Aurora

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S2 (Aurora)

Best of the season so far, this hits all the right notes and in the right order! Even from the beginning with the misunderstanding between Weir and Ronon, or when she pulls rank on Caldwell, logically persuading him to agree to her team using the Daedalus for a special mission, I could tell it was going to at least be well written, but once it gets going it also creates a touching story with further hope for Wraith demise. As I always say, creeping around a dark alien ship is always good for business, and this one has the added attraction of being a vessel of The Ancients. Not only that, but once the lights are on they find that people are home: real, genuine article Ancients, in the flesh, kept alive for ten thousand years through life support, and, thanks to the signal activated by Atlantis, cognitively aware. In other words they're communicating like some hive mind while being in these stasis pods. I've always loved stories about realities within realities, and the idea of people alive in their own minds while their bodies sleep is fertile ground for both horror and sci-fi. In this there's a bit of both, though it leans much more on the science fiction angle. When Sheppard decides to enter an empty pod and get hooked up to The Matrix, as it were, he finds himself in a light white, fully operational recreation of the Aurora herself, the ship the pods are on. Like some 1970s sci-fi it's all sterile and bright and the crew are all bright blue-eyed, white uniformed people existing in some Kryptonian world of imagination, that's what it made me think of.

The look is startling, but it's also the fact that these are real Ancients as we've heard spoken of so many times across so many seasons. I think this is the first time we actually met some that were real, like us, as in not ascended beings. If the story has a downside then it is the lack of reverence or awe that Sheppard and later McKay, are communicating directly with these legendary forebears, and it should have been a much bigger deal. I would also say that they take the easy way out to get rid of them before the end of the episode when there was so much story potential to have them revived and returned to Atlantis. It may have been a shortcut to dealing with The Wraith once and for all and perhaps have undercut the drama in the immediate, but there was even greater potential for what they could have done with these people. They were a people out of time, yet that wouldn't have made that much difference to them because they were already such an advanced race, Atlantis is their home where us simple Earthlings are just discovering its secrets. I felt it was a bit like Teyla's people, the Athosians, who were pretty much written out of the series early on. It's difficult to deal regularly with a large group of people, I can see that, especially on a TV budget of mid-2000s compared to the inflated ones you get for prestige series' today, but the far greater story potential rested with these people and it seemed harsh and unthinkable to allow them to sacrifice themselves so we don't have to deal with them any more.

What it did do was give the series something that it rarely has, and that is a moving moment as the Captain tells his crew what's what before the Aurora and all hands are blown up to take out the approaching Wraith cruisers. It was effective, but again I was left disappointed that we couldn't tow this mine of information and history back to Atlantis. The stakes were Atlantis itself, and even more than that, Earth and our galaxy, since the whole trick the single Wraith was playing within the simulation was to learn the knowledge of intergalactic drive (which the Daedalus got from the Asgard), rather than the mere interstellar drive their ships have, thus enabling them to cross into other galaxies and expand their feeding grounds exponentially, forever. I skipped over that little point of a Wraith being in the simulation, but at that stage I was impressed that they could add yet another layer to this fascinating encounter. He, posing as the First Officer, a she, was resistant to Sheppard's explanations right away, blocking him from seeing the Captain and generally giving no ground. Knowledge is the key in this story, for Sheppard can't counteract her because he doesn't know she's actually a Wraith and it takes McKay to deal with it to advance things. It was clear what he was doing at the end when he's trying to bring The Wraith out manually, that he hadn't thought through what that meant: it was going to wake up right next to him! So there's the horror side of the story.

All the way through the tensions are played deftly: first it's all about this unknown ship, then it becomes about entering an unknown simulation through the stasis pods, then Caldwell detects Wraith vessels on the edge of sensors so the ticking clock is running. I liked that it was never about them getting stuck in the simulation as that's been done so many times, and although it's a terrific plot, it was refreshing to see it avoided. Instead, they have to find a way to escape from the brig, and to find the Captain, relying on Sheppard's skill in persuasion to convince him of the truth: that they're inside a simulation of their ship that was only activated recently, and before that they'd been in stasis for thousands of years. The bait for the story is that this ship's mission was reconnaissance and they were returning to Atlantis with top secret info on a Wraith weakness to end the war. I didn't catch what happened to them to mangle the ship so much, nor why our team couldn't risk waking them up, and that was a pretty important detail, so either I wasn't paying attention or they didn't reinforce that well enough in the dialogue, because I couldn't really understand, except that they needed to wake themselves up from inside to avoid brain damage.

So both sides need something of value, the ticking clock provides plenty of tension, and the team all work well together like an SG-1 configuration: Teyla and Ronon are around to keep an eye on things (though they're conveniently absent when The Wraith awakes - convenient for the story, not so for McKay!), or stall Caldwell, while Sheppard and McKay do the diplomatic or tech stuff. This actually made it feel more 'Stargate' than most episodes and if we could see more of these four on missions like this then it would be a positive. Not that the others aren't worth exploring, but Dr. Beckett wasn't in the episode at all, and Weir barely figured, and it didn't hurt things at all, so she could be a General Hammond figure quite comfortably (she's certainly sat in his chair, literally!), without harming the story. In all, I'd have to say they came up trumps with this one, not leaning too heavily on irony or jokiness, but dealing with a proper sci-fi idea and doing it well without forgetting a touching payoff and suitably high stakes. Good work! The only thing I'd add is that it does seem harsh to kill a Wraith in cold blood, just lying there in front of you - I know it would have transmitted the knowledge of Atlantis' survival, but even so it seemed wrong to just kill a sentient being like that. But then they are at war, essentially, and it was an enemy soldier, so…

***

The Killing Game

DVD, Star Trek: Voyager S4 (The Killing Game)

I do so wish the episode was included on the DVD set as one feature-length adventure as they did with other episodes such as 'Dark Frontier' and 'Flesh and Blood,' because although that wasn't the original intent of the writing, it was how it was first shown and I think how I first watched it on BBC2 in 1999, though I can't be sure they didn't just put the two episodes on consecutively. Not having the break with the end credits of part one and the opening credits of part two somehow makes an episode more epic, and at one time was only seen in the pilot of each series, making it seem even more special. With the 'TNG' finale, 'All Good Things…' and the 'DS9' Season 4 opener, 'The Way of The Warrior,' they began to do these long-form episodes beyond just the pilots, adding scale to stories rather than neatly packaging them up tidily and instead allowing them to sprawl out and create a bigger bang, blowing two episodes for one slot. It seemed extravagant, and strangely, it still does. 'Voyager' was the only series to continue that (I think the only other example beyond the ones mentioned was the finale, 'Endgame'), with the 'DS9' finale 'What You Leave Behind' the only other example there (though it made for nice symmetry having the pilot, finale and one episode in the middle of the series to be in this format), and 'Enterprise' really missed out, with just the pilot, 'Broken Bow' being given that attention, and not allowed any other feature-length episode, not even the finale, and 'Discovery' didn't even follow the convention of doing it in the pilot, which makes these episodes stand out.

The nature of bundling two budgets together gave them the chance to be epic, and the concept is startling and bold. The execution isn't quite as astounding as it was when I first saw it, mainly because they went on to do a smaller, yet similar idea with 'Shattered' where they showed different eras of the series as places that could be visited when the ship is split up in time. We only get two settings, and of those only one is genuinely expanded and explored, with the Klingon simulation making use of the well-used cave set. It was more of a reminder that more than one story is playing out, and I can't remember how much is actually part of the story in Part II. If only they could have had the resources and intent to pull of the battle of Wolf 359, which is mentioned in the episode as the next planned simulation, although I expect at the time they'd have mainly used stock footage from 'Best of Both Worlds' and 'Emissary' rather than treat us to whole new levels of ship battles à la 'DS9.' Just imagine recreating the inside of the Borg ship (they'd already done an updated version on the series more than once!), getting Patrick Stewart back to reprise Locutus - okay, that would have been farfetched, he'd never have gone back to episodic Trek in his lifetime… Right…? (Wink, wink). Most likely they could have got some of the 'TNG' cast and it would have been glorious, but it's no good crying about what might have been when there's so much that was.

Like Miles and Julian's Holosuite adventures which went unseen, we hear of the Crusades as one of the settings the Hirogen used, which could also have been fun, but talk is cheap so why not throw it in there? The idea's the main thing: that of using Voyager's twin Holodecks to create a massive play pen for the Hirogen to hunt in. This is where the meat of the story lies. As much fun as it is to see the characters being other people (and we'd see this revisited in Season 7s 'Workforce,' another big two-parter, though one that wasn't nearly as good as this), at heart Trek is about cultures and story. The Hirogen had been very successful in their introductory episodes, brought in as the season's villains, and as was always the case in Trek, there has to be a representative of them that isn't merely bad, but is doing things from a noble motive, even if it conflicts with our heroes. The lead Hirogen has pulled all this off because he sees his culture is stagnating, his people divided in their own private hunts, the society that has stood for so long disintegrating (for one thing, where are the lady Hirogen?). He is a visionary that believes the needs of the hunt can be fulfilled in simulated form - in fact, it's more like enhanced form since the same danger of death and injury exist with the safeties disengaged and can be played out to desired specifications, not to mention the vast library of possibilities that Voyager carries aboard her. So he has pure motives, at least where his own kind are concerned.

He doesn't care if Voyager's crew gets injured or killed, of course, as long as they're fit to continue these war games. I'm not entirely sure what the Hirogen get out of the World War II scenario since they would know whom the Resistance consists of, so it's not a real battle simulation in that regard. It could be seen as at the opposite end of the Klingon version, which is much more about animalistic hand-to-hand fighting than serious strategy, and it does show the extremes contrasted so strongly as they are, just as it shows the extremes in terms of production value: the Klingon sim is pared down to the rocks and gruff violence, while WWII is highly detailed and sophisticated. Too sophisticated for many of the lead Hirogen's men, it seems, as they just want to plough in and shoot rather than allowing the story to unfold. Like the Jem'Hadar Goran'Agar from 'DS9,' this alien leader sees a new way forward that will solve all their problems, but it looks like he's the only one. Such is the way for many Trek visionaries who, as he puts it, can hold onto their past while facing the future. He's the only one concerned with what will become of them, thinking beyond the next hunt, the next kill and immediate pleasures, to the consequences, while the others are happy to continue on to the detriment of them and their race as a whole. Maybe it would have been easier if he'd just told his men of the Borg and headed off to their space, no matter how long it took to get there, as they would be worthy prey.

