In the 1970s, Gene Roddenberry wrote several pilots, including one called Genesis II in which a contemporary human named Dylan Hunt wakes up in a post-apocalyptic future. The show wasn’t picked up, as CBS went for Planet of the Apes instead. Some time after Roddenberry’s death in 1991, his estate did a deal with Tribune Entertainment to develop some of his unused and incomplete concepts, and a variation that seemed to combine Genesis II with a post-Federation collapse version of Star Trek was developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe into Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda.
And now Star Trek: Discovery is doing their own take on this…
Andromeda was a fun show that suffered from the tension between the very complex, ambitious science fiction show that Robert Hewitt Wolfe developed (I read Wolfe’s bible for the series when I was hired to write an Andromeda novel in 2002, and it’s got the most detailed world-building of any TV bible I’ve seen) and the action-packed adventure that Tribune wanted (and was willing to pay for).
The third-season premiere of Discovery sees Burnham arriving in the future she was barreling toward in the red angel suit at the end of “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2” only to crash into a courier’s ship, and both she and the courier crash land on a planet that is most definitely not Terralysium as she had hoped.
Buy the Book
Fugitive Telemetry
Over the course of the episode, Burnham fights, reluctantly works with, is betrayed by, and eventually properly teams up with Cleveland “Book” Booker, the courier into whose ship she crashed. Played with a no-fucks-to-give charm by David Ajala, Book is a courier who does jobs for various people. One of his primary clients is what appears to be a 31st-century version of the Orion Syndicate, now seemingly run jointly by the Orions and Andorians. (We also see Tellarites and Lurians working for them.)
Burnham is all we get of the regulars in this one, as Discovery is not right behind her as hoped. (Next week’s “Far from Home” will apparently focus on the rest of the cast.) The first thing she does when she lands on the planet—after a rather fraught crash landing that was teased at New York Comic-Con last weekend—is check to find life signs of any sort. Doesn’t matter who or what, she just needs to know that she and the rest of the crew didn’t leave behind everything they ever knew for nothing.
But their gambit worked: Control didn’t destroy all life in the galaxy. The overwhelming relief is beautifully played by Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham has a cathartic cry/laugh of relief and joy.
Then she needs to find out about the state of the galaxy nine centuries later, and her primary source of information is Book. She’s cagey about why she’s carrying ancient tech and wearing a Starfleet badge, but Book figures out eventually that she’s a time traveler, especially since she’s surprised that the Federation fell.
In contrast to her elation at having saved all life in the galaxy, Burnham is utterly devastated—and initially in denial—about the Federation’s fall. According to Book, there was a catastrophic event called “The Burn,” which apparently affected the vast majority of the galaxy’s dilithium supply. Dilithium crystals are now very hard to come by, and the Orion Syndicate controls one of the few supplies left.
Book derisively mentions fanatics who hold onto the hope of the Federation coming back to save everyone. But as the episode goes on, we realize that Book has plenty of hope to cling to as well: the cargo that he’s been carrying (and which remains a secret from the audience for most of the episode’s run-time) turns out to be a giant worm that’s endangered, which Book stole from another courier and is bringing back to a sanctuary world where they’re trying to repopulate the species. Without the Federation around to protect endangered animals, the worms are in danger of dying out.
After rescuing the worm, Book brings Burnham to the remnants of a starbase, which has only one person living on it: Aditya Sahil, the child of a Starfleet officer, played with quiet hope and dignity by Adil Hussain. Even though he was never sworn in as a Starfleet officer (“There was no one to do it”), he has maintained the post and kept an eye out for other signs of the Federation for four decades. At the end of this premiere, Burnham officially assigns him as acting communications officer, giving him his commission at last. This enables him to hang the Federation flag on the wall (only a commissioned officer can do that).
The final two scenes are what makes the episode. Mind you, the episode prior to that is fine, but it’s a little too much of a generic sci-fi adventure that wouldn’t be out of place on any genre production, whether it’s Stargate SG-1, Defiance, Firefly, The Expanse, Star Wars, or, yes, Andromeda. We’ve got Book and Burnham having their meet-nasty with them beating each other up and then going to the mercantile terminus (a trading outpost of a type we’ve seen a gajillion times before), Book’s sudden-but-inevitable betrayal, Burnham being drugged, and the two of them fighting their way out thanks to mad weapons skillz, personal transporters (which the bad guys have also, so there’s a lot of disappearing and reappearing), and a final triumph that involves Burnham being inside a worm’s mouth for several minutes before being spit out.
All of that would be entertaining, but not all that noteworthy, but it leads first to the revelation that Book is one of the good guys, as he’s saving the worm, and then that there are still remnants of the Federation holding on.
One of the problems with Andromeda was that we really weren’t all that invested in the Commonwealth that Dylan Hunt was trying to resurrect. But thanks to 54 years of TV shows and movies, we’re very invested in the Federation, and Burnham’s obvious desire to start trying to pull it back together is of significant moment. Seeing Sahil’s dedication, remaining at his post all by himself, Burnham—and the viewer—has hope.
I was genuinely worried that this third season was going to be a dystopian nightmare about the fall of the Federation, but these last two scenes give me that same hope that Burnham has: that the Federation can be resurrected. I’m also extremely grateful that the Federation’s fall seems to have been precipitated by a natural disaster, as I really feared the spectre of some manner of tiresome all-powerful foe that wiped the Federation out or some other such nonsense. I’m much more comfortable with this storytelling choice. (I’m not sure the Burn actually makes any kind of sense, but all we know about it really is Book’s retelling of it, from a century later, which is hardly definitive in terms of specifics.)
Martin-Green gets to have a grand old time in this one, from the fear of crashing and dying on the planet in the opening to elation at the mission being successful to confusion at the future she’s fallen into to her attempts to trust Book to her hilarious diarrhea of the mouth when she’s drugged (I also love that her first thought upon being drugged was a fervent urging to her captors to never use this drug on Tilly) to her repeatedly punching Book in the face (he earned it every time) to almost being eaten by the worm. And Ajala is a charming addition, refreshingly low-key in his bog-standard role of lovable rogue. Plus he has a cat named Grudge. (So called, “Because she’s heavy and she’s all mine.”)
This is a promising start to the season, mostly because it sets things up nicely. It’s still very recognizably the Star Trek universe, but with different, more advanced technology, and with Orions and Andorians and such. And unlike the first two seasons, which retread far too much old ground, this one gets to blaze a trail to the far future, which is much more intriguing than the back-filling and wheel-spinning we got from 2017-2019.
Looking forward to what comes next.
Keith R.A. DeCandido will be a guest at the virtual Capclave this weekend. Check his schedule here!
