Is Discovery Finally Trek, Nu-Trek or Something Else?, Review 'Choose Your Pain'

It's time to rise to the challenge, Captain.

The universe demands it. Star Trek discovery

as it were and So we're returning to dark track

slash new track slash Kelvin whatever of the

the Star Trek universe and Yeah, we kind of get

into a little bit of different controversies

of stupid producers in the show and Claiming

that this miraculously works out The episode,

I'll get into that first, was probably the most

track episode we've gotten so far with playing

with the moral dilemma of is this a sentient

being and whatnot. You still can't claim it's

new ground, I mean, although what happened at

the end is a little disturbing. You'll have to

watch it to kind of figure that out, I'm not

gonna spoil it here. So, getting back to some

of the aspects of The timeline? I love how Akiva

Goldsmith kind of says that it's not the Kelvin

timeline and says that we are the original timeline

with the TV shows and the movies that fit in

it, even though comparing the Constitution -class

ships of Ten Years Later and the Discovery prototype,

which I understand the Discovery is a prototype

and everything on it is probably state -of -the

-art, however it works flawlessly. And there's

never a problem, it seems. And it appears that

everything deviates from canon, which would cause

an issue at the end of the 10 year period and

the hitting of TOS. And I think it's funny because

they use site to site transporting a lot. And

Anthony Rapp notes that Scotty could do it. And

he pointed out that the USS Discovery is a newer

ship than the Enterprise, which that's true,

but the Enterprise has been refit several times.

And you think that that would be a key component

that they used, and no, Scotty couldn't do it

in the original series because it wasn't a technology.

The Kelvin universe did, so you're wrong. So,

you know, there's also the element of the fact

that Lorca is kind of a dictatorish captain.

As he's going through his his command and we

get to kind of see a little bit of that in the

episode Where he's like my ship my rules when

the Admiral's telling him how to Captain his

ship when he's amongst admirals And you see him

giving himself the eye shots to kind of make

it so that his eyes are okay and The Admiral's

like oh for for God's sakes Lorca. Just get your

eyes fixed and he won't because there's a sentimental

reason behind that. You find that out while he's

in the brig of the Klingon ship with Harry Mudd

and Ash Tyler, the officer who's in there with

him. So yeah, we get another golden nugget, as

it were, from Goldsmith who explains that episode

nine is a switch. and why Discovery is a TVMA.

This guy is such a putz. I don't like him at

all when it comes to this show. Because he's,

not only is he just... He doesn't seem like he's

a very well versed in Star Trek, for one, and

that's why it bothers me. And I'm not saying

he has to be, but it kind of helps. And then

you get this writer's room. I don't understand

what... This writers room consists of but if

they're the New Age Trekkies from the the Kelvin

universe Then they've got an entirely different

exposure than the people that grew up with it

So that's where I'm seeing a lot of inconsistencies,

I believe But yeah, he's saying that that's episode

9 is where it's gonna split Because we're gonna

have January to November to wrap up the first

part of season one And then season two starts

in January obviously and then He he explains

it like CBS calling them two sweeps This is sort

of meta arc, which is the war with the Klingons

But within that meta arc there are too many meta

arcs or micro arcs So the first sweep of those

just naturally fell out in episode 9. So we moved

it no more or less mysterious sadly And then

he's he's all for the incorporating of horror

and other genres into track, which is why you

have the mature rating especially with the threatening

the circumstances with Burnham And he's talking

about how the trouble of triples piece of the

action corporate might maneuver and naked time

have different tonal differences Well, yeah episodes

are gonna have that emotional tonality difference

and be appropriate for the story itself, but

it was very horror and in the last couple episodes

we get a little bit of that in this one too despite

everything and then they're kind of pushing the

envelope with the graphical mangled bodies and

this episode they had swearing in it where Tilly

goes that was effing cool and then the engineer

goes it was effing cool And I'm like really you

had to force it So Now they're also confirming

that season 2 is looking more likely and Kurtzman

confirms big spoilers and more Obviously they're

gonna do The mirror universe which it looks like

they're already starting to set up in this next

episode With lieutenant Stamets You'll get the

idea what happens in the end of the episode.

