"Star Trek: Discovery: Season One" Blu-Ray Review (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

Star Trek: Discovery: Season One

Catching up on my Star Trek Blu-Rays. Gonna be essentially rewatching the entire Kurtzman TV era. Won't that be fun?

Star Trek: Discovery has its fans (mostly TV critics) and haters (mostly actual Star Trek fans). Where do I stand on the divide? I think Star Trek: Discovery is a wonderful science fiction series. If it was like The Orville and had its own alien races and planets I would love it unreservedly. It's amazing science fiction, and more than once, amazing television.

But I'll concede it's bad Star Trek. Not just from morality standpoint (there are actually plot-driven reasons in Season 1 this is so) but based on how much it fucks up the canon for no damn reason. CBS refused to pay Paramount licensing fees, so the Klingon make-up and Starfleet uniforms are all entirely outside of what this time period is supposed to be. As a Trekkie that pisses me off.

Yeah, I'm a Trekkie. Not a Trekker. Trekkies call themselves Trekkers to demonstrate they are SERIOUS fans and not goofballs, but I think anyone who labels themselves as someone who takes a TV series seriously actually IS a goofball. Even if they don't wear a Starfleet uniform to jury duty. It's a name a Trekkie calls themselves when they have a major chip on their shoulder. I also think it denotes weakness, and suggests a deep built-in shame for the franchise and fandom. I'm not like THOSE goofballs! Oh no? Even Leonard Nimoy was forced to recant his "I Am Not Spock" book with a sequel titled "I Am Spock." You are just as lame as the rest of us, you self-proclaimed Trekkers. You aren't fooling anyone.

How is the first season? It's promising, with an underwhelming unearned ending. Lots of cool twists and turns throughout, and an unforgivable death that was SO unforgivable (Culber's) that the writers bought it back in the next season just so the death threats would stop. The season (especially Captain Lorca) also plays entirely differently the second time out.

Controversial Opinion: I don't think Gabriel Lorca (an amoral war criminal from the Mirror Universe) is the worst Star Trek Captain of all time. Fandom has just decided that's a given because of how outside the rest of Star Trek he is, but Janeway has done equally unforgivable shit, and Archer was outright incompetent. Seriously, it's amazing how bad at his job Archer was. I think Berman and Braga had him address alien races over the viewscreen condescendingly like they were toddlers to show Starfleet was still new at this, and didn't have the bugs to diplomacy worked out. I'm a civilian in the 21st Century. And even I know you shouldn't do that shit and that it's utter cringe. Lorca may have his faults, but he doesn't speak loudly to alien races speaking in a different language because he thinks they'll be able to understand what he's saying easier. That's fucking offensive and insulting. Lorca's an amoral asshole but he's a competent Captain.

It's been awhile since I reviewed a TV season on Blu-Ray / DVD, but the standard 15 years ago when I was doing it regularly, was at the end of the review I'd list the best episodes of the year and the worst. For the best I usually picked any episodes that were rated 4 and a half stars or five. I graded none of the first batch of episodes with those grades.

Picking a worst episode is an easier lift. "Vaulting Ambition" is appalling on every level you can think of. "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" is also a dud.

Season Overall: ***1/2.

The Vulcan Hello

I have always treated Star Trek: Discovery very kindly, at least until Season 4. Rewatching the entire series will be instructive.

This is the most polarizing Star Trek show. Is it the worst? Not even close. Enterprise is the worst by far, and both Voyager and The Animated Series are worse than Discovery too.

But the first episode does SO many controversial things I get WHY the show is hated.

I think one of the biggest reasons I tended to tune out the complaints is an inordinate amount were about the show's "Wokeness", and the main character Michael Burnham being a Black woman. Let me say anybody who complains about Star Trek being "too progressive" is not an actual Star Trek fan. That has ALWAYS been Star Trek's deal. It never developed the toxic fandom Star Wars did because its messaging is about tolerance and inclusion. Apparently toxic fans started to latch onto Star Trek during the Kurtzman era, but the fandom was never theirs, and as far as I'm concerned, they are not welcome.

That being said, one of the polarizing things about Discovery, especially during the first season, is how outside of Star Trek both the production is, as well as the morality. The twisted morality has a clever purpose by the end of the season, but it's very weird to see Star Trek spend most of the season normalizing a militant captain like Gabriel Lorca before dropping the boom that he isn't what he's saying he is. He's not Starfleet at ALL and doesn't share ANY of our values. Is that the wrong messaging for the first season of the first Star Trek show since Enterprise? I think it probably is.

The production looks awful, specifically the new designs of the Klingons. What's upsetting about how ugly they are, and how inconsistent they are with the Augment Klingons, who are the versions who should be active during this time period, is the horrible designs are due to the fact that CBS was too cheap to pay Paramount the proper licensing fees for the make-up likenesses as well as the costumes. That's why the Starfleet uniforms look entirely inconsistent with the 23rd Century too.

When CBS and Paramount remerged a couple of years later, the licensing issue was resolved, but people pissed that the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation had to wait until Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard to reunite are missing the forest for the trees. Would ANYONE be happy if Michael Dorn as Worf looked like THIS? Hell, I am 100% positive Dorn would simply refuse to come back under that scenario.

But yeah, the amazing feature-film quality visual effects don't impress me while every other bit of the show looks wrong. In fact, the advanced visual effects indeed DO date it outside of something set a few years before Star Trek: The Original Series too.

There is absolutely no cursing in the Pilot, not even a "hell" or "damn", which is refreshing, and a total outlier from the f and s bombs that are coming. Of course, the first episode WAS broadcast on CBS first, but hells and damns would have flown on broadcast.

Seeing Detmer without her ocular implant says this show always had a plan for her.

I notice in the climax Burnham tells Georgiou and the crew "I'm trying to save you." I think it's telling she didn't say "I'm trying to save US."

The thing about Georgiou is that she seems nice and all but is the wrong Captain for this moment in history. She's stubbornly talking about diplomatic solutions and Starfleet never firing first as if that sort of morality is iron-clad instead of situational. I think she is far more responsible for the war than Michael Burnham is.

I liked Doug Jones' line reading upon saying "Really?" after Georgiou says Michael agreed with him. He also is the first guy to turn down a dangerous mission. Him saying his people saw the coming of death and he saw it now was beyond spooky. "We are your livestock of old." Chills.

Say what you will about T'Kuvma, I think, "We come in peace," IS a red flag. It's the messaging of colonialists. Now Star Trek IS very colonialist, which is ironic considering the pains the creators of the early series tried to bend over backwards to NOT do that, but yeah, the messaging of the Prime Directive would resonate more if every time it was brought up it wasn't a complete hindrance to the mission at hand. One cool thing about the Pilot is it embraces the notion that "I come in peace," is a controversial statement, and not something to be immediately trusted. I like that.

So Shazad Latif was Voq the entire time. I can kind of see it now.

One of the traditions of the Pilots of the first four spin-offs was to have a brief (or not so brief when it came to Captain Picard in the first episode of Deep Space Nine) cameo of a beloved character sort of passing the torch to the new crew. Now they didn't get a familiar actor back here. But I think Sarek's role here qualifies as that (even though he'll be a pretty heavy presence in Seasons 1 and 2).

My biggest complaint is that the dialogue on the planet at the beginning is too expositiony. They both already know this information and they both know they both know it, so they are only saying it for the benefit of the audience. That's not how real people talk. I never enjoy that bit in fiction.

I like the Starfleet emblem in the desert though. The warp effects as the Shenzou is going through it is beautiful too.

I love Sarek suggesting that Michael killing a Klingon after what they did to her parents might be considered fair. Speaking of Sarek, WHY didn't Michael tell Georgiou that her advice about the Vulcan Hello came from Ambassador Sarek? She might have taken it seriously had she known that. I'm guessing that's the reason she didn't tell her. Because the writers didn't WANT Georgiou to take it seriously. But it's a hole still. And to be blunt, bad writing.

One of the biggest notes I had about the show back in the day is if a sci-fi show with this exact plot and script, with NO ties to Star Trek came along, I would love it unreservedly. I might even at points claim it's better than Star Trek (The Orville has gotten this from me a couple of times). It's a great science fiction series. As a Star Trek series? It does a LOT wrong to a well-established canon. I'm bullish on the Pilot years later.

Say, anybody notice that not only is the Starship Discovery not SEEN in this episode, it's not even mentioned, and neither are any of the other series regulars besides Saru (and okay, Voq)? That might lend to the disjointed unease I felt at the time. Interesting choice, but for the first Star Trek series in over a decade? Probably a mistake. ***1/2.

Battle At The Binary Stars

Yeah, this is something to be skeptical over.

The Klingons as a species do not venerate dead bodies. They consider them empty shells. It suggests that once the show was firmly out of Bryan Fuller's hands after the Pilot, most of the writers left (besides Joe Menosky) actually know very little about Star Trek.

I'll tell you what I like about this version of Sarek. Like Star Trek 2008, here Sarek (portrayed by James Frain) is suggested to be extremely diplomatic and respectful around humans, and takes part in their customs, and chides Michael when she seems reluctant to. The idea that Sarek is so reasonable actually fixes a plothole from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Journey To Babel". Because of Sarek and all the various aliens in the episode, that episode is beloved, but really, it's pretty shitty. The main drama of Spock refusing to give Sarek a life-saving blood transfusion because of his "bridge duties", even though Captain Kirk insisted his father came first was not the arch melodrama that D.C. Fontana thought it was. It was bullshit. It was false, forced drama that made NO fucking sense.

Seeing Sarek interact so comfortably with humans here suggests something interesting to me. And I doubt this was DESIGNED to fill that plothole, but maybe it does. Has it occurred to anyone before this that it's possible Spock is just a total irredeemable bastard who will do anything to spite his father, and just needed the SLIGHTEST excuse to hold saving his life over him?

The fact that Spock is half-human and struggles with human niceties in a way Sarek never did says this is the correct interpretation. And although Spock does not appear in this episode, Sarek's chillness lends credence to the theory big time.

Frain plays Sarek with a very playful demeanor in the scene he sees Michael off. Him telling her to behave says he has a sense of humor.

