Star Trek Discovery

[supervij]

I love allegory in Star Trek but the old adage of “show, don’t tell” is flipped on Discovery. The “tell, don’t show” nature of this show results in a lot of cringey, eye-rolling moments for me. Most of which have been in seasons three and four.

Personally, I find the first two seasons of Disco to be more enjoyable. Lots of interesting concepts being explored, I love the mirror universe stuff, Chris Pike, and the red angel stuff. The future explored in season three had such great potential but just wasn’t all that compelling for me personally. Some interesting ideas, namely that Earth and Vulcan have left the Federation and what does that mean for our crew. But nothing that’s gelled with me yet.

But I keep watching because it’s Trek. Most of Trek is uneven, you take the good with the bad. I’m content to keep watching in the hope that the storytelling will get better and we’ll get some really great tales. I also love seeing mention of stuff from other Treks—makes my little Trekkie heart all tingly!

[CouncilSpectre]

For the most part, re DISCO, I find it’s better conceptually than what ends up being executed.

Revisit the mirror universe, sounds great! Let’s bring Pike and Spock in, wow! Let’s reset the Federation and have a season-long mystery to solve about who/what/why, yes please! Let’s rebuild the Federation against a backdrop of a galactic threat/mystery, why not?!

All conceptually great, but with the exception of Pike/Spock, the execution has been somewhat underwhelming. Still more than enough to hold my interest, but I find myself wishing it was better.

In the main I like the characters. It was great to see some of the background characters start to really grow last year. Sadly, that looks to have been shunted on to the back burner again in favour of other new(ish) characters. I’ll admit, I’ve struggled with Adira/Grey, a) because I feel that they’ve pushed out screen time for other characters, and b) because they’ve been given so little to do. I’ve found myself wondering what exactly the point of them being there is?!

Otoh, Stamets has grown on me more, Culber is one of my favourite characters on the show, and Saru has always been awesome. And Booker. I didn’t particularly like the idea of Burnham being made Captain at the end of last season, didn’t feel she’d earned it, but for me, it’s worked for the character.

I crashed the first 7 episodes over the previous couple of nights. So far there’s nothing that’s compelled me to switch off or even consider doing so. I just hope it executes better than last season, which set up a solid foundation for the season but then struggled to deliver.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by supervij

I love allegory in Star Trek but the old adage of “show, don’t tell” is flipped on Discovery. The “tell, don’t show” nature of this show results in a lot of cringey, eye-rolling moments for me. Most of which have been in seasons three and four.

Personally, I find the first two seasons of Disco to be more enjoyable. Lots of interesting concepts being explored, I love the mirror universe stuff, Chris Pike, and the red angel stuff. The future explored in season three had such great potential but just wasn’t all that compelling for me personally. Some interesting ideas, namely that Earth and Vulcan have left the Federation and what does that mean for our crew. But nothing that’s gelled with me yet.

But I keep watching because it’s Trek. Most of Trek is uneven, you take the good with the bad. I’m content to keep watching in the hope that the storytelling will get better and we’ll get some really great tales. I also love seeing mention of stuff from other Treks—makes my little Trekkie heart all tingly!

So yeah, the consensus seems to be that’s “it’s awful but imma keep watching anyway”, thus perpetuating the awfulness. It’s kinda sad that Trek has conditioned its fans to behave in this manner but I’m not immune, I watched all 7 seasons of Voyager during its initial run even though it was bobbins. Finally learned to break the chain with Enterprise though, S1 was a slog and when S2 premiered with that Borg episode I tuned out, literally. Avoided it from there and only years later did I discover that S3 and S4 were rather good, albeit in an ultra fan-servicey way with the latter season - thus maintaining the meme that Trek only gets good after the first few seasons!

I know that Star Trek: Virtue Signalling isn’t to everyone’s taste but when you factor in Trek’s progressive nature it was always likely to get dialled up to 11 in the current day. Doesn’t make it any more palatable for y’all but sci-fi is always regarded as a mirror of society and so I’m not surprised in the least it’s gone in this direction. Hopefully Strange New Worlds will give us silly inconsequential episodic guff that has no stakes at all - be they physical or emotional - so that we can go back to the real meaning of Trekmas and people can watch that instead of DISCO.

[supervij]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

So yeah, the consensus seems to be that’s “it’s awful but imma keep watching anyway”, thus perpetuating the awfulness. It’s kinda sad that Trek has conditioned its fans to behave in this manner but I’m not immune, I watched all 7 seasons of Voyager during its initial run even though it was bobbins. Finally learned to break the chain with Enterprise though, S1 was a slog and when S2 premiered with that Borg episode I tuned out, literally. Avoided it from there and only years later did I discover that S3 and S4 were rather good, albeit in an ultra fan-servicey way with the latter season - thus maintaining the meme that Trek only gets good after the first few seasons!

