Context Is For Kings

DVD, Star Trek: Discovery S1 (Context Is For Kings)

I find myself in the strange position of not having so much to say on this one. We finally discover the USS Discovery, perhaps named for its discovery of a special new way of 'organic' propulsion, and we finally meet most of the main cast. But it was very much a setup, you could almost say a filler episode, or a bottle show as they used to be called, where everything takes place on the ship or the standing sets, notwithstanding that they take a trip to the USS Glenn, Discovery's sister ship (named for the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth, and seen in the 'Enterprise' opening credits?), for a spot of creeping down dark corridors. Usually this works wonders, I always love a good atmospheric creep around an abandoned spaceship, but for whatever reason there was very little atmosphere (beyond the one they were breathing). I don't see it as a good move to show the same kind of starship as the one you're introducing as your title vessel in the very episode in which you introduce it, it makes it seem less special, just one of many, who knows the number of these class created (for that matter we don't yet know its class within the series). I understand why they did it, hoping to set up some dramatic effect by showing what could happen if this new technology went wrong, but did they pull it off at the expense of the USS Discovery being something unique?

Whatever, the episode is treading water, the price of serialised TV where you have to introduce all the pieces before you can take them somewhere. Not that they don't go anywhere, and this must mark the first time we see a Federation ship go to warp when the shuttle heads off to explore the Glenn - we still get the stretch effect, but it's much quicker, with less time to enjoy the look of it, and we still have yet to see a starship's warp, I think, except for the internal view where, for some bizarre reason, the stars all bubble up instead of going straight. And the Discovery is yet another ship blighted with a window for a viewscreen! Another thing that bothered me, beyond the usual negative impression I have of things being far too advanced and technologically superior to ships even later than this era, was how negative all the characters were. This is Starfleet! 'DS9' is my favourite series and it began with a lot of animosity and negativity, growing into the best Trek series ever made, so it's possible things could turn around, but they had seven years in which to smooth things over, whereas we already know things are going to change by Season 2, so how many people will still be part of the crew is up in the air. Cadet Tilly is irritating. Lieutenant Stamets irritable. Captain Lorca plausible, but not as mysterious as he claims to hope he seems. Landry you can't trust if you've seen 'Battlestar Galactica' because Rekha Sharma played a bad'un in that, and she remains quite distant in this episode. It's good to see Saru again, and I still like his honest appraisals, even if he sees everything coloured with his native obsession with fear (I assume his 'hackles' were rising when the shuttle left as if he sensed danger was still aboard, which is how he views Michael).

Something I did like was Tilly drawing attention to Michael's name being uncommon for a female, something which sent out a discordant ripple as soon as the name was announced. I also liked seeing what appeared to be a Gorn skeleton in Lorca's House of Horrors or whatever that secret room is where he's collected a motley exhibition of alien life - was that a Cardassian vole on the desk? I'd love it if it were so, but we don't get a good view of the place. Sometimes not having a good view is a boon, however, as in the grisly, torn up remains of the Glenn's crew, our first example of the more gruesome potential for a streaming series, that look like something out of the Delphic Expanse. Maybe the same physics are being used as in that weird place? I didn't get many references to other Trek this time, though the Zee-Magnees prize mentioned by Lieutenant Stamets' doomed friend, rang a bell (it was awarded to Daystrom in 'TOS'). The first 'redshirt' gets killed on the mission. There are storage lockers on the wall like in the 24th Century series'. Burnham wears an almost 'TOS' gold uniform as prison garb, with what looked like the correct badge - I'd already seen this from images so it wasn't a surprise. I care about little details, though, and greatly appreciated the coloured disks sticking out of the consoles, one of which Stamets hands over to Burnham - it was like a cross between the single slab of coloured disk used in 'TOS,' but with an update to the visible circuitry of isolinear chips of the 'TNG' era. That's the perfect example of how to be true to a time period while also updating with more detail and texture. Why couldn't they do that for the rest of the ship, uniform, and tech?

Stamets is probably the grumpiest member of the crew, but they looked like a surly bunch the way they were staring at Burnham as the infamous mutineer, supposedly Starfleet's first ever, which seems unlikely! Her fellow criminals attacking was just the excuse for some violence in the manner of the bar fight in 'Star Trek XI.' But lest we forget, lack of acceptance was something seen before: even in the 24th Century Tom Paris gets a frosty reception upon accepting Janeway's assignment to Voyager. Now that I think about it, Burnham's position is very similar, with both convicted of a serious crime, both having expertise in a given field that the Captain of a new, experimental vessel wants for a specific mission. I enjoy spotting the parallels, I only hope this series can live up to such greatness as 'Voyager,' though any time there's a reference to that series I think of Kirsten Beyer's involvement. Who else would get a reference to a one-off Delta Quadrant world in? So far I don't see evidence of the kind of quality 'Voyager' had, and I'm surprised to say that I don't even like this series as much as 'Stargate Universe' so far, although if I think back I wasn't initially impressed with that series and it took a while for the characters to settle down and grow into likeable people you want to see each episode, so I'm still trying not to judge 'DSC' too harshly.

Take the Gorn skeleton, for example: it shows that they can do things that look right if they choose to, and if they ever did an actual Gorn it gives me hope they'd do it as it was in 'TOS,' at least in structure, unlike the elongated version spied in 'Enterprise' which was a sorry example of CGI. And deftly joining the dots: 'sorry example of CGI' is exactly what comes to mind when I think of the monster aboard the Glenn which has taken out a visiting Klingon party (what happened to their ship, that's what I want to know?). It reminded me of the awful creatures in 'Star Wars Episode VII' which chased Harrison Ford and pirates around a ship. At least they had the sense to cover it in darkness so you couldn't see it well, but that whole sequence just annoyed me. Landry cries for them to run, but why not try Phasers first? I still hate, hate, hate, haaaaaate the fact that Phasers fire tiny bolts, it's really a sorry state of affairs (though we do at least get one measly beam when Landry blasts through the door to escape, a small consolation), as it would have been so cool to see the room light up as multiple Phaser beams converged on the creature's hide. Momentarily it was fun to realise Burnham was crawling down a Jefferies Tube, but irritating that she burbles on to herself, quoting a passage from 'Alice in Wonderland' - not that it's bad to have literary references, I'll take that over more contemporary examples as John Lennon and The Beatles, something Trek just didn't do, it doesn't sit right, having the wrong tone, jarring. I didn't get why Tilly was so surprised to see a book, Captain Georgiou appeared to have shelves of them in her Ready Room, although they could be rare, I suppose.

So far the new propulsion doesn't quite make sense to me - is it some kind of transwarp, or opening of a wormhole? It was all a bit airy-fairy, not that I mind having to accept some made up tech as Trek was good at that, and it was pleasing to hear a bit of technobabble, something they tended to avoid in the Kelvin films. But what was the booth all about - I know there's time travel involved, but how would this booth take someone to different worlds like that (and I wanted to see those worlds they were spinning round, but it was almost blink and you miss them). Among the planets Lorca mentioned was Romulus, but he shouldn't know anything about what that place looks like or he'd know what Romulans look like! Only a minor inconsistency, but it stood out. But he also talks of Ilari, which, as I said before, is a Delta Quadrant world discovered by Voyager, so if he can go anywhere in the galaxy, why not Romulus as well? Andorians continue to be name-checked every episode (this time we hear of the moons of Andoria), and I'm looking forward to actually seeing them, a nice link to 'Enterprise' which was the only series to use them properly. I wondered if the obelisk we catch a glimpse of in this sequence was from the planet Kirk lives on in 'The Paradise Syndrome' - it's obviously meant to be one of the Preservers' asteroid deflectors, but it could be another planet.

Lorca's Ready Room was different. Featuring a cooing Tribble (now I really want to see the effect it has on a Klingon - one way of getting round them being altered to disguise themselves as human, was letting a Tribble near them, which will emit a worried chirping, how Arne Darvin was unmasked in 'The Trouble With Tribbles,' which could just turn out to be pertinent…), Lorca has a standing desk, making him seem more authoritative, which is at odds with his relaxed attitude - I found it bizarre both and First Officer Saru like snacks! Lorca has a bowl of fortune cookies, while Saru wanders the ship stuffing himself with blueberries from a glass bowl. It's not something to nitpick about or claim the integrity of Trek has suffered, I just found it weirdly informal. But there's a lot that's different about this particular ship, with the new, 'Black Alert' adding to the canon already established for Red Alert (danger, full readiness), Yellow Alert (caution, increased readiness), and Blue Alert (ship landing, from 'Voyager'). Not to mention the origins of it all, 'Tactical Alert' (originally designated jokingly 'Reed Alert' since Lieutenant Reed of 'Enterprise' first devised it). Will we ever see Green Alert? Purple? Orange? It was never actually explained what Black Alert meant except for weird stuff happening. I wonder if it ties in to Section 31 because they always wore black. As soon as they called attention to a guard's black Starfleet badge I thought 31 were on the agenda (especially as Bryan Fuller said they were going to be part of the season), but I can't imagine a member of 31 having a special badge. The whole point was that they were an invisible organisation no one knew about, so I hope they keep it that way and don't undermine the great stuff done in 'DS9.'

Good to see they aren't using Replicators, but have 'synthesisers,' which could be the same as the food slots, something never fully explained on 'TOS,' but clearly inferior to the later technology. Burnham gets a new uniform through the synthesiser, but it's not made clear how it works. Nice to see the canon being respected, while also having the ability to show things not seen visually in 'TOS,' like when the shuttlecraft comes through the forcefield to Discovery. I could have done with a shuttle closer to the look of the Galileo 7, but this is still a good few years prior to that series (six months after the events of the first two episodes), and we even get a heavily shortened spin round the Discovery in some small way paying tribute to 'The Motion Picture,' though sadly no one would have the patience for a proper regal flyby showing off the ship in all its glory nowadays, I suspect, not that any TV series really went in for that. The shuttlebay was big like 'TNG,' but also had the windows along the top which really gave it a 'TOS' feel. I still don't get all the mechanical augmentation of crewmembers, of which we see several, making them look almost Borg-like, including Keyla, one of the crew from Shenzhou. But the Engine Room gave the impression of being horizontal, which is true to the period, as both 'Enterprise' and 'TOS' featured that orientation.

There really isn't much else to say about the episode, it's one of those that doesn't have much story, the trouble with serials where you have to keep setting up to pay off rather than having a proper story and satisfaction at its resolution. I will say that I liked the principled nature displayed by Burnham, regretting her actions and wanting to live out her sentence. But Lorca was right, she does have much to offer so perhaps it's good for her to be co-opted onto the crew so she can help end what she started, a way for resolution and redemption, though it's obvious his motives aren't pure by the suspicious way he acts, especially with Landry. Again, nothing against him, but he didn't immediately impress me with his presence, nor the ship with its environment. I'm still hopeful there'll be some good episodes along the way, but my expectations aren't high based on what I've seen. It needs to do more than throw out references to other Trek to get me aboard, but I'm still open to seeing what they do across the season. All that's left is to say, 'Hello to Jason Isaacs!'

**

The Body Snatchers

DVD, The Champions (The Body Snatchers)

Like no other episode this feels very much like a James Bond film, and not just for the prominent role Bernard Lee plays as villain Squires - it's in the mould of the old-time Bond films with evil technology, a group of similarly attired henchmen surrounding the villain's 'base,' and a hard edge to the villain himself, a cruel streak of vicious pleasure in killing and suffering. It's also got that Bond feel because Richard is called in by an old contact, Felix Leiter, I mean Frank Nicholls, and when he went into that old shed near the chapel I half-expected the whole thing to descend into the cavernous environs of a secret scientific establishment. Add to this the far from uncommon use of a grand old house for much of the action, and Bond, I mean Barrett, acting mostly alone, dodging machine gun fire and taking on multiple opponents at a time, and it really has that style down. I don't know whether they were going for that, but it would seem likely since that film series was going strong at the time when this was made, so Sixties super-spies were the 'in' thing. Indeed, it seems that only this series' trope of one of the main characters being captured while the others have to track them down, was the reason for having Craig and Sharron in it at all, though they do make a good pairing, Craig always acting quite jovially and Sharron looking up to him almost like an older brother.