Janeway is the very epitome of worthy prey, and as we're introduced to her she's in full Klingon garb and genetics, apparently, fighting for the House of Mo'Kai. I love that a little line of dialogue here or there in Trek's vast history can be picked up and played with later down the line, as 'DSC' did with its Matrons of Mo'Kai and L'Rell identifying with that House. I'm pretty sure it was never mentioned again, though it was probably used in the novels years later and it is probably this that 'DSC' is referencing more than a 'Voyager' episode featuring one mention of the House, since they seem keen on 'canon-ing up' the books for some reason, when before they were always considered entirely separate and largely irrelevant except for those that wanted more than the fifty-odd episodes we were getting per year back in the Nineties! Janeway shows 'DSC' how to do a proper bat'leth duel, the camera swinging wildly in on the action and the Captain doing more acrobatics than we usually see her engaged in. Must be all that Klingon DNA coursing through her - we didn't actually get an explanation of why she looked Klingon. It may be that it was simply a cool thing to do, Trek has never been shy of making such moves if they could, and it's a terrific way to kick off the episode so that you have no idea what it's all about. It's one of those teasers that has you wanting to get into the episode right from the off.

The look of characters isn't consistent, as although Janeway is Klingon-ised (it's a tradition for Captains to go undercover as an alien at least once - Kirk and Picard went Romulan, Sisko went Klingon, and Archer… well, I'm sure he was alien-ised in some manner less memorable than the others), as is Neelix, Tuvok and Seven appear in their programs looking like themselves. It could be the Hirogen aren't that bothered about it and the Doctor only has so much time for aesthetics as he needs to concentrate on keeping the crew alive. Around the same time, 'DS9' did an episode where Sisko experienced all his cast as human-looking in Season 6's 'Far Beyond The Stars,' so it could have been done, but it's not a problem and is fun just to see Chakotay with slicked back American General's hair, or B'Elanna with her period hairstyle. As has happened so often with the season, however, this story hinges on Seven of Nine as she's the one the EMH can reactivate while in the holoprogram. Not that I'm tired of her, but you'd think they could find someone else to hang things on a little more than they did. Ensign Kim gets special mention as the only one who's tasked with keeping it all running, and like the crew in 'Year of Hell,' he's battered and worn down, not quite to the point we saw in 'The Chute' where he was wild, but he's been pushed past the niceties stage. He knows they need him and though he might experience a bit of violence, he doesn't mind pushing it and it's good to see him at his most confident and insubordinate, not taking the Hirogen bullying.

The Hirogen were disappointingly turned into more conventional aliens with this one, when previously they'd all been ridiculously huge as if that was their defining characteristic. It makes sense logically that the species wouldn't be homogenised in height any more than other races are always one way, but they were much more imposing as gigantic warriors and it would have been great to keep that going - there's only one that might fit that description, one of the soldiers guarding Kim. They're still vicious and single-mindedly intent on catching prey, and that was the important sociological factor. One thing I do like is the reality within reality that they've created using the Holodecks: they have programs running which they join in, while the Voyager crew experience them as reality until the Doc is able to jam the devices used to keep Seven and Janeway attuned to their holo-characters, so then they're playing roles within a story which is within the program run by the Hirogen, while outside a Resistance is under way in the real world from the Doc and Harry. The parallels are fascinating, as are those between the characters and those they play: Seven is obstructive and doesn't react well to orders from Janeway, as in real life, and Tuvok is a reliable associate, while Neelix is the happy-go-lucky type cycling the streets with the food he's bought (or grabbed as he does with a piece of fruit - the direction is really strong with so much of the external scenes such as that where the camera runs in front of Neelix as he cycles, but also in other ways - the close and secret conversation between Seven and the Doc in Sickbay emphasised by the camera pushed right up close to the pair's faces).

Presumably the pregnancy of 'Brigitte' (B'Elanna), was a holographic one? It was good that they were able to feature Roxann Dawson's real life pregnancy when they'd done so much to hide her away for the season, putting her in an Engineering coat (a bit like Dr. Crusher's medical one in 'TNG'), or stationing her behind consoles, and keeping her out of the action - that's one reason, perhaps, why Seven had so much to do, because one of the female cast members couldn't do as much as usual, so it was fortuitous that Seven became involved at that time and had a fount of uses in both story and dramatic terms. I'm not sure what the pregnancy was useful for from the Hirogen point of view, but then so much of the simulation appears pointless to them, as one of them actually says, but the leader believes it's important to study these war events and learn from them, when they just want to get on with the killing and trophy gathering. This is probably the most alteration the ship ever went through without it being a different timeline, because as well as the leader turning the Ready Room into a trophy room, we see the Holodecks expanded and the explosion rips into the hull of several decks, exposing the surrounding rooms to view! You wonder what an explosion would do to the holographic matrix when the safeties are off, and now we know: it really blows the place up, and in spectacular style rarely seen on Trek!

The filming of the action scenes is very well done, and because the series is so grounded and is generally not full of such things, it makes the experience more free flowing and different without breaking the format. Seeing Tuvok running while machine gunning Hirogen, or Seven rescuing Neelix from overzealous Nazi Hirogen is all done so excitingly. A good guest cast also assists, with Danny Goldring as the lead Hirogen in one of five appearances across 'DS9,' this, and 'Enterprise,' one of what could be termed the regular guest actors (though not as powerful as his role as Burke, a Starfleet soldier Jake runs into in 'Nor The Battle To The Strong'), and J. Paul Boehmer, another actor to have four other roles across 'DS9,' this, and 'Enterprise,' most notably when he played a similar character in 'Storm Front.' I don't know who played Reginald Smith, the English voice on the radio bringing the news (and a coded message to the Resistance), but it was nice to hear a British accent and be reminded of Britain's connection to events in France. I kept trying to see if the bottles of wine were Chateau Picard, as I always do whenever there's a bottle on screen in Trek, but I don't think they were. And could Janeway's 'Le Coeur de Lion' be the same set as Sandrine's? They mention new emitters in parts of the ship, though that was to extend the Holodecks and the Doc hasn't needed more emitters to exist outside Sickbay since he got his portable one from the 29th Century (except in 'DSC' they show that even 23rd Century ships can have holograms all over the place - very poor attention to detail by these modern writers and it puts Trek to shame to ignore its adherence to internal logic and the development of technology). Bring on Part II!

****

Conversion

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S2 (Conversion)

It's not a bad series to go back to at the end of the day's work. Pleasant characters going about their business on an alien world, solving problems and generally getting things done. That's the kind of sci-fi I like, not the 'gritty' kind where everyone's at everyone else's throats and you're never sure who will live and who will die, because then why care? That isn't to say that this series, or this season, has particularly shone as yet. It's been a bumpy ride with more filler than anything else, but I'm starting to get into it. Not in the way I enjoy 'SG-1,' but it's a passable time waster. As usual on the 'Stargate' franchise it's mainly about sci-fi tropes rather than breaking new ground or providing in-depth examinations of alien cultures, or even delving deeply into characters. This week it's the 'member of the crew turns into a monster' episode, with Sheppard being the victim after his brush with the Wraith girl Ellia in the previous mission. It's a little hard to believe in a threat from Sheppard as a monster because he's such a nice, genial kind of guy, and as far from creepy as can be. Had it been Ronon or McKay it might have had more bite. I suppose it could be argued that it's more shocking when someone like Sheppard performs acts of violence, such as shoving Weir up against a wall and choking her, but we know it's not him. The only thing that could be him is the frustration he feels at not being able to do anything, but once they've done the roundup and got him under control again even this is sorted out.

After an unsuccessful egg hunt (and not the Easter kind), trying to grab some of the eggs from the creature that was reverse-engineered to create the retrovirus, or some such pseudo-science solution that Beckett was technobabbling about, they fail, and only Sheppard can go into the cave to do the deed and save himself. Now that he can run faster, leap higher and climb vertical surfaces it's no problem for him, and the bugs were suitably creepy scattered on the floor like nasty gribbly things. I wonder why no one got attacked this time as Sheppard once did last season? It's really not about anything more than Sheppard going monsterish over the course of the episode, then having to be caught and sedated, then brought on the egg mission, but they do throw in a side order of Colonel Caldwell, who seems to show a sensitive side so that you wonder if the title of the episode applies to him as much as to Sheppard, except that as soon as Weir has acquiesced and allowed him to take over the military side of the base, he immediately puts his stamp on things, upsetting her immensely. The most important question of the episode never got answered: who won the computerised chess game she and Caldwell were going to play when we cut away?

Interesting to note that the Daedalus now regularly shoots back and forth between galaxies (and the mention that it's a strain on the FTL drive suggests there might be a story in that somewhere down the line), though it does rather take away the sense of isolation and fending for themselves that Season 1 had, and though it's good that they can be part of the wider universe (and I'm hoping for an 'SG-1' team-up at some point - it would be a waste not to), I miss having the issues they had, and the tension of being alone, having to rely on the existing technology and personnel to accomplish everything. Caldwell claims to not be Weir's enemy, but we know he's ambitious enough to want the whole mission for himself and clearly doesn't have a very high opinion of Sheppard's operating procedures, but then again Sheppard's relatively young and Caldwell no doubt has many years of experience to draw upon. I suppose the uncertainty does add some tension whenever he's around, but the fact The Wraith don't know Atlantis still exists has made things a little too easy and I still await them doing something meaningful and memorable with the premise they have. It's nice that they can end with a little humour as they did between Sheppard and Teyla, but in general things have moved very slowly and not to any clear endgame - we have this retrovirus which may be a useful weapon, and Ford's still out there, but apart from that, not a lot seems to happen on this massive city.

