Phasers Set To Stun: recapping Discovery: Whistlespeak

0:04 Space the final Frontier. Join us for a bold conversation our prime directive to recap our favorite Star Trek shows, both new and old, to engage and debate about all things Trek. Prepare to energize with Phasers Set to Stunt. Hello, listeners, and welcome back to a new episode of Phasers Set to Stunt, where we continue to show our love for Everything's Star Trek in this ongoing series from a film by podcast which focuses on every sector of the expanding Star Trek universe by covering television, movies, animation, directors, merchandise, and much much more. Plotting your course on this voyage is your Core Trek Crew. I'm Wayne Whited David Byrnsfen and now we're halfway in into the second half of Star Trek Discovery Season five, the series' final season. The series has continue to impress us, taking the viewers on a hunt across space to find the pieces of the map that will lead the Discovery to where the Progenitors have hid their technology, the tech that was used to create all life in the known galaxy. The crew have three of the five pieces of the map and now in this week's episode titled whistle Speak. They are on the hunt for the fourth So everybody, this is black alert. There are spoilers ahead.

1:36 If you haven't seen this episode yet, please stop and beam yourself to the nearest view screen to catch it on Paramount Plus. Then come back and rejoin us for this discussion. Scott, why don't you give us a short summary of this episode? So again, the name of it is whistle Speak, which is one of the more clever titles I think we've seen. Yeah. Wait, while another ship pursues, Mullenlock Discovery continues their search for the next glute the progenitor puzzle. The mysterious vial from the last episode holds a deceptively ordinary clue distilled water. What seems to be the second to last clue leads them to a pre warp planet ravaged by drought, where one of the clue masters created a disguised rain generating towers. Burnham and Tilly go undercover on this planet to find out which tower holds their next clue, while also putting the prime directive to the test and saving the planet from inevitably turning to a dusty wasteland. Meanwhile, back on the ship, the Deira finds a place on the bridge and the courage to find confidence as a trusted source of knowledge, and doctor Culbert continues a quest to figure out the long term impact of the mission on Trill, which uncovers the start of a spiritual journey. I don't know about you guys, but I absolutely loggd this episode and it is my favorite episode of the season so far. And I know that's saying a lot, because we've had some good episodes, but this episode kept me on the edge of my seat. And it really wasn't that deep of a story, but the planet, the characters, and civilization that we just intrigued me.

3:00 I mean, this episode wasn't inventing the wheel. It was going back to the roots of Star Trek by giving us a pre warped civilization that our crew must engage, explore, and understand while right being that prime directive. But what also pulled me into the story was the fair, interesting and unique score that matched the strained world we were encountering. Oh yeah, I mean it was epic, it was large. You know, it's that spiritual journey. You know, even you know, Colbert was having that spiritual journey. But you know, even on this planet, we're meeting these people. They are too you know, you know, they're trying to get that the rain, They're trying to get the water to control that dust. But you know, the score really reflects all of that. You know, you have this very unusual world and you get this really unusual score, and that's what really pulled me into this episode. Guys, you're you're right too. I mean, you know, I've liked Jeff Russell's music, but I always find a lot of times it goes into the background, but not in this episode.

3:59 It was the phenomenal. Yeah, I agree. I think it's progressively getting better. And I'm really glad that we started the show that we're doing when that we were able to catch Discovery when we did, because I think this is going to be one of the better seasons and I think this is going to be one where that go out on top. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. It did feel like kind of a self contained episode, maybe a little bit more than others. It had to do tangentially with the quest, but not necessarily something that was a bunch of twists and turns and you know, all about the clues. It was a great look at the prime directive and when to follow it when not to, which I think gets a little bit fuzzy. But this season started out with red directive, right, so it seemed to kind of blur the lines a little bit. I didn't notice until a second viewing how much of a parallel there is between what's going on on the ship and what's happening on the surface. As far as that spiritual journey, Dave, I think you hit it on the head with you know what we're seeing with Doctor Culper. It's nice to know that that's not necessarily a negative thing. There's sometimes when this kind of crisis comes up and it's just going to create a bunch of inner turmoil. It's a little bit more like a I think he said, a spiritual awakening, right. But then on the surface, you've also got somebody who's saying, you know, does this challenge everything that I've known that it's the gods who were doing it, it's not technology, but now that it is technology, how does that