Georgiou talking shit about Michael before they go into battle sucks, not just because it hurts, but because she dies, and I am not allowed to like her memory. I think this was a huge mistake.

I like that Georgiou seems upset when she learns the brig has been destroyed. It makes me forgive her a LITTLE.

Admiral Anderson is a bit of a dumbass.

Connor says that Starfleet aren't soldiers, they are explorers. First of all, explorers back in the day were pretty fucking violent and ill-intentioned. It's not the angelic occupation Star Trek thinks it is. An explorer is just as likely as a soldier to commit genocide. And as far as soldiers go, that often happens as a war rages on. For many explorers, that's their opening move. T'Kuvma decrying "We come in peace," is actually sensible.

Secondly, knowing all this, I have ALWAYS felt Starfleet owes more to the military than anything else. I don't really know how to break it to other Star Trek fans, but they even use the exact same military designations as the U.S. army. A lot of soldiers in peacetime are tasked with similar types of missions that Starfleet is. Just because soldiers deliver supplies and vaccines, or build houses, doesn't mean they aren't soldiers or military. I'm no hawk, but I find the idea of soldiers a more honorable profession than what explorers in our past turned out to be.

I do have to admit admiration for how they ended the second episode with Burnham being sentenced to life in prison. Where do we go from here? That's the burning question, as is when do we actually get to fucking see the Starship Discovery?

But honestly, in hindsight, the Court Martial bothers me on multiple levels. Life in prison is freaking overkill for what she did. I get how serious mutiny is, and part of it is a deterrent, but the series made a choice to make Burnham's coup entirely bloodless (which is probably the precise reason it failed). While they did that, Life is ridiculous.

The other thing I didn't like was the fact that it took place in a dark room with three Starfleet officers in shadow, with us unable to see their faces. I know it's done for dramatic reasons, and it DOES indeed look both cinematic and frightening, but Starfleet is the kind of organization that solves its own problems in the harsh light on day, on the record, so everyone can see the transparency. Star Trek: Discovery is a good science fiction series. But it's a bad STAR TREK series.

Do you know what else pisses me off? Burnham is VERY clear the only way to stop the war before it starts is to capture T'Kuvma alive, and make him a POW, so the other Klingons would find him shameful and unworthy to lead. A great plan. Except the second he kills Georgiou, Michael forgets ALL about how important it actually is to stop the war before it starts, and kills him instead. Why did she do something that stupid? I'm happy to explain. It's because it's television, and television is the worst artistic medium known to humankind. In fairness to the writers being so bad at their jobs that they expected people to let it slide, fans are seemingly NEVER upset about this kind of lazy writing (I guess TV's real problem is Wokeness for these clowns), and hey, I'm the first person I've seen bring this specific thing up too. So if they expected to coast because fans actually don't have actual quality standards, as far as I'm concerned, that is a fair wager. And seeing that I'm the first person bitching about it, that bet paid off big time.

But... but... Burnham is a Black female lead! Egads!

I don't understand fans at all. ***1/2.

Extended Scene

There is some serious delusion going on in young T'Kumva here. He cray. He's always had a Savior complex. Not remotely sane or healthy. ***1/2.

Promo

I totally forgot how awesome this was. There's Rainn Wilson as Mudd! It's cool he was teased. Also Lorca appears to have been saying shady things from the get-go.

Neat. *****.

Context Is For Kings

That was pretty fucking entertaining. The teaser reveal of Discovery is probably the greatest reveal and introduction to a main ship in Star Trek history.

And you can say what you want about this show (and I have). There is no denying the hook is great: The Starfleet Captain is the bad guy!

Lorca being from the Mirror Universe is both well hidden AND well set-up, but the truth is even if he were from our Universe he says things no Starfleet Captain should ever say.

Chain Of Command does indeed exist in Starfleet, but an actual Starfleet officer would understand the powerful negative connotations of "This is not a democracy" and say something else. ANYTHING else really.

The Tribble who seems to chirrup contentedly in his presence is a GREAT freaking mislead. Well done. Maybe Lorca uses it as a Klingon Detector. Probably shoulda brought Tyler into his office at some point.

Plothole: Tilly expressing surprise to see a book. Books are actually quite common in all five earlier Star Trek series. That joke was written by somebody who clearly knows fuck-all about the franchise.

The part where the Klingon shows up on the away mission and shushes the crew is both mysterious and funny, but it makes no fucking sense. If anything the dude would be using those Starfleet assholes as bait to save his own neck. Funny, but not credible.

Speaking of Starfleet assholes, I will be talking a little more about the problematic things Lorca says but I'm guessing the reason most people either ignored them or dismissed them (for this episode at least) is because his security officer seems downright sinister and racist. No Starfleet officer should be calling another human being garbage or an animal. Worse, she sits back and lets the prisoners attempt to kill Michael in the mess hall just to see what happens. Lorca's from the Mirror Universe and is what he is due to nurture. How did Landry, who is from OUR Universe, and has a Mirror Counterpart even MORE fucked up, actually pass Starfleet psych evals while being a pure sociopath? I disagree with Gene Roddenberry that humanity will perfect itself in the future and shit like sociopathy will stop being a problem. Bad humans will always exist. How did this psycho get so high up in Starfleet is my question.

THAT'S what happened to Detmer. And she blames Michael. Interesting.

Tilly is an autistic character. Reg Barclay was too on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but I don't think the writers back then had the proper context for it. I like this about Tilly. Because it suggests autism isn't some disease the perfect Starfleet needs to eventually eradicate. It says even in the future people can be different. Given that Barclay was treated like a pariah most of the time, that's refreshing.

Mary Wiseman gives a very down-to-Earth and realistic sounding performance, including stepping over her words like a real nervous person. Very outside of Star Trek and very welcome. One of the biggest objections to the earlier Star Trek series to me is that I don't recognize or sympathize with any of the human characters. I love Picard and Sisko, but I don't understand them, and their lifestyles and values aren't something I recognize. Sisko did several things that made him imperfect, which is how I see myself, but that was only an occasional thing, whereas Tilly's poor communication skills are an ingrained part of the character. Best of all, Michael doesn't punish her for her ill-graces the way Geordi La Forge did Barclay. Michael leans into the whole scary "I am THAT Michael Burnham" thing but when Tilly says she's in her bed she's still amused. "Seriously?"

Mary Wiseman's line reading on "You're not her, are you?" is great. It's both jokey and nervous which gives it a cool realism, and makes Tilly a more recognizable character for modern audiences than any other in Star Trek history.

Another good thing about the episode: The prisoners speak realistically. I mean, like actual people from the 21st Century. I will argue it is the first time in Star Trek history we've seen characters from the future talk in such an observational and real-world way. Credible dialogue was not... exactly a priority on the first five Star Trek series. To put it mildly. You want to get Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Andrew Robinson, Jeffrey Combs, or Marc Alaimo to chew the furniture, that era of Trek has you covered. You want characters you can believe in talking like actual people. This Was Not The Franchise For That. I'm glad it is now is.

The beginning had a very Battlestar Galactica feel, down to the shaky camera moves and a role for Rekha Sharma. Honestly, Battlestar Galactica entirely wore out its welcome to me and most of its other fans. But there's a reason the remake caught fire to begin with it. And in Discovery's defense, although I didn't LOVE the ending, it wasn't the travesty Galactica's finale was. So I don't much mind the tribute of the good things.

The breath imprint thing is SO fucking stupid. They only did that so Burnham wouldn't have to cut out Tilly's eyeball or cut off her thumb.

We also need to discuss Stamets and Lorca. Stamets first, because he's always been my favorite character. And this episode is one of the reasons why. He is just a total fucking bastard. An asshole, disrespectful to everyone, and thinks he's better than everyone else. Why would I like this character? Because his merging into the spore drive later in the season turned him into not just the gentlest and most empathetic character on the show, but maybe the gentlest and most empathetic character in Star Trek history. The fact that he started out like this makes that arc incredibly rewarding.

I'll say this for Stamets (and this was clever of the show). He clearly hates Lorca and is not afraid to show it. So as big of an asshole as Stamets is, him recognizing Lorca as a militant warmonger before anybody else says he's still always been on the side of angels, asshole or not.

I love after Saru says that Burnham is the smartest person he's ever known Lorca turns to Stamets and says, "He knows you too, you know." Those two REALLY don't like each other. It was a very charming moment for the both of them.

Speaking of Saru, him saying he hopes to do a better job protecting his captain than she did hers is said with great sorrow and regret. But do you know what? It's still a REALLY assholish thing to say. Saru has sort of been portrayed by the writers as gentle and sweet. But that shit is fucking toxic. For real. Now he owes MICHAEL the apology.

I love the bit of Stamets confusing Burnham for a Vulcan. It says as big an asshole as he is, he is also a pretty great comedy straight man. I loved him for it while I was booing everything else.

As for Lorca, again it's not just that his behavior is shady and untrustworthy. His "context is for kings" speech is entirely fucked up. Maybe not in OUR time. Now it might be considered wise. In the 23rd Century Federation of Star Trek? It is dark and immoral and outside of everything Gene Roddenberry envisioned for the franchise. I am one of those rare fans who believes Roddenberry's vision was not remotely infallible, and in fact it's okay for the franchise to update and move on from some questionable and dated ideas he had. Still, you know. It's apart from the entire tone of Star Trek, which properly raised true fans' ire. Little did we know the producers were pissing us off on purpose.

Jason Isaacs, man. He's just SO good. He whispers what he says, which is a first for Star Trek actors. When he says the light thing makes him seem mysterious? Chef's kiss. When he whispers "And back before you knew you were gone," I realized this dude should be doing more voice-over work than he does. He gets cast for cartoons SOMETIMES. This guy should be the next Mark Hamill or Clancy Brown.

He has so much natural charisma too. In everything he says, it's magnetic. Probably the most charismatic Star Trek captain ever. Yes, even more than Picard. I'm not just saying that. That's how good he is.

When he tells Burnham there are no free rides on his ship you realize prison labor is still a thing in the 22nd Century. That kind of bums me out.

