I’m thinking Spock because he’s Burnham’s adoptive brother, and it would be a way to bring some full-circle closure to the series. Those other characters have significance to Trek in general but not to Discovery or its characters.

I think the most natural choice would be Dr. Crusher, because she was on hand for the initial discovery, she specializes in bio-science, and she could have fit it into the timeline in between First Contact and Insurrection (or between Insurrection and Nemesis, perhaps). Alternatively, it could be a very old Doctor McCoy or (I suppose) Spock. Or Data.
Anyways, I’m going to assume that it was a pre-Lower Decks Dr. T’Ana until I’m inevitably proved otherwise.

Not dragging out a rift between Saru and T’Rina based on the conflict introduced here is very, very welcome.

Moll’s name is given the double-l spelling on-screen, just FYI to Keith and/or Reactor editors as well as other commenters — although I’d be delighted to see Gretchen Mol turn up on Trek sometime.

Which suggests that the personal transporters aren’t really built-in transporter devices in themselves, but simply remote controls for the transporter back on the ship. If they had all the necessary equipment built in, then they could just aim their signal onto a path clear of the rocks and teleport away that way.

Which is the interpretation I prefer, since it makes no sense that a transporter a) could function while it was itself in a dematerialized state and b) could contain the particles of an object larger than itself within its transport buffer.

The symbiont life expectancy was shorter than I’d expected, but it settles a question I had. If 800 years is near the maximum symbiont lifespan, that means that Dax, which was 300 years old in the 24th century, was probably already long gone by the time the Burn happened. Which is disappointing — I’d hoped we might get to see their current host.

I loved the Jellico-esque take on Rayner’s approach to meeting the crew. Although, much like TNG, I think the show is siding a little too much with Tilly. I had zero problems with Rayner’s ‘tell me something I don’t know in 20 words or less’ approach. The show is obviously trying to make him a problem that needs to be solved, given his persistent focus on finding Mol and L’ak, but I find his approach to duty and personnel refreshing. Not a buddy-buddy like Riker, Pike or Tilly, but not a reclusive Mirror Universe creep like Lorca either.

And of course, Discovery gets to do the possessed character trope. A superb performance from Cruz. One thing that surprised me on this A Story is the notion that the symbionts eventually die themselves. I thought for sure they could live on forever, hence people like Dax having almost a dozen lifetimes. Loved the test – and the twist that the beast was just a mother protecting her offspring really caught me off-guard. Nicely plotted, thanks in no small part to the very well written character of Jinall. A self-centered with a moon-size ego, but who never lost sight of the mission.

I could see the Grey/Adira breakup coming from a mile away. I’ve always felt there was a sense of unease between as a couple. For what it’s worth, I thought it was a well-written mature parting (assuming that’s what happened – as pointed out, the editing felt a little wonky).

Good point, but I guess that since this is the final season, they want to tie into the franchise’s legacy or something.

And maybe one of the quest destinations will be in Klingon space and we’ll finally find out what they’re like in the 32nd. If so, I hope they won’t just be the same old Klingons they were a millennium before, which would be a failure of imagination and historical plausibility. Cultures can change profoundly in that span of time.

Though it does make sense that 32nd-century tech would be much faster than we’re familiar with (DSC has already cited transwarp conduits [used by couriers] and quantum slipstream [if you can find the benemite]), especially given the relatively small slice of the galaxy this season is taking place in (all places that would have been accessible from Federation space in the 24th century).

(If anything, that’s my complaint; the 32nd-century setting has the whole galaxy to play with; why not revisit the Delta or Gamma Quadrants?)

I’m imagining Ethan Peck appearing in a flashback in old-age makeup…

My prediction: 3 people you’ve never heard of and then 1 legacy character.

One of my gripes on a lot of the movie/tv boards is watchers who seem to want all characters to be perfectly likeable people without the slightest conflict or disagreeable characteristic.

Personally, I would find people who are all “likeable” a bit boring.

“Why Not Both?” – An Indiana Jones RPG Game.

