(TV) Star Trek: Discovery

[Frontenac]

I am like 5 minutes in and already hating this...

They are literally talking about avoiding contaminating the native society with their presence and remaining out of sight... Not violating general order 1... As they walk through the middle of their little town or whatever and then whip out a gun and start blasting down their well right in front of them...

Like what?

If I remember right, the natives are on their hibernation cycle or something.

[I Push Buttons]

If I remember right, the natives are on their hibernation cycle or something.

They are walking around and come out to the well and start drinking from it after they blast it open. One of them watches them walk away from the well.

[the game]

Calling the first officer number one... Could they not come up with any new schtick?

[Deleted]

I am like 5 minutes in and already hating this...

They are literally talking about avoiding contaminating the native society with their presence and remaining out of sight... Not violating general order 1... As they walk through the middle of their little town or whatever and then whip out a gun and start blasting down their well right in front of them...

Like what?

The problem is everyone has gotten used to quality, GoT, The Expanse, Westword. This show is at best Dr Who level storytelling. Its watchable, but goofy as fuck.

[Frontenac]

Calling the first officer number one... Could they not come up with any new schtick?

In the first pilot of the original series, the first officer (played by Majel Barrett) was called Number One. It seems to me that's a tradition in Starfleet.

And really, people hate it when they change things, and they hate it when they stick with certain things... Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[draynay]

Calling the first officer number one... Could they not come up with any new schtick?

It establishes quickly that we're looking at a captain and first officer, so from a storytelling perspective, its concise exposition.

[I Push Buttons]

Its watchable, but goofy as fuck.

Yeah that seems like an accurate description thus far.

[Ivanstone]

I watched it. Its fine.

I have a few issues though.

It looks like Sci-Fi is supposed to look. Even the nice details where hull breaches are covered by force fields. Its a little jarring though because it doesn't jive easily with how TOS looked though. TOS was unavoidably lo-fi but the two shows seem to be to too far apart in their aesthetic.

I love Saru's cowardice. Michelle Yeoh is cool but she's been cooler elsewhere. We'll see how Martin-Green goes since her character will have to be re-built following the pilot.

The Klingons are a big question mark. I don't mind the look. They're hairless but TNG Klingons would probably be similar if they were bald. I had bigger issues with their dress. T'Kuvma is too ornate. Even with his religious outlook it still seems out of place. And of course they sounded like shit. Its like they had trouble speaking with their dental prosthetics.

[Biomega]

Did not like the show, at all. It was everything I feared it would be, and certainly did not feel like Star Trek. The new Klingons are a joke, and obvious nod to the new movie version. They took a proud, spiritual warrior race and turned it into grotesque caricatures, because apparently you can't be recognized as the bad guy unless you're monstrous and over the top in every way. What is it with those tacky uniforms and that ornate bullshit? DS9/TNG era Klingons were WARRIORS - they wore combat uniforms, practical and battle-ready. Now we have Rococo mannequins covered in gold spikes, that's just absurd. And don't even get me started on that character defined on screen through his resistance to pain (burning his own friggin' hand without flinching) only to run away screaming because he gets poked in the eye.

Yeoh's captain was a good character, and as a result was killed immediately. Which was also clear from the onset even without prior knowledge of the show's production. Cowardly alien guy, okay, give them that. Interesting enough, if overplayed a little. The rest, though? Bland, boring, uninspired.

At least now we know why they keep going back to the TOS era (plus/minus a few decades) - because they can justify cowboy behavior and action sequences there, whereas the TNG-era Federation is way too cerebral for modern audiences. I guess when humanity overcomes its base desires, there isn't that much to show an audience that wants to see nothing but those base desires? Except of course DS9 managed the straddle quite well, and even TNG dipped into nicely. That's the problem: they want Star Trek, the franchise, but without Star Trek in it. So they took it, and turned it into a generic SF space western that just rides the Star Trek universe for recognition.

The Orville is 100% more Star Trek than this, and it's full of dick jokes ffs. I guess I'll take it. Star Trek with dick jokes > Star Trek without Star Trek.

[s_bushido]

It looks like Sci-Fi is supposed to look. Even the nice details where hull breaches are covered by force fields. Its a little jarring though because it doesn't jive easily with how TOS looked though. TOS was unavoidably lo-fi but the two shows seem to be to too far apart in their aesthetic.

We're never going back to the TOS aesthetic, though. It's too dated. It was cute for that episode of DS9, and no one remembers the ENT mirror universe stuff enough to care, but for what's supposed to be more than a handful of shows, it would just be a bad idea. The nostalgia would only get you so far.

Hell, speaking of DS9, they made a pretty big deal about the holographic 3D view-screen/communication thing when they introduced it in an episode, and it just casually shows up on the Shenzhou, a ship her captain describes as dated 100+ years earlier in the timeline.

Its like they had trouble speaking with their dental prosthetics.

