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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 15, 2018 13:57:38 GMT -5
There's always The Orville, probably couldn't have picked a better time to have that airing with STD dying from abject shitiness. I have watched The Orville and it's... fine. No better, no worse, and for the most part it just feels like episodes of TNG or Voyager with a few sometimes-funny, sometimes-not jokes thrown in. That's OK, because I like TNG and Voyager, but it's at best comfort-food telly, and has yet to demonstrate that it can be more, but I have mostly enjoyed it. And I'm at least looking forward to its return, albeit very mildly. It's obviously aesthetically a much closer match for the post- TOS shows than Discovery is - welding the Abramsverse aesthetic to a television show rather than a movie is one of only two genuinely original ideas Discovery has been able to deliver on (the other is having a specific POV character and for that character not to be the captain - most Trek is much more third-person in its narrative stance). |
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Jan 15, 2018 14:20:59 GMT -5
Well, I'm still enjoying DSC. It's not strange that the show has leaned a little into the camp potential of the Mirror Universe but it is strange its Mirror Universe has more camp than its Harry Mudd. It's not really an original idea - and I still think mirror universes are best done in second seasons, but at least Discovery kept it to the back half of the show, so we know the characters and the setting just well enough for to play with expectations; that mirror universe Voq leads a rebellion including Andorians and Tellarites ties back to our universe's Voq despising the humans for aligning themselves with those species, that kind of thing. Yeah, same, this exactly. Even Enterprise I was more invested in. Sad, really - for me I guess that means the Abramsverse is keeping things going for now... And that's not a sentence I thought I'd be writing... Given at last report the next Star Trek film is an R-rated feature directed by Quentin Tarantino, even if it features the return of the Kelvin universe cast (which has not been confirmed) it's likely to feel quite a bit different from the previous films. As for the Orville versus Discovery, I do really enjoy the Orville for what it is, which is a very strange thing in a number of ways (mostly Seth MacFarlane recreating the style of the Next Generation for a series that seems to simultaneously be working through his Issues about Relationships) but Discovery is the one that swings for the fences and is trying to be a contemporary TV show rather than a nostalgic retread. There are a lot of things I would have done differently, and, in particular, I don't think being a prequel has done the show any favours (it's possible the benefits to being a prequel were lost in the creator shuffle) but at least it's a new ship and a new crew and a shot at relevance. |
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Post by Hippo on Jan 15, 2018 14:50:28 GMT -5
The Orville is fine and wouldn’t rate it too highly but it’s still a lot more Trek than the series that is supposed to be Trek. Given a stronger official series, Orville’s flaws would be way more stark.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 15, 2018 15:42:35 GMT -5
Douay-Rheims-Challoner See, my problem with Discovery is exactly that I don't think it's swinging for the fences. At all. Even slightly. Other than the POV and aesthetics thing I mentioned earlier, absolutely everything about Discovery has been done before. Crazy-ass, probably PTSD, captain who can't see the woods for the trees and wants to do unsavoury thing in the name of the Federation even while breaking the Federation's own rules? You could take Section 31, Admiral Doherty, Pressman, Commodore Decker... there's a list as long as your arm. Seemingly intractable war that must be won at all costs? A good four seasons of DS9. Redesigned Klingons? The Slow Motion Picture. Travel technology based on biology rather than technology? The Voyager episode "Equinox" (and you can square Ransome in there with the crazy-ass captains as well). The Mirror Universe? Every fucking Star Trek except Voyager. Et cetera. Discovery is a very well cast show for sure (Sarek aside), and the production values are beyond excellent, but the good cast and production values just help to obfuscate how we've seen absolutely all of this before. We've only had eleven episodes and two of them are given over to Harry Mudd! There's nothing remotely more original about Discovery than there is about The Orville, it's just that The Orville looks like it was made in about 1995 and Discovery looks like it was made in 2017. And, to be clear, there's not an original bone in The Orville's body either, but i think it's a false dichotomy to say it must be one or the other (not that I'm accusing you of that, DRC, it's just something I've seen a lot of on line) and the simple fact is that neither The Orville nor Discovery come close to doing anything new. Would Discovery be better as a sequel not a prequel? Sure, and it would explain away the many, many continuity fuck-ups (if that's something one cares about), but it wouldn't fix the fundamental lack of originality. Basically, I feel it easier to be disappointed by Discovery, because it's actual Star Trek, which frankly should just be better, whereas The Orville is mostly just dicking around pretending to be Star Trek, and thus expectations are different. Sadly.
