Ups & Downs From Star Trek: Discovery 5.1 - Red Directive 

It's only Andorian Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region of Andoria. Otherwise, it's just sparkling Andorian wine.

Trip transferring from the Colombia to the Enterprise would be a good example of being in a warp bubble.

As a 52 year old Star Trek Nerd I love this channel and wish it existed when I was 18 and watching Star Trek first time around 😂😂😂

I can actually explain the condition of the romulan body. When a body dies in dry conditions it doesn't always decay the same way a body wood in moist conditions, especially if they died in the sterile environment of a spacecraft, that body is mummified. Naturally mummified.

About the Romulan corpse, we don't know the atmosphere makeup in the ship. It's entirely possible that it allowed for his mummification. Especially if there's not a lot of bacteria in there that would allow for decomposition

Moll is SURELY heavily inspired on Daryll Hannah's character (Pris) on Blade Runner.

You missed how cool it was when Michael "upgraded" the hand phaser to a full riffle. That was super cool.

I unironically love how the illuminated-with- a-single-color soundstage wall from early TNG and TOS doesn't take folk out but the AR wall does 😂

I’ve been wanting further exploration of the ancient Progenitor race from that Next Gen episode for the longest time, I’m very excited!!!

I am pretty sure that Fred is a reference to The Most Toys. I believe the implication is that Kivas Fajo immediately procured a custom synth in Data's style, and eventually Fred continued Kivas' collecting. If you took the time to examine all his collection, you likely will find some Easter Eggs. I am pretty sure the fact Fred's first choice of weapon didn't fire was reference to the fact Kivas was sure Data could not shoot him.

I hope they never explain just who Kovich really is. I love that people just do what he says when he walks into the room. Also, I hope Fred gets fixed.

Picard was also mentioned in season 3 when Burnham watches the footage of Spock from Unification Part 2. 🙂

I think it makes sense that the comms holograms would have "glitches" baked into the programming on purpose. We've seen elsewhere that holograms are essentially as "real" as real people are, visually, to the touch, etc. The intentional glitch is a good way (IMO) to ensure everyone in the room KNOWS who is there in person and who is there by holo for security reasons, at the very least, but I think it's valuable to have some sort of "obvious clue" when dealing with holo-comms of other people to be able to differentiate the local and remote participants and as we've seen, you can't really do that with advanced holograms ... they look, act, and sound real.

I am intensely invested in the Saru-T'Rina relationship, and if it doesn't survive until the end of the series, I am going to have some very loud things to say to the producers.

I love how they used the "4h earlier" bit not as a cheap way to build tension but as way of checking in with the characters

I just finished watching it. Not a bad start for the Final Season. And they weren't kidding about a treasure hunt. Although, was anyone else reminded of Star Wars with the sand bikes? Plus why did they ram their ships into the ground? Couldn't they have just created a shield bubble onstead?

a short comment on burnam on the ship at warp you forgot the NX01 trip teather from columbia to enterprise with warp bubbles in sinc

It's the music in the first couple of episodes which sets the tone for me. There's so much lightness and a sense of adventure, such as with the theft of the Enterprise in STIII or all of STIV, that they're all but telling us that this is a light-hearted adventure romp.

I actually yelled out FINALLY when i saw the callback to the progenitors. I was on the fence about this season until that moment, after that I am ALL IN!

I liked the Infinity Room, although I was slightly worried that Kovich may be working for Wolfram & Hart :p

The hologram glitching thing is such a Star Wars trope.

Nice to see the Firefly reference "Shiny' but also Serenity used the same multiple drive trail emitters fake out before jumping to warp

I thought the glitching in Adm. Vance's hologram resulted from being beamed to the ship via subspace while the vessels were under warp. However, that was just my Trekkie mind rationalizing what I was seeing.

What surprised me the most was seeing a Soong type android in this episode and he looked a lot like Data, Lore and B4. It's too bad that Fred was killed. I would have liked to see more of him.

Loving the new season so far, and the accompanying Up & Downs. Can we have a Retro Ups & Downs for TNG's The Chase, to tie in ?

The hologram glitching is likely done (in-universe) on purpose so that viewers know the hologram is, indeed, a hologram. I mean, you would want to know you're talking to a hologram, would you not?

