Star Trek Discovery: The Bryan Fuller TV reboot

I actually made a point of watching "World on the egde of forever" and "Mirror, Mirror" last night just to see if I'd missed any callbacks and there were quite a few.

The episode with the new Vulcan and Michael's mom was probably the best single episode in the entire series so far

While we didn't even watch that episode all the way to the end, because I just found all the Vulcan stuff so boring in the first season and in Picard. I was sorry they went back to it. I agree with you about Klingon-heavy episodes too, though, and also about how completely demented (and therefore entertaining) all the V'oq stuff was. People's tastes, eh?

Now that they've taken out all the things I liked about this show -- Stamets being funny and acerbic instead of being caring and parental, Captain Pike, Georgiou actually doing things -- maybe I just don't like it anymore.

The planet Vulcan episode was ruined by dialog that tried to sound badass but was ultimately empty.

i have stopped watching this season.

i actually think this season is the best, but i can understand

and yeah enough with stamets making kind eyes and being adira's parent

agree re stamets being emo & not quippy

no beef w this season from me

Eh Stamets and Jet are still giving each other loads of shit which I am onboard with!

closing scene was unearned imo

yeah, a classic of the genre! and totally unnecessary. felt for the actors having to sell that one.

OK why the fuck were the last 2 episodes the Phillipa Gerogiou Hour if we got nothing out of it and she just [wont spoiler]?

GAH.

So mad I typoed her name lol

I did like that they brought out the actual wonky-rock Guardian though.

wasn’t the original rock like a detached observer rather than a moral arbiter?

(also my autocorrect tried to change “original” to “Orion gal” which felt a bit too context-aware for comfort)

wasn’t the original rock like a detached observer rather than a moral arbiter?

(also my autocorrect tried to change “original” to “Orion gal” which felt a bit too context-aware for comfort)

Where is the original rock from? Not knowing just left me with vibes of the Doctor tbh

not sure - but we rewatched the Guardians of Forever TOS season 1 episode (Joan Collins!) & it is def the rock on its own, minus CSI’s Jim Brass in a bowler hat. And you cant really pick where you go, you just sorta jump & hope for the best

yeah sorry was using rock & guardian interchangeably there

but this whole “ah! i was testing u to see if u are good now and deserve a 2nd chance” schtick felt weird to me vs my memories of those eps (there was a good Spock one in the animated series from memory - has it appeared since?)

but maybe I am denying the star treks the ability to change and undergo positive growth

That was a really good episode! Totally vintage TNG.

V good! tho: the burn was caused by some kid’s nightmare is v St Elsewhere snowglobe lmao

also i just realized Osira reminds me of Bad Janet and I cant unsee it

solid but too much touchy-feely if-we-hug-you-can-do-it, jeez. put tig in charge already

no idea how their enemy tracked them and arrived in time to catch them

disappointed that no plot points have hinged on grudge the cat's actions . . . yet

yeah dug the fever dream vibe, a few bits that I had to look the other way plot-wise but that’s always the case huh - agree that it’s a seemingly lame resolution of the burn biz but surely there’s a higher-order meta-twist on the way

did really appreciate that in the olden days we would have cut to credits after “there’s a life sign in the nebula thing!” but in 2020 we cram an action sequence and a couple more plot points in there - bezerko pacing is one of the things I do enjoy about this show

Doug Jones as actual Doug Jones! I was delighted when that happened!

yeah that was marvellous

That was a really good episode! Totally vintage TNG.

wish any of my devices could reboot as quickly as discovery

Michael channeling Kirk in multiple scenes!

I feel like I got a few twinges of “this isn’t trek-like” which I don’t get, as I’m not married to the franchise and all for variation. I’m just becoming an old curmudgeon, now. But as Akiva Goldsman-like as some of the emotional beats were, I never jumped off board. I care about this crew!

Also, Book rallying yet again and ejecting that guy when he threatened the cat was beautiful

Is Cronenberg a permanent addition? He weirdly has a lot of speaking time that they didn't need to give him.

I was also surprised he appeared again. His parts were always with the small handful of characters, so I assume they filmed them all in the same stretch

I can't get over how this season's big mystery came down to some Kelpian adult child's hissy fit (I'm an asshole but this is a fictional show who fucking cares)

I hate this fucking show and wish I was better at stopping shows I start watching

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2020 season is nominated in the 2020 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2020 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 29, 2021

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ4CkuDx5LE

rewatching season one and it's rather better than i recalled

Have rewatched first two seasons and part way through third but will now have to find other means to watch as Paramount+ have made the dick move of removing it from Netflix with immediate effect despite P+ or whatever it's called not going to be available internationally until March 2022 at the earliest.

i don't think anything past season one made it to free-to-air uk tv

I didn't realize that season 4 is upon us!

I think I've figured out why I have trouble comprehending this show. It changes the time structure structure of a Star Trek show in a bad way.

the old formula (TOS/TNG/VOY at least):
Cold open: Mundane Starfleet routine, then something mysterious happens (2-5 minutes)
opening credits
story that follows from the mystery, possibly with a b-plot as well

the new formula (DIS):
Mini adventure (10 minutes)
opening credits
Lore update: the state of starfleet, or a look at an alien planet, or a bit of character development (10-15 minutes)
then the main story starts

Two problems with this:
The "lore" portion FEELS like it's a first act, but it isn't. It doesn't lead into anything.

It takes too long to get to the main story. By the time it starts, the main story feels like a C-plot because there have been at least two threads started already, although those threads are usually never returned to.

I'm not saying that Star Trek needs to go back to the old formula -- it feels stale after awhile. Just that the new formula has those new problems.

That's not a Trek-specific thing -- in fact, I remember people complaining about how the first act for the Simpsons didn't relate to any of the other plots of the rest of the episodes, and that was probably 10 years ago.

I think the swerve in The Simpsons is humorous in how it goes against expectations -- although now that it's a standardized formula, the joke no longer works.

that Paramount move is infuriating - i was looking forward to watching this over the xmas holidays, was excellent braindead fare last year - now i can't see myself being bothered and I certainly don't need -another- fucking streaming service in my life

First ep of new season... I find it extremely irritating that its a jllion years in the future and ships getting hit - despite all the sheild tech - flail around, and explode in sparks internally. WHY.

I could make something up about shields and weapons being in an arms race but yeah it doesn't make sense.

lol for every complaint like this there are five about how why isn't trek like it used to be

i mean i hear you cluckin' but also there has to be some sort of danger conveyed, if ideally not demonstrated by weird flash pots

I've never understood 'shields' as a Star Trek concept tbh.

One of my favorite parts of the Expanse was space battles requiring people to pressure suit up because every bullet will just zip through the tin ships are made of.

if it weren't for radiation/gravitational anomalies/etc. starfleet vessels would just solve everything instantly

i do like to see them *try* to explain why they're helpless tho, and at least heisenberg compensators are old-school legit

star trek is optimistic; the expanse points out that all this shit is so difficult as to be almost pointless

Yeah, I don't mean it's better as a sci-fi trope, it's just fun to see bullets zip through one side of the hull and out the other with everyone going "oh shiiiiit"

Having recently watched TOS it’s now v amusing how Burnham is like Kirk turned up to 11 in terms of being the first to go on offworld missions for any and everything, the more ill advised the better

I do enjoy Disco but I dont approach it like Other Trek, to be sure.

Kind of want Saru to stay where he is, and have a fleshed out storyline on his world.

https://intl.startrek.com/news/star-trek-discovery-season-four-lands-on-paramount-pluto-tv-internationally time to find out what pluto is

And here I was thinking they landed on Goofy.