Hello, hello, my loves. Welcome back to The TV Doctor, a podcast in which I’m here to prescribe for you exactly what television you should be watching to treat the socio-emotional ailments troubling you. I’m M. Foss, and I’m not a doctor on TV, but I play one in real life.

If you’ve already checked out episode one of this season, then thank you for coming back for more, and I hope you’re all buckled in and you’re at your station and ready to continue our…trek. I could have said journey there, but what fun would that be? If you’re joining me for the first time, then I encourage you to go back at least one episode to catch up on our special theme for this season of The TV Doctor, and then you can come on back and we’ll resume course. But if you’re like, “Oh, that’s cute. I’m here, I’m staying here. I’m not going back right now,” then…boom. Acknowledged. I can hit you with a quick summary and you can do the full explanation at your leisure. 

So, I’m a life-long Trekkie, what my equal parts gorgeous and brilliant friend Kennedy from the Women at Warp podcast calls a Cradle Trekker, which means I was essentially born into the Star Trek fandom. I’ve been watching since childhood, I’ve seen everything Star Trek has to offer, and I’ve been studying Star Trek from an academic lens for more than 25 years. I don’t feel nearly old enough to be saying that I’ve been doing anything other than breathing for more than 25 years, but there we are. It is what it is. Basically, Star Trek had and continues to have a profound, seismic impact on my life. So, when I say I’m a Trekkie, baby I freaking mean it.

My co-host this season, Ashley, who not for nothing is ALSO equal parts gorgeous and brilliant, well…she is NOT a Trekkie, and she’ll be the first to tell you so. I’ve been trying to convince her to get into Star Trek since I’ve known her, which has been, you know, a significant amount of time, and I’ve had zero success…until recently. So, she started watching Star Trek: Discovery, and when she told me that she was actually loving it, I damn near passed out. Like, dream come true. And I wanted to hear every little reaction she had, every revelation, every critique, every question, and I thought that maybe you all, my TV Doctor fam, might enjoy hearing about it as much as I did. So, in this season of The TV Doctor, Ashley and I are watching (for her) and rewatching (for me) the absolute masterpiece that is Star Trek: Discovery. My mission: to explore the aspects of the show and the fandom that I might have previously missed; to seek out new ways of understanding this beloved text from the perspective of a newbie; and to boldly merge my oath as The TV Doctor to prescribe important and healing television for you while encouraging critical analysis of the content AND my unapologetic goal of growing the fandom. In short, I’m trying to win Ashley over, one episode of Disco at a time, and you are invited to join us for the process.

So, with that, let’s beam directly to…Sickbay.

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MF: Okay. We're back and we are going to be talking about Star Trek colon Discovery Season One, Episode Two, which is titled “Battle at the Binary Stars.” 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: So, we left the last episode on a bit of a cliffhanger where we were facing a huge moment in Starfleet history with the Klingons. We're having a little bit of a showdown. Michael has basically said we need to fire. 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: And Georgiou is like, absolutely not. We're Starfleet. We don't do that. Saru is team stand by my captain. 

AJ: Being a jerk as per the use.

MF: “I already hate Michael, so whatever Michael Burnham suggests…” 

AJ: “Let's do the opposite.” 

MF: “I'm going to stand in direct opposition to it.” And, so we do learn though a little bit about Michael that she is the only human to have matriculated from the University of Vulcan, which is not called that, but… 

AJ: Sure.

MF: Yeah, but that's what it is. 

AJ: Vulcan serving institution. 

MF: They cannot claim human serving institution. They cannot. Because there has been one, 

AJ: Right? 

MF: So, we do learn though, that, she at least received some Vulcan education and some Vulcan training and they're not listening to her on the bridge and they're trying to go the Starfleet way. It goes very badly for them and it's bad. 

AJ: I identify with this Michael, who's a little more rigid, if you will. 

MF: She's a lot more rigid. 

AJ: Okay. She's a lot more rigid. But I like…

MF: Vulcan hair laid.

AJ: Yes. 

MF: That ain't even a press out. That's a relaxer. 

AJ: It's a look, but I like it for her. I do. 

MF: It's cute. 

AJ: It is like it for her. 

MF: Yeah, I know. It's appropriation though. It's Rachel Dolezal. It's okay. 