And Jonathan Frakes is directing one episode

featuring the classic Trek element. But they're

going to have multiple episodes, which again

kind of leaves me to wonder... because Kirk was

supposedly the first one to encounter the mirror

universe and Enterprise was basically the episodes

took place in a different timeline so or different

they took place in the mirror universe it wasn't

anybody from the prime universe over there so

you were seeing it from the perspective of purely

the the mirror universe if this is to cross over

Kirk is the first documented case of going to

the mirror universe now if this crew manages

to go there and it's not told to Starfleet and

they keep it in their memory banks here on the

ship and then it's never kind of gone beyond

that. Not to mention they can call out the computer

and have it do commands, whereas Kirk had to

go up to a bulkhead and press something to get

the computer to access it. I don't know, there's

so many different inconsistencies technologically

and with Storyline, like the Mirror universe,

Kirk was the first, so. I understand Picard and

the rest didn't go that way, but still. And then

there's all kinds of other questions like, if

the Klingons have cloaking, why didn't the rest

of the fleet have them? Or why didn't they recover

the ship six months after, or before, you know,

right after the battle, pick it up? And who developed

it? Why is it the only vessel that has it? What's

the deal with the creature of the tardigrade?

What's the story behind that? And I don't know,

there's just... And the dash drive just reminds

me of pre -transwarp technology. Except it's

like instantaneous. It's like the power of a

queue It's it's kind of sick how they're using

this this dash drive So Yeah, so they send the

ship on a magic mushroom ride and we get to the

other side of the galaxy man, I Don't know this

the show is the writing Is constantly the writers

insist the show does not contradict the original

series, but The technology would be recognizable

even if they space aged it up for the series

there's I Don't know I'm so they're so They're

saying even within the original series in the

next generation we've seen ourselves go back

and update So digitally we went back in and made

the planets look better and the ships look better

and purely up just pure opportunity so fundamentally

it's subject to interpretation how far is too

far now if they went back and they fixed a lot

of the stuff in the original then you know and

made it make sense by editing the original stuff

then sure but it doesn't remain true to the technology

of the original series despite the fact it was

made in the 60s and this wasn't thought of it

doesn't fit They're using technology we have

now, which I get it. But why go back to the original

series? Why not go to the time period between

the Enterprise B and the C? Or go beyond the

Enterprise E? Or the F? Go in the mid 25th century.

Start with something we haven't seen. Because

even in Star Trek online, we don't really get

that. So, I don't know, there's a lot of different

aspects of that. And then they say the Star Trek

reboot films helped Discovery push the edge of

canon because it's not canon. They pushed it

because it's an alternate canon. Which Kurtzman

is responsible for, along with Abrams and Orsi.

He's, you know... I don't think it's the Kelvin

universe. I honestly don't, but I don't think

it's the original timeline either. It's like

their new rebooted universe of the new track

or something to that degree. And you can't push

the edge of canon. You can if you have good reason,

is what Kurtzman says, but there's not a good

reason for this. It should have been much later

that they came up with this. Like, I feel like

the B to C of Enterprise Timeline, I think that

that would have been the best timeline because

you would have had all this new technology getting

created and that's what ends up in the Enterprise

D. Because you didn't have a lot of it in the

original series films. And then all of a sudden

you get to the Enterprise D and you have all

this technology that's new. So I just, I kind

of wonder. what we would have gotten had they

moved it there. There's still a lot of fan rage

either way, no matter what way you're looking

at it. And then they were talking about making

the Tardigrade a Starfleet member, which whoop

-de -doo. But choose your pain, you get Harry

Mudd, and they kind of kept him kind of very

similar. They got Lieutenant Ash Tyler showing

up as a POW. and then waiting for someone like

Lorca to show up and then they work together

to get out. The tardigrade, well, I'm not gonna

spoil it, but it's interesting. This episode

was probably the most Trek, even though it was

darker. It was probably the more like Trek questioning

that we've gotten in some time. And... You get

more of a Cisco vibe from Lorca in this one,

obviously, because he's no way Kirk or Picard.

And then you get the precursor to Harry Mudd

and how he ends up in the original series, kind

of. Doesn't show him escape or anything, but...

Then the episode, the end of the episode was

just trippy. I think and I want to say that it's

it's like a mirror universe thing But Yeah, I

don't know I'm kind of sick of the the prequels

and alternate timelines I don't think that they

needed to do this This timeline, I would have

loved to seen him do it later on Or or heck even

do a different species like go from maybe the

Cardassians up or have Fleet Admiral Riker and

have Jonathan Franks reprise as Fleet Admiral.

