SPOILERS ARE JUST A REVIEWER’S WAY OF SAYING: “I LOVE YOU”
Before anyone thinks that I didn’t like STAR TREK: DISCOVERY‘s sixth episode of the season, “Scavengers,” I did very much enjoy it. I simply had to get past the stupid stuff that really annoyed me. So let’s get that out of the way first…
Okay, I just need to say it: DETACHED NACELLES ARE RIDICULOUS!!! Seriously, who thought of that? I want to see some fan with VFX skills take a CGI model of Discovery, cut to Saru ordering the ship to warp, and then have both nacelles whoosh forward and out of sight while the rest of the ship just sits there motionless. (You reading this, SAMUEL COCKINGS???)
Likewise, the NCC-1031-A was completely unnecessary…and wrong. When the U.S.S. Enterprise was refit in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it remained NCC-1701. The “A” came later on a different ship because its predecessor had been destroyed over the Genesis planet. Same with the bloody B, C, D, and E…and any other letters that came later.
Those personal site-to-site transporter badges might not be stupid, but they’re annoying as anything…just ask anyone who is trying to make out in a turbolift just as Linus shows up and announces, “This isn’t the science lab!” just before disappearing again. Yeah, hooray for the comedy relief, but the gag got old really fast and brought up a lot of very disturbing questions:
- Does everyone on the Discovery suddenly have the superpower of teleportation? (Suddenly, Nightcrawler of the X-Men isn’t particularly impressive anymore.)
- What about privacy on board? Can you materialize inside someone’s bathroom and go, “Oops”? I actually might not feel particularly safe on a ship full of people who can suddenly appear anywhere at anytime.
- Isn’t there a danger of materializing inside of someone else…or something else? One would hope there’s a “shove” function built into the beam, but what if two people transport simultaneously into the same spot?
- How do people doing delicate tasks requiring steady nerves and concentration guard against the sudden, unexpected pop-ins that now happen regularly?
All three examples come under the heading of “just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean that you SHOULD do that thing.” The writers decided that the future has some amazing stuff. But perhaps they went a little too amazing with things like personal transporters and “programmable” matter and detached nacelles. When technology becomes more like “magic,” you might have jumped a shark or two.
Just one more kvetch before I get to the good stuff: while I’m more of a dog person, I like cats, too…and fat-shaming a feline is not cool (unless it’s Garfield). The jokes about Grudge’s size bother me—perhaps because I have a weight problem myself. It wouldn’t be appropriate to make those snarky comments about Tilly’s shape, so why is it okay to mock the cat?
Okay, I’m done complaining. Let’s start saying some nice things…
As most reviewers noticed, this was the “standard” prison break episode that we’ve seen a million times before on Star Trek and elsewhere. The formula is the same: someone important gets captured and must be freed, the heroes infiltrate the prison pretending to be someone they aren’t, we meet a prisoner on the inside who is “good” and makes us care about the plight of the other prisoners (so now the jail-break has to be everyone), something goes wrong and the heroes are discovered, but with the help of the prisoners, the good guys succeed and everybody escapes with only one death or injury (usually the “good” prisoner we met inside who made us root for everyone to escape).
So yeah, all the boxes checked on that.
But the prison break was only the catalyst to bring in two other much larger story points for the episode (and for the series), and those are going to be my focus because they’re both actually very solid dramatic choices by the show’s creators.
THE EMPRESS’ NEW (LACK OF) GROOVE
The first of the two plots is Georgiou’s newfound “whammy” (likely put on her by Kovich last episode—although who knows?—maybe it’s just her increased distance from her universe of origin). The reason this particular twist worked so well is that it takes the former empress far away from her comfort zone as a character. This is a solid tool of storytelling, as explained first to me by the great J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI discussing the second season of the series Babylon 5: “What you need to do,” he said at a con back in 1995, “is establish the ‘rules’ of your universe so people know what to expect. Then, once they’re comfortable, then you start breaking those rules in unexpected ways. That’s how you keep them interested and excited.” And he certainly was right!