If the Burn was in the late 31st century, that meshes well with established canon, because it puts it later than the furthest-forward bits we’ve seen, VGR: “Living Witness” in the 30th century (c. 700 years after the episode) and Temporal Agent Daniels’s future in the mid-31st (c. 900 years after ENT’s 2150s setting). Though I’ve always assumed that Daniels was from an alternate future anyway, since he didn’t recognize some of the events in the ENT timeline that ultimately shaped the Prime timeline as we know it.
What I wonder is, what about those civilizations that use drives not dependent on dilithium? Do we know if Romulans’ singularity drives use dilithium? I would tend to think they wouldn’t, since they’re not antimatter-based.
It bugs me that the Lurian in that photo is bald. DS9 established eventually that Morn had lost his thick mane of hair due to latinum poisoning. So if all Lurians are now portrayed as bald, that’s a continuity error.
FWIW, we only saw the one Lurian……
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
So, this season St. Michael Burnham will ressurect the whole federation. I’m hoping it won’t be quite that bad as she’s surrounded by a dedicated and interesting ensemble but that didn’t save the previous seasons.
The Burn was caused by, *handwave*, Red Matter.
Lower Decks had one as well; it was also bald. But Lurians shave their heads in times of peace.
Honestly, as far as “continuity errors” go, I really don’t care about this one. The lines about Morns hair were meant to be funny, and it was in an episode where Quark talks about “worthless bits of gold” after the Ferengi had expressed interest in gold a bunch of times. And the only lines we’re going off of are:
* “He still had his hair then”
* “No wonder your hair fell out”
But if we want to take it seriously for the sake of argument… Maybe the difference between a “hairy” Lurian and a bald Lurian is a lot more subtle? Maybe we just happened to randomly see three bald Lurians even though they aren’t the majority? Maybe Lurians are commonly bald and Morn was the exception, so it didn’t take much for him to lose his? Maybe they lose their hair at a certain age and the latinum just accelerated it? Maybe Lurians are extremely long-lived and all three of the Lurians are Morn? Maybe Morn lost his back hair? Baldness up front; party in the back!
Yeah, not too worried about it personally. If it’s a minor, arguable continuity error that’ll be the subject of fan discussion, it’ll only be the thousandth one we’ve had over the years.
(That said, it would be pretty awesome to see a Lurian rocking a ‘fro.)
If someone taking chemotherapy loses their hair, that doesn’t mean that there can’t be other bald people around. Baldness can have many causes.
@2/krad: “FWIW, we only saw the one Lurian……”
Yeah, but the fact that he’s bald too implies that they’re assuming that’s normal for the species and that any further Lurians we see might be as well.
@5/Roger McCoy: “Maybe the difference between a “hairy” Lurian and a bald Lurian is a lot more subtle?”
Maybe, but that takes the fun out of it. Ever since we learned that Morn used to have hair, I’ve wanted to see other Lurians depicted with thick, lush manes, just to carry the joke forward. That was done in a comic book story a while back, though I forget where.
“I am done being reflexively supportive.”
Funny, that’s how I’ve been feeling about Star Trek for a while now…
@3: Yeah, they really need to dial the character back and give the rest of the cast a chance to shine. Discovery‘s monomaniacal fixation on Michael Burnham has been the millstone around its neck from day one, and is far more of a concern that any continuity issues in its storytelling. While Season 2 did a bit better in giving the rest of the cast a chance to shine, Pike in particular, Zack Handlen’s recent comment about how “Discovery decided to double down and make sure the prevention of the end of all life revolved around Michael working through her mommy issues” is painfully accurate. Trek has always been best when it embraced the power of its ensemble (cough, DS9, cough), so I’m really hoping we don’t get episode after episode of the writers screaming at us for not worshipping at Burnham’s feet, as was the case in previous seasons.
Perhaps for the first time (since Discovery started), I actually felt elation watching Burham *struggle* with her situation, as well as get shown how self-righteous she is by someone who is arguably far more humble and honorable than she is (Burham really is just on a quest to prove to others she is worthy of their love, while Book is actually a tried and true good guy who uses a rough guy exterior to get things done in a very unlawful universe – although future episodes to show if in fact he is a villain, like the first season of Discovery sadly did with the tough guy hero archetype).
I felt that the things she was saying while she was drugged were incredibly revealing to how insecure she really is, and how she uses her intellect and training to act superior above others, even while doing so under the auspices that she is somehow the hero we all deserve and want, even though almost every action she has taken has somehow resulted in massive casualties and damage, due to her unbending resolve to appear righteous in the fact of what is arguably the right thing to do. Burham is the kind of character who consistently evades common sense and wisdom and instead acts as if her moral compass alone is going to save the universe.
I was frustrated with the number of times she punched Book in the face though. He totally did not deserve getting hit that many times. When he said she selfishly decided to just open up a wormhole without knowing where she was going, and then she had the audacity to blame the person who she accidentally hit – while I wouldn’t condone physical violence against anyone – well, put it this way. If he broke Discovery by opening a random wormhole and crashed into Discovery, do you think Burham would have been quite so congenial to him? No, she would have locked him in a brig and probably tortured him until he gave up the endangered species that she would have been convinced he was smuggling.
What I’m hoping for this season: a renewed sense of humility for Michael Burham, that she might actually realize she needs to rely on other people and she might give the spotlight for others to shine in. What I’m dreading for this season: that somehow this is going to become another Burham centric season, where the writers are working really hard to make us (the viewer) feel like Burham is not only the hero we need but the hero we should be. I’m also a little nervous that the “Dilithium Enigma” (about how the warp crystals just suddenly stopped working, exploded, or whatever) is going to be blamed on some arch-villain, rather than what is far more realistic – that the Federation just didn’t realize the extent to which they developed an entire civilization based on the usage of a single material and became so blind in that direction. However, I am worried that the third season will move decidedly in an “alternative energies” plotline, where Burham and crew and hurriedly scurrying around the galaxy looking for technologies they can bring back to the past which will allow the Federation to get off their “fossil fuels”.
The problem with this is of course, the problem the show has always had – of trying to impose some kind of progressive morality onto the audience without looking at the other side of the equation. Taking technology from the future into the past was something explicitly condemned by the Temporal Accords because when time travel had been used this way (even well-intentioned) the result was the universe very nearly being split in two. And if she could get away with it and nothing “bad” would happen, Michael Burham would gladly bring that kind of tech back from the future if she could prove to others (and herself) that was she some kind of self-styled hero.
