Thoughts on Star Trek Discovery

JStarStar said:

I mean, do current day members of the armed services or political worlds spend a lot of time talking or thinking about what was going on 130 years ago?

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Uh, how about 155 or so years ago? Ranting about a different kind of Federation, or rather Confederation.

Dunno if any of you guys have hung in there with "Discovery" this far, but the show just took a wild twist. Might be worth checking back in...

James

I cringe everytime they say "Spore-Drive".

I agree though, it is an interesting turn of events.

I dunno. I was hooked, somewhat until the new episode.. I'll continue to watch, but I fear it's turning into another 'Under the dome'

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1553656/reviews?ref_=tt_urv

that it's turning into an "ad vehicle", with lots of rehashing of old ideas. nothing really new or interesting..

I'm looking more forward to the show after ST: Electric Dreams..

Interestingly enough, this episode (and the last episode of the orville) was directed by Jonathan Frakes

I waited for the season to end to recommend to anyone who stopped watching, or did not watch due to the cost, to recommend you take another shot at it. With the season DONE now (as of last night), you could do the 7 day free trial and binge-watch, or try other options (I haven’t paid to see it, don’t even have Netflix). More about those options at the end of this post.

I’ll say that there were quite a number of plot twists in the show. It got a lot better. And at least SOME (not all) of the issues/problems with the show itself, direction it was going, “that’s not like Starfleet”, were addressed. Some of those issues were, in retrospect, done as part of the long term plot line. Others, were apparently changes made to the show along the way, to address some issues. Hard to tell where some of those were part of the long term original plot line and where some were changes made along the way.

I’m not being specific since I don’t want to spoil things for those who didn’t see it but may try it. I suspect spoilers WILL follow in messages after this one so be warned of that.

I will say that things started to change a lot by episode five (“Choose your pain&#8221, with the appearance of Harry Mudd, played by Rainn Wilson (from “The Office&#8221. Wilson did hell of a job. This Mudd…. not quite the same as in TOS (Oh, that “scamp&#8221, but I liked this portrayal. Actually the episode’s main plot was not about Harry Mudd (who was stuck in a similar situation as some others), just that the 5th episode (after some of your may have dropped out) is around when things started to get into another gear.



Episode 9 was the pivotal episode of the season, leading to episode 10 (there was a mini-season break over the holidays).

The season finale last night….. I really liked it. Don’t want to spoil any of it. Looking forward to the next season. Heck, I’ll say I even started RE-watching the last few episodes the same day before a new one would appear, so much stuff was going on.

I will mention that the finale included an actor who was in one episode in TOS (not a Starfleet character), who made a cameo appearance. Playing a character totally different from the one he played in TOS. Really nice.

Also a damned nice cut to the credits…..

Back to the Free options. Sign up on CBS.com for a “free 7 day trial”. Well, you can sign up for the $5.99 a month plan (that one has commercials) where the first 7 days is free if you cancel it before 7 days are over. So, one could binge-watch all 15 episodes, then cancel. BTW - the episodes are around 45 minutes or less, actual time varies a lot.

https://www.cbs.com/all-access/user/signup/

Or, one can search the internet to find options to stream the Star Trek Discovery episodes another way.

It’s not like CBS was able to put those in a locker.

Well, season 2 started last week. Every Thursday night (at 8 PM Eastern, I think). I've seen the first two episodes, and it's definitely better.

There is a new captain who is temporarily in charge, his name is (mini-spoiler) Christopher Pike. Yes, remember this show is about 10 years before the beginning of The Original Series (TOS). Pike sure the h*** ain't captain Lorca, and that's a good thing.

Heck, when Pike came aboard there was a redshirt with him.... guess what happens?

In the first new episode, that sets the general direction of where this season is going. But there's room in this one for more stand-alone episodes that may move the plot forward a bit but not war-War-WAR grinding like season one. The second episode...... the primary plotline involving a newly found planet broadcasting a distress signal coulda been in TOS, or TNG. Prime stuff, Well, Prime Directive stuff.

