Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x01 "The Broken Circle"

Since this is our first episode discussion on Lemmy, we have a couple of reminders about our expectations.

Constructive Criticism - criticism is welcome, but please put some effort into explaining why you did or didn't like something. Just saying something was "good" or "bad" isn't exactly laying a foundation for discussion.

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Ortegas inverted her controller settings as everyone should 🎮

1. I am 100% here for the chaotic energy that Carol Kane is going to bring to this show.
2. The Klingon captain had exactly the right amount of swagger and sassiness that a TOS-era Klingon captain is supposed to have. I'm glad that they're moving on from some of the Discovery Klingon characterization while also resisting the urge to jump right to them behaving like TNG Klingons.

Regarding Nurse Chapel almost dying - this is one of the TV/movie tropes that I think is such a cheap and terrible device and I am tired of it. Discovery was full of these scenes where they make you believe a main character really almost died, only to survive after all, and having their crew mates weep for them (I am looking at you Burnham). There are much better ways to create good drama.

For the love of Pete can we stop with all of the lame catch phrases and dumb jokes? Spock should have just uttered something simple suiting the Vulcan personality/character, like "proceed". But no, we have to get a lame line one step above a fart joke...

Did anyone else giggle uncontrollably at “we must steal the Enterprise”?

I'm so happy to have SNW back. Whoever decided to put Carol Kane in the show needs to get a raise; she is absolutely spectacular. I'm very curious to see where her character goes.

I enjoy the idea of Spock being more emotional it really puts it into perspective that Vulcans have emotions they just try to keep them under lock and key and Spock being half human is having a harder time with that compared to most Vulcans is... relatable.

I did not like weird green super power drug that Chapel and M'Benga took to fight the the Klingons. It came from no where, the shot on the eyes right out of Dread made me think it was literally Slo-Mo from that movie. It really wasn't necessary, they could have just grabbed phasers somewhere instead.

I'm not realy sure how I feel about them using the term false flag in Star Trek. The plot makes sense but still it's a very charged term today.

As President of the Spock/Chapel fanclub and a sucker for Klingons, I feel that this episode was plucked out of my brain.

I loved it.

I’m also glad they began to explore a bit of post war PTSD through M’Benga. It’ll be interesting to see how far they go with the Gorn.

I must say I'm already a big fan of Pelia.

The M'Benga-and-Chapel-are-Max-Payne sequence went on far too long: only one group aboard the ship had weapons (and Stormtrooper accuracy) of any kind? I'd have preferred a stealthier sequence: after reprogramming the transponder, they use a series of Jeffries tubes to get to the airlock with the intent of opening it to escape but the ship takes off to ruin that plan.

Other than that, it was a decent episode to get the season going. Spock's emotional journey will be a focal point of the season, which I'm okay with. SPECTRE The Broken Circle Gang is probably going to show up again and I wonder if we'll eventually see some TOS villains retconned to be members. Carol Kane will be fun and with what was said of her species, I'm betting on her making at least two ENT references during the season.

Interesting that the false-flag ship is Crossfield-class: the saucer is a clear match but the drive section is completely different. Were the Discovery and Glenn modified from that spec to fit the spore drive research project or was the ship we saw a wartime refit of the class?

Meta: Would it be possible not to use NSFW for spoilers? I don't really like having all the porn subs showing up in my "All" feed, but I feel like I have to keep NSFW ticked if people are using it for spoilers and not just porn.

Carol Kane is such a gem for this show, I can tell already.

I'm not entirely sure if I have to spoiler tag this since this is in the discussion thread but I will anyways since the rule doesn't say the threads are an exception to the rule. Edit: Thanks ValueSubtracted for the clarification on this.

Really disliked this one. And I loved just about all of season 1.

One of the main things for me is that the pacing felt far too quick.

For instance, when getting the injection of the super serum, they only briefly mentioned M'Benga's issue with it and quickly moved on without any sort of issues beyond that brief line.

I also have some issues with the characterization and general way the crew acted. They seemed a lot less professional in this and unlike an actual Starfleet crew.