The writers would do well to put Burham back on the Hero’s Journey if they want her to be a true hero. She is still stuck at the “transformation” aspect of the journey (and has been for a loooong time), and she will never truly be able to atone of her sins until the writers allow her to admit (without drugs) her love of hubris, and either come to terms with it (and sacrifice it) or let it consume her entirely, so that she can start a new journey. She is still basically the same Michael Burham she was at the first episode of the first season.
@3 and @5 Dead right. I found Discovery turgid because one person is responsible for the whole universe and is the only one that matters. What is this. Doctor Who? It won’t happen but the best thing for this show would be to lose Burham entirely. Maybe she could find her family and live happily ever after. Then bring on the other great characters.
They already have the plot macguffin to solve the issue of the ‘The Burn’, which was the princess/engineer Micheal befriended that could artificially synthesize Dilithium crystals. Well technically she could re-crystalise Dilithium but they have the plot thread to pull on of being able to modify the recrystalizer to actually synthesize it in totality from other elements.
Wonder if the writers will have a good explanation for why the rest of the universe, other than Discovery’s crew, couldn’t figure this out.
@3,@5,@10 while I agree about ST:D writers overgoing on making Michael the center of that show. I disagree about removing her completely. That’s your personal dislike of the character showing. However, the writers do need to serioously consider to start pivoting from having Michael as only main character of importance to a fully ensemble team show. Even in DS9 where Sisko was a Prophet, about 60% of time, the show centered on other, diverse, characters. If producers plan to continue having the show last thru 2024, as they claimed, they need to start pivoting, hard.. First season made sense, second season not so much (why did time traveler had to be Michael and her mom, it could have been anyone else even Spock), in third season it would be too much and unoriginal. Let someone else be universe savior, or better yet a team!
@11/Philip: It was Tilly who befriended the princess/engineer.
@12/Masha: Sisko was 100% pure human. Both his parents were human, but a Prophet possessed his mother’s body and made her marry his father to ensure his conception — basically breeding her by force like a slave, in the most ill-conceived* story development in Trek history. It would’ve been better if she had been an alien masquerading as human, but unfortunately, she wasn’t.
*I was going to say “no pun intended,” but then I decided it’s an applicable phrasing in that sense too — a truly sick way to depict a character’s conception.
@13 Sorry I meant Emissary of the Prophets. And I always felt that part of the series was cringeworthy. Writers put Sisko into plot hole last season and they had to make up stuff to get him back into action. My personal opinion was that story was completely unnecessary. Why couldn’t Prophets choose a completely random person to be their Emissary without going through efforts to explain everything from conception to the end. I hated whole parts of the story in 7th season about Prophets, Sisko, Parwraiths and Gul Dukat and that poor Kai Wynn. Did they had to destroy a powerful, religious woman just to show how bad Gul Dukat is?
However my point was that an ensemble show is better than 1 main character driven show.
@14/Masha: The idea was that it was a time loop. Sisko was the guy who discovered the wormhole and thus became the Emissary. That was important to Bajor. So the Prophets went back to ensure it happened. Although that doesn’t really make sense.
I enjoyed the previous two seasons, warts and all, and I’ve been looking forward to seeing what they can do with this show without all the behind the scenes drama. I liked this one. It laid it on with a trowel at the end there, but I think it worked.
They’ve got a lot of world building to do on this, what with it being in many ways a new series and not just another season, and I think that’s off to a decent start. I really hope that ‘The Burn’ doesn’t turn out to be some sort of conspiracy, I enjoy a mystery, but I’m conspiracy-ed out. Just been too much of that on TV in recent years. Would prefer it was some kind of negative space wedgie and have the classic Star Trek problem solving effort to fix it.
Good start for the season. This episode actually looked great. The cinematography was on par with any theater released movie. The landscapes were gorgeous. Don’t know where it was shot. Looked like Iceland to me.
Sahil, the lone remnant of Starfleet on a broken space station, reminded me of the first scene in the BSG reboot miniseries, with the lone Colonial officer showing up at the neutral station, waiting for the Cylons to show up. They don’t for 30 years, till one day they do.
Book’s name is a bit too generic. Not sure anyone would name their child Cleveland in the next millennium. I mean, who goes to Cleveland? Possible easter egg for Serenity. But yeah, he’s charismatic and maybe didn’t deserve the punches, but he did shoot first. Shades of Solo.
Not a fan of the adjusted makeup for the Andorians; makes them look like goblins. One of the dumb things was one of them (or was it Morn’s distant cousin, or the Orion with a full head of hair) firing into the hold before the audience sees Book’s worm. What’d they think was going to happen?
The worm reminded me of Dune, as did the reliance on a single source of fuel energy or an entire civilization. “The spice must flow, or the Spacing Guild can’t fly.” So yeah, fossil fuel message. Good thing there’s a mothballed fungus spore drive on the way. Gah!
Good point earlier about Romulan singularity drives. They must dominate or at least roam the galaxy unrestricted. Why would the Federation not adopt another technology to keep their territory linked?
Lastly, I bet the red angel suit did not self-destruct.
@17/Sunspear: There are many places in the world named Cleveland, including cities and towns in nearly half the states of the US, several in the UK, a couple in Canada, one in Australia, etc. It’s also long been in use as a family name (e.g. President Grover Cleveland or Monty Python cast member Carol Cleveland) and a given name (e.g. author Cleveland Amory). So I don’t have any problem believing the name would still be in use in the 32nd century, even by people who’ve never heard of the state of Ohio.
I can imagine after an 18 month wait between last season’s finale and this premiere some people in the audience in their best Nu’Daq impression from “The Chase” going, “That’s it?!?” Lol. But while I had that thought in the back of my mind, I still enjoyed this episode. It was pretty much all set-up and just Burnham and Book, but it was intriguing nonetheless. It is entitled “…Part 1” so I think it could have been better served to the audience as a two hour premiere episode instead.
I like how Book very much seems like a rogue and a scoundrel in the beginning but it’s all a big misdirection as he turns out to be an empathic 32nd century version of a member of Greenpeace. And you obviously see the beginnings of a romantic relationship brewing between our two heroes, Book’s shirtless scene and all.
The Burn does sound intriguing as well and the direction of it being a type of natural disaster is a good direction in which to go and raises the question of what caused it. I’m not sure I’m sold on how it would cause the collapse of the Federation though. I mean, we’re all aware of so many different methods of faster-than-light speed travel that Starfleet and the like can use without dilithium crystal-powered warp drive.
I liked the scenes with the stoic last Federation sentinel. It all felt very noble. I wonder what those couple of starships still dedicated to Starfleet are up to?
This episode was like a magnificent travel brochure for Iceland. Truly stunning cinematic direction and photography.
