re:Discovery

It’s Discovery’s season two finale! After some heart stopping battles and combat scenes, we see her crew sail off into the future (or is it?). Who will you miss the most? Will it be us? We’d love to hear all your thoughts about season two as a whole and where it is going in the future. Thanks for listening, contributing and welcoming us into the Star Trek fan community! Stay tuned, we will have a wrap up episode soon. Connect with us and let us know your thoughts via Twitter [https://twitter.com/rediscoverypod], Facebook [http://facebook.com/rediscoverypod] or our website [https://rediscoverypod.com]. A transcript of this episode [https://rediscoverypodcast.com/2019/08/29/episode-transcript-such-sweet-sorrow-part-two-s02e14/] is now available. SHOW NOTES * Ben and Carla really enjoyed this [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/star-trek-discovery-season-2-finale-time-jump-explained-1203166]Hollywood Reporter [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/star-trek-discovery-season-2-finale-time-jump-explained-1203166] interview with Alex Kurtzman [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/star-trek-discovery-season-2-finale-time-jump-explained-1203166] about the Discovery finale and the future of Star Trek. * As discussed in episode 10 of Pratchat [https://pratchatpodcast.com/2018/08/08/episode-10-were-gonna-need-a-bigger-broomstick/], Fred Astaire’s amazing dance from 1951’sRoyal Wedding uses a rotating set to achieve similar effects to the Georgiou-Nhan-Leland fight sequence. It can be found on YouTube here [https://youtu.be/CsoYyDlYU8M], and you can also watch this fan-altered version [https://youtu.be/CNSHjZmvZTM] that shows you how it was done. * The Star Trek: Voyager episode “Living Witness [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Living_Witness_(episode)]” is set approximately 700 years in the future of the Delta Quadrant, and features a copy of the Doctor’s program being activated and disputing the twisted history told of Voyager’s encounter with the Kyrians. * A Starfleet Academy series was reportedly being developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage as far back as June 2018, though its current status is unknown. Schwartz and Savage created and/or produced teen dramas The O.C., Gossip Girl and Runaways. The O.C., coincidentally, starred the other, more famous Ben McKenzie, now better known for playing James Gordon on Gotham. * The first indiepodfest [https://indiepodfest.com] will be held over the weekend of July 12-14 at the Brunswick Mechanics Institute in Brunswick, Melbourne. Watch out for notice of the festival’s crowdfunding campaign coming to Pozible in the near future! * Carla’s other podcasts are Club Soderbergh [https://clubsoderbergh.simplecast.fm] and Across the Aisle [http://acrossaisle.com]. * Ben’s main other podcast is Pratchat [https://pratchatpodcast.com]. * Splendid Chaps Productions’ time travel comedy Night Terrace [https://nightterrace.com] is currently on BBC Radio 4 Extra [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004fx3].The behind the scenes after-show podcast is On the Terrace [https://nightterrace.com/on-the-terrace/]. * Star Trek: Discovery’s companion show for season two was The Ready Room, in which host Naomi Kyle interviewed members of the cast and crew. It aired on CBS All Access, and was also made available on the official [https://www.facebook.com/pg/StarTrek/videos/]Star Trek [https://www.facebook.com/pg/StarTrek/videos/] Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/pg/StarTrek/videos/].

Parting is “Such Sweet Sorrow” and in the penultimate episode of season two we see everyone say goodbye to… everyone! Pike and Culber are joining the Enterprise, Georgiou is now Captain of Section 31 (and getting her own show), Stamets is leaving Starfleet and what’s left of the bridge crew are going 1,000 years into the future. WHAT! It’s getting so so real. Do you think they’ll actually go? We’d love to hear your theories! Connect with us and let us know your thoughts via Twitter [https://twitter.com/rediscoverypod], Facebook [http://facebook.com/rediscoverypod] or our website [https://rediscoverypod.com]. A transcript of this episode is now available [https://rediscoverypodcast.com/2019/04/19/episode-transcript-such-sweet-sorrow-part-one-s02e13/]. * The time loop episode that keeps ending in death is Coda [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Coda_(episode)], from Star Trek: Voyager’s third season. * The Tenth Doctor and Rose are separated against their will at the end of Doomsday, the finale of the second series of modern Doctor Who, broadcast in 2006. * After we stopped recording, Ben had the idea that perhaps the thing that Tyler needed to do was to find Harry Mudd and get a time travel suit like the one in Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad. Carla considered that Mudd might well be on Section 31’s payroll – or at least a contact in their little black book. We just wanted that on record in case we are geniuses.

