[Three of Seven]

EPISODE DISCUSSION: BATTLE AT THE BINARY STARS

This thread is for pre and post episode discussion of the second episode, Battle at the Binary Stars. If you do not wish for spoilers, then you have missed all the warnings in the title and activity stream, shocking! So if you are reading this post, then you should turn away now.

Battle at the Binary Stars is airing on the same day as The Vulcan Hello.

The episode first airs on the 24th of September for American viewers and the 25th for international viewers.

[Noram]

9:02 CST: Switched over from the TV in the living room to my PC to stream episode two. We're starting off where episode one ended, with Burnham ordering a preemptive strike on the Klingon battlecruiser and Georgeiu coming back onto the bridge to stop her...lets see how it goes.

9:14 CST: Okay, I paused after the opening where a commercial normally would be so I could write an update. Young Burnham was even more insufferable than she is now. She's so unlikable she makes her present self look good. I'll admit, the flashback transitioning to Georgiou holding Burnham at phaserpoint was well done. Georgiou also made the right call and got Burnham the hell off her bridge.

9:24 CST Ugh. Klingons from all the great houses look like that...
The Klingon religion hasn't ever had a lot made of it, the biggest thing was the Kuvahmagh stuff during Voyager ,having a Klingon religious zealot as the antagonist was an interesting choice.

9:34 CST I'm hearing some familiar names at least. Donatu V was mentioned in TOS, and the T'Plana-Hath was the Vulcan ship that made first contact with Earth.
Uhhhhhh...those weapon effects at the start weren't great...
Hmm, the scene with Connor is probably Burnham's best so far, and the flashback to Sarek melding with her is pretty cool. Also Starfleet's emergency shields are badass even in the 23rd century

9:44 CST That's not how katra's work! Regardless, Sarek has been surprisingly good in these episodes. Europa to the rescue! Also, where did this holocomm technology go? And finally, obvious trap is obvious. They totally cloaked under the cover of the warp core breach, right?
The Unforgettable? Surely that's a title that should be reserved for Kahless...ooooh, so he's Kahless reborn now...got it. Now Burnham's trying to out logic the ship's computer, is it going to work? Of course.
Georgiou really needs to be the lead character...

10:06 CST There are rules about sabotaging corpses, even in a war, aren't there?
There are a surprising number of similarities between these episodes and the first JJTrek film... the spacejump, sneaking onto the enemy ship while it's damaged.
Really, they didn't have a transponder in that suit so they could retrieve the captain's body?
Damn right she plead guilty at her court martial. This should be the end of Michael Burnham. But it won't be.

[Supergrover]

I will have to watch more to reserve judgment, So far kinda Meh IMO. Some stiff acting and again I hate lensflare.

I too was WTF is with the hologram tech. That was just pure flash.

[Adster94]

Just watched the second episode, battle was nice and flashy but overall still not majorly impressed. Doesn't conform to canon at all it seems...just have to wait and see some more. But with the captains death and Burnham being stripped of rank by some shady Admirals hiding behind darkness...doesn't fit the bill really...will see - hopefully it will get better! Plus, Burnham shouldn't be able to fly through space and walk away from it with no issues.

[Rellimie]

I personally loved it. The canon argument is tough because TOS was produced in 1968 and I feel like we have some more advanced technology now in 2017 in some respects (the computer voice being one of them).

Holo communications....yeah, we have concerts that have dancing and singing holograms now.

The Klingons....we will have to see how this plays out.

Some will say then why do a prequel, why not do a post-Nemesis. I find post-Nemesis to be boring frankly. It’s more about maintaining than exploring and the perfect little utopia from the TNG era+ is meh. I do feel however it is right in line with Enterprise as far as tech would be 100 years after it and if we talk reboot then I would say Enterprise was the reboot.

Some people had issues with the acting......do we not remember the cringy acting of the first 2 seasons of TNG? Or the first seasons of DS9, Voyager, Enterprise? Looking back on all those shows I hear about it took 2 or 3 seasons to find it’s groove. Yet we are 2 episodes in and people have passed final judgment.

I loved it, I’m looking forward to the next 15 episodes.

[Bridger]

I think the main thing we have to agree on is that this is a Reboot, Starfleet Technology was not that developed in the Prime Universe, just as example Force Fields that could seal a massive Hull Breach have not been seen before the Enterprise-B was launched.

The Constitution Class was for decades the most advanced ship in Starfleet and had never displayed capabilities like the Shenzou that is supposed to be an older ship.