Spock's emotional side, while I suppose justified in-universe, made him feel a lot less "Spock" to me. I was fine with his behavior in season 1 but this just feels a bit far, to the point of him being nearly unrecognizable. His "I would like the ship to go. Now" make me physically recoil in cringe with how unfunny I found it to be.

M'Benga and Chapel just beating up a bunch of bad guys three separate times felt incredibly unnecessary and I fail to see any sort of reason there couldn't have been some sort of clever escape rather than bland, mindless fighting. I think I skipped a whole minute total of them just punching the bad guys with how long the scenes drew on for. And the way M'Benga's issue with the super serum was just brushed over with a fleeting line came across as poorly executed.

La'an outdrinking a klingon seemed rather ridiculous and all I could think of was that it seemed like a bad D&D introduction to a stereotypical "cool" character. And then her burping? Did they really need a burp joke in this? It came across as uncharacteristically juvenile for the show.

That said, I did like a bit of it. Visual effects were great as always and I appreciated the slightly different intro. I'm glad the cliffhanger from last season both wasn't immediately resolved or dwelled upon too much. The false flag operation was a neat idea and it was cool to see yet another type of ship. The Klingons looked and sounded perfect and much more similar to how they were in 90s Trek, I'm glad the design was changed to this from their design in Discovery.

Overall, I very much disliked it, despite a few positive elements to it. No hate, I just disliked those parts of it I talked about.

Finally, this isn't any sort of issue I take with the show but they said that the false flag ship was Crossfield class. However, it didn't look anything like a Crossfield class beyond the ring in the saucer. Did Starfleet change the Crossfield class to a different design?

Not a terrible start but sadly not one of my favorite episodes for sure.

I don't really know how to describe what I didn't like, but I think it boils down to just how disjointed and rushed the pacing feels. For something so high stakes, it all felt really easy and predictable and just a bit boring.

It also felt like they were really really aggressive about making sure you understood the message about Spock. Seriously felt like a character was going to wink at the camera whenever they said something like "you're not a normal Vulcan!".

If I had to describe it, I'd probably go with Saturday morning cartoon surprisingly. A lot of story crammed into not enough time, with a heavy handed message about a character.

I didn't hate it, don't get me wrong. It just wasn't unique or interesting like so many episodes are.

Pelia is like "I have been alive for hundreds of years and I'm going to make that everyone else's problem."

Thoughts and observations written as I watch- I'll be putting this on both Reddit and Lemmy, since infinity diversity/infinity combinations:

• Wheeee, NCC-1701 in the Star Trek tag!

• Previously: Last season happened.

• Little ships flying!

• Wonder who the lawyer that Una and Pike have tried to reach is.

• Oh, hey, the Vulcan musical instrument whose name I can't remember!

• “Fascinating.” “Isn't that usually his line?”

• The fellowship on archeological medicine? Is that a reference to Dr. Korby?

• “We must steal the Enterprise.” Buddy, if I had a nickel every time someone had to steal the Enterprise, I'd have several nickels.

• Lt. Mitchell gunning for series regular next year with how much screen time she's had early on this episode.

• Okay, having Carol Kane is already paying dividends.

• And, yeah, Carol Kane doesn't need alien makeup to be an alien. She's already an alien.

• I'm still not sure if the emphasis one the warp catch phrase is amazing or annoying, but this scene was funny.

• KLINGON UPDATE: RIDGES!

• So clearly La'An's augmented ancestors were genetically engineered to drink a lot. Which, y'know what? Fair.

• Ah, the borderlands, where utopian rules go away and everyone becomes a Ferengi.

• Congratulations to Uhura on graduating from the Academy.

• Ah, the old "I have technology that I'm totally not making up that will blow you up" bluff!

• New transporter chief?

• Okay, so the angry borderlands people are trying to do some sort of false flag thing.

• Redundant Klingon organs, the old standby.

• Roided-up doctors can tell you what bones they broke as they break them.

• These are obviously Discovery sets.

• This action scene, while well-done, is way too long.

• A D7!

• “We've gotten out of worse.” “No, not really!”

• “This I've got to see!”

• I wonder if “Lanthanite” is a synonym for “El-Aurian”

• Pelia knowing that being on the Enterprise means adventure is further proof that those ships are goddamn weirdness magnets.