**

Instinct

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S2 (Instinct)

I was so hoping for a happy ending, but there wasn't really anywhere to go except tragedy. If the young Wraith girl, Ellia, could have been accepted by the villagers, then that would work, but there was no way they would ever allow her to exist, and you can understand why. What begins as a patchwork of cliches and a chance to show off the Medieval village set they're so very proud of, turns into a picturesque forest runaround, but then takes a more interesting route to the finale than a mere Wraith hunt. Zaddik, a man who'd been part of the village where our intrepid travellers arrive, is discovered by them deep in the woods harbouring this Wraith girl in the belief he's cured her of the hunger for human flesh that we learn strikes at puberty: while young they can ingest normal food, but this only works up to a point and then it's game over. There's a spirit of hopefulness through the episode thanks to Zaddik's compassionate attitude and then Dr. Beckett's formula for a retrovirus that will strip away the nonhuman parts of a Wraith, leaving something much more manageable and without the hunger. Could this idea be the way to ultimately beat their foe and turn them to our side? If it is, then there's a long way to go before it's going to work, for as we see here, the version he has so far developed does the complete opposite, changing Ellia into more of a Wraith than she ever was before, so thumbs down to the doc's work on this occasion!

You'd think they'd learn from their mistakes in meddling, just as McKay was forced to in the previous episode, but it wasn't entirely Beckett's fault - he was overheard by Ellia telling Zaddik about the drug and she took it into her foolish mind to administer it to herself when it wasn't even ready. She had a strong motive, for we learn that contrary to her adopted Father's belief, his solution didn't work and failed to take away the craving she had, leading her to steal out in secret and feed on the villagers, all the while keeping up the pretence that she had been positively affected by her Father's work. She cared for him greatly and it was for his sake that she acted as she did since she knew he'd offer more of his 'life energy,' or whatever, to stem the hunger, which is exactly what he had done to keep her alive when she could no longer be satisfied by other food. The big twist is that Zaddik is the son of one of the main guys in town, but because of allowing her to feed on him, now looks older than his own Father. It wasn't a bad concept, but was not without holes - for example, why didn't Rodney contact Beckett by radio, instead choosing to run back in and get he and Zaddik to come and see the villagers on the warpath? Because the story needed Ellia to take Beckett's drug. Why were the villagers so curiously passive when you'd think they'd be angry and vengeful? They just meekly stand by and let Sheppard handle everything!

The story is essentially 'Frankenstein,' with a few 'Atlantis' differences, but it boils down to the same thing: Zaddik was apparently wrong to try and change the nature of the feared Wraith, it backfired, and he ends up dead. The happy ending is there if you look for it, as both Wraith are dead so there won't be any more feeding and the people can go back to their lives without worry hanging over them. Small comfort to the main guy who both found and lost a son in short order and I can't help but feel more could have been done with that side of the story - there was surely much more to wring out of that human story. Beckett can take away from it that he should never leave his cases unlocked even for a moment. And Ronon learns that it's okay to disobey what Sheppard says if the situation calls for it, which doesn't seem like the best thing to teach him. I'm quite surprised he was happy to hang around Teyla considering he was all ready to blast those nasty Wraith, so I suppose he has some unselfish instincts. Although a fairly enjoyable jaunt it doesn't quite wrap up everything properly and ends on a sad note of pessimism which lets it down.

**

The War Without, The War Within

DVD, Star Trek: Discovery S1 (The War Without, The War Within)

Soapy, over-emotive melodrama. It really is hard going getting through some of these episodes and far from reminding me of Trek, it feels much more like the convoluted and ridiculous 'Smallville'! At least that was built on a couple of good seasons at the start before it went wacky, and it had the excuse of being based on a comic book character, so even with all the silly, uncharacteristic things that happened by or to people, the way they behaved or their plans and solutions, you expect it to be that way inclined. It may be that I just don't care about these characters which I expected to get to know and like. It may be that I expected too much, beyond a film-like visual style. But everything 'DSC' does seems to put me off - it's like they show off the money behind the series in every unnecessary way rather than concentrating on the things that matter. And it's not like they don't do the old Trek trick of reusing sets, aliens and characters, even when it's not necessarily serving the story. I'm talking in generalisations here because it's very hard to pin down exactly what is wrong with this series. Let's take an example: it was fantastic to see the Andorian and Tellarites in the Mirror Universe, and in this episode they return as the versions of our universe. Okay, so I should be as excited to see them, right? It was a nice little touch, but without any direction - they were just there as a nod, and that's fine, but it's not like we now get to know them or even learn their names. So maybe they were there because it was cheaper to reuse the outfits and makeup tailored for those specific actors?

If they're being careful with little things like that, or by bringing back the USS Shenzhou as they did now and again through the season, which is a bigger deal, then it shows they have the same budget-minded approach of previous Trek. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's symptomatic of the series that it is both things at the same time: it is both being money-conscious, while at the same time it's all about showing off the look of the tech at every opportunity. It puts great attention to detail on things like maps and names of places, dropping in references throughout the season (the House of D'Ghor was responsible for mashing Starbase 1; Captain (wouldn't they remember him as Admiral?), Archer and the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 were the last Starfleet crew to visit Qo'noS a hundred years ago - specifically the Andorian says no Starfleet officer this century has visited, which would leave it open for the future stories, but Cornwell narrows it down), but the bigger picture is so poorly conceived as if by writers that don't understand Trek. From my own perspective I feel I'm being both too harsh on the series and too lenient. It's clearly not doing for me what Trek has always done, and should this be my fault that I can't enjoy it as others seem to? It's a philosophical question, the kind that doesn't get asked by the series, or maybe it does, but gets lost in the magic of spores and characters getting emotional. The argument is that they're at war, but how much war do we really see? How much of the Klingons do we really see? Was there really any point to this approach?

You see, I'm left with questions every time, and I don't mean in terms of the ongoing plot. I question what it is about these people that doesn't warm me to them? Is it just that I prefer the style of writing from another age? Is modern characterisation so different? I say they're overly emotional, but isn't that fair considering the circumstances? I see Tyler and I don't care that he's in anguish about what he endured under the mind of Voq because it was never well done enough to matter to me. In consequence, I really don't care about Burnham's emotions concerning him. Even Cornwell is acting very emotional for an Admiral as she takes charge of Discovery, and that just doesn't seem right for someone in Starfleet. 'Doesn't seem right' is the way I feel about the series on an all too common basis. As I said at the start and have always maintained, I want to like the series. I've waited for more Trek for so long, only for it to come back as a shadow of what it was. I watch an episode and all I can think of is to make mental notes about why that course of action is unlikely for that character, or why this looks wrong, and that's a sign that the story does not grip me. It doesn't matter whether they're doing mindless action or, as in the case with this episode, 'character' development. I just don't get the direction or the development. What happened to Burnham's Vulcan-ness? She never really displays this, even less with Sarek, whom she doesn't seem very respectful of when she talks to him, and the attempt to add an impression of impending jeopardy because she felt different saying goodbye to him is pointless because we know he'll be fine. Is that for the uninitiated? If so, why have Sarek at all, make him another Vulcan so we can all share.

Sarek himself is an awful version of the character, nothing like the great Vulcan we knew, and it's not because this is a younger version, it's in the performance of the actor who clearly does not understand the man he's playing any more than the writers know the man they're writing. And Georgiou. Michelle Yeoh plays her as evil villain no. 1, with no nuance or character to her. That's fine for the Mirror Universe where nothing matters, but now we're back in our universe. I'm not entirely sure if things do still matter since we jumped nine months into the future: does that mean they need to go back in time? They seem not to have even considered that, despite the war having gone so badly, so much lost, and come up with a plan to… Umm… Was it to somehow map the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS? By sending in spores because the planet is riddled with caves? As usual, the writing isn't very clear and what ideas are displayed are poorly thought out and far more fantastical than anything we're used to in Trek. So often I'm left scratching my head wondering if I'm being stupid or the series is! It's quite bizarre the manufactured twists and turns it's taken to get nowhere. Some things make sense: that without the Sarcophagus ship and the brutal leadership of Kol the Houses have turned the war into a sort of game where they compete against each other to show who's best, but it also makes the Federation look incompetent. The difference was that they have cloaked ships and can sneak up on Starfleet, but now Discovery has provided the means to detect cloaked ships.

The Discovery itself must have been integral to Starfleet's success previously because since it's been gone the good guys have nosedived. We learn that the Mirror Discovery which swapped with ours was absolutely useless, quickly succumbing to Klingon forces. Wouldn't the Klingons have captured it rather than lose all that juicy technology? This ship that can leap out of nowhere and vanish again in a trice must have made an impact on a Klingon psyche so heavily influenced by legends and myth that they'd have come to think of the ship as one of those legendary things, but there's little sense of Klingon culture in this series that appeared to promise so much. They completely lost the Klingons and never seemed as if they knew what they wanted to do with them. Again, it may be that co-creator Bryan Fuller's swift exit scuppered much of what could have been successful. The MU crews are portrayed as violent and dangerous, yet the Klingons got rid of the ISS Discovery in no time. That's because it was more of an inconvenience to the plot to have it flying around doing its own thing, which would have thrown up all kinds of fascinating questions. They're good at tempting us with fascinating questions, but they always fall flat. Like at the end of the previous episode when we learn of the time travel and the war is all but over, so you wonder where they're going to go with this. Then nothing really happens.