A couple of points
Warning contains spoilers
Pike seems quite good and I I’m not sure if anyone will remember this point but I’m Star Trek Deap Space 9 Captain Sisko receives the Christopher pike medal for bravery and valour so I like how he is introduced to us here.
Also the fact that the new series is actually involving some of the bridge crew into the plot properly is good instead of them being blank faces and killing a red shirt was a nice touch.
However because this new series *spoiler* is involving Spock then they are cutting close to involving continuty problems as we even taking into account for Vulcan life span etc this series is chronology wise becoming very close to the start of the original series so they have to present a easy torid of discovery and every one on it (maybe involve them all in section 31?) as the way this 2nd series is set out you cannot now say that in the original series was a long time after so nobody will have heard of discovery.
Also in the second episode when Bernam was saying all this is illegal and violates the prime directive why did pike not just invoke standing order 34 as these red bursts were considered in episode one as a threat to the federation as they don’t know what they Were.

I liked season one enough to get the DVD. Great special effects, but I guess that's to be expected given current technology.
But the show's writers really should have done their homework, too many contradictions in the timeline:
1. Most problematic is the spore drive. Why is it in this prequel and not mentioned in any of the later series/movies?
The writers keep painting themselves into a corner. I'm hoping they don't wind up with an explanation like "it was
too dangerous so the technology was banned, like time travel" or "all the mycelium in the universe was destroyed
in an incident".
2. Klingon features: In TOS they appear to be swarthy humans. When they suddenly sprouted forehead ridges in TNG and the movies that
was explained by an explosion on the moon of their homeworld, irradiating the populace and mutating the DNA. Then, how would their
reptilian appearance be explained in this PREQUEL?
3. Cloaking technology: How, early in season one, can a Klingon ship be cloaked when the Federation first encountered the technology in the Romulan attack on a Federation outpost near the neutral zone in TOS, presumably ten years later at least.
4. Holo technology: Early in season two,we see a holographic emulation of Burnham's home on Vulcan in her living quarters on Discovery. When Sarek walks in they disappear. No such technology in TOS, first appearance was the holo deck in TNG, decades later.
.Or maybe they won't even bother to explain the contradictions at all. The Trek nerds must be having a field day ripping them apart on their forums. Myself, I just like loud noises and explosions.

kuririn said:

too many contradictions in the timeline:

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The older I get, the less importance I place on whether or not fictional universes created for (and then dragged out by) TV production companies maintain ironclad continuity. After all, not every show can be Babylon 5, and could even that one have survived intact 50 years later (and 20 after its creator and showrunner died?)

Although I dont agree with all the show direction choices, it's still relatively entertaining and has room to make its sociopolitical commentary when needed.

But what do I know? I actually liked Lorca's "necessary evil" type character before they turned him into a mirror-guy.

Not sure. This season seems better.

cwbullet said:

Not sure. This season seems better.

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I've read that Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker) will direct the Season 2 episodes. Guess it takes a Trek alumnus to properly direct a Trek series. Judging by the first two episodes it looks like it's going in a better direction.

I thought the first season was great. 2nd season is shaping up to be just as good/better then season 1.

As to the incongruity with the rest of the Trek universe, I think they might go the J.J Abrams route of a fractured timeline.

Proconquer said:

Also the fact that the new series is actually involving some of the bridge crew into the plot properly is good instead of them being blank faces and killing a red shirt was a nice touch.

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Yeah, the crew became more like a real crew in the last 3 episodes or so last season. Now, more personal interaction with some of them.

Spoiler - As far as the redshirt, well, they set up JUST what longtime fans would expect to happen, the cliche. And then BAM! - the redshirt LIVED!

A spoiler future prediction:
Revelation of someone's past will probably have run amok at some point. Just sayin'.

kuririn said:

The Trek nerds must be having a field day ripping them apart on their forums.

