Star Trek Discovery 2.8

Hats off to the script writers for how they integrated the oldest part of Star Trek with this current flavor of the show.

What I wonder about is how well do ST fans who do NOT know the story of The Cage (first pilot) and TOS The Menagerie (2-parter that recycled The Cage) feel about the latest episode? Was the “previously” enough to get them up to speed along with some of the exposition within the episode?

Anyway, some quick observations about the latest story. The “canon police” will note that the shuttle craft computer (voiced by Julianne Grossman) provided more information about Talos IV than you would think for a forbidden world. Perhaps, the writers felt that factoid would help those not familiar with Talos IV. On the issue of nitpicks, Starbase 11 is said to be 2 light years from Talos IV? Is there anyone in the writer’s room that knows even a little about astronomical distances?

The black hole visualization seemed to be a visual homage to the film Interstellar. On the planet, we got the same sound of the singing plants as was in The Cage. The make-up work on the Talosians takes advantage of the extra $$ The Cage didn’t have. The landscape above ground and the setting below ground is likewise a step up in quality yet still consistent with the feel of the old story. Double hats off to the actors’ work in the scenes between Vina (Melissa George) and Pike (Anson Mount). They really captured the emotions that felt true and honoring of the experience they shared in The Cage and how it would have affected them in the intervening years.

As for the exploration of Spock’s youth, they have drawn upon and expanded upon the animated series episode Yesteryear that established his difficulties as a child. This difficulty was also touched briefly and effectively in one scene in Kelvin-verse Star Trek (2009).

Will be interesting to see how the arc proceeds concurrent with the resolution of the Red Angel plotline. At this point have know idea how that is going to resolve!

#StarTrekDiscovery