Fred was so good! If they ever do a flashback to a younger Data (& Brent Spiner doesn’t want to &/or like they did in Mandaorian with Luke Skywalker) I nominate this actor to play the role.

Burnham has a weave, that is not her real hair. If she used programmable matter as the weave, then it being in the helmet wouldn't be a problem. Heck, her weave could become her helmet.

My down for Michael's transporting onto the bridge, was that I didn't like her going directly back into the chair, I wondered who had the comm while Burnham was busy, and why she didn't least need at least a minute to catch her breath before assuming command

LOVE the this season the best so far .. also LOVE LOVE LOVE the shirt. Thank you for showing the support for U=U Happy to have new episodes of Ups & Downs and can't wait for part 2

"Tilly's an up for me." Well said Sean, well said. 👏

Down: When Fred is reading the notebook, his own hand blocks his view of some of the text.

The USS Defiant with Captain Sisko had a better hologram system when he spoke to Eddington using the Maqui's system.

Are we presuming that Stamets has done an independent study of android development, that he just knew of Alton Soong off the top of his head? The android-building Soongs definitely came after Disco traveled into the future.

So are we not gonna mention that the sizzle reel that played highlighting what was to come this season had a 1 second scene where we saw a shadow of an og constitution class? That deserves a spot in cetacean observations. 😢

I'm going to push back on that 'down' for the hologram effect with an interesting, plausible idea: even in the 24th century they could make great, realistic holograms. What if there was a social convention that everyone agreed on where if you're present on a holographic call and not actually IN THE ROOM, then there's a visual cue to others who are actually present, that this person isn't there. So it's done on PURPOSE. Because, like you said, 1000 years later and they can't get that right? Oh, they sure can. ;) You might ask why a "glitch" and not, like, an outline, Or even just fade them out a bit. Because you want the illusion of them FEELING like they're in the room, maintaining presence, with only occasional _non-intrusive_ reminders. No big "HOLOGRAM" with an arrow pointing down, either. ;) Of course, yeah, as said, it's a stylistic choice. I don't think it's restricted to Star Trek. More of a general sci-fi trope. :P But yeah, I think that's a reasonable in-universe explanation. 🤔

Well, the ships in the sand will from now on be the star trek equivalent of jumping the shark. Edit: we have seen Latinum in season 4 on the casino vessel where they played poker.

In a sterile environment like a starship a corpse would mummify rather than decompose.

In the course of these first two episodes (and last season), Tilly has... left the Academy, gone back to Disco, decided to go back to the Academy, has left in favour of Disco, and is already talking wistfully about a return to the Academy. We get it. You have a spin-off show to greenlight.

I always approach the comments here, particularly when the subject is Discovery, with a great deal of trepidation. However, I have to say I’ve really enjoyed all the comments about Romulan corpse decay versus mummification. Keep it up, folks!

The Romulan ship doesn't need to have been a vacuum, but with life support off it would have reached well into freezing temps which would have preserved the body. Decomp would begin only once it warmed up enough.

I’m so glad to get back into some new season ups and downs. All the depth and just as much fun. and I am surprised how strong this episode was, and happy it’s going to warrant lots of re-watching, new fans, and converted naysayers for decades to come.

You could make a good drinking game with how often the line "Aye, Mister Saru" was said.

Not sure if you were just tripping over your words or if it was intentional...but calling him "Dadmiral Vance" was brilliant!

We now need a retro ups and downs for TNG the chase.

I like your upbeat optimism in your reviews. Glad to have you as a Star Trek fan/critic!

Hey Sean my lad, I'm lucky cause I grew up in Canada watching Callum Keith Renie knock so so many acting roles out of the park. We really need to declare that man to ba a national treasure. When I went to film school, we did a whole chapter on him and his acting. I am loving this season of Discovery so far, I think it has found it's legs and it's running on all cylinders. Maybe if this season does well I'm hoping the door would be open to bringing them back for some long Treks. Thank you for a great video as always and to all the hard working people behind the scenes like Kris who make them happens. Cheers to you all. :)

Thanks for making these videos, these videos are the closest I can get to watching the actual episodes as I can't afford Paramount.