This episode ends exactly the same way, with Mirror Georgiou being presented by Cornwell as the missing Captain of the Shenzhou, all knowledge of the MU jealously kept under wraps. Okay, so it makes sense that the MU has to be secret or it can't be 'discovered' for the first time in 'TOS,' but the number of people that must know what happened is ridiculous, and not one ever breathed a thought about it? The Transporter operator that brings Georgiou aboard is warned that he must never utter a word about her on penalty of treason, which is how no one knows she's not the real Philippa. He must have been bursting to tell someone when she's made Captain! It's certainly interesting, like what is she going to do, because you know she's a dangerous villain. And yet they put her in charge, even if as a puppet. It's truly bizarre, and nothing about her make any sense. It's like they exchanged one untrustworthy Mirror Captain for another. Is it supposed to be fighting fire with fire? She's an evil and violent Empress where she comes from, so she can take out the nasty, violent Klingons for us? Somehow that doesn't make much sense for Starfleet to do, but then apparently at this time in history Starfleet isn't very idealistic. It can't afford to be, some might say, but that never stopped them before (or after). It was their ideals that they fought for that always got them through, whether it took Janeway the long way round the Delta Quadrant, or whatever. Maybe they're trying for the 'DS9' mood where characters did what they had to do to win sometimes, like Sisko falsely bringing the Romulans into the Dominion War.

Except that moments like that really stood out because Sisko and the others were heavily grounded in Starfleet ways, so for them to go outside it was shocking and terrible, but compelling. Doing it on a regular basis is not shocking, just disappointing. Lip service is paid to Starfleet ideals - indeed, Sarek gives Burnham quite a Biblical speech about it being graceful to love your enemies, but it doesn't seem to come from anywhere. It's like they just threw that in, not that you believe that any of these people were capable of loving the enemy. The idea that everyone should be treated with respect (which Cornwell expresses to L'Rell, trying to assure her they don't want to end Klingon culture), even when they hate you and want you dead, is a Starfleet symbol (and a Christian one, coincidentally), and I suppose they were clumsily trying to draw a parallel with Burnham and Tyler's affection, but that was so manufactured as well. They just can't pull off intelligent storytelling, and I fear that even if I loved the actors (for example, if Tony Todd and Michael Dorn had played a part), I wouldn't be enjoying what they were given to do. Funnily enough, about the only character that was more palatable than most was Cadet Tilly, whose important role in the MU seems to have given her confidence and made her less irritating. She can be a good, friendly person when she wants to, so it was warming to see her deliberately go over and sit with the outcast Tyler, whom Saru allowed to roam the ship, though with reduced privileges. Her action in support brings everyone else over and he's accepted again.

We learn a little more about him: he was the test case for Klingon infiltration, and it's all so serious and heavy, but when you think that the next time we get a Klingon altered to be human was in the comedic 'The Trouble With Tribbles' it doesn't quite fit with that. It was irritating that Tyler even speaks of them filing down his fingertips, because it reminds me again of those stupid clunky claws they all have now. There we go, it doesn't take long before I'm taken out of it again with a reminder of a choice they've made or a direction they've chosen that is so annoying and unnecessary. But even with those things, which I was able to put aside as I watched (in other words, I don't sit there every time a Klingon's on screen and concentrate on the claws), the rest of it that isn't directly in contravention of what I know to be Trek doesn't engage me. I don't need to get upset about it, I just don't feel anything toward it and my only real worry is that the Picard series, or anything else they bring out, is going to be as equally distressing or unengaging so that I may as well hand in my badge and Phaser and go off and get interested in something else. Except I'm watching 'Voyager' at the moment and that reminds me on a weekly basis why I do love Trek. There are plenty of old episodes, maybe that should be sufficient. It's just that it was fun to think of it all being part of an alive universe again that is being filled out, until you realise it's more like it's being overwritten and undermined.

**

Retrospect

DVD, Star Trek: Voyager S4 (Retrospect)

They get me every time with this one. I always think Kovin is a suspicious character, and probably because of that prejudice left behind from the last time I watched it, coupled with his being a forceful salesman, and of course, short-tempered (surely arms dealing and hot temper don't go together that well?), it seems a cut and dried case. Michael Horton does a good job in his only guest starring Trek TV role, especially when he sternly rebukes Seven on what she's doing wrong during integration of his wares into ship's systems in Engineering, speaking sharply and authoritatively as if the actor is really seeing her do something stupid instead of watching Jeri Ryan meaninglessly tap a touchscreen. That's acting! Horton may not have been granted entry into the hallowed realm of the recurring guest star troupe, but he does have the distinction of being one of the few to appear in a Trek film before Trek TV, playing the unnamed Security Officer in 'First Contact' (his first contact with the Borg, but not his last as we see here), later to be credited as Lieutenant Daniels in 'Insurrection,' making him a good piece of continuity between these middle 'TNG' features. Seven of Nine proved more hazardous for his characters' health than a whole Borg Cube did in the film as he ends up flying his ship apart in self-righteous panic to escape the pursuing Voyager - the shape and style of his vessel was in the Defiant mould in that it was overpowered and over-gunned, and without crackerjack Starfleet Engineers to make it work that's what could have happened to Sisko's ship in a heated moment.

There's some good continuity this season, and though on a smaller scale to some of the stuff done on 'DS9' (and certainly compared with 'Enterprise' and 'DSC'), nonetheless satisfying as we keep the question of trusting Seven alive, as well as the memory of the Hirogen ready for their big role in the next two-parter. The Doctor's desire to act as mentor in her understanding of social graces and coming to terms with emotion comes back to bite him hard and is a foreshadowing of at least one ethical quandary for him in the future, but what I like about this story is how it morphs into different phases like a caterpillar into a butterfly: at first, and for most of the running time, it's unquestionably a Seven episode - yet another one focused on her because she's such fertile ground to explore and irresistible to the writers. Personally, I think she's the best female Vulcan (and one of the best Vulcans in general), that there ever has been on Trek, and considering she wasn't actually a Vulcan, and they are my favourite species, that is high praise indeed! To me, this is how T'Pol should have acted around humans - not understanding emotion, having to be mentored in some way in order to fit into the social group she had entered on the NX-01. But the writing and portrayal of Vulcans has suffered grievously since the end of 'Voyager' and it's one of the most distressing points about post 24th Century Trek for me, that they went so far away from such a brilliant race, and one reason why the proudly arrogant, yet also humbly lacking, strong-weak dynamic of Seven made her so compelling.

I say it begins as a Seven episode, but once she's made the accusation against Kovin, it becomes a story for Tuvok to go back into his ever-popular role of investigator ('Retrospect' means looking back; hindsight, seeing things after the fact, the Latin for which is 'Ex Post Facto' and the title of the episode where Tuvok first acted detective). Kovin should have been more trusting as he initially appeared when the Security Chief offered him the guarantee of an impartial enquiry, but it's really the Doc who messes everything up, pouncing on apparent evidence to support Seven's claim, scaring the man into fleeing, believing prejudice from his own government will side with the visitors because of the trading nature of the Entharans. The Doctor is, as ever, eager and quick to arrive at conclusions, and really, I would say this is more an episode about him than Seven. She's just the unwitting victim, though not of the crime she thinks: it's her psychological damage at the tubules of the Borg that have led her to recall 'repressed' memories that are really only images from her time as a drone that she's laid upon Kovin, perhaps activated by his brusque and physically confrontational manner. It's all so well played because we're meant to fall into the same trap as everyone else of thinking Kovin guilty because he's unlikeable, a valuable reminder that justice isn't about punishing those we don't like, but discerning the truth and meting out a merited response. In that respect it's an excellent lesson against prejudice without being heavy-handed or obvious, and it creates a fresh challenge for our Starfleet crew when it turns out they're in the wrong.

Fortunately, Janeway and the Doctor, the two central pillars of 'justice' in the episode, are humble enough to see their mistake and the final conversation between them is what the whole episode is about. If this had been 'DSC,' and possibly even 'Enterprise,' the majority of the story would probably have been about them hunting Kovin and having to deal with his arsenal of weapons and traps, it would have been an action spectacular, but without the weight this story had at the end because it's much more contemplative. Sure, they do have a somewhat violent encounter with Kovin's ship, but that's not the focus. It's interesting to see both Bryan Fuller and Joe Menosky's names come up as you could have been forgiven for thinking this was 'DSC,' but with all of that series I've been watching lately I can say for sure that this is by far the Trek I prefer and it's sad that both of those tried and tested Trek minds weren't allowed the latitude to expand on the franchise that they deserved from giving us episodes like this. You're left with something to think on, a mental reminder or moral jab that means the episode has achieved something beyond an exercise in quick thrills or beautiful renditions of space.

To begin with the episode looks to be going down the road of 'Violations' on 'TNG' or 'Remember' from this series' third season - stories about mental anguish caused by an alien, that requires investigation to resolve. But the ending where the Doctor wishes to have the latest additions to his program removed, which he added in order to become useful in counselling since the ship doesn't have a counsellor, recalls Data's wish to turn off his emotions and having to learn to deal with them (until they undid that excellent plot point from 'Generations' in 'First Contact' by giving him that power and essentially taking away something of the humanity he desired). Janeway refuses the Doctor's wish, prefiguring his ethical short circuit in next season's 'Latent Image' in which he'd be forced to choose between two crewmembers to save one and goes into mental meltdown. Similar to that episode, Janeway is the rod to keep his back straight and his upper lip stiff. She believes in going through problems, not wimping out and avoiding them, an essential kernel to a Captain that must get her ship home, and do it the Starfleet way. An inspiration. She could have done with a counsellor at the beginning of Season 5, but as accomplished as the Doctor is, he finds that knowledge is different to wisdom gained from experience. Janeway would be there for him in 'Latent Image' and she was there for him here, proving beyond any doubt that the EMH is a person, a specific member of her crew that she cares for no differently than flesh and blood.

