild said:

Has this aired in the US? Can we discuss yet? Saw it here in Canada a couple of hours ago. 

Thanks for the heads up! It's being repeated on Space at 2 am so I'll record it then. This one focuses on Tilly.

[Starchild]

Tomorrow then. :)

[starri]

That's my Tilly.  I missed her.

ETA:  I'm glad they kept the judgmental replicators food slots.

Edited October 6, 2018 by starri

[aemom]

Tilly's one of my favorite characters,  so I enjoyed this. She tends to waffle between uncertainty and confidence,  so hopefully she'll be more confident in the next season after this experience. 

[Unusual Suspect]

On 2018-10-05 at 8:28 PM, starri said:

That's my Tilly.  I missed her.

ETA:  I'm glad they kept the judgmental replicators food slots.

I love the judgmental computer, it's hilarious.

[Starchild]

On 2018-10-05 at 11:44 PM, AEMom said:

Tilly's one of my favorite characters,  so I enjoyed this. She tends to waffle between uncertainty and confidence,  so hopefully she'll be more confident in the next season after this experience. 

Was this after S1? I thought I read somewhere that these shorts focused on events before S1.

[starri]

6 minutes ago, Starchild said:

Was this after S1? I thought I read somewhere that these shorts focused on events before S1.

I don't know about the other ones, but in this one, Tilly had graduated and was talking about being accepted to the Command Training Program.

[Starchild]

And she hadn't graduated yet in S1?

[starri]

7 hours ago, Starchild said:

And she hadn't graduated yet in S1?

She was a cadet until the last few scenes of the finale, where we learned that she had graduated, received her commission, and been accepted to the aforementioned training program.

[Starchild]

Thanks!

[paigow]

Did anybody understand the new episode? The holodeck fell in love with the dude???

[ottoDbusdriver]

6 hours ago, paigow said:

Did anybody understand the new episode? The holodeck fell in love with the dude???

I guess ??

I may have to re-watch.

[starri]

All I know is that Taco Tuesday survived the Eugenics War, and that's all I need to know.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Craft is yummy. Wonder if he'll be Burnham's new love interest?

[aemom]

On 2018-11-09 at 10:32 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Craft is yummy. Wonder if he'll be Burnham's new love interest?

The AI said that she's been alone for 1000 years, so not sure how they'd make that work.

What happened to the crew and the ship?  Kind of important, no?

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

The AI said that she's been alone for 1000 years, so not sure how they'd make that work.

Time warp? ? I dunno, it seems to me like such a waste of the actor not to have him continue on the series in some capacity. Plus, I thought these short treks were supposed to flesh out existing characters a bit and introduce new characters? People are complaining elsewhere that this seemed more like a Black Mirror episode than a ST one. Can't say I completely disagree.

[statsgirl]

WTH was that?????

The ship-Zora was the Discovery so I guess that's the character we got to know more of. But if she was that smart, you'd think that she would have figured out that even if she was told to stay in position, after 1,000 years no one from her crew was going to be coming back for her.

On 11/10/2018 at 11:35 PM, AEMom said:

What happened to the crew and the ship?  Kind of important, no?

At a guess, we're supposed to think that something happened in the new universe they're in and wonder what could have been so awful as to cause the entire crew to evacuate the ship and never return. Stay tuned for the new season!

What they did do well is the myth of Calypso, who held Odysseus captive for seven years to make him her husband. She released him when he can no longer bear being separated from his wife Penelope.

[legaleagle53]

3 hours ago, statsgirl said:

WTH was that?????

The ship-Zora was the Discovery so I guess that's the character we got to know more of. But if she was that smart, you'd think that she would have figured out that even if she was told to stay in position, after 1,000 years no one from her crew was going to be coming back for her.

At a guess, we're supposed to think that something happened in the new universe they're in and wonder what could have been so awful as to cause the entire crew to evacuate the ship and never return. Stay tuned for the new season!

What they did do well is the myth of Calypso, who held Odysseus captive for seven years to make him her husband. She released him when he can no longer bear being separated from his wife Penelope.

Well, that, plus Zeus ordered her to release him or else he'd send her island to the bottom of the ocean -- with her on it!

