The Official Star Trek: Discovery Thread

[LordSlithor]

Ok. It was going to come up sooner or later. But I figure I'd start this thread and get to it since it hasn't been brought up yet. I realize this show has been a point of contention for fans; some of whom say that it doesn't "feel" like Star Trek.

Me, I've only seen up to episode 10 ("Despite Yourself"). And so far, I like it. No, it's not perfect. But knowing what I know of its rocky production start, I didn't really expect it to be. But what I have seen, for the most part I approve of. Personally, I'm just happy we've got a brand new Star Trek show to enjoy.

I know not everybody feels that way. But in-depth discussion about the show is what this thread is for. So fire away.

 

[Gandalf42]

Yeah, I'm probably around the point that you are. It doesn't really feel like Trek... that's not necessarily a bad thing. Star Trek: Beyond didn't really feel like Trek to me either.. but I liked it.

Ok, so.. Issues.

1. Klingons. Why in the hell do they need to keep changing the damn Klingons?!
2. The writing for Michaels character seems to be forced. I don't know what it is. But I find the character to be disjointed. I don't know if its that she's supposed to be unpredictable.. or the writers just don't know how to have any consistency to her story arch. But she ranges from caring to wreckless... diplomat to anarchist.. almost in the same scene. It's off putting.
3. The Klingons are supposed to be xenophobic, yet they have have multi-species cities on Qo'noS.
4. The ship (and others seen on Discovery) do not look even remotely contemporary to the NCC-1701... and neither does any of the technology.
5. The entire series is based off of "Mirror, Mirror". Which I'd say is good... but with everything else taken in stride- I feel this cheapens the memory of one of my favorite TOS episodes from when I was a kid.

On the bright side, the series has Michelle Yeoh.

Personally, I prefer to watch Star Trek: Continues.

 

[LordSlithor]

Yeah. I find the changing of the Klingons again to be frustrating too. I liked the look they had for the last 40 years, beginning with The Motion Picture where they added the bumpy foreheads. It worked this long. Why change it again? I've just seen episode 11, but has this ever been addressed on the show? At this point in Trek history, shouldn't the Klingons be suffering from the effects of the Augment virus?

I've noticed that most other alien races in Trek have largely gone unchanged. Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites all look more or less exactly as they were when they were first introduced. They did alter the Romulans a little, however, adding what looked like a Frankenstein-like forehead in Next Gen. But that was about it. But the Klingons, they always keep messing with.

The tech issue has always been kind of a thorny one. I attribute that to the fact that what was futuristic in the 1960's is not so much today. Yeah, it's comforting and consistent if they tried to make it match what we saw in "The Cage." But I don't think anyone but longtime fans would want to see that. Today's audiences would look at it and think it was just too hokey-looking.

I've heard some novel writers try to jump through hoops in their books, saying Starfleet was trying different uniforms and ship designs at the same time as Discovery. But it seems like they're reaching.

However, seeing the Enterprise at the very end of the last episode (Yes, even I couldn't avoid that spoiler) suggests that they may be trying to address some of these discrepancies next season.

I attribute whatever problems the show currently has to your typical first season jitters. I remember TNG wasn't batting 1,000 its first couple of seasons either. Also, Bryan Fuller left for reasons that are still unclear (he was either fired, forced out, or left of his own volition, depending on whom you ask). Plus, look at how many exec producers are listed. There's definitely a "too many cooks" factor there as well. Hopefully a lot of those names will be pared down next season.

Speaking of Star Trek: Continues, I don't know how long that will go after what happened with Axanar. Paramount has really clamped down on fan episodes and put strict rules on them in the wake of that. Are they still even doing any more episodes?

 

[Gandalf42]

Yeah, we will have to see how things pan out next season. I want to like it, but it really feels like they are trying too hard. There is no humor in the series at all. The character interactions are functional at best. Seth MacFarlane is really eating their lunch with Orville.

As to Star Trek: Continues... Paramount is cracking down because they suddenly decided the Trek property was worth something. Star Trek Continues has the spirit and heart of ToS. Vic Mignogna really captures the feeling of Kirk... and their cameos show that the Trek family really backs them and their series. If Paramount was smart they would canonize the series and fund it so they could focus on creating content instead of securing funding.

 

[LordSlithor]

Well this is a bit of cool news: They've cast Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike! We've seen him before, having been on both AMC's Hell on Wheels, and more recently as Black Bolt on Marvel's Inhumans misfire.

Good choice, I think. He's said to be a good actor. And that he bears a slight resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter doesn't hurt either! No word, though on whether he'll be a series regular or a recurring guest star.

 

[Gandalf42]

Well this is a bit of cool news: They've cast Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike! We've seen him before, having been on both AMC's Hell on Wheels, and more recently as Black Bolt on Marvel's Inhumans misfire.

Good choice, I think. He's said to be a good actor. And that he bears a slight resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter doesn't hurt either! No word, though on whether he'll be a series regular or a recurring guest star.

Inhumans... my god . Haven't seen Hell on Wheels, but if Inhumans "Black Bolt" character is anything to go by.. lets just hope he's not a series regular.

 

[LordSlithor]

Inhumans... my god . Haven't seen Hell on Wheels, but if Inhumans "Black Bolt" character is anything to go by.. lets just hope he's not a series regular.

That bad, huh? I never saw it. Really had no interest, even though I had a friend who was totally gung-ho about anything and everything Inhumans-related, and he seemed to like it.

Haven't seen Hell on Wheels either. But apparently he's a lot better in that.

 

[Gandalf42]

Yeah, Inhumans is the Plan 9 of the Marvelverse... and I'm feeling like I need to apologize to Ed Wood's family for that comparison.

 

[LordSlithor]

Yeah, Inhumans is the Plan 9 of the Marvelverse... and I'm feeling like I need to apologize to Ed Wood's family for that comparison.

LOL!

From what I'm to understand, it was one of those cases where no matter how good the actors were, they couldn't salvage it given the material they had to work with. This is why I was glad for Mount getting the role of Pike, because it probably would be a much better gig for him.