She has a lot of cares, but over the first three years she came to know the majority of her crew enough that she was able to stand as a strong leader as well as a compassionate confidante. She has grown much harder this season, you see much less of the scientist delighted by the curiosities of this Quadrant, but having to deal with the Borg and other increasingly tough opponents has forced her to become harder herself. Few have been more of a challenge than Seven of Nine, however, an enemy within, yet not an enemy. Seven has come a long way from demanding to be returned to the Collective, to becoming a member of the crew with unique skills to offer based on her history, as challenging and damaging as her time with the Borg was. But she still has problems accepting what she considers to be inferior directives or points of view to the point where Janeway literally doesn't know how to deal with her. Confinement hasn't disciplined her, it suits her personality, and the Captain in this episode gets to the point where she even asks the errant Seven what can be done to curb her ways because she can't think of anything, like a parent at their wit's end and unable to allow this teenager to keep living in the family home. But this home is a wagon train to the stars and they can't leave anyone behind (though Seven would be one of the most likely to survive alone, I'm sure), and as it turns out, her experience here opens her up a little more, introducing guilt and remorse to her repertoire.

It's no comfort to the dead Kovin, but though he was an overzealous man, prone to bursts of temper, at heart he was just a trader trying to make a living in fear that this false accusation will destroy him. In large part it was he himself who did the damage by refusing to trust Voyager, but trust has to be earned and what reason did he have to feel serene other than Tuvok's assurances? As an arms dealer he must have met many unfavourable and untrustworthy customers, perhaps that's why he's so flighty and ready to go on the run at a moment's notice. Although he has a clear conscience regarding Seven, he may have had it cracked through his business dealings which led to his lack of trust on this occasion, pushing his ship and weapons to the maximum so he destroyed himself. It's a harsh tale, but it's certainly got the morality part down and provides an essential moment in Seven's growth when she realises her actions have led to the wrongful death of an innocent man. It was true that Kovin and his kind had eminently punchable noses (the last person Seven decked was Neelix, I think), but I really liked what they did with the Entharan design - a frontal ridge that is partially covered by flaps of skin so that the ridge alternately appears as it goes up the nose and forehead. In other alien-related physiology we also see beneath Seven's ocular implant above her left eyebrow, removed for examination to reveal a smaller and more integrated attachment buried beneath, shown for the first time, I believe, though at the end of the series she looked like that all the time as the Borg tech was gradually weaned away. And there are the Borg tubules, which are very cool, even if it was just in false memory.

Janeway and Voyager can sometimes misrepresent Starfleet as being weak because of the attitudes they display, something that is a big part of Seven's contempt for regulations. She's actually the one to implement the safety protocols B'Elanna instructs because 'we prefer to play it safe.' That's why Voyager wasn't going to end up as one of the scuttled ships Kovin warned about if they didn't buy his merchandise, because they were careful, backups upon backups. I like that this is a hint at what will eventually happen to Kovin, who doesn't believe in such safety measures and prefers the raw power and strength, the reason, we can comfortably assume, that his ship blew up when he pushed too hard. He was an effective salesman and appreciated Janeway's ability to negotiate - though she comes from a moneyless society she sure knows how to barter! I imagine if she and her crew had got together for poker nights like the Enterprise, she'd have been raking in the chips (isolinear, of course!), and it's always good to see her skills of persuasion and standing up to another forceful personality. Which is why she's so good this season as Seven's adopted Mother - she's been that figure to all her crew during the journey, and the Maquis crewmembers must have provided at least some of the preparation for this ex-drone, but they at least had allegiance to Chakotay (who gets almost nothing this week, though only Neelix doesn't appear at all). This story must have come some time after 'Prey' as Seven's been behaving herself 'lately.' It may have been better to have an episode in between that kept Seven locked up, but then as I said, she's too irresistible to the writers to leave out, so I can understand why they didn't allow time to feel more natural.

Lastly, we get some nice little veiled 'TNG' references thanks to the Doctor being interested in becoming the ship's counsellor (making additions to his program again - did he learn nothing from 'Darkling'?), then later mentioning a Betazoid psychiatrist in advising Seven. Rather than directly reference Counsellor Troi on the Enterprise-D they do it in this round the houses way, which is subtle, rather than making the universe smaller by always name-checking someone specific. Deanna would be making multiple appearances on the series in the coming seasons so she'd get more than her due, which was nice. And the science lab gets a rare showing as the place Tuvok and Janeway examine Kovin's equipment to find answers. I like this episode, it's not something to blow you away or impress on a visual level, but it's one of the quieter episodes and ends tragically in a much more grown up, 'DS9' way. A good tale should not be judged in whether everything ends happily or not, it's about what can be learned from the telling, and Janeway, Seven and the Doctor all learned important lessons. You could say this was one of the founding episodes of the triumvirate of characters the series graduated to. The latter seasons may have overused these three, but it's easy to see why from episodes like this as they provide everything a Trek story requires.

***

What's Past Is Prologue

DVD, Star Trek: Discovery S1 (What's Past Is Prologue)

Another duffer, this one, and one of the most boringly action-packed. Seriously, this is why I don't like modern comic book films, 'Star Wars' films, 'Dr. Who': cardboard characters running around doing boring action hero stunts, all visual spectacle and nothing to get the least bit excited about. Does it feel real? No, it's just a cartoon like the Kelvin films, and the more I see of this series, the less I like it and forget the very few that did draw me in. It was almost laughable to see the sub-'Matrix' fight in the grand throne room aboard Georgiou's palace ship, and I wondered if it was a 'tribute' to practically the same scene in 'The Last Jedi,' except that they came out around the same time, although I can imagine the producers seeing the film and saying to each other they have to get a scene like that into their new baby because it's so cool and everyone'll be blown away, dude! Mindless, heavily choreographed fight sequences that drag on for ages: just what I always felt Trek was missing, but no longer! Now we can sit back, turn off our brains and become absorbed into nothingness. I mean really, what was this episode actually about? Did anything of any importance happen? If it did, I missed it. Evil Lorca was revealed to be evil and mercilessly executed by ex-Empress Georgiou, who is saved by Burnham by somehow running along while she's being beamed (don't you need to stay in one place so they can get a lock on you?), and now this 'noble' woman has been brought into our universe because of Michael's pity for her.

That's not very Vulcan, is it? The logical thing would be to leave her behind to the 'mercy' of her own universe, a poetic justice for all the evil she's perpetuated, but I suppose it's because she looks like Burnham's Georgiou she just couldn't let her go, and feels that restoring her is like undoing her mistake. Except it really wasn't her mistake that killed Georgiou, it was the Captain's poor decision-making to beam onto T'Kuvma's vessel without a squad of security officers, just her and Burnham, with some vague idea of capturing the Klingon leader, but ending up having to kill him: Georgiou wasn't so wise. I knew that Mirror Georgiou would be making it back in some way because she's due to star in her own TV series (which says a lot about our society today that we want to make a Trek series starring the evil Emperor of the Mirror Universe whose main draw is her swordsmanship and martial arts skills!), and I wondered how she could ever be made sympathetic after murdering all those people on Harlak, not to mention countless unspeakable atrocities that are only hinted at. Perhaps there's still redemption for her to find, that is the Trek path, after all, but it's like saving Hitler and inviting him to take up a position in the United Nations because he reminds you of your old history teacher! Surely she should be put on trial for crimes against the galaxy, but no, I can't see that happening in this simplistic and crude take on Trek. Granted, I'm getting ahead of myself, there's still time for them to justify Burnham's actions and turn Georgiou good. I just don't have much confidence in these writers.

There was one glimmer of interest in the whole thing, and that was soon undermined: when Saru officially takes command, although even then he doesn't do it in the time-honoured fashion, but makes it some Communist act, saying it's 'our ship' now as if abrogating responsibility. Mind you, he's effectively followed Burnham's path of mutinying against his Captain, so they'll have more in common now, and maybe he was aware of the parallels, but it certainly didn't come through in the writing. It's hard to keep from spilling over into scorn and disgust long enough to say something positive about the episode, but when they spoke of the only way to save the mycelial network being to do whatever they had to do at the expense of their ability to get home, it represented the spirit of 'Voyager' and Starfleet's mandates in fine form. But it's immediately undercut by Saru's magic ability to 'sense the coming of death' again, and it's okay this time because he doesn't sense it and refuses to accept the no win scenario. It would have been so much truer to the Trek spirit for them to knowingly go into the operation expecting they were sacrificing themselves for the greater good of what I suppose is a living network of spores, and only during it to find an alternative at the last moment which means they won't be called on for the ultimate sacrifice after all. Instead, by being defiant at the no win scenario that is a favourite of Trek lore, it's a more selfish triumph and an inability to see the importance of that scenario which was about accepting defeat gracefully and without fear, coming to your end.

Saru is all about fear, however, so maybe it's his race's flaw that means he acts this way, except that it's set out to be a victory, the way it's presented, and was a simple solution to get them back into our universe again, safe and sound (if nine months into the future when the Klingons have won the war, which at least sets up the final two episodes to be different). I'm not sure how any of this isn't going to leak, or how ship's logs won't record the adventures of going into this Mirror Universe so that the USS Enterprise, which is alive and well at this time and out in space, never hears of it, nor the way Lorca ended up crossing the universes by being beamed away during an ion storm (was the Charon beaming him, and if not, where was he beaming to?), which is just how Kirk and his officers ended up in that place a few years later. It shows up the use of the MU as a pointless exercise in crowd-pleasing rather than truly coming up with original ideas. Ideas, don't forget, is what Trek has (until this century), been all about! The 'clever' twist of having the Captain of the ship actually be his Mirror counterpart hasn't been fulfilled more than a 'ha ha, fooled you,' mentality, it hasn't brought any great depth to the story, just as introducing a Holodeck earlier in the season had absolutely no bearing on the narrative at all. I'm not even clear why Lorca cared so much about Burnham, except that he was in cahoots with Mirror Michael (Gabriel and Michael working together - obviously some kind of angelic connotation there, but if Bryan Fuller planned it, those that took over were never able or interested to work it in to make you see it), so was it just a vague fondness that this was all about? Weak.

