Star Trek - Discovery - 1.04: The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry

[Dave]

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To be shown first 10/8/17 (Su.) 8:30 PM CBSAA

 

[Cathbad]

oops

 

[Dave]

oops

It wasn't quite that bad??

Burnham begins her new assignment as an unranked member of the crew just as the Klingons launch on attack on a strategic Dilithium mining planet and Discovery is the only Starfleet ship that can get there in time... but only if they get their "spore drive" to work. The first attempt doesn't end too well.

I'm still not sold on the "spore drive" idea:

Spoiler

Two things:

The critical, but missing component, to their working spore drive is a macroscopic tardigrade (named "Ripper") that feeds on the spores and can communicate with them, serving as a living navigational computer. Apparently, the tardigrade acts as a supercomputer and can store millions of addresses inside its brain. Who knew that tardigrades were intelligent?

Also, the unusual design of the Discovery's saucer section is due to the rings counter-rotating as part of the spore drive working. So, presumably whoever designed the ship was aware of how a working spore drive would operate. That is why they designed the counter-rotating ring, and the navigation room with the cubicle for the tardigrade, and large enough to hold the magic mushrooms. Why couldn't they have just asked the ship designer how it worked?

Apart from that, there was a lot else going on. Lots of character development. We know much more about what motivates Lorca and his management style. We see that anyone on the crew can die. More about what motivates the Klingons. There was even a Klingon love story going on.

 

[Cathbad]

It wasn't quite that bad??

LOL I accidently put a post here instead of episode 3.

I liked the 4th episode, but I, too, am still not sold on spore-travel.

Our roommates seem to getting more chummy, and Red's look at Michael made me wonder if they were going to try to add a bit of lesbianism to the storyline?

Ripper's special quality seemed just a little too convenient. And I couldn't follow the logic from: "Hey, look! Ripper eats the spores!" to "Hey, look! Ripper can communicate to the spores!" to "Hey, look! Ripper can hold a gazillion bytes of info and tell the spores where to send the ship!"

Other aspects of the show intrigue me to no end! I love this "unlikeable" Captain, and everything we're learning about Michael. And the Klingons! I love where they're going with them!

Although this episode left me a little "meh", I find myself anxious for episode 5!

 

[Vince W]

A pretty good episode. Lorcas bringing Burnham to his 'war lab' shows he's not afraid of the consequences of having her on board.

I agree about the Ripper angle, and the fact that Burnham made friends with it so quickly means she's going to win the trust of the crew, probably over Lorcas and inciting yet another mutiny later on. Well, maybe not mutiny, but she'll definitely have to take command of Discovery by the end.

 

[Alexa]

Ripper makes me associate it with whales and phytoplankton. I had pity of the poor beast. Michael was the only one to understand it. She may take the role of 2nd in command sooner than later.

 

[Cli-Fi]

LOL I accidently put a post here instead of episode 3.

I liked the 4th episode, but I, too, am still not sold on spore-travel.

Our roommates seem to getting more chummy, and Red's look at Michael made me wonder if they were going to try to add a bit of lesbianism to the storyline?

Ripper's special quality seemed just a little too convenient. And I couldn't follow the logic from: "Hey, look! Ripper eats the spores!" to "Hey, look! Ripper can communicate to the spores!" to "Hey, look! Ripper can hold a gazillion bytes of info and tell the spores where to send the ship!"

Other aspects of the show intrigue me to no end! I love this "unlikeable" Captain, and everything we're learning about Michael. And the Klingons! I love where they're going with them!

Although this episode left me a little "meh", I find myself anxious for episode 5!

This one was a little predictable. Odd seeing Saru not trying to help Burnham but I sort of understand how he could feel getting used by her every single time, though that could also be apart of his species genetics. I took the Ripper controlling the spores aspect of the episode as the other crew already figured how Spore Travel works, which is what they were saying, and that all Discovery needed was to figure out that it was Ripper who was the computer. It would have been better if the other ship's database had the charts instead of the alien creature, but that's star trek for ya. Some intelligent life forms are not humanoids.

 

[farntfar]

Much the same thoughts as others. The progression from Ripper likes spores to Ripper has a map in his head and can take us where we want, was rather fast.
Still Newton and an apple, Fleming and cat milk, God and seven days. It all gets shorter in the telling.

What I really don't like though, are the Klingon shoulder ridges. They remind me too much of the insect Ningi (or whatever) in Enterprise, or the baddy in Galaxy Quest.

Otherwise it appears to be moving along nicely and has some interesting possibilities.

