US: Star Trek: Discovery

Just finished S2 and struggling with it a bit to be honest. If I was generous, i'd give it 6.5/10. I'll be watching it ongoing but it's not special currently.

Pro's:
  • Good special effects and sound
  • Michelle Yeoh is good most of the time and the sarcasm/dry wit is welcome.
  • Lorca, the admiral and Pike were generally good
  • Interesting spore drive concept
  • Story is reasonable so far in that it's well thought out in terms of plot
Cons:
  • Generally the characters aren't really endearing, I don't really have favourites, i'm not rooting for anyone and I wouldn't say anyone is a particularly grade A actor
  • Series has an identity crisis. Wants to be in the vein of the new Star Trek films I.e. variation on a theme and not really true to prior lore/canon, but audio and characters refer to other series partially.
  • Too much melodrama in scenes (particularly in the midst of battle) that goes on for ages. Total soapbox stuff that reminds me of my Korean/Japanese films.
  • Tilly is annoying and similar to common ditzy roles in other american TV shows.
  • Stamets/Culber is a missed opportunity. What could be a defining relationship is a bit of a whine-fest.
  • Klingon portrayal is a bit damp and tongue in cheek. Sort of reeks of crap alien races in low budget TV sci-fi shows.
  • Not a fan of the "one big story" and surrounding soap structure - preferred the themed episodes of prior Star Trek series with an underlying (big picture)
  • I don't think SMG is good enough to build a key series around (yet anyway)
  • Not sure what the deal is with the protagonist having a typically male name. Hoping there's a point to it as it seems a bit token (I.e. making a point) currently.
I'm wondering if i'm just a bit out of touch and bathing in the nostalgia of the TNG, Voyager, DS9 days. Particularly:
  • Cast structures of several reknowned and often theatre-borne actors/actresses and supports.
  • The above made the weaker actors bearable.
  • Well thought out and interesting characters such as Seven of Nine, Data, EMH etc.
  • Themed episodes as above
  • Semi-believable science (with the obvious flaws)
  • The two sides of Roddenberry "ideals" made for some interesting episodes.
I'll keep watching it, but does sadden me a bit when watching clips from the TNG, Voyager, DS9 on the way into work.
 
Just started watching S1 on Freeview.

As commented on right at the beginning of this thread. The PC/SJW aspects of the series are immediately apparent and a bit irritating BUT.

Star Trek TOS was also pretty controversial in its day and if phrases such as PC and SJW existed back then No doubt similar comments would have been made. I dare say a lot of older US viewers back in the 60's seeing a Sci-Fi series portraying Russians and Japanese as senior officers, Not to mention a Black (And a female Black to boot) as well would have felt a bit uncomfortable too. So I am happy to stick with it and see how it develops.

The Fungal jump drive is interesting and reminds me somewhat of Andromedas slip-stream.

As for

Not sure what the deal is with the protagonist having a typically male name. Hoping there's a point to it as it seems a bit token (I.e. making a point) currently.
Click to expand...

First thought was that Michael is the name of an Angel.

As such it is actually gender neutral (To use common parlance) While regarded as a typically male name, there is no real reason why it should be so.

While Archangel Michael is portrayed as a Warrior Male character, It (Probably the correct usage in the case of an Angel) is also portrayed as a rather pretty and androgynous one. W
hether this link is going to be made eventually or not I do not know. It might just be a coincidence.​


On a wider note, I do not
actually s​

ee any fundamental problem with naming a Girl Michael.

Edit to add

Oh, and PS Re Formatting errors. (Odd carriage returns, change of text colour to black)

This seems to happen when I use "Drag and Drop" and "Copy-Paste" in MS Edge. Normally I just delete and retype but this time I left it as-is, it would be good if somebody could tell me what is happening here. :)​
 
It's honestly amusing at this point the number of people who complain "it's too PC!", "too much SJW stuff!", "a gay engineer, that's tokenism!"...but then don't complain about how almost none of the overarching plot points make a shred of sense, how terribly overwrought and clunky the dialogue gets and how it can't even keep continuity going within itself, much less maintain continuity with the rest of the Trek universe ;)

@Orionaut - if you paste stuff in and the formatting has gotten mangled, have you tried hitting this...

22nMga7.png

...button here? Think you might need your pasted text highlighted first.
 
JRS said:
It's honestly amusing at this point the number of people who complain "it's too PC!", "too much SJW stuff!", "a gay engineer, that's tokenism!"...but then don't complain about how almost none of the overarching plot points make a shred of sense, how terribly overwrought and clunky the dialogue gets and how it can't even keep continuity going within itself, much less maintain continuity with the rest of the Trek universe ;)
Click to expand...

Because those are the things that are noticeable within 5 minutes of the opening titles!

One hasn't had any time yet to develop an opinion on regarding the other issues. :D

But, as I said, this would have been very much the first impression of TOS back in the 60's too (And I dare say some would have changed channel back then in response aswell) So I am happy to wait and see how it develops.

Oh, and thanks for the editing tip. Will try it next time.

Mind, Unless its just me, "Drag n Drop" seems particularly useless in Edge, You can't see where you are dropping since the bit you are dragging obsures the edit point! Who writes this stuff? :confused:
 
CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
I thought there was another rumour it would only last until season 3?
Click to expand...

A bit like how it was rumoured that Picard was cancelled before the first episode had aired ;)

For all the problems it has, STD appears to have found an audience. As long as it keeps doing that, they'll keep making it.
 
JRS said:
For all the problems it has, STD appears to have found an audience. As long as it keeps doing that, they'll keep making it.
Click to expand...

Add to that the fact that Netflix basically paid for the first season to be made, so the major costs have already been paid
 
Just watched Discovery season 1&2 via lockdown binge session, loved it overall.

I actually like it since its totally different from all the million other episodes which seemed to get repetitive due to 50+ year trek history.

Not going to disagree there are tons of things to dislike about it and the F bomb and swearies was a shock but now I just want to see tilly taking a sonic shower.

Obviously discovery series appears not be cannon, but by season 2 they started to make it more cannon ie Klingons grew hair, usual forehead ridges, spock and enterprise told to not discuss discovery as if it never existed, so maybe discovery series can be kinda cannon with a slight refresh ?

I think we get to see Discovery have more fun in season 3, they got the time travel crystal and spore drive making them maybe the best ship ever to never exist also
picard is turning up in season 3
 
It's very marmite.
It has its moments where it's good but I thought too much was cliché and just not startrek.

Discovery will heavily focus on core startrek themes to bring it. Back inline and try to win back lost fans.
 
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