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Jan 15, 2018 16:42:51 GMT -5
Prole Hole That the Orville isn’t Star Trek is definitely why it’s got relatively much less fan backlash - if a Star Trek fan dislikes the Orville or isn’t interested in most cases they’d just not watch it and probably not even think about it, whereas Discovery at least merits the last reaction from those who dislike it and are Star Trek fans. As for Discovery it’s not the science fiction ideas that are original; it’s that it’s, for example, not about the commanding officer. This is something that goes against Star Trek convention but also the conventions of contemporary TV dramas, like how the main character on the Expanse IS a ship captain, and it’s been understandably a little tricky for Discovery to figure out how to be a Trek type show with that shift. It also tried to take a page from Game of Thrones with the commitment to developing Klingon politics and their houses (complete with using their language regularly on a Trek show, typical of a couple post-Thrones SF shows - Defiance, Star-crosses - but a first for Trek) but a mixture of lack of time devoted to developing basically any of this, the removal of one of the principal players to set up a reveal that was far too long in the offing and finally the extensive prosthetic makeup basically limiting the range of Klingon performances stymied it a fair bit. It’s not the same as what TNG did as it never attempted as much development, dealing with three and at most and very rarely four Klingon factions, but Discovery fell short of what TNG actually achieved by having just so many various houses in play (quick who remembers the House of D’Ghor and their relationship with the House of Kor.) But when the show steps leftward from those issues a moment, like in “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad,” well, that really worked as a whole thing, it felt like a very Star Trek kind of story while also fitting the show’s tone. (I’m on the record considering “I, Mudd” an all time favourite so I do not object as much to having him on the show.)
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 15, 2018 17:26:18 GMT -5
Douay-Rheims-Challoner - that's all fair enough, and I did mention that the show's differing POV of it's main character is one of its two successes so it definitely deserves praise for that, no doubt about it. I don't think it's enough (not nearly enough) to justify claiming this as a new type of Star Trek show, but it's a good thing to have done, and Burnham herself would be a great person to follow, if not stuck in this particular show. I think part of my own frustration is that there's so many hints of what could be a far better show that to be dragging over all this stuff just feels like such squandered potential. This is purely personal, but I don't give a rats ass about Klingons, Klingon politics, Klingon houses, Klingon society or anything remotely Klingon, so that's never a part of the show that's going to work for me, and I fully acknowledge that this is my issue, not the show's (though they still just seem like the same old boring-ass Klingons to me, just with a new lick of paint). I'd also say "taking a page from Game Of Thrones" is about the worst page you could take from, but again that's a personal thing, because I can't stand GoT. Though not that I mentioned them in my list but Klingons again feel like the single most obvious path the show could have taken, even if they are a "sect" or "faction" or whatever. We have a whole universe to explore or do something interesting with, yet here we go again with the Klingons (even the Romulans would have been a better go-to - at least then we'd be exploring a culture we've hardly even glanced at). As for Mudd - my objection isn't exactly having him on the show, it's having him in two episodes out of eleven when you're apparently trying to do something that's "different". I like Mudd just fine on TOS, but his inclusion here felt like the worst kind of fan-baiting service - a disservice to the original since this version only seems tangengtially like the original, and meaningless to new fans because he could be literally anyone. And to have him twice... And I should also say I'm not trying to start a fight here - I'm glad you're enjoying the show. I just wish I was, but the well (very well) trodden ideas just aren't having enough done with them to prop up a series than could, and should, be reaching for so very much more.