Last review, I commented how, when two characters talked together, the storyline stopped. Not here. Those pieces of conversation moved the plot along, moved development along, and maybe even wrapped up storylines. They were essential.

There were four distinct storylines going on here. When was the last time Trek did that for one episode? Impressive!

I had to go back to see how much the Vulcan Purists would impact T’Rina. They’re part of her coalition, so good for not dropping that.

I’m sure there are real-world occasions for business interviews such as the “Twenty-Word Limit”, but I loved it. It reminded me of Doctor Who’s “The Crimson Horror”, where Madame Vastra would only allow one-word answers from Clara to her questions, so, you do need to think concisely.

It’s Their perspective, not hers, btw

One of Roddenberry’s guidelines to Trek writers was to avoid treating deep space as a local neighborhood. He wanted to convey a sense that interstellar journeys were an actual trek, a long, challenging journey, rather than a casual commute. That’s why the show’s called that.

I think the issue is that it’s harder for modern writers than 1960s writers to grasp the idea of travel taking a long time. We’re used to being able to jet anywhere on the planet in a day or less, to being in instant communication with people on the other side of the planet. There’s little sense of inaccessibility anymore. Writers in TOS’s era had less ubiquitous air travel and slower international communications, and most of them had been alive before jet travel became common and before the first communications satellites were launched. Plus their TV landscape was carpeted with Westerns and historical dramas. So the idea of a frontier narrative, of stories taking place in distant, remote places that took considerable time and effort to reach and were isolated from civilization, came more easily to writers and audiences back then.

The Saurians in my (and others’) Trek novels have permanent genders, but the cycle you describe reminds me of the Chirrn in my Arachne duology (soon to be a trilogy), who cycle back and forth between male and female throughout their lives.

Though to be fair, the breakout characters on TNG were Data, Worf, and Picard. Data had a flaw built into his character (albeit an endearing one) that he consistently tried to overcome. Worf was an incredibly flawed person by TNG standards (horrible father for one thing). And Picard, though he’s presented as this paragon by some, had clear flaws from the get go. He was socially awkward in informal situations, particularly with kids, for example.

It’s much harder to point to “flaws” with the other characters (other than Geordi who’s a creepster with women) but fewer people find them as compelling as characters, and to a large extent they were defined by their roles on the ship/in the show rather than anything intrinsic to their personalities.

Re: Saurians, I feel like you could come up with a functional retcon there, Christopher! Just because they reproduce asexually doesn’t preclude some manner of dimorphism analogous to “male” and “female.” This could be related to specialized roles as part of the communal rearing of their young. Or perhaps mature Saurians undergo biological changes relative to their procreation cycle, presenting as female during estrous phases and male during anestrous phases.

But back to Northern Exposure, it’s chock full of characters with all sorts of foibles and weirdness, and I’m loving it. Why else watch television if not for something unusual, flawed, and human? I mean, if we can’t explore, to quote Chris Stevens, “that little bit of Darth Vader inside us,” then what’s the point in storytelling? Is it merely to have some easy comfort in an environment where nothing can harm us, insult us, or challenge us? And I mean really challenge us; not some plotty plot stuff about finding a relic that plugs in a flashy thing from TOS and fans slobber all over themselves with delight at something they recognize. I’m talking about something real. Whenever Star Trek does that, it’s back on trek, er, track.

Sorry, I don’t agree with that at all. TNG succeeded despite the bland, wall-to-wall carpeted environment those poor characters were dropped into from the start. It was mainly due to Patrick Stewart’s charisma and Brent Spiner’s quirkiness that it carried on. But then they weren’t all quite perfect, either. Once in a while a flaw was able to slip through and they briefly became interesting. Worf murders his rival in revenge; Barclay is addicted to the holodeck; Geordi… well, don’t get me started with that guy — but my God, these people are human after all!

Thankfully, Ira Steven Behr was taking notes on how to make a Trek with characters who were more flawed and, yes, interesting.

