Ask Not

DVD, Short Treks (Ask Not)

How sad. That's my takeaway from this, one of the only times I've been impressed by the current Trek regime. Why sad? Because it's also by far the shortest output yet, and if this was how strong the writing of 'Discovery' or any other series was on a regular basis you'd have far fewer complaints about the directions they've gone in! It needs to be seen without any knowledge or preconception, and coming to it cold I was completely… not taken in, that's not the phrase, although I never guessed it was all a training exercise (or specifically, a recruitment exercise), but I was swept along. I had no idea what it was going to be about, but I noticed it was only just over nine minutes long and so I didn't expect it to be anything substantial. I can't help but imagine what 'DSC' (for example), might have been like if we'd been introduced to a character in this way and then seen her in a real situation later in the episode. This would have been an ideal way to launch a series as meeting new characters in interesting ways makes more sense than them just being there, and this was an excellent way to instantly empathise with Sidhu as we're thrown into the situation with her.

As always with current Trek I had some negatives, so best get them out the way first: didn't like the ridiculous technology of the mask, just like the silly Time Suit that is over-designed and complicated, an Iron Man folding into itself design, or floating through the air, that doesn't fit with the 23rd Century's tech and is only there to show off - 'look what we can do with special effects!' The mask itself was creepy, like an executioner's cowl and it was an effectively threatening and foreboding sight, especially after what appears to be an attack on this Starbase 28. That was the other little thing (other than Pike swearing), the Starbase design which we saw on the monitor bore no resemblance to the only type we saw in 'TOS,' Station K-7 from 'The Trouble With Tribbles,' nor did it appear similar to the oversized hulks of the features. I should add that the design of the Enterprise's Engineering was also gut-wrenchingly sad to see and once again shows we're never going to return to the beloved original Enterprise ever again, when what I want is to go back to those actual sets, maybe a bit spruced up, but for me the simplicity, clean lines and sparseness helps to sell it far more than sparks and metal and pipes and cavernous environments that speak of the Kelvin films' lineage, not our Prime Universe.

Those were my minor quibbles, but as is so often the case with good writing, if you get the dialogue, the characters and the atmosphere right, the aesthetics fade into the background (as they should), and that's why I wish modern Trek was this good all the time! I began, as I usually do, noting down little details, such as Ops making an announcement, just like Ops on DS9, but in all honesty things moved at such a rate and were so engrossing that other than a few simple notes I was too busy enjoying the episode to keep track of every detail, and that's how it should be! Pike is terrific - you're not sure if it really is him or whether he's been taken over by an alien, or is an imposter because, cleverly, he tries to overpower the young woman with words and his inherent air of authority. At first I'm on his side because we don't know this young woman and she should just help the hero and stop being obstructive - she should intuitively understand he's in the right. Pike fires regulations out and keeps things moving so she doesn't have time to stop and consider, but she stays strong, admirably. They throw in references to the Tholians which gets long-time viewers excited and acts as a diversion to what's really going on, and details of Pike's personable approach to command and how he does his homework when he 'recalls' her file and knows things about her and her husband in order to help sway her to his side, though there was something off about his attempts to manipulate her: and then Pike begins to turn and you wonder if it is him, but something's happened. He's becoming more aggressive, he swears, he keeps flinging regs at Sidhu, but it's still within character if he's desperate and you can believe he'd go against orders to save a ship. All the while the Red Alert lighting is throbbing, but Sidhu, though she almost wavers, never loses her training. This is Starfleet! This is what we want to see! Not mavericks and lone wolves in Time Suits, but Starfleet training shown in its best light.

I need to mention the good music, especially in the end credits (by Andrea Datzman), and that the opening titles, which were absent from this episode, didn't harm it at all, in fact worked very well to throw you in unready when you'r expecting the usual opening. The planet that was mentioned, Beryllium, is a strange one since according to the 'Star Trek Encyclopedia' it's a metallic element mentioned in a couple of episodes. I wish they'd thrown in an existing planet for that since it was all made up anyway - ah, now I twig, maybe that was meant to be a clue that all is not as it seems! Clever. I was also unsure on the importance of whether the Phaser was operational or not, since Sidhu would have been firing it to stun anyway, something that would have been only mildly irritating rather than life-threatening, unless she actually had it on kill. Not that it's that important, it just makes a nice little tag where Pike doesn't answer: less is more. Finally, I feel it was unnecessary to attribute the idea of the test to Number One at the end since I'm sure Pike could have come up with it himself, even if it gives Spock a chance to get a jab in on her!

Cadet Sidhu reminded me of the smart spit and polish of Nog in 'DS9,' or the Red Squad cadets, or most prominently the 'TNG' episode 'Coming of Age' in which Wesley Crusher is put through an unexpected training exercise to test his mettle that is just like this situation in terms of suddenness and the necessity to master emotions and keep control of the situation because lives could depend on it. An entire season of Klingon 'politics' or AI attempting to destroy the universe can't hold a candle to that simple personal struggle to do what's right. This is 'Star Trek.' It's the stage play, it's the high stakes for a character. It's the Starfleet lore laid out. This! This is what I want to see, and I finally get it. Okay, so it's ironic that it took them so long to get there, doubly so that it's the shortest even of the 'Short Treks,' but there has been one episode in each season (if I can call this first DVD release of 'Short Treks' a season), of Trek produced so far in this era that I've liked, and this is the one from this batch. Good. Thank you. Get that writer signed up (Kalinda Vazquez), and wonder why we haven't had this quality before! I'm off to watch the episode again with Anson Mount's commentary.

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