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Post by Jean-Luc Lemur on Jan 16, 2018 15:26:28 GMT -5
Douay-Rheims-Challoner I kind of feel I agree with Prole Hole from what little I’ve seen/heard that the show, but I wouldn’t put it so much in Trek clichés—we’ve definitely seen a lot before—but more genre clichés. I really do think the fact that science fiction has largely been blended into fantasy and comic books into a big “genre” mass is one of the reasons why the show doesn’t really appeal to me—the storytelling technique is full of things that might be unheard of for Trek TV but are by now as hoary as they come for fantasy/superhero stuff (I think this problem extends beyond Trek too, FWIW).
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Post by Lt. Broccoli on Jan 17, 2018 13:54:15 GMT -5
You know what, this Mirror Universe arc is actually pretty fucking cool. The MU is so dumb and it's probably not a great idea to do this so early on, but I actually appreciate all the continuity with the Enterprise MU episode. I didn't even like Enterprise! But I love how it's explicitly canonical now!
I am having...uh...feelings for Captain Killy.
I was also kind of hoping the emperor would be an ancient Hoshi Sato.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 17:10:28 GMT -5
The Mirror Universe episodes in DS9 were my least favorite episodes of DS9. So discovery doing MU episodes...... still a hard pass, or maybe not. Everything about Discovery turns me off, but at the same time im morbidly curious about train wrecks.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 17:33:10 GMT -5
I've honestly really been enjoying the show a lot. I was pleasantly surprised that my long-simmering suspicions about Lorca were proved right.
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Jan 23, 2018 19:57:37 GMT -5
The Mirror Universe episodes in DS9 were my least favorite episodes of DS9. So discovery doing MU episodes...... still a hard pass, or maybe not. Everything about Discovery turns me off, but at the same time im morbidly curious about train wrecks. The first one wasn't bad. I think it was the first one. But they certainly went to that well too many times. If moving between universes is so easy why doesn't it happen all of the time? Wait, I guess it does. |
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Post by Sanziana on Jan 24, 2018 3:55:40 GMT -5
I've honestly really been enjoying the show a lot. I was pleasantly surprised that my long-simmering suspicions about Lorca were proved right. Nothing beats Jason Isaacs turning out to be the baddie. I mean, the man plays villains with such grace and charm it's like, impossible not to enjoy it. |
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Post by Sanziana on Jan 24, 2018 4:08:18 GMT -5
I'm not a hardcore Trekkie so I don't care at all about the inconsistencies with the past shows, but I do understand people having strong feelings about it. I just really like the show for what it is. I mean Sonequa Martin is a great lead, and anything that puts Michelle Yeoh on my screen is amazing in my book. It could be better, but I'm being optimistic, it's been improving as of late. And to be fair, first and second seasons of Trek shows have been quite awful in the past too.
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Jan 24, 2018 6:21:02 GMT -5
The Mirror Universe episodes in DS9 were my least favorite episodes of DS9. So discovery doing MU episodes...... still a hard pass, or maybe not. Everything about Discovery turns me off, but at the same time im morbidly curious about train wrecks. The first one wasn't bad. I think it was the first one. But they certainly went to that well too many times. If moving between universes is so easy why doesn't it happen all of the time? Wait, I guess it does. The first one was the best of Deep Space Nine's Mirror Universe stories, and also one that addresses your question: After the incursion in "Mirror, Mirror" transporters were altered to prevent it from ever happening again (and special adaptors are mostly used for later incursions, so they're all on purpose.) |
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Post by Desert Dweller on Jan 25, 2018 0:06:36 GMT -5
Nothing about the Mirror Universe holds the slightest interest for me. Nothing there matters. The characters are all caricatures. Motivations are shallow. Everyone can die, it doesn't matter. We know where the Mirror Universe ends up.
Not to mention that Discovery really didn't ever establish its main cast to the point where visiting Mirror versions would be any fun. The show now doesn't interest me because nothing that is happening matters. What is the story of the show? Do the writers even know? There aren't enough characters. The characters they do have aren't well developed.