• Gorn. Yes, it stretches canon but fuck it the Gorn are awesome we'll come up with an explanation later.

• “For Nichelle”

• Overall, while not one of the better episodes, it still was a good start to the season. It wrapped up one of the hanging threads of last year (La'An), we continued to see some of Young Spock's struggles with his emotions before he became the more-Vulcan Spock that Nimoy was in the main TOS series, and we got our first look at Carol Kane as the nutty new engineer. Overall, I'll call that a win!

Not a bad start, although the episode felt somewhat lackluster. The character writing felt a little wooden, too much stuff is explicitly said instead of letting it hang in the subtext. Also there had better be a good explanation in future episodes as to why the hell Dr. M'benga keeps a couple of vials of punching serum handy at all times.

The visuals were great. The Klingon makeup was toned back a bit more towards a TNG-era look, but you can still see the more distinct Discovery skull shape. Overall a good mix between the two I'd say. The visuals from Spacedock feel very Discovery as well-- nice to see those starfleet drones being used outside of Control trying to kill everyone.

I just love this show, the feeling I get when the intro rolls is the same as when I was I was 15 watching the TNG intro on TV. The characters all feel special and unique even if I've seen every episode of every series.

I'm not sure how I feel about a Pike-lite episode kicking off the season. Although I like that separating the party gave us more backstory on M'Benga. Ortegas next please?

Was the planet inspired by Zhangjiajie National Park?

Lastly, were I a captain my "thing" would either be "All in" or a comedic "Yatta!!!"

Really delighted with this episode.

No complaints. Can’t really buy into the nitpicks on this one. It seemed completely Trek, and gave many of the ensemble their moments to shine. Production design gorgeous, virtual staging more seamless, costumes excellent, vfx great.

I like how M’Benga has hoarded the green vial as part of his lingering trauma. Better, we finally see a physician giving himself the juice instead of Kirk or some other command officer. In fact, one has to wonder if McCoy carried a stash provided by M’Benga.

Spock’s unresolved feelings for Chapel are well crafted and mirror the lingering pain we see her left with in TOS. It makes those scenes with Chapel in TOS comprehensible instead of cringe-inducing.

I understand if I get a slew of downvotes, but I thought that episode was pretty bad. The pacing was weird and many of the sequences involving the mining planet felt poorly written (what's with the Witcher potion?). I feel like I'm the only person not into the whole Spock/Chapel thing, so seeing that pushed harder was cringe for me.

WE ARE BACK!!!! :D

I feel like I have waited so long and it was worth it, while at first I wasn't bought entirely on the action, it really came together at the end.

I loved the entire part of Spock stealing the Enterprize for the first time of many and April's unintentional implications for the future. SNW keeps proving it has the Trek energy, yes it might stumble some, I can understand questions about magic steroids (it's a bit out there even for me but I am also surprised it took this long to have it, but maybe its not meant for combat actually but some medical thing?)

But it doesn't change that the quality of this show is so high, this really manages to capture the feelings of the older series, DS9 and TNG but also with a certain high quality to it.

Loved seeing the Crossfield get another showing and how the D7 has become the mainstay. I like that we get some more traditional trek ships out there. That feel like the older ones.

Klingon blood wine drinking with Spock was amazing.

I also loved Pellia and haven't heard of the lanthenians before but something about the half crazy old lady character is just amazing.

I laughed so much, felt so much heart warming. But then also feeling my heart ripped out with the memory to Nichelle and seeing that she has passed. I remember reading it but had kinda lost track of it.

I am so looking forward to more episodes of this <3

Quite enjoyable, although I agree with some other commenters that it wasn't the strongest premiere. I thought the green juice and whole Chapel/M'Benga plotline was particularly rough, though dealing with the PTSD could be interesting in the future. It just felt rather un-Star Trekky in an otherwise solid show.

I'm also slightly unsure about how far they are going in regards to Spocks journey. I did like that they had an in-universe fairly believable reason for it from last seasons episode with the Gorn. I like that the show has a consequence for Spock, and I certainly don't hate it but just a bit cautious and curious where it's heading.

Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, even with so little of Pike. The other characters are very solid and I liked that they toned down some of the quips and such. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

I loved that they gave Dr. M'Benga some screentime front and center and showed that he can throw down if necessary, even if it was with the help of some super serum stuff. And while I even loved his (and Nurse Chapel's ) elaborate fight scene and enjoyed the way they filmed it, I'm also not sure if it quite fits with Star Trek. Just not sure yet with the excessive slow motion. The camera angles however were some great artistic choice. But overall one great start to season 2.

Chris Fisher, who lasted directed A Quality of Mercy, directs the hell out of the two SNW eps he's helmed. Wow, are they creative.

So much to say, but all I can I say is that this show just makes you smile from ear to ear and tug at your heartstrings.

Ethan Peck just knocks this episode out of the goddamn park too. He nails the funny, the serious, the inner tumultuousness of Spock.

Also glad we get to see so much of M'Benga and Chapel and their relationship too. Seems like with a war amongst the Gorn brewing, we'll see it mirrored alongside everyone's experiences in the Klingon War.

My gut feeling is that with a couple changes this episode would have hung together better-

1. Have them take a shuttle instead of the Enterprise. This lowers the stakes for our command crew and simply makes more sense than half the crew (that wasn't on leave) agreeing to steal a ship. It also means they need to figure out a different way to deal with the fake Federation ship at the end of the episode is some way other than 'shoot it with bigger guns'
2. Have Chapel and M'Benga do something within their character strengths to escape instead of magic drug that lets them hand-to-hand fight their way through a dozen or more Klingons.

That said, there were a lot of things I DID like about the episode, including the Klingon Captain at the end and the new Chief Engineer.

I didn't really love this episode. I agree with other users that it feels a bit more DIS than SNW s1. I think maybe because of the pacing &/or the action, or maybe just how OTT the plot is, like stealing the Enterprise should be a bigger deal than it is here imo, it just feels a bit ... almost routine? Also I feel like I am the only person on the internet with this opinion, but I really like Spock's relationship with his fiancée and I don't particularly care for the whole Spock/Chapel sub-plot, soooo I am sad to see that continuing. I also didn't enjoy the overtly -> overly emotive Spock, it reminded me of the films, and the Chapel nearly dying bit again felt more DIS than SNW s1. Also, I counted like four different occasions of somebody remarking on Spock being a very un-Vulcan Vulcan, which really felt like a bit much...?

It was very nice to see more of M'Benga, though. He is a great character and I felt like we didn't see enough of him in s1. It felt weird having very little Pike or Number One, though. I hope this is not going to be the standard going forward, it feels like going backwards after SNW seemed to spend a whole season trying to reassure us that they understood what people hadn't liked about DIS?

Oh also -- the new chief engineer seems cool.

Spock steals the Enterprise (again) -- what more could I ask for?

Also yeah -- I really love how SNW is establishing that Spock has been, in the words of Eleanor Shellstrop of The Good Place, a messy bench who loves drama, since, you know, forever. How did he put it? "I thought it was obvious. I am proposing we steal the Enterprise." Amazing.

I love the new engineer, but she sort of disappeared after Enterprise left space dock and didn't show back up until the conclusion. I figured a thrill seeker like her would have kept busy?

So, bit of a mixed bag. I enjoyed Spock smashing bloodwine, and the general idea of the plot, decent Klingons etc. I did not enjoy unexplained spacewar drugs, feels like a very non-Star Trek thing.

That being said, I really wish they would stop harping the "do the thing do the thing" angle every time anyone sits in the Captain's chair. It's been in every show now and it's just such a tired and stale joke that it's moved over time from being funny, to tiring, to outright annoying.

Overall, a pretty good episode! I am slightly conflicted - I really like the character development of this Spock, but it's also less and less feeling like the Spock we'll eventually see in TOS. As the Klingon captain said, 'the least Vulcan like Vulcan ever' - whereas Spock in TOS is trying to suppress his human side and it takes him till like Star Trek VI to actually act on a hunch. But I am also conflicted as I really like this character too.

