Star Trek - Discovery - 3.03: People of Earth

[Dave]

Finally reunited, Burnham and the U.S.S. Discovery crew journey to Earth, eager to learn what happened to the Federation in their absence.

This is a good episode, and possibly the first old-fashioned quintessential Star Trek procedural episode that they have ever done, steering two enemies towards peace and mutual understanding, but I still thought that there were a few odd things in it.

The Federation has left Earth to protect it from Dilithium pirate raiders, but the only pirate raiders that are left are some refugees from Titan, who Earth would have helped if they had ever sat down and talked together. Maybe that quaint viewscreen is not so quaint if it allows conversation. It does, however, look like the Earth defences are a very recent addition. In fact, the "Burn" itself must be recent if it is remembered within the lifetimes of living people. I had got the impression from the first episode that it had happened long ago.

I thought that Burnham and Book (just good friends) left the Bridge very quickly. It was like they knew what was coming before it did - that the United Earth Defence Force would immediately board the Discovery and could beam through their shields - but then, maybe they did know that. Burnham has learned a lot in her year of freedom. I do wonder about what evidence would Ndoye have taken as evidence of them being pirates? A parrot and a skull and crossbones flag? Wasn't hiding a boat load of Dilithium not sufficient evidence?

Last week alt-Georgiou saved the landing party. This week she saves the day again by removing Wen's helmet and doing the Scooby Doo reveal. Clearly, they would be lost without her. More than Burnham, I actually think alt-Georgiou character has made the most change. She wouldn't even acknowledge a Kelpian slave when we first met her, but now she accepts Saru as Captain. I do think they need to sort out the command structure somehow though. Even though they have made Saru Captain, and Burnham says they she will work towards being a good First Officer, we still have the loose canons that are Book and Georgiou, the new Trill symbiote officer, Adira, doing her own thing, and even Stamets can't follow an order when it is given. On the other hand, all Star Trek series since TNG have been made up of an ensemble of dysfunctional characters.

I like that Adira is a Trill symbiote; I think this is the canon they should always have been developing in Star Trek, rather than mining the TOS period and getting bogged down trying to navigate through old Trek lore, but why is she a human host and not a Trill? She is possibly the first ever human host, so was a human host always possible? It makes sense that she picked up on the Spore Drive. Only she, with her historical perspective, could have recognised it as being unusual. I thought Stamets gave a little too much away before he knew who she was though. I expect the Spore Drive is going to be the replacement for Warp Drive and Discovery will save the galaxy again.

Michael told Saru she has checked Terralysium and no one had heard of her mother, so where is Doctor Burnham?

Stamets thinks that "The Burn" could have actually been intentional. My thoughts are that it is more likely a terrorist attack than an industrial accident or natural disaster. However, no one seems to have profited from it, except pirates. No new great power took over from the the UFP and we have yet to see how the Klingons and Romulans fared, but they aren't around anymore.

Is it really feasible that the Starfleet Academy groundskeeper's Elm tree is still standing? Wouldn't it have been felled in a highway construction project to make way for a Vogon intergalactic hyperspace express route? Even less likely is that the Golden Gate Bridge is still standing. The Pyramids of Giza I expect still are. Cake - we can argue about that!

 

[Glaysher]

She is possibly the first ever human host, so was a human host always possible?

Riker was a temporary Trill host so I assume he was the first.

 

[Dave]

Riker was a temporary Trill host so I assume he was the first.

I'd forgot about that, thought I doubt it would have escaped this episode's director.

 

[ctg]

The Federation has left Earth to protect it from Dilithium pirate raiders, but the only pirate raiders that are left are some refugees from Titan, who Earth would have helped if they had ever sat down and talked together. Maybe that quaint viewscreen is not so quaint if it allows conversation. It does, however, look like the Earth defences are a very recent addition. In fact, the "Burn" itself must be recent if it is remembered within the lifetimes of living people. I had got the impression from the first episode that it had happened long ago.

Earth to my knowledge has always been well protected. Back in the day it had orbital platforms, which is strange that it's gone and there's nothing on Moon or outer planets. In fact, it's really strange that there's no active movements at outer planets or in the Belt, because surely they could have replaced damaged, lost materials from those locations, and historically some of the places, like Vesta should have remained active. Especially considering how much water is stored under that rocky exterior.

Thing is the enemy (Titan) vessels didn't seem to be burning plasma to manoeuvrer. Instead they moved must like any other ST vessels, without leaving a heat plume behind. So in that sense space mining should really be a thing, and if they run out Belt material there's always the Kuiper Belt and then whatever they can found from the real deep space.

