My biggest problem with this episode isn’t the puppetry, or even the fact that it turned out to be all a dream. As people have pointed out, this hoary old plot has been used in Trek before.

In fact, I suspect that it originally wasn’t supposed to be a dream, but they had to pull that one out because the plot itself had holes that couldn’t be papered over without using that trope, not least of which was how Pike could get back into the ship after being spaced or why Ch’Rol was so nonchalant and literally immobile as the puppets were storming the bridge and beating up on her crew.

My biggest problem is that it just wasn’t even funny. It elicited a few chuckles but most of it produced crickets in my household. I’d have forgiven it if it were otherwise. I’m not sure it’s the absolute worst SNW ever, but I’m hard pressed to think of another one worse. As an example of SNW taking the big swings, this one was a miss.

Annotations for 4x05 up at: https://startrek.website/post/43631682

Annotations for 4x01 up at: https://startrek.website/post/42540204

Don’t get me wrong - I’m glad SNW is back, but the opener was a little meh - not least because it was predictable in the extreme.

The moment Spock reveals that they’ve travelled back to the Sol system 65 million years ago it becomes all very convenient and the predestination paradox possibility immediately rears its head.

Because, why would a solar storm light years away throw them back to Sol? And 65 million years ago is immediately obvious to any kid with a passing fancy for dinosaurs as the Cretaceous, which probably means there’s going to be a link to the extinction event. The need for and presence of iridium in the plot reinforces that, because one of the things we know about the KT boundary is the unusual presence of iridium.

(I won’t go into nitpicking the science in this one because Trek’s hold on science has been tenuous at best and this episode was more tenuous than most)

But even if you don’t pick up on that bit, what clinches it in the end is when Spock reveals there is a fifth planet between Mars and Jupiter. Although this detail really should have been made known earlier when he initially scanned the system since it’s a pretty unusual feature for Sol and the only reason it wasn’t is because it would give away the game too soon.

Because the moment you have that bit of info, you know how the rest of the episode has to play out - and it should be obvious to every officer on the bridge, not just Pike. Hell, every Earth officer at least should know what’s going on since they should have more than a passing familiarity with their home system. So Pike’s pronouncement that there is no fifth planet in their time lands as less of a dun-dun-dun reveal than it is a “No shit, Sherlock.”

Also, the pile-on consequences were a bit much, I think. Being involved in the creation of the Asteroid Belt is one thing, and sure, I can even buy the distress buoy paradox, but to put the creation of the solar storm and the extinction of the dinosaurs on top of that is over egging it.

There are cute character bits I enjoyed. Seeing dinosaurs is always a joy. The three-woman landing party was fun, and Saffron Burrows’ performance as a complex antagonist was superb.

Cade S’sha’s presence was a bit superfluous, since she had absolutely nothing to do except be an asshole to Uhura, and one wonders if her introduction would have been better served in an episode where she was more of a focus, or she should at least have been given some role in the plot.

It wasn’t a bad episode, but it wasn’t a great one to roll out the new season.

Thanks!

Tamza. Supposed to be a dead language by the 32nd century.

Sam was using it to say hi to people on her first day (SFA: “Kids These Days”) and Genesis was the only one who knew the language, so that’s how they became friends.

Annotations for 1x10 are up at: https://startrek.website/post/36717083

Correct, but the messages go back 2 years as also stated, so he may be 21 at the outside (nearly 22).

You may be right! Thanks!

Not at all. It also struck me that they simply imported the line from TNG: “The Bonding” without understanding the cultural context behind it or running it by actual Klingon speakers.

I’m not fluent by any means, but I know enough to know that using SoS in that context was off.

A lot of TNG used actual Hol - it’s just that it sounded like gibberish because nobody taught the actors how to pronounce it properly. It was only until DIS that they took pains to do it, but with the mouth prosthetics it just came out mumbly. They’ve gotten better in SFA.

Annotations for 1x09 are up at: https://startrek.website/post/36408558

Annotations for 1x08 are up at: https://startrek.website/post/36104352

She felt like testing the impact door.

Annotations for 1x07 are up at: https://startrek.website/post/35797552

Thanks - I forgot to write the reference down.

Annotations of 1x06 are up at: https://startrek.website/post/35489042

Thanks!

Yes, I noted that was a reference to DS9: “Past Tense”

Ah, thanks.

Annotations for 1x05 are up at: https://startrek.website/post/35172991