AJ: I like that she says things like, “Yeah, emotional platitudes are not what I was looking for. And I can identify with this as someone who, as I ventured into my adulthood, I am a little more monotone with my reactions and my engagement with people. I'm a little detached meeting new people at work, meeting new peers in class, I'm a little less emotional. I'm even a little less warm and I feel a little defensive about wanting to be able to just be and not have to put on the airs of what we think is polite and kind and approachable and personable. And she's really just who she is. And my fear watching her and then seeing the flash forwards to today is that we're supposed to think that she's had this character arc where now she's more human. And so, she's more emotional and she even moves in a way that's more fluid. And I'm a little disappointed in advance because I hate that there's a juxtaposition of right and wrong, of growth, when I sort of identify with just wanting to be formal. I don't need emotional platitudes. Let's talk about the job. That's why I'm here. But I can understand why the audience will feel more connected to her as she becomes more human. I'm already grieving because she's already sort of gone.

MF: And I don't think I'm spoiling anything by letting you know that the Vulcan side of her gets eroded season by season. 

AJ: Why? 

MF: And well, because…you know why. Because that is the part of her that is other. And so, we need to bring her closer to the mainstream. Closer to that hegemonic ideal. 

AJ: Yeah. 

MF: Yeah, and while again, audiences are going to respond to that because it's closer to what we recognize, those of us on the margins, right, we appreciate the parts of her that are othered. 

AJ: It's…

MF: “You should smile.”

AJ: …“you aren't allowed to be expressionless.” 

MF: Yeah. 

AJ: Yeah. Growth is becoming more human in the way that this character is surely going to become. And, if that's who she is, then I support that. But if she felt comfort and agency within those boundaries, then let her be how she was raised. If she remained more Vulcan, I might be like, this is racist. They're not giving her character. She doesn't have depth. I might be, you know, raising the alarm on everyone else gets to have personality and become more human and emotional. And here this Black woman is having to act a certain way. I know I can't have it both ways, but she swings wildly in the opposite direction through the rest of the episode, even… 

MF: That's right. 

AJ: …in a way that really frustrated. I was really frustrated with Michael Burnham in this episode of television. Because she others herself in a different way. And it's when she says, I want to save you. I want to save all of you. She never says, I want to save us. She never does. And if you'll allow me to venture into the kind of, Kendrick/Drake rap battle. Of course, a little unexpected on a Star Trek podcast… 

MF: Or not. 

AJ: …or not. 

MF: Yeah. 

AJ: On a podcast that we both enjoy, Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay, they were discussing the beef and Van said something that stuck with me. And he said, the worst thing you can do to someone is to other them. And he meant that in a cultural way. Drake is Black, but he's not a Black American. So, he had to gain access to Black culture. Michael, who's also Black, although maybe race doesn't play a role in this universe, and maybe you can speak to that later, but yeah, she's othering herself in a different way. She's saying, “I know better than you. I know better than even the captain. I am othering myself. I know this thing that you don't know.” And the audacity to presume that you know more than Michelle Yeoh. 

MF: Right. 

AJ: And it just confuses me because now is she playing into the caricature of the Black woman who's the savior. You know, “I'm going to save everyone.” I don't know how I'm supposed to relate to her if she's swinging from these two different tropes unless that's the trope that people want to see. But why are you othering yourself when the worst thing you can do is separate yourself instead of saying, “this is for us. I want to save us”? 

MF: Yes. Yes. And when we see. Michael being shut down and removed, even though she was right… 

AJ: We have to get into that because I have questions. 

MF: Okay, let's get into it. 

AJ: Was Michael right? Because to be clear, she made the wrong choice by being insubordinate in that way. She knocked the captain out with whatever Vulcan magical thing that was. Was that some sort of Vulcan touch? 

MF: It is. It is. 

AJ: Is this magic? Is there magic in this universe? 

MF: So, we've got a little bit of a Mandela effect again here. A lot of people speak about the Vulcan death grip. That's not a thing. It's not death, but there is a Vulcan neck pinch. 

AJ: Okay, Vulcan neck pinch. 

MF: I'm choking on it a little bit because I'm realizing how ridiculous it sounds. But there is a technique that the Vulcans know how to do where they can literally just touch you right in a vulnerable spot in your neck area. It works very well on humans. Perhaps it works well on humanoids. But if they just “boop” right there, it's lights out. It doesn't kill you. So, it's not the death grip. That's not a thing. 

AJ: She's not out here murdering people except for the Klingon. 

MF: So, we…correct. But so, we understand that during her lessons on Vulcan, she did learn the neck pinch.