5:30 How does that impact our spiritual beliefs and how do those spiritual beliefs drive the core of their society. This is one where I don't think that the what the prime director was created to protect against kind of the dangers of this happening. I don't think we're going to see that with this, at least I hope it don't. I hope it's fairly self contained and they just learn how to kind of grow and maybe, you know, I think recolonize the rest of the planet. Right, But yeah, very well written, very well directed, great uses of character. Is just going in a great place. I really enjoyed this episode too. I'm not sure if it's my favorite of the season because I really like to face is strange, But once the season's over with, I all evaluate and it could very well make it to the top. This was definitely one of the most Star Trek episodes that was ever made for Discovery. I mean, this really had the feel of the style and the writing that they did for the original series, and I appreciate that.

6:30 I mean, it's very much a bottle show. You're absolutely right, Scott, And I don't want to feel like I'm nitpicking, because I'm not, because I guess I wanted to state that I really like this episode. But the story had very little to do with the overall story of the season, you know, except for Discovery finding the piece of the map, you know, And that kind of worries me a little bit, because you know, this is a season with only ten episodes, and I'm not sure if we really have time to step aside and tell a story like this. You know. I hope I'm wrong. I hope you know, we've got only four episodes left, and I hope that it doesn't feel like, you know, now, with only four episodes, we have to rush things, you know. I hope that the rest of the season doesn't feel rushed, because we still have a lot to go on this story of a view. But like I said, that's this is not picking on this episode. I love this episode. That was fantastic, and if they had a longer season, this would definitely be on top. I have a feeling, and I could be wrong with this. I have a feeling they're setting something up for Colbert.

7:33 I know that he's dealt with the trill, but I have a feeling they're gonna kill him off. That's my opinion. I have a feeling that's coming at the end of the season, and that's why this episode's gonna be very important. That's interesting. I never I didn't think of that, but yeah, now that you're mentioning it. I mean, I could totally be off based on this, but that's what I'm feeling because of the whole spureaual journey that he's going through. You know, he he feels like something's off, something's wrong with him, because he had the trill in him and he you know, he runs the neuroscans, he has all the test and and nothing is wrong with him. I mean, he even does the with his grandmother, you know, the oh, the holiding, yeah, the hologram with his grandma, you know, trying to make him feel normal and get her opinion about you know, the spiritual stuff because his grandmother was very spiritual.

8:26 So he's trying to understand all of that. And I think with the show's focus on that, that's where they're leading in my opinion, and that would be great because if if they're actually leading something into that storyline with him, then this that places this episode is important for this for the season, and I'm all for that. So, yeah, I didn't think of that. I'm glad you brought that up. I'm actually hoping you're wrong. Yeah, I mean you do think no, and I know it's not like all right, oh yeah, I don't want to see him. I don't want to see characters die at the end. Now on I think it's more. I hope where they're going with this is something similar, But it's not necessarily that Culber would die as much as it's maybe Culber and Stamets end up leaving Discovery and saying there's more to the Federation than what's on Discovery. It sounds like they're not necessarily going to continue exploring the spore drive. There was an episode where I think Stanlett's was feeling obsolete, right yep, because they were going to start to shut that down, and it almost felt like Tilly was We were seeing some of the struggles with that Tilly is having as a teacher subtly come through in this episode. So maybe there's a little bit of something where they follow a similar path of we're going to take a step back from the adventure of the week and focus more on rebuilding Starfleet in different ways.

9:48 I could definitely see it going that way, but yeah, I could. Yeah, I could too. Yeah, And it was very interesting that Tony Stark memory based holographic technology that they're using to recreate it. I thought it was a great conversation. I thought that was a great use of like, you know the person who you used to talk to that's represented by this technology, and understand that it's not the same person. So I'm not going to be able to lead you on that spiritual journey, although what she says kind of unlocks what he needs to get to that next place. There'll be more of that technology kind of use going forward. But yeah, I thought it was. It was great to meet her, and it was great to meet to know that she was the inspiration for to become a doctor. I thought that was a great addition to that. It is. Yeah, And you know, I'm gonna go back to something you said, Scotten on the very first episode we had of Discovery this season, and I cannot stand Cronenberg.