The worst part about the show is how it is so plot driven to the point of not caring about the characters or details of the story. I always feel like the episodes are written backwards. Like, they have plot points to get to, so they fill in the action to get there. And contort the characters to do so. And who really gives a crap if the details make sense! "We need Lorca's eye problem to make a plot reveal make sense, so let's just say all humans are like that in the Mirror Universe, even though that isn't true in any of the other series." Or "We can't reveal Lorca's secret until Burnham finds out, so let's just have him lie to these random Terrans, even though everyone in the room in this scene would know he's from the Mirror Universe". Stuff like that.
The writing is just a disaster.
But yeah, most Trek shows are pretty bad in Season 1. I'm still hoping it will get better.
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Jan 25, 2018 1:01:29 GMT -5
Nothing about the Mirror Universe holds the slightest interest for me. Nothing there matters. The characters are all caricatures. Motivations are shallow. Everyone can die, it doesn't matter. We know where the Mirror Universe ends up. Perfect summary. The only time I've ever been excited about encountering the mirror universe outside of the original Mirror, Mirror was playing Elite Force. I let out a squeal when I saw the first door with the globe and sword on it. |
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 25, 2018 20:06:32 GMT -5
This is a problem that Discovery has come in for some criticism regarding, which is to say it's rather... cavalier approach to continuity. Like the reveal of the sensitive eye thing - it's a cool twist... unless you have any idea of the history of the show, in which case it's, "wait, why have we never heard of this before, despite multiple MU episodes? Oh right, because it needs to work this time out, not in any bigger sense of the show". It's classic B-leads-to-A storytelling. This is the point we need to make the twist work, so let's retrofit it into the series, despite it not making any sense when viewed alongside the rest of Star Trek.
It is, I should be clear, absolutely fine to have this series simply discard continuity from the other shows, but if you're going to do that, say that. "We just want to make a great Star Trek show and we're not beholden to any one continuity," is a perfectly fine statement from a show-runner or creator, giving the series a chance to play around with the familiar without being hidebound to it. That could explain any number of things longterm fans find themselves tripping over, from different-looking Klingons, to yet another in a long series of Starfleet uniforms that bear little resemblance to any other Starfleet uniforms, to the previously unheard of Spore Drive... You get the idea. Yet that's not what we get - we just get bits dropped in, dropped out, ignored or changed for plot-convenient reasons. The fact that we've had a proto-holodeck scene should be the clue, because this makes fuck all sense in terms of TOS (and it's explicitly a new invention in Encounter At Farpoint, where it's labouriously explained to us), so... why is it there? Two reasons - a) it's just sloppy, lazy writing by people without enough care, attention or interest to keep basic facts in order (which, honestly, is unlikely) or b) it's going to be a big Discovery-isnt-from-the-Prime-Universe-either reveal (which is lame, but at least being somewhat set up). I suppose there could be a c) as well, but it would be nice if we had an idea one way or the other.
I am honestly not someone who gets hung up on continuity points (except for the sake of fun fan arguments), but Discovery is trying to have its cake and eat it, and it's proving to be very alienating. That's OK to an extent, because Star Trek isn't made for Star Trek fans, it's made for the general public, a small subset of whom are Star Trek fans, but then the show (and its defenders) can't very well turn round and complain when it gets called out for such things.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Jan 26, 2018 1:38:06 GMT -5
It is, I should be clear, absolutely fine to have this series simply discard continuity from the other shows, but if you're going to do that, say that. "We just want to make a great Star Trek show and we're not beholden to any one continuity," is a perfectly fine statement from a show-runner or creator, giving the series a chance to play around with the familiar without being hidebound to it. That could explain any number of things longterm fans find themselves tripping over, from different-looking Klingons, to yet another in a long series of Starfleet uniforms that bear little resemblance to any other Starfleet uniforms, to the previously unheard of Spore Drive... You get the idea. Yet that's not what we get - we just get bits dropped in, dropped out, ignored or changed for plot-convenient reasons. The fact that we've had a proto-holodeck scene should be the clue, because this makes fuck all sense in terms of TOS (and it's explicitly a new invention in Encounter At Farpoint, where it's labouriously explained to us), so... why is it there? Two reasons - a) it's just sloppy, lazy