Star Trek Discovery Blues

[DDC2017]

I tried to prep for the show with what little info was there. Intro and setup. yea yea. Got it.

But i couldn't get thru the entire ep as I couldn't get behind any of the characters to care about what was going on. Maybe it was other distractions, I don't know. But I've lost interest in it. But I liked the regular Star Trek movies, even with JJ Abrams or whomever's producing, as I enjoyed the character interaction.

Not caring about the characters and what's going on is the same reaction I had with the Last Man On Earth dramady show as well. Hmmmmm..... At least there was no Phil on the Trek ships. Whew! "Tandy started the War! Tandy started the War!"

[Jonas]

I must say that the Federation / Starfleet do not seem to deviate from the overall template laid down in the previous shows. I didn't get much of the 'shoot first, ask questions later' that you alluded to; at each instance of conflict Starfleet always attempt a peaceful resolution first. Seems in line with Trek... especially the 'we're exporers, not soldiers' line, which I thought was neat. It's perhaps far more Star Trek than the last 3 films!

Yeah, but the entire point of the story seemed to be that this was naive, that they should have shot first. They were wrong not to listen to Burnham and kill the Evil Ugly Space Native immediately. Very BSG, in that "what if we should be more like the bad guys?" way (and the polar opposite of B5's "what if we're becoming the bad guys?").

[Ubik]

I thought it was... awful. More awful than I could have expected. So cold, sinister, militaristic... just not Star Trek, not even a little bit. Shoot first, ask questions later. Just no. Nothing about it made me want to watch another second. If Star Trek Beyond was a tiny step in the right direction (brighter, more hopeful, if still too full of violence), this is ten steps back.

You know what has the spirit of Star Trek nowadays? Sense8.

Yeah, I hear you. I will give it a few more episodes, as this is all pre-amble and set up thus far. I got a bit of a ST: BSG vibe from it. We'll see. I think they wanted to open the series with some high stakes and they definitely did that.

I must say that the Federation / Starfleet do not seem to deviate from the overall template laid down in the previous shows. I didn't get much of the 'shoot first, ask questions later' that you alluded to; at each instance of conflict Starfleet always attempt a peaceful resolution first. Seems in line with Trek... especially the 'we're exporers, not soldiers' line, which I thought was neat. It's perhaps far more Star Trek than the last 3 films!

As I said, hard to judge a show on it's pilot (think back to The Gathering). I will give it a bit of time to do its thing.

[Jonas]

I thought it was... awful. More awful than I could have expected. So cold, sinister, militaristic... just not Star Trek, not even a little bit. Shoot first, ask questions later. Just no. Nothing about it made me want to watch another second. If Star Trek Beyond was a tiny step in the right direction (brighter, more hopeful, if still too full of violence), this is ten steps back.

You know what has the spirit of Star Trek nowadays? Sense8.

[Ubik]

iw atched episode 1, ut was... establishy.
I'm goign to sleep now, spent the etnire weekend getting happily lost in stocjholm while ingressing.

Both of the opening episdoes are esentially a springboard for the series. It's all set up... It was okay, not terrible, not great either. Hard to judge it on these opening two eps. Has some promise I think, but we haven't got anywhere near the true heart of the show yet... I think.

Now some comments in spoiler tags...

If we take the first two eps as one, for an opening episode it felt strangely rushed to me. However, it does get the scene setting out of the way and allows the show to start proper on Ep. 3. It's not a traditional style Trek first ep, and that was kinda cool. Of course we have to discuss the re-imagined Klingons. I wasn't adverse to this, and it largely works, although unsure why they ditched the classic ship designs which were cool. New ship designs are in keeping with their new look, and the space armour / exo suit was pretty awesome. I thought the re-unification of the houses was too easily achieved. But there was some dissent, which I feel will be felt later on in terms of power struggles. Visually, it's nice. A little too much lens flare and off angle camera shots, but besides that, it's fairly nice to look at. Has promise for sure. Interested to see what they do with the rest of the season. We have yet to really meet the rest of the recurring cast.