10:39 I'm sorry, yes, yes, pulls me out of this show all the damn time. And Scott you said that in the first episode and I'm like, Scott is right. As soon as that scene happened, I'm like, why are we doing that? Well, let me talk about him too, because what you bring up, you're right, but I think that's done on purpose. You know, he has such a brief appearance. He appears in a white room his what is an infinity room? He gives burn him a list of names written on a piece of paper from a simple, straightforward, twenty first century notebook. You know, what's what's up with that? That's he doesn't look like someone from the thirty second century, he doesn't act like someone from the thirty second century. I'm suspecting there's more to Coach than we've been led to believe to been told. You know that that whole white room that he was in, in the way it appears and the way he whispern him away over you know there because she was physically there. She took the paper from him, So this wasn't like a hologram or anything. I get strong celestial temple vibes with that. You understand what I'm saying with this, I do as if it's sitting outside a time you know, is is Covich a time traveler? Is he some sort of relic or something from the temporal wars? You know? I really do think that there's more to him than we know so far? Thing Okay, I Yeah, it's still I hope that's the case. I hope that there's a little bit more to Coovich that

12:09 doesn't continue to rub me the wrong way, And I don't know if it's just choices that they make of how to incorporate David Cronenberg's character. I felt like it's the first time that I felt like that character really contributed to helping the story flow in that once you see the list of names of scientists that contributed to it, that to me seemed like an intentional device of a checklist to say, hey, viewers, if you'd like to understand when this thing is going to wrap up. We've got this one and something to do with Betas and then it should wrap up. So it feels like this episode is the second to last clue that they're going to get, and either next week is going to be not finding a clue as much as getting more into mull Unlocks story and then finding the next clue and then figuring out what to do with it. It seems like that could be a good balance. But otherwise, yeah, I mean, very dead pin delivery and so much exposition about a legal pad. I don't care. I really didn't care about like it's not replicated by the way it's authentic paper. They were pointing that out.

13:24 They were making a the writers were making a distinction on that. They're pointing that out. That makes me think, you know, are we supposed to pay attention to that? Is there is there something more going on? Yeah, I don't know. It felt maybe there is, and I hope that. I hope there is. On the surface, it feels very much like, well, I don't want to wear any Star Trek costume. I'll put a pin on my jacket, but that's about it. Otherwise I'm not going to play. I'm just going to do this. And you know, it almost felt like a kind of a hipster kind of thing to say, like, hey, I found this authentically legopad for the twenty first century of like look a bucket of paper clips. Like I was just like, I think it could be it could be nothing. We might be seeing, you know, patterns that aren't there, so, you know, right, but at least it was kind of a you know, it serves its purpose and then it moves on. So on the plus side of this episode, we get to see a little bit more of Rainer growing again, you know, with with him and instant talent on the bridge. You know, how he believes it, you know, and you know, explains why you're on the bridge, you know, help us out do it, fix this and and you know it happens. He's really becomes such a strong character to me, yeah with a dera having kind of that confidence problem. Yeah oh yeah, oh yeah yeah yeah that was That was a good, uh character moment for for them. I love that it really pushed both those characters forward in the story, and I liked the I just wanted to also point out, you know,

14:54 I've had the visual effects in this episode were just stunning. They were just absolutely incredibly I've been all seasoned, but that that that overhead shot of the tower and then in the forest and then it swoops down for the live action. I thought that was incredible. I just just love that. Plus that that shot of Discovery it's it's not warping, but whatever it does to take off from the planet. I just I love that. That was my favorite parts of the episode. It is the shot. On top of that, the whistle speak was freaking awesome. Yes, yes you're listening to the whistle that is a language like that blew my mind. But on top of that, the scene where they saved the girl, the lady with the dust and they they're they're they're, they're, they're, you know, ringing the cups and with the dust was like bouncing. Oh my god, that was so incredible. Yeah, oh gosh. Yeah. Well even the even the first shot of the analysis of the water bile, I thought that was beautiful, vibrant, mysterious way to represent basically a glass of water. I mean, but the use of color there was what was really interesting, and there was there were a lot of great shots in this one. I think the use of color and composition was definitely on the a game. Yeah, let me let me call out the credits for this. This episode was written by Kenneth lenn and Brandon Schultz and it was directed by Chris Burned. They they definitely need to be mentioned. They need their credits because they just sure them did such a phenomenal job. Absolutely. And then another thing that I really

