1. If the episode is to be taken as canon, a whole number of things get skewed.
a.) Uh, so I guess
this iteration of the Enterprise is just out of the canon? I mean, we see that apparently, there was no refit or anything between the captaincies of Pike and Kirk that would even allow her into Prime Timeline canon? So, that right there invalidates the entire body of work of Matt Jeffries and the team responsible for building and filming the shots of the Enterprise for the original series, because now it doesn't fit in with what this episode shows.
(
Please don't say, "but it's not the sixties anymore, you hafta UPDAAAAATE", because no. Canon matters, canon matters, CANON MATTERS. Unexplained design changes are for video games and places where canon doesn't matter. Canon matters in Star Trek.) I should be grateful that they didn't go and "update" the Constitution Refit, too, but something tells me that won't last long.
At least the Kelvin Timeline has an in-universe reason for updating and changing the design the Enterprise. There's no point in changing the design here, at least in canon. None! And if there
was some legal reason why the original Enterprise can't be used in the Kurtzman shows, then
don't use her! But, I won't open that can of worms, because that's another argument and another destroyed keyboard for another day.
b.) Alright, now I'm gonna talk about the Enterprise-"A" we see in the short. As in, the fact that the animators for this short somehow didn't realize that NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-A were two entirely different ships. We see, in the episode, that the Enterprise which battles Khan and the Reliant in Trek II, and which was destroyed in orbit of the Genesis Planet in Trek III is, apparently, the Enterprise NCC-1701-A, evidence
here. This is obviously a mistake, as we of true faith to real canon remember that the vessel which participated in these was the
original-yet-refitted Enterprise NCC-1701. Of course, they were the same class, and very similar, but they were not the same! If this wasn't somehow just a huge accident on the animators' part (which I might be able to understand) and they somehow believe that the refit NCC-1701 was actual the NCC-1701-A, then that throws the canon of movies I to VI out the window entirely.
It also shouldn't make sense in the universe. If there was somehow a complete change of ship between the TOS-era Enterprise and the refit Enterprise, then that would mean that the Tardigrade eggs wouldn't be there. And even if it were the same ship, and they just painted a big "A" to the end of the registry after the refit was done, there was still a
TOTAL REFIT! That engineering section with the eggs would have been entirely ripped out, and the eggs would still be gone!
Didn't Decker mention during the first act of the Motion Picture that the refit Enterprise was "almost a totally new Enterprise" than the one Kirk knew? So not only is the greater canon of the series thrown into question, but the writers couldn't even maintain continuity within the
damn episode itself! Eugh!
Also,
just look at this fail. Look at the placement of the ship's registry on the saucer. Look at it That's inexcusable. I'm not an animator or modeler myself, but that shouldn't invalidate what I say here, because I can still recognize when something is animated poorly or incorrectly.
Say it with me now.c.) A whole host of other tech and physics issues. First up, deflector dishes just don't work anymore? I mean, we see the Enterprise's hull make contact with an asteroid which should have been deflected by the field. That impact would probably have torn that spot of the ship open, but okay, I guess, whatever.
Oh, also, how does the Tardigrade keep making contact with the Enterprise when she seems to be moving at warp? Shouldn't the Tardigrade have been immediately sheared into atoms from the gravity differential from the space without the warp bubble to the space within it? Whatever, I guess Tardigrades are just invincible and the laws of life don't matter anymore, because
SC13NCE C00L!!1!!one!!11!!!eleven!!!1.
Oh, yeah, and the fixing drone bots that got introduced sometime in Discovery Season Two are here. Because I guess
these guys and the whole debate around them are just non-existent. I mean, we see that the Discovery fixer drone in this episode has some sort of emotions and the ability to express them.