There was ANOTHER previous mention of Picard in Discovery... in Unification III, the footage of Ambassador Spock (from TNG Unification Pt. 2) was announced, by the computer as being from "the personal archives of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard" (or words to that effect).

Let me stop this video at 1:19 and say thank you for the the best U=U shout out I have seen. The fact that you are killing it with Star Trek lore, history, and show reviews isn't enough, you have to go and make all of us in the awareness space look like we aren't even out here trying! GREAT JOB!!!!

I would say so far so good. I love Captain Raynor, he is my favorite new character in this series.

This may be Slow of me, but I just realized why "The Burn" was necessary, Story Wise The show needed something to slow down the technological progress of Humanity (and the entire galaxy) at large, otherwise 1K years of advancement, in STAR TREK, might just as well have been Magic to us. With The Burn, they were thrown back to the 'Stone Age' again (or at least Pre-Original Series Technology), and had to climb back up from that.

Let’s summarize the season with reference to the tng episode it’s based on. In the tng episode everyone chasing the mcguffin had their own biased assumption as to what they were after. In the end it was just a message of peace and only the romulans were receptive to it aside from the federation. What they are after in this season will be something similar.

The instant EV suit, transforming phaser-to-rifle, etc is similar to the Voyager Elite Force games, where all of your weapons and equipment were held in a belt-mounted pattern buffer that could hold like 12 guns. Always thought that was a brilliant idea, and glad they're finally doing it in canon. Easily explainable Treknology-wise. Also, Happy First Contact Day! :D

So great to have you back in Ups & Downs sir! I held off on watching the dual-premier for my birthday. As always, loved your thorough and appropriately humorous analysis. Thanks Sean and Chris!

this series cant end soon enough

thanks for letting us know about episode 2 and not spoiling it, because I had no clue before watching this that it was out already!

Thank you so much for splitting the ups and downs into two separate review videos. Cronenberg never disappoints.

i got visions of the ent-d crashing when the disc and the antaren got down to protect the settlement

Her hair is programmable matter. The upkeep on that much weave would be intense, it being programmable matter solves all sorts of in universe problems AND jank cgi problems 😂

GREAT opener. Everything. Spot on. Goddamn. And even if I didn't know that was Elias Toufexis under the makeup, I'd still have enjoyed those two. :)

Thank you for mentioning the dust coming off Discovery once it returns to space, I thought that was a particularly nice detail!

THANKS for this!!!!

I'm so happy to have this show back, and I'm so sad it's für the last time.

The scene with Stamets saying he's a packrat and has wires I think is both an up and a down. Cute scene but.... can they not just replicate old tech that's compatible? I'm pretty sure starfleet would have a database about soong-type androids. Even more so it could just be replicated on the spot, as seen with Tilly's coffee.

I have been asking for them to give Tilly a romance story since the end of First Season, and I'm so excited that the she an adorable man to swoon over! I'm so thrilled for her character!!!!

This really was a finely crafted episode of Trek! Looking forward to the rest of the season!

you don't know the distance the admirial is transmitting the hologram at, they're at the edge of the beta quadrant, that's insanely far, that would have taken days in the 24th century. I don't mind the glitches.

Anyone else get Shin Hati (from Star Wars: Ahsoka) vibes from Moll? Both women with shaggy white hair in villain roles? I'm sure it's just a coincidence but it's funny to me.

Loved the Firefly Easter egg when the phrase ‘extra shiny’ is used

UP for the music score in this season so far! 👍🏼

That shirt 👍

The Tholians were also an “Assembly” previously, so they may have changed from an oligarchy to a more democratic system, whereas the Breen by contrast grew in imperial ambition

So I think the confusion over the warp bubble is resolved as follows: Burnham was trying to damage the ships warp engines to force it to drop out, not to destabilize the bubble. The Antares' tractor beam was doing that, and it also messed up her plan by forcing her to bail. I don't think the Antares' bubble was merged with the couriers'. We hear their ship's destruction will probably destroy the Antares, but that's just via explosion, I assume?

It's still wild to me that Trek ships don't have seat belts in the future of the future.

Aw man, I love Sean's tshirt. He's such a great guy

Morn!!!!