It's definitely Richard's episode, however, going in alone without telling Tremayne what he's up to, and it's up to the boss to do some deduction work of his own, albeit from the comforts of his Nemesis office, which is why he sends for Richard's colleagues to do the ground work. If there are clear Bond influences, you could also point to 'The Avengers' as a source of inspiration, whether directly or not, I couldn't tell, not being an aficionado of that series, but it's just the sort of eccentric English setup you'd expect there: a research establishment; a race through an old graveyard within its grounds; entering a secret lab through a tomb; weird scientific experiments to revive the dead… It also has elements of classic sci-fi and horror, except they don't really go down those routes or explore the nature of cryogenic freezing beyond a few mentions. I say it's eccentrically English, but of course the action all takes place in a small, remote Welsh village called Porthgerwyn which is probably fictional, though it's said to be in North Wales. The funny thing is, you don't get any Welsh accents in the whole production, bar one: Talfryn Thomas makes an uncredited appearance as a mechanic Craig and Sharron leave their car with, a good decade before he'd become the famous Welsh reporter Mr. Cheeseman in 'Dad's Army,' so it's fun to spot him here. It's ironic that we have Irish (Frank sounds like it, anyway), French or German (Inge Kalmutt's name sounds German, but her accent might have been French!), most of Squires' men sound English, and one has an Aussie lilt.

Again it's noticeable that they like to set stories within the UK, probably because, although the series has always tried to be exotic and globe-trotting, creating other countries in studios is probably more challenging than filming in the countryside around where they were based, and I have to say it always looks better with the natural woodland, grass, trees and such (or even the busy London streets), than otherwise. Here, some lovely stock footage is used to set a few scenes, mainly the train journey Craig and Sharron take, so the record of well integrated use of stock continues. The downside is that the story is smaller and more country based than some others, but the villains are suitably menacing thanks to some heavy firepower which they aren't afraid to use - the sight of a machine gun crashing into the old shed and blasting the opposite wall is much more shocking than Frank's shotgun blasts which are quite fitting for such a locale. The same when Richard has to duck as another automatic weapon trills a clip at him in the house, peppering the doorway with holes. But it's still just one old house that our three agents are dealing with. I'm not entirely clear why they couldn't get the police involved, or even the army, except that at least one of the patients (and the number of cryo-tubes suggested there were others), was former American General Carl Patterson, noted as top brass on defence at the Pentagon, so for publicity purposes and the sensitivity of those who might be held captive, there was some sense in sending in the best on their own.

The technology could have been a fascinating science fictional exploration, but it's really only talked about, except when Richard is locked inside one of these (well-designed), tubes and the temperature plummets to -125ºC. It's a mini return of the trope of getting locked in a freezer room to add to the one of them being captured. But once again, as in a few cases (like the recent 'The Silent Enemy' where Craig and Richard get themselves out of captivity), Richard manages to free himself so he's on hand ready to act when backup eventually arrives in the form of his colleagues. I don't know what he was going to do if they hadn't turned up as lost 'tourists,' but by then he had the help of one of Squires' men, Yeats, so perhaps he could have got Inge's hostage Father out and then come back for her. Yeats was probably the most interesting character outside of the brutal and forbidding Squires, as he clearly has a change of heart. Originally working for the Kalmutt's, he joined Squires' group when the Mellion Research establishment was taken over, and you get the impression it was because he was a coward and only followed Squires in fear of him. He stands up to the man after he's killed two people instead of holding them captive, and murder's too far for Yeats. But he's soon cowed into submission again until he sees a chance when Richard comes a-calling. I like the visual clue that of his change of allegiance: Squires and all his men dress the same with flat caps, as does Yeats until he's forced to put Richard in the cryo-tube, at which point he no longer wears the cap and we never see him in it again.

Squires is said to be working for some foreign government, using the Kalmutt's research experiments into reviving those who have been frozen, by which means he hopes to get all General Patterson's defence secrets. There are a couple of flaws with this plan, and his motivation is a bit boring, he's in it for a lot of money, though perhaps that's why he exercises his cruel streak whenever possible, because he wants some enjoyment from the job. Regarding the General's secrets I wasn't too keen on that plan as the Pentagon isn't going to keep all the same codes and layout as when this particular General was high up in the organisation, they'd have changed it all. This is reasonably overturned when Richard talks of the General's awareness of the locations of launching pads, airbases and nuclear stores, things which aren't going to be irrelevant in a hurry, so I can give them that. The other problem with it all is that this technology which gives the power to restore life weeks or months later, a breakthrough which Squires claims 'changes all the old concepts of life and death,' is far from the immortality it seems on the surface. As Inge admits, reviving people won't cure them of their illnesses, which means they'd be dead again before long, not to mention the fact that the ageing process can't be stopped so it doesn't alter the natural human lifespan, merely prolongs the possibility of resurrecting someone if they died from something that can eventually be cured.

That doesn't bother Squires, probably because he just wants to wake Patterson up, interrogate him, then he can drop dead again, true to the callous, bullying nature. It was convenient he didn't kill Richard as he shot the young photographer at the beginning, and with great deliberation and relish set fire to Frank who was covered in petrol from burst cans. But it's believable that he'd want to use Richard as a test case (much like Minoes in 'The Silent Enemy'), and a suitable way for Richard, like Bond, to be left to his own escape devices. Powers were fairly sparingly used for much of this episode - we see Richard's almost too weak to push his way out of the freezing tube, but he somehow rallies and is eventually able to break the catches and roll out. It's fourteen minutes into the episode before we see the first use of the champions' abilities, and at that only Richard hearing a car approaching the shed where he meets contact Frank. After that, he breaks the bars out of their concrete base to get through a window into the house (in a strange parallel with the post-credits sequence as if to prove he can do it, too). He hears the conversation between Squires and Inge, though it might not have been using his special hearing as he was just outside the door! It's not until Inge foolishly betrays him when Squires comes back, revealing his presence hiding in the room, that he gets to do some fun stuff, making an almighty leap at Squires as he enters, then taking on three henchmen in the corridor before being brought to a halt by machine gun fire - even the champions can't dodge that, something that comes up at the end.

Craig and Sharron's first use of powers comes with the sensing of Richard being put into the cryo-tube, before then they've been having a pleasant jaunt through unpronounceable Welsh stations, which is close to being a running joke (Tremayne mentions the place where Richard was said to be going and Craig says he can't even say it, then when they pass Abergynolwyn he can't say that either). Craig breaks the chain holding the large iron gates of Mellion closed, so they can pretend they got lost, and when challenged further into the estate, Sharron knocks the be-capped guard over using the car door, then gets out and bashes him about a bit, before settling back in and smiling cheesily at Craig, which is quite funny, though their scenes can undercut the more brutal direction the episode has taken - Squires' murder of Frank is quite shocking as we see him calmly throw the match, then the camera view is covered in flames through which we see him watch, even though there are no screams or sound of thrashing around, which might have been a step too far. Or when Squires unsportingly thumps Richard hard in the chest once he's surrendered, a thuggish, nasty man. Perhaps they needed to lighten the mood a little with such a foul villain. He's a bit of a Darth Vader, too, changing his mind about the deal with Inge to stop the experiments once Patterson has been revived.

The best use of abilities comes when Craig and Sharron finally make it to the house, Richard speaking to them to let them know he's watching, and informing them of the guards that are at exits surrounding them in the famous staircase set they love so much - a big rumble then ensues, starting when one of the caps comes on Richard from behind and is hurled over the balcony to crash onto the floor below. It's a well choreographed fight with leaps and punches, though once she's dealt with one opponent by pushing him over, Sharron prefers to leave it to the boys as if she doesn't really like fighting, which is fair enough. Craig and Richard then run off and perform what is fast becoming one of their signature moves, jointly kicking a door in. But, like in 'The Mission,' they're too late and a car chase results. Just like 'The Mission' it's the villain and a woman (this time Inge with Patterson, who's dead - but why worry, surely he can be revived yet again?), and, just like 'The Mission' it all ends in tears with a crash, though this time the girl survives. Also just like 'The Mission' the chase appears to take place from the same location used in that episode, the house and it's distinctive arched front entrance and driveway very clear. I wondered if the place was the same we'd seen before - while it was certainly the one from that episode I don't know if it was the same as other country houses seen in earlier episodes.

The return of some familiar sets and locations isn't limited to the house and the staircase room, we also see the 'fishing village' set with its steep central slope bordered by buildings either side, the inn both Richard and the others check into is situated there. Again, the innkeeper (apparently named Lee Rogers, though we never hear her name - it's funny to think the script is written with such things in mind as if these are real people with a life beyond what we see), is very English, which is strange for such an isolated village in Wales, I would imagine, but perhaps there was a shortage of Welsh actors or those that could do a Welsh accent - or perhaps they were thinking of the international market, just as American Craig couldn't handle the town names, they might not be able to deal with too many accents (though that doesn't explain the other various examples, nor Mr. Cheeseman!). At least the post-credits scene is another original, even if it does come across as a bit small fry: Craig rescues a young boy who's got his head trapped in some railings. He doesn't make it look easy to bend the bars, but that may have been on purpose so as not to astound the crowd surrounding the incident.

There's a fair bit of day for night shooting around the graveyard scenes, which is always rather obvious by the way patches of sunlight are shining through the trees. There's also some discernible back projection used for some of the car scenes, but not all, particularly glaring in the car chase at the end which doesn't look right at times. There are other notable oddities like that, such as the stunt double in some of the scenes doubling Richard in the graveyard - he's only seen from behind, but you can tell it's not William Gaunt. There's a bit of a booboo when Craig gets out to open the Mellion gate as the filming is from inside the car looking forward and you can spot a man standing, reflected in the rearview mirror, perhaps a crewman or the Director? It's funny to see as you don't usually get such major flubs. In a similar vein the cover of the tomb that Frank and his photographer mate use to enter the underground lab is lighter than it first appears - at first they have to push hard to move it aside, but then when the young man climbs in and looks back at Frank he bumps his head on it and it wobbles so you can see it's actually rather light! It's fortunate the grilles they remove to enter the lab weren't screwed in or they'd never have made it without causing a big racket…

The credits are pretty comprehensive as there wasn't a large cast, though I didn't work out who 'White' was. He could have been one of Squires' henchman, perhaps the Australian-sounding one who gets a few lines. I was also unclear on who 'David Fenton' was, but it's likely he was the young photographer that put Frank on the trail in the first place, and Lee Rogers could only be the innkeeper as there weren't any other female characters. One of the henchmen gets named as Joey when the Aussie asks him to stay with Craig and Sharron while he finds Squires, but I don't think he had any lines. General Patterson is only seen comatose, so no wonder he doesn't get a credit, and we don't even see Inge's Father, a fellow scientist that Squires is using as leverage on her. Frank would have been a good character to keep around, and it adds something to Richard's character when we hear of them having dealt with something in the past - Frank's a famous freelance journalist and when he tells Richard to go while he provides a diversion to the men in caps brigade, Richard says he's just trying to square himself for what happened 'before,' so we assume he saved him or helped him in some way in a previous adventure, something which broadens the imagined life of these characters. He was quite a character with his mane of white hair and intense attitude, but he says he's got something that kept him alive all these years, that he's a coward, which doesn't ring true from how we see him act.

