Logline

Captain Pike and his crew welcome a Klingon defector aboard the USS Enterprise, but his presence triggers the revelation of some shocking secrets.


Written by Davy Perez

Directed by Jeff Byrd

  • williams_482@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Well, the previously inexplicable “inject a bunch of drugs to fight Klingons” scene in the season opener has suddenly paid off.

    I have little to say now except that this episode was a seriously heavy hitter. Just… wow. And ouch.

    • triktrek@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Even with this “backstory” of this green juice, it really isn’t much of a backstory. It’s just explained as some chemical that makes you stronger – it still feels like a cheap plot device, and that action sequence in the season opener was still unexpectedly long.

      • poundsignbuttstuff@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Do we need the backstory? It’s space PCP for war. Jokes aside, look at how many times in war, we (and I mean a collective we because numerous countries have done this over the last century+) have given soldiers, pilots, etc amphetamines and more in order to improve their ability to fight, stay awake, and win the war.

        M’Benga made a future drug that does all this which he prefers people don’t use but keeps it just in case he has to save people or survive battles.

        That’s all the explanation I need. Old Trek didn’t give us even that much most of the time - just treknobabble.

        • Michael Gemar@mstdn.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @poundsignbuttstuff @startrek I thought he says explicitly that it contains adrenaline and pain inhibitors. I’m not sure such a real-world cocktail would have the portrayed effects, but it’s clear they’re trying to ground the concoction realistically.

      • Tom Riley@mas.to
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        @williams_482 @triktrek Many fans react badly to the P-12 serum as a lazy plot device, but consider: In key battles, it’d make tactical sense for Klingons to draw Fed soldiers into hand to hand combat, because they’re typically experienced blade warriors. It would then be attractive to the Fed to develop something like P-12 as a counter-tactic. Then consider there is a potential sub-plot exploring the ethics of humans revisiting their Eugenics Wars-era mistakes.

        • Tom Riley@mas.to
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          @williams_482 @triktrek (It is mentioned elsewhere that human soldiers in the Eugenics Wars were given drugs to make them better fighters, and human history remembers this as a huge mistake/atrocity).

      • reddig33@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        Think of it as trek adrenaline/speed/meth. In war, governments often try to find drugs they can give soldiers to enhance performance.