[Guest]

EPISODE DISCUSSION:
The Sounds of Thunder

This thread is for pre and post episode discussion of the 6th episode from season 2, The Sounds of Thunder. 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.

The episode first airs on the 21st of Febuary for American viewers and the 22nd of Febuary for international viewers.

[WelshAvenger]

I hope the title isn't relevant to the plot. The Sound of Thunder is an old SciFi story about big game hunters who go back in time to kill dinosaurs. One of them gets scared, falls of the prepared path and crushes a butterfly. When they travel back to their normal era, everything has changed.

Hopefully the writers haven't been so obvious.

[Bridger]

The Red Angle is a guy in suite, as much as Saru is the only likable character on Discovery in this episode I could not care less about him or his species or what happens to him/them.

I think what I like the most is how often the Prime Directive is ignored in Discovery, I know it happened in other shows but in Discovery it seems to happen in every 2nd Episode.

[Stormy]

I have to be honest. This episode was simply mediocre at best. This episode seemed like a filler episode as they drag out the major Spock plotline as much as possible.

I like where they went with it, giving Saru more of a backstory, but I'm not buying the shooting fangs, or whatever those things that came out of his head. I think they took the transformation too far.

[Scarlett]

You know, I was ok with the barbed head thing because of the predator/prey dynamic. Fleshing out Saru was a good and welcomed. It occurred to me you didn't need to see the Short Trek about him with this episode (but it wouldn't hurt to do so). SO, if the show never goes back to his homeworld (other than to drop him off forever), I'd be ok with that.

What I'm not ok with was the Deus Ex Machina here. Having said that, I'm sure it was employed in previous iterations of ST because of the episodic nature of the show, yet this is a serial run and things could have played out differently, I think.

I'm slowly losing interest in the Red Angel myself. Frankly, I'd rather it be an alien in a suit, then some mystical "no-greater-can-be-conceived" event.

As much as I want Spock on board, I've settled on the slow intro because I have no notion of what to expect afterward.

I gotta say though, Pike has really grown on me. The character and actor are exactly what I envision and want from a Starfleet Captain.

Oh, and then there is the pilot, Detmer. now SHE has a story to tell. I mean, I get her injuries-turned-bionics were from the start of the show, but man she has some latent spunk. I'm sure she'll be like Chekov, there-but-meh, yet she and Owosekun are getting equal time on the bridge which is more time than the rest of the bridge crew. That likely because of their position, but they are grabbing my attention, with Detmer getting more of that.

Tilly with her hair down was an improvement visually too.

And man, what they are doing with Section 31 sucks. So, Pike's discussion with Tyler at their end scene was grand, adding to my growing affection for Pike while decreasing my care for Tyler and the S31 part. Frankly, take a page from history and do with S31 what B5 did with Psi-Corps: have them be the boogie-man, and only show up when a complete jackass needs to be there.

Overall, even with the critique, it was more gripping than recent episodes. So 3/4 thumbs up.

[WelshAvenger]

Might just have been me but I could only understand one word in four that the oil soaked bad guy said. Sound design screwed the pooch there.

[Solace]

Might just have been me but I could only understand one word in four that the oil soaked bad guy said. Sound design screwed the pooch there.

Honestly, when the Ba’ul appeared I thought we were gonna get a hint at the origin of Armus from the TNG episode Skin of Evil.

[Bridger]

Honestly, when the Ba’ul appeared I thought we were gonna get a hint at the origin of Armus from the TNG episode Skin of Evil.

That was explained in that episode Armus showed up.

[Solace]

That was explained in that episode Armus showed up.

Left by a race of titans as I recall? No reason to say the Ba'ul couldn't be regarded as such, they are pretty technologically advanced.

[Rellimie]

Might just have been me but I could only understand one word in four that the oil soaked bad guy said. Sound design screwed the pooch there.

He sounded fine to me but everyone’s device/TV is different.

[Heyallo]

I always watch things with subtitles, just so I can understand something I don't understand =P

[Bridger]

Left by a race of titans as I recall? No reason to say the Ba'ul couldn't be regarded as such, they are pretty technologically advanced.

Beautiful titans and nothing that looks like it is left over from an oil change.

[Morris]

It had the butterfly-like insect, to tie the episode into the title. Well done writers! <sarcasm

Kelpians are the Ba'ul's natural enemy, but the Ba'ul survived by their technological superiority, just as they were on the brink of extinction at the hands of the Kelpians...good for them! All life fights to survive.

Not cool, keeping the Kelpians in check the way that the did, but i guess that sentient sludge doesn't have a lot of options.

Now, the argument was made, the Kelpians will be the predators again...bad...but the the Ba'ul are technologically superior, so they should be able to even the tables. Uhmm...does that mean they get to be at war, with many lives lost, while the Kelpians get their rage out and, hopefully, eventually learn to reign in their natural predatory instincts? There was a balance in place. It was imperfect, but both races coexisted in a perverted peace. Now, because of Discovery and the red angel, they will likely coexist at war with each other.

What exactly was the point? Is the red angel or Starfleet choosing sides now. I wasn't aware that was within Starfleet's charter! Is Starfleet taking direction from the red angel now? They don't know it's intent, but they're willing to chuck General Order 1 out the window for it! This just doesn't make sense. BAD WRITING!!!

I didn't hate the episode, but there wasn't a lot to like either. I appreciated a Saru-centric episode. That's about as positive as I can get about this.

Voted No Opinion.

[Sul-Matuul]

I really liked that episode.

Great to see Saru get his story fleshed out and it felt like a proper Trek episode too; exploration, some meetings, a threat from an all-powerful "enemy", discovery of a truth, and finally leaving some hope for the future of the planet/species.
Didn't have to be all action and sneaking around S31 style either.

I honestly expected the outcome to be what was revealed, it was clear the Kelpians were being suppressed on purpose because someone considered them a threat. Though i must admit I thought it would either be the Ba'ul being other Kelpians in a more evolved state, or some sort of advanced AI created by the Kelpians 1000's of years ago suppressing them as prey (maybe harvesting them like in the Matrix for resources or something).

[WelshAvenger]

One disturbing trend is how lead characters seems to ignore Captain's orders. Burnham does it at practically every opportunity and now Saru. Don't get me wrong, I love the way that Saru has grown as a character over this series but come on, if the Captain of the vessel tells you to keep quiet and you throw a hissy fit in front of the entire bridge crew, escalating a situation that could have resulted in the ship being in danger, then decide to go rogue and beam down to 'fix' the situation without knowing what progress the Captain has made, I wouldn't object if he got a court martial and dumped back on his planet.

I realise that the writers may not know how (para)military organisations work, but you rarely get a pass for that kind of behaviour, even if it turns out you were right.