AJ: Okay. So, with the Vulcan neck pinch… 

MF: It was inappropriate AF for her to use the neck pinch. 

AJ: …in her insubordination…

MF: …on her captain… 

AJ: Not great. 

MF: And she is the first officer. 

AJ: She's number one. 

MF: Correct. By the way, can we just really quick, the fact that Georgiou calls her number one is such a beautiful Easter egg?

AJ: Oh, is that a thing? 

MF: It is. It's such a callback. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: So, in the original series, there's James T. Kirk. Okay. Spock is technically number one. 

AJ: Okay.

MF: But he doesn't refer to Spock as number one. We don't really start to understand the use of the term number one to refer to your first officer until…

AJ: Are you about to tell me the name of one of the Star Trek series until Brave New World? 

MF: …Next Generation, which is one that you already know.

AJ: I've already said that. Yeah. 

MF: Sorry! So close. 

AJ: I was very excited. 

MF: Until Next Generation because Picard uses that term to refer to Riker who is his number one. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: His first officer, but but but but but in the original pilot for Star Trek…

AJ: Whoa.

MF: …which had a different captain… 

AJ: Whoa. 

MF: …whose name I'm not going to mention because that may become a trivia question later… 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: …the original captain of the Enterprise that used this call number, this call sign…so, there have been multiple ships called Enterprise.

AJ: Okay. 

MF: Are we aware of that? 

AJ: No. 

MF: Okay. So there have been multiple ships named Enterprise and in the one that Kirk commanded… 

AJ: Chris Pine. 

MF: Chris Pine. Sure. 

AJ: People are so offended. People are so offended. And I just want to tell you, I see you and I do apologize. I'm not saying it to, but yes, I understand. Yes.

MF: So, Chris Pine… 

AJ: Chris Pine. Okay. 

MF: In a different universe. Okay, so Chris Pine, his ship was the Enterprise. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: Right? But he was not the first captain of the Enterprise. The first captain of that Enterprise, that ship, referred to their first officer as number one. 

AJ: Okay. Not Commander.

MF: No. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: No. So in the, the original pilot of Star Trek, that captain referred to their first officer as number one.

AJ: Okay. 

MF: Then we had the original series, Star Trek no colon. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: And then in Next Generation, Picard referred to his first officer as number one… 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: …which was basically an Easter egg for the pilot of the original series. 

AJ: Okay. I love that. 

MF: Yeah. So, Georgiou calling Michael number one is like a love letter to the Trekkies. 

AJ: And then the disrespect. Disrespect.

MF: And then, so how the mighty have fallen, right? You were number one. 

AJ: And you're doing the Vulcan death grip pinch, 

MF: Correct. Yes. So, it's not just that like she did mutiny and she went against her captain. It's like, oh hell no. Yeah. It's bad, bad. And the fact that Sarek was like, “Will you take her?” And Georgiou was like, “I will.” 

AJ: And then she starts the Klingon war, 

MF: Correct.

AJ: But here's my question.

MF: Yeah. 

AJ: How, besides accidentally killing a guy… 

MF: A Klingon. 

AJ: Right. How was this her fault? She was going to fire. 

MF: Mm-Hmm. . 

AJ: Which was again, not a great look. 

MF: No. 

AJ: Didn't help Saru… 

MF: No. 

AJ: …and their relationship, but because she didn't…explain. I'm so frustrated. Explain to me if it's just I'm missing it or if the audience is supposed to be frustrated.

MF: Right. I'm so glad that we are doing this show because it allowed me to go back and rewatch. And the rewatch showed me what I didn't understand the first time through. 

AJ: Okay. So, was it her fault? 

MF: It was her fault and it wasn't her fault. Like, no, no, no. It was her fault, but she was right. 

AJ: Ah. 

MF: So, it was going to go there. There was no way that they were going to come across the Klingons and they were going to avoid a war. 

AJ: But how did she start it when she didn't do anything?

MF: So, when she killed that first guy, then the Klingons were like… 

AJ: “It's on.” 

MF: A little bit, but it wasn't like full on. It was just like, “how dare you?” But then the problem was that they went full Starfleet, which was, “we come in peace and all gentle and explorer shit. 

AJ: We've already talked about “We've come in peace.” 

MF: Correct. 

AJ: But they, but they're kicking off the war of self-preservation. 