Tremayne's learnt enough to 'keep tabs on you three,' which is how he got interested in where Richard had gone, contacting the Americans and finding out the body of General Patterson had been stolen, so it's good to see some development in how he views his agents from all the experiences they've shared. But… The story doesn't live up to the premise, and when I saw the name Terry Nation on the screenplay I thought I was in for a good one, so expectations were raised a little. The 'cryobiology' was ripe for exploration in this context, and they mention the possibilities of spare part surgery, something that was a big deal in the Sixties (prompting the creation of the Cybermen in 'Dr. Who'), but these ideas aren't very well explored, and creeping around in a graveyard at night is as atmospheric as things get. Squires was a perfectly nasty villain, like a bad version of James Bond as he's said to be part of a big espionage operation for a government, Bernard Lee appearing to enjoy playing against type, far from 'M' or the various officers he'd played so often, but his support wasn't very strong and the episode comes across as a little bland after a promising beginning, and another abrupt end doesn't help: the champions wryly observe that not even this technology will cure a chest full of bullets, without any time for Richard to feel sorry for Frank, or a wrap-up with Tremayne. So it just edges under the quality I hoped for, even though it looked good and had its moments, it gets a little bogged down with long explanations, mainly whenever Inge was discussing things, and didn't live up to the provocative title.

**

The Fourth Horseman Part 2

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S9 (The Fourth Horseman Part 2)

At last a victory can be claimed over the Ori as Mitchell and his team manage to capture a Prior with the help of the Sodan - Tony Todd's back and has come to his senses over the Ori being a poor choice to follow. He doesn't get to do much, but it's always good to see him again and a good thing to see the warriors side against the enemies of the galaxy. There are other good things to enjoy, too, from the Russian Colonel showing up as part of the oversight committee to give Landry a grilling over the growing problem of the plague, to some sensitive little scenes with Sam talking to young Orlan as he begins to lose his memories of being an Ancient. Then there's Bra'tac and Teal'c together, and a couple of moments for General Hammond. Again, it's good to see him again, but I did feel his meeting with SG-1 (without Teal'c), in the Briefing Room was rather staged as if they couldn't think of a natural way for him to pop his head round the door and say hello. That was the room he spent most of his time with the team within, so it makes sense, but what were they doing there, it looked as if they were waiting for something, but could they not have written it so they were just leaving a meeting or something more natural? Still, good to see Hammond meeting them, I only wish Teal'c could have been there to complete the set.

That wasn't the only unnatural moment of the episode as it ends this big two-parter with a couple of clunky choices, though that's par for the course in the series: Gerak somehow being talked round to Teal'c's side simply by saying that there will be bloodshed and brother against brother? That was too easy and came from nothing much except Teal'c reminding him of Gerak's own Father's defiance of the Goa'uld. If only it had been better written so we could have seen a progression, but Gerak goes from showing off to the council, levitating their books like a cheap party trick, to realising the error of his ways so much that he sacrifices himself to save a bunch of humans! There was never any indication that he would go in that direction, it was just that the story required it. The same for Orlan, whose work, added to the cured people at the SGC, is able to create an antidote for the human population. He doesn't die, but loses all his memory. It gives us a touching final scene where Sam visits him at some rehabilitation centre and helps him with a jigsaw puzzle even though he doesn't know who she is, but Orlan's involvement was always a rabbit out of a hat that wasn't a natural progression either. That's what the series does, even setting up these people for the future sometimes, but they have so many seasons of characters they could pull from, almost any problem could be solved that way.

The episode's story was okay, and it is a relief that Earth finally has a viable weapon to use against the Priors, but it is sad that it wasn't going to change their minds and turn on their Ori masters since they've been so indoctrinated. I'm not sure what we're supposed to take from the captured Prior's sudden ability to use his power again and pull General Landry over to him like a Sith Lord (they all look a bit Emperor Palpatine-ish - must be the pallid skin and wrinkles). Was he holding this last burst of 'magic' in reserve? At least they can now stop Priors, although it's a limited defence as they have to be within a certain distance. I'd have kept quiet about the device if only to make sure that Prior couldn't commune with his masters and telepathically pass on knowledge of it which would forewarn other Priors, but maybe he couldn't. Teal'c as leader of his people as a concept reminded me of Worf being offered the Chancellorship on 'DS9' (they're both similar characters), and in the same way Teal'c suggests his mentor Bra'tac should be the one to take on the mantle, Worf did the same with his, Martok. Bra'tac would be an ideal leader, but it's all a little too easy. I'm disappointed in how they dealt with Gerak, but I suppose his days were numbered as soon as he became a Prior, it's just they began the season with a more adult political approach and have dispensed with that because it wraps up the story neatly.

Issues aside it looks and sounds good, with the beautiful blue sky above the Sodan, and their bright, timbered buildings providing good contrast to the darkness lit by flaming torches that the Jaffa favour on Chulak or their ships. The score was notable, going from sensitive piano music during Orlan's scenes, to a proud, warrior-appropriate arrangement when Teal'c was striding around. It was good to have a few familiar faces and the effects worked well, from Mitchell being hung in the air by 'Sith' powers, to the fleet of Jaffa warships, but none of this can disguise the convenient plotting and too simple wrapping up, though of course the story is far from over and many more trials will no doubt await. It's just that this two-parter didn't quite deliver on the scale and drama it seemed to promise. Now we know the goal of the Ori is to destroy the Ancients, though how they hope to accomplish this is a bit of a mystery, unless it's through endangering the entire galaxy until the Ancients finally get involved?

**

The Silent Enemy

DVD, The Champions (The Silent Enemy)

The third and final submarine episode of the series, and it was actually the first to be filmed, so any duplication of the underwater model sub shots, the full-size sets, or anything else that appears to be reused from a previous episode is actually being created for the first time here. It was the best of the three, with Craig comfortable sailing with his countrymen, an American crew (or at least Captain Sam Baxter is, we don't hear the others speak - even the Chief Engineer remains stubbornly silent when spoken to), to recreate a voyage that ended in the deaths of all one hundred and thirty crewmen from cardiac failures. It's a suitably creepy opening with Baxter's Number One from the Artemis (only known by his title or George), going down alone into the mysteriously silent William J. Keble submarine. Some atmospheric direction is used here and a few other places, having the camera play George's point of view to up the tension as we wonder what will explain this silence. He moves further into the well-designed set of this eerily tomblike submarine until encountering the crew, all frozen at their posts, the victims of… THE SILENT ENEMY!

The authorities have covered up the Keble's true mission, an attempt to assess undersea steaming capability, through the 'publicity gimmick' of an around the world undersea voyage, although making a big deal of it so the press get their noses on a story might not have been the best way to approach a mission that would have been shrouded in secrecy anyway, though it could have been a blind so that the unnamed nation operating from an island off Ascension in the South Atlantic, didn't get suspicious when a sub gets in their waters. But as far as we know they didn't have any idea about this nation and their secret weapon, unless they weren't being entirely honest and the 'real' mission to test their underwater endurance was a blind for a mission to uncover what was going on there… But that wouldn't make any sense because then Captain Baxter would have been expecting to meet with some form of opposition, which makes me think the Keble had a purely accidental encounter originally which led the lead scientist on the project, Minoes, to relish testing his power.

One thing that makes this episode stand out is our characters being mostly separate from the villains of the piece - I don't think Craig or Richard, the only ones to even get inside the island facility, even set eyes on the Minister, or Minoes, dealing only with their soldiers in a bid to escape captivity. Their resilience is the only thing that saves them, initially, with the two seaman who row them ashore victims of the invisible attack, but it gave the episode a unique kind of danger for them to face because you can't outwit air. They have to escape because even their metabolism couldn't sustain a high exposure to the gas, a real sense of peril hanging over their urgent escape from the base while the villains kill each other off: Minoes shows his cruel, calculated mind again by not giving his Minister the necessary medication, instead letting him die in agony to prevent the man ruining him as he threatened to do. Then Stanton, the spy who shows up as a reporter at the Holy Loch Naval Base in Scotland, gets aboard the Keble as a sailor, and then escapes to his countrymen on the island, fights the scientist for the only gas mask in the room (you'd think due to the nature of the experiments everyone would be constantly carrying one around!), pushing him into the greatest concentration of the gas in the chamber he'd locked Richard into. Poetic justice is the order of the day for each of the villains - if the Minister hadn't sanctioned these experiments and constantly exploded with rage he'd still be alive, and if Minoes hadn't tried to test Richard to destruction he wouldn't have destroyed the air filter, and Stanton might not have been killed by the gas if he hadn't tried to shoot Craig. Definitely poetic.

The villains were a characterful and well-drawn bunch. Stanton's a shrewd enough agent that he can infiltrate a military submarine, and I assume he killed the poor sailor he drugged (again some kind of poetic justice, as although the sailor didn't deserve death, he did spoil his chances, getting drunk and not being able to protect himself), because if he'd been left unconscious he'd have awoken eventually and called in an alert. Stanton is cunning enough to use the facts against people, as when he causes a dangerous accident in the engine room through his lack of submariner knowledge and is to be locked up - in front of the Captain he informs the crew of volunteers their special mission is a guinea-pig run, replacing a dead crew, and they could have done more with potential mutiny in the story. I thought at the time it was a good job this Chief Engineer was silent as he might have turned enemy if he'd had the disposition of previous malcontent Raven in 'Twelve Hours'! Stanton manages to escape through violence and swim ashore where we find out he's one of them. Minoes is another eagerly evil man, excited to test out his deadly theories and quite happy to kill as many as necessary, while valuing his own survival as essential, though whether he meant for his own good or the use of the weapon, I don't know. There are some parallels with 'A Case of Lemmings' in that they both feature a dangerous new weapon developed by a scientist with deadly intentions who eventually succumbs to the results of his own creation, the knowledge dying with him. In the same way we have doubt thrown on the effectiveness of the weapon due to the resistance of the champions.

The third triangle of villainy is the wheelchair-bound Minister. He at least has the impression of being penitent for the deaths that have been caused, voicing his hope that by throwing Minoes to the courts it will appease the world governments so as not to come down so hard on their nation when they find out what's been going on. Unfortunately, his judgement was poor, not suspecting the murderous nature of his chief scientist. He was a fascinatingly acted character, with the glasses he wore, one lens much more magnified than the other, almost giving him the look of a Bond villain, with their strange physical quirks - the biggest facet was his volcanic temper, with an explosive head that looked like he was about to blow his top at any time, his face always red and angry through frustration or irritability. It's no wonder he had heart problems. He practically embodies the whole plot: his violent eruptions are similar to the rock face that the Keble surmises was thrown up by volcanic action. Likewise, the weapon is all about stopping the hearts of victims and the Minister is the only one who has any heart in that he feels some shame and concern about the actions he's overseen, and he dies, it appears from heart failure, so it's poetic justice again. He isn't even afforded a name, as if he's a force of nature, though crippled, and this evil nature is defeated by itself.

The sense of remove between the good and bad parties in the story adds realism, as this is the way it would be in conflict, the hero and villain wouldn't really face off for a gladiatorial battle to solve all problems as happens in ninety-nine percent of films! Even here we get Stanton and Craig meeting at the end, though there was no contest thanks to Craig's superior abilities - he just happens to be holding the grille from the air duct, which makes an ideal projectile to knock the enemy back, though Craig wouldn't have been trying to kill him, he just happens to fall right in front of a vent where gas is pouring through, his mask having slipped off in the fall. But Craig isn't sentimental, he advises maximum strike power from the US Air Force to blow the island out of the water and so prevent all chances of the weapon from getting off, presumably meaning all the soldiers were killed unless some had already managed to evacuate. I couldn't decide if Stanton simply didn't like Minoes and took vengeance on him, or if the scientist's desperation to claim the gas mask by right enraged the other man to self-preservation, because there was no need to cast him into the gas chamber itself, it was enough to leave him dazed in the lab, I'd have thought, unless he's the type who doesn't take any chances when he needs to guarantee success of a mission or a personal goal of survival. It was a good action scene with real shock value when Minoes gets hurled about so violently.