The stealing the Enterprise scene, I think Search for Spock is laughing... The CGI of the Enterprise manuvering away from space dock and escaping to warp was amazing though - one of the best uses of 3D space in Star Trek ever but pausing for like 5 minutes whilst stealing a ship to decide what his 'line' is going to be... I wish the new series would stop their pre-ocupation with this, it's kind of famous because Picard uses Engage and Make It So enough to be memeable, but most of the time people from Kirk to Janeway to Sisko also use Engage. (Kirk also frequently uses warp speed Mr sulu, and ahead warp factor 1, take her out, first star to the left and straight on till morning.) And so every captain doesn't have their thing. Pike's 'hit it' is ok, but 'Let's Fly' is kinda dumb and 'I want to go, now' is out of character and just a really unnecessary part of the story. It's also not going to be memeable when it's forced.

I really didn't like the scene where M'Benga and Chapel use some kind of drug to give them super strength to fight off a whole ship of Klingons and then the torture scene? Star Trek should be cleverer than that and made me lose respect for both of the characters. At least the Klingons look like Klingons again.

I like the new chief engineer a lot more than I thought I was going too though!

Star Trek has always been kind of lax when officers disobeying orders save the day, but I thought the admiral should have been angrier and I really hope there's a scene in episode 2 where Pike and Spock talk about it.

This is a fine episode, but I felt it tried to take on too much when it absolutely did not need to. The stolen starship thing never felt purposeful. I presume its intent is to help set up why the enterprise is going so deep into klingon territory, but i’m just not sold on that. I think an espionage/stealth set up would’ve been a better balance (especially with later sneaking through the asteroids).

Others have brought up Spock’s emotion and how it’s seemingly exceeding TOS Spock. Personally, Im not too concerned with this. I tend to be pretty fast and lose with canon (i’m here to have fun, not stress over every thing). With that said, my best theory is that between now and The Cage, Spock will have some traumatic event which forces him to lock away his emotions further.

Fun episode, but bits and pieces always felt a little off. Pelia was fantastic - love seeing competent non-main-characters in any sort of fiction.

Chapel/Spock... ugh. Not so much.

Whats with the wierd "Crossfield" class?

So we're not going to talk about the drugs that supposedly give you the strength to beat teams of Klingons and have no side effects?

Enjoyed pretty much everything in this episode except the magic super steroids. The sequence went on for so long.. I assumed that I had forgotten something from last series because there’s no way they would have had this to hand the whole time and never thought to use it during any one of the many life and death emergencies?

That aside. Loved the rest of the episode and looking forward to where things go from here (plus really really happy to have weekly Trek again!)

I'm doing my first watch of TOS and the instrument that Spock picks up is the same as in TOS 1x02. That was a cool little reference.

Season 2 is released? I just finished watching season 1 yesterday!

Not bad, but felt very Discovery in tone and aesthetic. I'm hoping future episodes match season 1's vibe.

Nice episode, I was expecting a cliffhanger at the end showing what Pike was up to.

I am curious about the Lanthanites, I’ve had visitor before, like Guinan in 1890s, but a whole species living among side humans, maybe they don’t have a big population, I bet they could be the origin of many human myths. I wonder what was their reason.

Maybe It will help with Una’s trial, since both pretended to be humans.

Also, in TOS there was about an Immortal Human, maybe he was a Lanthanite and just didn’t know.

I think this episode was fine. Glad to have it back, and hoping we don't have too many more breaks between shows again. :D

I'm only 14 minutes in, and I'm already way into this season.

God damn I enjoyed the shit out of that!

At first glance I was unsure about the new engineer but by the end of her first scene I loved her. I wish she was featured a bit more but I'm sure we will see more soon.

Spock is the man!

Have we ever heard of Lanthanites? Apparently they

spoiler

live such a long time they get bored and they are hiding on Earth in the 22nd century.

I wonder if they know about the El-Aurians or Q.

What a way to start the season! I love that they're leaning hard into the TOS vibe.

There's a lot to pick apart if you really wanted to, but frankly it's hard for me to get hung up on minutae when the characters and universe are so spot on. Some good starship porn in there too. What an adventure! Gene would be more than happy with this one I think.

If they had super-soldier drugs the whole time why didn't they use them against the gorn or any other combat that occurred in season 1?