 

[Bugg]

I quite enjoyed this one, although it still feels very uneven. I liked the fact that Michael looked past using the Ripper as a weapon to try and find its true nature - that was the first thing she's done that felt properly 'Trek' to me, even if the outcome was convenient. The telescope was a nice touch. I'm liking Lorca and Saru but the other crew members are leaving me cold at the moment - they seem to be quirky just for the sake of being quirky, and the decision to have the security chief let the Ripper out like that makes me wonder if the writers are deliberately trying to insult the viewer's intelligence.

I'm still not sure about the spore drive: going by the Ripper's obvious distress - and Michael's subsequent apology - will using them in that way be forbidden?

 

[Vince W]

Did anyone else think that Ripper is not very unlike a Guild Navigator? The spice spores must flow.

 

[Cathbad]

going by the Ripper's obvious distress - and Michael's subsequent apology - will using them in that way be forbidden?

I have been wondering about this. How/Why was it distressing for Ripper?? He already communicates with them. How does putting a navigational star chart in his head to be read by the spores affect him any differently?

("putting a navigational star chart in his head to be read by the spores" <-- Just look at that. Would those group of words make any sense without having watched ST? Or even if you have?)

(Yeah... Though I love most of this new series, the more I ponder the spores, the less I'm keen on this aspect.)

 

[farntfar]

It seems to me that the problem that Ripper solves is communicating the destination to a very large number of spores at the same time, not mapping the coordinates.

When Lorcas first showed Burnham the spores last week he seemed quite capable of sending her to 4 different places (of which 1 was Andoria I think, but I can't remember the rest) himself; or with the ships computer. But he was moving 1 person, not the whole ship.
So the difficulty seems to me to be a question of scale or coordination rather than mapping.

It's not surprising then that Ripper finds it physically draining.

 

[Cathbad]

It seems to me that the problem that Ripper solves is communicating the destination to a very large number of spores at the same time, not mapping the coordinates.

When Lorcas first showed Burnham the spores last week he seemed quite capable of sending her to 4 different places (of which 1 was Andoria I think, but I can't remember the rest) himself; or with the ships computer. But he was moving 1 person, not the whole ship.
So the difficulty seems to me to be a question of scale or coordination rather than mapping.

It's not surprising then that Ripper finds it physically draining.

I'm not so sure. This would imply that Ripper was doing the moving of people/things, rather than the spores. Unless communication itself drains him?

And isn't it a bit odd that he converses with his food?

 

[Vince W]

I have an idea that it isn't actually the spores that connect the universe, but they grow/collect along lines where the connections take place, so Ripper would naturally know the paths of where it's primary foodstuff is located, migrating as the spores grow and diminish, thus its mind is a neural map of these paths.

The thing is that Ripper should only 'know' a small portion of the map so Discovery is going to need more Rippers to travel further and further.

 

[Dave]

The AfterTrek programme that follows the show on Netflix had lots of questions about spores. The two producers who were on said that there is lots about how the spore drive works in next weeks episode and didn't say more because that would be spoiling. I know we like to discuss and speculate and dissect these things, but I think maybe we should put this subject on hold until after next week?

 

[Cathbad]

The AfterTrek programme that follows the show on Netflix had lots of questions about spores. The two producers who were on said that there is lots about how the spore drive works in next weeks episode and didn't say more because that would be spoiling. I know we like to discuss and speculate and dissect these things, but I think maybe we should put this subject on hold until after next week?

Well, ok.... but I'm no waiting patiently!

 

[ctg]

I cannot believe that nobody has mentioned that the Klingon's ate Michael's former captain. I love the direction they're taking on this iconic species, but I don't like the fact that they seem to be just raiders, when it comes to planetary operations. How come they don't have motherships on orbit for all those ground forces or even screeners above the atmosphere to rebel in coming rescue party? Are they strategically incapable of thinking these things or some other thing, because that planet could have won them major victories with the starfleet grinding to halt, because no fuel to burn in their ships?

 

[Dave]

I cannot believe that nobody has mentioned that the Klingon's ate Michael's former captain.

This wasn't the first mention of it. We discussed it briefly in an earlier episode thread. I'm not sure what more is there to say about it? Does it go well with a glass of Blood Wine? How well done should the liver be grilled? Who gets to eat the eyeballs?

 

[Cathbad]

This wasn't the first mention of it. We discussed it briefly in an earlier episode thread. I'm not sure what more is there to say about it? Does it go well with a glass of Blood Wine? How well done should the liver be grilled? Who gets to eat the eyeballs?

First cut goes to the star hunter (or in this case, the battle hero). After that, it is an heirchal order for serving.

 

[Amelia Faulkner]

the decision to have the security chief let the Ripper out like that makes me wonder if the writers are deliberately trying to insult the viewer's intelligence.

To me it felt quite like 1970's Doctor Who, where rash military action usually went poorly, whereas curiosity and scientific method were rewarded with success.

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