[MissLucas]

Oh I loved it!!! Maybe because I got Hardison flashbacks and really miss Aldis Hodge. Hardison would have gotten a kick out of Zora (and then hack into her -ahem- to get home). No idea how it ties in to the main narrative but who cares - it was so poetic and beautiful. And thanks to whoever decided to give  us some long lingering and beautifully lit shots of Craft before he put on that (too tight) shirt!  

[paigow]

The Saru backstory episode airs in Canada on Space - this Thursday...

[starri]

Saru is, if possible, an even braver man than I already thought he was.

I loved, loved, loved that it was Georgiou who was the first human he met.  It puts more context into the way her showing favoritism to Michael hurt him.  And the gift of her telescope more meaningful as well.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Saru's backstory was pretty good -- "My place is no longer here."

I would think that Starfleet would have a bigger problem with the technologically-advanced Baoul (not sure how that's spelled) taking advantage of a less-advanced race like the Kelpiens.  Regularly taking Kelpiens as some sort of sacrificial ritual to "maintain the balance'.  I'm pretty sure that those offered up never returned either.  For what purpose -- worker-class ? food source ?  

Is it odd that the Kelpiens harvested kelp ?  Or is that how they got their name ?

Looking forward to the Jan. 3 installment -- The Escape Artist -- more Harry Mudd.

[starri]

46 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I would think that Starfleet would have a bigger problem with the technologically-advanced Baoul (not sure how that's spelled) taking advantage of a less-advanced race like the Kelpiens.  Regularly taking Kelpiens as some sort of sacrificial ritual to "maintain the balance'.  I'm pretty sure that those offered up never returned either.  For what purpose -- worker-class ? food source ?  

Closed captioning gave the spelling as "Ba'ul."

I think the Federation wouldn't have approached the Ba'ul due to the whole "enslaving another sentient species to use as a food source" thing, and couldn't have directly helped the Kelpiens because of the Prime Directive.  

[TV Anonymous]

On 11/9/2018 at 10:48 AM, paigow said:

Did anybody understand the new episode? The holodeck fell in love with the dude???

My understanding is that the Discovery was abandoned by her crew sometime, for some reason. The ship's computer was instructed to hold position. 1000 years passed, the computer managed to update and upgrade herself, she grew consciousness and became sentient, and took the Zora personality as herself. Being a sentient being, she indeed fell in love with that man and manifested herself as the dance partner.

[xaxat]

I've been impressed by these shorts. They are well written, aren't all bottle shows, have the same production values as the main show and even went out and brought in an actor like Aldis Hodge.

[Unusual Suspect]

Just saw "the Brightest Star", the Saru-focused one. Interesting. And wasn't expecting Michelle Yeoh cameo. I liked it a lot.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Just watched 'The Escape Artist' -- Rainn Wilson was awesome once again as Harry Mudd.

Scamming bounty hunters -- what con will Mudd think of next ?

Tellarite: "Harcourt Fenton Mudd.  Wanted by the Federation on 30 counts of smuggling, 20 counts of attempted homicide, one count of attempted regicide"
Mudd: "Regicide, he was a duke, hardly counts as regicide. What are we attempting to murder now -- accuracy ?"
Tellarite: "Transportation of stolen goods, and one count of penetrating a space whale."
Mudd: "You kinda had to be there."

Loved the flashbacks to previous situations where he told the exact same lies.

The space whale reference might place this short trek after the events of episode 7 of Season 1 (unless he has penetrated more than one space whale, so who knows).

And for good measure, Rainn Wilson also directed the short trek.

[AzureOwl]

The entire short was a delight, but the funniest line had to be on from the Orion Female Guard: "Hey imbecile. You know we have camera in here right?" 

The actress playing her also has the seething contempt look down pat.

8 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

The space whale reference might place this short trek after the events of episode 7 of Season 1 (unless he has penetrated more than one space whale, so who knows).

On that note, am I misremembering things or where those glowing critters during the seconds flashback with the tiny angry bounty hunter the same species as the pet bug Mudd had during his captivity with the Klingons?

Edited January 4, 2019 by AzureOwl

[Joimiaroxeu]

I noticed this Short Trek episode had disco music as part of the soundtrack. Have they all been doing that because I hadn't noticed it until now. I'm someone who still complains about those DISCO shirts. Disco music, clubs, etc., had nothing to do with Star Trek canon and the reference just bugs me even if the showrunners apparently think it's cute. Maybe this is their belated way of making the DISCO reference relevant? Other than that, selling copies of yourself to bounty hunters? Ingenious!

