Now that was just lovely. Opening with
a montage of scenes from “The Cage,” the very first episode of
Star Trek recorded, “If
Memory Serves” embraces the history of the franchise while molding
it to its own vision. Star Trek frequently
references its own past, but has rarely incorporated past footage
like this. The only time something similar has happened is during the
thirtieth anniversary celebration – itself over twenty years ago
now – when footage from the original series was incorporated into
Deep Space Nine and
scenes from Star Trek VI recreated
for Voyager. In that
case, though, the material was treated with reverence, with the
creators going to effort to make sure everything fit with the
original look of the show.
“If
Memory Serves” is different. The clips from “The Cage” are
shown in a highly stylised, almost storybook fashion, highlighting
and celebrating the visual and stylistic differences between the
original series and Discovery.
This is more like Doctor Who's
method of celebrating its past, when clips of William Hartnell were
used in both the twentieth anniversary special and the 2017 Christmas
special, before brazenly introducing a new actor playing the first
Doctor, with a new interpretation of the character. It's a way of
saying, “This isn't the same show it was back in the 60s, but we
love that original take and we're indebted to it. Let's celebrate it,
and pay tribute to it.” And that's rather beautiful.
After
all, every character from “The Cage” is played by a different
actor here. Almost every actor from that original episode has died
(the only survivor is Laurel Goodwin who played Yeoman Colt) and many
of the Discovery cast
hadn't even been born when the original was filmed. As remarkable as
the resemblance between Jeffrey Hunter and Anson Mount is in some
shots, it would be foolish to try to pretend that we were watching
the same people. Equally, Discovery has
a very different style to the original series, and even where it has
paid homage to the old designs – the Enterprise uniforms,
for instance, or the phaser designs – they've been a tribute rather
than an recreation. Some fans don't like this, but we're watching
productions made fifty years apart. Television and technology are
different now – I mean, I watched this episode by streaming it onto
a device smaller than the communicators the original cast used to
speak to each other. If there's too much of a conflict for you, pick
one style and decide that that's the way it “really” looks, and
the other one is a mere TV recreation.
For
all that, though, the Discovery version
of Talos IV is a nigh-on perfect reproduction of the original, only
shot on actual location instead of in a stuffy studio lot. Don't get
me wrong, what the original crew managed with such meagre resources
was remarkable, but seeing Talos like this was wonderful (you can't
beat a good, old sci-fi quarry). Discovery's
creators have reproduced the strange alien sounds of Talos, down to
the singing plants. The Talosians themselves were a decent update of
the originals, although I kind of love the old-fashioned bumheads and
would take them any day over the more sophisticated make-up we see
here. Nonetheless, they were a fine example of taking an old design
and updating it to work with the modern series' style. However, it
was a poor decision to use a fairly well-built man to play the lead
Talosian. The original production used slightly-built women but
dubbed over with deep male voices, which was a simple but effective
way of making them appear alien. The new Talosians have obvious
genders, and it just doesn't work as well.
They're
still creepy bastards, though, who have little concept of consent and
get off on reliving other people's visceral experiences. Michael is
understandably disgusted by them, and I really like that she clearly
doesn't trust Vina. Melissa George is brilliant in what was a pretty
peculiar role in the first place. Her chemistry with Mount sells the
attraction and connection between Vina and Pike far better than Susan
Oliver and Jeffrey Hunter did (although, in fairness, theirs was a
very different style of acting altogether). She's almost as creepy as
the Talosians, though, and although she's upfront with Michael about
how horrible their punishments can be, she's very apologetic for
them. Definitely some Stockholm Syndrome there, which is no big
surprise.
The
big one, though, is Spock. After his introduction last week, we
finally get to see Ethan Peck's take on Spock properly, as he's
allowed some characterisation beyond lunatic obsession. I actually
love the scene where he, still unspeaking and seemingly only
partially aware of his surroundings, takes control of the shuttle and
pilots it directly into the illusory black hole. However, he gets to
truly show his stuff once on Talos when his mind has been reordered
by the Talosians (not that I'd trust them to tinker with my brain).
Peck is a very different Spock to either Nimoy or Quinto. He has an
intensity and and unnerving quality to him, understandably
considering his psychological trauma, but also a vulnerability. He
has the drive of Nimoy's Spock and the sardonic quality of Quinto's,
but he's very much his own version of the character, yet I have no
problem accepting him as the “real” Spock, beard and all.
I'm of
two minds about the schism between Michael and Spock, however. While
our experiences in our youth do mold our adult selves, it just seems
childish that Spock would be harbouring so much anger for one vicious
exchange when they were kids. Supposedly Michael's actions on that
fateful night on Vulcan set Spock down the path of rejecting his
humanity and embracing his Vulcan side, and I can buy that. The poor
kid was being forced to choose between two clashing lifestyles by his
parents and a traumatic display of emotion could absolutely have been
the deciding factor for him. But in essence he's been holding a
grudge against Michael because she was mean to him when they were
little, which is both emotional and irrational, so if he has
dedicated himself to suppressing his emotions he's done a very poor
job of it. He even accepts that her actions then were a logical way
to protect him. Michael continues to apologise for something that she
did as a child, when she's risked her life and career to save Spock
after his psychotic break, and he refuses to accept her apology. I
just feel Spock should be more mature than this.