I read on another website that a Cardassian was shown. Did anyone else spot that? I was curious if the makeup design was changed at all.
There was a mention of time travel technology being outlawed after the Temporal Wars. I wonder if that ties into the Temporal Cold War as depicted on Star Trek: Enterprise. It sounds like something that could be its own spin-off series. And exactly who would be banning time travel tech and who and how is that being enforced?
And I’m surprised Krad and no one else but mainly Krad, didn’t mention the large body count in this episode. I mean, those phaser weapons didn’t seem to merely stun people but to incinerate them. Sure there was no blood nor anyone shrieking in agony, but I found myself disturbed by how many people were killed and nary a mention about it from Book or Burnham, like it’s just business as usual.
Also, I’m not so sure the next episode features the rest of the Discovery crew or it might save them to the very last scene or so of the next episode. After all, we still need to see that a long amount of time has elapsed since Burnham has been on the planet she landed on or in the company of Book, as exemplified by that scene we saw in previews of her hairstyle changing with the long braids.
Couple more details:
I liked the asymmetrical design of Book’s ship. Perhaps again, meant to evoke a certain other smuggler’s, excuse me… courier’s, ship. I’m sure this will pop up as a gamble box ship in STO. Guess that makes grudge the Wookie stand-in. Looks like they’re going to be spending an extended period of time on that ship, given the length of Burnham’s hair in the season previews.
Also liked: all the characters in the foreground were people of color, albeit blue and green at times.
@CLB: even by aliens born after the fall of the Federation and who have no apparent reason to follow Earth naming conventions?
Nah. This was a missed opportunity to come up with something more creative/original, instead of opting for the comfortable and familiar.
One detail: he immediately understands and speaks to Burnham in her language, perhaps still a function of UTs. But when he speaks his native language, it’s not translated, not even for the audience.
Also, saw this comment from Olatunde Osunsanmi:
“Alex [Kurtzman] had always teased this idea that we would make a major jump into the future,” Osunsanmi says. “But, did I know that everything in ‘Calypso’ would make its way into the future now? I didn’t know.”As Season 3 unfolds, Osunsanmi also wants fans to be careful in assuming they already know how certain things might play out with the USS Discovery based on the future hints from “Calypso.”“It’s not a one-for-one. What we see in ‘Calypso’ isn’t going to necessarily happen throughout the rest of the season,” he says. “I mean, we’re fans too. And we are excited to tell stories in this new world and answer that big question: What does the future of Trek look like?”
He’s hedging, but picking up elements from “Calypso” would make me happy.
@21/Sunspear: Earth was the dominant culture in a multispecies federation for something like 900 years. It would be implausible if Earth language and naming conventions didn’t get adopted by numerous other Federation species.
Besides, Memory Alpha says it’s unclear whether Book is human or not. He could be part-human and part-alien, and the name comes from his human heritage. ENT established that 31st-century Federation temporal agents tended to be multi-species mixes, so it follows that 32nd-century post-Federation humanoids would have a lot of mixed genetics in their heritage too.
He’s certainly not baseline human. He grows a 3-foot medicinal plant in seconds. The glowy pattern under his skin indicates an empathic ability with plants and animals. Lacking a species name for him at this point, I just think of him as a Druid.
Maybe his family line can be traced back to the Bookers from Cleveland. But for me, it’s just another instance of “it’s a small world, after all.”
Also, no one has yet made the joke about Burnham causing the Burn…
What I don’t get about this episode is why Michael is so surprised and shocked that the Federation doesn’t exist anymore, nine hundred years later. She’s a smart person and presumably they teach humans at least some of their own planet’s history growing up… wouldn’t she have at least considered the possibility that the Federation wouldn’t be there?
900 years before her (original) time in the 2200s the major powers of Eurasia were China, Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Golden Horde, and the Ottoman Empire, only a few of which would last even another few centuries and only one of which would remain a major power into the next millennium.
Why would she just assume that the Federation was going to last a thousand years, and be so shocked and amazed that it’s gone? Hell, I’m a little surprised it made it almost all the way to 3100.
@24/James: Knowing intellectually that nations end wouldn’t make it any less shocking or traumatic to discover that your own nation had ended in your absence. It’s like how people react to any other misfortune — you know it happens to other people, but it’s inconceivable that it could happen to you.
For the first 45 minutes, I was afraid that we were going to be stuck permanently in Star WARS mode, but those last 5 minutes were as Trek as Trek can be. Whew!
Last year, I found Olatunde Osunsanmi’s spinning camera horrible to watch and seriously nausea-inducing. I groaned when I saw that he was directing this episode, but as it turned out, he did a great job with it, directing in service of the story (and the gorgeous scenery) and not giving us weird camera angles just to say, “Look a meeee.” Whew again. :-)
Looking forward to next week!
I really enjoyed this one. More than I’ve enjoyed DSC before, actually, just thanks to getting away from the ship’s distracting visual style. It actually kinda reminds me of Star Wars, which is itself set amidst the ruins of a fallen supercivilization (the Celestials, to whom the Jedi and Sith are the distant inheritors). Book is basically a Jedi, after all.
Note that the Romulans had a huge-ass dilithium mine on Remus, so they clearly needed it for something.
Book’s line about time travel tech was interesting, as there’s something similar in the novels (the Temporal Defense Grid, introduced in the DTI novels).
Was this the first episode of any Star Trek series that had no lines spoken by any human character with pale skin? (I think I caught sight of one or two in the background in the trading post, but it wasn’t certain, they might have been aliens. The ones who definitely looked human tended to have darker skin.)
@28: I’m not going to invalidate your criticisms of the show and I understand when you say you don’t have much else to do with your life at the moment but it sounds like you’re really not enjoying watching Discovery so why continue to do so? If you don’t have much else to do there are literally thousands of other entertainment options to pursue. I tried giving Lower Decks a go but I wasn’t enjoying it so I gave up on it. I’m not going to force myself to hate-watch something when I can do or watch something else in its place.
@29: I think you’re right and I actually had the same observation as well. And I think it will maintain that distinction if the rest of the Discovery cast comes back in the next episode.
The episode was pretty good, I liked seeing that future with more aliens than humans. That said, I would have liked to see the Discovery’s crew in the first episode, I hope we finally get them next episode.
@17 – Sunspear: Definitely got the same BSG vibes.
@19 – garreth: My kid (16) was a bit annoyed at the body count, too.
@23 – Sunspear: I actually thought that the glowy things under Book’s skin were cybernetic implants.
@29 – David_Goldfarb: Might be.