With Georgiou, we know who she is by now: snarky, arrogant, nefarious, merciless, cocksure, and always in control of herself and the situation (even if she isn’t the one in command). And as long as this “Dr. Smith” character keeps playing her one note, she’s part of the symphony but ultimately not a character who will stand out much. Oh, sure, we get the occasional “Georgiou the ass-kicker” as we did in the second episode of the season, and she’s always good for an obnoxious comment to add in some comedy relief for a scene. But we really weren’t expecting much else with her besides, “Well, she really does care about Michael, so she’s just a softy at heart.”
But this episode deconstructed nearly all of that with two key scenes (plus one from last episode). Early on, we see Geoegiou hesitate enough that Michael notices. But of course, Georgiou won’t admit weakness or ask for help…ever. So the moment passes. But later on in the episode, Georgiou is taken out of action by her mental debilitation at a critical moment, and the mission almost fails. This time, Michael can’t simply “let it go,” and Georgiou is gonna have some ‘splainin’ to do…and maybe even get some quality time with Dr. Hugh.
Whatever happens, this episode was obviously the set up, moving the chess piece into place, and the payoff will begin coming (hopefully) next episode. What I applaud about this is how quickly this storyline developed. Last episode, Georgiou began showing her first sign of the “whammy.” An episode later, and it’s reached the point of needing to be dealt with. Compare the speed of this development with the glacial pace of past plot elements like Tilly’s “Mushroom May” imaginary friend and Ash Tyler’s struggle against his own inner Klingon demon.
Speaking of Ash, I need to interrupt this train of thought to mention how much more satisfying Michael’s relationship with Book feels than anything that ever happened with Tyler. That “romance” felt as natural as a Twinkie. Book and Burnham (or Book Burnin’ as I like to call them), feels like twue wove…that dweam within a dweam. And to be honest, I can’t understand why the two of them had to wait a year to start gettin’ it on in a turbolift. Seems that being alone in Book’s Lego Millennium Falcon for twelve months would have provided plenty of opportunities for doin’ da nasty, if you know what I mean. (You can always put the cat in a different room for privacy—unless Grudge has a personal transporter, too.)
Oh, well…I guess absence and a prison break made the heart grow fonder. But at least the creators moved this “will they or won’t they?” plot along quickly, too. Let’s hear it for speedy service!
NUMBER ONE STEPS IN SOME DEEP NUMBER TWO!
But the most welcome plot that the writers moved along quickly was my favorite aspect of this episode, and that was Michael’s betrayal of Saru and of her crew…and its consequences. Three weeks ago, I complained about how I felt that Michael Burnham was a lousy choice for first officer because she’s such a loose cannon. “How many second chances is this headstrong woman gonna keep getting???” I shouted through the Internet. Then last week, I compared the Saru/Burnham dynamic to Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock…only with the roles reversed. I mused: “And while we know exactly how the dynamic works with Kirk and Spock when the passionate, lead-from-gut-intuition adventurer is in change—what happens when the calm and rational brainy guy gets the last word? Will the headstrong maverick want to listen and follow orders the same way the by-the-book logical one would have?”
Well, we now know the answer…and it didn’t take very long, did it? Granted, the writers set up an almost impossible choice for Michael: disobey direct orders or save a beloved friend. Yeah, there was also the McGuffin of getting the last black box (more on that shortly), but we all know why Michael really went to the salvage planet. There was a Book she just couldn’t tear herself away from.
Now, in Star Trek III, Kirk disobeys orders, steals the Enterprise, and blows it up…all to save Spock. His friends help him. In the end, he saves Earth and gets a mild slap on the wrist along with command of the Enterprise back. In “Scavengers,” Burnham does mostly the same thing (with help from Georgiou but without blowing up a starship…and she only saves some prisoners, not an entire planet), and yet her punishment feels MUCH more severe than Kirk’s.
And I say…about frickin’ time!!!
