Thought it might be worth having somewhere to talk about the new season with spoilers.
Star Trek Discovery: Spoiler discussion
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Wow shit, against all odds, somehow that sounds worse… xD
Oh well, thanks for the info either way… curiosity assuaged!
Edit: Also, godamned! where the fuck did I pull that word “assuaged” from??
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Wow shit, against all odds, somehow that sounds worse… xD
Those bits certainly were really high on the bullshit-science-o-meter.
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Don’t ask me, I’m still trying to figure out what was the deal with Booker’s fat cat.
Come to think of it, did they actually have a scene with Booker explaining why he goes by that name after he promised Michael he would tell her?
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Come to think of it, did they actually have a scene with Booker explaining why he goes by that name after he promised Michael he would tell her?
Does anyone care?
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Well there’s a slim yet significant chance he was referring to Booker T.
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At this point it’s clear that DISCO will go for the big emotional moment over the more procedural nature of older Trek, and you’re either on-board with that or not.
But you know, on dodgy, inconsistent technobabble that the show never really explains or justifies? That’s a 50-year tradition with this franchise.
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But you know, on dodgy, inconsistent technobabble that the show never really explains or justifies? That’s a 50-year tradition with this franchise.
Very true!
I’d say that what bothers me more about Disco is not emotional moment vs. procedural nature though, but rather that getting those big emotional moments is the only real priority of the show and that characters, story, plot and ideas are all secondary to that. And that because of that, those big moments all feel unearned and hollow. I’m a sucker for emotional moments in other shows, but here I just want to punch these people because none of them ring true or develop from the story, they’re all forced and fake.
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My vain hope for season four is that they buck the trend and go with a dozen or so standalone episodes. Each episode Discovery makes a speedy Prime delivery of dilithium to a different planet or station or ship, finds some shenanigans going on and helps to resolve them. Rotate the bridge crew out each time so they all get a chance to develop some character, while Michael is occupied doing captaincy things. No idea what happens with Saru but going home to help out troubled Kelpians and enjoy his planet as a free being would be a rather nice end to his story.
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My vain hope for season four is that they buck the trend and go with a dozen or so standalone episodes. Each episode Discovery makes a speedy Prime delivery of dilithium to a different planet or station or ship, finds some shenanigans going on and helps to resolve them. Rotate the bridge crew out each time so they all get a chance to develop some character, while Michael is occupied doing captaincy things. No idea what happens with Saru but going home to help out troubled Kelpians and enjoy his planet as a free being would be a rather nice end to his story.
So basically a live action remake of Futurama?
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So basically a live action remake of Futurama?
Shut up and take my money!
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Leela – Michael
Fry – Tilly
Zoidberg – Saru
Professor – Admiral
Bender – Booker
Yep, checks out.
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Professor – Admiral
Please, his rank is Dadmiral
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getting those big emotional moments
Can you even call them “big” emotional moments when there’s a crying session or two every episode? =/
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But how would you know it’s a big moment if people weren’t crying?! There’s just no way to tell otherwise!!!
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I kind of enjoyed this story while I was watching it, but as soon as I started to think about it, a lot of it fell apart.
Why did they eject the warp core at all if they could use the spore drive to get away?
How did that Monsters Inc.-style gigantic space that the turbolifts were in exist inside Discovery?
Has Saru just given up on the Discovery crew altogether? Did Doug Jones want out or something?
What kind of drugs was Admiral Sourpuss McGrumpyface on that day, that he suddenly wanted to make Michael captain?
Who designed those uniforms?
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I kind of enjoyed this story while I was watching it, but as soon as I started to think about it, a lot of it fell apart.
Why did they eject the warp core at all if they could use the spore drive to get away?
How did that Monsters Inc.-style gigantic space that the turbolifts were in exist inside Discovery?
Has Saru just given up on the Discovery crew altogether? Did Doug Jones want out or something?
What kind of drugs was Admiral Sourpuss McGrumpyface on that day, that he suddenly wanted to make Michael captain?
Who designed those uniforms?
