Is Discovery Becoming TOS-Like?, The Orville & 'Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum'

Hello and welcome to future imperfect I'm your

host Admiral Phillips and in this episode of

the podcast I'll be covering a couple of things

on Star Trek discovery as a whole some of the

awesomeness that is the orville and Star Trek

discoveries episode See this pack them para Bellum

So yeah So with Star Trek Discovery, it's almost

down to the last episode of the mid -season finale

anyway next week and The interesting thing is

is I think we're gonna see the Klingon thing

kind of wrap up in this one to some degree I

mean it'll it'll wrap up by the end of the season

But this particular part of the arc will probably

wrap up starting the next episode And I think

that the second half, we're gonna be toying with

a lot of the mirror universe. And I think that

something drastic may happen, and especially

with some things that happen in the episode,

which I'll get into in the second part of the

show here. So first of all getting to a little

bit of the Trek news regarding discovery Rand

Wilson wants a Harry Mudd spinoff which funny

enough There were talks about it back in the

60s and early 70s of having a Harry Mudd spinoff

Unfortunately, it didn't get green lit and Gene

had to Gene Roddenberry had to pass that along

to the then actor of Harry Mudd That you know,

sorry you didn't get your show and he's like

wait what show? So I could see them possibly

doing a spinoff nowadays with something like

this Especially when there's there's rumors of

Khan getting his own little prequel series and

you know Harry mud having his own prequel series

so I mean it wouldn't surprise me but generally

a Show that offshoots from another show doesn't

normally work out the exception of the CW or

TNG to DS9 to Voyager because it's Star Trek.

Not saying that Harry Mudd wouldn't be, but I

don't see that holding an entire show. Maybe

a miniseries, but not an entire show. Just because

he's not one of the main go -tos. Yes, he's a

villain. but he's not really that strong of a

contender to hold his own show. And for that

matter, I don't really see Khan doing much there

either, but that's just personal opinion. But

I don't think we're gonna see much of Harry Mudd

for the remainder of season one. I think he's

gonna be done for season one. But only time can

tell. Maybe we'll see him in the mirror universe.

But this iteration, this particular instance

based on last episode, I don't think we'll be

seeing him again anytime soon. Especially with

what goes on in TOS. So I just don't see us hitting

that again. And then going over to the fact that

everybody kind of lost their mind over the whole

holodeck thing that that in and of itself was

a Kind of established that Starfleet ships did

not have holodecks on board until the late 24th

century Though the crew of the NX01 encountered

holodeck technology on a Zerillian ship in the

22nd century We didn't see really the holodeck

in the original series based on the fact that

they didn't have the budget to do something like

that. Although we did get kind of something in

that degree with the Telosians in the cage with

Captain Christopher Pike when he was dealing

with them on Talos 4. So there could be that

instance. It would be kind of interesting to

see them tackle the Telosians in this show too

just to give a little bit more on that alien

race because they were never seen from Again,

other than in the cage and the menagerie. We

never saw them again And then and then we have

the the fact that the animated series because

of the fact it's animated they were able to do

the holodeck Or rec rec center. It wasn't really

a holodeck per se there was still within reason

Not really like the the TNG holodeck per se but

Just I do I find it interesting how interwoven

some of the stuff happens to be and then some

of it how? off the left field it is So we'll

just kind of have to wait and see what happens

as the series progresses Throughout it I did

read an interesting article from screen rant

of how Star Trek discovery needs to be set in

the Kelvin timeline and I actually agree with

this statement and they say that The show itself

has been divisive with some fans reveling in

the story of a disgraced Starfleet officer, which

The premise in the show itself isn't bad. It's

the fact that it's trying to foothold and fit

itself into this part of canon With drastically

changing some elements like yeah the holodeck

thing I'll get past the Klingons is still by

far in the spore drive are by far the two biggest

elephants in the room that I'm waiting to find

out why they are the way they are. Especially

when I've seen memes floating around of Janeway

saying, you know, oh, sport technology? You know,

especially when they can get across an entire

quadrant within seconds. It kind of makes you

wonder if Janeway could have been home within,

you know, a week due to the sport drive. especially

with it being a science vessel, you would think

for something that's long -term exploration,

they would have something unfiled that, you know,

this black ops thing that was invented back in

the 23rd century, you would think that they would

have that capability instead of having to be

stranded in space for seven years. Or the instance

of... It kind of makes trans warped technology

obsolete Just in that that aspect and so I'm

wondering how they're going to explain that situation

Throughout it but and I get that the the painted

plywood and matte paintings of space, you know

past reasonably 50 years ago for Star Trek in

that you know, by no means should they have to

constrain to that type of standard, despite the

fact that its biggest problem, and that's what

this article says, is showcasing technology even

more advanced than shows like The Next Generation

and Deep Space Nine, which chronologically take

place over a century after Discovery. And then,

you know, it says the aesthetics aren't issued...

aren't limited to Starfleet, however, with the

Klingons and their ships and their entirely physical

overhaul, making them all different. And then

that's one of the biggest issues aside from it.