An episode is helped by the teamwork of our three champions, and though having them all on a sub narrows the range of what they can do, there was still time to show off their powers in a variety of ways, although, as ever, someone has to get captured (this time Craig and Richard, though they rescue themselves). Richard's big moment comes in the engine room accident caused by Stanton where steam rushes in and everyone has to get out before it turns into an oven, Richard charging back in to rescue an injured man in heroic style, wrenching the lever back into position, braving the heat and lifting the casualty easily. His strength comes back into it as his means to escape the gas chamber later, pulling the all important air filter off the wall so he can crawl into the ventilation. At the briefing in Tremayne's office, Richard and Sharron show their brain power with talk of how to calculate the Keble's original course and location so they can work out where whatever happened to them took place, talking almost in a robotic computer speed, though they stay away from actually doing any calculations in front of the boss! The champions aren't quite as discreet in front of the Captain and crew, with Sharron able to see dead fish on the island's shore when Baxter can't quite make out what they are with his binoculars, and she can't explain her 'premonition' that Craig and Richard are in trouble, the Captain agreeing to send a party in an hour if they hear nothing - that probably worked for the best as more of the crew might have died if they hadn't waited, Craig and Richard able to free themselves.

One thing never explained was the shimmery curtain that must have represented the gas, as we never see it like that after the first sighting on the surface of the island. It looked really nasty, giving the silent and invisible enemy a diabolical presence that wasn't matched by some weedy gas pumping through a vent as it's visualised afterwards. I understand why they felt the need to present the gas as gas so there was no confusion, but it would have been much cooler and more terrifying if we'd had this shimmering wall moving through the corridors as Craig and Richard flee. It was shocking enough when the pair so suddenly succumbed to the intense pain of cardiac arrest, both falling in unison as the weapon hits and only their tougher metabolisms preventing death, but powerful enough to knock them off their feet with the merest breath, paralysing the nervous system - there's something more insidious about silent or invisible killers like gas and electricity, especially considering society is based around their use, so the domestic need turning into a deadly horror holds more terror to conventional methods of execution or opposition. Sharron senses their collapse, but after that her involvement is lessened, though she does get to knock a burly seaman onto his rear when he tries to restrain her when the Captain puts her under guard to stop her doing anything rash - Baxter seems like a shrewd guy, he knows these Nemesis agents are a cut above and he both relies on their expertise, senses they can do things he can't, and might do anything at any moment if they think it necessary.

Case in point being Craig admitting to hearing the turn of the key in the locked cabinet of Baxter's quarters where they find Stanton brushing the Captain's jacket. Baxter doesn't quite believe Craig's claim, but he doesn't argue, he's already been saved from a crushing by the descending periscope which Craig had to hold with all his strength until Baxter extricated himself - you'd think such a heavy item would have a safety mechanism to prevent such eventualities! It was definitely Craig's episode as he gets the lion's share of stunts: breaking the handcuffs tethering him to a pipe in his cell on the island; tracking down Richard through his coughing in the ventilation system; talking telepathically with him, then ripping the grille off the wall so Richard can get out; and his big moment of action where he bursts the door of his cell off its hinges and takes out the guards who attack, though we'd already seen most of that sequence in the post-credits montage of 'Shadow of The Panther,' lessening its impact a little, even if it was a good scene. Craig also gets to be the star in the post-credits scene at the start of the episode, impressing an admiring young lady by throwing all the hoops onto the peg at a fairground stall. It was a charming scene, especially as we get to see all three of the champions having fun together, and it's a sequence of good length, not a quick cameo. If only all such scenes could be this entertaining and original - a number had been reused sequences in recent episodes!

The stock footage, while not being of make or break importance, can really help to sell an episode, and the choices here were expertly woven into the story. It begins with the fairground where we get some great POV of a roller-coaster, and this becomes almost a signature move of the episode's Director (he uses the device of interesting camera positioning for POV when George explores the silent sub, and again when we watch from the inside of the ambulance as the bodies of the crew are loaded in). The images of the island are far away and indistinct enough to work well, and the addition of the US Air Force doing recon gives the episode a larger scope beyond the sets they're on which the action takes place. One thing I noticed with amusement was that the plane they travel to Scotland on was not Pan Am for once, but BEA! The other success is the model work for the sub. Some of it had been seen previously in the other submarine based stories, 'The Search' and 'Twelve Hours,' but this was where it was created and we have more images of it approaching the reef of rock formations that aren't on the charts - I don't know if we were supposed to assume this was the result of experiments on the island, as if so that would mean they weren't only doing work on gas weaponry.

The credits held some interest, with Paul Maxwell (Captain Baxter), being awarded the rare honour of appearing on the same card as the main cast. Whether that means he was considered a special guest or they were saving space on the next card, I don't know, but I'd suspect the former. I wonder if he was related to the guy who played Stanton, as he was James Maxwell? As usual there are some controversial additions and absences, with the Lighthouse Keepers seen in only one scene at the beginning, credited, while one of the main cast, Number One, or George, doesn't get anything! That's the strangest omission yet as he had quite a lot to do, but maybe he was a young actor just starting out so they didn't need to credit him? One of the Lighthouse Keepers (which, interestingly I believe, is the first time two people are jointly credited, with a line between them as if joining the names), Rio Fanning, had played a Telegraphist in 'Twelve Hours,' another of the submarine episodes, although in real terms he did this role first and would have been invited back for the episode produced later. There are many extras, from reporters at the gates of the NATO Naval Base (a couple get lines and aren't credited), the dead crew and the new crew of the Keble, and the soldiers on the island, as well as the Doctor looking after the Minister, who also remains uncredited.

There are just a few mistakes or queries I have with the story. Okay, quite a few, actually: how did the original crew of the Keble die, since we see them all at their posts - how did the enemy blow the gas down into the sub, or was it surrounding the area around the island and they sucked it down automatically when they were forced to surface? The replacement crew isn't massive so you'd think they'd notice one of their number missing, with some stranger having replaced him. Unless they're all from different crews, being volunteers, and so didn't know each other, or maybe the unfortunate sailor whose place Stanton took was known for being an unreliable drunkard. It wasn't the safest idea to send one man down alone into a seemingly empty sub that's been running on automatic. Anyone or anything could have been down there. Then again, maybe George wasn't that important (if he didn't get a credit he couldn't have been), despite being the Number One! The usual problem with the sky backdrop around the conning tower 'resurfaces' again, with the lines in this 'sky' showing it to be a painted piece of scenery as we've seen before. And the Minister flubs one of his lines in his effort to maintain that angry, flustered and forceful manner of talking that was peculiar to him. Regarding the response to international powers he suggests they'll probably only make a cursory 'reconnance' rather than reconnaissance.

Finally, what could be seen as the biggest flaw of the episode comes in the final scene back in Tremayne's office at Nemesis. He wants Richard and Craig to undergo a medical and they both protest until the female Doctor who is to examine them enters and suddenly they're fighting over each other to be examined first! It is a good, funny scene and ends the episode well, but it was entirely inappropriate for the delicate situation they're in - they can't reveal anything about their revamped physiology and I'm sure they've even said that they need to avoid doctors. You only have to look at the previous episode, 'The Mission,' where we learnt they have a unique blood type never seen before, to know that they aren't going to get away with a cursory 'reconnance,' to quote the Minister, especially from someone who works for Nemesis. I can imagine the Security Chief Craig had trouble with in 'The Interrogation' having great interest in any medical results that would be forthcoming from the tests, and in no time their secrets would be out. Unless it was a clever bit of playacting, a bit like that scene in 'To Trap A Rat' where Richard pretends to steal a woman's handbag so Craig can chase after him and get into her good graces, only this time it was to defuse a potentially damaging situation and once they were out of the room they suddenly made excuses to the Doctor and escaped. Except Tremayne wasn't forcing them, and was quite mild in his response, so who knows? The best moment comes as an aftermath of their comical scene when Sharron, sharing a moment of levity with her boss, sits on his desk prompting a stern look that reminds her of her position, which was the cherry on top - getting a laugh on top of a laugh is an art.

***

Battle At The Binary Stars

DVD, Star Trek: Discovery S1 (Battle At The Binary Stars)

Perhaps it was my long initiation into so many aspects of the first episode that softened my concerns through long association, and that in turn which heightened my expectations for this second helping, but whatever the case, I found myself experiencing the discomfort and disappointment that I had expected at the first encounter with this series and was relieved didn't come. This time there were many things that were confirmed and that came down on the wrong side of acceptable in canon terms, leading me to reconsider my optimistic response to the series. There were also a number of positives, but it seems these writers are determined to walk a strange path of both pleasing the faithful with deep references that a casual viewer would never notice, while also annoying with the largest in-your-face departures from established continuity. I still can't dismiss the series because these issues are largely aesthetic in nature, so there is a sense they're honouring the historical details in some respects, but they weren't the only flaws.

Both narrative and character took some bumps: for example, one of the good scenes is a flashback to Burnham first being transferred aboard the Shenzhou, accompanied by Sarek. I like seeing these moments of her past when she displayed more Vulcan bearing and attitudes, but I wonder why she'd never been inducted into humanity before? Presumably she'd met humans - it would be strange if Sarek had kept her sequestered away from her own species, yet she remains so Vulcan she can't have gone to Starfleet Academy by the way she acts in those scenes as if it's the first time she's been aboard a Starfleet ship or around human society, and considering Sarek's displeasure with Spock for joining Starfleet you'd hardly expect him to be handing over his protege to that organisation. It is not logical. It's not the first time a Vulcan has joined a Starfleet crew without having gone through the Academy: T'Pol of 'Enterprise' was at first a Vulcan representative, later resigning her commission to join wholeheartedly with her colleagues. It almost makes me think they should have done a more straightforward series following Burnham during the Shenzhou years, learning to fit in with other races, especially humans, and perhaps that seven years of service is actually a sly reference to a Trek series' traditional length, and by passing over those years is suggesting this is going to be different. Because 'TNG' went into films after seven years, so it's almost a hint that we're entering the 'film era' of Burnham's career, a more epic time of less individual stories and more sweeping, large scale events, as the 'TNG' films were for that crew. Or I might be reading too much into it.

From the moment Sarek said a very uncharacteristic line, his last word to Burnham being the murmured "Behave," things began to stick in my craw. My big preconception that had coloured my acceptance of the altered appearance of the Klingons was to be shattered in this episode - I'd thought the rumours were highly likely that the strange look could be explained by their being an ancient group that had somehow reemerged, like the pilgrim generational ship that was (coincidentally), searching for a messiah in the 'Voyager' story 'Prophecy' (even though they looked the same as contemporary 24th Century Klingons). But these notions, brought about by incredulity that that must be the only explanation for such radical changes, were smashed quite easily: we meet members of the ruling families, including Kol whom I'd seen pictured in a way that suggested he was going to look more traditional, when in fact, all the Klingons we see are of this bestial, orc-like structure, with weird pointed ears, cumbersome claw hands that don't look as if they could ever have the dexterity to build anything, let alone the complex starships and intricate weapons they're famous for, and it can't be speculated about, there's no getting around it: these are the main Klingons of this period! Now if we'd seen a mix of Klingons which included the other designs (of which there have been three: the 'crustaceans' of 'The Motion Picture,' the long-haired rockers of almost all other Trek, and the original smooth-heads - I don't count the fleeting appearance of the hairless thugs of 'Into Darkness' as they're an alternate universe and they clearly influenced the new design), it would have been fine. In a way, it's still fine and we can retcon that the Augment virus created this latest offshoot, but it irritates, and if the intention is to make the Klingons more brutal and simplistic rather than the complex political, honour-based species we loved for so long, it's an awful indication of the intent to alter Trek to suit the masses rather than staying true to itself and carving its own path.

