Discovery: Sound of Thunder

[Actarus]

I wonder what will be the repercussions for Kaminar and maybe the galaxy. I hope we learn about it in Season 3. It could be a great story arc for Saru.

Since we never saw them again after the Discovery-contact era, we can safely assume that they took the Cheron approach to interspecies relations. And too good fer 'em, I say. Either that or the Ba'ul decided to say Phlox it, as soon as they saw what was happening.

We never saw the Denobulans after Enterprise-era (for obvious reasons). That does not mean the Denobulans suddenly got isolationistic.

Wiped out by the Breen?

The obvious reason is obviously that they have not been written yet... Like the Kelpians.

[Linkara]

This is definitely my favorite episode of Discovery, partially for the reasons Chuck outlined - that we're not focusing on Michael so much and it feels like a Trek sort of story. While the Prime Directive is not explicitly brought up, I did think of the implications as they were making this decision, and I think it's important we remember that while they don't have the trappings of TOS, this IS a TOS-era show, and the TOS attitude towards the Prime Directive, as illustrated by Kirk during "A Taste of Armageddon" and "Return of the Archons" is that an oppressive, totalitarian society is stagnant and not a developing race that must be protected - that the Prime Directive should not protect oppressors, so they're happy to overthrow them if the opportunity presents itself regardless of the consequences.

[J!!]

Now that the balance has been broken, I wonder what will be the repercussions for Kaminar and maybe the galaxy. I hope we learn about it in Season 3. It could be a great story arc for Saru.

I like to think that despite Saru's best intentions, the Kelpians did indeed rise up to righteously slaughter the Ba'ul, leaving only one survivor, stranded on a barren planet. There, it spent a century alone, until one day, a federation shuttle crashed near its location, delivering to it the once thing it most needed, a counselor to talk to about its feelings.




Yes, the USS Disco's choice to violate the prime directive indirectly led to the death of Tasha Yar.

[Sir Will]

This is definitely my favorite episode of Discovery, partially for the reasons Chuck outlined - that we're not focusing on Michael so much and it feels like a Trek sort of story. While the Prime Directive is not explicitly brought up, I did think of the implications as they were making this decision, and I think it's important we remember that while they don't have the trappings of TOS, this IS a TOS-era show, and the TOS attitude towards the Prime Directive, as illustrated by Kirk during "A Taste of Armageddon" and "Return of the Archons" is that an oppressive, totalitarian society is stagnant and not a developing race that must be protected - that the Prime Directive should not protect oppressors, so they're happy to overthrow them if the opportunity presents itself regardless of the consequences.

I like that version of the Prime Direction MUCH more than the TNG-era one that seems to be ok with genocide and the like.

[clearspira]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/c121.php

• Shut up, Moo-Cow.

• Camerman, stop trying to give me motion sickness.

• Writers, please remember that Section Thirty-One is not supposed to be a legitimate intelligence agency, that is Starfleet security's job, and is a rogue unsanctioned agency that recruits privately with no oversight and sets its own objectives without reference to the Federation in general.It is a "we know best" militia that just happens to recruit members of the military, who then go on to missapropriate public funds and materials for their private vendettas. Dressing Section Thirty One in black is nice and all, but really they ought to be wearing white bedsheets with eye holes in them.

I mean, sure the idea of a sapient species enslaved for livestock is abhorrent. You know, in theory. But it is the Kelpians, the species that exists to make Season One TNG's Ferengi, The Kazon, and even the goddamn Talaxians, look good by comparison. It is hard to feel bad for a species that, so far, has been without a single redeeming character or trait. I just do not care about these people, at best, and at worst... Well, at worst it is "Shut up, Moo-Cow". I know that a lot of people say that every Trek has a rough couple of first seasons before improving, but at least in the other series I saw them recognise that and trying to improve, even Enterprise, but Discovery seems to be doubling down on everything that was irritating about season one.