Granted, I do love Star Trek II-III-IV, and I believe in what Kirk did. But as this latest episode of Discovery explained (very well, in fact!), Michael’s decision did not only affect her and Georgiou. It had the potential to impact the lives and careers of her entire crew…without their consent! At least Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, Scotty, and McCoy all agreed to help Kirk get Spock. This was a delicate period where Discovery and her crew were trying to earn the trust and respect of future Starfleet. Having their XO disobey the orders of her captain and go A.W.O.L. at a time when the Discovery was standing by to be sent on an important mission at any moment…this was the epitome of selfishness and (if I may be so bold) sheer friggin’ hubris. Not only did Michael betray her captain’s trust, she betrayed all of her friends and shipmates.
That’s BAD.
And honestly, just taking her out of the position of XO was the LEAST that should have happened! I know that Michael (maybe I should go back to calling her Burnham?) is needed to triangulate the black boxes, so keeping her on as science officer and not simply putting her into the brig for a month (like Tom Paris had to endure in the Voyager episode “Thirty Days”) makes sense. But how about at least confining her to quarters for a month and demoting her back to lieutenant?
When Michael, tears in her eyes, tells Saru that he’s doing the right thing, I wanted to smack her with a Starfleet officer’s manual! Saru doesn’t need HER blessing to discipline his crew. And she got off easy. Be happy they’re letting you stay on the darn ship, Michael, ’cause you could just as easily analyze the black boxes working from the future Starfleet space station HQ…or even from their brig!
In fact, why is Michael even needed to analyze those black boxes? Doesn’t anyone else in the galaxy know how to triangulate? And hey, why was Michael the only person to ever think of looking at the black boxes in the first place? Is everyone in the future an idiot? Starfleet (even what’s left of it) should be full of smart scientists. The idea that the wave that destroyed all of the dilithium in the galaxy originated from some central location seems like something that SOMEONE would have thought to look at in the last century, right? But I guess Michael Burnham always needs to be the one to save everyone and everything.
Oops, that was another “stupid and annoying” complaint sneaking into the blog. Back to the good stuff…
I do want to tip my hat for the scene where Admiral Vance chews out Saru for not bringing Michael’s information directly to him (Vance) in the first place before telling her “no” on the rescue mission. Vance was 100% right, and Saru should feel properly chastised. But it’s an interesting dynamic here, as well. Saru is the “new kid in the fleet” and wants to fit in, and it’s hard to know what and how much to bring to the admiral’s attention before becoming too annoying and appearing helpless. So I also get where Saru is coming from. This scene needed to happen, and I’m glad that it did. Now Saru knows that Vance wants to be informed—and hopefully, next time, Saru won’t be so skittish.
LAST TWO THINGS…
All right, one more stupid thing and one more good thing to cover. Coin flip time! Okay, stupid thing goes first…
Why isn’t future Starfleet building a new fleet of Discoverys? I mean, it would be one thing if the ship were some kind of indecipherable alien technology that they had to figure out first. We’ve seen that trope about a thousand times in various sci-fi, from Stargate to The Expanse. But not only does Discovery have its own specs and blueprints in its computer banks, but the guy who frickin’ DESIGNED the spore drive is right there on the ship! Yes, I know that, right now, Paul Stamets is the only person who can “drive” the ship through the magical mushroom tour, but the Discovery crew is already working on that problem, and I’m sure the smart people from the future would be happy to help.
And finally, the last of the good things—which was kinda tacked on at the end anyway as a tagged on C-story—and that was Stamets reaching out to Adira Tal with the hand of friendship. Granted, it was interesting that one of the two main gay characters would reach out to the non-binary character (with the trans boyfriend), but I don’t think there was any hidden message there…liberal or otherwise. It’s simply that every other main character has major things going on and would overwhelm Adira plot-wise:
- Saru is captain and has his issues with Michael.
- Michael is, well, overwhelming to any character.
- Tilly is her own supernova and already was the “I’ll be friends with the new kid” character when Michael first came aboard.
- Hugh is pretty busy being everyone’s friend and therapist.
- Jett Reno isn’t really tocuhy-feely.
- Georgiou doesn’t make friends.