Yeah, and although I love many things about modern Trek, I hate it that they act as if the galaxy takes 12 hours to traverse. Space is freaking HUGE, and I wish there were more recognition of that.

Oh, well. They need to sell the show to subscribers, so the story has to move at a brisk pace for most people. Not everyone will do as I do and read all thousand pages of The Hands of the Emperor and find it riveting even though almost everything that happens is happening INSIDE the characters. :-)

Speaking as a professional fiction writer of 30 years’ standing (though I mostly do it sitting down), flaws are not “needed” to make a character interesting, nor are good friendly people acting appropriately all the time a bad way to create characters. Probably the best evidence for the latter is the TNG crew, who are, y’know, kinda popular and enduring….

—Keith R.A. DeCandido

I think it was more that he did it by hand each time, so there were subtle variations that there wouldn’t have been if he’d used a stencil.

The dialogue established that they were awaiting diplomatic clearance to enter Tzenkethi space.

Right, I’ve been rewatching Northern Exposure on Prime lately (still a great show by the way), and I’ve noticed while looking on fan boards that there’s a trend in criticizing the flaws in characters without, apparently, realizing those flaws are needed to make those characters interesting. Or just to tell a story.

I mean, I don’t know what these fans want. Good, friendly people acting appropriately at all times? Well, that’s a first-class ticket to Snoozeville.

My least favorite was our new XO who spent the entire episode in the science lab trying to figure out who number two works for (that’s one works in a few different ways) while Tilly has the job of calling him on his bullshit. While I can appreciate the 31st century isn’t the 23rd or 24th I can’t imagine he got to be a command officer with that little people skills. I think there was a better way of getting the point across that he’s a bit emotionally burnt out- maybe have Stammets be super excited and him trying but just not quite connecting? Not sure but that part didn’t work for me.

Adria and Grey wasn’t bad it just wasn’t good. We got a Jet Reno appearance (and a nice nod to Wil Wheaton who refers to Gates McFadden as space mom now being used on Stammets as”space dad”) but the subplot just seemed unfinished and unnecessary. Slightly better was our newly engaged couple who had a mini fight. It didn’t do much for me but I appreciate anything with those two acting together. I think if we somehow could’ve made the random debate going on be about something? I mean we’re talking about some random topic from planets we don’t know who they are or why they need star bases and patrols because we’ve never seen random breen attacks. This was tell not show.

Lastly though was our A plot which featured fantastic character work by Wilson Cruz and a traditional (but appreciated) trek ending where we make friends out of enemies. It had a nice mix of drama and comedy (do we go on three or say three and then go?) and seemed like a challenge without being over the top. My only nitpick is do the guardians not know who each other are? Our bad guy put on a robe and just stood there. No other guardians were there going “who’s the new guy?” I think if someone I’ve never seen before shows up at my job (in the most spiritually significant place on the planet!) I’d probably ask WTF. But somehow our bad guy snuck past the starship, past planetary defenses, past whatever security is at the cave and into the random voice over by Gray so she could bug Adira who there was zero possible way she could know existed let alone be there. It reminds me of TNG descent part one where a series of out of character events have to happen in exactly the right sequence for the plot to work.

I know we don’t score these things anymore. I’d give this a 7 or so if we did- it’s a nice adventure story with some great character work but too many unnecessary things and one big WTF plot contrivance.

I was thinking maybe Adira stayed behind on Trill while the ship moved on. But Burnham did say “I’ll see you back on the ship” or words to that effect, which suggests she expected Adira back aboard before they left. So I dunno.

The modern shows do have a tendency to assume interstellar journeys are a matter of hours, though. I mean, Discovery‘s ability to reach Trill instantaneously didn’t prevent Moll and L’ak from backtracking from Betazed (presumably) to the burial-ground world while the Trill mission was underway.

Thanks for letting me know that the canyon scenes didn’t look terribly dark to others! I’ll look into adjusting my setup.

Given how big of a hurry they’re in to find the Progenitor tech before the scavengers do, I think it would be odd for them to just hang out at Trill. It’s a race, after all.