Usually when fans rank Star Trek captains Lorca comes in dead last. I don't agree with that placement. I think Archer was far worse because he was incompetent, and Saru was TOO soft. I MIGHT concede Kathryn Janeway might be a better captain than him, but based on what happened with Tuvix and every stupid and selfish decision that woman ever made, it's not by much.

And this would be the most exciting science fiction program in years, if it wasn't attached to the Star Trek brand. Because it is, it's polarizing instead. But that freaking held my attention. *****.

Promo

Another great trailer. Mudd! Mudd! We want Mudd! *****.

The Butcher's Knife Cares Not For The Lamb's Cry

Problematic in a lot of respects.

The cannibalism, for one. It doesn't belong in Star Trek, especially not with the Klingons. And to do that to Georgiou is especially offensive.

And if Voq is Tyler, that means Tyler feasted on Georgiou. Not okay.

I am also unhappy with Commander Landry's arc. She is a clear sociopath. And I can't figure out why she is where she is. Lorca, I get. But again, how did she EVER pass a psychological screening to enter Starfleet, much less make it to the rank of commander? That should not be possible in 23rd Century Star Trek. Again, I appreciate the Kurtzman era is true and right enough to say bad humans will still exist. Roddenberry pretending they wouldn't is bullshit. But they sure as hell shouldn't reach the rank of commander in Starfleet.

Voq and L'Rell's bonding scenes were interesting, but I have to say the whole Klingon mutiny thing felt pretty stupid. Just because it was obvious, and Voq is an idiot for believing anything else was going on. That's bad writing, I think, done because the writers cynically know audiences don't actually expect any better in their villain betrayal plots. Hi, I'm Matt, and I'll be your turd in the punchbowl this evening.

Saru is being insufferable, but I DO take notice in his anger he accidentally gave away he doesn't like Lorca. Now he doesn't seem to DESPISE him the way Stamets does. But him believing Burnham and Lorca will get along great was probably telling, and probably him telling something he had kept entirely to himself before this, and he lost his cool. Interesting.

Still, I do understand why he'd be offended Michael used his Kelpian fear glands that way. I do like that he seems to jokingly refer to them as separate people.

Another thing: Saru seemed amused at Paul's snarkiness to Lorca. For whatever that's worth.

The opening scene of the uniform materializing had beautiful visual effects.

Everything Lorca says and does is credible for 21st Century warfare and leadership. For Star Trek? It's entirely messed up.

Speaking of which, the positive reference to Elon Musk will probably go down as the most dated, cringe reference in Star Trek history. Lorca's from the Mirror Universe. Maybe the Musk from there was actually worth a damn and not a worthless piece of shit like ours is. That's pretty much Star Trek's only defense for a mistake that bad.

Stamets' reactions throughout the episode are fun. It sort of weird that although this is Culber's first episode, and he and Paul share a scene together, there are hints they are actually married. In hindsight, Paul saying he was willing to get rid of the gland that stores emotion and Hugh being annoyed with that is a pretty good clue they are a ship. It plays as flirtatious for people who know they're married but it didn't when you didn't know it as this aired.

Honestly though, Culber saying Paul needed to stay still unless he wanted to look like a Tellarite? That's kind of racist, isn't it?

I like Stamets describing the phaser as a placebo for his skepticism. And no fair! He wanted to be able to talk to his mushrooms!

None of the first five Star Trek series used holograms for mirrors. Because the idea is super dumb, and a waste of resources and energy. Do better, Discovery.

There's a reason this show sometimes got on people's nerves. ***.

Deleted Scene

Are all the deleted scenes gonna be Klingon stuff? It IS kind of dreary at this point. This scene is a good cut because I think it confuses things too much for Voq and L'Rell. **.

Promo

Pretty cool. ***1/2.

Choose Your Pain

Saru was working my last nerve this episode.

Rainn Wilson was genius casting as Harry Mudd. Ultimately, the places they went with him on this show weren't great, but that was a memorable first appearance.

"I am only guilty of loving too much," and "You haven't heard the last of Harcourt Fenton Mudd!" are very much Harry Mudd lines.

The second line is interesting because we never actually saw Mudd lose his temper on The Original Series, and yet the way Wilson yells the line is exactly how I think Roger C. Carmel would have played it if he were still alive and playing the character. Wilson is obviously a fan.

I also love "I'm not siding with anyone." It is a very real line, made more impressive that it's given to Star Trek's most theatrical character. Well done.

I loved him so "wholeheartedly" agreeing to Ash volunteering to take the pain.

Him talking to Lorca about Starfleet sticking its nose where it doesn't belong is also interesting, because he's not entirely wrong. Also geeky to hear him use the phrase "Where no one has gone before."

Mudd claims the Klingons are smart because the "Choose Your Pain" thing is done to deliberately keep the prisoners from bonding. Mudd isn't stupid himself if he understands that's the actual reason it's occurring. Somebody in Starfleet would probably see it as random, inexplicable cruelty rather than a cunning way to weaken them all. That's the value of seeing the occasional human perspective entirely outside of Starfleet.

Pretty sure Lorca would have grokked this, but he's not REALLY Starfleet, so he doesn't count.

Also geeky to see the list of great Star Trek Captains. Although it doesn't make TOO much sense that the list was only comprised of people we've heard of before.

Lorca's torture device with the "eye-openers" is straight out of A Clockwork Orange. Also his eye injections at the beginning make me cringe.

Lorca throttling Mudd upon waking shows that is a common reaction for him, and probably common for all people in the Mirror Universe.

Burnham's screams in the dream sequence at the beginning were very Twin Peaks.

Stamets' laughter at the end was also that, although to a bit of a lesser extent.

Loving him SO much. Really, as much of a butthole as he is, I love that he risked his own life rather than seeing the tardigrade suffer needlessly. Says everything.

I love him asking Burnham what she's doing with her mouth. She claims she's swallowing the urge to set the record straight.

Laughed at Tilly saying she loves hearing about how the problem wasn't her.

Two major Star Trek firsts, one I liked, one I didn't.

Stamets and Culber are Star Trek's first gay characters and couple. About freaking time.

First f-bombs in Star Trek history, which felt kind of lame and gratuitous.

Stamets' reflection lingering at the end was the first hint of the Mirror Universe, but it doing that didn't actually make narrative sense.

It ALWAYS bugs me when people are transported in a sitting position and rematerialize standing up. Old Star Trek problem that STILL hasn't gone away.

I get why Saru was angry at Michael. But the problem is him acting like that was fear, was bullshit. If he WAS angry, he should have just said so instead of pretending like she was actually dangerous.

Lorca's actions in the episode are a big hint he's evil. He can justify what he did to his old crew, but it doesn't stop it from being entirely outside of Starfleet principles. I think it could be argued it's the first time we've learned Lorca did something that even 21st Century humans would have a problem morally justifying.

I groaned at Lorca telling L'Rell he didn't have the right amount of organs to be with her. Ugh. God, the shit the show did with the Klingons SUCKS SO MUCH!

I liked some of it. Some of it I didn't. ***.

Deleted / Extended Scenes

A lot of Saru stuff was cut. ***.

Promo

Pretty cool. ****.

Lethe

I can picture the guy from Indiana Jones And The Last Crusader looking at Sarek for choosing Spock over Michael and saying "You have chosen... poorly."

Sarek being all "Technically we are not related," is probably humor. I love that it properly pisses Michael off. It's not really funny. But I laughed. What an ass.

Speaking of great Sarek reactions, I love that when the Vulcan extremist is about to blow them both up Sarek looks bored. He's not frightened of this nut. He's annoyed. I love that.

Enterprise was a shitty TV show. One of its most controversial elements was to suggest that not only were 22nd Century humans less evolved from when we previously explored, so were Vulcans. The rank nastiness and bigotry seen in the Vulcans on that show didn't sit well with many fans. I think it's kind of cool this show is solidifying the idea of racist Vulcans, even today, instead of trying to walk it back.

Speaking of Enterprise, this episode is the first mention of the Enterprise.

One moment I love is Cornwell freaking out at Lorca attacking her upon her touching his back in his sleep. In most fiction, a move like that is common, done to drive distance between the damaged hero and the female love interest. And audiences are conditioned to accept it as a matter of course, and sympathize with both the female for her fright, and the hero for his PTSD he can't control.

Here, Cornwell is just fucking furious. And it's delightfully righteous. This is fucking Star Trek, despite popular culture attempting to normalize that shit, in the 23rd Century for Human Beans, That Shit Is Not Normal. And I fucking love that the show decided that instead of pretending Lorca's damage is something HE needs to work through, and we ought to root for him about it.

Nope. It's fucked up instead.

She says he is not the man she knew, it's upsetting, and that their night wasn't like it was before. I'm punching the air at each of these statements.

He leaves her hanging at the end because he's evil.

Lorca clues: The reflection at the end. The phaser is still in his pajamas. Cornwell thinks he doesn't remember one of their liaisons when in reality, that was The Other Guy. What happened to The Other Guy anyways? I'm pissed the show never answered that.

Another clue: He tells Tyler if he doesn't bring back Michael safe and sound, don't bother coming back. VERY weird directive from a Starfleet Captain, and should have been the red flag for the viewer the phaser in the bed was for Cornwell.

Loving Stamets' new persona. It's why he's my favorite character.

Not happy about Tyler's conclusions of Michael being human. Like he'd know.

I love Tilly kicking Michael under the table to shake Ash's hand.

Do you know what else I love? Her referring to Tyler as "hot". That's the way real people talk and absolutely NOBODY ever said anything remotely like that on the first five Star Trek series. For The Original Series, that phrase hadn't entered our lexicon yet, but it is weird not a SINGLE person EVER described Jadzia Dax, Tom Paris, Julian Bashir, Seven Of Nine, or T'Pol using that exact realistic word. Roddenberry and Berman had this frustrating aversion to the characters using "modern" phrases, but without the characters talking like us, they feel separate from us, and I don't make the connection with them I should. This strikes me as a self-evident bit of storytelling, but Roddenberry was an iconoclast before he was a writer. I think the placement of those priorities ought to be reversed in any given piece of fiction, but what do I know?