Yeah, that's been a problem since they introduced the Ferengi with their fucked-up teeth. I really hope they take to re-recording their dialogue or something, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

[Ivanstone]

We're never going back to the TOS aesthetic, though. It's too dated. It was cute for that episode of DS9, and no one remembers the ENT mirror universe stuff enough to care, but for what's supposed to be more than a handful of shows, it would just be a bad idea. The nostalgia would only get you so far.

I know TOS is too dated but that doesn't mean we can't have some similarities. For example the NX01 Enterprise looked more hi-tech than the 1701A Enterprise despite preceding it by 100 years. That's partially because of better budget, better effects and many years of experience. But they still managed to create a sufficient homage to tie them together.

The Shenzhou is probably too flashy. One side effect of being extremely hi-tech is that it doesn't have to be noticeable for it be there.

[s_bushido]

It wouldn't surprise me if there were more similarities in Enterprise because they were desperately screaming "hey guys, this is a prequel!" the entire time. Whereas Discovery seems to have more license to do its own thing, despite being set in the "past." I mean, they even went so far as to put the bridge on the bottom of the saucer section in the Shenzhou, didn't they? As far as classic Trek Federation ship design goes, that's a pretty big departure, the Defiant notwithstanding.

[Terminatrix]

I know TOS is too dated but that doesn't mean we can't have some similarities. For example the NX01 Enterprise looked more hi-tech than the 1701A Enterprise despite preceding it by 100 years. That's partially because of better budget, better effects and many years of experience. But they still managed to create a sufficient homage to tie them together.

The Shenzhou is probably too flashy. One side effect of being extremely hi-tech is that it doesn't have to be noticeable for it be there.

the one thing that get to me was the technology difference from tos 10 yrs later... the hologram conference, the 2000km distance flew in a jetpack for 10 min ( yes its 10 min since they said she had 20 min top before damage was done) so basicly it was 2000km in a jetpack in 10 min. i dont mind adding a bit of wow in the show by doing it like the bay movies but atleast stay with in the time technology

[eschatological]

the one thing that get to me was the technology difference from tos 10 yrs later... the hologram conference, the 2000km distance flew in a jetpack for 10 min ( yes its 10 min since they said she had 20 min top before damage was done) so basicly it was 2000km in a jetpack in 10 min. i dont mind adding a bit of wow in the show by doing it like the bay movies but atleast stay with in the time technology

I thought it was 2000 meters? Or 2km?

[Independent voter]

I like it, everyone is forgetting that all the Star Trek iterations had rocky starts and I thought this start was pretty solid.

[I Push Buttons]

The Shenzhou is probably too flashy.

Yeah I agree... Star Trek has never been about efficient use of space which one would assume would be paramount on a space ship... But it was particularly egregious in this entry. How many people were on the bridge? Like 10? But the shit was like half the size of a basketball court.

Why do you need so much space CBS?

[Majestic12]

You only see an agenda in this because you really are simply a sexist and racist honestly, cause i do not see why i would bother to have a female main role and she being black being a problem.

So thanks for sharing that i guess, nobody else really gets upset by that, DS9 closet racism all over again. Yes the first Star trek series episodes were really sexist, shame on them for no longer being so.

I had no issues with DS9. Star Trek has always been open to all ethnicities. But in Discovery they've really gone out of their way to cast bad female actors over quality. Sonequa sucks. She can't do human. She should have been a Vulcan.

Everywhere you look in Discovery it's full of women at the controls saying tech-words with men being nowhere to be seen. It's classic liberal propaganda. Women are independent, don't need men, can fill all roles that men do etc. To add on top of that, the patriarchy and right-wingers(klingon) are the bad guys and attack. It's very symbolic when you really think about it.

If you tell me that Sonequa and the Asian woman are good actors, you're just wrong. If you do, show me a scene where their interactions with their "mother-daughter" relationship and their 7 year history really shines through. They have zero chemistry. It's all just words.

[s_bushido]

I thought it was 2000 meters? Or 2km?

No, it was 2000km. She got there with 13:30 on her clock, so it would mean she was going about 15 times the speed of sound. Technical mumbo jumbo in Star Trek has never exactly been consistent, but I don't really know what the guy you're quoting is even comparing it to...if anything.

[schwarzkopf]

Orville is way better than discovery.

Also - oranges are way better than forks.

Summary of why both shows are 'bad':

Orville : OMG, we can't have gay dudes from a race that thinks being female is a birth defect
Discovery : OMG, we can't have women in charge of a space ship.

[Majestic12]

THIS is what is wrong with people today.
Theres nothing wrong with having females lead a show. And crying for character developement after 2 episodes makes you look very silly seeing that TNGs char developement started in season 2....

I loved the Enterprise theme from the moment I heard it cause it FITS the theme of exploration over centuries very well....

And you just happened to forget that TNG started off with a wonderful movie with tons of character development. Convenient.

You just don't know what you're talking about. It's not even remotely close. Are you even a Trekkie?