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Pretty much. Here https://up-ship.com/blog/?p=39872 is one of the milder ones.

So far, Season 2 is a disappointment. The whole premise of the season seems to indicate a very low opinion of the fans. The writing in S2_E2 was especially lazy, obvious, and hackneyed.

Spoiler (sort of). I am waiting for Count Iblis to show up, or for Michael Burnham to be transported on some critical mission by the seraphim and arrive to find her uniform has been bleached angelic white. Also, THIS laziness going on with at least two characters/story threads.

Spoiler alerts!
Part of the fun of threads like these is speculating on where the plot will go. So at the risk of being COMPLETELY WRONG, here are some guesses:
Could it be that what Burnham saw on the asteroid (the red angel) is a "non corporeal being" (a Prophet, from DS9). And since they live in wormholes, could the 7 massive red emissions have been wormholes opening and closing? And when Discovery arrived at the only one that didn't disappear they found a colony of pre-warp humans. Maybe a plan by the Prophets to save them from imminent radiation poisoning? AND what other entity in the ST universe could have transported that church thousands of light years away instantaneously (other than the Caretaker). AND since Sisko had visions from the Prophets after seeing one of the Orbs, could Spock be going through the same thing?
AND this is probably completely off, but it all seems to fit. Cheers.

The episode that is posted Thursday night will visit Saru's home planet.

This "Short Trek" from last fall, sheds light on how Saru came into contact with the Federation, and leaving his planet without saying goodbye to anyone. Useful to watch this before seeing the new episode.

georgegassaway said:

The episode that is posted Thursday night will visit Saru's home planet.

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Closest thing to that is the UN





The thing is that the whole series goes backwards from the oringal star trek generations to this one now .... well not exactly....
GEN , then Picard , Then Deep Space , then Voyager , then Enterprise , then well idk where we are in the series of alternate universes

someone make a Enterprise for me plz

Saw episode 12 last night. Never mind some plot issues of recent episodes...gotta say this:

Captain Pike is awesome. Starfleet's best (at that time anyway). The anti-Lorca.

And a few episodes back (#6, the Sound of Thunder), Saru is awesome too. I'd bet on Saru becoming Discovery's full-time captain next season (Pike needs to go back to the Enterprise eventually, and actor Anson Mount who plays him is not slated to be on season 3).

The rumor is that the finale will 'reset' the timeline. I can see that to mean BurhamMom won't die - Michael won't be adopted by Sarek - her career will change - the "Klingon War" won't start. I don't see how it can affect the unnecessary redesigns of all the alien races (I personally thought the DS9 Andorians were perfect.)

PhlAsh said:

The rumor is that the finale will 'reset' the timeline...

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Pike wakes from a 'shroom trip and realizes the spore drive and other changes were all in his head. He is still in the chair with the beeper and light. He goes back to trying to learn Morse code.... /spoiler alert

PhlAsh said:

The rumor is that the finale will 'reset' the timeline. I can see that to mean BurhamMom won't die - Michael won't be adopted by Sarek - her career will change - the "Klingon War" won't start. I don't see how it can affect the unnecessary redesigns of all the alien races (I personally thought the DS9 Andorians were perfect.)

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Uh, for one, I HATE SPOILERS. Even if "rumors", since sometimes they are true. In 1980, a friend thought they would impress a group of us with his "insider knowledge", weeks before "Empire Strikes Back" came out, by telling us who Luke's father was. No, we were ALL PO'ed at him for doing that.