What was the magic hypo serum they used? Was it the lost Captain America serum? Or has that been referenced / used before somewhere else in universe that I don’t recall?

I do annotations for every episode on DaystromInstitute, noting references and so on. Do I post the one I’ve done for “The Broken Circle” here or wait for Sunday?

Was that a TOS style California-class docked next to the Enterprise early on?

I would like the strange and new to go. Now.

Finally had time to watch it tonight and I thought it was great.

I feel like what seemed corny or off was on purpose. Spock is on a learning curve with his emotions/duty conundrum and we certainly felt that.

Looking forward to next week!

I think this got things off to a reasonable start, but it doesn't feel like the strongest episode out of the gate. Maybe it's because the show deliberately chooses not take on the cliffhanger of the last season in the first episode. Starting the season with only part of the cast undertaking the mission I think also makes the episode feel a bit slight.

It's also a bit of a darker episode than the last season, but I'm not sure if engaging with the Klingon civil war aftermath is actually necessary in this episode. In fact, leaving out the Klingon stuff here would make it a bit less stodgy to me. I guess there is some curiosity as to what SNW characters were doing during the war, but it really feels like here, the only reason they framed this entire episode around the war was so that M'Benga and Chapel could juice themselves up with a substance that they never quite introduce before using it and Die Hard Klingons for a chunk of the episode. There's maybe some M'Benga trauma, but giving the character another trauma moment where some (particularly Ortegas) remain comparatively lightly characterized feels...meh.

It's probably all the Discovery elements, both in plot and in set design on screen, that make me feel this way, but I was hoping that Discovery would learn the best lessons from Strange New Worlds. This episode has me slightly worried that instead of that, Strange New Worlds may be learning some bad lessons from Discovery. That said I'm hoping things get better across the season. I thought this was good but just not quite what I wanted from the season opener.

If my memory is correct, this episode contained more than half of the scenes from the trailers, most of which were theorized to be from different episodes.

That leaves two possibilities:

• this episode is the most interesting episode, which would be unfortunate but not unheardof for Paramount

• the best is yet to come, and we have no idea what's coming.

I choose to believe the second, for now, and I'm excited.

Well here we go. Let’s try this out

I really enjoyed this one. It felt fun. Who doesn't love a good "steal the Enterprise" plot?

They're clearly gonna push the Chapel/Spock ship. I'm broadly fine with this but I do wonder how they will reconcile it with canon Spock/Chapel (or if they'll just abandon it - which I'm also fine with).

I don't really have an issue with the green super drug. I hope we get to hear more about their time together during the Klingon War. Guessing we will based on this. But it was a cool sequence and I'm good with it.

I'm curious if that fake Federation ship was a variant of the Crossfield or just something cobbled together by those folks. I imagine we'll get some clarification from the design people at some point.

Loving the current Klingon design. I didn't really mind the Disco re-imagining but this feels like a good compromise. And that Spock made peace over bloodwine. And ended up with a hangover.

And, for me, I'm fine with The Joke. I like Ortegas' and the background that some Captain says "Zoom!" Spock's left a bit to be desired, but I laughed.

That space jump sequence was the best part of the episode. I felt that.

For me that was surprisingly good, by the end I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I liked it, but it didn’t have enough Pike.

Perhaps M’Benga has a stash of the serum Bones will later give Kirk so he can survive his fight with Spock in TOS Amok Time.

Is this post tagged NSFW for spoilers?

I mean, it was telegraphed in S1 but there are definitely going to be some Gorn retcons this season.

I'm fine with this! But it was already tough to reconcile what we saw in S1 with later crews, "attending Gorn weddings" (much harder, imo, than the more reasonable 'they have been encountered, just in a limited capacity and with few survivors) and a full on invasion plotline - featuring Spock and Uhura no less - makes Arena tough to reconcile.

Again, that's fine!

I like the current Klingon design, though I wish they had kept the double nostril from DIS. The redesign went too far but their attempt to physically show the Klingon's redundant biology was appreciated.

