That was surely one of the Star Trekkiest episodes that ever Star Trekked. I could easily picture this being a TNG story. Hard hitting, tough, highly watchable. Pike's hair continues to impress.
This show seems to be a giant fuck you to fundamentalists religion, and I whole heartedly approve.
Did his hair get bigger?
Is it me or is his hair looking ridiculous!
Still enjoying the magical pompadour that is Pike's hair! I am also really enjoying the actress who plays Uhura. She's cute, funny, and smart. They chose well with this one! I hope the writers keep the same vibe going with her and don't mess up her character with some shipboard romance or something.
This was predictable episode though. The moment I saw a child being prepped for ascension, I knew it'd end up being a "Snow Piercer" kids are fuel/batteries/computers type ending. I wonder if we will ever get an episode in ANY Trek where we humans learn to accept and not be upset about how other SPECIES do things that run counter to our human ways. I mean, do we really expect other civilizations out there to have the same thought processes, morals, etc. as we do? This is a rant I have for all sci-fi I guess.
They really should have credited Ursula K. LeGuin as an author if they were going to do thoroughly borrow her most famous short story.
Seriously? The communications officer is put to fire phasers in a live situation? I know Hollywood writers are generally mentally challenged but still...
Anyway that was still a decent episode. So far this show is soooo much better than Discovery not to mention that abomination Picard.
This was my first episode of this show that I happened to catch. Some good dialog and acting, some not so much, and some of both that was unnecessarily difficult to understand due to a combination of speed-slurring accents, mumble acting, and very wide dynamic range audio mastering. It really wants to be a film, despite not quite knowing what to do with its own cameras or aspect ratio. I like the style it's going for, but it's not quite there. Really, quite uneven in ways that it doesn't have an excuse to be. Still, it's definitely better than anything "Trek" branded that we've had in over a decade.
This plot was executed better in Stargate SG-1. There, it didn't seem like an arbitrary hand wave to set up the moral conflict. Here, they explain nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's all a straight copy of the short story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, which, incidentally, was read by DS9's Nana Visitor in one short story audiobook release. In SG-1, they gave a reason why it was necessary, whereas here it's just "we don't know, ~the ancestors~ made it". They also don't show (the writers didn't bother to come up with the inside of the mystery box) how or why "the machine" needed a child's brain, or—more importantly—what it even fucking does, and how that enables their quantum gobbledygook tech, which I am now convinced was nothing but headline-gleaning buzzword injection. That's almost JJ Abrams tier writing. Either they knew what they were ripping off, and didn't want to come up with the exact same explanation, or they read the short story and didn't bother coming up with one because they're incompetent writers.
The surrounding drama was nice, though, and it was cute seeing Lindy Booth, unexpectedly, in Star Trek.
Also, no, I can't let it go. She stupidly gets too close to the insurgent traitor, then gets grabbed and nearly gets her throat slit, but then the middle-aged dignitary chick maneuvers her way and out-Judos her palace guard. Looks like, not only is she a bad judge of loyalty, but also didn't bother training any of them how to fight (remember, he did just win a fight with every other guard along the way). This is heavy handed and perfunctory writing, and it makes it difficult to take it seriously, or to feel any real sense of tension when the writers just do whatever they want, anyway, and you can see their will in every action. It's the same shit every time, now. Everyone is an action hero, because other skills don't matter and make the character worthless and weak if they can't wrestle a trained guard or win a contest of strength against the bad guy. Thank, MCU.
The bad: Pike is WAY too slow to figure things out.
The nit-picky: Pike really needs to stop with the casual use of first names of his bridge crew while on duty.
The good: LINDY!!!
Well, it was clear where this would go... still, really poignant episode, typical Star Trek. And the helpless anger in the end, knowing that this child is suffering beyond help, and that another one is being groomed to take over in the future, over and over again - well done.
Granted, children suffer now and in the ST-age... but voluntarily send a child to a life of suffering just that the others may live in luxury, no, there's no moral high ground to be found here. But a couple of questions remain, such as those ancestors who built the machine, did they leave plans behind? And why not relocate the whole population if the planet seems inhabitable without that machine? Was the former colony meant as relocation world once upon a time?
I guess, Kirk, especially Trek-09-Kirk, would have blown that machine up. Can't say I'd have minded much... even though I actually prefer the uncomfortable TNG-like non-resolution we got here.
An awesome episode. Funny to see Lindy Booth (Claudia from Relic Hunter) guest starring.
This episode is barely watchable
Shout by alexnaderBlockedParent2022-06-10T04:50:47Z
This episode felt very messy.
You finish it understanding the story arc, but the way the info was packed together is really jumbled. They keep mentioning that other planet, but we never actually see or learn much about it. Every 10 minutes or so there's yet another "Oh, BTW, I too was actually a traitor all along reveal . The whole throne scene was over and done in about a split second, then it's "stare out the window and fade to black" before you know it ...
Dunno, I feel like it could have been presented way better.