DIS - Through the Valley of the Shadow

[CrashGordon94]

The return of "too good for 'em, I say!" after all this time, when he apparently dropped that joke for being too cruel to Voyager and Enterprise?

Wow, Discovery has well and truly pissed him off...

[kingofmadcows]

The Sphere data can't be deleted but it can be transferred. So transfer it to an independent computer and vaporize the computer. It shouldn't be that complicated.

They should have just done the classic Trek thing of revealing that Sphere Data was its consciousness and now it's spread throughout all of Discovery's systems and there's no way to get rid of it or transfer it. And this was an alien lifeform that they have a duty to protect.

[Link8909]

Seeing the Pike stuff makes me want to atleast give the Pike and Spock show a chance. Inhuman dude seems like he's doing pretty well in the role, acting the crap outta his part.

On the wheelchair thing, I don't think its ableist or unreasonable that he'd be horrified and think his life is over upon being turned into a Deadpool and Professor X amalgamation. Losing autonomy like that, being altered so significantly is an adjustment for even the strongest person. Military veterans struggle with that stuff, sometimes unfortunately succumb to the notion that life is not worth living. Its called a traumatic event for a reason, it freaking traumatic, it mess you up. Acting like he should be instantly fine knowing he's going to be completely altered like that I think is an insult to anyone who have ever struggled with any traumatic experience including disabled people of all types and possibly more.

Nor do I think its offensive that he'd want to live a fantasy were he is restored. Yeah some people learn to live with their disability and are fine with it, some people aren't, I'm betting alot of people with any sort of disability wish they didn't have it. I can only speak for mental disability and trauma but I certainly wish I wasn't so opposed to physical contact and intimacy, would love to have proper emotional responses, and wouldn't mind terribly to not live in crippling fear of people and crowds. I'd like to be "cured" though certainly wouldn't want it forced on me and wouldn't want treated like a second class citizen without it but if the option to take a pill and be a social butterfly that doesn't want to scrub the skin off when someone gives me a handshake yeah I'd probably take it.

Agreed, I thought his reaction to seeing his future was a very human moment and nothing to be ashamed of, but what I love about the scene is that even after seeing that, and while still being frightened by this knowledge, and knowing that he could walk away from this fate, still worked up the courage and took the Time Crystal in order to save the galaxy, as someone said:

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

I also agree and even empathise with you, as someone who is Autistic, specifically Aspergers which not only with the symptoms of it has lead me to suffering with OCD with constantly worrying about germs and contamination, and while still taking medication and having been to therapy still has a control over my life, I do wish I could wave it away and not have these issues.

[Formless One]

Also, chiming in on a subject Chuck raised, I am disabled and use walking aids. Any future which keeps me using those aids or having me in a chair, and dares to call itself a Utopia can fuck right off. It is not blessed change or whatever other bullshit gets floated around, it is a crippling. It is a crippling and and it is something I want to unhappen, and I would make unhappen in a heartbeat if I could. Saying I should be happy with it is the real insult.

Its kinda too fucking late. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Trek has been showing disabled characters for a while, both in the original series-- you know, where this character originates!-- and TNG, which had a blind engineer. Oh, sure, Geordie had the VISOR, but did you know it supposedly gave him massive headaches and had all sorts of other downsides, which is why they're supposedly not as common as you might assume? That's not all, by the way, DS9 introduced an entire species in the Federation that evolved on a low-G world, so any time they enter a place with Earth-like gravity they end up using a wheelchair. Yes, again, a wheelchair. Probably because a high tech solution isn't more efficient than the low tech one, and requires batteries. And its cheaper on the special effects budget, too. And yes, that species is introduced by showing us a starfleet officer from that species working with everyone else despite the relative disability. And no one gives her shit for evolving on a planet half the Earth's mass. Starfleet officers are more respectful and tolerant than that, which is why we look up to them.

So blaming Discovery for this is pointless. Star Trek is going to Star Trek. And showing disabled characters at least reminds people that we exist and have special needs rather than pretending that science can magically make us go away. Maybe it can do so in the future, but more likely than not that's just wishful thinking even for a utopia.

[Link8909]

The Sphere data can't be deleted but it can be transferred. So transfer it to an independent computer and vaporize the computer. It shouldn't be that complicated.

They should have just done the classic Trek thing of revealing that Sphere Data was its consciousness and now it's spread throughout all of Discovery's systems and there's no way to get rid of it or transfer it. And this was an alien lifeform that they have a duty to protect.

I think that is the case, in the next episode the Sphere Data had merge with the USS Discovery and overrides the Self-Destruct and even activates its shields, and I'm willing to bet in the Short Trek "Calypso" the ships artificial intelligence Zora is a result of the Sphere Data.

I'd imagine whatever the crew did or might have done to try and destroy the data wouldn't have worked because of the datas strong sense of self-preservation.

[Link8909]

Also, chiming in on a subject Chuck raised, I am disabled and use walking aids. Any future which keeps me using those aids or having me in a chair, and dares to call itself a Utopia can fuck right off. It is not blessed change or whatever other bullshit gets floated around, it is a crippling. It is a crippling and and it is something I want to unhappen, and I would make unhappen in a heartbeat if I could. Saying I should be happy with it is the real insult.