MF: But the Klingons are like, “We're not here for that because PS we already don't trust you. And we know that you're gonna say you come in peace and we know that you don't.” And so, when Georgiou and the Admiral who, P.S, that's the role that that guy always plays. He always plays the boss who is just dead ass wrong. Have you seen him on SVU? 

AJ: Oh yes. 

MF: He plays the boss who's always dead ass wrong. 

AJ: Yeah. And loudly. 

MF: Loudly dead ass wrong. Yeah. So, when Starfleet tried to do their like norming mainstream white supremacist bullshit, the Klingons were like, “We don't buy that. We just don't buy that.” Had Michael been able to pull off the Vulcan hello, the war may have been avoided. Because they would have respected…

AJ: So is it her fault? 

MF: Because she killed that dude. So it was that first thing, but it was an accident 

AJ: He really fell into her blade.

MF: No, I agree with you. She was right, but she went about it… 

AJ: The wrong way. 

MF: …the wrong way. The pinch was not the right way. 

AJ: It was not. She was like, “We should do the Vulcan Hello.” Had they done that, at least the Klingons would have been like, “Okay, we knew that the whole ‘we come in peace’ thing was a lie. So, at least we respect that you're coming in blazing because that's who we already knew that you were.” They thought that, “On top of killing us, they're also lying.” Michael said, “Saving you and the crew was more important than Starfleet principles.” And so, she had to be punished for that because nothing goes above Starfleet. Starfleet is the government. 

AJ: I felt a little manipulated because if the captain. had been someone else, probably a man, I would have felt like I was on Michael's side. The part of me that's like, “Yeah, rage against the machine.” 

MF: Sure. 

AJ: But because it was a woman and , because it was Michelle motherfucking Yeoh… 

MF: And because it's Michelle Yeoh. 

AJ: …I just felt like, “How presumptuous of you, Michael Burnham.”

MF: I know. Yeah. This episode was tough. 

AJ: Yeah. 

MF: It was tough. It gave the audience a whole bunch of stuff to chew on. 

AJ: And a lot more with the Klingons, whose language is just getting wetter and wetter. And the main Klingon dude, to me, is just like a false prophet. I mean, he's very much like, “I saw this.” 

MF: T’Kuvma.

AJ: T’Kuvma…

MF: Yes.

AJ: …is just giving me like cult leader of, “I saw this vision, now follow me. I'll lead you to the promised land.” He's just a false prophet. I can't root for that. I'm not rooting for anybody. Except the captain, to be clear. I'm rooting…well, no… 

MF: For Georgiou. 

AJ: …because even she's wrong. 'cause, 'cause we know that she's wrong because we are the audience. 

MF: We know that she's wrong. We know what the Klingons know and we know what Michael knows and we know that the Vulcan hello would've been the appropriate choice. But here we are. Now it's war. 

AJ: Excellent writing. 

MF: Yeah. There's one last thing that I want to chat about really quickly, and that's the Klingons and race, . 

AJ: Let’s go there. 

MF: There's no way that I can look at T'Kuvma and not say, “Oh, that's a brother right there.”

AJ: Yes. 

MF: Right. Right. Right. And this is something that I've always kind of contemplated. I've never approached it systematically like a critic, but when we've got cultural markers that are obvious to audiences, T'Kuvma definitely reads. as Black. 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: Right. Even amongst the way that these Klingons look, he looks like a Black King. I haven't looked this up, but I feel pretty confident that he was played by a Black actor. I'm going to look it up right this second.

AJ: Well, if he wasn't. That would be racist. 

MF: Oh, I know. Oh my God. Let's find out, okay…good. So, Chris Obi, he did a hell of a job. 

AJ: Yeah. 

MF: But I felt pretty certain that that was a Black actor. So, you asked me a really interesting question at one point, which was, “When is this?” 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: Because you were like, “Star Wars lets you know that this was a long time ago…” 

AJ: A long, long time. 

MF: A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

AJ: Far, far away. 

MF: This is not a galaxy far, far away. This is our galaxy. This is the Milky Way. All of this is going down in the Milky Way. And it's the future. 

AJ: Okay, 

MF: One of the things that Star Trek prides itself on is that it is operating in a time when at least the human species has evolved past current human issues. 

AJ: It's a post racial America. 

MF: It is not only post racial, not only America, but the whole planet has gotten past things like racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, etc.

AJ: I believe that the way that they've written this. I believe that. 