The drug speed is mentioned. Again, I am of the opinion Gene Roddenberry would not like the characters' familiarity with the medical effects of such a thing, but that's another reason to like the show.

The science Academy dude chiding Sarek for his "emotional" reaction is full of shit. Why? Because I think that prick was enjoying that. I think if Sarek weren't so rattled he could have pointed that out himself. But the emotion Vulcans actually feel comfortable throwing out there is cruelty. But it's an illogical emotion anyways, and it bothers me they are almost never called on it.

Whatever Michael wants to think about how clueless and cold Sarek is, the truth is he isn't cruel. And fucking Spock often is! I think Sarek should get credit for that.

I loved that. ****.

Promo

Neat. ****.

Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad

It's a bananas episode and I DID like some of it. But some of it was, how do I put this? WRONG.

Harry Mudd is not a murderer. He's harmless. That why the original Star Trek AND The Animated Series were able to bring him back a few times. He's far too dangerous and crazy in this episode and as great as Rainn Wilson's performance is, it's WRONG.

Stamets' loopiness however is amazing, and why I have come to love the character. I love that upon Michael telling him she's never been in love his reaction is to tell her he's sorry. Anthony Rapp plays the gentle sweetheart exactly as effectively as he does the asshole. And since he's believable as both, the evolution feels excellent and believable.

Here's another good thing. The party has flashy lights and is playing a rap song. Because in the Kurtzman era, the producers actually want to show the crew believably having a good time. On The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry would have been deluded enough to believe humans are so "evolved" that our idea of a good time in the future would be listening to symphonies and sipping champagne. I cannot overstate how cold and uninviting his idea of human perfection actually was. His son Eugene is cool because he's allowed Star Trek to evolve and make human characters who are real people (like Tilly). For that reason alone, Star Trek: Discovery doesn't deserve most of the crap thrown at it.

Lorca awesomely offering Mudd the Captain's chair at the end is why he's not the worst Star Trek captain ever. If he were, that moment wouldn't be able to exist.

Another good thing about the moment. Lorca is from the Mirror Universe. I think this is the first (and so far only time) in Star Trek history of the franchise portraying a Mirror Universe character with ACTUAL nuance. It's a significant moment for me for that reason.

Burnham's personal logs at the beginning and end feel a bit trite. Star Trek has always been trite in general but I'm not gonna thank the show for tapping into the franchise's worst impulses.

I loved Stamets and Michael dancing.

I also love that Tilly usually digs soldiers but she currently has a thing for musicians. So Stamets is all, "Hey, Tilly! That guy over there is in a band!"

I also loved Detmer totally making out with a random guy on the couch.

Stella has an edge to her, and I see why Mudd actually feared her on The Original Series. "Explain it to me," is forceful enough to actually feel legit threatening.

The direction, pacing, and jump cuts are very outside of Star Trek, which is what makes things so entertaining. The episode looks visually unlike any other Star Trek episode.

Mudd refers to Lorca's weapons room as a "mancave". Gene Roddenberry would roll over in his grave if he heard that. I won't tell him if you won't.

Lorca's constant annoyance at the space whale suggests something that SHOULD be true of a Mirror Universe impostor: He really doesn't much care for the day-to-day operations of a Starfleet vessel. If he isn't blowing Klingons out of the sky, he ain't into his duties. Kind of telling, and should have clued us in that he wasn't from around here. That's a MAJORLY weird facet to give a character in Starfleet, much less a Captain.

There's a lot about the episode to like. And it also did a lot wrong. ***1/2.

Deleted Scene

Pretty Good. Probably should have been in the actual episode. ****.

Promo

Considering how huge the episode actually is, this one feels a little underwhelming. ***.

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

Here is how you know Saru treats Michael unfairly. She forgave him at the end of the episode. If I were in her place, I wouldn't have.

Still, Saru's monologue at the end of never knowing a moment without fear was a pretty powerful moment. I like that he properly felt shame. His violence towards Burnham didn't just appall me because he's a stronger alien species. It's because he's a man and she's a woman.

The episode is pretty dull otherwise. Saru is usually a cute character, but when he's compromised, Doug Jones can make him creepy, and when he's violent, scary.

I think the feeling I felt most for Saru was embarrassment. Just because he is the Pahvons' biggest advocate, and just doesn't actually understand the way they operate. To use violence against his friends to "protect" them? They never wanted or asked for that, and if Saru thought they did, he never understood them at all. In reality, Saru's violence wasn't down to protection. It was down to selfishness. Entirely.

One of the most frustrating things about the Klingon shit is that the House of Kor is an honorable House on both The Original Series and Deep Space Nine. It's like the producers saw that the first Klingon was named Kor, and decided to make that the House of the Big Bad without ever having researched Kor and what he stood for. It pisses me off.

L'Rell's motivations are all over the map this episode, as are Kol's. I really hope she DID respect Cornwell because that's the only thing she said or did that felt remotely consistent or believable. I loved the moment of Cornwell screaming. Jayne Brooke was almost a casting coup for this show. She is amazing. And way more amazing than anyone who ever played a Starfleet Admiral before. Before Cornwell, Deep Space Nine's Admiral Ross was the go-to example for great recurring admirals. Barry Jenner was great (God rest his soul) but the scream says Brooke is WAY better.

Lorca seems genuinely upset over the Starfleet ship being destroyed, and when he talks about a time to grieve later he sounds sincere. That sounds utterly outside of every Mirror Universe character. It's fascinating the bits of OUR Universe those characters can absorb if they've been around Starfleet long enough.

Before she and Cornwell were forced to break their alliance L'Rell actually seemed genuinely cunning at points.

Ash pulls rank on Michael on the mission. Personally, I think this just means he's an asshole.

Speaking of which, didn't enjoy seeing Stamets backslide so much. Good for Tilly for calling him on it. Him confusing her for the captain is another good foreshadowing to the Mirror Universe.

The episode is a total misfire. I didn't like it much. *1/2.

Promo

The episode is boring and the promo can't make it seem less so. Still the fear monologue was the right thing to highlight. ***.

Into The Forest I Go

Take note: Lorca may be from the Mirror Universe, and militant, and maybe even secretly evil. But Starfleet has left enough of an impression on him to want to defend the innocent planet of Pahvo. Shit like that is why I don't actually consider him the worst Star Trek captain. He's not all bad. He actually describes them as "peaceful" which is a weird thing to hear a Mirror Universe Terran talk about.

The episode? Solid at hell. The stuff between Hugh and Paul is especially sweet which what makes what's coming so gutwrenching, and frankly unforgivable.

Lorca's "Let's Go Home," has a different meaning in hindsight. Still, the Lorca clues are somewhat mixed. I get why he looks confused at the end in front of the crew: To fool them. Doesn't explain why he looks confused when he's facing the camera and nobody else.

I know why Lorca convinced Stamets at the beginning with that holographic Star Chart. It's the voice. And suddenly I'm wondering why Jason Isaacs never does voice-overs for insurance commercials.

Also notable is the idea that Lorca's getting a medal of honor from Starfleet. He begs it off to Stamets instead, but really, it just shows Starfleet's judgment wasn't the best at this point in time.

The stuff where Cornwell is trying to settle Tyler down was golden drama. Shazad Latif did great, but Jayne Brook is absolutely amazing. I love when she asks Burnham if she's leaving her and Burnham's all, "I have to but I'll be back." She takes it in stride without ever once changing her expression. Because she is a fucking badass.

Speaking of great acting, I should mention Anthony Rapp gives some of the best reaction shots of ANY Star Trek actor. Star Trek has a MESS of actors who can recite amazing monologues and speeches to let you know exactly where they stand. The look of guilt he has over Hugh learning the truth, and the look of resentment over Tilly blabbing more than she should have, is just as effective as a Garak or Picard filibuster. He doesn't say anything but I know exactly what he is thinking.

First "nudity" in Star Trek (we see Klingon female breasts, although it's actually just a latex costume) is not the historic moment worth noting. It's Stamets' and Culber's passionate kiss. Star Trek history made and done proud. Its great.

Burnham is like "I thought Klingons were honorable," and I don't know whether to laugh at her or throw up my hands in disgust. There exist honorable Klingons. Worf, Martok, and Kang walked the walk. Worf in particular did it even when it was freaking hard, and worked against him. He was a true believer. But he was a total outlier.

I think Ezri Dax pegged the Klingons accurately in the final season of Deep Space Nine. It's a thoroughly corrupt political system and culture that is eating itself alive by paying lip service to honor, but doing everything in its power to never hold itself to account for failing Kahless' ideals. And as much as Discovery has messed up the Klingons, I recognize the utter bullshit of the honor claim from Kol, and frankly every other Klingon in this show. I feel like The Next Generation was a bit too much on Worf's side in believing the propaganda. DS9 allowed Worf to see the Empire (and it's idiot Chancellor Gowron) for what they really were.

Saru mentioning Kelpians don't appreciate being discussed in the third person was funny because Burnham was talking like that to benefit the audience more than Tyler. But y'know, it IS kinda rude. Right?

They don't SAY they're in the Mirror Universe at the end. But yeah,. that's the Mirror Universe. ****.

Promo

Cool! ****.

Despite Yourself

Frakes directed this! Cool!

In hindsight, it's a good(ish) episode, but it caused a fucking uproar (for good reason) and was not enjoyable at the time. At all.

I personally think that for a LOT of people who were on the fence about the show, Tyler killing Culber was the moment they were either off it for good, or simply hate-watched it from this point forward. I cannot imagine the writers envisioned the amount of backlash they were gonna get for this, but I think it's stupid they didn't. But fans spooked 'em and Culber was brought back to life in Season 2. Star Trek: Lower Decks made fun of the trope of Trek bringing characters back to life, but it's actually NOT as common as that cartoon would have you believe. They must have been read the riot act.

Why is it such a mistake? Aside from the fact that Wilson Cruz is a beloved actor, and his and Paul Stamets' relationship is the sweetest thing on the darkest, most morally ambiguous Star Trek of all time, the fact of the matter is his and Paul's happiness is unique not just because Star Trek couples, (at least happy ones) are already rare. It because they are literally the first gay couple on Star Trek. And the first gay couple being the first time we saw a happy marriage work was a huge deal for the LGBT community. And the show (being television) didn't give much of a shit about HOW they shocked the audience. That's what TV is supposed to do. Destroy their show and their best things about it to get people clucking around the watercooler.