Its kinda too fucking late. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Trek has been showing disabled characters for a while, both in the original series-- you know, where this character originates!-- and TNG, which had a blind engineer. Oh, sure, Geordie had the VISOR, but did you know it supposedly gave him massive headaches and had all sorts of other downsides, which is why they're supposedly not as common as you might assume? That's not all, by the way, DS9 introduced an entire species in the Federation that evolved on a low-G world, so any time they enter a place with Earth-like gravity they end up using a wheelchair. Yes, again, a wheelchair. Probably because a high tech solution isn't more efficient than the low tech one, and requires batteries. And its cheaper on the special effects budget, too. And yes, that species is introduced by showing us a starfleet officer from that species working with everyone else despite the relative disability. And no one gives her shit for evolving on a planet half the Earth's mass. Starfleet officers are more respectful and tolerant than that, which is why we look up to them.

So blaming Discovery for this is pointless. Star Trek is going to Star Trek. And showing disabled characters at least reminds people that we exist and have special needs rather than pretending that science can magically make us go away. Maybe it can do so in the future, but more likely than not that's just wishful thinking even for a utopia.

Also in the episode "Ethics" Worf's spinal cord was crushed by a barrel and either needed aid from neurological devices strapped to his thighs (which didn't fully give him back control), or a dangerous procedure still in testing and with only a success rate of thirty-seven percent.

So I do agree that Star Trek has always had people with disabilities and that even with the advance science of the franchise there are still things that cannot be simply fixed, and I think it's great that Discovery has this guy in a wheelchair apart of the crew.

[clearspira]

I'd certainly rather be dead that live how Pike ends up.

In Lower Decks, they now have a special planet where all diseases and injuries are healed including Pikes.

I wonder if it's the Baku planet.

Just so we're clear on this: Are you telling me that there is a magical place in the Federation where all injuries are healed and that does not contradict the previously established canon before the STD-reboot? (which is what I have decided to call it now). Gee, if only Worf could have gone there when his spine was broken, that would have been easy.

But that aside, you have to be VERY careful when introducing ''heal all'' abilities as it destroys any drama you can possibly get out of what you are watching. Why do you think that Stargate SG-1 made the sarcophagus something that rots your mind as an excuse for them not to use the thing? Why do you think that Force Healing was so controversial in TROS? We can never, ever have someone with a crippling condition ever again unless you want to go the ''replicator route'' (where conveniently only non-plot critical things can be replicated) or the ''transporter route'' (where the transporter has to break every episode where someone is stuck planetside).

Its bad storytelling.

And as for it being the Baku planet, I find it hard to believe that this now So'na occupied world would allow it.
But the So'na didn't occupy the Baku planet you say? Well, I say to that: Bullshit. It was established that only ten years of normal exposure was going to reverse their condition. And the So'na are going to do what exactly? Wait around as they slowly die off under the smug gaze of those who exiled them in the first place? They have Enterprise-E level ships, an alliance with the Dominion and at least two slave races under their command ffs. Of course they ended up wiping the Baku off the planet. Maybe even immediately after the Enterprise left which is why Picard spent his retirement sulking on his vineyard as an old man instead of humping Anij as a young man again.

[Link8909]

Speaking of sounding moodier, Chuck sounds real done with it.

Chuck's been usually good at not overdoing it with clips and saving them just for the right moment, so the Simpsons clip was pretty jarring-it was just explaining the joke. It's not even at all an obscure reference.

Indeed, but while I'm one to come to the defence of Star Trek Discovery, the description of Michael Burnham this season being louder, angrier and with access to a time machine isn't off, I do get why she's like this however, she's going through a lot what with finding out Section 31 was responsible for her parents deaths that she has blamed herself for, that her mother has been alive all this time, and just dealing with trying to stop Control in general.

While this is Chuck's show and it's his own opinion and I do respect that, I do feel that he's hates on Discovery far too much than it's necessary, often times beating the same points over and over, and going overboard with it that you'd think he was watching the worst thing to happen to the franchise, which it really isn't and he's already covered worse.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Speaking of sounding moodier, Chuck sounds real done with it.

These reviews have a different tone, but it's a different circumstance than with mostly all other Trek stuff he's covered. They aren't as retroly comprehensive with the character assessments etc.

[clearspira]

Speaking of sounding moodier, Chuck sounds real done with it.

Chuck's been usually good at not overdoing it with clips and saving them just for the right moment, so the Simpsons clip was pretty jarring-it was just explaining the joke. It's not even at all an obscure reference.

Indeed, but while I'm one to come to the defence of Star Trek Discovery, the description of Michael Burnham this season being louder, angrier and with access to a time machine isn't off, I do get why she's like this however, she's going through a lot what with finding out Section 31 was responsible for her parents deaths that she has blamed herself for, that her mother has been alive all this time, and just dealing with trying to stop Control in general.

While this is Chuck's show and it's his own opinion and I do respect that, I do feel that he's hates on Discovery far too much than it's necessary, often times beating the same points over and over, and going overboard with it that you'd think he was watching the worst thing to happen to the franchise, which it really isn't and he's already covered worse.

Let me ask you a question: did you ever think when watching ENT that Chuck went overboard on constantly bringing up the Valekian cure, or over on VOY that Chuck when overboard on constantly bringing up Neelix, or that Chuck when overboard with his hate of TNG season 1?

If so, fair enough. If not, may I suggest that your love of STD is blinding you to a ''flaw'' that Chuck has had since day 1?

And whilst I may not seem it, I do respect your opinion too. But I also maintain that STD and PIC are by far the worse things to ever happen to this franchise. I mean yeah, there have been low points. Code of Honor, Profit and Lace. But those were singular episodes. These are whole shows.