1. Fuck ’em, that’s why.
2. Fuck it, why not.
3. Yeah, fuck ’em. And hopefully not.
4. An error on his part. Clearly, Michael should have been promoted to the rank of Great Bird of the Galaxy.
5. Hydra.
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Some Kelpian kid was stuck on a dilithium planet inside a nebula with his mother. She died from radiation poisoning but his genetics were somehow able to mutate to protect him from the environment. This linked him to the dilithium, so when he screamed at seeing his mother die it sent a huge shockwave throughout all the dilithium, everywhere.
That was some nuWho-level bullshit.
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Wee tip for some of you folk who seem to be in a similar boat to myself on this nonsense show.
Read the novels instead.
I was all in on Discovery, with plans to pick up every book and comic along with watching the show. Even when I was not enjoying episodes I forced myself to watch on, as I was determined not to let it break me, having watched every other Star Trek episode and movie multiple times. But I can’t do it any more, I got stuck at the start of season 3 where it just continues to get worse instead of better m. With the doubling down on burnham who is a ridiculous character.
The show is a badly written, smugly acted embarrassment.However the novels feel much more like Trek. Episodic in nature with actual character development as opposed to having them crying or every single actor being snarky on the show as a short cut for their idea of bad-ass/clever.
Give the books a try, they even make Tilly bearable.
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Nah, Chris ain’t kidding, the Tilly book is good. It helps that it’s by Una McCormack who’s always very good.
I can’t find it in me to finish S3 but have two books to go through. Have generally enjoyed the ones I’ve read more than the show.
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Screw it, the spoiler code refuses to work but the book’s been out for months.
Read the Dead Endless novel over the weekend. It’s a clever bit of work.
I think it being more up front about it’s nature would have helped. For the first 100-150 pages, it is a confusing read then you start to work out what it is up to.
Turns out it is an alternate Discovery tale but set in a universe where Byrnham never mutinied and there was no outright war with the Klingons.
The clever part of this is it allows the adrift in the multiverse Culber to interact with a different Stamets. The same device allows some smart weaving in of the Mirror Universe – which also works as a nod to the next novel, Die Standing, too.
The heart of the book is the relationship between Culber and Stamets. Is it cheating to fall in love with a different version of the person you know? Stamets, meanwhile, has new reason to reflect on his own life too. With all of this woven through a first contact story.
Despite the confusing start, this is well worth a read. It also stands in stark contrast to how the TV show has developed, with everyone getting their turn in the spotlight.
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Discovery: Die Standing
This should have been a total disaster. How could it not be? It has Mirror Georgiou in a lead role, working for Section 31, both a plot concept and a character I severely dislike.
So what went right? First, it’s by John Jackson Miller, whose work I’ve enjoyed for both Wars and Trek. His Trek work is always reliable. True, his first Discovery work, The Enterprise War, was a bit lacklustre. A bit too wedded to the show continuity, but it wasn’t bad, just not as good as he can be.
What really makes this work? A severely reduced indulgence of Mirror Georgiou. There’s still too much trust and not enough suspicion applied to her but in Emony Dax and Finnigan, there are two characters who don’t put up with her crap as much and that makes it fly.
The book also has a neat line in pitch black humour, with the Terran version of the five stages of grief being sharply funny, while other quotes from the Mirror verse show exactly just how much of an aberration the Terran Empire wasn’t.
So yeah, a pleasant surprise and well worth reading.
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It is set in the Michael timeline, where they mark the years as Before Michael and After Michael and replaced Christmas Day with Michael Day and replaced Santa Claus with Saint Michael, who turns up at your house in the middle of the night to listen to the children tell her stories about how great Michael is,
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DISCO is set in the Prime timeline though.
The producers can say that all they want but it doesn’t make it true.
Honestly, the show works better in its own timeline and not the Prime one.
Actually, the producers saying it does make it true.
Until another set of producers say different.
How far into Disco did you get, Todd? There’s some stuff later on in seasons two and three that clarifies its status in continuity and resolves some of the apparent inconsistencies.
I only watched the first season because it was free. I really have no interest in watching any more.
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It doesn’t get better anyways… you’re not missing much. Maybe Mount’s Captain Pike, but he is getting his own show IIRC… Hopefully that one will be less painful to watch, but given just how bad Discovery is, I somehow doubt it.
