PLEASANTLY SURPRISED BY THE NEW STAR TREK: DISCOVERY SERIES

[DaveGYNWA]

Well, I've just ruined things for myself.....figured out who the new security bloke is, and now all I can think is "Yes, I can hear you, Clem Fandango"

[Smith]

I can only hope they go somewhere with the Vulcan Extremists thing.
Now lets wait for the next episode and see if a Mark Hamill imitator can salvage something here. 

[Magnetica]

The Vulcans seem to be one of the least used main alien races in Star Trek over the years. Much more use has been made of the Romulan, Klingons and (in later seasons of TNG and then DS9) the Cardassians. So it would be good to delve deeper into the Vulcan society, culture and technology.

And yes I know we had all that stuff about their emotions coming out every few years. And Spock and Sarek etc, but compared to the others I have mentioned they seem to have had far less screen time. Even compared to The Changlings, Jem Hadar, the Vorta and The Borg.

[TordelBack]

I was about to argue that 9 of the movies, TOS, Voyager and particularly Enterprise had a Vulcan (or half Vulcan!) in almost every scene, but actually you're probably right: in comparison to Klingons, Romulans, Bajorans, Cardassians and Borg, we spend relatively little time looking at the homeworld or the culture itself, beyond folk meditating, shagging at proscribed intervals, playing discordant music and being quizzed by disembodied voices.  Maybe that's all they do! 

In other news, watched Trouble with Tribbles with the kids last night, they rolled about laughing at the 'Klingens', as they appear to be called by most.  Couldn't help myself shouting 'Remain Klingon!'* whenever Koloth was looking and sounding paticularly human.  Damn fine episode, though. 


*Which I recently discovered is 'Fan Tliongánach' in Irish, thanks to the superb @theirishfor.

[Tiplodocus]

I hope you are following up with the "Trials and Tribbleations" companion episode of DS9.

[Goaty]

Poor Worf

https://youtu.be/Xka6IYCpj4E

[TordelBack]

I hope you are following up with the "Trials and Tribbleations" companion episode of DS9.

Such a question to ask.

[Mardroid]

I do remember a whole plot arc involving Vulcan extremists in Enterprise too. Actually there were two lots: one group who had pushed aside the tenets of logic to explore their emotions, (they weren't terrorists, to be fair) and another lot involved in the government who wanted to oppose the coming connection with Earth (the Federation itself not existing at that point. Although to be fair, I think that one was largely orchestrated by Romulan agents....) It did remind me a bit of the stuff in this episode though, even including a suicide bombing. I'm happy to see a bit more concerning the culture, though.

I actually rather enjoyed this episode. An interesting character piece, and that twist concerning Spock was interesting. Poor Sarek.

[Professor Bear]

A lot of this episode was outright embarrassing, especially the mind meld kung fu shit - which was just an over-milked reheating of Sisko's arc in The Emissary.  But suicide-bombing Vulcans... sure, why not?  If you're throwing shit at a wall, what's one more turd?

Enterprise tried to make the Vulcans villainous, but it was generally a lost cause because it just amounted to Gary Graham doing an impression of a grumpy dean of a university where Party House had been caught drinking or looking at naked girls again.  It was pretty bad, but I really liked the season 4 wrap-up where they put the whole idea to bed forever so we'd never have to endure dull and grumpy off-model Vulcans again.

[Tjm86]

one group who had pushed aside the tenets of logic to explore their emotions ...

I think I remember that one.  Didn't it feature the guy from 'Without A Trace' basically acting as a Vulcan version of the guy from 'Without A Trace'? 

[Smith]

Also,that wasn't much of a bomb,considering Sarek was standing next to him,and he gets off with a concussion.

[Jim_Campbell]

Also,that wasn't much of a bomb,considering Sarek was standing next to him,and he gets off with a concussion.

You saw him put up a shield at the last minute, yes?

[JamesC]

Just watched the latest episode and really enjoyed it.
I don't know what others were expecting but I reckon this series has been pretty consistently good. We have a staple of interesting, engaging characters, an interesting premise, lots of potential jeopardy, a bit of mystery and some very pretty production design. I'm happy with that.

[Goaty]

I agree with JamesC as I enjoyed it too, nice new information and twists about characters. And that ending. I liked it!

[blackmocco]

Just watched the latest episode and really enjoyed it.
I don't know what others were expecting but I reckon this series has been pretty consistently good. We have a staple of interesting, engaging characters, an interesting premise, lots of potential jeopardy, a bit of mystery and some very pretty production design. I'm happy with that.

I’m loving it so far. Just didn’t feel this matched the previous ones. I really felt the plot being shoved ahead too quickly at the expense of the characters. You know what I mean?

Lorca and the admiral in particular could have used a little more meat on the bones. Instead we got one scene where Lorca’s competency is questioned and then they jump into bed together. Felt way too forced. Likewise with the Vulcan extremists. I would have liked a little more time with that. The Klingon trap too. The big problem for me is we haven’t spent a whole lot of time with the admiral so far and I don’t really care about her or that she’s now in danger. It also means that Lorca’s reluctance to rescue her didn’t carry the weight it should have.

Had the same problem with GoT this season. Loving the story being told, just wish the pacing was a bit more patient. I get it. Fifteen eps isn’t a lot to flesh everything out properly and honestly, one dud out of six is good innings. No biggie.