I know that Star Trek: Virtue Signalling isn’t to everyone’s taste but when you factor in Trek’s progressive nature it was always likely to get dialled up to 11 in the current day. Doesn’t make it any more palatable for y’all but sci-fi is always regarded as a mirror of society and so I’m not surprised in the least it’s gone in this direction. Hopefully Strange New Worlds will give us silly inconsequential episodic guff that has no stakes at all - be they physical or emotional - so that we can go back to the real meaning of Trekmas and people can watch that instead of DISCO.

Boy, was I glad I stuck with Enterprise through its average first two seasons. The season-long Xindi arc turbo charged the series and brought us some compelling and well-told stories. And season four was just as good, though I never thought it as fan-servicing, more like they finally realized that they ARE a prequel series and it’d be fun to tell some stories that explore stuff talked about but never dealt with on the other shows. I loved it, though I doubt that would’ve survived to a fifth season, had they gotten one.

Star Trek is indeed a reflection of the times we live in. I’ve never had a problem with the desire to be more inclusive in today’s society, in fact, I applaud it. But to make that so in your face, rather than have that as a normal part of their everyday lives…it can grow wearisome. Again: show, don’t tell.

But it must be said—many people absolutely love Discovery, and I’m happy for them that they’ve found it and that it speaks to them. More power to ‘em.

[Moe UK]

Originally Posted by kevin87

Was there any sort of disruption in production, or is the break just to be stupid?

I would like to think they are accelerating their plans to get P+ launched in Europe. All we have is a vague early 2022 window, but seeing as they are currently giving it away free on Pluto it must be hurting them financially.

[Dunemoon]

Originally Posted by kevin87

Was there any sort of disruption in production, or is the break just to be stupid?

Maybe the break occurred to help the stupid recover from watching it?

[SilverFox84]

Originally Posted by Dunemoon

Maybe the break occurred to help the stupid recover from watching it?

How can they? STD takes all the stupid with them

[Geoff D]

The ship’s computer is totally gonna be a physical character in future seasons, either with a synth body or a holographic projektion. And I liked how they glossed over her ‘awakening’ with what we’ve been saying, that sphere data + DISCO’s systems x future stuff = sentient computer.

[SilverFox84]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The ship’s computer is totally gonna be a physical character in future seasons, either with a synth body or a holographic projektion. And I liked how they glossed over her ‘awakening’ with what we’ve been saying, that sphere data + DISCO’s systems x future stuff = sentient computer.

It's blatantly obvious this is where it's headed.

[i007spectre]

So just like Legends of Tomorrow this season.

[kevin87]

Originally Posted by i007spectre

So just like Legends of Tomorrow this season.

Gideon's had a human body before, granted those were due to visions and magic stuff.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by SilverFox84

How can they? STD takes all the stupid with them

Still trolling a show you don't like?

[SilverFox84]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Still trolling a show you don't like?

Still calling the kettle black?

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

'90s TREK. Offering nothing new. Not going boldly where Berman went before 30 years ago.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by SilverFox84

Still calling the kettle black?

I actually like Orville.

But pretending it's original or heir-apparent to TREK? Hell no.

[Hombre1]

Gene's Andromeda had that too

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The ship’s computer is totally gonna be a physical character in future seasons, either with a synth body or a holographic projektion. And I liked how they glossed over her ‘awakening’ with what we’ve been saying, that sphere data + DISCO’s systems x future stuff = sentient computer.

[SilverFox84]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

I actually like Orville.

But pretending it's original or heir-apparent to TREK? Hell no.

And STD is a guilty pleasure, it's passed into the realm of 'so bad it's good' now and it's total car-crash telly and I'll keep watching, and I honestly don't care if it triggers you, I'd advise you to stop wasting your breath and put me ignore because I'm not going anywhere

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by SilverFox84

And STD is a guilty pleasure, it's passed into the realm of 'so bad it's good' now and it's total car-crash telly and I'll keep watching, and I honestly don't care if it triggers you, I'd advise you to stop wasting your breath and put me ignore because I'm not going anywhere

If you actually watched it you wouldn't say that. Lying now, I can believe.

[SilverFox84]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

If you actually watched it you wouldn't say that. Lying now, I can believe.

Wait, you're now accusing me that I don't watch it? Because if I did I'd like it? Is that what you're saying? The arrogance in that post is bloody hilarious You really need to get over yourself

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by SilverFox84

Wait, you're now accusing me that I don't watch it? Because if I did I'd like it? Is that what you're saying? The arrogance in that post is bloody hilarious You really need to get over yourself

Perhaps because you keep getting everything wrong? That's a good indicator of non-watching.

The jury frowns on doubling down on lying. Just ask Jussie.

[SilverFox84]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Perhaps because you keep getting everything wrong? That's a good indicator of non-watching.

The jury frowns on doubling down on lying. Just ask Jussie.

Ok wackjob, what I have got factually wrong about the show? Go on, I'm going to love to hear this