16:25 enjoyed too. You have Burnham and Tilly that are on this race to get into the summit, you know, to be in. We don't know what's gonna happen when you end the summit, which we find out a little bit later, but I like the twist of characters here because Burnham would think is gonna be the ones gonna win the race, but in fact it's Burnham who has decides, oh you know what, I just figured out where the that might be, so I'm gonna follow the moss, you know, and basically disqualifies herself, which makes Tilly be the one that has to perform in the race, which leads to Tilly and Rava played by the wonderful Junior Or who I thought was phenomenon in this episode. Yeah, gets their character development.

17:06 You know, you get Rava, who you know, comes back and gets Tilly, come on, I need some competition. Let's go, let's go, let's go, and then you get the reverse of that a little bit later, you know, where Rava spills her water. It's all over. She's done till he wins, but then till he comes back and puts half of her water in the bowl for Rava. Dude, those two characters were incredible in this episode. Yeah, yeah, for sure, you definitely got a lot more of Tilly and the not only the teacher role, but as the friend role, Like she's always been supportive of those around her, and it's great to see that shine in this one. I didn't think that use of the miscolored mutated moss. Very clever, very it was. Yes, yea, when you get a little bit of new technology with this one, with the retinal based trade quarder. Oh, I love that. I interesting.

17:53 Yeah, a natural advancement, you know, to the thirty second century technology. I was glad to see that because we don't get too much bad. Yeah, it's better than the weapons appearing in your hand. Yes, exactly, I mean it makes sense. I mean that that makes it seems like a natural progression for the tricorder. Yeah. Well, in the way that they had kind of the what Burnham was seeing was able to be patched into Adira on the bridge. Yeah, so they could both kind of like, okay, you're seeing this, it's on your left, move this isolate of your chip or whatever. It had to be. The fact that it only impacted one of their eyes, I thought it was very interesting. Yeah, cool, similar to the transporters. I'm not exactly how somebody you know how that kind of intuitive control of the trick carder tech really works, But I'm just gonna let it go and just relax and enjoy the show into it.

18:49 Yeah. I think one of the scenes that was there's so many good scenes in this episode, but the one scene when Burnham decides that she has to break the prime directive because she has to save Tilly's life, and you know, we find out that Roba's father is still in there and they're like, you can't, you can't do that because he's still in there. Just do it, Just do it. And then the whole dialogue of her trying to talk him into what's going on, who she is, and and he even asked the question, you know, are you a god? And Burna was like, I am not a god, but maybe I was sent by one. That whole then was so well done. Man, I'm using that phrase a lot in this episode, which is why I love this episode so much. But then you have all the stuff that's going on inside with Attilian Rava and Untili again being that teacher being that person who cares and wants to listen and learn what Rava has to say, and Rabah breaks down. You know, she was all brave this whole episode. She wanted to win that race. She wanted to make her mother who's passed away, proud, wanted to make her father proud, and now she's in this situation to find out that she has to sacrifice herself, you know, to bring the water, to bring the rain, and now she breaks down, I don't want to die, and you know Tilly has to calm her down, and the whole the whole song thing, you know, where she starts humming it and it just and then you can hear that through burnhams, you know, into the other room. And that's when her father's like, how can you how can we hear what they're hearing? And then she has to explain a little bit more. All of that was so good man. Yeah, yeah, especially

20:21 the explanation of kind of that spirituality and technology where they kind of intersect, right and saying like you know, like you said, maybe there's a greater power that sent me here, that sent the people who put the technology here, Like it's not something that questions your faith. It's something that's going to help your planet continue to survive without having to go through rituals like a sacrifice. I think there's there's some evolution there in things that can help to advance the entire planet. I mean, it feels like from here they're gonna learn how to make contain the one tower that keeps their one little microcosm continuing to survive, but maybe they were able to go back to the other towers that have failed and maybe take the planet back right. Maybe that thrive a little bit more, and maybe that's part of the point. Maybe that's a planet where they could maybe extend their footprint, or maybe they could welcome other species onto the planet and maybe expand a little bit more. So that it was very interesting. The whole sacrificial nature of the Thirst race was very cool.