What I
do like is the nature of his madness. Having been in communication
with the Red Angel – now unequivocably accepted as a time traveller
– his sense of the passage of time has been skewed. This would be
disorienting for anyone, but for Spock, who views cause and effect as
the underpinning of logic, it is unbearable. We learn that the Angel
has been interfering in his life directly since his childhood,
directing him to save Michael when she ran away and nearly got eaten
by a monster. (Hell, Vulcan is dangerous!) I'd lay a fiver on the
Angel being someone we will recognise, possibly Michael herself
(although that would make her life one massive paradox). Peck and
Martin-Green share some strong chemistry though, and there's a hint
of that in Peck's brief interaction with Mount.
Away
from the Talos Star Group, events are getting tense on both the
Discovery and Leland's
ship, the NCIA-93. We finally get some real focus on Culber and
Stamets, who are dealing poorly with the former's resurrection. It's
hugely satisfying that we see that Culber's death, his survival in
the mycelium, and his resurrection have had hugely traumatic
consequences for him. Star Trek has
a bad habit of killing characters and bringing them back, or
transforming them into alien forms and back again, with virtually no
physical or psychological after-effects. (In fact, the only person to
die and come back with any real difficulty before was Spock.) Culber
is suffering from dissociation after being, you know, killed and then
put back together by mushroom people, which is quite understandable.
Stamets just wants to pick things up where they left off, which is
simply impossible for someone after they've been through that level
of trauma. Also, Pike's not exactly being a genius here by letting
Tyler roam around the ship wherever he likes, even stationing his
quarters on the same deck as Culber's. Culber has to see the man who
killed him every day. In fact, it's Saru who has the best
understanding of Culber and Tyler's problems here – perhaps because
he's gone through a major transition himself lately – letting them
physically fight it out while they come to terms with each other's
existence.
Wilson
Cruz and Anthony Rapp are exceptionally good in their scenes
together. Their break-up is heartbreaking. But my god, no wonder they
started thinking about putting a counsellor onboard ship later on –
both Culber and Stamets are in desperate need of help and support.
Given the number of psychologically damaged individuals on the
Discovery, Pike should
really think about getting one assigned.
The
Section 31 storyline continues, to no more or better effect than
before. Mirror Georgiou continues to show that maybe she's OK if you
just give her a chance, you know? Oh, hang on, she just casually
dropped in how she exterminated the population of Talos IV in her own
universe. I honestly don't understand how we're supposed to feel
about Georgiou. Is she supposed to be an entertainingly heartless
villain or on a path to redemption? I do like how the four creepy
admirals defer to her over Leland – presuming they think she's the
prime Georgiou, she's a decorated officer and probably has seniority
over him. I don't understand how Leland is able to just give orders
to Pike – his being in Intelligence doesn't mean he automatically
outranks the other captain.
Sub-X-Files
conspiracy stuff aside, this is
a pretty damned brilliant episode. My misgivings over Spock's
personality may go away considering we're going to be getting a lot
more exploration of his character, and in any case, we don't need our
heroes to be perfect. The episode works wonderfully as a tribute to
Star Trek's beginnings
and is pretty solid in its own right.
Best
lines:
Culber:
“I don't even know who I am anymore!”
Tyler:
“Who do you think you're talking to?”
General
observations:
Vulcan's
Forge is home to huge predatory monsters, just miles from the main
city, but this is keeping with the perils Spock faced in his home
country in the animated episode “Yesteryear.” The only really
odd thing about this sequence is that the Forge has forests here,
when it's been portrayed as a desert in all previous appearances
(the aforementioned “Yesteryear,” and the Enterprise
Vulcan trilogy). We might even
want to tie in the huge nasty monsters seen on “Delta Vega” in
the 2009 movie – maybe in this timeline they got relocated to a
sister planet to make Vulcan safer?
I
like how there's one admiral for each of the founding races –
human, Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite, and the human doesn't even
get to talk.
There's
a Vulcan medical facility on Quillam, in the Beta Quadrant. More
evidence that Vulcan itself lies in that quadrant.
- We finally get to see who cleans the starships - there are little drones that pick up the mess.
“The
Menagerie” established that General Order 7 prohibited access to
Talos IV on pain of death. Here, it's out of bounds but there's no
mention of the death penalty. Maybe General Order 7 hasn't been
applied to it yet, or perhaps the writers are just glossing over the
death penalty aspect, which always seemed out of step with the
Federation's ideals.
Why
the hell is there a Starbase only two light years from Talos when
the Talosians can extend their mental powers across space? Unless
the Talosians made someone in Starfleet locate a base there...
