[Episode review starts at 15:52]
Tony and Laurie talk through the latest news on Star Trek: Lower Decks, Paramount+, and Creation conventions, then play an excerpt of Tony’s upcoming interview with Alexander Siddig where the Deep Space Nine actor weighs in on the concept behind Section 31. Next, they review “Terra Firma, Part 1,” the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery, talking about the crazy turn of events in the first half of this two-parter as well as what—or more specifically, who—isn’t there at all.
Links to topics discussed in the pod
Mike McMahan Talks ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 2 Changes And Why Picard Likely Won’t Ever Appear
CBS All Access adds profiles and more kids content ahead of Paramount+ relaunch
Hollywood insiders defend exemption from LA County lockdown order.
‘The Orville’ Restarts Production On Season 3
Creation Announces Regional Conventions With Star Trek Celebs For 2021, Headlined By William Shatner
Other mentions:
Some details about William Shatner being asked to appear on Enterprise
Emperor Georgiou greets Michael Burnham in Discovery season 1
The door in The Last Battle from The Chronicles of Narnia
The Q Continuum on Star Trek: Voyager
Trekbits:
Tony: Star Trek: The Next Generation script/data analysis
Laurie: Star Trek Beyond cast dubsmash spectacular
Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and post your suggestions for topics we should cover when Discovery‘s third season ends.
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The episode was surprisingly descent. I like it a lot.
The Orville season 3 on Hulu. Can’t wait! Lower Decks season 2. Really good news day.
Breaking news, Disney last night announced new Star Wars and Marvel projects on Disney+.
Star Trek is in a comfortable position but Disney has an advantage. The streaming wars are insane.
I wouldn’t be too sure about the nature of this episode. You guys noticed a couple of things that didn’t add up and quite obviously they don’t. You’re rooting for a Lorca return (who wouldn’t), but think: if they kill off Lorca in the MU past, who would take command of Discovery in S1? And now that Mirror Statmets is gone, none of the original plot works out.
So is this really just a retcon or is there more to it? Or rather less! I believe what we have seen in this episode wasn’t the actual 23rd century MU. Carl’s door is not an interdimensional time travelling device at all, the newspaper is a red herring. This door is a gateway to the soul, a device that sets free memories from the past to cope with them and come to terms with them.
You want proof? Well, Georgious stepped through that portal to “Narnia” and didn’t arrive in her original clothes but was already wearing her Emperor gear while still wearing the lifesign bracelet. What a magical door that is. Gets you dressed in an instant.
This isn’t The Guardian of Forever at all! This is Fantasy Island, and Carl is Mr Roarke. Roarke was played by Khan and Soran actors. They never gave his first name. This is why Carl doesn’t have a surname. Together they are Carl Roarke.
I also believe you were absolutely right about that brief bit of speculation about Vance. He is an android, or rather a very advanced synthetic being aka Daj and Soji. It’s in his name: Admiral Vance… Ad. Vance… It’s a telling name. Willa is an android too. They all are. That’s probably going to be the big surprise of the season. Like the Mirror Lorca thing or the Voq/Tyler thing.
The Emerald Chain is nothing but a distractor. They are no way the big baddie of the season. And who is Kovich? Could he be the creator of this little synthetic Starfleet?
You know, DISCO has done this time and again. Using one-time iconic Star Trek plots, elaborating on them and turning them into a season arc.
S1 had two classic Trek plots: the mirror universe one-time TOS episode was not only blown up into a 4-Parter but the entire question of Lorca’s identity played into it! The little revelation about Klingon spies disguised as humans in the TOS Tribbles episode was turned into the Voq/Tyler plot.
S2 elaborated on both the M5 episode and V’Ger, combining them into one big story, with CONTROL being M5 and the Sphere being V’Ger…
This season will probably will probably elaborate on those TOS android episodes anlong with the entire Soong legacy from TNG and PIC.
There’s no way that everyone in Starfleet is an android. Senna Tal, at least, must have been a real Trill since he was joined. And Adira would probably know if Vance or any of the others were Synths.
This episode was awesome! Can’t wait for next week. This is quite the send off and I’m going to be very sad when Georgiou is no longer a regular. I’d watch anything with Michelle Yeoh in it — even a Section 31 show.
Regarding the comm badge situation, the folks Laurie mentioned (Book, Ren) aren’t in Starfleet and don’t have a badge. Is Adira actually in Starfleet? Come to think of it, I’m not sure Georgiou has one either cause Michael did all the transporting and tricordering. All those folks seem like consultants who just do what they want onboard Discovery for now. :)
Re: Comm badges… Stamets didn’t need to send Adira to go get Saru. He could’ve used his badge. Tilly (the First Officer, hello) shouldn’t be fetching people, and all she has to do is ask the computer to locate him and tell him to come to the bridge. There are consoles everywhere. Certainly if you need to reach the captain, you shouldn’t have to roam through the corridors, should you? (And yeah, what’s up with all the people roaming around the ship? Georgiou, Book, Ryn, and Adira!
Great podcast, y’all! Always love hearing your thoughts.
FWIW, I loved Captain Killy in this ep. I like she’s not Serious and Mean like most of the Mirror Universe—she’s the same earnest overachiever, but in this universe that means she has to murder all the time!
IMO part of the reason the Mirror Universe didn’t always work in past shows is that the actors sometimes feel like they’re playing against type unsuccessfully. I like that Mary found her own way.
You just don’t understand. Terra firma it’s the door to new trek series. Not section 31, but mirror Universe series.
The mirror version of Section 31 would make it a virtuous organization. That would be a nice twist, if true.
I can buy that, when it comes to Tilly/Killy. I guess in season 1 when Tilly was impersonating Killy, she was just basing her choices on having read the files about her, so this is the real Killy. I’ll take it.
I’m pretty sure that the terms mirror universe and prime universe have been used in Discovery before.
You were explaining that the time soldier at the beginning of the episode was from the Kelvin universe. They said he was the only know person to travel between universes and time until Georgiou. If we’re bringing the Kelvin universe into this then there is one other person: Spock. Although his movement wouldn’t be ‘known’ to Disco, we know. We know he didn’t glitch out and die of it. Oh wait! Nero and his whole crew too.
That’s true. Also Lorca survived in Prime for a while, although he didn’t travel in time. But Kovich made a point to say that the Prime and Mirror universes had diverged very far in 900 years, Spock, Nero and crew didn’t travel as far and were present for the inception of that universe. It could be simply that Georgiou has a unique combination of universe jumping, length of time jumped, and length of stay in the new location.