21:34 How they had the different bowls kind of peppered throughout the woods. It felt like there was a very supportive nature to the entire race, not just between Tilly and Rava, but all of the racers. It didn't seem like anybody was like shoving somebody out of the way or getting insanely competitive about it. It was very supportive, very much like okay, we've got you, you know, go on to the next thing and then cheering people along when they get to the end. Is a fascinating way of, you know, making people have a respiratory problem and the race to symbolize what somebody had gone through in the past. That was very clever. It was so now we've given our opinions on the episode, let's take a look at the characters themselves.

22:15 Which character do you think shine the most this week? I kind of are given away a little bit, and I think it was Rava played by Juniapore. She played such an innocent role, you know, again wanting to make her mother proud and her father, but only then we learned she's scared and you know, doesn't want to die. You know, you see so much of her character coming back to get Tilly in that race, and you know, I just thought Junipoter played a phenomenal role in this episode. I thought she stole the show in my opinion, I really do, ye, Scott, what do you think? So I'm gonna pick Tilly again. I think Joy consistently throughout this series. She's one of my favorite characters. I think the to least critical nature to the mission, beyond what's involved in you know, exploring this technology and trying to figure out where the clue is and things like that, but her role of kind of queen of endurance, like she said, right, my body of motion stays in motion. It reminded me very much of the episode where she was hallucinating an old friend, but she was kind of infected by a bacteria or something like that that, Oh yeah, but her devotion to making sure that Raba got through without falling behind, and Dave, like you mentioned giving her some water so that Rava wouldn't have an empty bowl, and she knew how much that meant to her. Those kind of decisions, if they are breaking the prime directive and they're aware that there's aliens out there that took this very specific role. Right now, they

23:47 have three instances. They've got Burnham's choice, they've got Tilly's choices, and they've got the people who use the progenitor technology in the first place to help the planet cantinue to survive. I think all of those are things that maybe would make them a bit less prone to be xenophobic. Yeah, that's where they might go, but it seems that if they still have room to evolve in their own pace. So yeah, and go Tilly, Wayne, what about you? Well, after hearing David's reason, I actually agree with him. But I chose Tilly because she's this episode, she's finally able to get off the ship yep and play a major and important part in the story.

24:29 You know, I've had a love hate relationship with Mary Wiseman's portrayal of Tilly ever since her introduction back way back in the first episode first season, but lately she's been given so little to do that I'm just happy to see her have in so much in this episode. She really shined for me. Plus, you know, they're they're laying the hints, you know, with the storyline with the Academy that I really hope that this isn't the end of her character, that we don't you know, this isn't the last we see ever. I hope they continue her into the Starfleet Academy series. I think I think she could play an important part of that series, and I feel like they're laying the seeds for that. I agree, absolutely, And I think you're both You're both right. I mean, it was tough for me when it came down to who I was gonna choose, you know, Tilli Rava, it came down to both of them. They both deserve it, they do. They both did a phenomenal job in this episode, and with those two characters, they really drove this story. They really did. If you have the choice to be any character that appeared in this episode, which one would it be? And why Scott? I'll have you start this one with me, it would be uh, Doctor Culber because of the use of the memory of technology and going on that spiritual journey, it seems like it would be really interesting to experience those things from doctor Colber's perspective and just the general approach to things. It's it's very refreshing to see that character every week.

26:00 Dave, what about you? The same answer to me, it's Culbert because in this episode, you know, he's going through feeling like something is wrong, and we've all had that in our lives. Come on, we all have to admit it. We've had that feeling in us that you know, why am I here, what am I doing? You know, where am I going? You know those kind of things. And he, you know, he had the trill in him and you know, he felt something different that he's never felt before, and now that that's gone, he's almost trying to find that again. But at the same time, at the end of this episode, he finds that spiritual freedom, an awakening, you know, that gives him that a relief that he's never had. Can you imagine having that kind of spiritual relief in life, because if you got that, you would feel incredible. Nothing would be wrong and for him to seem like he's captured that that's something special, and you know, that's the character I would want to have been in this for sure, Wayne, what the best could add? One thing ahead? They just made me think of Culver's relationship with Paul Stamitz. How that factored into this episode was also just so heartwarming, because you know that Culver's having a hard time kind of like coming to grips with this and kind of like, I don't know, is he going to understand? Am I going to be able to go on this journey with him?