In this case, fans were NOT fucking having it. Not after Willow and Tara on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Just, no.

And I think two opposing thoughts about the show walking it back the next season. I don't think fandom opinion should EVER dictate the arc of ANY work of fiction. Catering to fans is something a creator does when they don't believe in their own vision. It's an extremely unhealthy mindset and comes from a place of creative weakness.

In this specific case, it was justified. Not because the fans were right (although they were) but because this specific plot turn was NOT done from a position of creative strength, or because the show knew clearly where the arc of its characters needed to go. It was done for shock value and to hurt the audience. And maybe Game Of Thrones fans tolerate that shit. Star Trek fans do not. We literally watch Star Trek because it's the ONLY franchise that isn't supposed to do shit like that. It's never been exactly a safe franchise, but it's never been a DICK franchise until now. And yeah, we were pissed.

It's not like the episode isn't otherwise great. The continuity of the Defiant from both The Original Series AND Enterprise is COOL because the show hasn't really bothered to stay consistent with previous Star Trek story canon before. And that's sort of its entire problem. I felt like this could potentially work as part of the Mirror Universe arc as seen on The Original Series, Deep Space Nine, and Enterprise. The callbacks felt consistent as far as the continuity goes.

For the record, as he's clarifying what he means by the word "imagining" it's clear to me that Hugh Culber has the best and gentlest bedside manner of ANY Star Trek doctor. It's not even close anymore. Beverly Crusher is now a distant second. I mentioned I was furious he was killed? That! That!

Captain Tilly is an essential part of the Mirror Universe. Why? Not just because Mary Wiseman is flipping out at having to be her, but one of the essential things about the Mirror Universe, that was ESPECIALLY true on Deep Space Nine, is a LOT of the scenarios are ridiculous, boarding on comical. As dark and depressing as the premise is, fans not only tolerate it, but love it, because the ridiculousness of Evil Captain Killy makes it so we never take the horrible things TOO seriously.

The show is giving nothing away on Lorca, which I think is a mistake in this specific scenario. His expressions should be more ambiguous than they are if he IS the actual Mirror Lorca. He seems genuinely shocked and surprised here at various points, which suggests either the writers didn't want to tip it off and decided not to play fair with us or (less likely in my mind) the fact that he was the Mirror version wasn't decided yet at this point. I bet the creators would roundly deny that, but if that's so, nobody would have suspected anything of the sort at this stage of the game even if they made his reactions more ambiguous for the audience. They wouldn't be giving anything away. And they didn't have him behave remotely like a Terran because that might not have been decided yet. Maybe as the season ended, somebody had the idea, and it was perfect, and also gave the writers a WONDERFUL opportunity to walk back all the anti-Star Trek bullshit they were doing all season long, ESPECIALLY with Lorca. I think it was Kismet and perfect, but it might not have been planned.

Even if it was, I have doubts Jason Isaacs was told ahead of time. He would have played many moments differently if he had been.

The thing that bugs me about this is that Lorca playing dumb at the beginning with the Vulcan rebel ship could have gotten them all killed. To mislead the audience, the show didn't play fair with us.

I did appreciate the idea that as Burnham is describing the "Mirror Lorca's" crimes she is none the wiser that the criminal in the question is the person she's relaying the info to. That's kind of an interesting concept. I'm just not 100% sure it was planned.

I loved Jason Isaac's Scottish brogue as he's disguising his voice over the comm as the ship's engineer. Why doesn't this guy have a HUGE voice-over career? It boggles the mind.

I think I ought to compliment Shazad Latif at this point too. His "I am here to protect you," at the end is a Wesley Crusher level of lame, but the truth is Tyler is the first Star Trek character EVER we have seen that is truly broken. At least in a realistic, identifiable way to modern audiences. Latif's vulnerabilities and desperation are actually, well, HUMAN, in a way few previous Star Trek characters actually were.

I felt Tilly's pain and freakout too, especially considering the role she was immediately thrust into that she had no reason to EVER prepare for. It's nuts. When Lorca agrees it's wrong though, because he's FROM this Universe and knows Killy is a thing. Again, I am not completely sure even the writers knew for sure at this point that Lorca was from here. If they had, the bright light thing might have been brought up in this episode. Might have tipped some people off, but there is no real throughline to that continuity as it is played onscreen here.

For the record, there is NO way a ISS Terran ship would be named "Discovery". That's a Starfleet-type name. But I guess the producers didn't want to "hurt the brand". They have merch to sell still, and an ISS Discovery model ship would be cool.

In hindsight, because we got Culber back, this episode is solid. But people were RIGHT to read the producers the riot act after this initially aired. Kurtzman needs to understand he isn't working for Bad Robot anymore. Star Trek treats death a LOT differently than say, Lost. So it's no wonder we were pissed instead of praising the brave storytelling genius of that "twist". I'm not saying Star Trek fans are savvier than other fans. But our fandom is built differently. That's partly why despite the fact that the toxic dudebros have been trying to get a foothold in it for years, they've never gotten anywhere in influence. Actual real Star Trek fans like me? We're built differently. We always have been. ****.

Promo:

Doesn't give too much away but suggests dire shit. I don't know if that's ultimately good or bad.

You know what? Bad. We all knew it was the Mirror Universe. They wouldn't have actually spoiled us by giving us a taste of how warped things were gonna get.

Still a cool trailer though. Just could have been cooler. ***1/2.

The Wolf Inside

I was furious that the first place the crew's mind went to about Hugh's murder was Stamets. It was lazy thinking. And if they had explored it sooner maybe Michael wouldn't have found herself in the danger with Tyler she did. Because they dicked around on the ludicrous notion that Paul could ever hurt Hugh, Tyler was able to do the damage he did.

I believe Lorca is currently on Burnham's side. But it doesn't stop the things he is saying from being entirely outside of Starfleet. I notice Isaacs' British accent is slipped in and out of in this scene.

I love that the Prophet is a bearded Sarek (It IS the Mirror Universe) and that once he clears Michael, it's good enough for Voq. But fucking Tyler. I now know this was actual a double-performance from Shazad Latif, which kinda blows my mind.

I really did like the Sarek stuff. The level of trust and deference Mirror Voq has for him is really cool, and I kind of love that after the shit with Tyler went bad, Sarek insisted Michael was still all right. Voq is willing to still believe him, but now he wants them both gone. I don't blame him. That ending was kind of tragic for me because I actually like Voq, Sarek, and the other Rebels.

Sarek raises a LOT of questions about how Spock ended up where he did. The idea that Terrans are racial purists doesn't fit the original canon. If that was so, Spock wouldn't have been in the Empire. But having a rebel father and still getting where he did raises questions I can't figure out answers for. In the episode "Mirror, Mirror" Spock is portrayed as secretly reasonable deep down, and Deep Space Nine went further with the totally unlikely suggestion that he preached reforms to the Terran Empire, and they followed his peaceful ways, until they were conquered by the Klingons, Bajorans, and Cardassians. That later bit of canon never fully seemed to fit the original concept, and with this show saying Terrans are racial purists, not only does Spock actually being in the Empire not make sense. But neither does the idea that the rest of the Empire took his calls for reform seriously. I think the show did an okay job showing why even though this episode occurred BEFORE "Mirror, Mirror" it doesn't break canon because Starfleet classified the entire mission afterwards (and in the next season the ENTIRE Discovery mission was classified the exact same way). But this racial supremacy thing, while making sense, hurts the idea of Spock in the Empire.

The fact that Mirror Spock always thought the Empire was full of shit is partly why I bought him there to begin with. It felt like an alliance of convenience, and I got the impression plenty of people in various species kissed the ring instead of being obliterated. This episode and the season suggest Terrans are so racist that isn't actually possible.

The Mirror Universe is unrealistic just because everybody's evil, and that's not how people work in real life. In a different Universe where people's alignments are different, not every good person will be bad and vice versa. Deep Space Nine explored that nuance a bit but this show doesn't seem to understand that by portraying the Terran Empire as purely evil and unshakable as it is, it doesn't fit with The Original Series OR Deep Space Nine. Hell, the Star Trek episodes most like this are the Enterprise episodes "Through A Mirror Darkly". And even Enterprise never went this far. It's suggested in Enterprise, that a great deal of Terrans' brutishness isn't down to malice. But stupidity, which was also a vibe I got from The Original Series. And the characters being ignorant and spiteful instead of willfully evil makes the premise a little broader. It just does.

How did Sarek and Terran Amanda spawn Spock? It makes no sense. The wonder in Mirror Sarek's voice after seeing the alternate world of Terran compassion was a wonderful performance from James Frain. But I cannot reconcile Sarek and Spock in the Mirror Universe.

Speaking of which, Captain Maddox made me notice something else quite odd. The Terran Empire is shockingly diverse. So much so, that this show leaning so heavily into the racial purity aspect seems like a mistake. If Terrans are the way they are, they would have never solved racism among themselves. Maybe it became outmoded once Zefram Cochrane stole the Vulcan greeter's ship, but racism doesn't simply disappear just because new "Others" appear. The fucked up thing about racism is that there are still tiers, even with new groups of people to hate. I don't doubt that it's possible Burnham and Maddox became captains or that Georgiou and Hoshi Sato were Emperors. But there would still be tension there. People would be talking shit about that specific thing ALL THE TIME. Maybe that is an added complication the episode didn't need (the episode is complicated enough already) but that's kind of why them making the Terrans deliberately evil instead of brutal thugs doesn't entirely work.

The look on Michael's face when Voq nonchalantly admits he killed Culber was some fine acting on Sonequa Martin-Green's part. It's not that she doesn't believe it. She just finds it impossible to reconcile. Shit is going bad FAST, at a point in time she can't afford it, and it's throwing her for a loop.

The light difference of the Universe is mentioned at the beginning. Good.

I don't seem to remember having been all that surprised about the ending when this aired, and yeah, it feels inevitable, rather than shocking. This shit is how the Mirror Universe works.

