Star Trek Strange New Worlds, what did you think?

[BookTenTiger]

I thought that was an excellent episode. This show isn’t just the best Trek in decades, it’s the best TV on right now.

When the Enterprise got to just shrug off the beams of the other ship, and was overpowering the shuttles, I thought "Morrus will be happy!"

I liked this episode too. All along I knew things were not as they seemed, but the twists were fun to watch. I liked the challenge of a non-federation civilization that had more advanced science, that was a neat concept. And the kid character was cute!

It would be interesting if

Spoiler

M'benga's daughter got cured and she became a more regular part of the series, like the occasional kids on Next Generation.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I don't think ships of that era normally had children on board as an ongoing function. That was the later TNG "This is a mobile science/diplomatic station more than anything else" thing, because ships were less frequently going into unknown territory.

 

[Mallus]

This was totally “The One Who Beamed Away From Omelas”.

 

[Stalker0]

This was totally “The One Who Beamed Away From Omelas”.

I've only read the wiki summary, not the actual tale, so please correct me if I'm wrong. I would say the key difference here is....in the book, the people are gaining "peace and prosperity" through the child's sacrifice. Where again, in the show it was implied through Aurora's reaction to the child missing that the consequences were far more severe....suggesting that it could even lead to some kind of massive earth shattering event.

Its hard to say "sorry your culture is just wrong for using a child like that", when using a child like that literally prevents thousands or millions of people from being killed in geologic earthquakes. This is an area I really wish they had pushed on a bit more, they left that part somewhat vague so its hard to know the stakes by which the child's sacrifice is being compared against.

All that said....where is the freakin backup child?????!!!! If this one child is so dang important, that the state of your planet is at stake, your going to have a spare, hell your going to have 5. I don't care how good your medical and security are, there is no way a modern government would leave their entire future in the hands of a single fragile person and not have dozens of contingency plans.

 

[Umbran]

But Pike was having none of it, he was ready to directly interfere in another culture

Note - they had warp capability. The Prime Directive does not apply.

... 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.

To me, he came across as someone who cannot tolerate intentional harm to children. It did not help that, though he asked several times, she refused to tell him what was going on. So, he was left having to deal with it in that moment, no time for questions, consideration, or negotiations. Go figure he choses to try to stop it, likely to force them to make time for questions and negotiation.

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.

Dramatically, you only really have two choices there - either Pike accepts the notion that it is okay for them to make kids suffer for their continued existence, or not. If he accepts it as okay, then there is no moral question. So, to leave us with questions to think about, he must reject it.

 

[Stalker0]

Note - they had warp capability. The Prime Directive does not apply.



To me, he came across as someone who cannot tolerate intentional harm to children. It did not help that, though he asked several times, she refused to tell him what was going on. So, he was left having to deal with it in that moment, no time for questions, consideration, or negotiations. Go figure he choses to try to stop it, likely to force them to make time for questions and negotiation.



Dramatically, you only really have two choices there - either Pike accepts the notion that it is okay for them to make kids suffer for their continued existence, or not. If he accepts it as okay, then there is no moral question. So, to leave us with questions to think about, he must reject it.

Its not a question of Prime Directive, its a basic tenant of diplomacy. You don't go into another culture that your trying to be on good terms with and start telling them that their garbage...that's just not a great idea.

She refused to tell him because her people's directives forbade her to do so....until she made the effort to finally get him access, to literally show him the process and explain it. That said, I do agree its never the best idea to just show someone a child murder stone cold, you have to a LEAST do a little warming up to the concept....explain the terrible danger on the planet, this is the only way to stop it, we have tried other ways, etc etc. you start with that before showing the child corpse. Realistically a smart diplomatic core would have never done it, they might have explained the process to him, but they would never have taken him into the chamber....ESPECIALLY before the ceremony finished.

I disagree that this is the only way to have drama....or if drama is even really the goal. The drama has already been spent, we had a mystery, and then the big reveal....the twist! Now its time for the philosophical side of star trek, what "learning to work with completely alien cultures" actually means. I don't mind that Pike ultimately has a problem with their culture, I would have been fine if the episode ends with him doing a personal log and talk about how as a starfleet officer he is supposed to be open minded and understanding but this time he just can't see it, aka let him wrestle with the idea. My issue was there wasn't even really a notion of debating or wrestling with the issue, Pike heard the answer, effectively said, "f*** you, you suck" and then beamed out. He was judge and jury for the audience, this culture = bad....no discussion. That's why it fell so flat to me.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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.

Nah. Every other spacefaring species manages without a child sacrifice powered Uber machine. There is no possible justification.

 

[Stalker0]

Btw I was curious if I had been taking Aurora's speech in proper context, so I decided to rewatch that scene to make sure I heard it right (which with Paramount + commercials was REALLY annoying).

In her speech she says the following:

• Our world is over.
• Magellus will fall out of the sky
• The surface of our world is rivers of acid. Our world will be destroyed.

So....yeah....this isn't killing a kid for some rainbows and sunshine. It literally sounds like whatever that machine does, it sustains their entire ecosystem (or maybe all of their cities are floating, and without the machine they will crash into the surface or something)

 

[Morrus]

When the Enterprise got to just shrug off the beams of the other ship, and was overpowering the shuttles, I thought "Morrus will be happy!"

You were right!

 

[Morrus]

Dramatically, you only really have two choices there - either Pike accepts the notion that it is okay for them to make kids suffer for their continued existence, or not. If he accepts it as okay, then there is no moral question. So, to leave us with questions to think about, he must reject it.

And additionally, he's chosen a terrible fate for himself because he can't not save those children in 10 years time. This is clearly very much part of him.