But they're saying that with the way that they've

had the lens flares, the shiny bridges, all of

the designs, all of that, that it realistically

could fit in the Kelvin, other than the fact

that Klingons don't look the same, but they look

close enough. I still go to the belief that they

should have just done an entire reboot and started

over. I'm not saying that I wouldn't like the

Prime and original universe to be Rediscovered

and repicked up and and continued in the 25th

century mid 25th century or something like that

or 26th century because you know obviously our

technology is is advanced in about 60 % of the

cases other than the starships and the warp travel

and all that and holodeck technology where or

or even replicators were I mean we're close on

some of the stuff but we're not we're still by

far a long ways away that it realistically could

be pushed that far and see what happens but with

this this point in time I believe Trek should

have just done a complete reboot on television

and use the Kelvin universe and had the Kelvin

universe being the kind of the primer for this

universe and showcasing why they have all this

advanced technology and This modern look to them

and then not even having to Have the original

series crew in it And they still could have done

this and referenced a lot of it because you would

still get the lore from the original Star Trek

that that would still take place however, you

wouldn't have to be constrained by the baggage

of 50 years of Star Trek And I think that that

would have been the more wise route to go. Additionally

so, that if they wanted to have a cameo by anyone

from the Kelvin universe, it would have been

much easier to have them portray their characters

in the more modernistic look than having to CGI

one of the original actors back in as their counterparts.

I just think that it would have been more tasteful

to do it that way. That's not... Saying that

I didn't want to see like a you know Early 24th

century show or a mid 25th century show Or even

you know some other stuff, but I don't think

doing a prequel was the wisest way to go with

the prime universe but they're also saying in

this article that the litany of confounding decisions

have negated whatsoever whatever nostalgic value

the the promise had of being in the prime timeline

and they're even agreeing that Discovery as well

as anything Star Trek going forward should exist

in the Kelvin timeline just so that we're not

stepping on the toes of what came before we can

have the the ability to create new and that would

have resolved several issues almost immediately

from the aesthetic viewpoint to the Leap to see

how discoveries version of Starfleet could credibly

exist a few years before the events of the Abrams

Star Trek film Since a lot of it's borrowed from

that anyhow But You know and then they said that

there's a more practical reason to set discovery

in the Kelvin timeline and that's because the

average viewer is more familiar with it at this

point than the prime timeline that took place

over 10 movies and 700 episodes. Majority of

it hasn't aged well, which is true. The stories

are still good. And I think that Discovery is

finally starting to hit its foothold with getting

on board with more Trek -centric storyline and

storytelling. All the while still kind of being

stuck in its little bubble But but I'll get to

that in a minute As we kind of go through Then

there's this theory that's been floating around

which I don't believe it may it's true, but it

could be That stamets could be turning into the

traveler From TNG from where no one has gone

before. And for those that don't know what the

Traveler is, he's a being who described himself

as the Traveler whose real name is claimed was

unpronounceable by humans, was a humanoid from

a mysterious species encountered by Starfleet

in the 2360s, variously reported to be from the

Tau Alpha C and Tau, stating he himself claimed

to be on a journey to experience our reality.