I suppose one of the interchangeable bridge officers, Linus, or that cleaning guy Gene could have befriended Adira, but why would we care? So that left Stamets…and it was a good, positive scene to lighten up an otherwise heavy episode of tension, suspense, conflict, and consequences. I’m not sure where this new friendship is headed, nor what’s going to happen with “Trill ghost” Gray, but not every subplot needs to move forward at warp speed.
As a final side-note, looking back from the point of view of a 53-year-old married man, I’m not not sure how thrilled I’d be having my girlfriend from back when I was sixteen be living inside my head as a talking imaginary friend for the rest of my life. Just something to think about…
Okay, I’ve written enough for the week. Next week, as we give thanks here in America, we can also be thankful for crossing the halfway point in the third season of Discovery!
A friend suggested that the -A might be disinformation, to suggest that the ship folks were seeing was NOT the 930-year-old vessel they might have heard about.
It’s a good explanation for my head canon, but I sure wish they’d put it on the screen.
For that matter, what did Voyager and crew do that really merited all subsequent ships to retain its registry and get suffixes? Enterprise and crew at least saved the Earth…twice! 😉
Well, Janeway sorta saved Earth from the Borg a little. 🙂
And I saw the theory about disguising Discovery. It sorta works, although by this time period, an “A” would also seem old, wouldn’t you think? At least make it NCC-1031-H or something further along.
To be honest, I think it would work better doing it as -A, simply for the fact, that there was only ever one Discovery, should someone be able to find any records on the ship. As it was established in the Season Finale of Season 2, they eliminated all references to Discovery, and it was confirmed by Admiral Vance, that they weren’t able to find any reference to Discovery, but you can be sure, that even though Starfleet removed all mentions of Discovery, doesn’t necessarily mean that Section 31 doesn’t have something, or the Klingon Empire, or any other race out there. So to be safe, the -A does make sense in this method.
Also, a good reason for not giving it the -H, is that I don’t think there are that many, if any Fleet yards around to be building these ships, and to have a ship that no one knows about, suddenly arrive with a -H designation, will definitely raise eyebrows, as to where the rest of the line comes from, and why there is no mention of that line in records.
We are looking at a Post Apocalyptic Starfleet, and UFP right now, and cause of that, there could be lots of data that can be out there, from multiple sources, that we don’t know about. Cardassia, Bajor, Qo’noS, New Romulas (If they decide to make STO cannon) that could have all kinds of data about Starfleet, and even copies of very old archives.
Just my two cents on the deal.
I find it interesting that most people are commenting only on the first few paragraphs of the review. 🙂
It was originally planned by the producers that only the Enterprise would get a letter suffix – in recognition of the extensive career of the previous vessel – NCC-1701 (I almost said “original” Enterprise, but that would open a whole other can of worms).
At some point, I guess they decided that giving a letter suffix to newer version of older ships was a good idea and easier than trying to fit registration numbers into system that was never really that well thought out.
Yeah, Star Trek started off being all about the “Big-E.” Now, there’s a lot of other “beloved” ships, like Voyager, Defiant, and Discovery. Ironically, the Defiant is the one that really deserved an “A,” as the original DS9 protector was destroyed, and the USS Sao Paolo was renamed Defiant. An “A” was certainly called for there.
“Why is Michael even needed to analyze those black boxes? Doesn’t anyone else in the galaxy know how to triangulate? And hey, why was Michael the only person to ever think of looking at the black boxes in the first place?”
Well first off no one said she was “needed” to triangulate or do anything else.
You don’t find it that some 120+ years after a major incident that no investigation was conducted to find out what had happened after the “Burn” took place. Now to me that suggests it happened on purpose and someone in Star Fleet or the Federation is trying to cover it up. That is rather obvious….
“Why isn’t future Starfleet building a new fleet of Discoverys? I mean, it would be one thing if the ship were some kind of indecipherable alien technology that they had to figure out first.”
Who says they are not? In the briefing the Admiral suggests Discovery is an experimental ship. So clearly they have plans on building their own version at some point.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if Control found a way to go into hiding for 930 years…..
Interesting theories.
