Star Trek: Discovery Season 5
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
501: Red Directive 2024 April 4
(First watched 2024-04-04) My interest was piqued when they mentioned an 800-year-old Romulan vessel. From the point of view of Discovery, that would put it very near the time frame of the earlier Trek shows. And sure enough, it seems the season is expanding on well-known TNG episode The Chase. They even made the star long-dead Romulan in this episode a continuation of a background extra from that episode. And Picard gets yet another mention in Discovery, it's at this point almost funny. But The Chase was an episode with a pretty Big revelation, and it's something novels and games have done more with. I think it's not a bad idea for a shorter season of Discovery.
The villain Moll sure seems to have similar hair and makeup style to Shin Hati from Star Wars: Ahsoka.
Star Trek movies sometimes try to have ground vehicle action scenes and I don't think it's been pulled off in a great way. Mostly feels superfluous? And in this era of big budget TV a show like Discovery can try to do it too. But I think this time it was actually pulled off decently? I think mixing up a motorcycle chase with the more Trek-traditional task of trying to protect a town from an avalanche gave it an extra layer of importance and credibility.
So elsewhere in the universe... spore drive development has been cancelled? I don't understand. They mention another new drive type that is continuing on, but unless spore drive research was a MASSIVE resource suck, why not let it continue? And considering Stamets was basically doing said research on his own on one ship for a few years, why would that be the case? It bit the Federation in the ass the last time they didn't have a spore drive to fall back on, and even in this episode we see how they keep running to Discovery in crises because it's the One Ship able to get to important destinations quick enough. So having a few more spore drives around seems like it would be useful?
I continue to enjoy the Saru/T'Rina relationship, and how strongly it comes across even though they both act so reservedly.
Fred! What a surprise, to see another Soong-type who had apparently been operating since the ~26th century? He had a very classic Data style rather than a look that would better blend in with biological people.
502: Under the Twin Moons 2024 April 4
(First watched 2024-04-04) I don't think they were meant to be directly connected, but the defense drones also reminded me of early TNG, The Arsenal of Freedom.
Major cast seem to come and go with some frequency in Discovery. I wonder how much more we'll see of Saru this season, and whether Rayner would've carried on to further seasons. Well, let's see if he survives this one first. First officer of Discovery is sure covered by a wide range. Sometimes it's an ensign, sometimes it's a captain.
The clues on this chase seem a bit simplistic. Or rather, people seem to jump to possible conclusions that turn out to be correct very easily. Like this latest one about twin souls or whatever that they're sure is about Trill, I was thinking Bynar. And who knows how many other possible places in the galaxy a 24th century Romulan might've been thinking of.
(First watched 2024-04-11) A problem I have with this whole treasure hunt thing. It seems kind of... one shot only? Like, here they deduced that they needed to go to Trill, found out who to look up, contacted that person, and after proving themselves were given part of a puzzle. But say Discovery screws up the rest of the season. Can anybody else try again? Say somebody in 300 years follows the clues to Trill, and even if the symbiont left a message behind... sorry, already gave the puzzle piece away to Discovery, don't have any spares!
Rayner still... trying to do his own thing, following the letter of the command to get to know the rest of the crew without getting the intent of letting the rest of the crew know him.
So Discovery is an OK show, but I just want to watch Star Trek: Saru.
504: Face the Strange 2024 April 18
(First watched 2024-04-18) What a fun and crazy episode. Like a less targeted All Good Things.... A few people jumping through time having to solve a problem, giving an excuse to revisit past situations, uniforms, and characters as well as giving a warning about the possible future. We did see the return of some old characters, but not the BIG BIG guys. Lorca I wasn't too surprised to see not brought back for something so small, but considering he's still active on another show I thought there was a good chance for Pike or Spock to be seen. Burnham vs Burnham, what a fun fight. And of course through all of it Rayner learns the value of cooperation and yada yada yada.
Production wonder: Saru was in this episode, but only as a collapsed body seen briefly. I wonder how they pulled that off. I mean, making Doug Jones lay on the floor, easy. But I kind of hate to think of them making him (or a stand-in) go through the big makeup process just for a few seconds of laying on the floor. I wonder if they could get the footage necessary for that on a shooting day for another episode (even with the uniform change), or just use a prop, or... something.
(First watched 2024-04-25) OK, so we didn't get any Strange New Worlds cast members last week, but we got some Strange New Worlds sets this week. The mirror Enterprise from some point after Mirror, Mirror gets taken by people somehow trying to escape to this universe, and apparently made it. Worth noting this does show that the mirror Enterprise at least did not revert to TOS sets in later years. The ship seemed to have a decent amount of power left if it's been sitting in that area for nearly a millennium.
So L'ak is a Breen, and we see what Breen look like in real canon... sort of. I still don't quite understand what's going on with them looking translucent when they first take off the helmet? Can they take different forms? Do they... "go opaque" when a helmet isn't squeezing on them?
Moll and L'ak are on the loose again, but given they're in something centuries old it strains credulity that they'll get very far. Tune in next week to see that they've gotten very far.
509: Lagrange Point 2024 MMMM D