I am obviously a little bit behind at this point, but this story continues to unfold in an extraordinary fashion.
The visuals are a feast, for sure. This is just a stunner, there are no words to capture how gorgeous a piece of work this is.
But this is also a wonderfully written piece, with a terrific hard sci-fi story that has kept me hooked.
The only tiny criticism I have is that, after the discovery of the hyperdrive, which is a sequence that is treated with the appropriate amount of awe and reverence, the jump to the next scene, the flash forward, does feel just a bit jarring. It might have been better for you to conclude the chapter with the hyperdrive, as it feels like a natural "break" in the action.
I know you have a big story to tell and are eager to move it forward. But because the new section doesn't contain any leftover characters and that entire plot threads are dropped, like the Ja-Odar, it feels like it might have been a good place to "fade to black" and then come back a little later.
The hyperdrive scene is great, as is the parallel action with the Ja-Odar battle up top. But both end so suddenly that it feels a bit abrupt. The scenes themselves are both terrific. As I said, the exploration of the ship is an incredibly cool, awe-inspiring moment. But then suddenly, it's - BAM - two years later. Happens so fast, it makes our heads spin a little....
I dunno, I guess I was expecting a little bit more to happen before such a big time jump.
Anyway, all that aside, those new scenes are very cool indeed. I think I compared this to PROMETHEUS in the previous thread. Amazing how it is SO MUCH BETTER executed than that disaster of a film, even when dealing with a vaguely similar concept (a star map left by ancients.)
I am very eager to see what happens next. THough, I must admit, the new direction is surprising to me. In retrospect, the first chapter and first half of this chapter were kind of a "prologue" scene and now it feels like the "real" story is just beginning to unfold. Maybe just naming it such and structuring it in that way might have alleivated my minor criticisms. I am, however, very eager to see where this incredibly cool story goes from here.
Now, of course, the meaning of the title has been laid bare!! Onward to Higara!!!