writing by people without enough care, attention or interest to keep basic facts in order (which, honestly, is unlikely) or b) it's going to be a big Discovery-isnt-from-the-Prime-Universe-either reveal (which is lame, but at least being somewhat set up). I suppose there could be a c) as well, but it would be nice if we had an idea one way or the other. I mean, I would need someone to convince me that the show writers are not lazy, without enough care, attention or interest to keep basic facts in order. Because that's essentially what I see when I watch the episodes. I feel like they have index cards with plot points for each episode. And then they just backwards write every scene to get them where they want to go, not paying any attention to whether what they're doing makes any sense. The episodes don't even have internal logic, let alone multi-series continuity. You think laziness is unlikely, but I've not seen any evidence pointing to any other reason the show's writing is this much of a mess. If they want to say this isn't in the Prime Universe, then just go for that. Should have done that from the beginning. Nobody would have whined about the aesthetic changes or even the personality/culture changes for the Klingons. Or Sarek having an adopted daughter. You can run a Trek show in another universe, and have things be similar but askew. That is fine! No one says this Mirror Universe even has to be THE Mirror Universe! The writers of this show think "continuity" is name dropping a couple things per episode. They have no understanding of universe world building and what real multi-series continuity is. It drives me BONKERS. It is maddening because often the changes they are making are nonsensical and not even needed! They are focused on the plot points and are stretching everything to fit the plot. There was no need to say humans are light sensitive in the Mirror Universe. What purpose does that serve? This series is, in retrospect, making DS9 look like an absolutely brilliantly written show. |
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 26, 2018 6:13:05 GMT -5
Did you... not think DS9 was a brilliantly written show prior to this? I'm not (quite) as head over heels with DS9 as some Trek fans, but the writing is probably the most consistently strong across any iteration of Trek (despite the usual shaky two first seasons, and everything collapsing like a Gelbian Sand-Sculpture in season 7).
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Post by Desert Dweller on Jan 27, 2018 23:38:31 GMT -5
Did you... not think DS9 was a brilliantly written show prior to this? I'm not (quite) as head over heels with DS9 as some Trek fans, but the writing is probably the most consistently strong across any iteration of Trek (despite the usual shaky two first seasons, and everything collapsing like a Gelbian Sand-Sculpture in season 7). No, I quite liked the writing on DS9. I thought it was the best written Trek show. But, wow.... Discovery is such a mess in the exact areas where DS9 was so strong, it is quite striking. The writers on Discovery all brag about "it isn't episodic! We are telling a season long story! It's all planned!"..... The DS9 writers were mostly making it up as they went and had tighter stories, better overarching story, and better continuity. Yeah, the first season of DS9 was weak. But I felt like we were getting to know the characters. Discovery isn't even letting us do that. Everyone's getting killed, or replaced, or they're secretly not who they claim to be.... It's a mess. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2018 16:54:20 GMT -5
Well, I like it. Last night's whole thing was a rush, and I'm very curious to see how the new...spot...the crew's found themselves in is going to play out.
Also, Saru's speech was such a great, and so damn Star Trek-y, little scene that I got kind of misty-eyed. Doug Jones' talent for acting through the prosthetics is so ridiculously impressive.
Edit: also, thanks to Disco, I'm in love with Mary Wiseman and Anthony Rapp now. I just dig them so dang much.
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Post by Lt. Broccoli on Jan 29, 2018 17:49:07 GMT -5
I enjoyed the latest episode too, but...what even is going on with this show? The pilot episode was kind of a fakeout, since that's not what the series is about. But now the rest of the first season is all just a fakeout too? Are they just having a bizarre first season and the rest of the show will be a regular Star Trek show? It seems like it would be more interesting if it was just a one season "event" kind of thing.
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Trurl
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Post by Trurl on Jan 29, 2018 23:15:13 GMT -5
I am really liking the show, but I admit that this is from someone who handed in their trekkie card a very long time ago. I like the characters, I'm all for Michele Yeoh's "Ming the Merciless" being an ongoing thing, the plot is wacky and fun, almost Doctor Who-ish in the ridiculousness. As a matter of fact, I'd say there's quite a bit more DW than ST in this show, I think. Also, Michele Yeoh is still able to kick people who are behind her in the face, which is awesome.