The actual episode's plot was...fine. A bit rushed. Felt like a Mass Effect sidequest which is fine for an ep but hopefully not the feeling of the season as a whole. Establishing the character's war experiences and generally situating the series as post-war is probably necessary for the rest of the season. I have to wonder if they went out of their way to only show Spock and Pelia with the Klingons given other crew.....probably aren't ready to split a barrel of bloodwine.

Speaking of Pelia: a race of immortals living in secret alongside humanity and now just regular, serving members of Starfleet? Identifiable by accent even? It's a BIG swing and probably the most interesting (though for now unexplored) idea in the episode.

On the Crossfield refit...presumably from the 'shell' style associated with the pre-TOS ships (as seen in DIS Binary Stars sequence) with the Enterprise's modernized plating? Probably would have been simpler to just have a new class.

So good to have SNW back!

Loved the episode in general, but there are some interesting decisions with this episode I'd like to get into, like the green power-up juice.

That seemed odd to me. Usually on a Star Trek show the ship's doctor and a trainee nurse would easily be able to kick the crap out of a dozen or so Klingons to save the day. And I'm not even joking, the crew of Deep Space 9 were absolute murder machines when they got going.

Thing is I sort of liked it, I liked that for once on a Trek show "We can't just beat up all of these people on our own" was presented as a plot point, because it usually isn't. I expect that there will be consequences.

As to whether it could or should be a thing, I mean this is a show where people can be teleported, so the idea that they might have some kind of super bull-shark testosterone quad damage power up in their med-kits seems perfectly reasonable.

It does however beg questions about why it isn't used more. And that I think is likely going to be a question we get an answer to this season. I also think it might be connected to why Mbenga will ultimately end up being replaced by McCoy*.

*Slight tangent, but McCoy's bigoted attitude towards Spock in TOS is going to hit so differently if they keep it for SNW, assuming he ever were to appear on the show.

Anybody else feel like the space battle was trying to mimic the Expanse style?

Unfortunately didnt seem to work as well. The Expanse puts a lot of detail and thought into combat, and the setting seems more fit for it somehow.

Can we talk about that weird camera roll during the M’Benga / Chapel fight scene? Usually thats done when gravity is changing, but here the camera flipped, they went through a hatch to a lower level, then the camera rolled over again. What was that all about?

Huffman told NPR in an interview that Reddit needed to start behaving like an “adult” business. Earlier this week, the Reddit CEO compared the moderator-led protest to a child “blowup,” telling staffers in an internal memo that, “like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well.”

I know this point has been hammered in by a lot of people, but this arrogance will eventually sink reddit. Not today, not tomorrow, not automatically after June 30th; but slowly the well will be poisoned until all faith in reddit as a platform evaporates. Both to sponsors as well as users.

I don't know if Fediverse is the future; it can be difficult to grasp for newer/casual users, the mobile apps that do exist have their flaws, and the content is limited compared to agrigators like reddit (and unfair comparison when comparing each other's size). But in the few days I've been here I've seen such a larger form of engagement than I've seen in a long time online. That's purely anecdotal, but I believe at the very least the Fediverse will lead to innovations in this space. And I'm very much looking forward to that.

Upon further reflection, I feel like this episode undermines the plot of "The Galileo Seven". Spock is a very able commander in 2x01 when years later he struggles on an away mission…

The Broken Circle. Back to Strange New Worlds and Pike’s Dilemma and Una being arrested. Oh no.

Beautiful opening shot of the station! wow!

“Pike: … But even from afar I sense a tension here among the brass that I can’t pin down.”

I know how you feel Pike. gestures vaguely at how we are currently at rebellion with our former ‘home’

“Pike: Hey, you won’t have to leave space dock.”

“Spock: What is the human expression? Famous last words.”

Some foreshadowing there? Is Spock just going to have an easy time relaxing in Spacedock?

Dr: M’benga: "When you unleashed your anger to combat the Gorn, you removed those blocks. Now all your emotions are flowing more freely. "

Oh shit, is this setting up some more aggressive spock?

“Dr. M’benga: You’ll just have to learn to live with them. Like we all do.”

YES! THE HARP!

Uh oh, distress signal from La’An and Spock has to help out!

“The answer is obvious. We must STEAL THE ENTERPRISE”

OH YEAH! HERE WE GOOOOOOO!