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Actually, the producers saying it does make it true.
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Klingons – The whole ‘remain Klingon’ thing? They don’t talk about it. Ever.
It’s a whole thing in the TOS-era movies – the Klingon Ambassador talks about the Klingons having a right to preserve their cultural identity in Voyage Home, and I mean… Star Trek VI… Not to mention that the erosion of Klingon culture is a plot point in DS9 series 7
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So, series 4 premiere… pretty good, but still within the usual DISCO wheelhouse. They do seem to be paying a bit more attention to the crew, there’s some nice moments at the start where you get snippets of different conversations as everyone is at the reopening of Starfleet Academy. And it’s quite cliché, but the bit with Nalas, Adira and Tilly where they’re talking about what they’ll do after they get off the station was some nice character building.
All that said, it’s still very DISCO, so if you’re not digging the hyperactive action scenes, and the established sense of humour it’s probably not going to appeal. Now how’d this tricorn get on my head?
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I also saw it, somehow. It is indeed very DISCO but I thought the opening chase scene and the later rescue mission were quite fun so far as hyperactive action scenes go. Finally just going with the classic dynamic of the main character being the captain and the rest of the team supporting her works well.
That said, they do appear to be setting up yet another plot of an authority figure refusing to believe that Michael is amazing who will eventually come to realise that Michael is amazing. That would be stupendously redundant by season four but I guess we’ll let it play out and see where it goes. If President Space Thatcher doesn’t think Michael is fit to be captain of the new ship, why should she remain captain of Discovery, by now the most iconic ship in the Federation?
Also, what exactly is the relationship between the Federation and Starfleet? Shouldn’t Starfleet be able to appoint personnel to whatever roles it deems most suitable, without potentially being overruled by the Federation?
Enough with the Wrath of Khan references! We all know there was a great film made nearly 40 years ago! Move on!
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I really enjoyed this one, a good balance of traditional Trek sciencing it up and DISCO’s brand of emotional storytelling. I liked the callback to Picard even though I felt it was probably a bit too much when Culber name-dropped the man specifically.
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Yeah, this was another enjoyable episode. Can’t go wrong with a “what the hell is that” space anomaly investigation episode of Star Trek, even if we didn’t get an actual explanation or resolution at this stage. Saru’s return made sense given the gravity of the situation. Michael worked well as both Book’s partner and captain. Even the bridge crew got to stand out a bit more – hell, Bryce even got a standing ovation for saving the day (and I can remember his name now!). I still don’t really care at all about the Trill subplot in which Starfleet continues to casually cure death but so far that’s a minor part of the show.
Plus, now Tilly is going through puberty!
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the gravity of the situation.
I see what you did there.
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I think this week’s episode is the first one where the characterisation/plot balance was in characterisation’s favour, and I am here for it. The plot side of things was a bit weightless, like I didn’t care much about what was going on. Which is sad because it was a very Star Trek plot, but eh. The character work was fantastic IMO, especially for Stamets, Book, Adira and Grey. And I’m loving the dynamic with Saru, Burnham and Tilly.
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Not much to add about this one; it was just okay. The rich tea biscuit of TV sci-fi. I’m certainly ready for Adira to maybe get something else to do again other than waiting around for Grey.
The space ninjas were another reference to Picard, right? Those are starting to add up.
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I really enjoyed this week’s episode, we got a ton of character work, a decent political plot and it felt right how Burnham and Saru were inserted into it, and Tilly and Adira’s plotline was a good mix of action and standard Trek thinking through things. (Yes, final Mission is one of my favourite TNG episodes, why do you ask?)
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And when is Saru going to get laid already?
Once in the next seven years, it seems.
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I’m up for some more of Future Elon Musk. Always nice for the show to have a character who has zero inclination to whisper-cry about feelings.
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Plus, he was played by Shawn Doyle, AKA Errinwright from The Expanse.
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He’s no Geordi LaForge, though. Geordi would have sorted out this anomaly nonsense in one episode, not stretched it out over ten.
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He’s no Geordi LaForge, though. Geordi would have sorted out this anomaly nonsense in one episode, not stretched it out over ten.