Maybe we will see other types of Klingon, but my instinct suggests not because it might be too 'difficult' for new viewers to understand easily, and nowadays everything has to be given to people served up neatly on a plate to cater for people's laziness so as not to offend their short attention spans in case they switch to so many other choices at their fingertips, when their intrigue should make them willing to invest time to find out why things are as they are, and so draw in the audience, using canon as a lure rather than something to be overcome, striking out boldly in its own direction. They may want to be 'Game of Thrones,' but that series wasn't trying to be anything else which is why it's had success, I suspect. So those 'ancient' Klingons of T'Kuvma's group are just ordinary members of the race - we even witness him being kicked around as a child on Qo'noS, and they look the same then, too. It took the wind out of my sails quite a bit because I'd hoped for some kind of justification or explanation to placate my stern historical mindset. In the lead-up to Season 2 a justification of the Klingons not having hair has been revealed: they shaved it off to go to war, yet we see the children of T'Kuvma's past without hair. Perhaps they still considered themselves at war in those days - this episode can't be blamed for retcon mistakes to come, and I like that explanation, so I can leave all that aside. If the story and other choices had been better I probably would have found it easier to accept all this, as I did with part one.

This part was not so well told or thought out: the messiah complex of T'Kuvma, and an absence of good grounding of his acceptance as this visionary. It seemed he had a grudge against the Federation and doesn't like humans, Vulcans, Tellarites and Andorians associating together as if some kind of purity has been lost, or maybe just because they're more of a threat. It wasn't entirely clear, but it seemed the lighting of the beacon in part one was to summon the twenty-four Houses, who then look down (literally and figuratively), on this summoner. From there he moans about the Federation and they point out that there's only one ship, and then a fleet of ships arrive and clearly the Klingons are going to respond to a show of force. But nothing is ever explained about why the Shenzhou is in this region, or why the beacon would be so close to, or within, the borders of Federation space, nor is the significance of storing the dead Klingon bodies in sarcophagi when we know Klingons (and it's even stated in the episode), view the remains as mere flesh and bone to be discarded, so unless it's some kind of visual statement to enemies, like gargoyles covering the ship, I don't get it. I hope for further explanation. But the conflict seemingly comes from nowhere, engineered by T'Kuvma. Maybe this is true to life, and wars and atrocities are so easily escalated out of nothing, but as the all-important genesis for a new series you'd expect the justification to make more sense. Granted, the other leading Klingons presented what seemed to be an ambivalent response to T'Kuvma's views, despite the battle, but I'm not sure if that's to keep us hanging to see what course the different Houses will pursue, or a lack of character depth and exploration.

It remains difficult to see how things are going to pan out across the season since I don't know how much time will pass before Discovery, and what T'Kuvma's death will actually mean - if it's a power struggle then it would also come out of nowhere because I didn't get the impression the Houses were particularly disunited, but then we haven't really seen them. It's fun to present first impressions, especially being a unique opportunity to do so after having waited so long for new Trek, but it also has its flaws because it's hard to judge when not all the facts are known. While the ignition of hostilities was a bit contrived, the sequence also failed to serve Burnham's actions in part one, because they essentially had no real bearing, she never got to fire on the Klingons: she's sentenced to the brig, and rightly so, then the fleet turns up and the Klingons fire at them out of aggression stirred up by T'Kuvma (I wonder if he was mocked as a child for having a name that sounds so similar to Vulcan female naming tradition!). She's locked away for no real reason, neither her absence nor her presence really makes that much difference, she's just a First Officer where Captains and Admirals are dealing with the issue. And it also seems that killing the Torchbearer was the incident used to incite war after all. Oh well.

Her only reason to be in the brig is for an exciting sequence where we wonder how she'll get out, and there's time for a formerly unheard of long distance mind meld which Sarek can do because when she was young he put part of his katra in her mind. I couldn't hold back on this, it really smacked of the kind of lazy writing of the Kelvin Timeline films and their magical technology that allows people to beam halfway across the galaxy onto a ship at warp, or from one planet to another, when the limitations imposed by technology or established about a race's abilities is one of the things that makes Trek real, with unprecedented internal consistency, instead of a 'Dr. Who' universe where anything can be done to take shortcuts, with its penchant for making up rules however it suits, to get an emotional reaction or a plot twist, regardless of making logical, satisfying sense, something I can't stand. Technically there isn't anything to suggest that such telepathic communication couldn't be so, but it's annoying: the katra is supposed to be the Vulcan soul, so how could Sarek give part of his soul to his young charge, surely it's all or nothing, though I do take that in 'Star Trek II' Spock passed on his katra to McCoy and still lived, so perhaps it's like a connection that the katra is pulled to upon the death of the body. I'm not even sure what it accomplished here, with Sarek again speaking in a way you wouldn't expect from such a noble man, saying he wouldn't waste his effort and wellbeing on this method of communication just to say goodbye. Then again, maybe that is Sarek, considering he and Spock didn't speak for years. We still don't get the impression Burnham is Spock's adopted sister, more that Sarek took her on as a pupil that he mentored.

That was just a short scene, and her escape from the brig was fine, even if, again, they're aping the modern films with a space jump (yes, I know 'TNG' did it first in 'Nemesis,' but it's become more associated with the new films), almost like they have to tick every box: lens flares, energy bursts instead of beams… Argh! That, right there, was my biggest bugbear. I was so hoping we were going to see starships again as the large, graceful battleships so well portrayed in much of Trek, but here we're right back into a muddle of pow-pow-pow in a space battle that really disappointed. Not just because of the blasts, losing the greatness of established Starfleet weapons, but because it's more like a 'Star Wars' dogfight, all external rolls and twists rather than a sense of crews operating a vast machine in the ocean of space. We got some traditional Trek staples, like people rolling on the floor and consoles exploding, which was fun (and it was a different approach to show someone becoming confused by a head injury when doomed Ensign Connors, whom I'd assumed would have a larger role in the series stumbles into the brig instead of making it to Sickbay), but it wasn't well-staged where you can follow a narrative, always an essential component in any battle: just look at Helm's Deep for how to achieve that, whereas this was a flotilla of chaos. My favourite series is 'DS9' and the Defiant was a barrelling, pulse-firing, almost dogfighting starship, but that worked because it was the exception to the rule and was built for combat in contrast to all the ships about it. The Shenzhou was not, which is perhaps why it so feebly rolls over and dies - the escape pods were good, but I never had that sense of the devastation of a Captain and crew leaving behind the home they've inhabited for so many years - I was surprised how little emotional connection was achieved there, and it didn't even have the awe of a large vessel horrifically torn apart as seen of the Enterprise in one of the good moments in 'Beyond.'

Punishment in Starfleet evidently had a long way to go before the 'enlightened' 24th Century, where even a short term of incarceration was considered abominable and hard, and even in 'TOS' they didn't have prisons except for the mentally troubled, so Burnham's sentence to life imprisonment was rather excessive, though perhaps motivated by Starfleet's horror at losing so many ships and crews needlessly - she could be a scapegoat for all their despair to hang upon. It's still true, however, that there was very good justification (my favourite word for this review), for war, for the battle, and for what happens after. I like that they choose to capture T'Kuvma rather than take him out, even if Georgiou should have been the one to think of that when she's shown to be the diplomat. Perhaps she was defaulting to her soldier's instincts? Unfortunately, this mission only adds to the negative overall feeling coming out of this episode: where part one was upbeat and untested, with room for much speculation, part two is a disappointment of failures, both in story and for the characters personally. Their failure ends the episode on a low when I'm used to Trek episodes going out on a high, reinforcing a positive message that makes you feel better about life. Maybe that method of storytelling is a thing of the past, and so every episode will have to end, essentially, on a negative for cliffhanging requirements until the story is wrapped up, and that's not a promising thought. It was much like that in Season 3 of 'Enterprise' the first Trek season to be serialised, and doesn't lend itself to satisfying stories, so my hopes for this series have taken a large dose of realism.

The reference to T'Kuvma's invisibility tech was something I was unsure of. It's believed Klingons first started using the cloaking device after their brief technological alliance with the Romulans in 'TOS.' The idea of ramming an enemy ship while cloaked would appear to have its problems, and I wasn't sure how I felt about all that. I suppose the cloak is some kind of justification (that word again), for why the Houses will follow T'Kuvma's way (maybe he had a secret pact with the Romulans), or perhaps because he took out so many Federation ships, or merely because he's now a handy peg upon which any Klingon seeking power can hang his hat and use as a platform to rise. Perhaps Voq will become the new leader, or the Houses may not be united and it will be internal conflict until someone takes control? As I said, I don't know how far ahead the series will jump before we finally get to the USS Discovery, and for those reasons interesting questions remain, even through such acute disappointment. Adding to that were the conversations between Georgiou and Burnham on why she accepted her aboard and how she'd hoped to peel away the hard Vulcan shell that had been grafted onto her. Again, I wasn't sure how much sense it made or what it was saying about the Vulcans, or Sarek. It may be that viewing the season again, with hindsight, will improve it. I hope we get more flashbacks to her time under Georgiou as that would be a good way to keep Michelle Yeoh's name in the credits on a regular basis, ready for the 'surprise' that I know is coming later, but also because Burnham's earlier life is interesting, and as a character she's engaging. Maybe she'll be the only character this series gets right, but even if that's so, I'm glad to find her adding to the many appealing iconic Trek characters over the years, and her Vulcan attitudes make me care more since that's my favourite race. She's almost Spock, in a way, since she's mentally half-human, half-Vulcan, even if not physically so.

Like the issue with the Klingons, and the weak basis for war from one warrior being killed by accident, there were other things that took away from part one merely by filling in detail and removing speculation: I wondered in the first review if Burnham and Saru were new to each other, which is why he had to explain about his species, but no, she should know all about that since she's spent seven years serving with him, as should the Captain. As before, I question why the Captain and First Officer would beam aboard an enemy vessel with zero security for protection - it's not like they don't have any, two guards were instructed to escort Burnham to the brig! I also found it hard to accept the vast size of the facilities in the diminutive Shenzhou: why would they have such a huge Transporter Room, and even more, why waste space on a massive brig for such a small exploratory vessel - it was bigger than the holding cells on 'DS9' ad they were constantly being used for all the nefarious criminals passing through the station! It doesn't make sense and tells me the design rationale was to be bigger and brassier, once again following the stupid aesthetics of the Kelvin films rather than even trying to fit into an established period in history, something unforgivable in such a content-heavy franchise forever bound by its realism and attention to detail.

To say they've let the side down would be a fair complaint. 'Enterprise' may not have been beloved, but at least it gave a good impression of being accurate for the time it was set in, no matter how frustrating it was that they were often underpowered compared to alien ships. At least the fleet that faces off against the Klingons was of similar type to the Shenzhou rather than featuring Constitution-class vessels, because they would have stood up to a lot more punishment, while the Shenzhou and its ilk have age to take into account. Could it be that Starfleet hasn't bothered to retire old ships, preferring to add the Constitutions that are out there now, to its growing fleet? There are questions about Starfleet's ships at this time, both from a design perspective and their mission focus, but again, we don't know much about this period so I hope for more clarity in the coming episodes. I have to say I didn't get a good sense of the ships in the fleet (though great to hear one called the T'Plana-Hath, named after the first Vulcan vessel to land on Earth), what they were capable of, and who they were, after the quick shopping list of ship names that were rattled off, a poor choice when you consider the budget and that this was the introduction to a fleet in a new series. I was very underwhelmed by the engagement, though as I mentioned it's more to do with a failure to create a good story for the battle, rather than just ships whizzing about in chaos, no sense of the tactics or manoeuvres you'd expect from such highly trained crews, nor from the Klingons, either, as we don't get much from the Bridges' POV, discussing the action, it just happens - a sign that bigger budgets can sometimes take away from a story?

