PLEASANTLY SURPRISED BY THE NEW STAR TREK: DISCOVERY SERIES

[Bolt-01]

I'm currently halfway through series one - just watched episode 6, and I'm enjoying it so far.

[Rara Avis]

I watched the trailer for Season 3 and I couldn't bring myself to watch the actual show. I don't care about Michael or any of the characters or what happens to them.

I've been rewatching TNG instead and find that far more enjoyable.

[broodblik]

I'm currently halfway through series one - just watched episode 6, and I'm enjoying it so far.

I am also halfway through and I am enjoying it so far.

[Mardroid]

I enjoyed this latest series. I liked the others too, but I think this felt very Star Trek in spirit.

I felt a bit irritated by the ending when  the Admiral apologised for punishing Michael for doing her own thing earlier in the series then promoted her to captain. While her actions were understandable, they were wrong from the standpoint of a number one officer and I think he was right to demote her. A real eye roll moment for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Michael hater, but that went too far. If she's wrong she's wrong and that's okay because it's all part of her character development.

[Tiplodocus]

So I made it through to the end but I'll admit it's been variable quality for me. If it wasn't Star Trek, I probably would not have persevered.

Some elements of the final episodes were very traditional (the whole Sukol thing) and great. Some were like the lower points of Enterprise or Voyager (the same unconvincing main villain reappearing constantly) and some... Some I had no idea what they were (repeated running gun battles, fights on turbolifts in the Tardiis like interior of Discovery and the aforementioned apology and accompanying "message".

The Thing that winds me up most is the Constant. Fucking. Emoting.

It's non stop. They can't even order a meal from the replicator without an earnest declaration of their true feelings .

So much so that everything just disappears into a soup of overwrought looks to the camera from under their furrowed brows and a litany of "You are my north star", "I love you", "Without you, I would be lost",  and "You complete me".

And that's just the wee robots.

[shaolin_monkey]

Yeah, have to say I agree with Tip. It’s worse than Next Gen FFS. And they don’t even have a bloody empath aboard!

Anyway, it was a reasonable series, and I watched it and enjoyed it for the most part, but it’s a long way away from being the best sci-fi on the box at the moment.

[The Legendary Shark]

I did not enjoy Discovery when I first saw it and was putting off S3, intending to watch it at some point just because it's Star Trek. However, others have enjoyed it and so I needed to adjust my context and alter the elevation of my head canon. I needed a way to engage with it properly.

Given that the Trek timelines are malleable, to say the least, I imagined that during the film First Contact, Reg Barclay accidentally left a self-sealing stem bolt behind thus advancing technology by a couple of decades or so. This rationalisation complete, I decided to go right back to the beginning and start again.

This time around, I'm happy to say, I enjoyed Discovery a Hell of a lot more. Setting it in the Reg Barclay's Misplaced Self-Stealing Stem Bolt Timeline worked a treat for me and now I'm up to E4 of S3 and enjoying the series so far (even if it is basically Andromeda rebooted).

There are still too many incidences of protracted soul-searching during time critical crises and Discovery is still a thoroughly ugly starship, but apart from that I'm feeling like a proper Trekkie (or is it Trekker?) again, enfolded in the loving wings of the Great Bird of the Galaxy,  and everything's right with the Universe.

Anyway, my weekend started a few hours ago so - Third season through the night......and straight on till morning.

[Professor Bear]

(Watches season 2 of Star Trek Discovery)  There will never be a worse Star Trek than this.
(Watches Star Trek Picard) ...
(Watches season 3 of Star Trek Discovery) This show doesn't seem as terrible as I remember.

[von Boom]

(Watches season 2 of Star Trek Discovery)  There will never be a worse Star Trek than this.
(Watches Star Trek Picard) ...
(Watches season 3 of Star Trek Discovery) This show doesn't seem as terrible as I remember.

I think you may have stumbled across CBS's master plan for Star Trek!

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Star Trek Discovery plus season 3 renewal of Picard, so good news for trekkers.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/star-trek-day-picard-strange-new-worlds-discovery-prodigy-lower-decks-1235059395/

[Magnetica]

I’ve just discovered that Season 4 of Discovery is out already -well the first half anyway.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is it’s no longer on Netflix.

A quick Google search reveals its in the on the Paramount streaming service, which isn’t available in the UK.

But it is on Amazon Prime. But you have to buy the episodes to watch it. That includes the previous seasons which I was previously able to watch as part of my Netflix subscription.

Given I have plenty else to watch I don’t think I’ll bother.

Which is a shame.

[Tiplodocus]

I thought it was free (with ads) on a thing called Pluto which you can get on a Now TV stick. I was going to try this weekend and will let you know how I get on.

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

I understand the Pluto thing just gives you the TV channel- you have to actually watch it as broadcast, as there is no streaming of episodes available. In other words, you've missed 12 episodes.

I had no idea it was available through Prime- £1.89 a shot is... I dunno, is that reasonable? I lose track. I really like Discovery, but I've not missed watching it weekly these last three months- will probably just wait for the DVD.

SBT

[Tiplodocus]

Broadcast television? What are they? Fucking cavemen?

[Mardroid]

I didn’t catch the first episodes on time on Pluto (it’s nice it’s freely available there, but I’ve gotten so used to non broadcast TV. To think that for much of my life that was how I watched most TV but now I’m so into streaming and watching things when I want I just didn’t take to this.)  I ended up buying the series on Amazon Prime.

I’ve mostly enjoyed Discovery from the start, (with some reservations) so I might be a poor judge, but I think that those of you who are cynical about watching Discovery due to arguably not retaining the tone of true Trek, might be pleasantly surprised by this latest series.