The Red Bursts have lead Discovery to Boreth, the Klingon planet that houses Tyler and L’Rell’s baby but also TIME CRYSTALS. Fate leads the latest episode “Through the Valley of Shadows” and we indeed get a glimpse of things to come. Everyone has their allegiance to humanity and Star Fleet called into question. No biggy. We discuss fan theories, Spock’s butt and much more. Join us. Connect with us and let us know your thoughts via Twitter [https://twitter.com/rediscoverypod], Facebook [http://facebook.com/rediscoverypod] or our website [https://rediscoverypod.com]. A transcript of this episode is now available [https://rediscoverypodcast.com/2019/04/16/episode-transcript-through-the-valley-of-shadows-s02e12/]. * The Gantt chart [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart], invented by American engineer Henry Gantt a little over a century ago, is a widely-used planning tool in which horizontal bars show the dependencies, processes and tasks on a timeline for a large project. You’ve probably seen one. * The kind of cut Ben is talking about between Saru’s face and the Boreth monastery is a “match cut [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart]“. * Adventure Time [https://adventuretime.cartoonnetwork.com.au] is a Cartoon Network show following the adventures of Finn, the last human alive on a magical post-apocalyptic Earth, and his best friend Jake, a magical talking dog. The Ice King is one of their main antagonists (and sometimes a tragic figure they try to befriend); he has blue skin, white hair and a white beard, and rules the Ice Kingdom with magical ice powers granted to him by his crown. (Carla and Ben both love Adventure Time.) * The Adventure Zone [https://maximumfun.org/shows/adventure-zone] is a big famous Dungeons & Dragons podcast. In the comic books adapting their first story arc “Balance”, the character of Taako the elf wizard is depicted with blue skin. * Narnia is the magical kingdom in C S Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Narnia] books, beginning with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Narnia is reached from our world through various magical portals and doorways, and it’s established that time there flows much faster than on Earth. * The Gay Magical Elf [https://www.out.com/news-opinion/2013/05/13/bret-easton-ellis-gay-men-magical-elves] is a riff on the Magical Negro trope [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro]– described by Bret Easton Ellis in his essay of the same name. The Gay Magical Elf’s sexuality is unchallenging and usually serves to progress the straight characters plot line. * B’Elanna Torres [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/B%27Elanna_Torres] is the half-human, half-Klingon former Maquis and engineer aboard the USS Voyager. She’s great. * In the fiction of Doctor Who, Davros [https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Davros] is the creator of the Daleks, the race of mutants in advanced “travel machines” who constantly try to dominate the universe. He was introduced in the 1975 serial Genesis of the Daleks, which established the pre-Dalek culture of the Kaleds as being basically nazis. His motorised wheelchair, which also provides him with life support, is basically the bottom half of a Dalek.

In Discovery’s latest episode “Perpetual Infinity” many questions are answered but more are posed; however, all are leading to the season wrap up – how does Gabrielle Burnham and the Discovery crew stop #Controleland getting the sphere data and save the universe? Much confusion abounds. We would love to know your thoughts and theories on how this will end! Connect with us and let us know your thoughts via Twitter [https://twitter.com/rediscoverypod], Facebook [http://facebook.com/rediscoverypod] or our website [https://rediscoverypod.com]. A transcript of this episode is available [https://rediscoverypodcast.com/2019/04/07/episode-transcript-perpetual-infinity-s02e11/]. * Mitochondria are “organelles” – self-contained sub-units within a cell – which create adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the main energy-storing chemical which provides energy for cell functions. Most but not all kinds of human cells have mitochondria, including neurons, the cells which carry electrical messages through the nervous system and in the brain. (In the Star Trek universe, mitochondria is present in many lifeforms throughout the galaxy.) Mitochondrial DNA is usually inherited entirely from the mother. * The Virgin New Adventures, or NAs for short, were a series of 61 original Doctor Who novels published by Virgin Publishing. They continue the adventures of the Seventh Doctor (played by Sylvester McCoy) after his final televised story, 1989’s Survival. Story elements created by producer Andrew Cartmell for his planned 27th season of the television programme made their way into the series, including a new mysterious past and possible “true identity” for the Doctor. They also introduced the popular companion Bernice “Benny” Summerfield, an archaeologist from the 26th century who once mistook an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation for a documentary. After the 1996 Doctor Who telemovie, which introduced Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor, the BBC did not renew Virgin’s license in favour of publishing their own range of original novels, but the NAs continued for another two years and 23 books with Benny as the main character. Notable authors included Ben Aaronovitch, Paul Cornell, Russell T Davies and Australian Kate Orman. (Ben would like to add that, despite his joking criticism in the episode, he loved them at the time and still thinks of many of the books fondly now.) * Ben couldn’t find any specific quotes from either the NAs or the Ninth Doctor era as examples of the above; if you find one, let us know! * In the 1985 film Back to the Future, high school student Marty McFly accidentally travels back in time thirty years in his mad scientist friend’s time travelling car. The “flux capacitor” which makes time travel possible requires “1.21 jigowatts” of power, and in 1955 the only thing readily available which can provide that much power is a bolt of lightning. Luckily Marty was handed a leaflet in 1985 by locals trying to save the local historic clock tower, which was struck by lightning…in 1955. * These are a couple of great interviews with Gersha Phillips on her design process [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cLYzNlKv7s] for Discovery [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7psphLHzHU].There are many more if you give it a Google. * Ben’s comedy festival show, You Chose Poorly with Alanta Colley, runs from the 1st to the 7th of April 2019 at Campari House in Hardware Lane, Melbourne. Find out more and book tickets here. [https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2019/shows/you-chose-poorly]