Another disappointment comes in Landry showing her grumpy face again. I was looking forward to this since I was expecting her to be deep in the Mirror Lorca's plot, and that the version we saw of her near the beginning of the season whom was killed so stupidly and needlessly to illustrate the idiocy of the military mind compared with Burnham's more enquiring and scientific one, was actually the Mirror Landry, which was why she was so close in Lorca's confidences. I was expecting our Landry to crop up and be a much kinder, compassionate, intelligent individual - you know, like a 'mirror image'? That's what the MU used to be all about. But no, apparently the objectionable Landry we knew must have been how she was in our universe, nasty, unflinching and stupid. At first, MU Landry did seem more rational and positive, and I was waiting for her to be the double switch: if Lorca was pretending to be our Lorca, then she was, I don't know, maybe Section 31, or something like that, who was aware of what he was doing and was keeping tabs on him, but she's been trapped in the MU, and now she could finally play her part in taking this imposter down, thereby helping Georgiou and Burnham escape. But no, there was not that level of depth to the story, simple as it was so that the average viewer could follow it and marvel at all the shooting and fighting. 'Cos that's what Trek is, right? You'd think so if all you ever saw of Trek were the Kelvin films and now this.

I think the only other positive I could bring to this episode is how the minor recurring characters were allowed more screen time: Airiam, Detmer, Rhys, Owosekun, Bryce, these characters that aren't really characters, just familiar faces with names attached, became a little more solid. Not much, it's true, but if it was a graph, the curve would be going upward. Let's hope this wasn't the peak of their engagement with the series, because they have been largely there as the computer voice, explaining what's going on, rather than being real people you could relate to. Garak, the Cardassian tailor, was in one episode of the first season of 'DS9' (coincidentally, sharing the similar title of 'Past Prologue'), and he had many times more to him in that first encounter than a season has given this little gaggle of Starfleeters, but then that's a sign of the times: with serialised storytelling it seems everyone, both main cast and recurring, are shortchanged. At least we did get a Captain's Log from Saru, which is something I've been clamouring for, though as with all the elements that go to make this feel like Trek, they're very stripped back as if it's almost too much trouble and doesn't fit with the makers' desire to concentrate on spectacle and plot rather than story and character. For instance, when Burnham makes contact with Discovery from inside a Jefferies Tube (not that they probably call them that in this series, I certainly don't recall hearing the term, they probably think it sounds too daft - maybe they're a little embarrassed about Trek in general which is why it so often feels like other franchises more than Trek?), she brings up a visual channel, when you'd think that would be the time to be on audio, and when Lorca speaks to her as she runs round the rabbit warren of corridors, she 'cleverly' makes it look like she's in one place by pulling out some wires (who knew it would be so simple!), and keeps moving so Landry doesn't find her. What about sensors?

The episode is another to avoid having a teaser, with just the convoluted recap of what's come before, and again, though it was around forty-one minutes long (the episode that is, not the recap!), it felt long, whereas many an 'Enterprise' episode of similar length simply flies by. It's because there's no meat to get your brain-teeth into, nothing substantial to enjoy. Oh, they occasionally throw in something like the 'sacrifice the ship for the spores' talk, or by making it clear that Burnham does not believe in destiny, but it's slim pickings. I quite liked the stuff about destiny because it's in direct opposition to the Kelvin films saying that the universe sorts things out so that that's why Kirk and his crew came together, like a fantastical 'Star Wars' destiny, it had to be that way, rather than individual people making their own decisions out of free will. Lorca, the bad guy, is all about destiny, believing he was going to kill Georgiou (incidentally: why? He became like another Khan figure, the way he rescues his 'people' from the agony booths to be their leader once more in a revolution against the Empress, but apart from wanting power, there didn't seem to be much motivation - strange how a Sixties TV show can still be so much deeper and more believable than the best money can buy nowadays. Hmmm, just a thought). But Lorca's destiny does not come to pass. Maybe the prosthetic head that we know was made for him during production was for this scene where he falls into the ship's energy ball, or whatever it was, as we see him disintegrate?

Burnham, on the other hand, believes what she does makes a difference, and thereby, logically, she's saying our actions have consequences and responsibilities, rather than it all being preordained: we play our part in the universe, rather than suggesting whatever bad thing we do, or happened to us, was 'destined' to be that way and we have no influence. So that was a bright spot amidst all the gloom and stupidity. It's sad they can't make an episode all about that and have to throw such scraps in to leaven the action and violence rather than being the focus of everything, but again, the times we live in… Unfortunately, the writers seem to believe that a modern audience can't cope with messages and is only there for visceral pleasures, not mental workout, so there has to be grand, overarching danger to keep attention spans agog. Now it's that the 'multiverse' will cease to exist if Lorca gets his hands on Mirror Stamets' undetermined weapon that will somehow devastate the mycelial network and spread a chain reaction across all existence - but surely, by the very nature of the multiverse theory, there would be countless variations of the universe where this was avoided, or where Stamets wasn't able to do this, or etcetera ad infinitum… It's funny one reason given for killing off familiar characters as writers like to do to keep viewers on edge (do we really want edge over comfort in these dark days? Was Trek not popular because of its escapism?), is to suggest that older TV was always so safe because you knew the main characters would always survive, and yet they bring us a story where the stakes are the entire multiverse(s), which we know are going to be fine. In one of those universes, somewhere many millions of lightyears away out of sight and time, there sits a version of me who's actually enjoying 'DSC' because the writers got it right and made an excellent modern series that was worthy of the name 'Star Trek.' But it ain't this universe.

**

Vaulting Ambition

DVD, Star Trek: Discovery S1 (Vaulting Ambition)

Oh dear, the worst of the Mirror Universe episodes. Maybe it doesn't work to cross the threshold past two in the MU, just as it's inadvisable to cross the universes themselves, because this failed to interest, and limply revealed the 'shocking' twists of the season. It was only thirty-six minutes long, the shortest ever Trek episode (not counting the non-canon animated series), but it felt much longer. Everything's been building to this: Captain Lorca is his mirror counterpart whose devious scheme was to get hold of our Burnham as a way onto Emperor Georgiou's Imperial Palace ship, the ISS Charon, so he could kill her! Wow, what a convoluted way to go about something - he figures that if he has Burnham bring him on he can get aboard no trouble, because otherwise… what, Georgiou wouldn't take him? Or was Burnham the distraction he needed so he could escape? I could buy that he somehow got stuck in our universe, or he was working with Mirror Stamets to try and harness the mycelial network and discovered there were other universes, or maybe he was able to read the secret USS Defiant file that had been redacted, thus giving him reason to go and get Burnham. But why he waited this long, taking part in the Klingon war and everything else they went through, I don't know. To gain her trust? It's a typically silly reveal for this typically silly series, and as much as I enjoyed the first two MU episodes, it's a shame they weren't able to come up with something better as a means to show character motivation.

It's strange, because in some ways this very much hearkens back to older Trek ideas, what with Stamets onscreen with a double of himself (done more times than I can count, and achieved very well here, as you'd expect with modern effects and budget), trapped inside his own mind, which is represented by a recreation of his ship (or the series' own standing sets for budgetary reasons!), just as they always used to do. There's even the old trope of following a disappearing figure down the twisting corridors which makes me think of Janeway chasing after the little girl from her holoprogram, or other episodes of 'TNG' where the same sort of thing happened. Somehow they seem unable to really generate a mood of nightmarish creepiness or mournful melancholy that old Trek was so good at doing, perhaps because now Trek is so action-oriented or comic book dialogue-heavy, or maybe it's the music or the style of acting? Whatever the case, I don't know, but it wasn't very well done, on the whole. Nor were Georgiou and Michael's scenes. It took me right back to the pilot where the pair came across as a little stilted or forced, and it may be that they simply don't have chemistry between them. They got one thing right, though: Mirror Georgiou is as simplistic and downright evil as Intendant Kira, the MU's most iconic villain, and they've certainly succeeded in continuing the basic, one-note portrayal of MU characters that meant the sub-genre was generally only mildly interesting compared to the greater Trek canon, although I'm not sure that's what was needed.

We're set to break yet another precedent by going for at least four episodes based on the MU (discounting all the times Mirror Lorca has been in the series already), but it remains to be seen whether they'll break the dubious record of five MU episodes in a series, held by 'DS9,' or whether we'll be back to our universe by the end of the next one. Now that all has been revealed (and there wasn't really anything I hadn't already heard of before I saw the series), I feel competent to judge the quality of the writing and to comment on its weakness, as I see it. Along with Lorca's reveal in unimaginative style, we also have Tyler set free by L'Rell, who seems only too comfortable in apparently stripping out the remains of Voq's consciousness to free what is the real Tyler, answering my question about how they were going to make him sympathetic after all he's done. She gives the death howl that is supposed to warn the gates of Sto-vo-kor of the impending arrival of one of their warriors, which suggests Voq is dead. She was able to remove this ambiguous neural energy or consciousness so easily with a few twiddles of her claw hands operating Starfleet medical tech, but I suppose if you consider that they're operating within the time frame of the era of 'TOS,' with episodes like 'Spock's Brain' in which McCoy keeps the Vulcan alive until they can retrieve his mental organ, then it fits. It's just that when you've grown up with the far more sophisticated and realistic 24th Century approach to Trek it's hard to go back, and I usually work around such silliness and enjoy it for what it was, but don't expect it in modern Trek because we're supposed to have made progress since those days!

Except we obviously haven't. I'm surprised that L'Rell would kill her love, and it's weird that Voq went through so much for so little, and didn't appear to have much of a plan. There are still a few episodes left so perhaps there will be more twists to come and Voq isn't actually dead, and Lorca's plan was actually more diabolically cunning than it seems, but seen on this episode's merits, the season, while not falling apart like a house of cards, is in jeopardy of failing to be taken seriously. How does Burnham realise Lorca's mission? By having Emperor Georgiou explain that the singular difference between 'our two races,' as she puts it, is sensitivity to light, which isn't something we've seen in any other MU characters at all, apart from her and Lorca! It's such a poor 'clue' as to be laughable, and even leaving aside the melodramatic dialogue (like when Burnham and Lorca are in the shuttle at the beginning talking of ghosts), shows modern plotting and writing to be far more unrealistic and silly than I could have imagined before seeing the series. There's really very little about the episode to like at all, though Saru continues to show he's still an interesting character, such as when he confronts L'Rell in her cell, and any moment with him is better than anything else, though I think it's more to do with Doug Jones and his performance than anything he's given to do or say.