@33/MaGnUs: I hope you’re right about the implants. It would be cool if they used this time jump to finally embrace transhumanism in the Trek future and get rid of the silly TNG-era xenophobia about human augmentation. Heck, they already had transhuman characters in the 23rd century, e.g. Airiam and Detmer.
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By the same token, asking people with negative reactions why they bother watching or commenting doesn’t usually lead to any helpful avenues of discussion. If you feel those comments aren’t adding to the conversation, you can simply ignore them; if you think the comments are inappropriate or cross a line, you can flag them for a moderator. Let’s keep things civil, and try to agree to disagree when necessary. Thanks.
@19: I agree about the kill count: when you travel to a completely unknown place or time, you start by making sure how people feel about some common taboos, killing being at the top of the list (plus the fact that Burnham should avoid it anyway). Also, Burnham is a very conspicuous time traveller, and ridiculously so. How could she be surprised that Andorians and Orions would be working together, when so much time has passed? Even the shock of the Federation not existing makes no sense: she may be disappointed, but as @james pointed out, empires fall all the time, and considering how many times the Federation came close to dying, how could it be surprising?
@36: In regards to your point about how Burnham reacted all shocked to the Federation’s demise isn’t very logical, I agree with that, but at the same time, I also agree with what CLB said in #25 that though that shock might not be rational, it’s no less heartbreaking to get the news that something you loved and believed in is no longer in existence. Perhaps Burnham’s reaction is a bit extreme, but as the arc of this season is finding the cause of The Burn and then restoring the Federation, I think it was decided to show Burnham is really personally motivated in her cause and the shock and pain she feels initially at the news is supposed to drive that point home.
@17 Sunspear on the Ready Room they confirmed the location was Iceland. I agree that it was stunning!
I enjoyed the episode as an introduction to the new environment in which our characters find themselves. And while I was sad to only see Michael and not the rest of the Discovery crew, I think focusing on her gives more of a chance to get our bearings and more time to introduce Book. I think next week we’ll get the perspective of the rest of the crew coming through the wormhole. Do I wish they’d aired parts 1 & 2 together? Yes. But oh well.
I agree with krad that while I enjoyed the episode and seeing how non-human-centric this future seems to be, it seemed a little generic sci fi until the end. I love that Star Trek is about hope.
It didn’t bother me as much that Michael was so shocked by everything being different. She’s had a really traumatic past few days, and it makes sense to me that she’s having trouble coping. Even if you know intellectually that things will be different, feeling and experiencing that difference is something you can’t always prepare for. And we know Michael tends to follow her gut.
@@@@@ 36: It could be about subjective experience. It may be 900 years for the universe but for her, experientially, very little time has passed. Intellectually, a lots happened and much of it long ago. Emotionally its like it just occurred. It’d be kind of weird if she was totally blasé about the things that have changed. A classic ‘person out of time’ scenario basically.
It’s also a really useful way to slip in some exposition.
EDIT: Pipped not once, but twice. Getting to be a habit. :)
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@34 – Chris: That’d definitely be nice.
I might’ve found interest in this if they hadn’t already repeatedly shown a Federation that had lost its way in recent years, from Star Trek Into Darkness to Discovery’s earlier seasons to Picard. The concept of breathing new life into a broken institution is timely, no doubt, but an udderly dry one for this newest of Treks. Didn’t we just do this?
@43/FrankenCat: This isn’t a Federation that’s lost its way, though, it’s a Federation that’s fallen apart from a natural (?) disaster, through no fault of its own (unless you consider overdependence on a single substance a fault). So it’s not about saving its soul or fixing its mistakes, more about finding what remains of it and piecing it back together.
#44
A slight variation. The “new” main line Star Wars movies did this too. Paint a bit of red on a TIE fighter and call it new.
”They’ve got the Big Mac. We’ve got the Big Mick.”
And so it goes.
@45/FrankenCat: I disagree. The two are very different narratives. In a story about fighting institutional corruption, the institution is a strong, controlling force and the heroes are the underdogs fighting an uphill battle to redeem it. Here, the institution is weak and fragmented and dependent on the heroes’ strength to save it. In the former, the Federation is an ambiguous, morally compromised entity posing an obstacle to the heroes; in the latter, the Federation is an unambiguous ideal that inspires the heroes to overcome other obstacles.
If there’s a Star Wars parallel, it’s not to the new trilogy, but to the first two trilogies. The prequels were about the heroes trying (and failing) to stand against the corruption within their existing society. The original trilogy was about the heroes trying to preserve what remained of the old society’s ideals well after it had ceased to exist. Although that’s a flimsy analogy at best.
The renewal for season four’s been formally announced. Which is, you know, not exactly a surprise, but it’s still nice to hear.
New Mandalorian season starts in two weeks. I’ve never been in the bickering camp that prefers one o’er the other. It’s a surfeit of riches; I enjoy both. Though I’ll admit that Wars leaves me less intellectually engaged, so my expectations may be lower. I have higher expectations of Trek and it sometimes disappoints me.
I don’t mind the concept of the “burn” and personally I’d love it if they didn’t explain it. Sometimes it’s better to just leave the ambiguity and focus on what matters. The presumed destruction of the every federation ship due to warp core breaches from the dylythium exploding is a good explanation as to the collapse of the Federation. The why doesn’t really matter. This would leave the Federation fractured and unable to operate long enough for it’s collapse to be plausible and for other groups who use alternate energy sources to gain a dominant foothold. I’m really curious to see how the galaxy now stands. There is so much fruit from this scenario and I hope they don’t squander it like they did with Voyager in a rush to return to a status quo.
I must admit as I watched the body count was a little alarming for Trek. It makes sense that the weapons used by criminal syndicates would not be set to stun but that doesn’t lessen the impact. I like to think that given Burnham’s actions were not normal given she was still very much drugged for most of that sequence.
I too also enjoyed the insight into her inner thinking while she was drugged and I hope that is explored more.
There is so much potential in the world they find themselves in and I hope the writers are up to the task. There’s also opportunity to tie “Strange New Worlds” to this new Discovery by treading similar thematic ground but through the lens of a world where the Federation exists at the height of it’s purpose to one where it has simultaneously fallen, but has a spark that could lead to it’s rebirth.
Which people is it that look as if someone copied the Moria Orcs from the LOTR films?
The last two scenes made the episode for me- the idea of human determination and hope.
I enjoyed the episode- for 50+ years we understood how starfleet/the federation worked. New things got revealed to us in shows but it was still the same. Even Voyager 70,000 light years from home is still the same. Now we’re in a universe that seems to be largely without the Federation and Starfleet. To quote (one version of) Montgomery Scott: it’s exciting here!