MF: But also we see tons of evidence that that's not true. We see plenty of evidence that like, “You talk a good game, but you're not walking.” But that's got me thinking, like, is there racism in Klingon society? Right? We see that there's a little bit because in the previous episode, there is still a focus on skin color. Because when T'Kuvma says to Voq, and I quote, “Some may see the color of your skin as nature's mistake. I call it a mirror for I see myself in you”. We're talking about two extreme opposites, right? Because T'Kuvma is dark and Voq is like very, very, very white, very pale. And it's, it's just interesting how Star Trek is trying to weave in these conversations about skin color and hierarchy. It's an ongoing conversation. It's one of those, like, “Let's just stay tuned for that.” 

AJ: Yeah, it's a little over my head, although I will say that the…what's the man we were just talking about? Who's always wrong?

MF: Oh, the Admiral. 

AJ: The Admiral says to Michael Burnham, “I would think that race wouldn't matter to you,” but in my mind, this universe is in a post racial society, that he was talking about Vulcan versus humans as being race shouldn't matter to you. 

MF: Yes.

AJ: So I'm not sure if they're signaling to me that we're supposed to talk about race or think about race, or if it's trying to tell some of its fan base, “We have changed. We are a safe space for you.” And if so, because I'm not part of the original fan base, I don't come in with, you know, any feelings about how race has been depicted in the past. It's just sort of whatever for me. 

MF: I'm going to read to you from the chapter “Liminality: Worf as Metonymic Signifier of Racial, Cultural, and National Differences,” by Leah R. Vande Berg. Vande Berg says, and I quote, “TNG,” which is The Next Generation, “would have viewers believe that in the 24th century Federation world, there is no racism or race consciousness. However, as a closer analysis of the series episodes indicates, racial tensions, differences, and issues have not disappeared. They have merely been transformed into species differences. In TNG, species has become a metaphor for race, as the series treatment of the character of Worf indicates.” So, Vande Berg makes the argument that whenever Star Trek is talking about these differences between species, it's the series talking about race. They're making an argument about race and racial differences, but they're using different species as the vehicle to have that conversation. But the way that they do it, especially, so that was talking about Next Generation, like late ‘80s, through early ‘90s. So, at this point, when it's Discovery, and we are, you know, in the 2020s, right? It is still using species as a metaphor for race, but it's doing so in a way that has had to evolve and adapt to the fact that modern audiences are savvy enough to understand that when you're using species, you're meaning race, so they have to flip it around. It's not necessarily that the one with the darkest skin is Black. It's not necessarily that the one with the lightest skin is the best one, right? Okay. They're still having that conversation, but they have to be a little more subtle and a little more nimble in how they present it. 

AJ: I'm still shocked that L'Rell is letting us know that not all the Klingons are men. 

MF: Yes. 

AJ: And I, I am more clued into some of the misogyny that I've been seeing with the admiral and the captain. And even when Michael Burnham goes back to the deck and she tells Saru, “Here's what the order is,” if that was the truth, if we as the audience didn't know, or if the captain had said, “Okay, go out and do this.” How dare, shady Saru… 

MF: You're right. Right. Right. 

AJ: …question her, regardless of whatever his threat ganglia thinks is picking up on temperature change or you're perspiring. Yeah, because we just saw the Klingons were in Code Red. Yes. Yes. There's danger. Shady Saru should have respected what Michael Burnham was doing. 

MF: So, once again, I think the episode ends with, a lot of questions left unanswered, but it also ends with Captain Georgiou dead. 

AJ: Yeah. 

MF: And Michael responsible. 

AJ: Rest in peace to her. I'm glad that I was surprised that she was in the cast because otherwise I would have felt like this was a bait and switch. You brought me in for Michelle Yeoh. And she's gone. And I so enjoyed her. But I basked in her glory while I was able to. And onward we go. 

MF: And onward we go. Speaking of onward…

AJ: Yes. 

MF: …let's get to the quiz. 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: Okay. Are you a Trekkie? 

AJ: No. Nope. 

MF: Okay. Are you a Trekker? 

AJ: I don't know what that is. 

MF: Fair enough. Okay. Name all the shows. 

AJ: Yeah. Okay. So, I'm still at Star Trek, no colon. 

MF: Yes. But what do…what…how do we refer to that show? If we were to give it… 

AJ: The original… 

MF: Yes. The original… 

AJ: …series? 

MF: Series. The Original Series. Very good. All right. 