I was interested to see the shuttle, which weirdly looked much more like it came out of 'TNG' than 'TOS' (though this isn't necessarily a new thing as 'Star Trek V' basically repurposed a 'TNG' shuttle, though that was far later in the film era, decades after this episode's setting), not having the angularity, but smooth, curvy lines - who knows, maybe the ultimate twist will be that 'DSC' is set in another alternate universe, or the ship actually does come from the 24th Century? I wouldn't put it past these writers… I did like more talk of the Defiant, and how its crew tore each other apart in madness, as it's wonderful to have a 'TOS' episode's details paid the courtesy of reference, linking both it and 'Enterprise' to this current incarnation, but we're obviously not going to see it, as rather than use a powerful Constitution-class, the Emperor prefers her own custom-built ISS Charon (referencing the battle mentioned in 'TNG' or planet in 'TOS? Or neither since they were spelt 'Cheron'), which, being in the MU, the designers were free to go wild with as it doesn't matter, and we know in the MU they favour ships the bigger the better. I was confused at first when Georgiou shows surprise at Burnham telling her of our universe - she should know all about it thanks to the Defiant's records, but later she shows she does know, so I suppose she was shamming in front of her followers before slicing through their heads in a violent scene of multiple death. That was another thing that brought to mind the operative word of this episode: silly. A spinning disk that somehow knows exactly where it should go simply by her throwing it, and spares one of those in the circle? It smacks of Sulu's fold-up samurai sword from 'Star Trek XI'! Daft. And nasty.

They weren't the only gory deaths of the episode as a similar end from the one the Vulcan terrorist had in front of Sarek was given to one of Lorca's followers. He disintegrates before our eyes before exploding in a shower of blood. Lovely. It's not necessary to go that far and once again it makes me think of the modern films and their penchant for violence over intelligence or wit. Ho hum. I was also less than thrilled with them confusing agonisers with agony booths as they're two different things in Trek lore: everyone wore agonisers so they could be controlled by whoever was in charge, they weren't the booths that enemies were put into for punishment and torture. They've been pretty good about getting at least the surface details right, but they were going to fall down eventually, and that's one of the glaring ones. The only other points of interest were seeing more Kelpiens for the first time if you ignore Mirror Saru, though I don't know how Burnham's ever going to explain to her First Officer she ate one of his people. That dinner scene wasn't quite on the same level of horror as Picard's encounter with a Taspar egg in 'Chain of Command,' but it was following the same tone. When Georgiou commanded Burnham to choose one of the Kelpiens I felt sure it was for some unsavoury purpose. Turned out it was for a savoury one, followed by dessert! And the other thing that caught my interest was about the closest we've seen on the series to a discussion of God: when Mirror Stamets says 'technically, who knows?' which is about the best we're going to get in that regard, but at least they didn't go all atheist and spout out all about how no one in this century believes in such things, but then they are still playing to a large American audience where faith is still part of life, so they wouldn't want to be too definite, I'm sure.

I think about enough has been said on this particular episode, it wasn't one to get the imagination flowing, without even the sight of an Andorian or a Tellarite to spark something, and with only basic, base happenings of plot, and little character - sure, there's Stamets 'trapped' in his head and weirdly meeting the dead Culber, although I'm not sure if we're to assume this is real or just Stamets' imagination. It was a way for him to meet his mate one last time, but it all seemed rather pointless to me and I didn't get the intentions of what they were doing, it's not like he was able to affect things within his mind in order to wake up, unless Culber telling him simply to open his eyes was the 'message' he needed in order to get out of the coma, which is also daft. At least Tilly was barely in the episode, and I still think they'd do better to concentrate on the characters that work best - in my eyes that would be Saru, L'Rell, and to a lesser extent, Burnham. Perhaps an episode where the three of them were trapped on a shuttle and running out of air, or some other great Trek trope, would be more interesting to me than what they've actually done with the series. I was hoping that the glimmer of fascination lit by the last couple of episodes was heralding a strong finish to what I regard as a very patchy season, but after this one I'm not so sure. Come on, at least give me one good episode I can enjoy and hold up as evidence that this series has a future! Please?

**

The Wolf Inside

DVD, Star Trek: Discovery S1 (The Wolf Inside)

Well this episode felt longer, and I was coming to the conclusion that it might be the series' first hour-long instalment, but it turned out to be about forty-seven minutes, which is fairly lengthy compared to the average Trek. Why should that be the foremost takeaway to come to mind amid all these other plot developments? I have to admit it did feel a little long, maybe not so well paced, but I did appreciate the opening credits taking some time to appear, reminding me as it did of 'DS9' where they'd sometimes have several scenes and get into the meat of the story before cutting away to the opening sequence, making you forget the episode hadn't technically begun yet, so that was a nice callback, if callback it was, though more likely they just felt it needed to be there at that point. There were a few things like this which I liked, such as questions that popped into my mind being shortly answered to my satisfaction: for example, I was confused as to how Stamets had been able to escape through the medical forcefield around his biobed, when they believe he killed Culber, found as he is cradling the dead body in some dark, faulty part of the ship. I could have believed his technical expertise might have made him able to use the equipment within that area to deactivate it, if he were a typical crackerjack Starfleet Engineer, but he's not. At least I don't think so… They could also have made up some fantasy mumbo-jumbo about the spores inside him messing with the system and somehow allowing him to phase through the forcefield, which would have been silly. Instead I think it was Saru suggested Culber may have lowered it himself, which would make sense. Except now I think about it, when he was killed the forcefield was still active - maybe Ash dropped it so as to implicate Stamets?

Okay, so that was one moment that seemed to have an answer, and the other one was when Tilly manages to persuade Saru to let her work on Stamets' cure by putting him back in the spore cupboard. With no medical personnel whatsoever! So the Captain's off the ship and unavailable for such decisions, but that leaves Saru in charge, and okay, he's there overseeing the attempt to revive the guy, but you'd think there would be at least someone from Sickbay around just to monitor the patient's condition rather than leaving it to the gut feeling of a cadet! It's sometimes hard to remember Sylvia is still a cadet because she seems to have so much to do and I'm afraid she has become something of a Wesley Crusher figure, which is unfortunate, but that's what happens when you cut out some of the key roles in a starship to try and make it different to other Treks. Anyway, that's beside the point as there was at least one doctor and assistant that arrived, though I think it was only when his condition went critical and they should have been there all the time, unless the Engineering section have some kind of beef with Medical and the two departments don't like to have dealings with each other. But they came eventually, so that was good, and answered my point.

The point about Tilly and her sudden appearance as expert on everything isn't so easy. She was working with Stamets, agreed, but they never developed that. It was rare to have scenes of the two of them together and that's something I've keenly observed about the series: despite modern TV supposed to be oh so much more sophisticated and advanced than it used to be, it really isn't. How they've handled the characters across the season has been fairly simplistic and childish in the manner of the Kelvin Timeline films (even down to the Captain promoting people into positions because he feels like it rather than them earning it particularly: Burnham and Tyler), so that I wonder if all big, talked up TV shows that people rave about these days are like this? I don't watch much modern TV, at least from America, the massive budget, prestigious, showcase stuff that gets all the attention, mainly because there's so much Trek to re-watch, but if it is all like this I find it to be melodramatic, far from the grounded worlds of Trek. Granted, Tilly would have got well into the spore lore, but it wasn't set up very well for her to be the expert that takes over the reins when Stamets is indisposed. Even Science Officer Saru would have a better aptitude and training for this side of things (you'd think), but a cadet has to lead him by the nose. She even seems to know all about the medical side from nowhere, chattering away about Stamets' brain as if she'd come straight from Starfleet Medical!

I'd rather concentrate on what works in the episode, and there were some nicely done shots of the camera rolling around the exterior of a ship before shooting through a window into a scene, which was elegant. It had been done before on Trek, but being a costly use of CGI, not so much. When we see a closeup of the worn hull of the ISS Shenzhou I immediately felt annoyed that it wasn't all Starfleet sparkly clean, before realising this is the Mirror version, so it's fine to be beat up and dirty. I still feel we don't get nearly enough exterior shots of ships hanging in space or travelling at warp, but this may be a holdover from the series' vision to be, if not about the lower decks, not necessarily about the top ranks either, though that hasn't exactly played out well - you even see, very often, that one reason they included the Kelvin idea of a window on the Bridge in place of the viewscreen, is so that they can tend towards showing what's going on outside from inside the Bridge, which is one of those things that makes it feel a lot less Trek-like. I'll never get used to that, or the lack of ship's logs, or a number of other things, but like I mentioned in my review of the previous episode, at least when they're in the Mirror Universe they can do almost whatever they please and it doesn't matter to anywhere near the same degree as when it's 'supposed' to be in the timeline we know very well and love very much.