Solid episode. ****.

Promo

Star Trek promos have gotten a LOT more elaborate since the Don R. Beck days. *****.

Vaulting Ambition

Oh my. That is getting a HELL of a bad review. I cannot say enough bad things about it.

Here is why Star Trek: Discovery sucks and why its legit detractors were right that it sucks. The cannibalism thing.

Is it necessary to the story? Is Burnham being forced to engage in it anything but pure sickness? And worst of all, later Discovery episodes and the film Section 31 tried to if not redeem Georgiou entirely, then to at least make us sympathize with her. How? Why would we EVER do that? How broken do the producers think we are? It's television, and TV producers never went broke believing fans were anything but pieces of shit deep down, but I'm letting Kurtzman know, Star Trek fans ARE different. He crossed a line and didn't even know it.

And Burnham being the one to have unknowingly "picked" Saru is fucking vulgar on every level. What must that poor dude have been thinking? What a sick fucking moment.

The Lorca "reveal" would matter more if the series had thought to tie all of his previous toxicity to where he's from. It's merely implied instead, which is letting go of some juicy drama.

The "light" thing also weirdly explains a plot point on earlier Star Trek stuff: Why the motif of the Mirror Universe was so dark. The show has said it's not just production trying to put the audience ill-at-ease. The now-canon answer is Terrans from that Universe have a sensitivity to bright light. Am I sure that idea will hold up to EVERY Mirror Universe episode ever? Nope. But it SOUNDS right, and I can't think of any immediate contradictions off the top of my head either, and I usually can for this show's constant random canon fuckery.

It's ironic that Burnham believes Georgiou is torturing the wrong Lorca all throughout the episode. When we learned he was the exact guy after all.

I actually liked the bit of Mirror Stamets teasing our Stamets about the existence of God, especially because he said it was a She. Look at his face!

This episode feels shoddy. I can shut off my brain and accept Stamets not growing a beard in our Universe. In hospitals nurses often shave comatose or unresponsive patients. Why hasn't Mirror Stamets grown a beard?

Worse, he wakes up in a chair in his lab. If he was in the mycelium network as long as he claimed he was, how did he not starve? Why is his uniform still spotless when by all rights he should have shit and pissed himself? You can say this is all down to the magic of television, but Lorca has grown a growth of stubble after a couple of days in the Agonizer. It's actually a real mistake if that's the case. It drives me nuts.

Georgiou says the Federation is dangerous which is an interesting and not entirely inaccurate take.

The stuff between Stamets and Culber is intended to be heartbreaking and bittersweet at the same time, but I think it's the show trying to have its cake and eat it too. They don't get to shove THAT specific plot abortion on us and then give us happy wrap-up in hindsight. Star Trek fans are different. We said it wasn't enough, and Hugh returned the next season. But really, this shit is infuriating.

"Paul, I died." No Kurtzman, you don't get to give us that. Not okay. You didn't earn it.

I mentioned the racial supremacy of the Terran Empire didn't entirely make sense. Georgiou mentions that equality and all of those good Federation buzzwords are actually from the Terrans' distant past. Wouldn't it be something if old school Terrans made a certain level of peace with each other, only to devolve into barbarism upon Vulcan First Contact? Here's an even eerier question, that spooks me for its plausibility: Is it possible OUR Universe isn't the Star Trek Universe, but the Mirror Universe? At one point, even though racial supremacy has ALWAYS held America down, we paid lip service to the ideals of equality and democracy. Now people in 2025 using those words are sneered at with the same degree of disdain shown for people who use they / them pronouns. Humanity has become hateful pieces of shit in short order.

Us being the future Mirror Universe would also explain Lorca's slip-up about Elon Musk earlier in the season. He's evil in OUR Universe, so well thought of in The Terran Empire, so Lorca has no reason to believe he was any different from the Wright Brothers or Zefram Cochrane (despite being entirely wrong). The biggest mistake in Star Trek history might actually be a clue that humanity is fucking doomed.

I sincerely doubt Gene Roddenberry would EVER give me a No-Prize for this theory but that's how badly the Musk thing bugged me. I'm willing to believe we become the Terran Empire before believing the Star Trek Universe would EVER venerate Musk. Also, it feels like we're halfway there already.

Lorca's reveal at the end was badass and nasty. Proving once and for all that he's one of them.

Terrible episode. *.

Feeding Frenzy

This will go down in history as the single most appalling featurette Star Trek has ever done.

Is the show actually made by sociopaths? After seeing this I believe that's a fair question. 0.

Promo

The job of the promo of a shitty episode is to essentially polish the turd. Does this do that here? Nope. **.

What's Past Is Prologue

I think the most underwhelming thing about Lorca is that he supposedly had this grand plan... and it turns out he didn't. The Arrowverse might get away with that shit, but I don't think Star Trek ever should.

There is very little hand-to-hand fighting on Star Trek outside of the Klingon episodes on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Worf demanded fight choreography.

The one exception is The Original Series where Kirk beating people up for no reason was commonplace. Let me be brutally honest. Not only was that shit the antithesis of what Star Trek always claimed to be. I'd hate Kirk and those fights already if that was the only problem. No, they looked and WERE terrible. HD forgives nothing, and the stunt doubles they used were not just egregious, but in all cases laughable. All of The Original Series fights looked like utter shit. Frankly, I don't know WHY that show has as many fans as it does while it was as shoddy about stuff like that as it was.

So to see modern-day fight choreography, using modern day film techniques is sort of a first for Star Trek, and it actually works. Mostly because it's Terrans killing Terrans, and they can just go fucking all out. But it's not lost on me that fighting styles haven't just evolved 50 years from The Original Series. They've also evolved 20-30 years after Next Gen and DS9 too. It's pretty fucking cool, I think.

The slow-mo and drum / march score was pretty badass during that sequence. The fire in the background makes it EXTRA iconic.

Georgiou is NOT happy with Michael at the end. Can you blame her?

Do you know what bugs me? We never found out what happened to OUR Universe's Lorca. I had expected Jason Isaacs to eventually pop up in a shocking guest turn in season 2, but nope, the idea is completely dropped instead. Forgive me for saying that as far as potentially juicy Mirror Universe drama goes, this show is doing it wrong. Ira-Steven Behr woulda eaten Kurtzman for lunch about this shit.

Make The Empire Glorious Again is deliberately pressing a button. I don't like it, but like, I GET it.

Saru was right about something. If Lorca WAS evil, he should have sensed it. I'm actually calling that a plothole. Because he should have.

I like the part where Saru reminds us that his species senses death but he doesn't sense it today. That was totally cool.

I love that Lorca calls Georgiou Pippa. He's got a LOT of funny quips in this episode. People who say victory is never as sweet as imagined are idiots.

The visual effects for the mycelium network are gorgeous.

Landry is NOT happy when Burnham says she's Lorca's. It's clear this Universe's Landry has a thing for Lorca although I wouldn't have been shocked if our Universe's did too.

I liked Saru referring to Michael as his friend. That felt rewarding.

Lorca's talking down about the misguided ideals of the Federation and equality almost sound rational. But the reason he's wrong and simply a racist dillhole instead of a pragmatist, is because the Federation wound up lasting a HELL of a lot longer than the Terran Empire did. Spock saw the fall of the Empire coming. It's amazing Lorca thinks he can make it work.

Him flattering the crew about him molding them into an army of warriors is adding insult to injury, as is the vulgar notion he'd recruit any and all of them if they weren't beholden to the foolish cult of the Federation. I will not argue that there are definitely cult-like qualities in Star Trek, mostly revolving around how venerated Gene Roddenberry is despite being just ONE guy who only actually legit wrote a few episodes. But he's saying that shit not to compliment his former crew, but to patronize them. He's not praising them, he's twisting the knife.

Him treating Saru so respectfully in the earlier episodes is kind of interesting though, knowing how Kelpians are treated in his Universe. I will actually give him legit credit for that.

I love Mirror Stamets', "I had REALLY hoped you were dead." One of the few good things about this Mirror Universe outing is not only is Georgiou ultimately portrayed with some nuance (which is frankly infuriating after the cannibalism shit) but although Stamets is slimy and corrupt, he doesn't strike me as especially violent. His means of survival boil down to latching onto people stronger than him, which in this shitshow of a Universe, actually makes sense.

Lorca toying with him before killing him was cruel. And Lorca doesn't like poetry because he sucks.

I think less of Lorca when Michael (correctly) points out his grand scheme was entirely unnecessary. If he had gone to Starfleet, they would have helped him get home. And that seems pretty self-evident to me. The fact that it never occurred to him to spare both himself and the Discovery crew all the pain he caused makes me think his self-professed tactical genius is not just overstated, but I'm guessing not a real thing at all.

The ending is walked back SLIGHTLY in the next episode, but the fall-out is truly terrific, and one of the best "missing pieces" to Trek lore ever. But the cliffhanger being that the Klingons have won the war was brilliant. We'll talk about that in the next review.

Let's watch that next. ****.

Deleted / Extended Scenes

David Lynch woulda loved the background buzzing in the first scene. Probably changed because it was annoying, but I think that's actually its selling point.

The second scene was a wise cut. It makes Stamets look pathetic in the eyes of Saru and Tilly, which is the absolutely WRONG thing to be going for in this moment. ***1/2.

Promo

Pretty cool. ****.

The War Without, The War Within

Crap! I'm gonna have to do a deep dive! Super long review for this episode. Why? Because I'm gonna have to talk shit about The Original Series and the fucked up way the crew of the Enterprise treated the Klingons! In hindsight it's appalling, and knowing what we do about the Klingons from Next Gen and DS9, a narrative mistake too.

Until this episode. This is the first episode of Discovery to CLEAN up a continuity snarl instead of starting one. I am just as shocked it involved the Klingons (of all things) as you are.

Star Trek: The Original Series has its share of amazing episodes. I think a LOT of the episodes that fans think about amazing (like "Journey To Babel") are not, but I can't deny the decent sci-fi high concepts the show was able to pull off in its better weeks.