Im enjoying it so far. Liking the indiana Jones adventure quest vibe. And the connection of the arc to THAT TNG episode? Awesome

Revelation of the Progenitors...at this point i was 100% sure that Kurtzman and the people at paramount are watching this channel 🔥

An up for me is Discovery appearing with the animated intro we've seen on other shows of late, customized with the eponymous ship jumping into place before zooming around the delta.

I was so happy to see Fred...and then, a few minutes later they kill him. That sums up my experience with DISCO.. so excited to see ST series/season and then they wipe out the feeling within minutes. I watch it because I love Star Trek, but I've been so disappointed in this whole series and concept. After the long chase scene and the fantastic event landing starships in the ground to stop the avalanche, Burnham and Booker stop to have an intimate conversation while she bleeding down her face. It was so out of place, I couldn't help but cringe a bit. The whole show feels incongruent that way.. here's some action and then maybe other writers say 'here's my script for intimate moments just throw it in when you can'. That's how it feels to me. And it takes me away from feeling into the story. I think the actors are good, the writing not so great and the overall concept of DISCO is more of a new sci-fi show that Star Trek. They just slapped "Star Trek on it and put a few pointy ears" I've been watching since 1970 when I was 4 years old. Since it's not episodic, you don't get to focus on each character, it's just a long movie broken up into 9 weeks or so of watching it. That space between makes me less interested. In all four seasons so far, I couldn't tell you much about any character or story line. This sounds negative but it's just that I'm disappointed and I stupidly get my hopes up. Then I come here to feel that camaraderie and esprit de corps but instead disappointed in the review. First time I've felt that way here. But I believe in IDIC I wish Star Trek 'people' wrote, directed, planned the Star Trek series. Hopefully this season is putting more Picard/TNG in it, as it appears to be! Soong android, the Prognitor storyline... Putting real Star Trek into it might make it teh best season so far. Like Enterprise finally 'getting' it in teh last season. Well I'll take Star Trek pretty much anyway it comes but I wish like many Trekkies, that it kept the same style and feel...(including: episodic and philosophic) Philippa Georgiou was the best thing but now gone from the series. Poor Fred. 🖖🏼

Love that you’re wearing a U=U shirt!!!

I don't know why, but this was where I thought this was going. I have zero basis outside of "huh, that would be some crazy direction to go" like a year ago 😂

I assumed the Tribble was the one that Lorca had in season one.

So glad that there are actually well done and faithful references to past Trek here. It’s something Discovery has struggled with in the past and thus far they seem to have done better this time. I’m happy with that.

Sean your T-Shirt is an important message which sadly is still not getting through and even if it only reaches one person you have helped us all take one more step towards a world without hatred and prejudice - thank you!

The Infinity room sounds like a 32nd-century SCIF (Secure Compartmented Information Facility). Someplace to discuss super secret stuff in a secure area.

Haven’t been a big fan of the recent seasons of Star Trek Discovery, but this episode was genuinely fun and hopefully the show goes out with a bang

I always thought The Chase should have been more than one episode. There could be so much more so I’m excited to see what they do. I know how I wrote it out has teenager 🖖

Such a great opener to the final season! I’m on board for this adventure.

Great start to Season Five!

Thanks for the Tee-shirt Sean - smashing HIV stigma plus Ups & Downs - bravo mate, much appreciated.

That revelation in the end really caught me by surprise. I would never, ever, imagine it would be the plot of the season 😁

Really good start to be honest.

I love this season already. Cannot wait for more of this awesome journey 🖖

So Excited Disco is back. Its what got me into Star Trek and is still one of my favorites. This season looks like its going to be epic

Huge down for killing Fred. I'm so pissed - it would have been awesome for a Soong android to join the cast for the season. Theoretically his body is still on Disco.. so maybe not out of the question.

The self sealing stem bolt was fantastic.

Season five is easily Discovery's best premiere, in my opinion. Wow. The visuals on this episode were stunning. The lighting seemed to be better compared to last season. The storyline is intriguing. I'm excited to see what happens. The future of the franchise is the 32nd century and I'm ready.

I am putting my theory down now that L'Ock is a Breen.