PLEASANTLY SURPRISED BY THE NEW STAR TREK: DISCOVERY SERIES

[broodblik]

The last episode was good. Spok was introduced and it feels the plot was moving forward.

[Tiplodocus]

Yes, also enjoyed that. Much as I like Pike, I do wish we'd focus on the new cast and crew. We've seen it from Captain's POV lots of times. 

And I'm not sure about the whole bringing it back to where it (sort of) started but I'm giving writers and producers the benefit of the doubt.


Lots of orange and teal but, colour grading aside, this is also a very handsomely mounted Star Trek. Movie quality visuals I think (as opposed to most Trek shows which only tended to look like top end TV).

[wedgeski]

I'm now caught up after being on holiday and the last two episodes have been excellent; on occasion truly epic.

These callbacks are probably just in my imagination but...

Didn't the Ba'ul (had to look that one up) look kind of/a bit like the tar creature that killed Tasha Yar?

Spock's shuttle "was last seen in the Mutara sector"... incidentally the place were Spock prime died in Wrath of Khan, and we're now talking about the Red Angel being some kind of time traveller. Hmm.

[Dandontdare]

These callbacks are probably just in my imagination but...

Didn't the Ba'ul (had to look that one up) look kind of/a bit like the tar creature that killed Tasha Yar?

That was my first thought too! And also (I Googled this because it sounded familiar), they set off for Talos IV - the planet featured in the original Capt Pike pilot The Cage

[Tiplodocus]

That's what I meant when I said they were bringing it back to where it started. Sort of.

[wedgeski]

That's what I meant when I said they were bringing it back to where it started. Sort of.

And now I feel like Trek newb for not remembering that. Thanks Tiplodocus.

[Mardroid]

Check out the start of this new episode! Kudos for showing footage from the original series pilot with original actors and effects, and still not being afraid to update the look and effects later, but I felt it all worked. I was amazed how similar the two actors who play Pike actually look, when they moved from a shot of the original’s face to the current actor. That, or they did a good job of making him up. He does seem quite a bit older though, and if the pilot occurred during the five year mission, it shouldn’t be that long ago, at all.

Anyway, a really good episode, I thought. A good homage to the pilot ST episode episode in a way that felt logical (ahem) and furthered the current plot.

[Tiplodocus]

That's what I meant when I said they were bringing it back to where it started. Sort of.

And now I feel like Trek newb for not remembering that. Thanks Tiplodocus.

To be fair I first thought it was the planet with the Guardian (City On The Edge Of Forever) and googled to check.

[wedgeski]

*Excellent* episode. Spock and Burnham kind of sizzle, Pike does his thing, but more, and the actual plot moves on a bit as well.

[The Legendary Shark]

I really, really hate not liking this. I thought that opening montage was utterly pointless and self-congratulatory, they might as well have had footage of the entire cast and crew engaged in a mass circle-jerk whilst singing about how clever they are.

If this series wasn't Star Trek I reckon I'd like it but it just feels to me like somebody's broken into my media collection and pissed all over my books and dvds.

I'm happy that so many people seem to like it and I cling on (ha!) to the hope that my feelings will change on a future re-watch but just at the moment watching it is an onerous duty and I thank Grud for The Orville.

[Jim_Campbell]

I'm happy that so many people seem to like it and I cling on (ha!) to the hope that my feelings will change on a future re-watch but just at the moment watching it is an onerous duty and I thank Grud for The Orville.

Why are you watching it? That's not snark — life's just too short. I've abandoned three series mid-season in the last couple of months because I wasn't enjoying them. I have neither the hours spare in my life, nor the millimetres of mercury to spare on my blood pressure to repeatedly choose to do something I don't enjoy…

[wedgeski]

I really, really hate not liking this. I thought that opening montage was utterly pointless and self-congratulatory, they might as well have had footage of the entire cast and crew engaged in a mass circle-jerk whilst singing about how clever they are.

If you don't like Discovery, I can see why efforts to situate it in the original timeline are going to piss you off.

I've wrestled with this kind of thing in the past, but managed to chart a course through it. I hated Alien 3 when it came out -- just *hated* it -- and for the longest time couldn't bring myself to watch Alien, my favourite film ever, or Aliens, which would be somewhere in the top 20. It helps that, since seeing the director's cut, I can actually live with it now.

Same when Enterprise arrived... actually, pretty much at the point the opening theme song started. I felt about Enterprise the way you seem to feel about Discovery. (Interestingly, I thought I'd give the pilot another try last month, and if anything it seems *worse* now that so much time has passed. It's terrible. Just anus-puckeringly awful.)

Point is, I hope time mellows you to Discovery.

[The Legendary Shark]

I keep watching it because a) I want to be wrong and to suddenly "get it" and b) loyalty to ST (which is a poor excuse, I know).

My opinion on this, of course, matters not one whit and it's not my aim to turn people against it - I am honestly happy that others like it. My favourite Trek series of all is Enterprise, which I know many fans detest. Even the theme tune grew on me - though this did take some time. I don't want to be one of those people who dislikes a Trek series without watching it and I do expect that one or two episodes will come along that I will love, every series has its classics and I hope Discovery will as well. I thought the latest episode might have been one of those but it wasn't - at least not for me. So, maybe the next one.

Trek, to me, is all about optimism, and so am I, so I guess that's why I keep watching.

[broodblik]

The last few episodes really got going in a positive direction. As mentioned by wedgeski the plot is moving on now.

[Robin Low]

Any speculation about who the Red Angel actually is? It's got to be someone we're familiar with.

Just for a laugh, my two suggestions are either Archer (since he was involved with that whole temporal cold war shenanigans) or Trip (it turns out the final episode of Enterprise was rubbish was because the official story surrounding Trip's death was just a smokescreen for what really happened).

Yeah, bollocks, I know, but who cares.

Regards,

Robin