[Saelanna]

Some people had issues with the acting......do we not remember the cringy acting of the first 2 seasons of TNG? Or the first seasons of DS9, Voyager, Enterprise? Looking back on all those shows I hear about it took 2 or 3 seasons to find it’s groove. Yet we are 2 episodes in and people have passed final judgment.

Having recently rewatched the first few seasons of TNG I wholeheartedly agree with you. The first season, perhaps with the exception of Brent Spiner, was especially bad on the wooden "I feel completely uncomfortable in this role" style acting. So I will give the Discovery cast time to find their feet.

I still hate what they've done to the Klingons! (I love Worf!)

Overall though, and as a piece of Science Fiction TV, I like it!

[Tain]

I think the main thing we have to agree on is that this is a Reboot, Starfleet Technology was not that developed in the Prime Universe, just as example Force Fields that could seal a massive Hull Breach have not been seen before the Enterprise-B was launched.

The Constitution Class was for decades the most advanced ship in Starfleet and had never displayed capabilities like the Shenzou that is supposed to be an older ship.

A lot of that comes from the time the show was made, I believe they would have featured that tech if A. They thought of it and B. they could afford it.

The show is going to look different, and to be honest it should. They cannot make it look like the walls are made of cardboard, and not give them tech that we have in our world now because it wasn't featured on tv in the 60's.

[Bridger]

Sure they did not have the budget that does not change the fact that what we have seen in the Pilot can fit in any way into the Canon that is considered the TV-Shows (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT) and the movies (I-X)

We already had a prequel TV-Show in ENT that did a far better job in making us believe the show is set before TOS and in my opinion they did a better job in their Art department.

Everything I have in the pilot would look and make much better sense if it would take place after Nemesis, I would buy that instantly.

The answer if the show is Prime Canon is a big NO. However like the new Movies and their Kelvin TImeline this show also does not share the same Universe.

[Rellimie]

I want to make one other comment about several statements I’ve seen throughout the inter-webs: “The show is too dark to be Star Trek”.

Have you ever seen Star Trek II, III and VI? Those are some of the darkest, militaristic Sci-Fi movies ever seen. TOS had several military type episodes, how many red shirts did they kill? Even DS9’s last few seasons had several dark episodes. Enterprise season 3, TNG Best of Both Worlds, Voyager Year of Hell and several other episodes

Let’s not pretend that Star Trek has always been all sunshine and lollipops. I’d say there has been ups and downs when it comes to the hopeful future versus the reality of the galaxy. Let’s see how this season plays out.

[Tain]

Sure they did not have the budget that does not change the fact that what we have seen in the Pilot can fit in any way into the Canon that is considered the TV-Shows (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT) and the movies (I-X)

We already had a prequel TV-Show in ENT that did a far better job in making us believe the show is set before TOS and in my opinion they did a better job in their Art department.

Everything I have in the pilot would look and make much better sense if it would take place after Nemesis, I would buy that instantly.

The answer if the show is Prime Canon is a big NO. However like the new Movies and their Kelvin TImeline this show also does not share the same Universe.

Don't forget how much Enterprise screwed with Canon

1. First Contact with the Klingons was nothing like how it had been explained in canon
2. Xindi
3. A Vulcan science officer (Spock was supposed to be the first, making her non starfleet was a cheap way to get around it)
4. Starfleet was too advanced, they had more primative weapons in their war with the Romulans

etc..

Go through any Star Trek show, they all crap all over established canon.

[Rellimie]

Don't forget how much Enterprise screwed with Canon

1. First Contact with the Klingons was nothing like how it had been explained in canon
2. Xindi
3. A Vulcan science officer (Spock was supposed to be the first, making her non starfleet was a cheap way to get around it)
4. Starfleet was too advanced, they had more primative weapons in their war with the Romulans

etc..

Go through any Star Trek show, they all crap all over established canon.

Bingo. I’m okay with the term “reboot” but lets not pretend that Enterprise isn’t the show that rebooted the universe, not this show.

Did anyone notice that the ship had “Phase Canons” and not Phasers?

[Tain]

The combat scenes really had that battlestar galactica chaotic feel to, I am going to watch it again tonight to see everything I missed. It was a jam packed two hours.

also, back on Enterprise, don'ft forget about the Borg history revision.. lol

[Rellimie]

I'm alright if Enterprise affected the timeline....it is a good excuse to retcon TOS which is really not believable knowing where technology is in 2017.

[JarekCyphus]

I really gotta take Paul Edward's side on this. I'm still not completely sold on Discovery, but I didn't quite hate it, either. Still, the "today's technology" arguments being made by people with actual common sense makes the vehement detractors look like a mob of spoiled hipsters, no offense.