Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 3 Viewing (Spoilers)

[Ruin Explorer]

With respect, it ain't that simple. Because error correction means keeping around the data that defines "without error", and that data is subject to the degradations of time, too. One cosmic ray going through your data store, and you no longer have pristine data.

So you keep a backup of your backup, right? And when cosmic rays go through both the original and the copy at different points, which copy do you trust? You technically need to keep a number of backups so large that the probability of bit-rot over enough of them becomes vanishingly small over the expected lifespan of the structure.

And then, you need to have an energy source that lasts as long as well - correcting errors and making repairs cost energy.

Overall, the laws of thermodynamics amount to: You cannot win, you cannot break even, and you cannot quite the game.

I mean, I agree with this completely, especially the last line, which is something I've basically said myself before. If it appeared otherwise that's just me being clumsy and/or not going enough layers deep (I wasn't considering the power source because to me that's a whole other problem that's probably harder to solve!).

 

[Umbran]

They had to have the Chief Medical Officer operating one of the engines because he didn’t have anything important to do what with all those injured crew that got beamed aboard.

The ship, including sick bay, was without significant power. You want M'Benga to work with stone knives and bearskins? Dude can't even replicate sutures without power!

 

[Mort]

As far as truly little things that made me laugh.

When the mask comes off and there's the big reveal:

The baddie has an immaculately groomed moustache and goatee.

I just couldn't help laughing and thinking the real reason he didn't shoot was because he got a look at Pike's hair and couldn't shoot at someone with grooming as good as his.

 

[MarkB]

I was hoping that (if human) they would have been converted to basically the biological operating system of robot suits, and that's where my head canon would like to go, but you're right about the goofy maw on the ship. Also, the guy in the suit was far too clean-shaven for my preferred origin story. Opportunity missed so that they can use the "We have met the enemy and they are us" trope.

And who would have gotten to leave Earth? Billionaires. "The best of us" could have just been ad spin, that also sucked in Pelia as well at the time. If I can't have my preferred head canon, I'll take that instead.

My head canon about the look of the ship and its big maw is that it really was a giant space creature that they repurposed into being part of their ship.

Possibly they were even swallowed by it and had to kill it from inside, then hollowed it out and started salvaging other vessels for parts.

 

[Umbran]

(I wasn't considering the power source because to me that's a whole other problem that's probably harder to solve!).

Yeah, it is a tough problem.
You can't use matter/antimatter reactions. Those require keeping containment of the antimatter, which uses power.
Radioactive sources have half-lives, and decay.
Water and wind depend on weather patterns, and can stop working, and require you to be planetside.
Geological sources are okay, but are generally not strong unless you are in a geologically unstable area, putting your structure at earthquake and volcanic risk. And also won't work in space at all.
Solar power works when you are near a star, and can last as long as the star! But then you need really massive solar collection arrays, which the crews never comment on seeing.

 

[Umbran]

I just couldn't help laughing and thinking the real reason he didn't shoot was because he got a look at Pike's hair and couldn't shoot at someone with grooming as good as his.

I gotta say, I'm not loving the ... striping in PIke's hair? I'm all for him being well-coiffed, but the white on grey flame effect he has going seems like he'd have to be in Mr. Mot's chair more than the Captain's chair.

And, then, why wasn't the ship's hairdresser running the thrusters instead of M'Benga?

 

[Umbran]

I’d be surprised if the Federstion doesn’t send a ship to investigate the wreckage. I mean, the scavengers did almost destroy Starfleet’s flagship, and they had fancy tech that could absorb phaser blasts. People are going to want to find out more about it.

Yeah, and the archaeology and research on that'll take a decade... finishing after both Pike's and Kirk's missions.

 

[Mort]

And, then, why wasn't the ship's hairdresser running the thrusters instead of M'Benga?

Are you kidding? Starfleet Doctors are a dime a dozen. But a hairdresser that can manage Pike's hair? They probably have strict orders to stay completely out of harms way!

 

[practicalm]

I actually think the biggest weakness of this season is that there is so little technobabble....in fact most of the plans barely get a few seconds of explanation.

Its "I have a plan!" followed by "the plan worked!". From La'an magically getting them off the Gorn ship with a little consel work on a completely alien ship, to Spock last week putting his two best girls in mortal dangers on what basically amounted to a hunch, to this week where apparently shooting the nacelles at this super advanced armored ship disabled it....somehow. Its definately the weakest part of the season to me.

I prefer the return to the Original Season not having to try to make up technobabble for the solutions. The technobabble only adds to later confusion about why it's not used again. Trek isn't hard science, so the solutions are not important to the goals of the story.

 

[practicalm]

That was another fantastic episode with a bit of a hard lesson for young Kirk!

Yes, this is a lesson learned as shown in Devil in the Dark where he threatens to kill humans to protect the Horta