Really thoughtful read. I especially appreciated this

The term woke originally meant something quite simple: Being awake to injustice. However, in recent years, it has undergone a remarkable semantic inversion. For some critics, woke has become shorthand for any narrative that asks viewers to empathize with someone outside their tribe.

This is why stories about immigration policy, systemic injustice, or forgiveness trigger such strong reactions. They are perceived not as entertainment but as ideological intrusion. They become “the enemy.”

Edit: also this, meant only as a jest 🖖 :

Incredibly well done episode. Not sure others have mentioned these, but I really really liked these things in particular:

• Reno has great presence and delivery. And the sharpest uniform.
• I’m glad the announcer from Children’s Hospital fell through an anomaly and arrived in Starfleet Academy.
• English graffiti and open flames everywhere! J/k how could they get everything else so right but then fumble this so poorly. You’re telling me the venari ral are space romans, but not romulans?

A great first season, I feel like they know what they’re doing and I want more.

I was kind of bummed by the explanation of why Discovery couldn’t jump with the spore drive

I loved this episode and the season in general , but I must disagree.

I felt like they respected their audience too much to leave us with freezer thoughts like “what about disco’s magic mushroom warp?”

They are in the middle of — it’s not just drinking from one firehose, there’s probably ten thousand hoses. And so everything is just happening slower as a result of this massive time of transition. And that is not exclusive to Star Trek.

As a corporate drone I see this as an absolute win.

The odds are near their highest that Academy will be rubberstamped simply because it passes a triage check and they’re too busy to bikeshed the details.

At the bar celebrating his new commission aboard Voyager he met an ensign named Mariner.

This was an problem that Picard showrunner Terry Matalas ran into when he pitched his Star Trek: Legacy spinoff series set on board the USS-Enterprise-G (formerly USS Titan), as all of those sets were destroyed immediately after Picard season 3 wrapped up, adding significant startup costs to recreate everything for a new show.

Ah so that’s why that sets are relevant. No sets no spinoff.

I really thought attributing the line to Denethor would be thing that annoys people haha

He’s been meaning to ask her why her uniform is a catsuit made of office carpet.

Private Lee Lemon may well be the finest recruit I’ve seen in all my years of service. That young man fills me with hope and some other emotions that are weird and deeply confusing to me.

Alpha male Zapp Brannigan

me: Now when it comes to Ferengi-centric episodes of DS9, Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places, while good, doesn’t hold a candle to subversive gems like House of Quark (which actually preceded this episode), Bar Association, and Little Green Men.

them: shutup shutup shutup!

However, is it only Brakka who is responsible for the con, or is and has Anisha Mir been part of a long con of both Ake and her son from the start?

I like where you’re going. My own hunch is we’ll learn that Anisha (at Nus’ behest after he rediscovered Caleb) agreed to embed malicious code in her encrypted messages to Caleb (and that she only begrudgingly agreed because she lost hope he would read them) and that’s how Nus will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat from Capt. Ake at the very last moment, that he actually won the moment Caleb opened that first message from his Mom.

Probably not exactly that, but something along the lines of discovering that Nus has always been 2 steps ahead.

90s Trek was fantastic and did a great job handing off to each other. Even Voyager being stranded was still moving the world forward. Then we reset back to the first Enterprise, absolutely killing all the momentum.

The best thing Discovery ever did (apart from soft launching Strange New Worlds which got lucky) was launch us into the far future and give us a place to build.

I feel this is a powerful argument against prequels in general, not just for star trek.

Like, I cant help but think you’re right. The latter half of disco did indeed move the setting to a place where Academy can pick up and it seems like it’s working.

We have to accept that Star Trek is almost like scifi’s version of the Simpsons. It’s done everything.

¡Ay, Dios no me ama!

Nowadays, especially nowadays, I’m just grateful that the optimistic spirit/energy of star trek is having a next next generation of its own. I’m here for it. Mostly (sorry disco).

Which imaginary treknologies strike you as the most scientifically sound?

For me it’s the replicator turning shit into food, but everything may as well be magic.

Not sure how that makes it science based…

Just barely, but isn’t that normal for treknobabble to be ripped from science headlines?

Yes and no.

Instant FTL? No.

Science-based? Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stamets

The movie has personality to spare, taking full advantage of its Vietnam-era setting, from the character archetypes in play to the musical choices.

Skull Island is a masterpiece in subverting soldier tropes. I giant middle finger to the generic GI Joe character we got in Godzilla.

Every heroic last stand is easily swatted by the monsters and we get Sam Jackson as Ahab leading them all to their deaths. I don’t think they ever glorify the soldiers in the entire movie, which was fucking refreshing.

I just want to tell you how much I liked the episode that explored Klingon honor and how that hunting scene kept being recontextualized.

The show reminds me of Lower Decks in that it’s different but it’s the same. Cant wait to see more.