“… Yes, you can always count on a Vulcan’s inability to lie. Another things I know about Vulcans. They don’t do things without a good reason. Do you have a good reason to steal the ship?”

“Spock: I am having what humans call, a ‘hunch’”

“A vulcan with a hunch, that’s a new one. And not just any Vulcan. Amanda Grayson’s Son.”

Well shit, she knows Spock’s mom. What’s up?

“If you’re going to steal a Starship, do it correctly!”

I love this lady’s very dry sarcasm!!!

“OH PLEASE. WE CAN SPEND A LOT OF TIME TALKING ABOUT THIS. OR WE CAN GO. You decide.”

“Spock: Vent the Nacelles on my mark.”

HERE WE GOOO

“Oh I just noticed you don’t have a chief engineer!”

"Be happy to sub in. Been a /Hundred/ years since I’ve gone out with Engines of my own. (A hundred years? Really?) It’s a long story. A really long story.

“Spock: The Starbase will have to wait. Cajitar system. Warp factor 5. …”

"Ortegas: You going to say it? Your thing?

“Spock: My what?”

“Ortega: Your thing. You know. Everyone in the chair has their thing.”

“Uhura: Captain Pike always says: ‘Hit it’”.

"My last captain liked to say “Zoom”

“Spock: Do you have a thing?”

“Ortegas: Well, I’ve been workshopping… ‘vamanos’ but it’s supposed to be about you. What kind of commander are you? All that. So no presh ;)”

“Spock: I would like the ship to go. Now.”

GOOOOOOOOOOOO

Those Klingon ridges are GORGEOUS

I like how La’An was surprised by Uhura’s promotion, “Wait, you’re ensign now?!”

“Chapel: Are you sure you want to do this again?”

“M’benga: Again, no. But I’m not seeing a better choice.”

And they hypospray themselves with that stuff that alters their physical power and kick Klingon ass wow.

Chapel’s in serious distress, and M’benga has the really intense look in his eyes.

Ortegas as snappy as ever, “70%” "Ortegas: Copy. That is the last time they dent our paint job. "

M’benga being EXTREMELY practical about getting off the stolen (and soon to be destroyed) ship

"M’benga: I can use the altitude jet to guide us away from the ship. (Only we’ll be dead) Not necessarily. It’ll take almost a minute for us to freeze to death. Don’t worry. We’ll pass out after 15 seconds. I know it’s a terrible idea. (Chapel: Yeah, it’s terrible. Let’s get to it then. )

OH MY GOD THEY DO A TRANSPORTR PERSPECTIVE YAYY!!

… and they’re FROZEN. And Chapel’s nearly dead :(((( Spock’s giving it his all!!

“Spock: I waited for you. You do not die!”

And we have an episode of near death! Our main characters are not immune from rough times. :|

Spock plays negotiator real well with the Klingons, and all he had to do was throw down the bloodwine.

“You drink bloodwine?”

“Spock: I have been known to.”

“This is something I must see. You’re no typical Vulcan.”

"Spock: No. It would seem I am not.

And our engineer has an ear for Klingon language.

"Well, uh, listen, I think my Klingon might be a little rusty, but did he just say, “May your blood scream”?

Spock: A Klingon toast the true meaning of which is becoming clear to me.

“You want to know the worst thing about living almost forever? (The loss of those you love?) Oh you sweet un-vulcan Vulcan, no. That’s a pain shared by all who live with even a half-open heart. No. It’s BOREDOM. And on that ship of yours, there seems to be a shortage of that. I like it. I might even stick around.” … TO THE VULCAN WHO ACTS NOTHING LIKE A VULCAN!

But alas, that Bloodwine resulted in quite a hangover.

"April: Consider that hangover your punishment. But next time, it’s your commission.

I like how we opened with a very contained episode. We got a lot out of M’benga and Chapel’s history.

Poor Chapel recovering rom being frozen in outer space… And Spock’s doing his best to calm his emotions with music. May he develop some deep meditative songs to heal this ache.

A beautiful dedication for our original communications officer.

"For Nichelle, who was first through the door and showed us the stars.

Hailing frequencies forever open."

Beautiful start to the season.

I guess Una’s trial is coming up.