S02.E04: An Obol for Charon

[Sandman]

On 2/13/2019 at 7:35 PM, statsgirl said:

If I could sing the Queen of the Night's aria from The Magic Flute without sounding like a dying vacuum cleaner, I'd show you.

::subspace high-five::

[xaxat]

I don't like Reno. Primarily because she so casually dismissed the spore drive, which it truly revolutionary technology, while admitting she didn't know much about it.

[Clanstarling]

12 hours ago, Sandman said:

I have to say I'm not really enjoying the Jett character all that much. I don't really know that much about Tig Notaro; I gather she's a comedian. I find there's something a little stilted about her delivery that says "Acting's Not My Day Job, I'm All Up In Ur Cameo, Baby!"

... (again, this amounted to the same thing). I.e., Star Trek was being ruined because the future is "full of SJWs," etc. ..

To be fair, that's pretty much Tig's natural cadence. And this isn't her first acting gig - she had a series. But I can see where it would seem stilted. She was an acquired taste for me.

The SJW stuff is hilariously boneheaded because they never got that it is exactly what the original Trek was going for - it was hugely progressive in its day.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Clanstarling

[MissLucas]

There are youtube channels that review the show without the toxic agenda mentioned but in general I stick to other outlets for reviews. And over the past season I got a good grip which reviewers were trying to give the show a proper chance and which ones weren't. Not to say the show should not be criticized - it's far from perfect - but as soon as 'This is not proper ST' - 'The Orville is so much better' pops up I'm out. Some reviewers were also allowing annoyance about the show's distribution model cloud their judgement but that has settled down now. 

I wasn't familiar with Tig Notaro either and when all the fuss about her started I checked out some of her clips on youtube. Slowspeak is her natural cadence and I think Jett's deadpan snark suits her well without being a simple copy of her stand-up. AFAIK she's not about to become a regular which is fine by me. I enjoy Jett but I can see why a little goes a long way with her character.

[Sandman]

On ‎2‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 9:57 PM, xaxat said:

I don't like Reno. Primarily because she so casually dismissed the spore drive, which it truly revolutionary technology, while admitting she didn't know much about it.

As soon as Reno and Stamets got into a debate about the relative dangers and environmental impact of traditional warp drive vs. the magical mushroom tour, I was certain Stamets would shortly learn that the spore drive came at a higher cost than we first knew.

ETA: To be fair to Notaro, the slight stiltedness I thought present in her line readings is in no way unique to her; sometimes there's just a faintly, I don't know, underlined quality in the way a performer in a special guest / cameo role approaches a character -- like "playing pretend" in a way that calls a little more attention to itself. She is in no way the worst example of this, either.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Sandman

[Colorado David]

I guess I'm in the minority here, I am enjoying Tig Notaro's role. Mind you I do understand her comedy/delivery are an acquired taste - people typical like it or it's like nails on a chalkboard. I guess I'd equate it to Frazier's sarcastic deliveries, which I also enjoy. The character, to be fair, is written as pretty dismissive and condescending, but I chalk that up to being an engineer - Scotty, while not sarcastic, took HUGE pride in the Enterprise, which he rarely failed to point out.

Enjoying Pike too, the actor is playing him understated and brilliantly. He's funny, supportive, with only a very occasional hint of swagger. 

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, Colorado David said:

I guess I'm in the minority here, I am enjoying Tig Notaro's role. Mind you I do understand her comedy/delivery are an acquired taste - people typical like it or it's like nails on a chalkboard. I guess I'd equate it to Frazier's sarcastic deliveries, which I also enjoy. The character, to be fair, is written as pretty dismissive and condescending, but I chalk that up to being an engineer - Scotty, while not sarcastic, took HUGE pride in the Enterprise, which he rarely failed to point out.

Enjoying Pike too, the actor is playing him understated and brilliantly. He's funny, supportive, with only a very occasional hint of swagger. 

I think there are a number of us who are enjoying Tig's role. As with everything, mileage varies. (loved Frazier too)

[Ottis]

On 2/9/2019 at 3:01 AM, MissLucas said:

I've read some reviews complaining that Saru's plot was just a waste of time, done on every Trek show before yadaday - but apart from showing us how strong the bond between Burnham and Saru is it opened up new story-lines for Saru and gave Burnham the motivation to finally deal with her own fears about getting proactive in the search for Spock.

I think you are right, however, also, I don't care about most of that. The one thing I found interesting is that apparently a sentient species (Kelpians) are still being allowed to be harvested by another (I assume) sentient species, under the restrictions of the Prime Directive. That alone is worth a discussion.

I also suspect I won't care for the new, unafraid Saru. Part of his appeal was that, despite his biology telling him to be afraid, he overcame it. He was unique to Trek and most shows except maybe The Wizard of Oz (though in that case, the lion's fear was an anomaly, not biological). I picture unafraid Saru as a drunken frat boy at a bar.

On 2/9/2019 at 5:18 AM, starri said:

That scene was such a good idea, I can't believe it took 50+ years for someone to think of it.