#46
Yet, both narratives arrive at the same questions of what is the Federation and is it worth fighting for and should we be out there in space to begin with, and this being Star Trek we already know the answers to these allegedly profound questions. It’s a lot of navel-gazing and self-doubt manufactured so our heroes can dig themselves out of the muck and reach fan-gasm Hallmarkian feels (in most likely another rushed finale), all while making sure to hit us with those market-tested words of “faith” and “family.”
They’re nice sentiments and the occasional reaffirming of beliefs can be a sweet reminder of why we’ve watched this franchise for so long, but I don’t find it very challenging. Particularly when it’s repeated again and again so closely together.
I believe Book said time travel technology had been banned after the Time War, and I’m confused as to what this could mean: isn’t it possible in this universe to travel to the past simply by doing a slingshot maneuver around a star? What’s this ban then, a speed limit? Forbidding gravity?
Um . . . Genesis II was not unfinished nor was it abandonware.
Roddenberry produced as a movie in 1973. He then reworked the ideas for a 1974 series called Planet Earth, and yet another, Strange New World, in 1975. Each series aired for one season.
Michael seems to have the same “defence” against truth drugs as Miles Vorkosigan. Same as Thog from Order of The Stick too, now that I think of it.
The Orion Syndicate officers seem to have gone to the same target practice school as Imperial Stormtroopers…
@Sam: call it a Plot Gun: no matter how well aimed, it can never kill a main character.
Not sure if I remember the technobabble correctly, but I had the impression that antimatter is the fuel equivalent and dilithium crystals are needed to stabilize or channel the energy or something. And that they need to be recrystalized from time to time – like recharging a battery – but unless they break, they can last for very long time. But the way Book talked about it gave me the impression he needs the crystals to get from planet to planet and then he’ll need more. Are dilithium crystals actually the fuel? Maybe I misunderstood something…
@56: I thought of Miles Vorkosigan, too. Discovered the series last year – still in the “OMG how did I not now about this before this is the best thing ever” faze of a new fan. So Michael being interrogated by fastpenta was my favourite part of this episode.
@55/pjcamp: “Roddenberry produced as a movie in 1973. He then reworked the ideas for a 1974 series called Planet Earth, and yet another, Strange New World, in 1975. Each series aired for one season.”
This is incorrect. None of those went to series; they were all rejected and thus only the pilot movies exist. The only non-Trek Roddenberry premise that ever went to series was 1964’s The Lieutenant. (The Questor Tapes did get a series order, but Roddenberry had a falling out with the network and the deal fell apart.)
Also, Roddenberry had no involvement with Strange New World. He amicably parted with MGM to develop a Trek revival, and with his permission, they reworked Planet Earth into a similar post-apocalyptic premise without him.
I reviewed all three movies on my blog:
https://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/gene-roddenberrys-genesis-ii-planet-earth/
https://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/2019/12/26/genesis-ii-planet-earth-addendum-strange-new-world-1975/
^Correction — The Lieutenant was a 1963 series, not 1964.
@61/Tessuna: Yes, antimatter is the power source and dilithium is a means of controlling the reaction or channeling its power. However, a warp drive can’t operate without the crystals, any more than a fully fueled car can operate without spark plugs. And crystals can be worn out or burned out by excessive use. Perhaps Book’s drive is inefficient and burns them out quickly, or they’re low-grade crystals that aren’t very durable.
People complain about Michael Burnham being the center of the universe (and the show). This episode shows us why: because Sonequa Martin-Green is awesome.
Oh we get some tropes, because they’re somewhat inevitable in storytelling, but every second of the episode I was focused on Michael’s journey in, well, discovering this new world she and the Discovery crew have found themselves in. The elation that all life in the galaxy wasn’t destroyed, the frustration with Book, the devastation at the fall of the Federation– I felt everything Michael felt. But I really teared up at the end. That was the good shit.
I’m really looking forward to this season.
“The Gorn did what?”
“I have a friend with red hair. You cannot give her any.”
What is the Lurian lifespan? Maybe this is Morn himself.
@19 – Burnham recently came out of a war with the Klingons. And was high as a kite.
@23 – I took Book’s abilities as evidence of cybernetic implants, not as evidence that he’s not human/
@63: And, of course, any minor break with continuity as to how dilithium works can be chalked up to changes brought on by “The Burn”….
I had mixed feelings on the episode. Definitely different, but definitely not the best Star Trek episode I’ve watched by a long shot. I thought Sahil being by himself just holding out like that was a bit strange and also Michael being eaten and spit out, virtually unharmed was a bit unrealistic – a little more accepted in Lower Decks with Boimler.
I am wondering if next week’s episode won’t have Burnham at all or if she will show up at the end. I would be ok with them holding off the reunion to ep3.
I am looking forward to the first episode where they do visit Terralysium. I am wondering if there will be a thriving civilization descending from the people Gabrielle Burnham transplanted there and thus be central to the rebirth of the Federation.
@61 I forgot the most famous recent example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HphZucD_cuM
63. ChristopherLBennett – Cochrane’s test ship didn’t use dilithium. Dilithium may simply be the best way to utilize the plasma and others may exist. For that matter, we’ve already heard of lithium crystals. Sure, it was changed very quickly to dilithium but that may simply be an upgrade.
I really hope the last scene is the theme for this season. I’ll probably keep watching which is as good a review as any.
I hated the shaky cam, stormtrooper aim, mid-space collision, and the survivable re-entry. I know Star Trek has a dubious relationship with basic physics but the last two seemed a bit much even for them. I’d like it if they toned done the Rule or Cool.
The stuff about the strength of the Federation being in its belief is a nice counterpoint to their failings in Picard. It will be interesting to see how the various series play off of each other
@lerris: empathic abilities and growing a plant in seconds suggest technology?
I didn’t say he’s not human, just not baseline human. However, it’s easier to imagine an enhanced or offshoot Betazoid, for example, or some other empathic species. Maybe he has Jedi force alien magic powers. His cat’s possibly a familiar. Or a shapeshifter like Gary 7’s.
There is still the name, though…
Hm. I guessing that Part II of The Hope That Is You will be the season ender?
(And Book is essentially Wilma and Burnham is Buck).
@17: This whole season is about trying to start a non-consecutive second term for The Federation. Why shouldn’t it include a character named after Grover Cleveland?
I read all the comments so far and nobody has mentioned the best part of the show: Grudge! It’s about time Discovery got a pet, it’s been a long time since Porthos.
durandal_1707: *grooooooan*
MeredithP: Thank you for the prompt to remind folks tofollow @Grudge_Cat on Twittter, because of course Grudge has her own Twitter feed…..
