Star Trek Discovery season 2 megathread

[Fianna]

I mean, is it much different from DS9 using time orbs?

[Yukaphile]

Those at least came from higher-dimensional beings outside linear time, which is a bit more flexible. What explanation do... these time crystals have past being sympathetic magic, which has no place in Star Trek?

[MissKittyFantastico]

Okay, they're another remnant of the same long-lost civilisation that built the Guardian of Forever, there, problem solved.

Now sure, one might say it'd have been nice if someone had mentioned that in dialogue - "We needed a time crystal - which as you know are solidified chroniton matrices first discovered by a Deltan science team studying the ancient Episode 28 civilisation, which once reached across half the quadrant before mysteriously vanishing, leaving only scattered relics - but I accidentally put my actual street address on the craigslist ad, so y'know, my bad." - but that wouldn't have helped all the folks who don't watch the show anyway, so why bother.

They originally built two Guardians, but one was left on a shelf and a cat knocked it off, now we have time crystals.

[Makeshift Python]

Those at least came from higher-dimensional beings outside linear time, which is a bit more flexible. What explanation do... these time crystals have past being sympathetic magic, which has no place in Star Trek?

It's the same explanation behind the idea that you can travel through time by just performing a slingshot around a star.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

They should introduce Q.

[Yukaphile]

@Makeshift Python That at least implies relativistic space-time effects, because we all know time warps the closer you get to the speed of light. This? This is basically just a magic crystal. How can you justify that? This is more closely in line with Star Wars than Star Trek, and just reinforces my view the writers don't really understand the franchise they are writing for.

[MixedDrops]

Time crystals are a real thing. The physics are far beyond my level of study so I can't really speak to the accuracy of Discovery's usage, though I highly doubt they're getting them all right (of course, they barely expounded on it, and applying current scientific knowledge poorly is a Trek tradition if anything), but you can't accuse it of being a made-up term.

Once again, you guys are at a computer, google takes 5 seconds.

Anyway I'm not that interested in the Red Angel plot personally. I'm glad the season has been mostly stories that are only tangentially related to it, but for this newest episode the most interesting thing to me is seeing how Dr. Culber is handling being alive again. For once dying and coming back to life actually has consequences. I just think back to things like Harry Kim possibly being cloned version of himself through most of Voyager and how that's never brought up. Hell even with Spock it basically got dismissed as a joke (albeit a pretty good one) in The Voyage Home.

[Yukaphile]

... seriously? That sounds like some bad space opera plot! Literally like something out of Star Wars! Huh. The things you learn everyday. Okay. I will admit to being big enough to admit when I'm wrong, and since this has a real scientific basis, however dubious some might think it is (since everyone will disagree with every scientific theory proposed), I'll concede here.

I'm starting to think the biggest problem, and why STD is at such odds to the rest of fandom, is that they have their own ideas as to what they want Trek to be. Sometimes, it can work in your favor, and other times, it's a curse. That's probably what's going on here. I mean, SF Debris even talked about this in 2013.

[Makeshift Python]

Speaking of magic space rocks, isn't that how they travel at light speed?

Star Trek ultimately is a naval space opera. It's never truly been hard science as some fans have tried to proclaim.

[Yukaphile]

I'll give you that, and even if it's not all hard sci-fi, it's had its moments, but my feeling is it should never be "soft sci-fi" even if it goes light sci-fi. Even though this is a case I already conceded to, lol.