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4thofelevenIn which Earth is the planet of the week.
This feels very much like a classic Star Trek episode; the twist of the two warring factions being the same species has been done at least once before onscreen, on Voyager, and I know it's cropped up more than once in novels and other spin-offs. But this time it's Earth, and that really makes all the difference.
Star Trek's always taken an optimistic view, that our current problems will inevitably be resolved and that Earth will have a brighter future. As far back as the original series, the classic series bible noted that the socioeconomic issues and disputes that fuelled the Cold War should be assumed to have become irrelevant by the 23rd century. The Next Generation would, at times, be almost a little too smug in its belief that humanity could overcome its violent past, its hatreds and injustices. But thirty years on, perhaps the time has come to admit that the much-prophesied End of History is taking a little longer to arrive than expected, and that the moral arc of the universe does not bend anywhere unless it is forced towards it.
And so, we find Earth in the 31st century, no longer the shining example of our inevitable future, but just another planet facing the same problems we see in the world today. Oh, it's not a completely cynical take on our future; United Earth shows no hate for outsiders – there are at least two aliens among their inspection team – rather, its leaders simply no longer care. This is the way things are, they say, resigned to maintain their borders and preserve their little island of peace, to treat the constant string of attackers, raiders or refugees as simply an inevitable phenomena, with no cause and no solution. The idealism that motivated Starfleet and the Federation has faded, as Earth closes itself off to any possibilities but stasis. It's a portrayal of Earth that feels increasingly relevant, as we find ourselves in a world where the systems no longer seem to be working to anyone's benefit, yet no-one seems capable of offering real alternatives.
Meanwhile, we get some of the crew gradually coming to terms with their situation. Tilly and Burnham's little scene was perfect, emphasising just how much the crew has given up due to their temporal displacement. Meanwhile, Burnham has her own issues to adapt to; I noted way back in season one that Burnham has a tendancy to be a bit of a chameleon; she was the perfect Vulcan for Sarek, the perfect Starfleet officer on the Shenzhou, the perfect soldier for Lorca. Empress Georgeou is quite right to note that this is the first time she's allowed herself to be free of responsibilities and expectations – it seems the writers have preempted my concerns about the flatness of Burnham's character, and have worked it into the story; acknowledging that Burnham hasn't ever had the chance to grow as a person rather than just try and fit into a role assigned to her. It will be interesting to see if this changes the character.
(It's also very generous of them to throw in a one-year time gap for fanfic writers to fill with stories...)
Adira Tal seems like an interesting addition to the cast, and it's nice that the writers aren't just shying away from the fact that a hundred years since the Burn isn't that long for a lot of Star Trek species; there should be plenty of individuals for whom those events are within living memory, so it's nice to have one onboard – sort of. We're not really given much more than an introduction to them so far, but between them, Tilly, and Stamets, Discovery might well be the series with the highest ratio of science geeks onboard....
On a very minor note, I am disappointed that we never found out where, exactly, Burnham and Discovery initially ended up – though as Book mentions the Donatu system as the site of an unseen adventure, we can assume it was somewhere near what was Klingon space in the 23rd century.
This feels very much like a classic Star Trek episode; the twist of the two warring factions being the same species has been done at least once before onscreen, on Voyager, and I know it's cropped up more than once in novels and other spin-offs. But this time it's Earth, and that really makes all the difference.
Star Trek's always taken an optimistic view, that our current problems will inevitably be resolved and that Earth will have a brighter future. As far back as the original series, the classic series bible noted that the socioeconomic issues and disputes that fuelled the Cold War should be assumed to have become irrelevant by the 23rd century. The Next Generation would, at times, be almost a little too smug in its belief that humanity could overcome its violent past, its hatreds and injustices. But thirty years on, perhaps the time has come to admit that the much-prophesied End of History is taking a little longer to arrive than expected, and that the moral arc of the universe does not bend anywhere unless it is forced towards it.
And so, we find Earth in the 31st century, no longer the shining example of our inevitable future, but just another planet facing the same problems we see in the world today. Oh, it's not a completely cynical take on our future; United Earth shows no hate for outsiders – there are at least two aliens among their inspection team – rather, its leaders simply no longer care. This is the way things are, they say, resigned to maintain their borders and preserve their little island of peace, to treat the constant string of attackers, raiders or refugees as simply an inevitable phenomena, with no cause and no solution. The idealism that motivated Starfleet and the Federation has faded, as Earth closes itself off to any possibilities but stasis. It's a portrayal of Earth that feels increasingly relevant, as we find ourselves in a world where the systems no longer seem to be working to anyone's benefit, yet no-one seems capable of offering real alternatives.
Meanwhile, we get some of the crew gradually coming to terms with their situation. Tilly and Burnham's little scene was perfect, emphasising just how much the crew has given up due to their temporal displacement. Meanwhile, Burnham has her own issues to adapt to; I noted way back in season one that Burnham has a tendancy to be a bit of a chameleon; she was the perfect Vulcan for Sarek, the perfect Starfleet officer on the Shenzhou, the perfect soldier for Lorca. Empress Georgeou is quite right to note that this is the first time she's allowed herself to be free of responsibilities and expectations – it seems the writers have preempted my concerns about the flatness of Burnham's character, and have worked it into the story; acknowledging that Burnham hasn't ever had the chance to grow as a person rather than just try and fit into a role assigned to her. It will be interesting to see if this changes the character.
(It's also very generous of them to throw in a one-year time gap for fanfic writers to fill with stories...)
Adira Tal seems like an interesting addition to the cast, and it's nice that the writers aren't just shying away from the fact that a hundred years since the Burn isn't that long for a lot of Star Trek species; there should be plenty of individuals for whom those events are within living memory, so it's nice to have one onboard – sort of. We're not really given much more than an introduction to them so far, but between them, Tilly, and Stamets, Discovery might well be the series with the highest ratio of science geeks onboard....
On a very minor note, I am disappointed that we never found out where, exactly, Burnham and Discovery initially ended up – though as Book mentions the Donatu system as the site of an unseen adventure, we can assume it was somewhere near what was Klingon space in the 23rd century.