This is mostly a complaint against the writers here just not giving a damn about the rules of the Star Trek universe and not doing their research. I mean, expecting to be able to write good content based off of an established universe and
not doing your homework about that universe is pretty disrespectful, not just to the original creators of that universe, but to the fanbase around it as well.
d.) "But Los Ricos, this is meant to be a silly and fun adventure cartoon! Don't take it as necessarily canon!" Well, Kurtzman and co. have been nothing if not hellbent at convincing people that his dystopian and incompatible version of Star Trek takes place in Prime Timeline Canon, alongside the Original Series, the Next Generation, and more. So, I'm going all in. Everything Kurtzman and co. produce now must be one-hundred-percent canon in my eyes, and takes precedence over everything else Trek. Even if it blatantly violates the last fifty years of carefully constructed universe-building and writing. Because why not? Whatever, right? Screw canon! It's all just shooty-shooty evil AI adventure hour!
2. Tone and theme. We've gotta talk about tone and theme.
a.) I'm gonna mention this here, because I can't find another appropriate place to write it down, but in the beginning of the episode,
we see the scene of Khan speaking to Kirk and McCoy in the Enterprise's sickbay, re-animated from Khan's debut episode "Space Seed". I get it, the writers and animators wanted to attempt to give bearings to when this takes place. And also, the nostalgia points among older Trek fans. But what I'm seeing here is blatant disrespect. As we know, the wonderful
DeForest Kelley, Bones' actor, and the legendary
Ricardo Montalbán, Khan's actor, have both passed away, both long before Kurtzman Trek became the new normal for Trek on TV. So, what's wrong?
Ignoring the fact that windows never appeared in sickbay, the next obvious thing is, well,
they're animating both Kelley and Montalbán. Need I remind you these two beautiful people have
passed away? Yeesh, me saying that they're re-animating these two almost sounds like necromancy. So why do it? Why animate these people again? That's, as far as I understand it, over-the-top disrespectful.
b.) Okay, I can, in theory, understand how this Short Trek was meant as a fun little cartoon. In doing so, however, they wreck a bunch of notable TOS episodes and the themes of morality that they provide, in order to show a fun, silly, quirky sort-of kid's cartoon.
Remember "The Savage Curtain"? Well, apparently it
ends with the Enterprise getting Lincoln mad and flying away. Themes of the similarities of good and evil as concepts? Nope. Ideas of the antiquity of good and evil? Gone.
Remember "The Tholian Web"? Well, the Defiant plays no part in it, and it seems
the Enterprise just wanders into the Tholians' web and flies away just as easily. Themes of the chain of command and the merits of logic and emotion? Nope. Portrayals of what a Captain must do in the line of duty to protect as many lives as possible? Gone.
This goes against other Kurtzman Trek canon. If the Defiant wasn't present at the interspace rift in The Tholian Web, then
how do we see it in the Mirror Universe later in Discovery? I would assume that the whole Defiant arc with Star Trek Enterprise would be invalidated.
Remember the Motion Picture? Well, tough, it's just not present.
Remember the Wrath of Khan? Well, it's just
summarized as a few seconds of battle between the Reliant and the Enterprise (again, notice the incorrect NCC-1701-A registry behind the Enterprise bridge). Thrilling conflict with slow pacing between quick, sharp battles? Nope. Intellectual cat-and-mouse chases and chess allegories? Gone.
Many of these scenes are just quick nostalgic references thrown in to attempt to satiate the audience. "Oh no, the alien bug is getting close to her eggs! Quick! Violate canon!"
And perhaps most egregious of all, remember the Search for Spock? Well, it's there.
It's definitely there. "Hey, older Trek fans! Remember watching your beloved ship die in the theater? Haha, well, it's funny child cartoon now! Cry in a corner and suffer!"
3. "Oh, but Los Ricos, Ephraim and Dot is a cartoon! It doesn't need to follow the strict rules of canon! It's allowed to be funny, isn't it?" Well, that's what a few would say. To those I would like to introduce them to, oh what's it called?
Oh yeah,
THE ANIMATED SERIES!
Remember that? That was a cartoon. However, it didn't need to egregiously and blatantly destroy the ideas that the Original Series portrayed. It didn't use its medium as an excuse to ignore the morality of Star Trek and portraying all these high-minded science-fiction concepts as funny children's cartoons. It used its medium as a way to enhance the Trek-verse that existed at the time. Adding more complex aliens like Arex and M'ress, being able to portray micro-gravity and zero-gravity more fluidly. They weren't without their humor, but they weren't so painfully overdone like Ephraim and Dot was.