I appreciate, as Chuck says, that at least it isn't about Burnham. But it is about Officer Moo-Cow, and the previous episode was about girl-Wesley. That isn't an improvement. Those are the three weakest characters on the damn show. Switching out one for the other will not win me over. If anything Officer Moo-Cow is even more irritating that the character whose very name treads on the edges of my PTSD, and that is an achievement in and of itself. The strongest characters in the series so far have been the Defence Against the Dark Arts Captains. I would have happily watched, or at least grudgingly warmed to, a series focuses on Lorca or Pike Mk3.

The damage STD has caused to Section 31 makes the DS9 crew look like complete idiots. How can they never have heard of this organization? They are about as invisible as a traffic cone.

Seriously, fuck this show.

[clearspira]

Now that the balance has been broken, I wonder what will be the repercussions for Kaminar and maybe the galaxy. I hope we learn about it in Season 3. It could be a great story arc for Saru.

I like to think that despite Saru's best intentions, the Kelpians did indeed rise up to righteously slaughter the Ba'ul, leaving only one survivor, stranded on a barren planet. There, it spent a century alone, until one day, a federation shuttle crashed near its location, delivering to it the once thing it most needed, a counselor to talk to about its feelings.




Yes, the USS Disco's choice to violate the prime directive indirectly led to the death of Tasha Yar.

Armus was an interesting villain in a terrible episode. It would be nice to follow up on him although knowing this show he'll probably turn out to be Harry Mudd in disguise. Why not at this point?

[Al-1701]

People forget that in "Journey to Babel" Kirk says there are 42 member races in the Federation. That number only grew in the TNG era. Yet, we only saw the Big 5 (Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, Telerites, and Orions) and heard of the Rigelians. So, there's three dozen races that we never really met. Kelpians and Denobulans could be two of them.

This episodes reminds me of Chuck's supplement video for the TNG episode "First Contact" and the three assumptions about a sapient alien race in the "Killing Star". Nice guys don't become top dogs. Even a sapient prey species will have developed abilities (or technology) to thwart or destroy their predators. Also, if it comes between them and someone else, they will always pick them. When it comes to survival, altruism is not a survival trait. So, the Ba'ul, being physically weaker the Kelpians, used their technology to enslave them and prevent them from reaching the stage in their maturity when they would be a threat. And while we find it abhorrent, to them this was about survival. How many advanced anthropoid species did Homo sapiens have to exterminate to make it to the top?

Really, as Chuck said, this was the first smart episode of Discovery with an idea worth exploring. It was far from perfect, but it had an idea. Discovery needed to do more of that, and get away from Michael.

[Enterprising]

We never saw the Denobulans after Enterprise-era (for obvious reasons). That does not mean the Denobulans suddenly got isolationistic. I would like to see one in Picard though.

While not strictly canon of course, there was Denobulan Starfleet officers on the Enterprise-E in the Elite Force II video game.

[kingofmadcows]

So, they basically did nothing to resolve the situation with the Ba’ul. The Ba’ul are still deathly afraid of the Kelpians and they still have vastly superior technology. Destroying their obelisks isn’t going to stop them from wanting to wipe out the Kelpians. The Ba'ul still have starships they can use to bomb the Kelpians into extinction. The Kelpians have stone age technology. They have no way to communicate with each other across the planet to coordinate with each other. Unless they have Hulk level strength, they're not going to be able to smash through metal walls to get to the Ba'ul, and they're completely ineffective against ships that can shoot them from orbit. There's no reason why the Ba’ul wouldn't mobilize all their forces and begin a systematic extermination of the Kelpians. And after this encounter with Discovery, the Ba’ul are probably going to immediately shoot down any future Starfleet ships that tries to approach the planet.

And Justice League Unlimited did the spinning camera shot way better. They cleverly cut between the League and Cadmus. It subtly implied that the League were losing their way having this secret meeting among the big seven. The dialogue was also better written.

[Deledrius]

The STD story wasn't about time travel, of course

Or was it?

You mean they might find out that they killed the Federation doing this? I didn't think of that. The title would be nice foreshadowing if that's true!

I might change my mind on how much I'm looking forward to what appears to be the plot of S3 if it turns out the actions of S2 (New Eden, Kaminar) that they rushed into without any consideration have dire consequences. I just hope they manage to make it satisfying.