So, like I noted in the last episode, the subspace communications used to rely on the dilithium crystals and their magic. And for hundred years they've been unable to communicate with each other. Man, what time and a catastrophe can do.

I thought that Burnham and Book (just good friends) left the Bridge very quickly. It was like they knew what was coming before it did - that the United Earth Defence Force would immediately board the Discovery and could beam through their shields - but then, maybe they did know that. Burnham has learned a lot in her year of freedom.

I thought she learned the game when she crashed landed and got played by Book and others. But to me it's clear that they've had deeper social interactions even if both deny anything ever happened. In a year, alone in a starship with a cat. I really doubt they practised social distancing. So, your suspicions are right, there's more to the relationship and the way they acted than they let Discovery crew to know. Just them naming so many encounters and different strategies in about minute makes it sounds like they had plenty of adventures.

She wouldn't even acknowledge a Kelpian slave when we first met her, but now she accepts Saru as Captain.

Well, she's the Empress. So of course she would accept a chauffeur to her drive. They are all there to serve her needs. That's how I see it. Also she might be counting on the fact that the burn didn't happen in the MirrorVerse, and at some point she might get there and come back as the richest person in the universe.

I like that Adira is a Trill symbiote; I think this is the canon they should always have been developing in Star Trek, rather than mining the TOS period and getting bogged down trying to navigate through old Trek lore, but why is she a human host and not a Trill? She is possibly the first ever human host, so was a human host always possible?

The trill that got stranded in Earth might not had access to other Trill hosts. In the DS9 Trills were kind of rare, but not so that they couldn't bring in hosts when needed. So the symbiote had to do what it had to do and human body is now the thing. Even if it's a not a perfect to accessing memories of the other hosts. Frankly I hope it doesn't happen, because it would kill the unique way how Adira works now.

Michael told Saru she has checked Terralysium and no one had heard of her mother, so where is Doctor Burnham?

Dead.

Stamets thinks that "The Burn" could have actually been intentional. My thoughts are that it is more likely a terrorist attack than an industrial accident or natural disaster.

If it was intentional then whoever did it might have access to the major supply or to the alternate technology that makes dilithium obsolete. As an example, think about the SynthGods from last season. They might still be there and they didn't need old school methods travelling space. So, for Earth trying and not figuring a way forward is kind of pathetic.

Is it really feasible that the Starfleet Academy groundskeeper's Elm tree is still standing? Wouldn't it have been felled in a highway construction project to make way for a Vogon intergalactic hyperspace express route? Even less likely is that the Golden Gate Bridge is still standing.

 

[Vladd67]

So Discovery now has its own Wesley Crusher. Let's just hope the Trill symbiote isn't Dax.

 

[REBerg]

This did strongly remind me of old-time Star Trek.
Get a main story resolved, but add a continuing thread or two to tie the episodes together. To me, that's a winning formula.
I was happy to see that Earth wasn't a smoking pile of ruins. I didn't think that the "descendants" of the original crew story was going to hold up for long in a shiny, new, 900-year-old starship. The "museum" comments were amusing.
You know that Booker and Michael are already more than friends, although they're both still denying it. After all, Michael's original Klingon in disguise, is long, long gone -- maybe?

 

[Alexa]

Someone anticipated Narkalui concerns about Michael's hair. I don't remember any movie or series where you can see the hair change as in this episode. Well, I can see it in my mirror every month when I have to take an appointement with my hairdresser.

 

[Narkalui]

If I was a writer on Discovery, I'd be thinking about Kelsey Grammar's cameo in TNG and maybe have another Starfleet ship from, perhaps the 25th century joining them in the future somehow. Or maybe not. Maybe that would be a little deus ex machina...

 

[Dave]

have another Starfleet ship from, perhaps the 25th century joining them in the future somehow

Maybe next Season? I'd like to see them play this out on their own first.

Re: Time Travel
Book said in the first episode that time travel had been outlawed, though how you can prevent something which, in most cases we have seen, was accidental, would be unclear to me. I think that what he meant was end of the "Captain Braxton"-type Starfleet Timeships, patrolling our timeline and keeping our universe on the correct track because he said time travel equipment was destroyed. However, I'm not sure how that would be possible either, as you would have to wipe out all the Timeships as if they never happened, which would then wipe anything they ever changed. Anyway, if something is possible, and a machine can be built, then iit could be built again. We've seen a lot of changes made to the timeline. It is extremely messy with lots of accidents and deliberate changes. We even have three different parallel universes running with the Kelvin timeline and the Mirror Universe. I think Discovery should first check that history is actually written in the same way that they remember it (or as it is in their new Wikipedia). I would guess that it could deviate quite a lot. Also, if time travel is against the rules, does that make Discovery illegal? However, there doesn't seem to be any power remaining to enforce any rules.