27:23 And also that kind of stuff and gets nothing but support. Yeah, that is amazing for something like this, and at at the time that it's happening, it just throw the strengths in their relationship, which I think is one of the best parts of this series. No, go ahead, I'm with both of you. I chose Culver too. You know, he's been apparently very affected by his time that he was host to the Trio Jane, and I agree with David. He's experiencing a sort of spiritual awakening, you know. I just I really like his interaction, the interaction between colburn statements and also that scene at the end with Booker. You know, Booker gave him some very Star trek y advice there, and it was a nice way of ending. What did he says? It's an odd quirk, this human tendency to consider something less meaningful if it's just for yourself. I love that.

28:22 It was very well written. Yeah, that is all right. Now comes my favorite part where we dive deep into the episode and see if we can pull out any Easter eggs. And there were only a couple in this episode. Again, this is the third episode that Doug Jones doesn't appear as credited for, but now we have an answer why. He revealed last week that his absence from the show is a result of him working on the film Hocus Pocus two, and while we won't see him in the next two upcoming episodes, he will be back for the finale. So I'm really glad to hear that. Yep. Absolutely the easter eggs I found, and the big one was about the rain Towers, and I hope I pronounced this right.

29:03 I'm terrible with this name. The rain towers were built by the Danubillions. That's a race that we are very familiar with in Star Trek especially Star Trek Enterprise. Doctor Flox was a danubillion And I have to give credit to the Art Department because the computer interface that Burnham finds that was disguised as a rock it matches perfectly design of the Danubian computers that were in the episode of the Enterprise called Cold Station twelve. I mean, that's doing your research. I love Wow, that's impressive. And then also another little thing that I noticed after on the list that Covich gives Burnham one of the names after they cross off the name that for this episode, doctor Creole believes only one name left Morena Derek's of Beta Zet which obviously that's named after Burness sertis. Oh yeah, famous Betazetta Mall. I mean, I know we're not gonna be visiting betas that. I don't think so in the next episode. But I hope wed you see it in episode eight because I like to see how it's doing in the thirty second century. All right, well, we've seen a sneak peak of the upcoming episode. But judging from the clip, what do we think is gonna happen next? So it looks like they have all in lock.

30:18 Yeah, so they're like one of interrogating at least one of them. It seems like because when I sawt like Booker wanted to get involved in it, but obviously they're not gonna let him. But yeah, that seems like what's happening in the next episode. I guess that's what the whole episode is going to be about. I'm assuming, isn't it. They didn't. They didn't show us much, did that? Just that little one minute clip look like we're back at Starfleet headquarters? Yeah? Yeah, and they have captioned just like what you said. I do know that the brain is back next episode, so it sounds like it could be an exciting one. But you know, judging from that here guests as good as mine. Yeah, we've only got four episodes left, so we get moving along. Yeah, they gotta start tying up the story quick because they got a lot of story points to yep. So do I have it right that the next episode is called Eraga. Yeah, so we're going to get more into that, you know, hopefully more o the breed culture. And yeah, it'll be very interesting to see. Well, looking forward to it. And that's it for this episode of Phasers. Set to Stun's look at Discovery Season five, episode six.

31:18 We'd like to open a channel to our listeners and hear just what you thought about the most recent episode and the season in general. Who knows you might even be mentioned in a future show. You can email us at a film by Podcast at gmail dot com, find us online at a film by podcast dot com, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and if you're looking for more exclusive content or swag, you can join our Patreon and find out what gyms are hidden within. Thank you Scott and David for joining me and the listeners on another fascinating episode. Right, Thanks everybody, Thanks everybody. Now there are only four more episodes left for this season and for the series itself. Next episode, we take a look at episode seven, titled Araga. We look forward to returning to the thirty second century again on next week's episode of Phasers, Set to stun