My only question is, why is Sarek was the only person in the Mirror Universe that had a goatee?
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Post by Lt. Broccoli on Jan 31, 2018 21:49:29 GMT -5
I was happy that they were apparently going to encounter the TOS Defiant from the Enterprise episode, but that turned out to be a total McGuffin, didn't it? They just mentioned it for absolutely no reason.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Feb 1, 2018 2:14:13 GMT -5
I was happy that they were apparently going to encounter the TOS Defiant from the Enterprise episode, but that turned out to be a total McGuffin, didn't it? They just mentioned it for absolutely no reason. EVERYTHING happens on this show for no reason. The episodes make no sense. There is no overarching story. Like, why *didn't* Lorca just ask them to send him home? I laughed when Burnham said that. Why is Burnham taking Georgiou with her? This isn't her Georgiou. This lady is a murdering psychopath and that's all we know about her. Why did Lorca take the whole Discovery ship with him? He doesn't even need the ship! They left the MU and Lorca never even used the ship. That blows my mind. (Keep in mind, he never even needed the ship to get back there. He got there through the transporter accident. Could have just done the same to get home.) And best of all, Lorca, as a character, has no point! That character literally has no point. Nothing on the show matters. This is some of the worst writing I've ever seen on a "serious" tv show. Thought Zack's review at the Old Country was spot on. |
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Post by Prole Hole on Feb 1, 2018 5:08:05 GMT -5
"There is no overarching story."
I think of all the problems I have with the show, this is likely the biggest one. It's been set up as a serialized story but it's not at all selling that side of itself. It actually reminds me of The Walking Dead in that regard - there's loads of plot but absolutely no story. There's little-to-no sense of where any of this is going (if anywhere), and it feels at the moment like there may be big revelations down the line but they're being withheld for twist!, which doesn't feel like a great way of building out your story. And if there aren't big revelations then you're just structuring your plot badly. You could argue that the story is Burnham's story rather than a traditional narrative-based story... which would be fine but she doesn't really have one either. The show roared out of the gate with this in the first three episodes, after which Burnham's just back to being determined and/or a bit frightened (but determined) and that's about it it. Why don't we ever (for example) get a sense of her Vulcan upbringing when she reacts to situations? Not some here-comes-the-flashbacks moment, but it would have been such a great character beat if an episode or two ago, when she was terrified of being alone, instead of sitting about looking pensive and/or boinking her very-clearly-deranged "security", we got a scene of her drawing on her meditation techniques, or finding a way to draw strength from logic as a way to deal with the situation or... something. A character reaction based on the established past of that character - that would be nice. It's not Sonequa Martin-Green's fault - she's great, she's just no longer being given interesting things to do.
And now we're back in the Alpha Quadrant, with a destroyed Federation and a Klingon war we've never heard of. Woo? (OK this one's personal, but please for the love of Bowlpup don't give us an endless string of Klingon war episodes because I will be out. For once I'm praying that next episode they fly the wrong way round the sun, go back in time and just fix the damn thing already).
Again, this was a a generally entertaining forty-five minutes of television (the Big Fight Scene in the Throne Room was lamentably badly directed though - I'm pretty sure I saw Reece Witherspoon's Third Leg in there a couple of times, and Oprah's third hand) but we're just back at it being Dark Matter With A Budget - even they visited a parallel universe a few times... Which, fine, there's nothing wrong with that and I mostly enjoyed Dark Matter, but there's absolutely nothing about this that demands that it's a Star Trek show at all. One Saru speech (good though it was) and one clunky environmental metaphor (they're destroying this thing and so arrogant as to think it'll repair itself in time!) frankly isn't cutting it.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Feb 12, 2018 1:19:15 GMT -5
If you had "Meet up with the Enterprise" in the "final scene of Discovery S1" pool, you are the winner!! Congrats!
This season was terrible. Hoping season 2 goes better. Though, if season 2 is about us hanging out with Pike, Number One and Spock...... I don't know.... God, I hate the way this show does "continuity". It is like the worst kind of shallow, thoughtless fan service possible. I groaned when the 1701 showed up.