 

[ctg]

Also, if time travel is against the rules, does that make Discovery illegal? However, there doesn't seem to be any power remaining to enforce any rules.

Letäs not go there. They reached the future, which is kind of harder to do than going back. They are doing their thing, trying to fix the Federation without knowing where it leads. They, like us, don't have all the pieces for the puzzle.

Michael has been there for a year, Discovery a very short time, and yet it's Discovery that has done more changes, while Michael learned to be secretive. I bet Captain Pike would not have been so kind for them pulling a stunt. Some amount of bollocking would have been in order.

Then again, that's the thing, as I asked earlier what people think about a spaceship crew, and then the answer was professional. Break the chain of command, even if you're an XO and you're going to get shouted and if you're not lucky, court martial and jail-time.

I kind of wish they would be more professional. Discovery is the Last Ship, but nobody ain't saying it. Also nobody haven't checked if the AI made it to the future. Why nobody isn't worried about it?

 

[BAYLOR]

Letäs not go there. They reached the future, which is kind of harder to do than going back. They are doing their thing, trying to fix the Federation without knowing where it leads. They, like us, don't have all the pieces for the puzzle.

Michael has been there for a year, Discovery a very short time, and yet it's Discovery that has done more changes, while Michael learned to be secretive. I bet Captain Pike would not have been so kind for them pulling a stunt. Some amount of bollocking would have been in order.

Then again, that's the thing, as I asked earlier what people think about a spaceship crew, and then the answer was professional. Break the chain of command, even if you're an XO and you're going to get shouted and if you're not lucky, court martial and jail-time.

I kind of wish they would be more professional. Discovery is the Last Ship, but nobody ain't saying it. Also nobody haven't checked if the AI made it to the future. Why nobody isn't worried about it?

Do you suppose that in that future, some incarnation of the Enterprise might exist ?

 

[ctg]

Do you suppose that in that future, some incarnation of the Enterprise might exist ?

Absolutely. Some should be in a museum.

 

[Alexa]

So far this future looks very much in a survival mode. Whatever caused "The Burn", it didn't spare anyone.

 

[Dave]

We learned this week that when the Dilithium no longer worked it could not keep the matter-antimatter reactions stable, that are at the heart of a starship's Warp Drive. Every ship with it's engines operating would have suddenly gone "poof!" This explains the all starship debris in orbit. Discovery also used their not having been at Warp as an excuse for having survived, which appeared to be a feasible excuse. Their other story about being the descendants of the original crew was less believable once the age of Discovery was determined.

 

[ctg]

Despite landing in a future in which the Federation’s influence has been greatly diminished, Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 is shaping up to be far less dark and dystopic than many predicted. In Episode 3, “People of Earth,” the USS Discovery visited the home planet of the Federation, and although that visit was a mixed bag, things did end on a very hopeful note—one that is even more hopeful when you understand the canon significance of a certain giant tree. Here’s why that big tree on the grounds of Starfleet Academy is likely a reference to old stories told by Captain Jean-Luc Picard in The Next Generation...

Star Trek: Discovery’s Giant Starfleet Tree Has a Picard Connection | Den of Geek

If you thought that giant tree that Tilly hugged in Star Trek: Discovery seemed random, then you haven’t been listening to Picard’s old academy stories.

www.denofgeek.com

 

[Dave]

Google says that American Elm trees live for 300 years. The oldest English Elms are about 400 years old. I think it is very unlikely that the tree Picard carved his initials into still survives, but that was quite obviously the intention of the story. Spin it anyway you like, but it is a mistake.

I had forgotten that the Golden Gate Bridge was destroyed during the Dominion War. Yes, it could be rebuilt again. I'd ask you why, but then you'd say Shakespeare's Globe, numerous old castles, the Royal Exchange in London, even the White House in Washington was rebuilt after the British burnt it down.

 

[ctg]

I'd ask you why, but then you'd say Shakespeare's Globe, numerous old castles, the Royal Exchange in London, even the White House in Washington was rebuilt after the British burnt it down.

I think we have only one view of London and that's in the Kelvin timeline. It was super futuristic looking, just like San Francisco.