I liked that Tilly wasn’t the bright spot, but rather a bright spot, one among several.
Lot to like, but:
Why did those little ships have to fly through so much of Discovery to get out of the ship? Put your small craft closer to the outer hull.
Why were so many crew standing around in the shuttle bay when they were catching the rock? Clear the area of unnecessary crew before doing anything dangerous.
Why, with Starfleet medicine being what it is, is there a crewman in a wheelchair rolling through the halls? Until a few days earlier, Discovery was a warship in a war. I get that they want to be inclusive but this seemed to be silliness.
I enjoed the first Eppisode of the second season. Esspecially Captain Pike and Jet Reno, both were exeptionall performed.
Regarding Burnham, I have the same Problem as Katowice.
In my opinion it got fishy, when the show us the Techno-Stuff, that beginns with the shot of the moving Turbo-Lift, when they got to the “Landingpods” and thier Starting-Sequenz and the Asteroid-Catching-Device which got set up by one crewman and unfolds itself onto 80 % of the Shuttlebay (that was too Marvel-Movie).
Are you sure it wasn’t a recent injury?
As we’ve seen already, outside of 2 hours to fix a broken leg, Starfleet medicine in this era is not really “what it is”. Following the war, cybernetic repairs are very much in evidence, Detmer being a prime example. I didn’t spot the wheelchair, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable that it might take a few weeks for a replacement limb or other mechanical fix to be fully working. Why take an otherwise capable crewman out of service?
Also, Discovery is not a warship, it’s a science vessel that had been redeployed to war (no matter how Lorca thought of it). A wheelchair-bound scientist would not be a problem out of conflict.
More generally, I really enjoyed it. It managed to combine some good character moments with the beginnings of an interesting mystery and some of the silly action of the 2009 movie. I also liked the wonderfully squicky medical shuttle crash - that engineer will be interesting to watch if she sticks around. And I liked Pike: Mount made him very distinct from Kirk, which was always going to be a little difficult.
The landing pod launch sequence was a little weird (along with the turbolift sequence), in that it all seemed rather elaborate. Not sure why Starfleet considered the signals a threat to life? And the Enterprise definitely didn’t seem that crippled as it approached the Discovery in the first scenes.
So, do you think those were a nod to Ptolemy-class tugs pulling the Enterprise, or just generic small ships?
I don’t think it is just about being inclusive. In addition to the fact that battlefield medicine seems less advanced at this stage, maybe there are humanoids who would prefer to be in a wheelchair to having cybernetic legs even at whichever date they are created. In our world, there are a good amount of deaf people who prefer to stay deaf over using cochlear implants, and not just for one reason.
I honestly was fine with Pike being used for a bit of winky exposition. Maybe because I liked what he was signaling. I thought he also came off as a charismatic and quickly developing character. I’m skeptical on another Spock, but we’ll see!
The star wars-y use of the pods was pretty fun I thought. It’s not why I watch Star Trek and I look forward more to the one off episodes (like last year with Mudd’s time loop), but it was well done major effects.
[quote=“Astronut, post:24, topic:4394”]
Also, Discovery is not a warship, it’s a science vessel that had been redeployed to war (no matter how Lorca thought of it).[/quote]
In game terms, I tend to imagine that Discovery has the Technical Test-Bed mission profile (high Engineering), if only because it’s outfitted with experimental technology. The pods seem to be a similar fit - they’re noted as being something the ship was equipped with for a specific task, rather than a default system, and being able to outfit the ship with odd technology as and when required seems to fit the Technical Test-Bed idea nicely.
Well if there’s one thing this week’s episode reveals if you’re recreating the characters in Star Trek Adventures, you definitely give Saru a Focus in Linguistics 
3 Likes
And Tilly has Bold Engineering/Science
Generalized comment: I already like the first two episodes of season 2 more than all the episodes of season 1 except the time loop one.
Can anyone find the Kelpien homebrew that was done on the old message board?
Christopher Pike for the win!
1 Like
Two episodes in, and this season of Discovery is firing on all cylinders for me. I’ll probably always prefer Jeffrey Hunter and even Bruce Greenwood as Pike, but Anson Mount is doing a great job, and I’m really digging it now that the whole show has moved away from the grimdark nature of season one. It’s really bringing a sense of wonder and…ahem discovery ahem…and that’s what I want.
As for inspiring game elements… I really want to run a campaign on a Walker-class ship like the Shenzhou. Has anyone done a write-up for that class yet?
I did see a homebrew for some of the Disco ships somewhere… At least a walker, but I can’t remember where…
Aunt Edit(h) says:
You can find the walker, crossfild and one or two other Disco ship in Jester’s Homebrew:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxxBV1PW-LILalVsc214blF0aWc
1 Like
Nice frames! The game I am running is set in-between DIS and TOS and I may have them move to a Crossfield class (no spore drive, of course) just for a change of pace from our Constitution class standard TOS-y game.
About to start with the box set, but already thinking about the campaign I hope will follow. I was telling my wife I wanted to not be a slave to timelines or nitpicking cultural or tech details. I want a legit sci-fi game where anything might happen rather than trying to recreate the shows or movies. Inspired by them of course, and using the familiar to everyone setting and backstory so we can put that on the shelf and get down to telling sci-fi stories oh-my-god I’m running Discovery. LoL
It’s only after the first season ended that I appreciated what they were trying to do. Expand the expectations of what the Star Trek universe can deliver. I keep telling people maybe it doesn’t adhere to the established Star Trek mold, but it is legit sci-fi. I’m all in.
2 Likes
As it happens, I did a thing…
2 Likes
And it’s pretty cool - hope to see more?
Continuing Mission also has write-ups for the Walker and I think the Crossfield, along with a couple of other Discovery elements.
I also am loving this series so far. And Pike is turning into one of my favourite captains, although I’m wondering when his dark secret will be revealed - no-one could be this nice? (Except Tilly obviously.)
This was a nice rendition of the transplanted humans trope and I loved the hallucination/alien subplot, although I’m wondering how Tilly jumped to the conclusion that dark matter would help with the Stamets situation! I assume she’s doomed to failure in the long run, since as pointed out by many, we don’t have it in the future…
I am a little confused. I was able to watch the third episode last night on my xbox (in the US on the CBS online app.)
Isn’t it supposed to not air until tonight? I can’t find anything online about this. Was this a technical glitch? Am I in a Mirror-verse?
I suspect it was a glitch - it does happen occasionally and usually irritates the heck out of anyone that missed it!
Remember: keep mum until Saturday…
Episode 3 was the weakest of the three so far IMHO.
But it also served as a backdoor pilot, which is one of my favorite TV gimmicks. The episodes typically aren’t very good, but they’re intriguing for being sort of weird!
Btw, for non-Americans watching the show on Netflix, if you haven’t watched short treks yet, you should. And now you can. The Michael Chabon penned episode is pretty incredible old school sci fi and very touching.
Looking forward to getting back on the main plot in episode 4. Hopefully following the red angel to another strange new world.