I have been largely negative about this episode, and I can't help the way I feel or view it, but it would be wrong to suggest I didn't enjoy it at all. Indeed, there were things that truly thrilled me, particularly the level of cognisance of Trek history (even if it does make the glaring alterations even more stark and bizarre). I already mentioned the first boarding of Burnham to the Shenzhou, in her Vulcan robes, with her Vulcan-esque hair, and her very Vulcan speech patterns and reserve, with a touch of human hostility. I didn't mind the Transporter Room, so bright and of very different design to what you'd expect, but explained away by this ship being quite old. Gene Roddenberry always wanted his Enterprise to be a ship with history, and that seems to be the case with Shenzhou, a good choice, though it makes it sad that it was abandoned, if inevitable, I suppose - I'd always hoped for it to be partners with the Discovery in whatever missions they were fulfilling, the teaser trailer talking of crews and ships in the plural, something that hadn't been seen so much. What really made me bubble up with glee was the simple mention of the House of D'Ghor, something that only came into one episode of 'DS9,' where Quark comes up against this warrior and becomes entwined with the widow of D'Ghor's enemy, whom he'd accidentally killed. What a terrific idea, I would never have thought to hear that name again in a Trek production and I hope that some other established Houses we know of, such as Martok, Duras, and Mogh, are given their dues (I'm still sore about Michael Dorn refusing to come back as ancestor Worf!).

I didn't know the House of Mo'kai, the other House name to be mentioned, but I know it's a reference to a previous episode of 'Voyager,' so obscure it doesn't even appear in the 'Star Trek Encyclopedia,' which is quite a feat. I also couldn't be stopped from smiling happily when T'Kuvma runs through a list of founder members of the Federation, and during the episode I thought I recognised the name 'Donatu V,' but couldn't place it. To my unbridled joy I later read that it was a reference to the last incident between Federation forces and the Klingons and if it sounded familiar it was because the battle which took place there in 2242 was recalled in 'The Trouble With Tribbles' (the planet also mentioned in 'DS9'). One reason Trek is so re-watchable is because that helps to bind together the knowledge of the history that has been set out in different episodes and series' across the eras, and so remembering things like this helps to keep that high level of reality, so once again it's with confusion that you see them force major changes to the look of things while also getting little details so right, an infuriating halfway house between giving you a warm glow and a cold shoulder at the same time! A scene I really appreciated was Burnham's conversation with the computer, especially the computer's terminology. I'd been thinking they should be using more of a 'TOS' manner of speech where 'negative' and 'affirmative' were used over 'yes' and 'no' to show the formal, almost militaristic environment, and lo, the computer does just that, along with "Working," when it needs time to think, something which probably hasn't been heard in a new episode since 1969 because the computers were so much more advanced after that!

I also have to say it was good to have a bit of viewscreen communication when T'Kuvma sends a message on wide band to any and all ships in the area - it would make sense that if he's not speaking to a particular ship, he wouldn't be using the holo-communication we see so much of in this series. Talking of which, it really does feel way too advanced for the time, manifested most strongly in the Admiral's 'visit' to the Bridge. One thing I will give it, the fritzing of his image when the ships are losing power and how it flits about like a malfunction, worked very effectively, it's just hard to accept tech that appears more advanced than ships at the height of the 24th Century and is a bit of a flashy gimmick to appeal to new viewers. If you find Trek boring then don't watch it, don't change Trek to suit short attention spans and the need for constant gratification! But I'm not going off on that rant, it would take far too long, and would no doubt be a fruitless exercise, a cry into the void. While I'm about it, though, I'm coming to a dislike of the uniforms for the simple reason that you can't easily tell what rank or department anyone is, they all blend together, a major mistake in a series that is full of shaky-cam visuals and extreme lighting, and especially from an in-universe perspective when you need to identify people immediately during battle.

While Captain Georgiou's death was fully expected, I didn't feel they took advantage of the opportunity. It's not that I wanted Burnham to cradle her head in her lap as she's given some final words of wisdom, as that is pretty cliched, but I could have done with something more than the dispassionate and futile death she was served with. I know the desire nowadays is to kill off characters for shock value, but there was no shock, nor value, to her loss, unless it is to further punish Burnham, and Georgiou could have happily continued serving as Captain of another ship. And with the loss of the Shenzhou I'm guessing we won't meet that crew again and will probably never know if the blue guy was a Bolian, why some crewmembers had mechanical instruments strapped to their heads, or whether that robotic helmet guy was actually a robot, or not. The fight also made it much more basic - aside from not taking any security, the set (was it the Klingon Bridge?), was shown up for the small size it was, because this is still a TV show, so trying to ape, and compete with, the vastly inflated and over-budgeted modern films was a mistake. I just didn't care for that whole fight sequence. Even T'Kuvma had a better moment of death and one that was more meaningful in that he'd inadvertently been made a martyr - I did like the eyes glinting out of his fat face deep in darkness, though Voq should have done the death wail. And was T'Kuvma using a mek'leth?

I still love the fact they went to the trouble of having real Klingon spoken with subtitles, and I have to keep reminding myself that, for all that I dislike, and perhaps will come to despise about this latest iteration of Trek, it's still wonderful to have something new to dissect and examine, a situation that had previously only occurred every three or four years with each film release, and this is far more Trek-heavy than the films. The episode was the shortest Trek ever (until the specifically brief 'Short Treks' that have been released since Season 1), coming in at a meagre thirty-seven minutes. I thought the power of streaming meant you could go over the forty-five minute barrier, I didn't expect it to be reduced, and I still think the opening pair should have been shown as one 'feature-length' episode as all previous modern Trek premieres were. Perhaps I was pulled in by the joy of seeing more Trek, no matter what, when there were times I wondered if it would even get a DVD release in this age of streaming. My gratefulness to have it can't paper over the canon cracks, or even the variable writing so far, and so it is with a sinking feeling that I will come to view the remaining thirteen episodes. Maybe that's the right way to approach it? It's certainly how I first came to the series and was pleasantly surprised in response. I see now I was wrong to be so optimistic, but at least I enjoyed that feeling about the prospects of the future of Trek for a week. But so far, with all these poor choices to upset and irritate I just don't know how that can be, yes, justified.

**

The Fourth Horseman

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S9 (The Fourth Horseman)

Something of an info-dump episode with multiple strands disguising the amount of new information we're given to assimilate. Three main stories are run through, none of which reach a conclusion due to this being a two-parter. The first, and most pressing, catastrophe is a Prior plague being carried back to Earth by an SG team, which spreads across America. At the same time, the most surprising development occurs with the Jaffa, Gerak, actually coming to a conversion of 'Origin,' the teachings of the Ori. I never would have suspected that any of the Jaffa, even the thorn in the SGC's side that is the leader of them, to side with the Ori, and at first I put it down to some kind of ploy to buy time for whatever he was planning. When Gerak vowed to the Prior to spread the Word of the Ori I found it harder to believe it was a trick, because despite all his flaws he's still a Jaffa, and they rate their honour rather highly. But by the end of the episode the most bizarre thing has happened and Gerak has allowed himself to be transformed into a Prior! The man must be mad, but at least we get some kind of a reason why this set of beliefs might have been accepted by he and some of the other council members: they're old and want some kind of assurance about life after death. You'd think the Jaffa's many traditions would have been enough for them, but apparently not.

The other plot is much more convoluted, stretching way back to a Season 5 episode where we first met an Ancient called Orlan who now returns to help the humans against the Ori and bring them lots of information. He can fight the plague, but his Ancient knowledge is degrading since he's now human, and a child (I guess they couldn't get the original actor back for the role, but the plot device worked fine and he was never a memorable character anyway). To fight the plague they need some DNA from the Prior who began it on whatever world it began so Dr. Lee and Carter go to work on, basically, an anti-Prior gun. If it sounds like I'm just repeating the story rather than commenting on it, then that's probably true because this was a very 'text heavy' episode, a lot of narrative to unspool before the second part works with it all. Yes, it's essentially setup, and not uninteresting, but could have done with some conclusion or development somewhere. In its defence many things can be overlooked when the great Master Bra'tac finally reappears. I'd been wondering at his absence all season, what with Gerak needing a strong voice to oppose him, but he's here now, and preventing Teal'c from going crazy. It's great to see the wise old codger again, but I hope for more from him in Part 2. Fortunately, Gerak wasn't so far gone that he took out the 'rebels' on Chulak, avoiding civil war his only positive action in the episode.

Another old face it's a pleasure see return is Hammond, giving a patriotic talk to servicemen and women when he has to be bundled away from the infected SGC member. So it was only a fleeting appearance, and he doesn't interact with any of the main cast, but nonetheless a pleasure to see him again. The episode was a bit like that: good to see, but not very consequential as a whole, and again, I would hope they didn't bring Don S. Davis back for one measly scene out of the blue, but something more meaningful. As long as it's not going to be his death, as that would be terrible! The main addition of consequence is Orlan's knowledge of the Ori and how they don't actually ascend their followers, but merely need worship or the relinquishing of will by humans in order to give them energy. Or something like that. They try and wrap it in some pseudo-science, but it's all a bit mystical and weird. The main point is that even the Priors don't know the evil intentions of their masters, though whether they're ever likely to be turned is extremely unlikely. But progress has been made against them: the ultrasonic frequency device that should negate their mental power. The potential is there for a cure of the plague. It's all up in the air at this stage. It's definitely one of those episodes that can only be fully appreciated when the whole story is unrolled. As setup it's fine, though depressing with so much negative happening, but it has to go dark before light can dawn, so I don't blame it for that.

**

The Vulcan Hello

DVD, Star Trek: Discovery S1 (The Vulcan Hello)

It's very difficult for something to withstand the weight of twelve years' anticipation, but my overall feeling when confronted - finally - with a new episode of Trek, was: relief. I was concerned that I wouldn't like what I saw, but whether from the copious advanced warning I had, the many reveals and tidbits of information I had read or heard, either purposefully or by accident, I'm pleased to say that I wasn't taken out of it by worrying about the state of Federation technology, the look of the ships, the Klingons, or anything else that might have unnerved me had I come to 'DSC' completely fresh. Of course there are things about it I questioned or wasn't keen on, but I'd already gone through that process in the months leading up to (and the months long after), its debut, and in the same way as seeing 'The Lord of The Rings' films on second viewing was a more enjoyable and relaxed experience, rather than being concerned about where it strayed from the book, I felt I'd been primed with enough clips, photos and interviews to be able to watch through prepared eyes, removing the shock value and being sucked into the story. It is a fairly basic story, at that, but due to a marketing decision the pilot was not the traditionally feature-length episode of all other modern Trek debuts, instead split into two parts so they could show the opening instalment on 'normal' TV and entice a larger audience to the streaming service CBS was hoping the series would promote. Such calculated marketing, where profit concerns win out over the needs of story, are worrying, but in actuality it made it easier on me to be able to take a bite-size piece of new Trek to digest and consider before plunging back into this new world.

