Ryujin
Legend
Ah, OK. Got it. It was pretty heavily implied that they think she's human because, otherwise, as an Illyrian she's not admissible for Federation Service (the genetic augmentation thing).
Star Trek Strange New Worlds, what did you think?
Thomas Shey
Legend
As I noted (though its not clear to me how canonically this is treated) that most of the humanoid species you see have a sort of indirect (and in some cases not so much) biological connection being the consequence of a Precursor race's intervention.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
And I think the sacrifice scene worked better than it would have with those versions of the characters if they’d tried to play it the same as the first time around.
Ondath
Hero
I really, really missed shows that can take themselves a bit less seriously every now and then. The hijinks! The "Una and La'an having fun" B plot! Captain Pike managing to bring happy tears to my eyes by unexpectedly ending the light-hearted episode with a speech on radical empathy!
I'm just loving this show through and through, I really hope they don't jinx it!
I'm just loving this show through and through, I really hope they don't jinx it!
Episode 6.
I feel like 90% of this episode was really good. Uhuru and L'ann having hijicks, Pike getting the lady, some interesting mystery, etc.
However, it didn't really stick the landing to me. Pike so far has been portrayed as a pretty open minded person, who has empathy for other cultures (heck we literally saw that in the last episode, a focus on empathy). But frankly his reaction to the ascension was too harsh to me. I get it, its a child, and the act is repulsive...but he didn't even try to understand. I mean from Aurora's comments, it sounds like the machine prevents the world from blowing up in fire or something (we never actually learn what it does), and apparently their people have made attempts to use the machine without a child's sacrifice. But Pike was having none of it, he was ready to directly interfere in another culture, literally beat up their guards....all for a kid he just met from a culture he doesn't fully understand. He was the first starfleet officer allowed into this highly technological society's inner dealings....and he came across as a bigot.
Ultimately this could have been a really interesting and nuanced episode, but they were so quick to just make the Magelleans the "bad guys" with this zero tolerance policy that even one sacrifice....no matter how much incredible good it might do....is not only unacceptable, but criminal. Sorry things just aren't that black and white, and in trying to hammer that point across, the episode really fell flat at the end for me.
I feel like 90% of this episode was really good. Uhuru and L'ann having hijicks, Pike getting the lady, some interesting mystery, etc.
However, it didn't really stick the landing to me. Pike so far has been portrayed as a pretty open minded person, who has empathy for other cultures (heck we literally saw that in the last episode, a focus on empathy). But frankly his reaction to the ascension was too harsh to me. I get it, its a child, and the act is repulsive...but he didn't even try to understand. I mean from Aurora's comments, it sounds like the machine prevents the world from blowing up in fire or something (we never actually learn what it does), and apparently their people have made attempts to use the machine without a child's sacrifice. But Pike was having none of it, he was ready to directly interfere in another culture, literally beat up their guards....all for a kid he just met from a culture he doesn't fully understand. He was the first starfleet officer allowed into this highly technological society's inner dealings....and he came across as a bigot.
Ultimately this could have been a really interesting and nuanced episode, but they were so quick to just make the Magelleans the "bad guys" with this zero tolerance policy that even one sacrifice....no matter how much incredible good it might do....is not only unacceptable, but criminal. Sorry things just aren't that black and white, and in trying to hammer that point across, the episode really fell flat at the end for me.
tomBitonti
Adventurer
Episode 6 seems to be a retelling of “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, by Ursula K. Le Guin:
en.wikipedia.org
This is a big idea story, and the series is gutsy for presenting it. The story is one of my favorites. The story asks a deep question which is worth thinking about.
Tom Bitonti
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
This is a big idea story, and the series is gutsy for presenting it. The story is one of my favorites. The story asks a deep question which is worth thinking about.
Tom Bitonti
Was about 95% for me.
Could have been a bit more nuanced, sure but it was shown to be a bit of a gut punch and Pike reacting on instinct. At least the writers actually let the conclusion happen. You know on TOS or even TNG they would likely have found and "alternate solution" (or heck, Kirk would have employed his patented talk the machine into shutting down and that would have solved the problem)
Hex08
Hero
I like that "hijinks" is now becoming how we talk about this show.
I was ok with Pike's reaction. I think his reaction to the treatment of a child was normal human one and in character for him. I thought the story did a good job of examining a complex philosophical problem. We saw Pike's instinctual reaction to the appalling treatment of a child vs the citizens of Majalis willingness to kill a child to ensure their own survival and how they justify an action that they might otherwise find abhorrent. Is the intentional infliction of suffering of a few acceptable if it brings prosperity to the majority (the good of the many...)? How small must that "few" get before it's ok? If Pike were to have walked away and shrugged it off as "I have no right to judge another culture" then I think the whole point of the debate would have been less interesting because the answer becomes "only the culture involved in the act can judge it's rightness". It's not much different than the Trolley Problem. Also, Pike does get an explanation and it's basically "we don't know why it's that way but take our word for it that we have tried to find another solution" and I can understand why that might not be a satisfying answer for him.
As an aside, I guess all of the speculation about what these floating cities were when they were seen in the trailers was wrong. I think a lot of people thought it was supposed to be the floating cities from the TOS episode The Cloud Minders and that turned out not to be the case.
Similar Threads