[phazedout]

iw atched episode 1, ut was... establishy.
I'm goign to sleep now, spent the etnire weekend getting happily lost in stocjholm while ingressing.

[Ubik]

So, who is watching this tonight?

[sense8ional]

Netlfix are getting it, so I'm good.

Netflix are getting it in all regions but the US

Discovery's creator Bryan Fuller who left it for American Gods recently talked about the conflicts of vision he had with CBS: http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/28/bryan-fu...rek-discovery/

He pitched it as an anthology, which the network didn't agree with, and he had issues with the pilot's director, budget, and push for less complex storylines the network wanted, among other things.

Some of Fuller’s ideas were tossed — from the more heavily allegorical and complex storyline to his choice of uniforms (a subdued spin on The Original Series trio of primary colors). “I got to dream big,” Fuller says. “I was sad for a week and then I salute the ship and compartmentalize my experience.”

Yet the piece of Fuller’s vision he was most specifically passionate about for so long — casting a woman of color to lead a Trek revival — was achieved. Producers hired Martin-Green a few months after Fuller left. Ironically, it was the production delays that made her casting possible.

Many months later, Fuller saw the Star Trek: Discovery trailer. How did he feel watching that? Fuller pauses. “What I can say is…my reaction was that I was happy to see a black woman and an Asian woman in command of a Starship.”

[Ubik]

I don't. I'm not paying for another subscription service so I hope it is terrible. LOL

In all seriousness I just can't imagine it is going to be very good considering all of the trouble it has been to get made. I wish it luck, but the only way I'll ever see it is if it lands DVD, Blu-Ray, or a streaming service I am already paying for. Since none of those options seem viable I doubt I will ever see it.

Netlfix are getting it, so I'm good. If I didn't have Netflix I'd just stream or DL it from one of the hundreds of free streaming sites that will have it the minute it airs. There's no controlling content on the net these days, once it's out there, it's out there.

But, as it stands I can aways do Netflix for a month for six pounds or whatever they charge these days, then just cancel once I've seen it all.

[Looney]

Wow, I hadn't realised that. Well, here's a postive, at least it forces the show to evolve and be different! I really do hope Discovery does something new with Trek, something intelligent and entertaining.

I don't. I'm not paying for another subscription service so I hope it is terrible. LOL

In all seriousness I just can't imagine it is going to be very good considering all of the trouble it has been to get made. I wish it luck, but the only way I'll ever see it is if it lands DVD, Blu-Ray, or a streaming service I am already paying for. Since none of those options seem viable I doubt I will ever see it.

[Ubik]

I thought JMS had creative rights problems.
Paramount developers of new Star Trek Discovery are locked out of the 'Prime Universe' by the original series owners CBS.
I always wondered why the Enterprise, uniforms, and phasers changed while fans complained.
Any new Trek cannot legally look like The Original Series Prime Universe unless approved and licensed CBS. Even a 'tribble' has to be licensed.

Midnight Edge created a great explanation in a 20 min video that all Trek fans should watch

Star Trek Discovery: To Be Replaced by Nicholas Meyer
https://youtu.be/tQcLLfzzKWA

Wow, I hadn't realised that. Well, here's a postive, at least it forces the show to evolve and be different! I really do hope Discovery does something new with Trek, something intelligent and entertaining.

[DaveNarn]

I thought JMS had creative rights problems.
Paramount developers of new Star Trek Discovery are locked out of the 'Prime Universe' by the original series owners CBS.
I always wondered why the Enterprise, uniforms, and phasers changed while fans complained.
Any new Trek cannot legally look like The Original Series Prime Universe unless approved and licensed CBS. Even a 'tribble' has to be licensed.

Midnight Edge created a great explanation in a 20 min video that all Trek fans should watch

Star Trek Discovery: To Be Replaced by Nicholas Meyer

https://youtu.be/tQcLLfzzKWA