In “The Red Angel” we finally meet… the Red Angel! But not before a moving funeral for Airiam and an episode heavy on reconciliation and reveals. It’s an episode full of heavy lifting and angst for Michael as she reconciles with Spock, Tyler, Georgiou, her parents death and her mother. Phew, some full circle stuff happening here and much for team re:Discovery to discuss – especially the most controversial moment in “The Red Angel”: Spock’s EV-suited butt. Join us in the healing. Connect with us and let us know your thoughts via Twitter [https://twitter.com/rediscoverypod], Facebook [http://facebook.com/rediscoverypod] or our website [https://rediscoverypod.com]. A transcript of this episode is available [https://rediscoverypodcast.com/2019/03/28/episode-transcript-the-red-angel-s02e10/]. And as Ben almost forgot to mention this episode, you can catch his new comedy show You Chose Poorly at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival! It’s on from April 1 to 7 at Campari House in Hardware Lane in Melbourne. Get more info and tickets at the comedy festival web site [https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2019/shows/you-chose-poorly]. * A lobotomy [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobotomy] is a form ofpsychosurgery [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosurgery], aneurosurgical treatment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurosurgery]of amental disorder [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_disorder]that involves severing connections in the brain’sprefrontal cortex [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefrontal_cortex]. A transorbital lobotomy (not “sub-orbital”, as Ben describes it) is performed without making a hole in the skull, by insertion of a sharp instrument through the eye socket, above the eye. It was popularised by the American Dr Walter Freeman, who originally performed them with an icepick before developing a tool specifically for the task. Fun fact: Ben once played a psychiatrist haunted by the ghost of Walter Freeman in a five-minute musical titled The Lobotomist. * It was in “Light and Shadows” (S02E07) that we first discovered Leland is responsible for Michael’s parents death. Our recap is here [https://rediscoverypodcast.com/2019/03/05/light-and-shadows-s02e07/]. * MMA is short for mixed martial arts [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts], a brutal full-contact fighting competition which allows fighters to use any martial arts style they like. * According to Memory Alpha [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Christopher_Pike] Pike joined the Enterprise as Captain Robert April’s first officer before being promoted to Captain and commanding the ship for five years before joining the crew of Discovery. He’ll be captain of the Enterprise for almost another decade, when Kirk takes the helm in 2265. * We first find out that Admiral Cornwell is a therapist in the episode “Lethe” [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Lethe_(episode)] (S01E06) when, already concerned over Lorca’s behaviour, she sleeps with him and wakes up to a phaser pistol at her throat. She deems Lorca too far gone to remain captain and recommends he be suspended immediately for psychiatric evaluation. * Scotty [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Montgomery_Scott] is around 35 at the time of Discovery. He began his Starfleet career in 2241 and by the time of Star Trek: Discovery season two it’s 2257. He could and would be a great addition to Discovery. * Sulu’s [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Hikaru_Sulu] sexuality, like that of many of the original series crew, is rarely addressed. There are however several hints that he is attracted to women, most notably his interest in Uhura while under the influence of polywater intoxication in “The Naked Now”. He later has a daughter who serves as the helm officer aboard the Enterprise-B, though it’s never revealed if she has other parents, or who they are. In 2257, Sulu would have been at Starfleet Academy completing his flight training. * There is no age information for Yeoman Janice Rand [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Janice_Rand] – as she was a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) aboard the Enterprise it is highly unlikely that should would have even been in Starfleet Academy during the time of Discovery. * Carla attended “Star Fleet Academy Experience [https://www.viator.com/en-AU/tours/New-York-City/Star-Trek-The-Starfleet-Academy-Experience/d687-35210P3]” in New York City in September 2016 during the 50th year anniversary celebrations.