Star Trek: Short Treks: Runaway
October 5, 2018 3:01 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
Sylvia Tilly attempts to have some coffee in peace.
She fails.
Memory Alpha is predictably thin here, given how recently the episode aired.
Memorable Quotes:
"It's called the 'Command Training Program.' It trains you. For Command."
- Tilly
"That amount of caffeine is not ad-"
"Is my best friend, so shoosh!"
"Have a glorious day."
- Tilly, talking to the food dispenser
"Ice cream. It's primarily sugar. Sugar is awesome."
- Tilly
Poster's Log:
I mostly liked this, especially the food fight scene, but I do not feel it stuck the landing. Per the usual, Star Trek talking about evolution is dismal, and the reveal Po was a queen felt forced. Also, their final conversation seemed pretty upbeat considering her whole family was dead.
Regardless, seems like a good way to bridge the gap until Discovery S2, and I'm there for pretty much any Tilly story now.
Pointless STO Comparison: Mary Wiseman is slated to appear in Star Trek Online, debuting on 10/9. I'm excited.
Memory Alpha is predictably thin here, given how recently the episode aired.
Memorable Quotes:
"It's called the 'Command Training Program.' It trains you. For Command."
- Tilly
"That amount of caffeine is not ad-"
"Is my best friend, so shoosh!"
"Have a glorious day."
- Tilly, talking to the food dispenser
"Ice cream. It's primarily sugar. Sugar is awesome."
- Tilly
Poster's Log:
I mostly liked this, especially the food fight scene, but I do not feel it stuck the landing. Per the usual, Star Trek talking about evolution is dismal, and the reveal Po was a queen felt forced. Also, their final conversation seemed pretty upbeat considering her whole family was dead.
Regardless, seems like a good way to bridge the gap until Discovery S2, and I'm there for pretty much any Tilly story now.
Pointless STO Comparison: Mary Wiseman is slated to appear in Star Trek Online, debuting on 10/9. I'm excited.
I wish that had been 40 minutes longer but I enjoyed it.
posted by yonega at 5:52 PM on October 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by yonega at 5:52 PM on October 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm puzzled why these aren't being shown elsewhere in the world on the platforms where Discovery was available to us. That said, there are still torrents.
I love Tilly. For me she was the absolute delight and stand out of Discovery, so spending time with her was delightful. This seemed really thin, but at least a bit more like Trek than most of Discovery.
posted by crossoverman at 11:48 PM on October 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I love Tilly. For me she was the absolute delight and stand out of Discovery, so spending time with her was delightful. This seemed really thin, but at least a bit more like Trek than most of Discovery.
posted by crossoverman at 11:48 PM on October 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Kind of want Star Trek: Tilly now
posted by Query at 6:27 AM on October 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Query at 6:27 AM on October 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
I liked it and appreciated how tightly written it was. Wish other shows would do this.
posted by fuse theorem at 2:00 PM on October 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by fuse theorem at 2:00 PM on October 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
I liked everything except for the whole "planet is my twin" thing.
There's a couple of possible interpretations. The one I think they meant was that the planet Xahea and the species Xaheans were formed at the same time.
But Po keeps referring to the planet as "her twin," like her specifically. So the alternate interpretation is that each Xahean is born at the same time as her planet, which is nonsensical, unless she means that the planet has some sort of incredibly complex intelligence built in and that each Xahean is born with some kind of connection to that intelligence which manifests as a personality. Which could be interesting, if they explored it at all.
Maybe they're going for a metaphor, like people who refer to "Mother Earth," and I am just overthinking this. But the way the dialog is written, Po seems to be assigning personality to Xahea. It feels weird and clunky and distracting from what is otherwise a really fun little episode.
posted by JDHarper at 8:58 AM on October 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
There's a couple of possible interpretations. The one I think they meant was that the planet Xahea and the species Xaheans were formed at the same time.
But Po keeps referring to the planet as "her twin," like her specifically. So the alternate interpretation is that each Xahean is born at the same time as her planet, which is nonsensical, unless she means that the planet has some sort of incredibly complex intelligence built in and that each Xahean is born with some kind of connection to that intelligence which manifests as a personality. Which could be interesting, if they explored it at all.