—-Keith R.A. DeCandido
@71/Sunspear: “empathic abilities and growing a plant in seconds suggest technology?”
Why not? We’ve seen plenty of cases in Trek of technology being used for mind-reading, going back to the Klingon mind-sifter. And rapid plant growth can be as credibly explained by nanotechnology as by… I don’t know, what kind of alien power would you think was being used there?
Neat little article in the Washington Post today about Sonequa Martin-Green ( Michael Burnham).
@64, Somewhat Nartin-Green’s awesome is not the issue. The issue is the ridiculously high stakes in every season and how Michael is always the solution.
Perhaps those who read my question in #50 took it to be frivolous, but I am genuinely ignorant and asking those who know the ST universe better than I:
Which alien race is being represented by SFX makeup and movement that (to my mind) mimics the Orcs (not Uruk-Hai) from LOTR?
@78, very sorry about mangling Sonequa Martin-Green’s name. Damn autocheck.
@71 – Sunspear: No, the glowy things under his skin totally look like implants.
@79/srEDIT: I haven’t seen the episode or a picture of the alien you describe, but it’s 800 years further in the future than we’ve been before in the Trek timeline. There are bound to be a lot of alien species unknown in the 23rd or 24th centuries. So your question may not have an answer unless subsequent episodes choose to establish it.
Having seen and rather enjoyed this episode – that last scene reminded me of THE LANTERN BEARERS and DAWN WIND, two history novels cherished from my younger days, in the very Best way – I think we can all safely say that the only reason that beastie swallowed but didn’t chew up Commander Turnham at the end was because it knew that doing so would mean it had to cut all ties with Book, renouncing his protection.
Clearly the creature knows this would leave it at the mercy of Grudge. Clearly the creature fears Grudge.
Clearly this creature is wise.
At this point I’d make a joke about Grudge the cat having auditioned for the role of Mouse in THE DRESDEN FILES TV series (and being dreadfully smug about it’s theory that a tragic lack of Maine Coon condemned that rather enjoyable production to an early grave) but since cats aren’t especially long-lived I’m not sure this particular specimen was even a glint in Old Tom’s eye when that series was being produced (heck, it’s Grandfather might not even have been born).
p.s. Will most defiantly be tuning in for the next episode of this Season; one looks forward to seeing the crew again (am especially looking forward to seeing Ensign Tilly and her all-conquering head of curls conquer the 32nd Century).
I’m a trifle worried that “The Burn” has something to do with actions taken in the past by a legendary figure named “Burnham.”
Did anyone else notice that Burnham/Book had immediate chemistry which also felt completely natural and organic? I compare this to her relationship with Ash Tyler from seasons one and season two which always seemed to me to be completely forced and they were in love simply because the writers deemed it so regardless of their lack of chemistry. I think the former will actually be a great fun relationship that I’m interested in seeing where it’ll go and I Hope Book survives the season!
@CLB: “what kind of alien power would you think was being used there?”
Well, if it isn’t force powers migrating from another universe… my next guess is something connected to the Mycelial Realm. I don’t think they’re done with that silliness. …And it’s another element in Trek’s evolution into pure space fantasy. As I suggested with the Druid remark, Book strikes me more as a fantasy archetype than a science fictional one. He’s a space wizard.
(yeah, yeah.. Apollo in TOS, etc…)
@87/Sunspear: Yeah, but does a “space wizard” have to be an alien? That seems like a non sequitur to me. Surely arbitrarily advanced future technology is as plausible an explanation for seemingly magical abilities than arbitrary alien powers. Any sufficiently advanced technology could be hard to distinguish from magic. (Hey, that’s catchy. Someone should write that down.)
And again, why can’t he be a human-alien hybrid? ENT established that multispecies hybrids are common by this millennium.
In short, none of this makes it any less likely that he would be named Cleveland.
@CLB: ok, I’ll bow out here, or I’ll start speaking in a Super Earnest Tone. Please watch the episode before pushing back on fragments you’re getting secondhand. There was language used by Book and his people that wasn’t translatable by Burnham’s UT. By inference, nothing available in the old Federation. Indication: alien society. Possibility: descended from a human colony now isolated for several centuries, maybe intermarried with a native species.
One last thing: a human-alien hybrid is exactly the direction I was going for. Trek indeed has notable mixed race children/characters; hence, my Betazoid reference. I’m not the one insisting he’s a human with advanced tech.
So, this is just having a bit of fun speculating with what was presented on screen. If it’s not fun, what’s the point?
@74: Lest you forget, Picard on Star Trek: Picard has a pet as well: the pit bull Number One. Apparently he was a bad actor though and so that limited his screen time in his one and only episode and perhaps impacted any future appearances. I’m guessing no twitter feed for this particular animal.
@89/Sunspear: “I’m not the one insisting he’s a human with advanced tech.”
Nobody’s “insisting” anything, just acknowledging that it’s an alternative possibility that shouldn’t be overlooked. Making sure all possibilities are enumerated is not picking a fight, it’s just being thorough.
@90/garreth: I don’t get that “bad actor” explanation. Most animal characters in TV and movies are played by two or more lookalike animals — Grudge, for instance, is played by two different cats. So if they only had one dog playing Number One, that’s kind of strange (albeit appropriate given the name).
@@@@@ 90 + 91: I read somewhere that the dog was a rescue (Patrick Stewarts a big pit bull advocate) and wasn’t trained for acting. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t really work too well.
@@@@@79. srEDIT
The alien you are asking about is a Betalgeusian and appeared in The Motion Picture in 1979. This is a deep cut easter egg.
@92: You have to wonder why production/casting didn’t go with a pit bull that was already trained to act?
Intriguing title for an upcoming episode: “Unification III”
Dare we hope to see Romulans again? Would be interesting to see if Ambassador Spock’s work bore fruit.
But it could just be a metaphorical or thematic follow-up to the TNG episodes.
Interesting, that title surely means something.
Part of the reason it took me so long to chime in here is because I held off watching because I too was dreading a post-apocalyptic dystopia. I reflexively despise post-apocalyptic dystopian stories and there ARE way too many of them in this day and age. As usual Sonequa’s stunning acting drew me in because that roar of victory when there were in fact life signs, *chef kiss* perfect. She pisses me off most of the time because she makes me cry very easily. It’s annoying. Fortunately she then turned around and gave me a Michael Burnham I haven’t had since she shot Ripper that time. She made me laugh. High on Truth Serum Michael Burnham is the best Michael Burnham, I laughed my ass off at that whole sequence and also the facial expression she made when Book Zod-snapped that dude’s neck. It makes me think there’s an entire season of Lower Deck’s worth of comedy in the reactions she keeps buried under her professional and Vulcan raised exterior.
