PLEASANTLY SURPRISED BY THE NEW STAR TREK: DISCOVERY SERIES

[Theblazeuk]

Bit of a rush job there for both Klingons and Voke. I would maybe have preferred the resolution took as much time and sweat as the mirror verse excursion.

[Jim_Campbell]

Well, hey! Season Two is here and, as much I as enjoyed Season One, I have to say the first episode of Season Two was straight-up terrific. The grimdark is dialled waaay back, the production values are amazing and there’s an injection of positivity and optimism that’s very welcome.

I’ve honestly never been a Trekkie in any meaningful way, but this kind of feels like what I wanted Star Trek to be in my head when I was a kid. ‬Fantastic stuff.

[Dandontdare]

Yup, just watched that (cheers for the heads up Jim!) -very awesome.

I was dubious about Discovery at first, but it feels like proper Star Trek - I don't give a shit what internet whiners say, AFAIC the Trek universe is continuing jut as good as always

[broodblik]

I really like this and it is great to have Trek back again

[dweezil2]

Conversely, I found the first episode to be a pretty dull, predictable affair.
It singularly fails to do anything new, while serving up by the numbers character development and contrived dramatic beats.

Currently, it seems to be adopting the worst traits of the Abrams reboot movies by serving up shallow action and jettisoning the existential discussion that permeated the very best of the original and Next Generation shows.

Hopefully the Picard show will be a major improvement.

[Tiplodocus]

I thought that was fun too. Breathlessly paced middle section with the asteroids. The existential stuff is there but the characters aren't talking to each other about it.

[JamesC]

I enjoyed it but there’s a sligh air of naffness which, the more I think about it, comes across from bad design more than anything else.
I’ve never liked the Discovery uniforms but now they’ve overdesigned the original series era uniforms. Pike looked like he could hardly move in that silly top and trousers. What was wrong with the simple pull-over shirt which looked like something you could actually move around and be comfortable in?
It always, always looks rubbish when sci fi shows have tech that folds out of nowhere, so the helmets and gravity generator where crap. It’s just cgi for the sake of it. It doesn’t look convincing, it just looks cheap.
Other than that it was pretty good, but I hope they don’t focus too much on the incredibly irritating Tilly.

[Professor Bear]

Star Trek tradition is to take the most irritating characters and give them as much screentime as possible - Harry Mudd, Wesley Crusher, Mr Data, Quark, Neelix, Phlox - until you've become immune and then wonder why normals can't seem to watch the show.

I think I'll give S2 a miss, as the inter-season shorts were utterly dreadful - and yet also probably the most succinct and enjoyable parts of Discovery I've seen so far - but "The Orville crew must acquire the Dragonballs" plot sounds terrific.

[IndigoPrime]

Mrs G quite likes ST and I imagine might like this, and so I hopped on to Wiki to check out the cast list. Is this yet another future where women for some reason aren't really on the bridge beyond a token effort, or is the cast outline on Wiki wrong?

[JamesC]

From season two I think both helm positions are female, as is science officer and comms. Captain, tactical/security and first officer are male.
I think that’s right anyway.

[IndigoPrime]

Ah, I also misread the listing, which I was reading on a phone at the time, and missed Martin-Green. (The primaries list on Wiki is still nonetheless 3:1 male:female, which I these days find a baffling state of affairs in this kind of show.)

[Jim_Campbell]

Ah, I also misread the listing, which I was reading on a phone at the time, and missed Martin-Green.

It's basically her show, which is fine because she's great.

[Dandontdare]

Don't let the fact that the lead character is,oddly, called "Michael" throw you either!

[I, Cosh]

Ah, yeah. I watched the first series last autumn I think. Really enjoyed it right up until the point where Michelle Yeoh got killed. Thought that was a right dirty trick. Managed to get back into it when all the real daftness started and thoroughly enjoyed everything up to the last episode. Although it made sense, the dramatic turnaround didn't really seem earned and the ending was a bit rushed.

Still good fun stuff and I look forward to watching this one in six months time and reading along with the historic comments on this thread.

[Leigh S]

I enjoyed it well enough (as soneone with no interest in anything after the Original Series, and fairly disappointed at the casual misogyny and Militarism that really jumped out when watching many episodes for teh first time in decades last year)

Not sure why Pike investigated the weird signal, but then decided he didnt need to anymore? Was it eplained as some natural phenomenom and "solved"?  They get sidetracked saving the other ship and chatting about Spock, then want some asteroid and I must ahve missed why Pike thinks he has done his job?

Also, is Pike really that Kirkish in TOS, or did the actor playing him think he was playing Kirk? (genuine question!)