I do agree with you about the demotion of Burnham by Saru. It was finally good to see that she got a smackdown that she has needed to have happened to her. What I find interesting about this specific one is that it seemed to have more impact on her than the punishment she got from Starfleet in the first season, to me, that felt like she was basically telling Starfleet “whatever” just punish me and get it over with like she was some angsty teen. This goes around she knew her actions while “Right” was Wrong. It was good to finally see that even she was feeling a sense of remorse. So good on the writers there for that gem finally making it happen into the series.
“Why is Michael even needed to analyze those black boxes? Doesn’t anyone else in the galaxy know how to triangulate? And hey, why was Michael the only person to ever think of looking at the black boxes in the first place?”
Your missing a major plot point with the Burn. Dilithium is ultra-rare. It’s such a high commodity, that it’s become an established currency (And most likely, the only currency now). Back in the 23rd, 24th, and 25th centuries, there was an abundance of Dilithium around, and even when it was in scarce supply, there was technology to regenerate / re-crystalize Dilithium after it had been worn out from the Matter/Anti-Matter reaction that bombards the Dilithium crystals to create the power needed to generate a stable Warp Field.
Starfleet / UFP is in Crisis mode, as it was denoted in the episode. They are playing the game of put the fires out after they had already started, not stopping them from starting. And the main reason for it, being that they are having to take long trips to get to any re-established UFP World. I say re-established, cause they are in the process of trying to keep the worlds they have been able to contact, and get into contact with others that they have lost touch with. That Captain’s meeting, where Admiral Vance hands out assignments, everyone is talking about trips of weeks, and months to get to these places, where before the Burn, it was hours, and days.
So to be able to go to 3 unique positions far enough apart to retrieve these black boxes, to determine a point of origin, we’re talking years. Years that they couldn’t afford to spend when trying to keep what was left of the UFP and Starfleet together, and do their jobs. And it is space we are talking about. The area in which Starfleet is operating at right now, is a very small area of the universe, maybe a max of 10 sectors.
The thing that really gets me, is the whole Trill thing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with Humans being suitable hosts. That part doesn’t bother me, it’s the whole Discovery crew knowing about Trills before hand. The Stamets and Adria interaction was good, but the thing that killed it for me, was Stamets saying “From what I know of Trills….” Trills weren’t established till TNG, and didn’t really get expanded upon till DS9. So in the 24th Century, not much was really known about Trills till the mid to late part of it. So to have someone from the 23rd century say that statement, is off-putting. At least for me.
Ah, you’re forgetting “Trials and Tribble-lations,” Mario! In that episode of DS9, we discover that a previous Dax host knew Leonard McCoy in medical school back at Ole Miss. So the Trill were at least known to Starfleet about 10-20 years before Kirk’s 5-year mission, and that’s certainly Discovery territory.
As for the Burn and its effects, I would think that Starfleet can walk and chew gum at the same time. Finding out all they could about this disaster would seem to be a huge priority. And I’ll go you one better! Undoing the damage of the Burn might actually be a reason for some renegade captain (like Kirk or Burnham) to find an illegal way to time travel to somehow prevent the disaster in the first place. And with Starfleet slowed to a crawl, such a maverick could work in secret and never have to worry about getting caught or stopped. 🙂
An how about the fact they can’t even keep continuity with themselves. In the ST Short Calypso when the Discovery evolves in the future, the hull number has NO “A” and is the original bronze color. So how was it just relabeled with an “A” and turned blue?
Maybe it’s a parallel-timelime Discovery? 🙂
So tired of having to make excuses for lazy writing. 🙂
I’m not sure if I’d use the word “lazy.” Most writers aren’t lazy. Rushed, maybe, but not lazy.
Except, you can’t really ignore the stupid and annoying stuff. It takes you out of the story, destroys your ability to suspend disbelief.
Well, in all fairness, I loved reading Superman comics for many decades despite the whole “glasses-hide-his-secret-identity” thing. 🙂
Another comment, I am really getting tired of the trope rip-offs of other shows, particularly Battlestar Galactic. Ron Moore should get royalties.