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Much better episode this week. Almost but still not quite reaching very good territory. Still above average for this show. They would have benefited from one more do-over on the script but I did appreciate the intent of the two different philosophical debates going on.
I couldn’t wrap my head around how the big vote was being arranged. Why does Starfleet get a vote when it is not a planet? Why would a relatively low member like Michael be entrusted to make that decision, rather than Admiral Sternface? Did both of the representatives from Ni’Var get to vote? What about Space Elon? And where the hell are the Klingons, anyway?
If I recall correctly, by the end of last season the galaxy was still largely incapable of long distance communication or warp travel. Now we’ve got people from most planets in the galaxy turning up at Federation HQ or dialling in on Teams for the big vote. Did I completely miss the steps where they repaired the galactic infrastructure? Seems like they could have done some good stories with that.
I was convinced that the Zora story was going to end in her being extracted and put in a synth body as a new ensign. That would have actually resolved the concern about Discovery being at the mercy of the whims of an emotional sentient being who cannot be controlled by the captain, or anyone. Promising to follow the rules is a meaningless gesture, as evidenced by Space Idris going rogue. It would have been very similar to the story of Adira’s partner getting a new body but to be honest that character is so forgettable that just using Zora instead would have been preferable. The other one is fast approaching Neelix levels of “irritating civilian barging into classified emergency meetings to state the obvious”.
How about the casual reveal of being able to tune into specific parallel universes and slide (ahem) into them? Sounds like a spin-off idea. Unless the guy is full of it. Seems clear that either he or his partner are in some way responsible for the DMA.
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Pretty much everyone except the cat.
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I’m looking to catch up on this latest series but I’m having trouble navigating Pluto’s awful app in the UK. How do you even find the show on it?
You need to use their alternate website, it’s called piratebay
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Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Look, Mr. Scott, I’d love to explain everything to you, but the Captain wants this spectrographic analysis done by 1300 hours.
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Scotty
Do you mind a little advice? Starfleet captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. But the secret is to give them only what they need, not what they want.
Lt. Commander Geordi La ForgeYeah, well, I told the Captain I’d have this analysis done in an hour
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Scotty
How long will it really take?
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Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
An hour!
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Scotty
Oh, you didn’t tell him how long it would *really* take, did ya?
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Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Well, of course I did.
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Scotty
Oh, laddie. You’ve got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker.
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We finally found something that Michael is not the best at – poker. But by golly she’s the best at not being the best at it!
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So, I really enjoyed these last two episodes, and the finale worked really well. Even though all the main characters survived, I felt more that Book and Tilly and Detmer might have actually died at points in the story. Book and Tarka’s emotional exchange, especially Book’s “all love ends in grief” line got me.
All that said, the build up to this finale was fewer than great, because they more or less cooled their heels for weeks, and you could have expanded this episode to two on its own. Like imagine if last week’s episode came a week sooner, and then last week was just a tense chase between Discovery and Book’s ship, ending with Book’s transporter beam blinking out and Burnham sitting back in the Captain’s chair – and then the finale is all the final communication with the Ten-Cs, saving Earth, and the aftermath.
Ultimately this problem is not unique to Discovery, lots of modern shows that attempt serialisation have similar pacing issues. I hope this will fade out a bit as we get more episodic Trek with Strange New Worlds. If they can jig the schedule around for next year so DISCO and Picard aren’t back to back and there’s more of a balance between the hyperserialised shows and the more eisodic ones like Lower Decks and SNW
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The Borg Queen is more of a side character for the moment, but the woman playing her is great.
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whatever energy field
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impulse flight
Is this 23rd century slang for “joy ride”?
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impulse flight
Is this 23rd century slang for “joy ride”?
No, it’s 32nd century slang for joyride
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impulse flight
Is this 23rd century slang for “joy ride”?
No, it’s 32nd century slang for joyride
Is “joyride” 32nd century slang for “handjob from a Gorn”?
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impulse flight
Is this 23rd century slang for “joy ride”?
No, it’s 32nd century slang for joyride
Is “joyride” 32nd century slang for “handjob from a Gorn”?
That’s more of a 24th Century thing
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