I keep reminding myself that TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT all had weak first seasons. DSC's first season is a mess yet it still might be better than TNG's first season.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2018 2:44:12 GMT -5
Mirror Universe and meet the enterprise all happened in one season. Can't wait for Khan in the midseason 2 finale! Maybe Q at the end of season 2 and the Borg to start off season 3!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2018 11:20:55 GMT -5
I feel like I'm watching a different show than all y'all. Or maybe I'm just not thinking enough. I dunno. I'm the biggest Trek dork you'll find, and I am very into this. This show has kept my wife and I engaged and invested since the beginning in a way that we haven't been for Star Trek in ages.
And I am apparently the only person I know who loved having the Enterprise show up.
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Post by Prole Hole on Feb 13, 2018 7:14:44 GMT -5
The Enterprise turning up did get a groan from me, though not one that was entirely critical, I must admit. It's corny, sure, but it's not like corny and a TOS setting are entirely incompatible is it? And I must admit I got a kick out of them choosing to end the episode on the TOS theme, rather than the Discovery one (though it does highlight just how bad the Discovery theme is by comparison). So that's something.
For the rest though, it's an ungodly mess. Surprising, right? To be fair, there are some elements that work here. After fifteen whole episodes, we finally get to a point where this show demands to be Star Trek, as Burnham takes a stand on principals rather than just wiping out the Klingon homeworld despite that being the easier option, which is terrific. It also finally gives Sonequa Martin-Green a new note to hit, and she's great at it. And it's quite nice to see little corners of the Star Trek universe we don't often encounter (though Tilly getting high was the laziest kind of "joke", and makes the reveal of the hydrobomb stupid rather than deduced). For the rest? Man, I know I said I didn't want an endless string of Klingon war episodes, but this is wrapped up way too quickly. If this storyline had even been a two-parter it would have lent a lot of credibility to events, but a plot like this needs space to breathe, and it just doesn't have it (and it's not like there weren't a bunch of filler episodes that could have been dropped this season to give us the space for this two be a two parter). Michelle Yeoh is completely wasted - I'm glad her character wasn't killed off, but she does just basically run away at the end, which is weak. We have Klingons apparently being within visual range of Earth, yet turning back which I'm not buying. We have an Admiral committed to a course of action, even to the point of recruiting a parallel Emperor to her cause, who's talked out of said course of action with remarkable ease. I want to know why Ensign Daft Punk, Ensign Shaniqua, Ensign Black Bridge Guy and Ensign Pretty Asian Bridge Guy didn't get commendations, but had to stand there like chumps while others did. I still don't like Jonathan Simpson as Sarek - he looks the part, but just doesn't have the weight that's needed. Voq/Tyler is a drag every single second he's on screen, though at least we seem to be shot of him now (worryingly, there's space for him to come back). There's next to no tension as to whether the hyrdobomb is going to be set off as they race to catch Georgiou, and not just because we know the Klingon homeworld exists in TOS, TNG etc (they could still have pulled an "it's not the Prime timeline" after all).
And so on. For every moment that Discovery seems to have at last found its feet, there seems to be five more that are determined to prove that it hasn't. I know first seasons are always shaky, and no version of Trek has a better first season that "eh", but there just seems to be so much wasted potential. Simpson aside there's a mostly strong cast, the production values are amazing, using Burnham as our POV character is inspired, and it's clear a huge amount of effort has gone into bringing this to the screen. So why are there so many mistakes? Continuity is one thing - one badly handled thing, for sure - but the pacing feels wrong, the emphases always seem to be in the wrong places, and the show seems to have no real sense of its own identity or what is is that it's actually there for. The fetishization of the iconography of Star Trek seems to have just as much significance as plot or character, which feels very telling somehow - showing lots of chevrons doesn't make it so (heh). This hasn't been the worst season of television I've ever watched, or even the worst season of Star Trek I've ever watched (hello, TNG S2, Voyager S2, Enterprise S1) but I cannot lose the unshakeable feeling that this should have been just so, so much more than it is.
Prole's Final Season Rating: Disco sucks
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