It seems there are no new ideas at all in Discovery, or Picard for that matter. Let me list just some of them (between the two):
– A man waiting at a desk every day for someone to show up (Discovery).
– Androids evolving to a human form (Picard).
– This has all happened before and will all happen again (Picard).
– Music being used to bring people to an idea (Discovery).
– A person who sees and communicates with someone in their head (Discovery)
I don’t need to go on, but believe me there are TONS more.
Well, considering that the writer of this latest episode also wrote for BSG… 😉
I am so glad I was not the only one who saw that.
Two things that occurred to me after watching “Scavengers”.
First – given that we’re told Time Travel is strictly verboten, who’s keeping an eye on the Guardian of Forever?
Second – does Linus the Saurian have an older sister named Lucy?
Good grief!
Detachable Nacelles, I am not sold on that yet. Yes, it was welcome eye candy, however I don’t understand how it could make it more efficient and maneuverable, if anything I can see it as a comic relief or plot point to add tension, (Saru:Warp 8!, Ship stand still. 1st officer, sir the Nacelles are gone! Saru: WTH?!?, Detmer hits ground from mental collapse). As for the cause of the Burn, anyone is game. Starfleet (More like Janeway, Sisko and Picard) has pissed off enough species. Empires and groups that the field is wide open. I can easily see the burn being cause by the Dominion, Zhat Vash (they both play the long game and Romulans use Artificial Quantum Singularities), Mirror Universe seeking revenge from all the crossings (part of me can’t help but wonder if Cronenberg’s character is from there or connected somehow). Or even the Pah Wraith, and being the Temporal Cold War has reared its head again, I can see the Sphere Builders, The Na’kuhl (Enterprise season 4 episode 1&2), Future man or another faction.
As for Burnham, it’s about damn time to see Saru bitch slap her for her stupid (albeit apparently important) actions. Don’t get me wrong I like the actress, she is good. But her “save the day/galaxy/universe” position is getting as annoying as Wesley Crusher in the first 2 seasons of TNG.
I also agree with your stance of why didn’t anyone think of triangulating where the Burn started? What did the federation advance so much that they can’t think in simple terms like the Asgard from Stargate? Please!
But I all in all I did like the episode, it did move the Emperor’s plot along nicely and did establish Discovery in the fleet and Discovery could be the answer to all of Starfleet a travel issues. Let’s see what happens moving forward
What about the time-travelling Federation that we saw referenced in Enterprise, with Crewman Daniels? …and several times in Voyager, with Captain Braxton, who ends up going rogue? We were even introduced to “The Temporal Prime Directive”.
SO… if canon is even relevant to these writers (COUGH!) I guess Star Fleet/the UFP, reverses itself on the illegality of time travel at some point… and also (COUGH) why didn’t *THEY* stop “The Burn”? After all, they sent Braxton to “fix” what Voyager caused… Sigh. Just more reasons why I don’t much care for this show. 🙁 On a FB post, someone used a phrase that bothers me… “They wiped Roddenberry off of Star Fleet”… That says it all. He wanted the future to be much more hopeful, and NOT this miserable dystopia I keep reading about! That’s why, in all the ways that matter, THIS AIN’T STAR TREK to me. 🙁 Sure, some character tension is OK to keep things interesting, and while devastating, the “Dominion War” in DS9 had a good conclusion. That seems more realistic than just willy-nilly OBLITERATING THOUSANDS of starships in some mysterious “Burn” that utterly cripples the Federation! 🙁 Sigh. I could rant a lot more, but I won’t. I’ll just continue to read these spoiler-rich posts, because I have a SMALL interest in what’s going on… if for no other reason, than curiosity.
The Temporal Cold War from Enterprise was 29th century. The Burn came 200 years later.
Then they should know how to prevent it! 😉
One sincere question: is Adira really a non-binary character? I know the actor/actress is, but didn’t they refer to the character repeatedly as “she” and she/he at least didn’t object? I noticed that when watching because I was curious about how the character would play out…
Right now, Adira is still being referred to as “she.” If or when they decide to explore Adira’s non-binary aspects is still unknown.