But I find this hard to believe. If Michael Burnham's life did not go just as shown up to this point, especially being orphaned and being adopted to live on Vulcan, then due to "Butterfly Effect", even if she joined Starfleet, highly unlikely she'd ever have been aboard USS Shenzou with Captain Georgiou. And even if the writers tried to do THAT, then everything since the first few minutes minutes of the pilot episode would never have existed since it was her training on Vulcan, and use of Vulcan logic (even if human, it was how she was raised), that led her to mutiny aboard the Shenzou and begin the war with the Klingons as a show of force as the Vulcans did ("Vulcan Salute"). So therefore pretty much EVERYTHING we've seen in two full seasons would be pissed away as "never happened".

Fan reaction would doom this show, if they did that.

DO NOTE that there was a huge spoiler in last night's episode (#12), that I purposely did NOT refer to. Except for how awesome Captain Pike is (already felt so, but last night made it worth noting). Don't even guess at the scene, if you saw the episode you should know exactly what scene (actually, end of a sequence of scenes). Since nobody should assume everyone who reads this has seen the episode (especially since it's a streamed show once a week, and some binge-watch at season's end).

I expect however this season ends, it will resolve issues of THIS second season - mostly Red Angel, and Control's attempt to end all sentient life. Not to be a 100% "Reset Button" for the whole freaking show.

Realize, if ONLY Burnham's career path was affected since she had been orphaned, and the show went back to the beginning of season one, then Evil Captain Lorca would still be in charge of Discovery, and who the _____ wants to relive HIM as a captain again, even without a Klingon War? Not me!

After all, this show is named Star Trek Discovery, not Star Trek Shenzou. So a reset back to the pilot episode, even without a Klingon War, would still have a lot of problems left to do over again, with Lorca still plotting his way to use Discovery to get back to the Mirror universe.

Just finished watching seasons 1 and 2. One question: Why do they keep saying Burnham "started" the war with the Klingons? In the pilot, she wanted to attack but was prevented from doing so. T'Kuvma crossed into Federation space and destroyed the relay to lure Discovery to the binary stars to initiate a war. The Klingons "started" the war, not Burnham.

I am not sure I like the new series. I am keeping an open mind, but the whole space fungus warp speed is a step too far.

Downloaded the torrent for Season two and binge watched over the past few evenings. Watched the season finale last night. No spoilers, but that seems to end this arc.
The writers tried to tie up the many inconsistencies referred to in this thread. Not very convincingly, IMO.
If you view this series as pure entertainment, the special effects make it an "A".
If you are a Trek nerd and are trying to make sense of the writing and plot...…...FUHGEDABOUDID.
I cringed when Pike mentioned squadrons. You have to see it to know what I mean.
Wonder if there will be a Season 3.
Laters.
EDIT: I checked and apparently a third season has been given a green light.
They are talking about a spinoff "Section 31" series with Michelle Yeoh.
Also a "Captain Pike" series with Anson Mount (Pike) and Ethan Peck (Spock).
BTW has anyone noticed that Peck's voice sounds A LOT like Leonard Nimoy's?
Cheers.

Can we talk update of ST Discovery here? We have four seasons done now.

My thoughts:

I like it for the most part. Looking forward for season 5 (hopefully - have not heard)

All calamities are now universal - The Burn, The Red Angel, DMA... Gone are the days of this one planet is in jeopardy and we need to divert the comet...

Jet Reno (Tig) - 'nuff said - she's just plain cool

Privacy bubble? How do you tell em to turn off the bubble? Better have that "crossing the throat gesture" pre-planned?

kuririn, your predictions were not quite that accurate (ie Red Angel), but good guesses!

Quiz: How many captains has this series had? Can you name them? How many captains has the ships had in all the other franchises? (ok, beyond 1 or 2 episodes)

Grudge is becoming my favorite pet in Star Trek!



I'd haveta say the series had some of the best Mirror universe episodes. Some surprising (w guard tribble - against Klingons) :



A human Trill host

I have really enjoyed "The Ready Room" shows w Will Wheaton. Yes, he's geeky, but my kind of geek!

Now-a-days it's all about the cell phone and it's apps. In the future, it's all about the ComBadge:

"Let's fly"?

"Hit It!"