The emotional connection to what was happening was successful, and before long I was much more at home in this world than any of the Kelvin Timeline films that had filled the absence of episodic Trek in the fallow years since 'Enterprise' was cut down in its prime. Prime is a good word, because this series made a proud statement of intent by taking place in what has become known as the 'Prime Universe,' as opposed to the offshoot Kelvin one used by the current film series. There was a time when Prime was decried as old hat, with some saying that history was dead and gone, never to be resurrected, but in this case, marketing and money-making decisions favoured the old Trek line, and the vagaries of copyright and legal issues, not to mention the continued success of merchandise based on old Trek, meant they chose to return to a meaningful historical period, not an action-packed, spectacle-laden universe where nothing really matters or lacks a sense of concrete history and continuation. As early as the opening scene of the episode where a Klingon speaks in his own language with English subtitles, I got the sense of the weight of real future history that has always made Trek better than anything else out there. Not to say there weren't any issues I had with both the time period and the interpretation of it, but using the Klingon language, which is a real, spoken dialect, recognised in the real world, was a bold choice and immediately pleases those like me that care about such things. Not that I speak Klingon beyond the occasion "Qapla!" or "nook-nekh," but I felt at home in the guttural monologue, another link to 'LOTR' which similarly began with a voiceover describing some history, and a deep connection to a fully realised 'alien' language.

The interaction between Captain Philippa Georgiou and Commander Michael Burnham, I have to say, was rather stilted and wooden. It didn't take me long to appreciate Burnham because of her Vulcan mode of speech and approach to detail, which I loved. I already knew that she was to be revealed as a protege of Sarek, Father of the legendary Spock, and in fact I was surprised she never called him that, rather referring to him by his name, but perhaps that will be explained. I felt she would have made an excellent Vulcan and I wish the character had actually been of that race, although it may have made the uninitiated less attracted to the series than the focus on a human lead. I wouldn't say it was a masterstroke of Bryan Fuller's to make Burnham a human that was raised Vulcan, but it was certainly an idea, Trek is supposed to be about ideas, and many things which were said about of Vulcans fitted with what we know of them as a species - since they're my favourite race in all Trek I want them to have justice done to them whenever they're used, something that hasn't been promising from 'Enterprise' to the modern films. Yes, Burnham was also emotional, but she couldn't have the same strength of control a real Vulcan would have (witnessed again in her only partially successful nerve pinch on the Captain, later).

The real surprise I had was Michelle Yeoh, whom I applauded as an excellent choice from the first casting announcement, especially when I heard she was to be a diplomat, more in the vein of Picard than Archer. I found her line delivery off-putting, and maybe over time I would have got used to it, but guessing she wasn't going to be around long (from the publicity around the series rather than specific knowledge), I had been wondering if I'd be presented with a perfect Captain that I'd want to follow in the series, only for her to be taken away shortly after. Having seen the character, and no disrespect to Yeoh, I didn't feel she worked very well, though it may have been my expectations for her that coloured my perception. But it's only one episode so I'd love to be proved wrong, and it was somewhat relieving to think I wasn't going to be disturbed when the inevitable loss of a great Captain occurred. I wouldn't say the rest of the cast was particularly well introduced, unlike the other Treks where the pilot always did a great job of setting up the new crew, but then this series was designed to be different, and it's a tribute to how it was done that it still felt very Trekky, another on my list of concerns before viewing. There's a bit of banter, and the sense of the longevity the crew has had together (we know that at least Burnham has served under Georgiou for seven years), but it wasn't played up enough to become tiresome. I would think Saru was relatively new as he explained his species to Burnham, and if she'd known him better she'd probably have prior knowledge of all that. That was one of the downsides of the writing: unnaturally conveyed exposition. The biggest culprit being the opening scenes on the desert planet where Burnham gives Georgiou a rundown of the situation which she'd surely have known in advance of beaming down, otherwise what kind of Captain would she be, but it's one of those conventions that details need to be explained to enlighten the audience. Not that Trek never did it before, but you expect a more organic reveal of information, especially from someone of former Trek pedigree like Fuller.

I did like the background to Saru, even though I already knew it, and just now realised he fits into the tradition of alien races portraying a facet of humanity: in the Kelpien case they represent fear and caution, being a 'prey' species that can sense the coming of death. A bit mystical perhaps, and unexplained, especially coming from the science officer, but I'm prepared to go with it. Every Trek series liked to introduce at least one new species to explore an alien culture in depth and reflect on an aspect of humanity in a new light. There can't be many facets of the human race they hadn't already done, but Saru could be different. Ferengi were known for their cowardice and conniving nature, but vice denoted their main characteristic. We'd seen secretive Romulans, volatile, untrusting Andorians, too, but outright fear of being prey strikes me as fertile ground. I only hope, given the serialised nature of this series, they allow time for such exploration. There's precedent even for a race representing fear as their identity, because the Changelings, Founders of the Dominion, did everything motivated by their fear of those that had persecuted them. But it's hard to think of anything Trek hasn't done, and they were hardly a benevolent prey species. On the other side we've seen many hunter races, best example being the Hirogen of 'Voyager,' but it would be interesting to know more about the race that hunted Saru's people, as well as his own, and one of the essential elements of Trek is that examination of races, the established and long-standing cultures being far more interesting than aliens of the week. A good mix of both makes for what I feel is the perfect blend of anthropology.

As it stands so far, Saru is visually the most interesting and had the most character after Burnham, but then I went into it expecting to be most interested in him from what I read or saw, the alien crewmember usually the biggest draw of a new series. We weren't short of alien life, from the partially CGI creatures on the desert planet, to the intriguing collection aboard the USS Shenzhou, with an especially robotic component to some, certainly a less travelled direction with ample potential for examination regarding society and its approach to augmentation and mechanical servitude or the potential rights of AI so well scrutinised in Trek with The Doctor in 'Voyager' or Data in 'TNG.' Burnham was unquestionably the lead of the series, speaking to her Captain on the same level, so no wonder Georgiou suggested she was ready for command. This story is practically a prequel to the actual series which will be set on the Discovery of the title, a unique approach to allow us some progression instead of jumping into a new adventure fully formed. Hopefully something that will extend to the characters, as 'DS9' so ably showcased when that series began with a disparate group, some of whom couldn't stand each other, but over time developed firm foundations for the bonds of friendship. At this time, it's far from the 'Lower Decks' episode of 'TNG' that many cited as being a potentially fascinating series to follow, rather than the standard Bridge crew that has always been the main focus, but it's a step in that direction. Georgiou looked a little weak at times, compared to the more confident Burnham who almost always seemed to take the lead, straining on the leash of being First Officer. But her Captain showed ingenuity in creating the Starfleet Delta as a pointer to their location, which I'm sure would have impressed me had I not already seen a still of, though in the episode it made me wonder if it was a strong enough image for the ship to notice!

I loved the look of the Shenzhou the moment I saw it, with its sleek lines, yet also retro design that somewhat bridges the gap from the NX-01 Enterprise, and seeing it in motion didn't change that view. My one gripe might be more to do with the position it held in space than anything related to its look: in all previous Trek the convention is that ships always meet on the same plane. Now this doesn't make much sense when you think about it, because ships would be travelling at all different angles and trajectories, there being no central point of reference for vertical or horizontal axes (unless you count the centre of the galaxy, and we all know what lies in wait there!), and while I must admit to liking the more roller-coaster nature of shots in the modern films, something which this series obviously takes some of its visual cues from (such as greater lighting depth and a touch of lens flare, though I do hope the Phasers aren't all going to be pulses instead of beams as we saw with Georgiou's rifle shots into the well, the beam such an iconic Trek image which can possess just as much intensity and violence as a pulse), yet it was one thing I would have liked to see stay true to the past shows - it was fine for the approach to be at an angle, meeting in the vastness of space like that, but then they could have realigned themselves to the plane of the Klingon ship once they'd arrived, rather than hanging at an odd angle like a wounded bird. It's only aesthetic value, I know, but I have clear preferences for my Trek, and many years of honing them, so it's understandable that I want things, in many ways, to remain familiar.

On the whole I felt they did a good job of that familiarity, with a neat, compact Bridge, a nice-looking ship, and a number of design touches that recall Trek of old. The Starfleet Delta being one, the Klingon symbol being another, and even the old screw-nozzle Phasers making the return from their one appearance in 'TOS' (two if you count 'The Menagerie,' or even three if you count the two parts of it). This necessarily brings up the biggest troubling issue for me: visual continuity. With the hairless, dome-head redesign of the most famous Trek race, the Klingons, and the technologically advanced interior of the Shenzhou, they make the biggest step in alienating a viewer such as myself. As I said, I had many months of preparation to get used to the idea so I was able to concentrate on the story and characters without being unduly disturbed, but it still bears comment. They shouldn'a' done that! What's done is done, but I hope they do take into consideration the visual history as time goes on, because it really does bother me when we see a part of an established timeline portrayed differently to how it was shown previously. Trek has always been produced as period drama, the only difference to historical dramas being that it's set in the future, and accuracy to whatever time period is important. The uniforms are probably the most glaring change, because this is set in 2256, two years after 'The Cage' and ten before Kirk's reign as Captain of the Enterprise in 'TOS,' so they should have made the uniforms look at least similar to those. Before seeing the series I speculated that these tight blue spandex-type costumes were a special variety used on the specific ships we were to see, not Starfleet's standard issue, but we see the Admiral Georgiou contacts has one, too, setting fire to that theory.

The holographic communication was another side issue that, while not ruining the episode, gave me pause - such tech had certainly been seen in 'Enterprise,' though it was the Vulcans who had such capabilities and they weren't very sharing. Again, I had forewarning so I knew it was there, and it was one of various things I kept thinking of precedents for in the episode (the human Picard being able to perform the Vulcan nerve pinch as Burnham does here, or the approach the Vulcans took to the Klingons - more on that in a moment), and this method of communication had been tried in 'DS9,' set over a hundred years later: tried, then abandoned in favour of a return to the viewscreen. I'm not entirely sure why a flat screen image works better for a conversation, but it is somehow off-putting to see a character wander round a room as Sarek did (I also felt surprise that he would be so immediately ready to respond to Burnham's message, as surely he's an important diplomat, and wouldn't be waiting for a call - then again, he knew of what had happened, so perhaps he was doing just that: waiting for Burnham to ask his advice?). It's not true holography in the usual Trek manner, with a physical form (even if Sarek does lean against her desk), and they are faulty images, which strays towards the 'Star Wars' design aesthetic which we don't want, but it was no big deal and didn't spoil the experience.

You can't really appreciate the detail that went into the production in the episode for the most part, but I'd already done that through publicity photos (where you can see details such as the flowing Klingon hair on the sarcophagus to prove the bald look isn't their natural state), so that was more preparation for me to accept the changes, seeing how much attention to detail was put in. They didn't change the essential Klingon symbol, and there was a thrill to hear Kahless spoken of, or Vulcans (even Andorians get a mention), which took me back to seeing 'Star Trek XI' at the cinema back in 2009 - just to hear those names and the lore is exciting, and one reason why this felt so much more real than the almost cartoonish approach taken by the film series. The visuals were expressive and beautiful, and though I wasn't keen on the Klingon ship design, it didn't bother me because, yes, you guessed: forewarning. I knew I was becoming invested when Burnham goes shooting off into space, her suit crippled in the encounter with the Torchbearer and I cared what was going to happen to her. Knowing that it was her actions that would precipitate conflict with the Klingons, I wondered if this small moment was the incendiary spark that set off the powder keg, but it wasn't really, it was her later defiance where I guessed she was going to defy the Captain and shoot first. If it had been, it would have been a little poor since I guess it was mere instinct that caused her to launch towards the attacking foe, when she could just as easily have boosted to one side and fled. Instead, she accidentally skewers the warrior with his own Bat'leth blade confirming the Klingons' prejudice against humans. There's also the question over whether this was deliberate as we later learn her parents were killed by the race, a parallel to Kirk's struggle with his attitudes against the Klingons for killing his son, something in which you can see 'Star Trek VI' as the inspiration it was said to have been for the series.

