6 Ups & 3 Downs From Star Trek: Discovery 5.10 — Life, Itself

Burnham's first falling out and down/up with gravity in Life, Itself was to a world —Galorndon Core, we think — that had echoes of nods to that (in)famous set on Stage 16 at Paramount Studios, used from the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Its nickname, 'Planet Hell,' is never more earnt, however, than when it is on fire.

It was this second use of the infernal-type locale, dramatic as it was, that took us out of the action a little. Moll and Burnham, in their fisticuffs, find themselves on 'fire world,' but then, contrary to their exit from Sha Ka Ree, they are back in the lobby in the next scene without an explanation as to how they got there! I know that's picky, but it threw me off, like anyone with so much as a loose shoelace on that walkway! All that suit/transporter gadgetry, and we couldn't get a grappling hook or some Spock boots?

We did get to speculating too. Candidates for fiery Planets Hell could include Melnos IV/Bersallis III from Lessons, or, at a push, maybe even Excalbia or the actual 'Planet Hell' from Parturition, if someone lit a plasma torch in those Trigemic vapours? Our favourite, as it were, was by far the unstable Benev Selec, aka Drema IV, aka Sarjenka's planet from Pen Pals.