I think that's because it actually serves no purpose for the audience. It adds a small bit of realism, in exchange for  wasting minutes of screen time over something that will have to be fixed for the audience to know what is going on. Also, I think they did it on Farscape.

On 2/9/2019 at 8:41 AM, fauntleroy said:

I don't recall that Burnham and Saru were particularly close prior to this, to warrant such a weepy and prolonged goodbye - which ended up being oops never mind!

Some people complain that Burnham is a snowflake. My greater issue is that she constantly emotes, over everything. I'd like to see her button up a bit more.

On 2/24/2019 at 8:33 AM, Colorado David said:

I guess I'm in the minority here, I am enjoying Tig Notaro's role. Mind you I do understand her comedy/delivery are an acquired taste - people typical like it or it's like nails on a chalkboard.

I think her delivery is fine. I struggle with how, in every scene, the characters around her treat her as if she she walked through the bulkhead and appeared for the first time. It's like no one knows who she is or what to do with her.

Overall, this episode was a snoozer for me. I liked the artistry of the entity dying and trying to pass on its legacy to Discovery; that was exploration on a grand scale. I almost fell asleep during two of Saru's "I'm dying" speeches.  Once again, though, love the visuals.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Ottis

[Clanstarling]

6 minutes ago, Ottis said:

I also suspect I won't care for the new, unafraid Saru. Part of his appeal was that, despite his biology telling him to be afraid, he overcame it. He was unique to Trek and most shows except maybe The Wizard of Oz (though in that case, the lion's fear was an anomaly, not biological). I picture unafraid Saru as a drunken frat boy at a bar.

I have the same concern. Saru's been my favorite character - for reasons you explained so well. A fearless Saru might be interesting, but not that different from every other character.

[Sandman]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 9:16 AM, Ottis said:

Some people complain that Burnham is a snowflake. My greater issue is that she constantly emotes, over everything. I'd like to see her button up a bit more.

So would Sarek, I'd bet. (She's a teenage rebel?)

[John Potts]

Now this was classic Trek - meeting new life and new civilisations and having to find a way to communicate. I'm sure Gene would approve ("Sokath, his eyes uncovered!").

No 1! She even looks a bit like a young Majel Barrett. Though I utterly failed to recognised Rebecca Romjin (well she wasn't painted blue!).

I for one welcome our new alien overlords like our sarky new Engineer-Doctor. Sure, she's a bit abrasive, but she was living by herself for a year(?) under threat of imminent death which would probably make anyone a bit anti-social.

"It is illogical for a virus to kill its patient?" That's a completely unscientific statement. Aside from the fact that assigning intention to something that (almost certainly) possesses none is ridiculous, plenty of viruses do exactly that. All the virus needs to do is for the infected to pass them on to another victim and they will survive. They've been around a lot longer than humanity has (and will quite probably outlive us too).

On 2/9/2019 at 2:40 PM, Latverian Diplomat said:

94 languages is a drop in the bucket in terms of Earth languages, let alone Federation languages.

Given our present rate of language destruction, 94 might not be that unreasonable number of Earth languages by 2200 (or whenever this is set).

On 2/9/2019 at 3:41 PM, fauntleroy said:

I don't recall that Burnham and Saru were particularly close prior to this, to warrant such a weepy and prolonged goodbye

Me neither. And while the second heart to heart took place after the crisis had resolved, the first took place while it was still ongoing. Work on saving everyone before getting all weepy!

On 2/10/2019 at 12:51 AM, TV Anonymous said:

I also need to ask why Tilly's favorite song is something from 300 years before her time. Would we sing or hum a song from 1719?

People still recognise (and in my case, may sing along to) The Messiah - first performed in 1741. And God Save the Queen (later adapted in the USA as My Country 'Tis of Thee) dates from around the same time and gets belted out regularly.

On 2/17/2019 at 2:07 AM, Sandman said:

Tilly is the whipping post/plaything of a cruel and irresponsible universe, yes?

She's the new Miles O'Brien! Or the old Miles O'Brien, given he won't be born for another century or so.

[John Potts]

On 2/10/2019 at 7:34 PM, fauntleroy said:

What does the episode title refer to? I mean, i understand the reference but not how it applied here.

Presumably it's a reference to how we prepare for death - which both Saru and the Galactic blob (and possibly Tilly's parasite friend?) were doing.

[Idiotboy]

Doug Jones just owned this episode (and we get another Saru-centric story the week after next ... good!). Also, he finally got the Vulcan stick out of Burnham's ass. I don't want to diss the hardworking Sonequa Martin-Green but Burnham comes off as having a permanent chip on her shoulder, IMO, rather than exuding the "Vulcan stoicism" to which Georgiou refers.

The Sphere of Plot Contrivance is menacing Discovery, and all Pike and Burnham can do is obsess with "We're going to lost track of Spock!" And good riddance if it happens. Has any TV show ever had a protagonist who never appears on camera?

Loved Stamets/Tilly, though, especially when they shared a David Bowie Moment. "Space Oddity" will never get old.