I found it interesting that they tied down the lore by saying there were twenty-four houses, although I suppose this could just refer to this particular point in history. It's fascinating to get new and definite lore on such a long-explored race and I look forward to more - in the past, things like that were often left open, perhaps too often, being careful to leave flexibility for future story potential, but eventually there comes a time to fill in those gaps and set a precedent for what something means, or is, at a given moment, so they've set out their stall and made ready. One thing I did question was the talk that humans hadn't encountered Klingons in a hundred years, because you have to wonder why after 'Enterprise' they must have gone into relative isolation, it doesn't sound much like the Klingon way. Plus, if you know your lore, then you have to point to 2218 as being a significant date between the Federation and the Empire as we know from 'TOS' that something big happened then. But it's all a bit hazy and shouldn't impinge on what they want to do too much, and importantly they get round it by having the Admiral clarify (or cloud, depending on your point of view), that there had been minor encounters between the peoples over that century. I appreciated the fudging, and it goes to show that just a little line dropped here or there can make a world of difference to being able to accept something without messing up the canon, or not.

Burnham's first name, Michael, I found to be an odd choice, and I wondered if it was a deliberate move to try and blur the difference between male and female which seems to be happening in our society today, almost trying to say that there is no real difference. In some ways it might seem a bit Trekky to do that, but against what I would consider reasonable to assume about the future. It could also be a specific choice that meant something to Fuller or Alex Kurtzman, or it could be short for Michaela, I don't know. I seem to remember she was originally called something else on initial press releases (though that may have been Georgiou), I can't remember precisely what, but there was certainly supposed to be a big deal about when we were going to learn her name beyond being referred to as 'Number One,' though that seemingly got chucked out when Fuller was apparently ousted early in production. It's not a problem, just an observation. A good job was made of forming a bond between her and the audience, something you expect to be well done in Trek pilots from experience, although past examples were adept at juggling multiple characters, not just one or two, or three as is the case here. We're given a flashback to her childhood education in the traditional Vulcan method of throwing multiple questions at the student (coming from both 'Star Trek IV,' and one of the actual good additions to lore in 'Star Trek XI,' with the little learning pits), in this case not allowing for her human heritage: this is where we learn her parents were killed in a Klingon attack, which the computer insensitively brings up in the quiz. It was a strong scene where you really feel for the child Burnham.

Sarek, on the other hand, is difficult to accept. That's always the danger when you recast a long-established and much-loved character, as in the new films, and they plan to go even further (Spock already cast for Season 2…). Mark Lenard was about as iconic as Spock or Kirk for his few appearances in the role, but again, precedent had already been set, with a younger version seen in 'Star Trek V,' and an alternate variant in 'Star Trek XI,' but it still doesn't make it easier to accept. Both the voice and look are unsatisfactory, this Sarek having neither the rich, noble tones or the patrician bearing of a Roman senator. It's too early to judge, but I knew going in I would find it hard to get on board with a replacement Sarek, because no one could replace Lenard, just as no one could replace the other Trek characters. At least he was very Vulcan, so that's something. What they did get right, was the Vulcans as a species, melding their behaviour very well to established lore: the title itself, 'The Vulcan Hello,' I found to be a bit weak before understanding its significance. I felt something grander like 'The Vulcan Greeting' or 'The Vulcan Gesture' would have been more fitting. Until I saw the episode with its reveal that the Vulcan 'hello' isn't what you think it would be: you'd assume the reference to be to the hand gesture of V-shaped fingers parted down the middle, with the gracious words to 'live long and prosper,' but in fact the reference is to Vulcan first contact with the Klingons: their first ship was destroyed and Vulcans don't make the same mistake twice: they in turn destroyed any Klingon ship after that encounter until formal relations were established.

The Vulcans are logically ruthless when the need arises, and it all made perfect sense, something that tells you this was being written by someone that knew his Trek history. The Vulcan way isn't the human way, or the Starfleet way, as Georgiou points out, but in this case perhaps they were right, because they were able to gain the respect of the violent and volatile Klingons by that course. But human/Klingon relations weren't so easy, as Captain Archer and his Enterprise were considered small and pitiful by the more powerful Empire, hardly worth bothering with. This idea of weak humans has continued so that Klingons are ready to strike them, perhaps now they're 'worthy' of consideration as an opponent, or the feeling is that they're encroaching and spreading their ways in a sign of what 'Star Trek Beyond' suggested it might be about, but was unable to carry the idea across: the frontier pushing back at an expanding Federation. I'm not sure why Klingons came to this conclusion, but there's still much to be explained so I look forward to more detail, though I wonder if much will go unspoken - I wouldn't know who the Klingon leader was except for reading up news stories beforehand, and it pays to have a bit of background knowledge before jumping into the series. I don't know why they couldn't use a more common Bat'leth when it appears in the hand of the Torchbearer, except these are supposed to be ancient Klingons, or at least I think they are, nothing has yet been confirmed onscreen, so I remain openminded for now.

One thing I was uncomfortable with was the use of part of the 'TOS' theme for both the Shenzhou and in the theme music. I'm grateful that they have an opening credits sequence when so much modern TV just flicks the name up on the screen and is done, but the theme was completely unmemorable and the technical drawings coming to life were an odd choice. Many hated the 'Enterprise' theme, so you knew that if they ever did another it would be going back to orchestral, but what that series did so well was a beautiful montage of real and fictional history, and whether you hated or liked the music, it was a really good sequence. It's early days, so maybe the theme will grow on me as the 'Enterprise' one did. It can take time to accept new things, but I just wish it was more immediately memorable and strong, a little more of the graceful majesty 'Voyager' pulled off. Incorporating part of the 'TOS' music felt wrong because it's identified with the Enterprise line, not Trek in general, and so whenever you hear it you think of Kirk or Picard, like when 'DS9' went back in time and met the original Enterprise and those stirring notes played. It didn't suit a new ship, unconnected to those elements and needed its own identity. It's probably another marketing decision, as the theme had played a part in the new films and they obviously want to attract people that liked those, but it's like a dilution of the connection it has.

The same is probably true of the lack of episode title or specific writing credits that always followed the opening titles and, if you were interested in the behind the scenes side of Trek, was always useful for reference, but again it's to save time, and like the titles being rushed through it gives them more time for advertising. There are going to be a few things that will take time to become acclimatised to, just like the spatial orientation of ships breaking convention - series' that don't bother to show an episode title have always annoyed me because it's like setting out the stall of an episode if you have a fitting monicker for it, and to avoid displaying it on screen is like a show of no confidence. Fortunately, so far it hasn't been about all-out action, but the setting up of an interesting situation and talking of issues like General Order Number One (the Prime Directive), or the philosophy of Starfleet. In the light of that, no amount of transparent consoles that wouldn't look out of place in Voyager's time, or hairless Klingons, are going to upset. An example of this approach is the opening scene on the planet: rather than going down the 'Into Darkness' route of madcap chases by angry aliens that want to kill our characters, there's a thoughtful discussion with a touch of subtlety about the Captain's actions. It's not about technology saving the day, it's about using the brain. Whether this approach will continue past the first couple of episodes I don't know, since Fuller was kicked out after writing them, and his plans for deeper, allegorical storytelling were reportedly abandoned, much to the dismay of many that love Trek.

There's a lot to take in and the technology is just one of those aspects, with the radical notion of a Bridge on the underside of the saucer, a return to the computer having a voice, since 'Enterprise' was far back enough that they didn't have that feature (I wished it sounded more like Majel Barrett, and it was a shame the rumours of Marina Sirtis taking up the vocal reins of her screen Mother proved false - what's Judi Durand up to these days?), and the return of the thruster suit from 'The Motion Picture.' You have to wonder why you'd allow the First Officer to boost off alone without Security accompanying her to this unknown alien structure. Story-wise, it's to show Saru's cowardy-custard attitude, but Health & Safety must have been off-duty that day! Mind you, where was Security when both Captain and First Officer were down on the desert planet all alone and defenceless? Someone needs a serious talk with whomever Georgiou's Head of Security is! Something the Kelvin Timeline films are responsible for are introducing the idea of ships having a window instead of a viewscreen, with graphics overlaid. Looks good, but has its flaws, as demonstrated in this episode when the Bridge is flooded with a blinding light so strong that even the filters can't stop it being painful to the naked eye. Was this a comment on the flaws in the Alternate Universe's design approach, or another welcome mat to make viewers who were more comfortable with the films settle in to this new series? Probably the latter, I suspect the Discovery will have the same, but the argument that you couldn't have achieved such a nice shot as flying round the Shenzhou and into the Bridge to see Burnham looking so pensive isn't true, as she could have been at any window.

Did the Captain refer to one of her crew as Mr. Wheaton? If so that must be a reference to Wil Wheaton, surely. I just wish that this pilot had kept up with the tradition of all previous pilots and featured a cameo from a previous series. I think there was some talk of Nichelle Nichols potentially having a cameo somehow way back when it was first talked about, unless I'm mistaken. Not sure how that would have worked, maybe I'm thinking of the films? Sarek fits the mould of an established character, but in every other case it was someone returning to play their role again, as happened with Dr. McCoy in 'TNG,' Picard and O'Brien in 'DS9,' Quark and Morn in 'Voyager' and Zefram Cochrane in 'Enterprise.' Even the Kelvin films followed that pattern with Mr. Spock! At least the expected levels of language and brutality that I've heard about have yet to reveal themselves, the only hint of nastiness being Voq burning his hand in a flaming torch to show how tough he is, and Trek has occasionally dipped into violent scenes anyway, it's part of the danger space can hold. Already knowing Voq's secret is one of the more annoying spoilers I got by accident, but it will still be interesting to see how it all plays out. There have been light-skinned Klingons in Trek before, but probably not as pale as him, so it makes sense that he was an outcast. I'm not sure what it's saying about race, but again, it's an unfinished line of thought so hopefully we learn more - I can imagine him being like Shinzon in 'Nemesis,' a bitter outsider that battered his way into leadership of the Remans, playing on their hatred of the Romulans.

Where the story will go, what the actual ongoing style of the series will be, and how much development time characters will be afforded, are all questions hanging. It's unlikely we're going to see any stories where people are trapped in Turbolifts or in shuttles, discussing their life stories, but if they can do what they did so effectively in this opener, giving us a few moments to sympathise with the lead, and other characters get that attention, then we could be looking at a successful series. A first season is never the best by which to judge, and you can't truly see where it stands in the great pantheon of the franchise until all the dust has settled, the critics and fanatics fall silent, and history is allowed to have its vote. In real terms it would be almost impossible for a pilot to match, let alone surpass, the things I've loved for so many years, and the challenge to do something that is different and fresh, yet also carry the hallmarks of what went before so strongly that it identifies as the same, is a challenge, especially when technology and society changes at the exponential rate that is has over Trek's 50+ years of existence. With all this in mind, I have to admit that this first foray into a whole new Trek never thrilled me in the way that 'Broken Bow' did. That 'Enterprise' pilot, the last time I was at this point of a new series for my favourite form of entertainment, excited and impressed, and with those first few episodes suggested it could surpass even the mighty 'DS9' as the favourite entry in the canon. But it failed to live up to the early promise. Now, I'm far more experienced, I don't expect to be blown away, and though 'The Vulcan Hello' didn't impress me, it did please me. After all, I've waited twelve years for a good new episode of Trek, and this is it.

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