The gravity globe is such a weird little thing - I guess it's called that because of the way it hangs in the air? Pretty risky when you're in a planet orbiting a black hole, that's also projecting some kind of gravity funnel into deep space.

Even weirder is the fact that it's recurring - the Anglican Marines use one in Matt Smith's Weeping Angels two-parter.

also implying there’s no way Rose can get back to the other universe where Mickey and Pete are.

I like this thought - it had never occurred to me before.

Yeah, I couldn't be less interested in unreliable, easily-manipulated aggregate "scores, " regardless of whether I agree with what they say. This whole site is for people to share their own opinions in a genuine and intelligent way, and that's far more interesting to me.

Honestly, I think "A Case of Chiaroscuro" deserves another look. If you disregard the B&W "gimmick" (which I think served the story quite well, but YMMV), I think the A- and B-stories are good, classical Trek.

A little TOS-y in some respects, but I don't consider that a knock against.

What's that you say? You were underwhelmed by last week's bland TV lady as a villain? Can I interest you in the actual, Biblical Satan?

I don't think I quite knew what to make of this episode when I first saw it - it's so unlike anything else we've seen in the new series. But hot damn, do I ever love it now.

There's a base! And it's under siege! Groundbreaking! The Doctor's quip about these bases being built out of kits is another bit that I definitely didn't appreciate at the time, but it's pretty funny. I think the Doctor/Rose relationship is in its ideal state here. Low-key flirty in a way that feels pretty real, without being maudlin (though it walks up to that line as they discuss what they'll do if they ever escape Sanctuary Base 6).

The episode handles the base crew very well - they're necessarily sketched out quickly, but they all seem like living, breathing people, and I really felt it when poor Toby and Scooti met their fates. Will Thorp deserves particular credit for making Toby seem like a sympathetic character, and then flipping to seeming incredibly threatening once he's been taken over by the Beast.

Pretty nice spacesuits. I wonder if we'll ever see them again.

I'm sure there's loads that can be said about this episode, but I dunno. It's great. Bring on the next one. I'll be waiting here with an inverted self-extrapolating reflex of 6 to the power of 6 every 6 seconds.

Every one commits treason who, in Canada,

(a) uses force or violence for the purpose of overthrowing the government of Canada or a province;

(b) without lawful authority, communicates or makes available to an agent of a state other than Canada, military or scientific information or any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document of a military or scientific character that he knows or ought to know may be used by that state for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or defence of Canada;

(c) conspires with any person to commit high treason or to do anything mentioned in paragraph (a);

(d) forms an intention to do anything that is high treason or that is mentioned in paragraph (a) and manifests that intention by an overt act; or

(e) conspires with any person to do anything mentioned in paragraph (b) or forms an intention to do anything mentioned in paragraph (b) and manifests that intention by an overt act.

CBC:

The Criminal Code defines treason primarily as the use of force to overthrow the government or sharing with another state information that may be used for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or defence of Canada.

Seems pretty much the same?

Pike’s decision to go along with a planetary genocide on a hunch was indefensible to say the least.

And I think that's the most compelling part!

TBH, one could argue that this season has been pretty successful, if the number of discussion points is anything to go by.

I pay even less attention to the numbers than you do, and I can say that I find the trilithium-enhanced tricobalt torpedo launcher very satisfying to play. That's enough for me.

It means that spock was the only character that had opportunity for development and growth, and no-one else gets to share in that.

This is true. I do think they did a fair amount with it in that respect, though, and he's now pretty firmly on the trajectory he needs to be on to line up with his TOS characterization. And I'll give full credit to Ethan Peck for selling his barely-restrained panic attacks (full-blown meltdowns by Vulcan standards, I'm sure).

I thought the answer would have been Looney Tunes style cartoon physics. Like they can win, but so long as it’s a gag / funny. Maybe they tried doing that and it didn’t quite land.

Yeah, I think there was a degree of that in the final solution, with La'An running across the walls and making a perfect three-point landing and the like, but they didn't quite commit to it.

Uhhhh you might want to skip tonight's episode.

Oh cool, GFR has finally gone mask-off.

This has always been the case, but I'm going to take this opportunity to state that links to that site are not allowed here, and will be removed on sight.

I think this is an extremely lousy headline, but the content is good.

Firstly, the headline slightly misquotes what Matalas actually said (emphasis added):

“We wrote nine episodes at one point and the network was like, ‘No, we don’t really understand this, it’s a bit too sci-fi, it’s a bit too in-Star Trek.’”

I think a story being a little too "inside baseball" and reliant on stuff from decades ago is a perfectly valid note, especially when we're talking about ideas like this:

The idea was that Guinan’s bar was presented as a normal bar in Los Angeles, but if you knew the right thing to do, you could go into the back through the telephone phone booth and that was Rick’s Café and it was a stopping point for all these different species that were actually there on Earth with a ‘Do not interfere’ thing happening.

The stuff about COVID messing with the writing and shooting schedule is understandable, and created problems that can be seen in many TV shows filmed around that time. All the same, it makes me wish they had decompressed the schedule and not rushed through things as much as they did.

The comments about there being a lot of different ideas in season two are interesting, since I think she overall series' biggest flaw is that it crammed a lot of ideas, many of which I like quite a bit, into only 30 episodes, with few (none?) of them being fully explored.

And regarding the Jurati Borg...I don't know, I never found that confusing in the slightest. I think their intent came through just fine.

I think Shatner is complicated because (a) he's 95 years old, and can't be expected to be fully "in touch," and (b) he has definitely had some questionable people handling his social media over the years.

Up to 10 dead, including the suspect, now.

Elbows way, way down.

+24 hours. But you can still be excited!

My expectations for this one were high, but I'm really impressed with how well they pulled it off. Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid did a great job of dialing their performances back just enough, and the SNW cast went just a little bit broader.

There is no kill switch for the F-35, but the JPO’s statement points to the very real problems with the weapons system. In its own words, the jet “operates under well-established agreements,” its strength “lies in its global partnership,” and JPO “[remains] committed to providing all users with the full functionality and support they require.” In other words, the F-35 doesn’t fly unless JPO helps you, but don’t worry because it’s committed to helping.

The F-35 may not have a “kill switch” in the traditional sense, but the countries who bought it are locked into an irrevocable pact with Lockheed Martin and America. ALIS/ ODIN might not be able to turn off the F-35 remotely, but losing access to it can make it impossible to fly.

Only one country has escaped the F-35 software and logistics trap while still being able to fly the jet: Israel. The IDF’s contract for the jet allows it to operate its own software systems without ALIS/ ODIN and conduct its own maintenance.

Let's be honest: at this point, they could make the greatest Star Trek film of all time, and it would only be 1/47 as entertaining as watching the executives at Paramount Pictures stepping on infinite rakes in infinite combinations as they try to make the damn thing.