That while he was not from another time he might

be according to Starfleet's understanding of

time I don't think he's that just based on the

description alone and the fact that Just the

physical appearance although not saying that

people can't Transform themselves or change based

on attributes But it says that He could phase

out of time and dimension and move between planets

and starships. I kind of feel that it could be,

to some degree, the same type of thing. I think

they're toying with, and I think this is where

Discovery is pulling from, is that... During

these travels, the Traveler became an assistant

to Starfleet propulsion expert Kosinski, who

claimed to have discovered a revolutionary new

method of warp drive. Although some of his theories

did have merit, Kosinski's formulas turned out

to be bogus as Wesley Crusher discovered that

it was actually Kosinski's assistant, the Traveler,

who was the driving force between the propulsion

system. And it says that... You know, when the

Enterprise -D was catapulted millions of light

years to the M33 galaxy, and making its way back

to the Milky Way, instead traveled to the end

of the universe, so... Yeah, they... I could

see... I could see how the traveler could be

Stamets, if they're going that route, or could

be somebody that's picked up by a traveler, and

kind of trained. so I I could kind of see that

you know like where they're doing the the wart

bubble type thing and kind of teleportation with

the ships and But I don't think it's going to

be that I think that They're gonna continue playing

on this route of the spores and all that that

they've been playing with since but I do like

the theory that it's it's connected to TNG in

that method and it wouldn't give Stamets some

more grounding in the future, if not being the

only survivor in the future to some degree. Anyways,

I do like that concept alone. I do think that

it was funny that the holodeck thing had people

freaking out though. I'm going to move over to

the Orville briefly before going to a quick break

and coming back with the Star Trek discovery

episode review. The Orderville, I believe, has

been kind of picking up pace and doing really

well, tackling a lot of the Voyager slash TNG

type storyline telling that we're getting so

far. We've had the social media commentary last

week where John is humping the statue and being

voted on Twitter style for life or death. Essentially

life or death. I know that it's not that and

then this week we had the medical officer going

on vacation with her two boys and had the Android

with them and There was a gravity bubble in the

middle of space which caused him to fly off course

and crash on a planet and she was ejected in

one section of the planet and the Android and

the two her two children were stuck with him

and so You get this nice bonding of compassion

and fellowship between crewmates as the the Android

is learning how to cope with human behavior and

children and and having to find the mother and

the mother's having to try and find escape and

Just everything overall it felt very TNG like

and then even how they wrapped it up So it's

been kind of interesting seeing a lot of centric

episodes on people that aren't necessarily Seth

MacFarlane And I like the Seth MacFarlane centric

episodes too, but I think that where the show

shines is that everybody's getting equal footing

on storylines and Like this is the second episode

where Seth MacFarlane's character hasn't really

been a central role. He's been more of a tag

-along character Kind of like in Discovery So

I think there's a lot of parallels between them

that make them both really well designed and

written shows But what do you guys think on it?

So I'm gonna take a quick break come back on

the other side with the review on Sea Vis Pacem

Parabellum And we're back so in this episode

You kind of end up with the discovery teleporting

in to save a Federation Starship, the USS Gagarin,

from a Klingon attack, which is being fought

by six Klingon ships that are all cloaking, and

they call it invisibility screens, which I have

a theory on this, is that the entire fleet doesn't

get these, but they are nabbered by the technology,

and eventually all of them are destroyed. And

I think that in this episode, and mind you, this

part is going to be spoilers, This entire section

of the review. So if you don't want to if you

haven't seen the episode yet come back and listen

later but the There's a Klingon later. That's

talking to Admiral The Admiral that was captured

see I You can almost kind of tell how much I

care about some of these characters or remember

them based on if I can remember their names Or

or the actors Admiral Cornwell whose Against

Laurel who hates General core or whatever his

name is and They come to this understanding and

she wants to defect from from core and I have

a feeling that she will defect and I have a feeling

that she will Give them the access to take down

the invisibility screens, which is using some

kind of a different system than with the cloaking

technology that Romulans use, because we know

that later on the Klingons don't have cloaking,

and they get more sophisticated with the TOS

than they are here, and maybe this is why they

aren't religious zealots later on, is because

of this show. I'm trying to rationalize it and

make it fit the best I can. And I'm thinking

that maybe because the Klingons are religious

zealots in this show that that's why future Klingons

are not. And they just hold on to the Kalis memory

and that's about it. And their honor and warrior

style battle. And we know that the Klingons steal

the technology for cloaking from the Romulans

who have perfected it. So just like the Federation

eventually does the same thing in... Pegasus

and then they do it again for the defiant so

We have we have this the situation where the

discovery can't stop the destruction of the ship

and manages to warp out and Stamets comes out

of the the booth and is kind of Disoriented and

and says what are you doing down here? Captain

Tilly, which I think is foreshadowing that she's

eventually going to be a captain Obviously since

they've kind of hinted at it throughout the season

of her training and whatnot And then he snaps

back and he's that persnickety like hard -nosed

Engineer we we met in the third episode and I

was like, oh great. The dick is back And then

he's kind of he he's kind of like in these different

phases whenever he comes out It's having like

a psychological toll on his mind And he kind

of put Tilly in this position that, you know,

if you report me and the doctor doesn't turn

me in, then he loses his job and his career.

And if he does turn me in, I'm going to be a

poking, prodding subject at Starfleet. So they're

kind of like stuck in this little bubble here.