Maybe they're going for a metaphor, like people who refer to "Mother Earth," and I am just overthinking this. But the way the dialog is written, Po seems to be assigning personality to Xahea. It feels weird and clunky and distracting from what is otherwise a really fun little episode.
posted by JDHarper at 8:58 AM on October 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
But Po keeps referring to the planet as "her twin," like her specifically.
I decided the whole 'Xahea and Xaheans came about at the same time' thing had to be a sincerely held religious belief. It'd be weird even for Trek's soft SF. Given that, the twin stuff sounded to me like her personal relationship with the ecology, tinged extra purple by the fact that the planet is her responsibility after all.
But yeah. Weird. I feel like that's where this whole deal kinda goes off the rails. (I was still there for Tilly talking about familial relationships though.)
Kind of want Star Trek: Tilly now
Me too.
Wish other shows would do this.
Yeah, it's neat to see little character sketches in between full episodes. (Stargate: Universe had web episodes this reminds me of a bit, and I liked those too.)
posted by mordax at 11:48 AM on October 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
I decided the whole 'Xahea and Xaheans came about at the same time' thing had to be a sincerely held religious belief. It'd be weird even for Trek's soft SF. Given that, the twin stuff sounded to me like her personal relationship with the ecology, tinged extra purple by the fact that the planet is her responsibility after all.
But yeah. Weird. I feel like that's where this whole deal kinda goes off the rails. (I was still there for Tilly talking about familial relationships though.)
Kind of want Star Trek: Tilly now
Me too.
Wish other shows would do this.
Yeah, it's neat to see little character sketches in between full episodes. (Stargate: Universe had web episodes this reminds me of a bit, and I liked those too.)
posted by mordax at 11:48 AM on October 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
Look, I love disco and I love Tilly, but this was awful.
posted by bq at 9:40 AM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bq at 9:40 AM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Rewatching, I notice that in the first minute they spent like no money on animating the NPC's walking out of the bay. Since this is a bonus, I TOTALLY APPROVE of this budget choice.
posted by mikelieman at 8:38 PM on October 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 8:38 PM on October 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
"Hormonal space rabbit"!
posted by mikelieman at 8:48 PM on October 12, 2018
posted by mikelieman at 8:48 PM on October 12, 2018
I liked the concept of a short format / single character show, but I'm with bq; this was awful. It read very schlocky to me, I think the writing just needed to be better. And tighter, 15 minutes is only time for a couple of things. Leave out the bit about her being the Queen, and the spiritual twin thing, and the implausible magic technology. Just go with the basic story of scared teenage runaway sneaking aboard the Disco and making a friend and going home again. I think you could make a tight 15 minutes of that.
Man Tilly looks so different with her hair down. For awhile I thought it was a different actress!
Looking forward to more of these shorts though.
posted by Nelson at 6:39 AM on October 25, 2018
Man Tilly looks so different with her hair down. For awhile I thought it was a different actress!
Looking forward to more of these shorts though.
posted by Nelson at 6:39 AM on October 25, 2018
I'm puzzled why these aren't being shown elsewhere in the world on the platforms where Discovery was available to us.
These are being broadcast on Space in Canada, but I had to search for it as my PVR didn't pick them up as STD episodes.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:04 AM on November 9, 2018
These are being broadcast on Space in Canada, but I had to search for it as my PVR didn't pick them up as STD episodes.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:04 AM on November 9, 2018
Yeah. I liked the food fight, but Tilly just dealing with an intruder on her own, without involving the rest of the cast, felt like Tilly was breaking lots of rules without any handwringing or 'ooh, should I?' It took me out of the show and made me think "yep- pretty cheap just to have two actors talking".
My favourite part was the credit for the 'contact lens supervisor'.
posted by freethefeet at 11:37 PM on February 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
My favourite part was the credit for the 'contact lens supervisor'.
posted by freethefeet at 11:37 PM on February 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
I loved this Short Trek! I've seen it twice now. It's so sweet and I love seeing Tilly's offbeat ways of solving problems -- self-deprecating ("hormonal space rabbit"), surprising the intruder by snarling, getting into a "well DID you .... when you were nine???" one-up contest, etc. And these two youngish women agreeing wryly that it's dumb to get hung up on dumb stuff and let it hold you back. :)
posted by brainwane at 7:13 AM on February 5, 2019
posted by brainwane at 7:13 AM on February 5, 2019
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posted by Frayed Knot at 3:37 PM on October 5, 2018