Aditya Sahil. My God. That book end. Everyday for decades. Waiting for as TV Tropes would put it, a “Light Flung into the Future” or a sign. First of all his discipline level is off the charts, plenty of people would’ve gone mad. But that purity of purpose. Make that man the first President of the Second United Federation of Planets please. That really did make the episode. And Burnham’s reaction to him…the Federation’s not dead it’s just in a coma people; Or…maybe…mostly dead. But mostly dead is not all dead.
I like Book. He was constantly fighting his desire to know what’s going on with this girl versus his instinctive knowledge that knowing what’s going on is going to be trouble that he really doesn’t need. But he’s a different take on the Han Solo type of rogue that we all know in that he actually is naturally altruistic. So he has much more idealist in him than the usual survivor rake character normally does, which is appropriate, this is Star Trek. And he did deserve to get punched. He betrayed her after making a deal. His telepathic abilities are fascinating. Considering that it’s a recessive trait that activates every few generations it makes me presume that he has an alien ancestor, which is perfectly logical. But Star Trek has since the second episode 1, been clear that humans can and do develop psychic abilities and/or may further evolve them. So it’s also entirely possible, though actually more unlikely because of humanoid hybridization, that Book is 100% Homo Sapien but that he’s/we’ve evolved new abilities. Curious enough in comic terms he could be a mutant. The prayer/mantra means that it does take some mental focus and monk like discipline to use.
There’s an interesting meta text to this season however. For those of us who prefer classic Star Trek, with this season Discovery will actually do what the production team has been doing in real life. Rebuilding The Federation/Star Trek from scratch.
They’re still using the glowy floating holograms. It’s alright in the 23rd century and I suppose in a future where the Federation has fallen and technology has regressed (Book said they’ve lost the ability to make Tritanium which was a 23rd century material, that’s a heck of a backslide). It still agitates me from Picard though where those holograms were actively worse than the 24th century standard. On the other end of the tech scale, with the destruction of the vast majority of Dilithium, we still have Benamite and Quantum Slipstream drives, which is very very nice. I always loved the Quantum Slipstream, “Hope and Fear” was my jam. I feel that Paul Stamets is going to be overjoyed that with 32nd century technology, his Spore Drive is probably going to become the best way to rebuild an even bigger Federation…instead of a tool for war.
I got sidetracked and forgot to talk about the BURN. While I agree with Keith that a natural disaster causing the downfall of the Federation is a good angle, the means of doing it are REALLY suspect. A galactic scale piezo-electric event? I’m just headcanoning that but that is a property of dilithium, but a galactic scale event that destroys most dilithium and catastrophically destroys whatever the dilithium is in? *sniffs* I smell sabo-ta-gee. An extra galactic attack, maybe the Kelvans? Cripple galactic civilization and then swoop in a century later after all the people who would organize a response have died off. So I’m very interested in the Disco crew unraveling this mystery.
Finally saw this. It was quite well-done. Effective writing, pretty good action (though like others I could’ve done without the killing), some pretty good humor. An interesting mix of magical future tech in some ways and regression in others. Ajala is good as Book. Not nearly enough Grudge, though.
And Kirsten’s been promoted to co-producer and a main-title credit! Woo-hoo!
I’m glad they touched on other forms of FTL in Book’s speech. I was wondering why they wouldn’t use quantum slipstream — it sounds like they never got around the rarity of benamite. No mention of transwarp, though. Book’s initial rant suggested that experimentation with wormholes is not unprecedented, and that it went pretty badly wrong when the Gorn tried it.
I’m a bit annoyed that the closing scene blurred together the idea of Federation liaison and Starfleet officer, as if civilian and military posts were interchangeable. But then, if both the UFP and Starfleet have regressed into legend over 10 or 12 decades, the confusion can be rationalized as limited in-universe knowledge (and Burnham playing along with it) rather than storyteller error.
@97 – Mr. D: The spore drive damages the beings living in the mycelial network. They shouldn’t use it.
@100/magnus: But the spore drive is still good to have as an only if absolutely necessary option should warp drive be inoperable. I mean, I think that’s why DSC even keeps it around and hasn’t already dismantled the system?
Wow, I was not very happy about how Burnham treated the Orions/Andorians. In an era where there is no centralized authority, they were likely the legitimate power in that area but she seemingly had no qualms about immediately breaking or refusing to recognize their laws, stealing a bunch of a vary valuable resource and straight up killing some innocent security guards. And it wasn’t even in the service of a higher purpose, but only to attempt contact with her ship.
I also didn’t understand how Salil could have been what looked the like last inhabitant of an abandoned Starbase. Assuming the Starbase in anywhere close to inhabited space (which seems reasonable), I can’t believe that an undefended pile of resources would not have been picked clean decades ago, especially close to Orion space.
Book was great though. Hope he sticks around.
@102/vinsentient: “Wow, I was not very happy about how Burnham treated the Orions/Andorians. In an era where there is no centralized authority, they were likely the legitimate power in that area but she seemingly had no qualms about immediately breaking or refusing to recognize their laws, stealing a bunch of a vary valuable resource and straight up killing some innocent security guards.”
I wasn’t fond of the killing either, but this had nothing to do with laws or governments, only capitalism. This was a privately run trading outpost with hired enforcers. It was literally named Mercantile.
“especially close to Orion space.”
By the same token, there’s no reason to assume there is such a thing as “Orion space” anymore. The Burn would’ve fragmented every widespread interstellar nation, not just the Federation. Any government’s control would be reduced to a planetary scale or a narrow or tenuous interplanetary one, constrained by limited dilithium supplies. We’ve seen subsequently that Earth and Trill are both isolated, with limited contact with the rest of the galaxy. There’s no reason to doubt the same is true of Orion, Qo’noS, Cardassia, and every other world that used to be part of a large interstellar nation. So there probably is no “Orion space” except around the planet Orion itself, or any other separate planet they may inhabit.
“Book was great though. Hope he sticks around.”
His ship is featured in the main titles, so I assume he’ll be a semi-regular.
@103 CLB
Just because the Mercantile might be something similar to a warlord state or a free port doesn’t mean that there can’t be a legitimate authority, even if that legitimacy and authority is derived from force. A feudal lord is still a lord.
Even if that entire area was just a privately owned exchange, surely the owner is allowed to set rules of behaviour within?
And Burnham made basically no attempt to work within that framework.
@104/vinsentient: In her defense, Burnham was high on truth serum and her judgment was compromised.