Something that did please me was finally getting an Andorian character. Like most episodes of the series, they don't seem to bother much with names and people we meet being given a chance to show their character, so we don't find out anything about (Mirror) Andorians, but it was great to have one all the same. I don't know why he spoke in that metallic, almost mechanical voice, and I doubt we'll ever find out. He's one of a band of rebels that Captain Burnham has been ordered to destroy, the base being located on some planet (was that Harlak?), orders direct from the Emperor (which should be Empress, surely?), none other than Phillippa Georgiou herself, which ties to 'Enterprise' loosely in that Empress Hoshi was in control when last we saw the Empire in the previous century, so it's nice to have an Asian dynasty (I'd like to assume), coming from that. This might have been a big reveal had I not known about it before I even began watching the series, but I suspect I'd have had expectation of her showing up, and it was either going to be her or T'Kuvma, you'd think, so the Big Reveal with its melodramatic music fell a little flat. Did the Emperor send Burnham as a test to see if she would actually do what she was told, having been presumed dead, in order to know if she was who she seemed? Does she even know about our universe? You'd think she would since she must have the USS Defiant, but then who knows and who doesn't? I don't know…

They could have had Mirror Sarek learn all about Burnham's world and share it with his comrades, there would be no danger of it getting out since the whole encampment was obliterated by Georgiou (I'll be very interested to see how they make her into a sympathetic character after that act since we know she's supposed to be leading a Section 31 TV series… Then again, with 31's morals, they'd probably not be too shy about using someone like that if it served their goals). This whole sequence on the planet was (largely), the best part of the episode. I don't like the daft way the rebels and Burnham/Tyler meet, with the pair beaming down and then getting shot with a massive blasty cannon thing which throws them around, but is accurate enough that no one gets hurt! Either they would kill them as enemies, or they would not shoot at them, and they could have had a cool Phaser battle, which is what old Trek would probably have done. Instead they fall on the floor a few times until Burnham puts her hands up. Ignoring that part, I began to wonder if this was filmed at that canyon (Bronson?), where a lot of 'DS9' and other Treks used for things like the Bajorans hunting the rebels in 'Shakaar,' or the Jem'Hadar fighting Sisko and co. in 'Rocks and Shoals,' before remembering that you won't get the old landmarks any more because this is shot in Canada! Sad. The spit they walk across bordered by water on both sides made me think of a similar scene in 'Rocks & Shoals' and it would have been so great to have gone back there again.

The important thing is that we get to see this 'coalition of hope' as Burnham puts it - Andorians, Tellarites, Vulcans and Klingons banded together against the Terrans. The Andorian looked brilliant, and I quite approved of the gaunt-faced actor they chose, and even the horny brow that was new to the design. I was carefully watching the antennae and was pleased to see they did move, though it seemed they hadn't bothered to follow the detailed emotional states they depicted so brilliantly in the Andorians on 'Enterprise,' because usually they've been so careful to pay tribute to existing races, like showing the same symbol for the Klingons as we always had, or the musical notes of Vulcan writing (though clearly following the dress of the Kelvin Vulcans rather than 'TOS' or the film era, disappointingly). I do so hope this isn't the only appearance of Andorians (there was another in the background fixing what looked like some all-terrain wheeled vehicle, which always looks out of place in Trek), or, for that matter, Tellarites. I was almost as excited to see them, and approved of the large tusks that gave them almost a warthog look more than pig-like, though again, a shame they weren't the usual rotund body shape you expect from the race. I wasn't sure if one of them was a female, but it was difficult to tell in the few shots we had of this interesting gang (and maybe, as was joked about Dwarven women in 'The Lord of The Rings,' Tellarite women are indistinguishable from the men?). Again, the Klingons continue to look good, and if it weren't for the silly domed heads and claws I could accept them!

It very much reminded me of the 'DS9' episode 'The Ship,' another one where we saw a little-seen race in one of the crew (appearing to be of the same race as Dr. Sevrin of 'TOS'), and makeup tends to look better in the light of bright outdoors, away from the artificiality of the soundstages. It was so sad they were all annihilated, even for the fact that I just wanted to see more of this band of familiar aliens, but they didn't bother fleshing them out, it was one and done for them. I can't say I quite understood Burnham's joy at finding this coalition, because it's not like the Federation isn't well established in her own universe. I suppose she just appreciated the parallels even in this Mirror place, which is fair enough, but shouldn't she have more feeling for her own kind? I know Kirk was horrified by the Terrans being so harsh and evil, but he suggested Spock should follow a course of peace, he wasn't against them, and it turned out bad for humans anyway because of the subsequent Klingon/Cardassian Alliance we saw in 'DS9.' It's also difficult to discern what's going on with these Mirror characters and races because we don't really know who they are in our universe. We get Mirror Voq (which was great, but I so wanted Mirror T'Kuvma), and he did seem to be quite honourable, as in he didn't mercilessly skewer Tyler once he's beaten him in combat, but was open to hearing Burnham's words. I don't quite get why they went along with her, aside from testing her with 'The Prophet,' otherwise known as Mirror Sarek (good to know what happened to Mirror Spock's Father), but I think we can assume Mirror Voq is a nice guy.

It's a real shame, because I did like that version of Voq. He didn't seem to be small and weak, he was a good leader, so does that mean our Voq is, or was, a bad guy? I thought we were supposed to have some sympathy for him and L'Rell, and that's why Kol seemed so nasty? The trouble is we never really got to know those characters very well at all, for all the trumpeting of how they were going to explore the Klingons this season, so we don't have anywhere near as intense a feeling of a different version of the characters, almost watering down the MU in some ways. I would have liked Voq and his band to survive as they were about the most interesting thing in the episode (maybe the series), but it ties up a loose end and shows the Empire to be as horrible as it's always been, and maybe made the Rebellion fight even harder if they ever heard tell of Burnham seemingly betraying them. Mirror Sarek had a beard, which was a great connection, as we've seen Mirror Spock and Mirror Soval (but surprisingly not Mirror Tuvok), sporting beards, and if they can't execute a Ferengi character, then at least they were true to this MU trope! He's still a poorly acted version of a Vulcan, and not different to our universe's version. He did seem a little weary and low, like Mirror O'Brien, rather than an evil Sarek, so I suppose it's okay to have different tones for characters rather than straight up mirrored personalities, though I wish we had more of those to just show the harshness of this universe.

Not that they're shy of harshness as we see when Burnham allows the prisoners (but not Lorca), to be beamed out into space where they die from lack of oxygen and being frozen. It was similar to her killing of Connor last time, but at least in this case she wasn't operating the controls herself, so I didn't feel she was quite as responsible. Okay, so she could have rescinded the order, but didn't because of the law, but I wish she'd tried to find a way. The trouble is she doesn't seem experienced enough to be able to survive in that position as 'Captain' without condoning horrible acts by her crew, the story would be so much more compelling if she was forced to walk a tightrope where she was able to avoid doing those things which were anathema to her very being, yet manage the suspicions of her crew at the same time. And it's disappointing the writers weren't up to the task of doing that, instead almost glorying in the nastiness by showing the deaths in space and that sort of thing, which is a very current fashion for more gore and shocks, something they seemed to enjoy in the Tyler flashbacks to his procedure. In contrast, Tyler's sudden fight against his mirror counterpart was quite restrained, though I really wanted his forehead to show extreme bruising after he mistakenly head-butted this Klingon! I mean really, it would make sense for him to forget he's been turned human, in the heat of the moment his Klingon personality makes him perform an act typical of the race, but he didn't even seem to be affected after throwing his skull up against the bony fore-ridges of this Klingon skull! Something else: was Shazad Latif playing Voq? I'm sure they'd use a stuntman for the fighting, and I don't think we ever saw them standing in split-screen style, but there was no credit for Voq that I noticed, not even 'Javid Iqbal,' which I think it's fair to say was Latif in those early episodes.

I'm in two minds about the reveal of Ash Tyler as Voq - it happens because he's activated by Mirror Voq's talk of Kahless and the words of T'Kuvma come rushing back. Since I know Tyler, like Georgiou, isn't done in the Trek universe, I'm sure there'll be some undoing of Voq's influence. Maybe Tyler is the real Lieutenant, and Voq was grafted onto him, that way they could banish Tyler and his acts at the end of the season, yet still keep the human alive, or maybe we meet the Mirror Tyler, who is another person, and he's the one that goes back with the… He ultimately admits to Burnham he's realised he's Voq, and would have killed her but for the intervention of Mirror Saru. Now he was an odd one. You'd think this version would be harsh and nasty, a twisted version of the Saru we know, but instead, more in the vein of Voq and O'Brien, he's merely cowed, Burnham's personal servant who gives her a bath each day (another great reference, as this 'indulgent' form of cleaning was used by Intendant Kira and it seemed to be a direct reference to that, as Captain Maddox may have been named for the Commander of the same name in 'TNG'), and very deferential. I was expecting him to reveal his true colours as a villain and try to kill her, but he saved her, so that was nice. I didn't get our Saru's question about whether she'd met any of his kind on the Shenzhou. He says there aren't that many of his people, which I don't think we knew before, but it was rather unprofessional during a mission of such importance, and not wanting to have the comm open too much (why they used holograms I don't know!), for fear of discovery, and then he has a personal question. Again, very Kelvin, not very Trek.

Overall I would say it was another not bad episode. I'm surprised they didn't have the murder of Culber play out over several episodes, as I imagined Stamets would wake up and be horrified at what 'he'd' done, only later Tyler being revealed as the culprit. I also don't know why they didn't keep Tyler quiet longer as he's known and captured by episode's end. We're supposed to wonder if Burnham beamed him into space to kill him, but it was highly unlikely, even after he'd betrayed her, that's not her way, the way of the Vulcans, or of Starfleet, and she obviously took control of the Transporter controls to beam him to coordinates where the Discovery could beam him up. But wouldn't the Shenzhou know? Don't they have sensors? It was a trick, as we learn, to transfer the coloured square disk (so great, I love those things!), with the Defiant data on Tyler's person which they can use to get home. Shame we won't get to visit that ship, but I was highly sceptical we would, so no real disappointment there. And no surprise that Mirror, I mean Captain, Lorca wanted to hang around longer (I spotted what looked like another Gorn skull in Burnham's Ready Room on Shenzhou, and the head of some robot - I wanted it to be Airiam!). But in all, mainly thanks to Mirror Voq and his aliens, I was pro this episode. Not more than the previous one, as I said, it did feel overly melodramatic, and I'm not entirely sold on Burnham, or Martin-Green's performance choices, but it's another of the best this season, though still some way to go to match the average Trek episode I enjoy on the other series'.

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