[vibeology]

Quote

I'm someone who still complains about those DISCO shirts. Disco music, clubs, etc., had nothing to do with Star Trek canon and the reference just bugs me even if the showrunners apparently think it's cute. Maybe this is their belated way of making the DISCO reference relevant?

They're just pushing DISCO as the short for Discovery because they don't want the show to be known as ST:D.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

They're just pushing DISCO as the short for Discovery because they don't want the show to be known as ST:D.

Of course but maybe that was a good reason not to use the Discovery name to begin with. ST:D is obviously problematic and DISCO is silly because it doesn't relate to Star Trek history at all. Plus plenty of people who lived through that era of music don't think disco is worth rekindling in the the 23rd century.

[starri]

I have really enjoyed the Short Treks experiment.  My favorite was still the Tilly one, but I have liked all of them.

[Unusual Suspect]

When they announced Rainn Wilson as Mudd, I was not a fan. But between his two appearances and the latest short, I take it all back. Also, I like the new Tellarite design.

The Short Treks have been a real success for me. All of them have been really enjoyable.

[Kromm]

Are these officially in continuity or not?

[Kromm]

On 11/9/2018 at 10:48 AM, paigow said:

Did anybody understand the new episode? The holodeck fell in love with the dude???

Sure, but that's just the character resolution, not the explanation of what that ship was or what the heck actually happened in that episode.  Clearly the computer had orders to stay in that spot and disobeyed the orders because it loved him. And he wound up on The Discovery at the end. What the heck was going on beyond that is pretty hard to figure. I mean there are all these weird angles, like it's cultural touchpoints all being Earth ones, the thousand years thing, but also it seemingly being advanced enough a ship that it was able to approach and board Discovery without detection?   Da fuq?

[starri]

The first of the new batch, Q&A, about Spock and Number One, dropped unexpectedly today.

[kassygreene]

My capacity to store comprehensive knowledge of All Things Trek maxed out about 25 years ago, so I can't remember: is this the first Gilbert & Sullivan in the franchise?

[starri]

8 hours ago, kassygreene said:

My capacity to store comprehensive knowledge of All Things Trek maxed out about 25 years ago, so I can't remember: is this the first Gilbert & Sullivan in the franchise?

No, in a scene in Insurrection, we had Picard, Worf, and Data also do a round of "Modern Major General."

While that was made of cringe, I actually found Number One and Spock's duet charming.  Kinda.

[ottoDbusdriver]

2 hours ago, starri said:

No, in a scene in Insurrection, we had Picard, Worf, and Data also do a round of "Modern Major General."

Actually, it was 'A British Tar' in ST: Insurrection.

[starri]

That's how hard I've tried not to think about that scene.

[Maverick]

Geordi did "Modern Major General" in TNG Disaster.  Beverly was staging a production of Pirates of Penzance and was trying to coax LaForge into taking a role. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

One question about Q&A -- the transporters were working, why didn't they just beam them out ?

[tkc]

13 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

One question about Q&A -- the transporters were working, why didn't they just beam them out ?

Nerd alert — from the TOS episode The Day of the Dove:

KIRK: We can't get through the Klingon defences in time, unless. Spock. Intra-ship beaming from one section to another. It's possible? 

SPOCK: It has rarely been done because of the danger involved. Pinpoint accuracy is required. If the transportee should materialise inside a solid object, a deck or wall.

Edited October 10, 2019 by tkc

[starri]

When Star Trek attempts to be funny, it very rarely is, but "The Trouble with Edward" had me actually laughing out loud in a few spots.

Although it was a good way into the episode before I realized Captain Lucero wasn't being played by Aubrey Plaza.

[xaxat]

I will never look at the Arby's ads with that actor the same way again.

(I wonder if that casting was an inside joke or coincidental?)

[Joimiaroxeu]

Well technically the conversation wasn't over because Edward could keep talking. Where is the lie tho?

Seriously, who would want to eat a tribble? Wouldn't they reproduce inside your digestive tract and explode out your of body like in Alien? Or give you a special type of diarrhea?

[MissLucas]

Not my favorite short Trek at all - but then Tribbles remind me of Doctor Who's Weeping Angels. Awesome the first time around but with every appearance they lose a bit of their charisma (for lack of a better term). And Edward should have been airlocked halfway through the episode.

Edited October 12, 2019 by MissLucas