AJ: Star Trek, the original series. 

MF: Yes. Then? 

AJ: The Next Generation. TNG. 

MF: TNG, but also…? 

AJ: Star Trek colon. 

MF: There's one in between. 

AJ: Ah, and it's still not Brave New World. 

MF: It's not. That's never gonna be one of them. But, you've mentioned that one in between. It's less known. 

AJ: Yeah, no. 

MF: It's, um… 

AJ: Nope, nothing. Picard. 

MF: It's…it's animated. 

AJ: No. 

MF: Yeah, it's animated. 

AJ: Nope. 

MF: Okay. It's The Animated Series. 

AJ: No. 

MF: Yeah, that's what it is. I'm telling you. 

AJ: I believe you. 

MF: I'm giving you the answer. 

AJ: I do not know of what you speak. 

MF: All right. So number one, The Original Series. 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: Number two, The Animated Series. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: All right. Number three, The Next Generation. 

AJ: Right. 

MF: Okay. Go from there. 

AJ: I don't know. That's where I met Picard and Brave New World and Discovery. 

MF: Not Brave New World. 

AJ: I am now positive that it is close enough where we will look back on this pod…

MF: How about this?  The one that you're calling Brave New World…in the fandom, we refer to each show by a three letter acronym. And so, the acronym for the one that you're calling Brave New World… 

AJ: …is BNW. 

MF: It is “Something” New Worlds.

AJ: Okay. The Trekkie in you desperately wants me to know this and I just don't. 

MF: It's okay. It's okay. Maybe you will. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: You will. All right. What is IDIC? I-D-I-C. 

AJ: I don't know. 

MF: Okay. 

AJ: Or I don't care. IDK. IDK. IDK. IDK. IDK. No, I don't know. IDIC, I don't know. 

MF: Okay. Um, what is a Jeffries tube? 

AJ: I don't know. 

MF: Okay. Who created Star Trek? 

AJ: William Shatner. 

MF: Incorrect. 

AJ: I don't know. 

MF: Incorrect. Incorrect. What is General Order One? 

AJ: Do no harm until otherwise mentioned. 

MF: Okay. It is more specific than that. Do you want to try again with the Klingon Jesus? 

AJ: Okay.

MF: Whenever a Klingon talks, you…probably this person is going to come up. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: And it does start with a K. 

AJ: Okay. But it's not Khalil. 

MF: It is not. 

AJ: Okay. All right. Pass. 

MF: Okay. How about this one? What is the Klingon's favorite weapon? 

AJ: Do I have to know the name of it? Because it's probably that long knife sword…

MF: It is a long knife sword. 

AJ: …thing. 

MF: Mm hmm. 

AJ: Pass. 

MF: Mm mm. 

AJ: I don't know. 

MF: No, try. What's that called? 

AJ: I don't know. 

MF: And they hold it like this. 

AJ: I don't know. Nope. 

MF: Okay. What if I tell you it starts with a B? No. 

AJ: Nope. 

MF: Okay. All right. All right. Well, on that note, we're chipping away at the number of programs in the Star Trek catalog. 

AJ: There's quite a bit. Yeah, quite a bit. 

MF: So, you've gotten 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 

AJ: Out of 11. You can't count the…

MF: Six and a half!

AJ: …animated one because I don't know what the name of it is.

MF: It's the freaking animate…it is The Animated Series. 

AJ: Does it have a name after colon? 

MF: It is Star Trek colon, The Animated Series. 

AJ: Oh, okay. 

MF: You did get it. You got that one. Yeah, you've got that one. So, that's 1, Six, six and a half, because you've gotten two out of the three words of the one that you keep calling Brave New World.

AJ: It's just so great because when you enter into Star Wars, people might be like, “You still don't know what's going on,” or “You only watch one show,” and Trekkies, just based on this, are so desperate for you to know all of it and jump all the way in. And it's like, “Oh my God, you're coming on too strong.”

MF: It's not the first time I've been told I'm coming on too strong about Star Trek. 

AJ: I almost want you to be a little more toxic. 

MF: Oh, I can't. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: I just want to be welcoming. 

AJ: Okay. Onward to the next one. 

MF: I want to be IDIC. 

AJ: I don't know. Okay. 

MF: You'll get there. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: All right. 

AJ: All right. 

MF: See you next time.

AJ: Next time.

