#red directive

[quasi-normalcy]

Star Trek will literally pick out an extra from a thirty-year-old crowd shot and be like "Yeah, this is Doctor Vellek; he's one of the best scientists in history"

[samnotsammy12]

OML SHE ASKED HIM TO MARRY HER ARE YOU KIDDING ME

CUTEST EVERRRRR

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Star Trek: Discovery - Romulan Science Ship Graphics Concept Art by Timothy Peel ('Red Directive')

[martiszcz]

T'Rina: If I may, I do believe it would be only logical, given this development, for us to codify our mutual commitment in a more official capacity.

--Star Trek: Discovery: Red Directive

Best proposal ever.

[frau-rainyfox]

[staringdownabarrel]

I've just seen the two new episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, namely Red Directive and Under the Twin Moons. Here's my thoughts.

I think these episodes are a really good example of what Discovery has always done well. They were action heavy episodes, and the Burnham-Saru dynamic was still going strong.

These two episodes have also done what Discovery has almost always done well early on in its seasons. It's taken a concept from an older show and asked, "What comes next?" In this case, it's the Progenitors from TNG's The Chase.

So far, this kinda feels like it's just The Chase but done in a season-long format. If it's just going to be that, then I'm not entirely sure what the point of doing that is when The Chase was already a pretty good episode. Still, there's another eight episodes, so there's enough time for them to come around and add in some extra stuff, and it's clear that they want to at least try to do that.

Having the Progenitors as the focus for the season does offer some fairly interesting concepts. Like, where exactly is the line between strict evolutionary biology and full on creationist style intelligent design? To what extent does that dichotomy even matter in Star Trek?

It also provides a pathway to answering some other long debated fan questions. Starfleet has canonically known about long-extinct ancient cultures since at least the mid-23rd century, many of which have left behind relics that are centuries more advanced than what the Federation or its peers have developed. There hasn't been a lot of evidence of the Federaton trying to reverse engineer any of this.

So there is some room for Discovery to try to answer these kinds of questions this season. Maybe the Federation has and the other governments in the region have been as well, or maybe any sufficiently advanced technology is impossible to reverse engineer as the principles involved are so far ahead of what the Federation had that it's like showing a dishwasher to a caveman.

The other thing this opens up is the possibility of showing what the balance of power looks like in the 32nd century now that the Emerald Chain is gone and the Federation has a dilithium supply. The Tholian Republic and the Breen Imperium have already been mentioned as still being around. It's already been established that the Vulcans and Romulans have reunified. That still leaves the state of the Klingons, Cardassians, and Dominion as an open question.

Overall, this is a strong start to the new season. I'm just hoping it doesn't end up being completely derailed.

[quasi-normalcy]

Kovich: Evidence of the Progenitors was first uncovered 800 years ago, by a Starfleet captain named Jean-Luc Picard--

Burnham: Wait, the guy who fucked my dad?

Kovich: ???

Burnham: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was reading about Sarek's life after I left for the future, and apparently, he had to mindmeld with this guy after he contracted Bendii Syndrome, and he spent the last few years of his life, like, katrically bonded to him.

Kovich: I see. Well, he was considered to be one of the foremost diplomats of the 24th century. Now, if we could return to the matter at hand--

Burnham: I think he also recorded my brother's Unification speech.

Kovich: ...

Burnham: Like that big speech he gave talking about how he was going to reunite the Vulcans and the Romulans.

Kovich: An interesting coincidence. Anyway, these Progenitors are considered to have engineered all humanoid life throughout the Milky Way--

Burnham: And wait, wasn't he the guy who modelled the mind-uploading process Dr. Culber used on Grey last year?

Kovich: Captain Burnham, I'm going to need you to focus up.

Burnham: Okay, sorry, you have my complete attention.

Kovich: Anyways, your next mission will take you to a Promellian graveyard planet. Now, the Promellian are an extinct civilization--

Burnham: Were they discovered by Jean-Luc Picard?

Kovich: ...No.

Burnham: Okay, good. I was starting to worry--

Kovich: But he *did* discover the most complete known specimen of one of their battle cruisers.

Burnham: Damn it!

[samnotsammy12]

“I love the feelin’ of interruptin’ somethin’.”

BYE I ALREADY LIKE RAYNER

also mom and dad are fightinggggg