Then you could have some TNG DS9 and Voyager

people guesting here or there based on the story.

New Delta Quadrant, maybe a ship that's in the

Delta Quadrant or in the Gamma Quadrant. I don't

know, I think that we could have had... a lot

of different avenues that we just weren't presented

with because even with going into the future

we have Star Trek Online which is canon so I

mean it's unless they're planning on like rebooting

the entire universe I just don't see how this

works because a lot of the ships we've seen so

far are more advanced than anything that was

in the original series so I don't know I think

CBS has just kind of lost it because they're

acting like the original series looks too old

-fashioned and Coming up with this new shiny

uniforms with the little Starfleet Delta on all

of their like little Patterns on the uniforms

because they've been doing that since the Kelvin

reboot And the main thing that people keep saying

is stop whining. They had to change it because

no one would want to watch it with the, you know,

the old fashioned look. And I kind of beg to

differ because you still get plenty of people

that are clamoring for things like Star Trek

Continues or Axanar or that old style uniform.

I just, I personally love the old look. more

than what we've received. And I know that it's

being picky. I realize that. And I'm not trying

to be like that. But I think that when we're

getting into this series, I think that there

was a lot more room they could have taken if

it was in a different timeline. However, that

being said... I do have to say that the show

is... I do think that the show is pretty good

for what it is. So in that regard, I think that

we're in good hands as far as it being a reboot

and just playing that time span. But this episode

was actually really good. It played with the

moral dilemma of the Tardigrade and its sentience

and... Burnham getting into it with Saru and

You had a little bit more of the cast melding

together instead of just kind of showing up which

I Realized I was gonna happen with being only

you know this many episodes in it's gonna take

a full season for them all to mesh if they survive

that long So I guess we'll We'll just kind of

see we'll just kind of see what happens, but

I definitely think that We get to see more of

the layer appeal back on Lorca and the why he

is so dark and why he is so pressing on having

to do things a certain way and why he's trying

to break the Klingons and It doesn't explain

his his experience personally with them or how

he ended up with all those memorabilia of Gorn

and Klingon stuff Some people have speculated

that he's from the mirror universe himself, and

that's why he's the way he is, but I sincerely

doubt it. Especially now after this episode.

But I would like to know more. They did name

drop with the computer of the most prolific captains.

They had Matthew Decker who is Commodore Decker

later on in the original series. They name dropped

Captain Robert April. the first captain of the

Enterprise, Jonathan Archer, the NX -01 Enterprise.

They drop Georgiou of the Shenzhou as one of

the most prolific captains of Starfleet. And

then they list Captain Christopher Pike, the

current captain of the USS Enterprise. It would

be nice to see Christopher Pike and the Starship

kind of make its debut. However, I have a feeling

it would look like the episode The Cage. With

all of the goofy stuff sticking out and not not

playing up to par with what we've got here. So

I Guess we'll just have to see what happens.

So I Think that about rounds it up for this episode.

I was gonna talk about The orville, but I the

show is really good. I do still support that

100 % But uh It's kind of they had an infiltration

episode this last episode and I think that it

was I think that it was Interesting how they

did it with the holographic technology and had

them kind of infiltrating and showing the repercussions

and it was very TNG style than that What they've

done this particular day on their mission and

how it diverted to a different thing with the

space vampires uh it um it kind of showed that

they'll be held to pay later and not necessarily

right now so while they have a good conscience

right now it's it may not necessarily play out

the way they'd planned later on because of the

seeds they've sown at this point so i think that

they've They're starting to hit their stride

on that show as well. And some of the jokes,

although repetitive, fit really well. Like the

joke of Avis, the krill god, and Malloy says,

isn't that a rental company on earth? There's

multiple jokes thrown in, but it's more of the

witty sarcasm when they're pitted in a tough

situation, so it's more fitting here than some

of the random bridge talk or some of the random

stuff that's popped up on the show. That rounds

about for this week, so until next time, engage

Warp Factor VIII to the USS Future Imperfect

on the non -Mirror Universe in the Prime Timeline.

Until then... Look at this place. Picard rubbing

elbows with Kirk, Romulence and Ferengi arguing

like old hens. I should have known better than

to trust a mortal. You're incapable of rising

above the mundane. Look here.