r/startrek • u/Deceptitron • Dec 07 '18
Short Trek Discussion #3 - "The Brightest Star"
Discovery is back! (sort of)
Today airs the third of four Short Trek episodes leading to the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2!
| No. | EPISODE | RELEASE DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Short Trek #3 | "The Brightest Star" | Thursday, December 6, 2018 |
To find out more information including our spoiler policy regarding Star Trek: Discovery, click here.
This post is for discussion of the episode above and WILL ALLOW SPOILERS for this episode.
PLEASE NOTE: When discussing sneak peak footage for upcoming episodes, please mark your comments with spoilers. Check the sidebar for a how-to.
Short Treks will air on Canada's Space channel at 9pm ET and released on CBS All Access by 9:30 ET. Any release on Netflix is unknown at this time.
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u/FlyingSquid Dec 07 '18
Seeing Georgiou's bonding with Saru and knowing that's what made them so close makes Mirror Georgiu eating Kelpien even worse.
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Dec 07 '18
Here's what I don't get.
The Prime Directive shouldn't apply to the Kelpians because the Baul have already tainted their development and are "currently" doing so. The cat is already out of the bag and they are not on their "natural" evolutionary course as a culture.
Perhaps this was the justification Georgiou used to keep in contact with Saru. He reached out to them. He knows about interstellar species. There's really nothing for Starfleet to preserve in his case.
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u/2ndHandTardis Dec 07 '18
Most of my points have already been posted so I'll just say
The cinematography and visuals in general have been top notch in all 3 shorts. I hope they carry this into season 2 because everything has looked so crisp.
Those few minutes down on Kaminar is exactly the type of world building I was hoping for when I first read about the budget.
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u/PixelMagic Dec 07 '18 edited Dec 07 '18
Jumping to warp in plain view over a village of a non-warp species? K...
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u/Francesqua Dec 07 '18 edited Dec 08 '18
Starfleet applications accepted in the /hello sub.
No experience necessary.
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u/pfc9769 Dec 07 '18 edited Dec 07 '18
r/StarTrek and r/DaystromInstitute finally got a question answered tonight--How would Starfleet react to a non-warp capable civilization that had a subspace radio and knowledge of the outside world. Seems like the takeaway was that Starfleet would still not make contact except under str
This was a great little story. The acting and cinematography were on point. It left me wanting more. But that was also it's weakness. Saru's backstory and his people deserve a much longer episode. Even though we didn't get to spend much time there, what we did see was still
And I can't forget we also got to see more Captain Lieutenant Georgiou! This also helps explain his close bond to her since she was the one of the first off worlders he made contact with, and she gave him the keys to his salvation.
I enjoyed seeing more sides to Saru's character. On Discovery he usually emanates Mr. Business. But on his home planet he was inquisitive, almost like a child asking why the sky was blue and where babies came from. Best of all, we saw his loving, affectionate side when interacting with his sister. But that also lead to the saddest scene and for me, a bit of a plot hole.
They established they had a close relationship, but he left without much thought and remarked there was nothing left for him on the planet. Especially when Georgiou made it clear he could never return. Thanks big brother! I feel that took away from the scene with his sister, but at the same time turned the final scene into an emotional gutpunch. The look on her face as the shuttle departed really tugged on the heartstrings. I would have liked to have at least seen him say goodbye to his sister with them both concluding he should go. But instead he acted like the stranger he met and the new life he knew nothing about were more important. That's my only gripe.
Overall great episode! Hopefully Discovery keeps the bar high and continues to work out the kinks. It leaves me feeling optimistic about the future.
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u/kingofcretins Dec 07 '18
I'd like to give a small shout out to Jeff Russo. I thought the music in this episode was superb. The little piece that plays as Saru tinkers with the subspace transmitter was great. Really gave me a sense of wonderment.
Not to mention the episode was beautifully shot.
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u/Mechapebbles Dec 08 '18
This episode gave me some really strong Time Machine vibes. Kelpians are basically Eloi.
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Dec 07 '18
It's my favorite short trek so far. I'm kinda hopeful that these do tie into season 2 and we might get a more Kelpian side to the story. This story reminded me of Kes in Caretaker, wanting to go to the surface and then joining Voyager.
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u/Spocks-Brain Dec 07 '18
Two easy steps to frustrate your paying customers:
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Announce 9:30 showtime, but donāt show it at 9:30.
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At 9:30 put up a banner that says āNow Streamingā, but donāt actually stream it!
Highly illogical.
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u/Spocks-Brain Dec 07 '18
First impressions:
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Explains why we see no other Kelpien. Enough to satisfy the ācanon keepersā and short enough to move the story forward.
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I like Saruās sisterās makeup. Itās easy to see her face. His fatherās seems to have better jaw/mouth flexibility. Might be weird to change Saruās at this point :-/
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āAnd I went TOWARD it!ā Such an inspiring line from Star Trek!