And I'm under the belief that eventually everyone

on this ship will be dead. By the end of the

series because there's no reason for any of them

to survive or anywhere that they could go So

I'm under that assumption that eventually they'll

all be gone unless they make Tilly number one

on The the Enterprise under Captain Pike eventually,

but that's that's neither here nor there. So

the Gagarin is lost Lorca says, you know now

is not the time to grieve and then we cut to

a Burnham and the landing party and Pavo with

Saru and Lieutenant Tyler and Saru's just the

whole episode kind of like while they're on the

planet kind of screams TOS and so does the rest

of the show for that matter and There's a lot

of cutting back and forth and a lot of different

things going on between the Klingons, the landing

party, and Lorca's situation of kind of complaining

to the Admiral that, hey, we're not, we can't

be the only ship that's out here helping. So

we kind of run into the fact that, we're seeing

a lot of dissension between different people

and a lot of fights going on, and Saru's kind

of taken over and blinded by this alien race

of balance, which it would be interesting if

they are basically like the Organians. Before

they showed off like a physical form like because

they met this crew this is why they have like

the physical form in the episode with the Klingons

and the Federation later on with Kirk and I Don't

know if it was Koloff or core I'm not sure but

anyways It would be interesting if that's why

we end up with that situation because of this

but This race wants to basically help unite the

Federation and in the Klingons and stop their

struggle. As their way of helping, they send

a communication to the planet, which Lorca is

like, why did you do this? And Burnham's like,

we didn't. It's the aliens in an attempt to create

peace to help us out. And so the next episode

for the midseason, we will end up with possibly

a battle between the two more than likely because

it's going to be the sarcophagus ship that shows

up initially and So we'll kind of we'll kind

of see what happens on the next episode and how

it how it plays out Would be interesting to find

out where the albino Klingon is at this point

Because they said that he'll lose everything

and then he's gone and then Ash Tyler shows up

like pretty much right after So I'm kind of wondering

where they're going with this between the two

characters. I have this inkling of a feeling

that they're trying to pull a con from Into Darkness

on us here with Ash Tyler and the Klingon. But

we'll see. It's going to be interesting to find

out what's really going on between everybody,

but I'm still more intrigued by Stamets than

the majority of the people on here right now.

They kind of noticed that, for all intents and

purposes, this Klingon war arc is coming to a

close, and it's getting more TOS -like. I'm thinking

that it's going to get cleared up. either in

this next episode or we'll see it cleared up

by the end of the season but there'll be some

kind of a repercussion and I think that they're

going to use some kind of a genetic modification

technology on them and wipe out majority of them

as we know it so It's it's it's gonna be an interesting

ride to say the least I'm still giving the show

a shot I'm not hating on it as much as I was

at the initial impact of it It's it's not a terrible

show as long as you don't watch it with the the

continuity Issues intact from the prime timeline.

It's easy to watch. That's that's what I'm trying

to portray here is that it's not bad if you just

watch it with that mentality is that it's just

Star Trek, just watch it, it's modern Trek. But

don't try and fit it in the original timeline

because it doesn't work at this point. Now it

may by the end of the season. I still wish that

they would explain why the Klingons look the

way they do. Like basically every Klingon looks

exactly the same and none of them resemble anything

from Enterprise, anything TOS, TNG, nothing.

They all look totally, totally different. And

if you've got 24 clans of Klingons, and they

all look exactly the same, and they don't look

like anything that's before or after, there's

a problem, and so they need to address it. And

I think that I could get past that if that was

the point. And I'm fine with if they're gonna

explain that Discovery is this... They've already

said it's a prototype ship, and that it's one

of a kind now at this point with the USS Glengun,

but... I would like to see how... the Constitution

classes look at this point when they show up.

That's gonna be the pretty telling matter of

this. One thing I forgot to mention is that Robert

Picardo is gonna be guest starring on the Orville

soon, which I think is kind of awesome, because

we already have a DS9 alumni from season seven

of DS9 playing the doctor, but I'm looking forward

to seeing what they do with those. What do you

guys think on the newest episodes? What do you

want to see coming up? What have you been enjoying

about Star Trek Discovery or the Oroville? What

are some of your problems with either one? I'd

love to have a conversation. You can give me

feedback at Future Warped, which is the Future

Imperfect Twitter feed I renamed the future Spock

feed if you remember that from a long time ago

with myself and Mike the Birdman Dodd and TFG

when Mike and Mike powers we we created it as

a joke when They had a guest starring on the

Big Bang Theory and being that It was distasteful

after Leonard Nimoy passed. I didn't use that

Twitter account anymore. And so I've renamed

it to Future warped and so that's where all of

the content from this show will Possibly show

up, but you can also go to altered geek at altered

geek and just kind of let me know there on Twitter

so Until next time I have been Admiral Phillips

live long and prosper