But possible heresy, I think those better weeks were few and far between. I think only about a quarter of Star Trek's original episodes could qualify as good, and of those, less than ten are great. Maybe less than five. I will not dismiss the highs the show achieved. But I think they are far rarer than most fans are willing to admit. In fact, a great deal of the three season run is outright dreadful. The Next Generation's first two seasons got a bad rap for that specific thing, but although The Original Series was never as bad as those two seasons, the truth is the quality control was mostly shit anyways. Season 3 gets the lion's share of the crap from fans, but I think season 2 and ESPECIALLY Season 1 are pretty shady too.

And it starts and ends with the fucking Klingons! Jesus! Who wrote that shit?

There are many moments on The Original Series that make me fucking cringe. Like in "Patterns Of Force" Spock claims fascism is a logical form of government. It's just never been implemented properly. Riiight. And just from that one fucking episode I believe every progressive bonafide Roddenberry ever claimed for himself was pure unearned bullshit. Also look to "Bread And Circuses" where Kirk thanks the Roman Emperor in charge for allowing him to "be with a woman like a man" for the final time. I saw that back in the day, and I was like, "Do fans just fucking understand that not only did Captain James T. Kirk just rape a fucking slave, but he didn't understand that's what he just did, or see anything wrong with it?"

Star Trek fans HATE me. For pointing out this shit.

But one of the episodes that raised my biggest hackles back in the day was the awful Season 2 trainwreck "Friday's Child", which for some odd reason is considered an acceptable (if average) episode instead of the dank piece of shit hot garbage fire it actually is. There is a scene in the episode that I cannot fucking get over, and Next Gen and DS9 made it doubly unforgivable. But the crew has beamed down to a random planet. And the people there have already made friendly contact with the Klingons. A Klingon walks up to the group of aliens (who all weirdly look like humans because Star Trek has always been the fucking worst) and this dumbass Starfleet ensign gets up and roars, "A Klingon!", and points his phaser at him, clearly intending to fire and kill a guy he never met, has no idea who he is, or what he's doing. Just he's "A Klingon!" and far the socialist Utopia the Federation always bills itself as, that's apparently fucking enough. All right then.

The Klingon shoots his dumb ass dead instead, as is his want and right as a sentient being in mortal peril from a known enemy.

Kirk actually whines about it! He believes it proves the Klingons cannot be trusted! This pure fucking tool, who was the plain inspiration for Futurama's Zapp Brannigan, who is truly not THAT far-removed from this shitheel's dumbassedness, is like, "He saw a Klingon, and raised his phaser! A completely defensive move!" And I'm wondering how the person who wrote that shit wiped their asses every day, much less completed a script that dumb. One that few fans seem to talk shit about, no less.

Basically, Starfleet were always pure violent assholes to the Klingons. Leonard Nimoy took that specific hatred to its logical conclusion in the script to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. And good, even-numbered Trek movie or not, it's not just fans who were outraged at the idea that the Enterprise crew carried deep-down racism and prejudice within them. It caused an uproar with much of the cast and a bunch of the original producers. And despite the fact that I think Nimoy was too humorless for his own good, he had value because he recognized what was going on on The Original Series, even if the rest of fandom was in pure denial about it.

How did Harlan Ellison put it? Roddenberry would deliberately go for progressive props with the diverse cast. And then have the crew go up against dirty, filthy, evil alien races that were thinly veiled stand-ins for the undesirable people and races in the 1960's. Every fucking time. There is NOT much I agree with the late Harlan Ellison about, but he was right. That's Star Trek's M.O.. Show that racism is wrong in a clear manner, while in the background, using plots and characters to fully justify it. It's "allegory", so it's okay! What a fucking cheap trick.

This brings us to this episode of Star Trek: Discovery which I believe saw that level of writing incompetence about the Klingons and said, "What if the writers weren't simply making a mistake from a bygone era in which nobody had any real common sense politically? What if there are REAL, and GOOD fucking reasons Starfleet fucking LOATHES the Klingons?"

Just hearing about their slaughter of innocents in this war, destroying civilian Starbases, and their suicide bombs taking out thousands of innocent people, and making the few kids they DIDN'T kill orphans, just because they can, this episode shows Mr. Dumbass Phaser Ensign might be a dumbass. But he might also have been suffering from VERY real PTSD, which makes his insane reaction believable, even if no less stupid.

This episode doesn't redeem that moment. Friday's Child is a televised trainwreck, and ought to be viewed as such. But damn, in hindsight, it might at least EXPLAIN it.

This show cleaned up a Klingon continuity fuck-up! I know! I can't believe it either.

Part of me loves Tyler's outrage that the rest of the crew can get past this, but it's not right that the one person on the ship who knew him best cannot. I love that. But what's even better is Michael (a woman) pointing out this man wrapped his hands around her neck, and she saw that this person she loved fully intended to kill her. Suddenly he's not a misguided Klingon tool anymore. He's the abusive boyfriend whose repeated apologies mean fucking nothing because they shouldn't. I believe if Joss Whedon had written this scene Michael would have come around. Instead, its the end of the their 'ship. They are no longer a "Will they or won't they?" for the long run. They are very clearly a "They won't."

It's a bit rich that he claims that Michael is using this as an excuse because she can't stand things got both serious and complicated. Klingons killed her parents and she fell in love with one. Not only does he have no right to say something that personal (it's actually offensive) but the reality that this is MUCH bigger than Michael's past with the Klingons might occur to a dude less self-involved that he is.

Can you believe that asshole actually tried to apologize to Stamets? Where does he get off? Paul's reaction was filled with far more grace than he deserved.

I don't approve of the rest of the crew forgiving him, but I thought it was a fascinating development that after Tilly sat down with him, Detmer was the first person to join him. One of the interesting things about Star Trek: Discovery to me is that The Original Series AND The Next Generation often had no name lieutenants and ensigns on the bridge, that really had no backstory, and didn't really matter. They weren't Red Shirts and people getting randomly killed off, but their roles as essentially seat-fillers for the major cast were exactly as thankless. I like that Discovery does interesting things with characters like Detmer and Airiam. I think it's cool.

That ending is insane, and yeah, probably stupid, but that's why I like it. Insane and stupid are winning. That seems familiar.

But really it's almost like some kind of sick joke. This is the kind of thing you'd see the Capitol doing during The Hunger Games. The fact that it's Starfleet makes it all the more fucked up. Admiral Cornwell is NOT President Snow. She really shouldn't be doing something as fucked up as he would.

The boarding party at the beginning was freaking intense. I mean, fucking SAREK is going around forcing mind-melds on people as if he's wearing a goatee. All bets are currently off.

And Jayne Brooke remains amazing on every level. What a badass.

Her noting that the real Lorca was measured totally explains why she flipped out at him earlier in the season. Yeah, I can see why that pissed her off now, if the real Lorca was chill.

I liked Sarek's scene with Georgiou very much. "Best not to make comparisons." James Frain is just the best.

I like that Saru is hurt Michael lied to him about the Kelpians. The cannibalism thing probably didn't help.

One of the cool things about Cornwell's speech is claiming the Klingons have no honor. In reality, considering how much stock Klingons place on honor, that might sound like bullshit propaganda.

But she's right. The Klingons behavior in this war is nothing but atrocious and dishonorable, and when Ezri Dax is telling Worf not to believe the Empire's press about this shit, she's right. It's pretty despicable and appalling what these people have done in the supposed name of honor. It's sick, actually.

Jonathan Archer's trip to the Klingon Homeworld 100 years ago is mentioned. To be honest, outside of the Augment stuff in Season 4, nobody ever liked what Enterprise did with the Klingons. None of it fit the earlier canon. Especially not Archer's journey there being a peaceful one where he came to an understanding with some of the Klingons. Having the first few encounters with Klingons be chill made the disastrous First Contact described in The Next Generation seem completely bogus. And again, it's another thing that makes the cast of The Original Series seem even MORE crazy for their stance of outright loathing the Klingons.

People tell me Discovery is the worst Star Trek show, and the one that hurts the canon the most. I won't argue TOO hard about it seriously hurting the canon, but Enterprise was a FAR worse show on every level. I cannot overstate how damaging that show was to Star Trek. It basically killed Star Trek on TV for ten years. I will not hear it defended compared to Discovery. It is unforgivable and inexcusable. And maybe Discovery sucks less on canon than you'd think because it is STILL courteous enough to give that crappy show its due. It's not something I would have done, but it's interesting, especially since I largely think Discovery simply doesn't give a shit about Star Trek canon.

God, that review got entirely out of control. My brand, folks. I suck. The episode however did not. ****.

Promo

What's great about this promo is it gives a lot away. But it doesn't give the BEST stuff away. ****1/2.

Will You Take My Hand?

This hits the right themes about the integrity of Starfleet. I'm just wondering if it was a good idea to put the idea up for debate.

Who am I kidding? That's what the entire SEASON has been about! I guess I had fewer problems with Lorca doing shady things because he did them himself. Starfleet coming up with this reprehensible level of genocide and handing it off to Georgiou is beyond cowardly. When she's beating up L'Rell in the cell I saw it for as dirty as it was. She was throwing every punch Starfleet was too chickenshit to throw, and would look down at their feet as it was happening. They refuse to get their hands dirty and confuse that with actual principles. Fuck Starfleet.

Do you know what's the same idea? Section 31! Dr. Bashir found that reprehensible, and he was right. Also weirdly ties into Georgiou there.

Lots of bare-ass nudity here, a first for Trek. Not claiming it's a great first. Nipples are still forbidden however (unless they are Klingon latex).

Clint Howard looks terrible. He looks like the little Lamisil monster under brother Ron's toenails.

Tilly high was hilarious. I also like the part where Georgiou is touching her hair and telling her she hated it, and she's like "What is happening?"

I didn't feel the solution to end the war felt completely earned. But I don't really think there was a way a peaceful solution could have been with what was set-up.

Speaking of which I found Michael's story about the Klingons killing her family, and sitting down at their table, and eating THEIR meal, and laughing, another good reason for everyone on the original Enterprise to fucking loathe the Klingons. "A Klingon!" is still stupid. But, now, like, I GET it.

Also gut-wrenching is the notion her family was only there because she insisted they stay to see a supernova. She doesn't just blame the Klingons for this. She clearly blames herself.