______________________________

Okay, so it’s not The TV Doctor if we’re not discussing how this episode can treat what’s hurting, and we have plenty of beautiful moments in this episode to work with, but the one I’d like to really unpack a bit more is the presentation of this hyper-Vulcanized version of Michael Burnham, the one who is more formal, or more “rigid” (to use the language we employed during our conversation). Pre-mutiny Michael comes off as what some might characterize as prickly. She’s not here to make you feel comfortable about her presence. She takes up space. She reclaims her time. She doesn’t smile because you want her to. She smiles if she feels like it, and she usually doesn’t feel like it, and that’s okay. We don’t really get to know if she’s like this because that’s just how she is, OR if she’s like this because of how she was raised on Vulcan. It’s the classic nature versus nurture debate. The good news is, it doesn’t really matter. In the moment, in this episode, Michael is presented as an acquired taste. Not a people pleaser. Maybe even not a people person, right? Not for everyone.  

So, Ashley was explaining how resonant this character was for her. Seeing the star of the show match some of your own emotional tentpoles can be equally as powerful as seeing someone who looks like you. If you have ever been told you should smile more often, or that you have RBF (Resting Bitch Face), or that people would respond to you better if you softened yourself for them, or that likeability is critical for your success, if that’s the case, then early-stage Michael Burnham is the middle finger to those people you’ve been waiting for. It is soothing to see her be prickly AND awesome. 

What complicates things, though, is that Michael is not—at this point, anyway—she’s not celebrated for being prickly; she’s punished for it. In this episode, it’s the so-called “unlikeable” aspects of her personality that get her in trouble. The show wants the audience to see that even though WE know she was doing the right thing by trying to execute the Vulcan Hello at any cost, her colleagues and the rest of Starfleet don’t know what we know, so not only do we see her punished, but we also know that she’s being punished unfairly, hence the frustration that Ashley mentioned earlier. 

But…this is television, babes. And Sonequa Martin-Green is the top of the call sheet, and Michael Burnham is the lead of this show, so there’s no way that our queen is going to be punished for long, not in this show. It’s only Episode 2 of the entire series, and Michael’s redemption arc has already begun. And it’s not JUST a redemption arc; she is not reduced to her atonement. Ashley doesn’t know it yet, but Michael Burnham’s character arc has all kinds of levels and layers to it. While it is true that the hyper-Vulcan version of Michael is far less pronounced from this point in the show on, we still get to see her from time to time. I stand by my assessment that eroding the prickly parts of Michael’s character has something to do with this being commercial television and as such, the show has to move its star closer to a hegemonic ideal, but I can also appreciate the reading of her evolution as being more about the natural transformation we all take as we become more fully what we are as a result of what we’ve been through. Luckily, both things can be true, and Michael can still be a lovely prescription for those who recognize her symptoms.

That’s going to do it for this episode. “Battle at the Binary Stars” was directed by Adam Kane. The writers for this episode included Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman as creators of the show, Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts with the teleplay, story by Bryan Fuller, Bowie Kim as the executive story editor, and Kirsten Beyer, Sean Cochran, and Kemp Powers as staff writers. Oh, and we can’t forget Gene Roddenberry who gets a forever writing credit. I’d also like to mention that the name of the actor we were talking about, the one who always plays the loudly dead ass wrong boss, his name is Terry Serpico. I mean, look up his IMDB. He’s always that guy. I’m sure he’s wonderful in real life. You know, very talented.  

We have now reached the part of our appointment where it’s time for me to give you some instructions for what to do when we part ways just in case you don’t remember what we’ve discussed. We’re now in season five and there are four other very nice seasons of The TV Doctor. Please go check them out, leave a five-star rating and a glowing review if you feel so moved, and I hope you do feel so moved, especially if you enjoy the idea of helping me bring the work Ashley and I are doing here to a larger audience. Tell a friend about the show, and tell them to tell someone else, and so on across all of space/time.

We also want to connect with you on social media, of course. So, you can follow me, M. Foss, on Instagram and Twitter at tee vee phd, and you can follow Ashley at Ashley johnson ca on all the things. And if you need merch, please know that we’re hard at work on some Sickbay-specific designs, but we’d love to hear your ideas if you have them. You can stay in touch and/or find the link to the TV Doctor TeePublic store by visiting the website over at thetvdoc.com, so that’s thetvdoc.com.

On behalf of my number one and I, we thank you so much, again and again, for joining us here. And don’t forget to schedule your next appointment on your way out. Take good care, friends.