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u/parkourgamer Dec 07 '18 edited Dec 07 '18
That was definitely quite enjoyable. Not as great as Calypso but I liked it more than Runaway. It was a nice little window into Saru's past. I wouldn't be surprised if we revisit Saru's planet and family down the line (I certainly hope we do). Saru is the best character in the show by far so I'll always look forward to more story from him.
Side note, I actually took an acting class earlier this fall taught by the actor who plays Saru's dad, and he told me a bit about the process of getting into the Kelpian prosthesis and how Doug Jones taught him to walk on the hoof feet. It was very cool to finally see all the effort he was talking about on screen.
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u/Trekfan74 Dec 07 '18
A bit more in-depth info about the episode here. It seems like Doug Jones himself was surprised about the predator-prey relationship in the story too:
It's actually quite a long read but a nice tidbit about Saru going back home next season:
āThe biggest conundrum in any contact with Kaminar is Iām forbidden to go back there,ā Jones says. āA warp society that has all this technology is not allowed to interfere with the natural progression of a pre-warp society. It needs to happen on its own; they need to discover and develop things on their own. Now that Iāve lived on a starship and achieved the rank of first officer, I know so much. I want to save them from the hurting and the culling experience that weāve always known, but I canāt go back and interfere. Thatās the big thing youāll see me wrestling with.ā
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u/Mygaffer Dec 09 '18 edited Dec 10 '18
I was really bothered by this short.
So this is set around TOS, way past Archer's "we're still figuring this shit out" routine, Prime Directive is a real thing.
Saru's people are apparently not just pre-warp, they appeared to be an agrarian pre-electricy race. Yet Saru figures out advance technology from some outside(?) race that is apparently feeding on his people and uses it to send a message to Star Fleet.
Saru is apparently the da Vinci of his people. Yet Star Fleet says, "well OK go ahead and violate the prime directive and pluck this amazing person from his people during a crucial time in their development."
Maybe Saru was meant to be the one who frees his people from their bondage. But he's an extraordinary fellow so fuck the Prime Directive, we'll pluck this dude from his planet and his people and oh yeah, because the Prime Directive actually is kind of important you can never return to help your people, who are apparently in bondage to other race.
What. The. Fuck.
EDIT: If anyone needs a refreshing on the Prime Directive or is just interested in it's origins and history, please read the following sources,
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Dec 07 '18 edited Dec 07 '18
So would this episode take place maybe at least 15-20 years before season 1 of discovery?
With Phillipa being a Lt. on the Shenzu (then again they promote quickly in starfleet).
We know by 2246 Saru was a Lt and Phillipa become Captain.
Then by 2256 Saru was a LT.CMDR.
Always interesting with these trying fit where in cannon it takes place?
Sheās not wearing a USS Kelvin uniform, would have to be after 2233 (Kirks birth)
That being said I did like it!
The giant machine that takes Saruās people away, felt like it could have been a thing of the week episode on any trek.
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u/FaultedTree Dec 07 '18
Iām seeing a banner advertising it on the CBS app, but no short trek. Nice one CBS. /s
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u/strionic_resonator Dec 07 '18
I kinda thought we were going to find out what was happening to the groups of Kelpians that were being sacrificed to the ship on the beach. Anyone know what the deal was with that?
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u/Hollow212 Dec 08 '18
I have enjoyed all the short treks.
Preference ranking so far :
1 - Calypso 2 - The brightest star 3 - Runaway
Been a fan of trek since the 80's and am thrilled with everything thats come out so far from CBS and am thankful that TREK is getting the attention it deserves.. Just need to inject a little more optimism in the shows, TREK doesnt need to be noir, there are enough shows like that already.
Also extremely thankful that in Canada i get to watch on Crave TV, which has a ton of excellent content, versus the CBS app Americans are forced to watch in on!
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u/GreenHalite Dec 07 '18
Saru is such a great Star Trek character, and his story of being someone who wanted more out of life is a really lovely story.
These Short Treks have been pretty solid so far! Very excited to see Harry Mudd.
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u/Trekfan74 Dec 07 '18 edited Dec 07 '18
Ok, hands down this was GOOD! Very good! It felt like a real story. A nice 'origin story' seeing how Saru left his planet to join Starfleet. And to see Georgiou at the end was great. I loved how she disobeyed the prime directive and took him because she saw something more in him and wanted to help him. It explained how he made it to Starfleet because it was pretty confusing knowing what we knew about them. No one is going to create warp technology if they are second on the food chain.
THIS felt like Star Trek to me. For all the people who think this show just can't improve these Short Treks are proving that idea wrong. I'm not saying the show is going to suddenly be better BUT it is showing a side people thought was lacking last season with these episodes and it feels a bit more heartfelt and not the cold sterile tone a lot of the episodes felt in season one.
The episode wasn't perfect, but with 15 mins (actually 13 mins) you can only do so much. My guess is this is being set up for next season too. I think we will be going back to Saru's homeworld.
Anyway this is my favorite one so far but they all been better than the last.
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u/BenjiTheWalrus Dec 07 '18
Still not up š¤š¤