I found it a bit rich Georgiou threatening Michael for trying to expose her. I'm like, "Babe, you're doing that to yourself. You ain't even trying to ACT the part. People are gonna notice that shit eventually if you don't cool it with that amoral Terran crap." And yet they don't, because this is television, and television is simply terrible.

I think this was one of the episodes that started the dumbass idea that Klingon males have two penises, so I'm taking an extra star off the final grade for that horseshit.

I like that Ash and the Klingons' laughter triggered Michael. Seriously scary stuff.

It's cool that L'Rell narrated the "Previously on Star Trek: Discovery" in the recap in subtitled Klingon.

"Be good, Philippa." Good luck with that, Michael.

I love when Georgiou finally refuses to calls Michael's bluff, her reaction is entirely real-world human: "Ugh." She finds Starfleet as annoying as an average 21st Century person would. I also enjoyed her basically taking over the brothel, mostly because she finally realized our Universe isn't ENTIRELY lame. At least not everybody is.

I love that Sarek finally calls Michael his daughter.

Georgiou saying Burnham's biggest problem is she has no follow-through is provocative. Because she says she ought to have killed the original Georgiou. And you know what? She probably should have. If she had, she wouldn't have been there to stop her orders to fire on the Klingons, and the war might never have been started at all. It's a provocative statement because it's true.

As much as I love the affirmations of Starfleet's ideals throughout the episode, the truth is Michael speech at the end leaves me a little cold. It's a little TOO cliched, and a little TOO self-righteous. I don't think it's a bad thing for more Star Trek characters to be more like Captain Picard. But that was the WORST aspect of Picard, and this is the first time we've seen something like this in the Kurtzman era. I didn't love it.

My least favorite thing in the episode however was Michael and Tyler's kiss goodbye. They shouldn't have done that. They had the right idea for the tone of the parting in the last episode. It confuses an issue that in actuality is pretty freaking black and white.

Loved the Classic Star Trek Theme over the end titles.

Decent finale. Does it live up to the hype? Nope. I don't think ANY of Discovery's finales ever did. ***.

Deleted Scene

This should have been the tag for the season. I think they wanted to end it on the Enterprise, but Georgiou joining Section 31 is FAR more interesting to me. It's weird her contact was pretending to be a Trill. I wasn't aware that species was active in that timeframe. *****.

Promo

Not all there. ***1/2.

Launch Promos

Four pretty awesome trailers. ****1/2.

Discovering Discovery: The Concepts And Cast Of Star Trek: Discovery

Heather Kadin describing the Klingons as "The Bad Guys" obviously knows nothing about Star Trek, which considering she's a producer, is bad. ***1/2.

Standing In The Shadow Of Giants: Creating The Sounds Of Star Trek: Discovery

I love the music by Jeff Russo. ****1/2.

Creature Comforts

About the alien designs and costumes. The changes to the Klingons in both story and design are atrocious, and despite what the producers were hoping, entirely disrespectful to the canon.

On a happier note Doug Jones is described as one of the greatest creature actors of all time, and indeed he is. He real life voice is normal compared to have nasally Saru is. ***.

Designing Discovery

I find the designs on this show are entirely inconsistent with the rest of Star Trek. There ARE logistical reasons to do that, but when the producers claim they are trying to fit in with what came before I don't actually believe them. **1/2.

Creating Space

Alex Kurtzman correctly notes the line between feature film and television effects has blurred. He's right. TV visual effects are just as good as movies now. Which makes the fact that idiots like James Cameron spend over $200 million per movie just to make visual effects that look SLIGHTLY better than TV. And honestly? I found the visual effects of Avatar quite shitty. It's a waste of money and it's why so many blockbusters lose money while people are going to the cinema. Until filmmakers start making movies on sensible budgets again (which TV shows is entirely possible) the entire enterprise is screwed. ****.

Prop Me Up

Star Trek is one of those rare franchises like Star Wars and The Lord Of The Rings where props are super important. You won't find an in-depth featurette on props on a Law & Order DVD set. Props are part of the selling point of Star Trek. ****.

A Woman's Journey

This talks about the first female-centric Star Trek show. Diversity is well represented and Sonequa Martin-Green knows how big her casting is in the current climate.

Also mentioned is that at one point on the show, the future was decided by four female writers and producers, which is another Star Trek first. ****.

Dress For Success

This featurette on costumes is dry, overlong, and boring. **.

Season 1 Promo

Pretty epic mega trailer for the whole season. ****.

Star Trek: Discovery: The Voyage Of Season 1

One of the producers stupidly suggests Star Trek has never explored war before. WRONG. Seasons 6 and 7 of Deep Space Nine were about the Dominion War. It could also be argued that season 3 of Enterprise was about a war with the Xindi, but that seemed more preventative than an actual war. But yeah, Star Trek has gone here before. DS9 pissed Majel Barrett-Roddenberry off because of it. What kind of Star Trek producer doesn't know about that?

It amazes me Shazad Latif has been in the show since the first episode, and it was always him in the Voq make-up. It's something I learned after the fact and it still blows my mind.

This is the best featurette on the set. It's both thorough and not boring. ****.

Blu-Ray Menus

Fully animated and beautiful. ****.

Comments

[jasonderoga86]

"Basically, Starfleet were always pure violent assholes to the Klingons. Leonard Nimoy took that specific hatred to its logical conclusion in the script to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. And good, even-numbered Trek movie or not, it's not just fans who were outraged at the idea that the Enterprise crew carried deep-down racism and prejudice within them. It caused an uproar with much of the cast and a bunch of the original producers. And despite the fact that I think Nimoy was too humorless for his own good, he had value because he recognized what was going on on The Original Series, even if the rest of fandom was in pure denial about it."

I lightly checked out this post early this morning and was very intrigued, as I've never actually seen Star Trek: Discovery myself when it first launched, though my friend Erin has. Since I was so tired from work this week, I haven't gotten a chance to fully read this in-depth review fully. But while I was touching up a new page for Curse of Creation, I remembered this point you made about Star Trek, Klingons, and Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country, and I just had to say something about it as The Undiscovered Country touched on a lot of themes that were uncomfortable both to the actors and the characters they played... for the exact reasons you presented in your quote here. I'll read the whole thing in detail once the opportunity presents itself.

I always had this feeling as soon as I saw Star Trek III: The Search for Spock for the first time in 9th grade (Seriously - I saw it on a marathon of the first six films on Sci-Fi channel during my Christmas break) that the Klingon race was meant to evoke the most obvious traits of "savage animals", from their dark skin and unsettling features (like the elongated heads with the signature ridges) to their uniforms (which early on seemed to loosely harken towards Native Americans, as did their long black hair), to their use of seemingly primitive melee weapons (assortment of blades and daggers). Looking back, I'm actually kind of bummed that I didn't fully make the connection until I found a two-disc collector's edition DVD of Star Trek VI at a local Barnes & Noble and bought it out of curiosity (and the dirt-cheap price) during my time in college. After watching it fully (and another time with my dad when he was home sick), I could see many parallels to the real world -- especially how nations would go to war, but their leaders somehow saw kindred spirits in each other and conspired to "negotiate" while their armies spilled their blood under the impression they were fighting the enemy. It exposed the hypocrisy in warring cultures steeped in racism; though some warring nations saw profit and personal/political gain in conspiring together while their troops wasted their lives, their leaders would also demonize the citizens of each other's nations. Basically, one leader would deem the RACE of Nation One as "vicious animals" but get along just fine with Nation One's leader, and vice versa.

The racial resentment undertones were blatantly obvious in Star Trek VI, especially with Captain Kirk's character arc. Refusing peace with the very people responsible for his son's murder three films ago was a no-brainer, but the way Kirk saw Klingons -- from literally wishing death on all of them in front of a visibly shocked Spock after a tense Starfleet meeting to making a thinly-veiled insult at General Chang by taking his "we need breathing room" statement and linking it to Hitler's use of the same words to suggest Klingons are no better than Nazi Germany -- and what it took for him to face his own prejudice towards Klingons (watching a fatally wounded Chancellor Gorkon die right in front of him, as well as the last hope for any kind of peace with the Klingon Empire) laid bare the human cost of racism in the real world.

I had a feeling that fans were unsettled by Starfleet's racial hostility to Klingons in Star Trek VI, but I never knew about Nimoy's feelings behind the film. That's an interesting perspective, even if I haven't seen every episode of The Original Series. And oh, yes - I've read about how the cast was outraged over Star Trek VI's themes of racism; for example, I read in some magazine (or a blog, I don't fully remember) that Nichelle Nichols had a particular beef with the script: just before the scene in which Gorkon's diplomatic envoys prepared to beam aboard Enterprise for a joint repast "as guests of the United Federation of Planets on [their] way to their summit on Earth", Pavel Chekhov is in the captain's chair muttering, "Guess who's coming to dinner?"

That particular line was originally assigned to Lt. Nyota Uhura's character, but Nichols was so outraged that she demanded that line either be scrapped or reassigned because it was a reference to a Sindey Poitier film actually titled Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, which itself was the subject of a lot of controversy, specifically around racism and interracial marriage. Given that this line was in the script for an obviously racism-centered film, I can understand why Nichols felt so offended at it; being a Black woman at the time likely made it all the more unbearable. I also read somewhere that the dinner scene was very different from the final cut of the film, with the Klingons and the Enterprise crew actually ready to physically go to blows with each other instead of the dead silence followed by Gorkon's "I see we have a long way to go" in the version I currently have. Pretty sure that if they left that scene in, it would've added gas to the fire of outrage already burning amongst the fans/actors.

[matt_zimmer]

The "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" thing is the right line for the movie. But I know WHY Nichols was outraged. Because they specifically chose to give it to her. It should have been Chekov's the entire time.

[jasonderoga86]

Exactly. The writers KNEW how that line would come across to a Black woman -- the SAME Black woman, in fact, who took part in one of, if not THE first interracial kiss, with SHATNER of all people, in an episode from The Original Series long before this film was even conceived. Looking back, that makes it look all the more like a blatant dick move on their part.

[matt_zimmer]

I would guess it was more clueless than anything else.