I can't understand why... But for some crazy reason... A lot of people think that the Progenitors and Preservers are the same race. When clearly, they are not.
I found that this episode raised a lot of unanswered questions for me: How do the natives live and survive? Their society needed to be fleshed out more. Why do the natives look human? (obvious out of universe answer - budget measure) Why would the term alien mean anything to them? Why did Burnham give a squirrelly answer when the native leader questioned the existence of his gods (especially since she had already told him the towers were created using technology by aliens, and he accepted that data)? Again obvious out of universe answer, to not "insult" religious beliefs. How are the natives supposed to do maintenance on the machines? Why didn't Discovery repair the other four towers? (unless the repair they did also fixed the other towers?!) Why didn't the Denobulans return to fix the towers? They do provide an answer for this - it seems this was one man's personal project. But surely he could have made arrangements for some sort of regular repair without giving away the secret of the third tower. Possibly the 'Burn' can be a reason for this. One comment - I agree with Burnham's decision to ignore the Prime Directive. After all the natives would have otherwise become extinct.
The next clue was in one of the weather towers. They assumed it was the only active tower left, and you had to complete the ritual to be allowed access to the tower. When inside the tower, Tilly found out that the clue was in the 5th tower.
‘This is a vacuum chamber so we will die if the rain is made’ so why did it still make rain after they ruined the vacuum by opening the doors? Also: ‘Yay we found the next piece of the puzzle at the last minute someplace off camera, almost like we forgot we were supposed to be doing that and added a scene…’
Writing Rules: The fattest, most unfit contestant must win the game. The 'thing' they seek is somewhere else, and let's not even bother showing them finding it. Water jugs must be used to add tension.
The race had nothing to do with the treasure hunt. This episode really didn't need a 2nd storyline. An if it did, it should have been crew figuring out how to fix the planet permanently. After all planetary engineering have advance 500 years, I'm sure the Federation has learnt a new trick or two.
I really expected to dislike this episode going in, but it was relatively engaging for what it is. Sure, it barely connected to the big ongoing Chase 2: Electric Boogaloo plot, but for a Discovery Away Mission, it was actually kind of interesting. Probably my second least favorite of the season.
Why is it simply NOT something that either has occurred to CBS/Paramount Trek creatives, or is something they simply don't have interest in doing.... Tap actual Science Fiction authors to write episodes??? And, or, Tap Science Fiction from pulp to short stories, anything compatible or that can be made to work well with the show in question's format. Then pay to use the IP perhaps even with author involvement to craft the episode(s). I mean, they can't think they're good. Even bad writers know when they ain't got shit. Yet again, if they get paid to write shit, then they feel good about writing their bad shit. Which is sad, but whatever. Anyway, so yah. I think even Classic Trek post TOS missed out on doing more of that (or any I'm not sure they used published Science Fiction authors).
Yes, several episodes of TOS were written by actual SF authors - Theodore Sturgeon, Norman Spinrad, Harlan Ellison, and David Gerrold, are ones that I remember.
I can't understand why... But for some crazy reason... A lot of people think that the Progenitors and Preservers are the same race. When clearly, they are not.
I found that this episode raised a lot of unanswered questions for me:
How do the natives live and survive? Their society needed to be fleshed out more.
Why do the natives look human? (obvious out of universe answer - budget measure)
Why would the term alien mean anything to them?
Why did Burnham give a squirrelly answer when the native leader questioned the existence of his gods (especially since she had already told him the towers were created using technology by aliens, and he accepted that data)? Again obvious out of universe answer, to not "insult" religious beliefs.
How are the natives supposed to do maintenance on the machines?
Why didn't Discovery repair the other four towers? (unless the repair they did also fixed the other towers?!)
Why didn't the Denobulans return to fix the towers? They do provide an answer for this - it seems this was one man's personal project. But surely he could have made arrangements for some sort of regular repair without giving away the secret of the third tower. Possibly the 'Burn' can be a reason for this.
One comment - I agree with Burnham's decision to ignore the Prime Directive. After all the natives would have otherwise become extinct.
The next clue was in one of the weather towers. They assumed it was the only active tower left, and you had to complete the ritual to be allowed access to the tower. When inside the tower, Tilly found out that the clue was in the 5th tower.
Actually the third tower.🙂
I owe you an apology. You are correct. They were in the third tower and the clue was in the fifth tower.
‘This is a vacuum chamber so we will die if the rain is made’ so why did it still make rain after they ruined the vacuum by opening the doors?
Also: ‘Yay we found the next piece of the puzzle at the last minute someplace off camera, almost like we forgot we were supposed to be doing that and added a scene…’
Writing Rules:
The fattest, most unfit contestant must win the game.
The 'thing' they seek is somewhere else, and let's not even bother showing them finding it.
Water jugs must be used to add tension.
The race had nothing to do with the treasure hunt.
This episode really didn't need a 2nd storyline. An if it did, it should have been crew figuring out how to fix the planet permanently. After all planetary engineering have advance 500 years, I'm sure the Federation has learnt a new trick or two.
I really expected to dislike this episode going in, but it was relatively engaging for what it is. Sure, it barely connected to the big ongoing Chase 2: Electric Boogaloo plot, but for a Discovery Away Mission, it was actually kind of interesting. Probably my second least favorite of the season.
I tried but couldn't get through the episode
Why is it simply NOT something that either has occurred to CBS/Paramount Trek creatives, or is something they simply don't have interest in doing.... Tap actual Science Fiction authors to write episodes???
And, or, Tap Science Fiction from pulp to short stories, anything compatible or that can be made to work well with the show in question's format. Then pay to use the IP perhaps even with author involvement to craft the episode(s).
I mean, they can't think they're good. Even bad writers know when they ain't got shit. Yet again, if they get paid to write shit, then they feel good about writing their bad shit. Which is sad, but whatever.
Anyway, so yah. I think even Classic Trek post TOS missed out on doing more of that (or any I'm not sure they used published Science Fiction authors).
Yes, several episodes of TOS were written by actual SF authors - Theodore Sturgeon, Norman Spinrad, Harlan Ellison, and David Gerrold, are ones that I remember.